Atlanta Hawks’ GM Onsi Saleh July 8, 2025 Media Availability

Atlanta Hawks’ GM Onsi Saleh July 8, 2025 Media Availability

Um, busy summer. Busy summer. Um, first off, just wanted to thank, you know, the guys that are no longer with the organization. I mean, Larry, T-Man, George, like those guys are friends of mine. I’ve known them for a little bit. And, um, just want to wish them the best cuz they were a great representation of our organization. Just I’m super excited for them. So, with that, really excited about our group and some of the additions we made. We’re still working through some of the things in the NBA that need to get everything completed, but we’re really excited about the guys that we’re bringing away. AP just so unique in what he does. Every team looks for a center like that at some point. Um, he’s dynamic. He can stretch the floor and rim protect, but he’s a good human being, good guy. adds to the the roster and how we’ve seen this playing out. Um, with Nquille, I mean, A+ human being. Love the guy. He’s Canadian, so I’m biased. So, that’s that’s the biggest reason why we signed him. Uh, but no, he’s just a fantastic player. Um, everybody knows his defense, his shooting, unbelievable human being. Fits within what we’re trying to build here culturally. And I think he has a great opportunity to expand his game, too. more kill as well. So, looking forward to that with with Luke. We’re still going through that stuff. So, um can’t really talk too much about all that. So, um we’re really excited there as well. Um yeah, with that, I think summer league, you guys probably saw a little bit here. The energy is pretty pretty awesome. Cool seeing a guys out here and everybody’s ready for it and ready for Vegas. So, um yeah, really excited about this with you, I guess. How how long did it take you to I guess identify him as a guy that you would want to have on this roster and how he would fit alongside with what you guys are trying to do? Yeah, when we do when we look at our free agents honestly it’s like it’s a year-long study if not longer. Like we’ve been watching these guys for a long period of time and we identify people in terms of like their fits within do the intel do the stuff that’s like the on the court like scouting and um analytically how they fit within everything. So, taking those three things, he was just a perfect fit for us. But, it’s been a we kind of like make a list of every player possibly could maybe get and um we’re very fortunate. With Porzingis, it’s a big swing, but it’s also like given the fact that he has that injury history in the past. What made you comfortable going to get a player like that even though, you know, he hasn’t played 10 full seasons in the past? Yeah, I just I just think Kristoffs’s archetype is so unique in this league and we’re very confident with our performance staff and very confident with him and his health like we don’t have any serious. Um I just think from a player standpoint he is very very dynamic and offers something that Atlanta really hasn’t seen before. Of course him having some championship experience might also help some of these guys on the roster. How much do you expect him to kind of be a leader in the locker room, especially with his veterans? Yeah, actually we we literally just talked about that 5 or 10 minutes ago. So, um he’s like one of the old guys on the team now. He’s not even that old. Um which tells you a lot about our group. We’re still really young. And uh like the good thing about our young guys is they want to learn, they want to grow. They’re sponges for this stuff. And Kristoffs has stories from playoff series, finals. Like he’s it’s going to be really important for our group. and uh to translate that to our younger guys. When you talk about Nquil and you talk about him being like a culture fit for you guys, when did you figure out that he was someone who could assimilate into what you’re trying to do very easily? Yeah, like honestly how intel works in the NBA is like you keep track of these guys over a course of years and you know jumped around to different teams and like the resiliency, the ability to find like a tremendous role with a really good team for a while in Minnesota. Like I just think he fits everything from the background. The Canadian piece obviously is great, but honestly him as a person, what people how people talk about him externally is pretty phenomenal. And like once you guys meet him and spend some time with him, you guys are going to be like, “Okay, like I get it.” So on the court, he’s just a perfect. And are you comfortable with your backup point guard situation or do you think you have to do something else? Yeah, I mean, you know, we’re always evaluating the team, but like we we have plenty of ball habits and I feel really comfortable with our group, honestly. Um, if something comes up that makes sense, then great. We get to evaluate and go through that process, but I do feel comfortable with our group right now. depth has been a big focus for you this off seasonason and we’ve seen through the 82 game season and then into the playoffs how big of a factor that can be in just propelling teams and and having people that can come off a bench like why is that a focus for you? What do you think it does for a ball club? Yeah, I mean 82 games is a long time, right? You get in the playoffs and even longer it gets more stressful on the body and things like that. I just think when you look at the teams that were in the finals, they’re probably two of the deepest teams in the NBA, if not the two deepest teams. And I just think you need to have that in this day and age and I think um just the guys that fit with us and how we we plan to play and imple it’s it’s so unique in that like a lot of guys brought in play multiple positions. So the variability in lineups were really dynamic for us going forward. You made some changes to your two-ways. What types of players are you looking uh with that kind of a developmental role essentially? Yeah, I mean like with Ellie it’s it’s more of a developmental process like he’s he’s going to be with us. Um I I like looking at the the two-way spot as like guys help at times but also you’re you’re really trying to line as well. Um guys will be in there park at times guys at times. It’s just more of a need. It just adds to the depth in case things kind of go haywire in the regular season. But I mean mostly I just look at the two right now as a developmental part of the program. A lot of that will be in college park. I believe there are two more technically or spots for standard contracts to be added. Just what do you plan to use those on? And I mean how how are you trying to find that balance between adding depth and the financial aspects? Yeah. No, it’s it’s it’s a great question. Um, I’m going to say the term optionality again. I promise it’ll be the last time I say you guys are probably sick of me saying that, but like you also don’t want to rush during this time, right? Like if you get a you could sign players now and you know we have guys that we’re looking at, but at the same time like you always don’t want to be like, I’ll let it be waited because you know the offseason pays off forever. So we’re just evaluating and seeing um if fits come along and we’re going to be really patient with it and not make any moves right away. There were reports that Trey played a role in trying to get Na trying to get Luke Canard to join this team. What is it like to kind of see that role for him? Uh and then just kind of on the business side of things like how important in your priority list is getting an extension done with him. Yeah, with with Ty. I mean like that’s the growth and development like everybody saw from last year. Um he was you know he went out there talked to these guys like he was great in the recruiting process. we all help recruit these guys to come in and it was awesome that he did that and he’s extremely excited about this team. Um, and then like I’ll be honest with you guys like with the contractual stuff like I don’t you guys are going to hate me for this but I don’t talk about any of that stuff publicly whether it’s TUI or Dyson that’s that’s not how I roll with anything and you guys aren’t going to get anything out of me there. So anything else? All right. Thank you. hard to