Author: Kevin L. Chouinard (@KLChouinard)
The Hawks split their lottery luck in Chicago Tuesday night. As a result, they
now hold the rights to five picks in the 2019 NBA Draft: two in the Top 10
(picks 8 and 10) and three in the second round (picks 35, 41 and 44). The Hawks
entered the night with the fifth-highest odds of winning the lottery and moving
to the No. 1 spot, but Memphis, New Orleans, and the Los Angeles Lakers each
connected on winning ping-pong ball combinations. As a result, those three teams
leapfrogged past Atlanta into the top four draft spots, dropping the Hawks to
the No. 8 pick and zapping some well-deserved buzz about how much fun it would
be for the top pick to land with the Hawks.
On the flip side, the Hawks did find good fortune with the top-5 protected draft
pick that they acquired from Dallas in the trade that brought Trae Young to
Atlanta. It stayed out of the top five spots and will convey to the Hawks in
2019 as the No. 10 overall pick.
“Now we know that we have five picks in the draft,” General Manager Travis
Schlenk said after the lottery result. “As I’ve said all along, it opens a lot
of doors for us. With five picks, we can package to try to move up. If there’s a
team excited about (one of our picks), we can move back and maybe pick up a
different asset. It gives us a lot of different options.”
With reasonable lottery odds and a surprising 2018-19 regular season built
around an exciting young core, there was considerable build-up in the weeks
preceding the lottery that the Hawks would be the most entertaining destination
for the No. 1 pick – and not just among local voices, but national ones, too.
Tuesday’s lottery result stifled that sort of chatter, because not only did the
Hawks not get the No. 1 pick, but they also got a pick at the opposite end of
the spectrum, an outcome that was actually less likely (8.8 percent) than them
getting the No. 1 pick (10.5 percent).
Was the result of their own pick a buzzkill on the surface? Absolutely. The
Hawks didn’t get lucky. On the other hand, it’s important to remember what the
fuss was all about in the first place. Folks wanted the No. 1 pick in Atlanta
because the Hawks have a superb young nucleus. How was that foundation formed?
Those players were chosen with the No. 5 pick (Trae Young), No. 19 pick (John
Collins) and another No. 19 pick (Kevin Huerter). With the No. 8 and No. 10
picks in hand, the Hawks now have two picks sitting right in their wheelhouse,
if they choose to use them. If they opt to trade them, the person who chose
Young, Collins and Huerter – Travis Schlenk – will be at the controls to make
another judicious choice.
So even if the lottery didn’t end in optimal fashion, an important offseason
awaits the Hawks. Starting next week, more potential draftees will come to
Atlanta to work out under the watchful eyes of Schlenk and the rest of the
Hawks’ basketball operations staff. When that process wraps up with the draft on
June 20, the Hawks’ young core will grow larger than it is right now.
Media Content:
https://www.nba.com/hawks/atlanta-hawks-nab-8th-and-10th-pick-whats-next
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Hawks
Media Thumbnail: https://www.nba.com/hawks/sites/hawks/files/lotterystory.jpg
Story Link:
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