Here we go again.
The Hawks enter Thursday’s NBA Draft and their roster could have two glaring holes or no holes at all to fill when free agency hits next month. So, what are they to do?
The simple answer is the Hawks will select the best player available, regardless of position, who fits the organization’s core values.
Center Al Horford and small forward Kent Bazemore, both starters, will become unrestricted free agents on July 1. They will be free to sign with any team, including the Hawks. The Hawks won’t necessarily look to find a possible replacement with the Nos. 21, 44 and 54 picks in the upcoming draft before knowing their exact roster needs.
“Our philosophy remains the same,” Hawks general manager Wes Wilcox told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We spend a great deal of time trying to identify who fits the Hawks. Internally, we have defined those characteristics. They are things coach (Mike Budenholzer) talks about all the time – skill, competiveness, unselfishness, intelligence, high-character. Those would be five of our core values. We spend the time trying to figure out who fits mostly closely with those characteristics.”
It has become the Hawks’ Way.
The Hawks will have 11 players under contract as of July 1 that includes a team option on Mike Muscala. Kris Humphries and Kirk Hinrich will also become unrestricted free agents. The Hawks could have as many as five or as few as two roster sports available.
“We really just try to draft the best player over the course of their career regardless of their position who fit those core values,” Wilcox said. “That’s really our guiding principle during the draft.”
While the Hawks generally won’t draft based on position, there are two exceptions. Whatever the position of the player taken in the first round, the Hawks are not likely to draft a player with the same position with either of their second-round picks. In addition, if two players are close in where they stand in the hierarchy of core values then position may be the deciding draft factor.
“It’s challenging because often times it’s very close,” Wilcox said. “To say positional understanding and need doesn’t come into play is probably unrealistic though we try to isolate that as much as we can. Often times, if it’s very close and players are neck-and-neck and one may be of a position or trait, let’s say a great rebounder or great shooter, of need then we’ll make a decision based on that when it’s really close on a player.”
The Hawks covet shooting. That would be the likely deciding trait if it’s a close decision between players on the team’s draft board.
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