After making an exchange to recover Kristaps Porzingis, Onsi Saleh will continue his express learning of the GM profession with the Draft. At his disposal, only one choice since he dropped the 22nd to the Nets last night. For the other choice, the 13th, his philosophy is quite simple: the talent of the prospect comes before the needs of the Hawks.
“When it comes to the draft, I always take the best player available”, says the new ATLANTA GM appointed last April. “It’s my philosophy, I do not select in relation to a particular position. If a player makes sense for us, we will take it, but it must always be the best player at that time.”
If Onsi Saleh lives his first GM experience of a NBA franchise, he is far from being a novice in terms of draft. The former Landry Fields assistant went through the Spurs from 2019 to 2021 and the Warriors from 2021 to 2023 where he was able to participate in the selections of Devin Vassell (Spurs, 2020) and Brandin Underworks (Warriors, 2023).
“I was able to observe the Lottery when I was alongside RC BUFORD and BOB MYERS”, he added. “I was very lucky and that helped me a lot to prepare this role.”
The whole question is therefore how Onsi Saleh will use this 13th choice. During this interview with the media, Onsi Saleh stressed the importance he gave to the construction of a team made up of young large and athletic players. Thus, many prospects could correspond to the aspirations of GM as THOMAS Sorber from Georgetown or the French duo Noah Essengue (ULM, Germany) and Joan Beringer (Cedevita Olimpija, Slovenia), if they are both still available.
/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.basketusa.com%2Fmain%2F2026%2F05%2FUSATSI_28997276_168380191_lowres1.jpg)