Hawks GM Onsi Saleh Summer League Press Conference

Hawks GM Onsi Saleh Summer League Press Conference

First off, just wanted to thank, you know, the guys that are no longer with our organization between Clint, Larry, Caris, T-Man, George, like a lot of 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 and just I’m super excited for them, their new opportunities, too. So, with that, really excited about our group and some of the additions we made. you know, still working through some, you know, the the things in the NBA that need to get everything completed, but we’re really excited about the guys that we’re bringing in. Like KP 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 again, just a good human being, good guy. Adds to the roster and how we see 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 more than anything. 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. Like, he there’s more to Nquille 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, but really excited there as well. Um, but yeah, with that, I think summer league, you guys probably saw a little bit here. The energy is pretty pretty awesome. It’s cool seeing Ace and these guys out here and everybody’s ready for it and ready for Vegas. So, um, yeah, really excited about this. with Nikil, 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 were 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 you do the intel, you 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 you kind of like make a list of every player you possibly could maybe get and um we were very fortunate to get him. 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 kind of full seasons in the past? Yeah, I just I just think Chris Stops’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 worries or issues there. Um I just think from a player standpoint, he is very very dynamic and offers something that Atlanta really hasn’t seen before. So of course him having some championship experience might also help some of these younger 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 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 want to they’re sponges for this stuff. And Kristoffs has stories from playoff series finals. It’s like he’s it’s going to be really important for our group for him to to translate that to our younger guys. When you talk about Nquil and you talk about him being a good 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 you keep track of these guys over a course of years and you know Nikil 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 was big 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, and on the court, he’s just a perfect fit for us. And are you comfortable with with your backup point guard situation or do you think you have to use something else? Yeah, I mean, you know, we’re always evaluating the team, but like we we have plenty of ball handlers and I feel really comfortable with our group honestly. Now, if something comes up that makes sense that great, we could 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 offseason 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 the 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? And then you get into playoffs and it’s 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 in the NBA. And I just think you need to have that in this day and age, I think um just the guys that fit with us and how we we plan to play and implement these guys like it’s it’s it’s so unique in that like a lot of guys we brought in can play multiple positions. So the variability in lineups can be really dynamic for us moving forward and yeah, I’m just looking forward to it. 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 just 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 that could help at times but also you’re you’re really trying to develop him a lot as well. Um guys will be in there in College Park at times, guys will be up here at times. Like it 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 room 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 aspect? Yeah. No, it’s it’s it’s a great question. Um, I’m gonna 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, oh, what if we waited because you know the offseason goes on forever here. So we’re just evaluating and seeing um if fits come along then 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 and trying to get Luke Canard to join this team. What is it like to 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 I think 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 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 everything and you guys aren’t going to get anything out of me there.

Atlanta Hawks General Manager Onsi Saleh speaks with the media ahead of the team’s trip to Las Vegas for NBA Summer League.

Subscribe to our channel ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/c/ATLHawks

#TrueToAtlanta #AtlantaHawks #OnsiSaleh

Hawks Homepage: https://www.nba.com/hawks/
Hawks Shop: https://www.hawksshop.com
Hawks Tickets: https://www.nba.com/hawks/tickets
Hawks + State Farm Arena App: https://www.nba.com/hawks/app

Follow us on:
Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/atlhawks
Instagram – https://instagram.com/atlhawks
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@atlhawks
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/atlhawks
Snapchat – https://www.snapchat.com/add/atlhawks