This is new for the Hawks —- the NBA draft as a spectator sport.

After four straight years of being knee-deep in the mix on draft night with high lottery picks, the Hawks will spend tonight watching. The Hawks don't have a pick in the first or second round.

The Hawks will gather at their downtown headquarters tonight, monitor what goes on and keep the phone lines open. There may be an offer they can't refuse, but most likely they will go to sleep with the same roster.

"It's tougher emotionally because you've done a lot of work to prepare and there may or may not be an opportunity to actually do anything," Hawks general manager Rick Sund said Wednesday. "I don't think I've ever been in a situation where we've never had a pick. I can't recall it. I was talking to [Cleveland general manager] Danny Ferry [Monday] and he said his first year he got the job similar to me and they didn't have a pick. So he was a spectator. But he also had a lot of free-agent opportunities and things, so he focused on that."

That's exactly where the Hawks will focus their attention. The NBA's annual free agent frenzy begins Tuesday, and the Hawks should have their hands full. Both Josh Smith and Josh Childress will be in the crosshairs.

That doesn't mean the Hawks will ignore the draft-day rumblings. There are far too many variables involved on draft night for the Hawks to divorce themselves from the process. That's why the conference room nearest Sund's office was full of scouts and stacks of draft data Wednesday morning.

The Hawks' first-round pick went to Phoenix at No. 15, the final compensation in the Joe Johnson deal from three years ago. Their second-round pick went to Sacramento at No. 42 in the Mike Bibby deal from February.

"It's not as busy as I've been in the past," Sund said of the phone-frenzied lead-up to the draft. "I'm initiating the calls and taking that lap around the field just to see if there's anything out there that makes sense, that type of thing.

"But when you don't have a draft pick, the phone just doesn't ring as much."

The past few weeks have been a distinct departure for Hawks coach Mike Woodson. In his previous three drafts with the team, the Hawks had high lottery picks, including the No. 3 (Al Horford) and No. 11 (Acie Law IV) picks last summer.

The time before the draft is filled with individual workouts for many of the top prospects. Things are much quieter this time around.

"It's strange," Woodson said while sorting through stacks of papers on his desk Wednesday afternoon. "During this time, we are normally working guys out and studying a lot of film trying to figure out 'Who is that guy?' All we can do now, and what we have been doing, is meeting and talking about how we continue to build this team going forward.

"This is basically the second phase of the process for us. Our core group has reached a point together and now we have to continue to grow them together. Now it's about adding pieces to that mix. And you don't necessarily do that through the draft."

Only two of the teams selecting in the top 10 in last year's draft made the playoffs this season: the world champion Boston Celtics and the Hawks, who lost to the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs last month.