In a draft that’s ‘all over the place,’ onus is on new Hawks GM Onsi Saleh

Between the Hawks’ picks, “there’s probably, like, 20 names that could go in that section,” the scout said. “It’s not a lock at all.”

Still, there are players to be had who can help the franchise advance toward its humble mission of making the playoffs — something it hasn’t done since 2021 and hasn’t done in back-to-back seasons since 2015-16.

It’s just a matter of finding them.

It will probably be a dice roll. Listen to how the scout assessed a number of players who could be available when the Hawks’ turns (unless they package both picks to trade up) come up Wednesday night.

Illinois guard Kasparas Jakučionis: “I can just tell you, people are very scattered on him. Some people really like him and think he has a lot of potential as a big point guard that can really pass. But then there’s a whole other group of people that think he’s a very inconsistent shooter, turns the ball over a lot and he’s a bad defender.”

French center Joan Beringer: “He’s really come on this year. He wasn’t on anyone’s radar. He has great length, he plays really, really hard. His defense is much further ahead of his offense. But he has the potential to be a really good, like, Jarrett Allen-type player. But he’s so young and he’s so raw that it’s going to be interesting to see what happens. If I had to guess, I think he’s going to go in the lottery just because he has a lot of momentum right now.”

Michigan State guard Jase Richardson: “He’s one of the most polarizing people in the draft. He measured at 6-foot at the combine and he’s not a point guard. … (Michigan State) probably did way better than anyone anticipated, and he was a huge reason for it. People like his shooting. He’s a good athlete in space. But he’s so small for that position that some people aren’t sure of what he’s going to end up being.”

Speaking to the opposing views, the scout said he could envision Richardson going between 8 and 12 but also 20 to 30 or even dropping into the second round.

BYU guard Egor Demin: While scouts like his size (he’s 6-8) and his exceptional passing ability, “I’m not sure he’ll end up being a point guard at the NBA level because I’m not sure he can really beat guys off the dribble.”

Demin shot the ball well in workouts, “but he shot the ball very, very poorly in games, so there’s questions on his shooting.”

The scout called Demin “almost certain” to be a lottery pick.

Washington State forward Cedric Coward: “He is probably the second-most polarizing person in the draft” because he started out at a Division III school, transferred to Eastern Washington and played well but after transferring again to Washington State, he played only six games because of a shoulder injury and has been able to conduct draft workouts only by himself and not in competitive situations.

“People love his length. He’s 6-6, he has a 7-foot wingspan, he’s shot the ball. He has good shooting numbers on paper, but if you look at his shooting numbers against high-major players, or potential pro players, he has not played particularly well.”

And on it goes.

Decisions, decisions

Undeniably, there are potential contributors to be had where the Hawks are slotted to pick. On ESPN’s list of its top 50 players last October, of players ranked 11th through 50th, 12 were drafted at 13 or lower in their respective classes. Of players ranked 51-100, 26 were picked 13th or later or not at all.

And while the odds of hitting on one of those players is much lower outside of the top 10, the Hawks have two of those first-round picks, increasing their probability of drawing a winning ticket.

On the other hand, how far up the board could the Hawks get by offering both of their picks?

Probably not as high as you might think. In 2017, Portland traded the No. 15 and 20 picks to get the No. 10 pick from Sacramento. In 2018, the Los Angeles Clippers traded their No. 12 pick and two future second-round picks just to move up one spot to 11. (An aside: The Clippers made the trade to obtain Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but then traded him away after one season to Oklahoma City, where he just led the Thunder to the NBA championship and earned NBA MVP, regular-season scoring leader and Finals MVP. Mark that down as a complete disaster for the Clippers.)

If a prospect the Hawks are confident is a can’t-miss player is available after, say, the eighth or ninth pick, maybe it’d be worth it for Saleh to attempt to jump up. History favors the bold and all that.

Play the odds or go big?

You could make a case for either, although a move to trade up is one not entirely under the Hawks’ control.

Know this much: Hawks owner Tony Ressler turned over leadership of the front office to get choices like this right. He dismissed general manager Landry Fields after a year in which he made a hugely successful trade to acquire Dyson Daniels, two first-round picks (including the No. 22 pick this year) and Larry Nance Jr. from New Orleans in exchange for a player whom the Hawks were trying to unload (Dejounte Murray) and also got the absolutely right player with the first-overall pick (Zaccharie Risacher) out of a draft that was widely panned as the worst in years.

Can Saleh do better than that?

The Hawks have one more year with star Trae Young before he can opt out of his deal. They have a promising young core with Risacher, Fields, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu.

But both the Hawks and Young need to determine if their future is together, and they may just have this upcoming season to figure it out.

Getting the draft right will be a hefty part of that calculus. The onus is on Saleh to sift through the uncertainty of the draft better than his 29 competitors.

Good luck to the new guy.