NBA Draft 2024: Atlanta Hawks, Alexandre Sarr, Donovan Clingan, Zaccharie Risacher with Sam Vecenie

NBA Draft 2024: Atlanta Hawks, Alexandre Sarr, Donovan Clingan, Zaccharie Risacher with Sam Vecenie

on today’s show I am joined by S Vini of the athletic one of the most trusted voices in the NBA draft space as well as across the basketball World Sam and I get into of course let one overall pick and the Hawks and their decision there plus much more and all that is coming up you are locked on Hawks your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Hello friends welcome to episode 1740 of the lon Hawks podcast I am your host Brad roll coming to you on a Sunday evening into Monday we are just over a week until the NBA draft today’s podcast is by by the folks at prize pick the easiest the most exciting way to play de fantasy sports the place to go is prize.com lockon NBA when you get there use promo code locked on NBA for First on deposit match up to $100 I also want to encourage you at the top of the podcast to make us your first listen each and every day check us out And subscribe to the podcast anywhere you might find your podcast that includes apple and Spotify as well as YouTube on the video side and I’m joined in a moment by Sam Vini of the athletic Sam is a friend of mine but more importantly for this a expert on the NBA draft as well as all things basketball from College of course to the NBA this is actually G to be a fun conversation a little bit longer than our usual one parters but when you get S Vini you got to do it so that’s what happened on this Sunday evening into Monday hopefully you will enjoy this conversation and without any further delay here we go with myself andan I am joined by a good friend of mine and uh really more importantly for this space maybe the number one draft analy in the world hello Sam how are you no I I I think that good friend is more important uh in this space than uh whatever I pretend to be good at for my job um so no this is great I’m always gonna I’m always going to come through and you we’ve done this for years when the Hawks haven’t had like a relevant draft selection so of course we’re going to do this at some point when they have number one yeah I tried to time it at a reasonable time for you I mean you’re going to be buried at all times but I’m not I’m not ask you the day the day before the draft it’s 10 days we’re 10 days once we’re recording this podcast so it’s kind of a good sweet spot and look uh there’s a lot of ways we can go here one thing I want to ask you at the top of this about the Hawks who have exactly one pick they could certainly acquire more but uh how would you approach this I think you’re I think of you as someone who follows the league as well as the draft which is not which not everybody does a lot of draft folks don’t really do that so it’s much more nuanced than just like who’s the best player I mean that’s part of it of course but where’s your head at with this pick in this entire evaluation this process and what the Hawks are doing right now well yeah to me it’s that the Hawks have to pick a direction on some level before they make the selection uh they need to decide what they want to do with their back court are they going to move to Jon Murray I think that’s more likely than them moving Trey young to be honest with you but uh you know are they going to move him are they going to keep this back court together do they have to get out of the tax like is that a you know thing from ownership that almost certainly has to happen right like is are they gonna move Clint capella to do that are you gonna try and get value for bogon bonovich because he’s somebody that like would actually have real value League wide after the season he he had so like you know de what is DeAndre Hunter to this team like I know that they want to build around Jaylen Johnson obviously and rightfully so but like you know do they like the DeAndre Hunter Jaylen Johnson mix in some way in order to like take pressure off of Jaylen defensively and allow him to like Blossom and flourish on the offensive end and focus on that I think that there’s just so much uncertainty right now with the Hawks in general and that’s why this whole thing is very difficult to project you know 10 days out from the draft when we’re recording this nine and a half or whatever we are because there’s just so there are so many moving parts and the Hawks front office in general also just always seems to have a lot of moving parts so like it feels it feels difficult to know what exactly they’re going to do um in my impression from talking to people around the league is like you know there there’s not a whole lot of certainty there yet um they might like have a plan C like I would think they have a plan of attack here but I I don’t I haven’t heard like anything that indicates to me that they’ve made a choice yet yeah and that’s where I am and obviously you are uh more nuanced and Source than I am across the league but I think that’s everybody I ask on record no one seems to know what’s happening and maybe that’s a good smok screen from the Hawks maybe they have maybe they already know exactly what they want to do and uh you know every time I say that of course you know I quoted you the other day on your show about kind of being you know uncertain and every time I say that it’s like well Hawks fans are just in disbelief like well it’s 10 days left I’m like well no like that’s not a it’s not a bad thing to not be certain like it’s okay like I I don’t mean that as a negative like I I wrote in a mock draft in I think it was like May or early June where it was like you know the Hawks like were a little bit like behind has like a negative connotation but they didn’t have quite as much Intel on like the top end guys as what other teams who knew that they were going to have a draft pick at the top of the draft did so like they spent a little bit of time you know after the lottery Gathering and making sure that they had everything and like had all their ducks in a row part of that’s like the reason that the lottery is you know a month and a half before the draft right it allows teams if they move up or move down or whatever like they change their draft position substantially to go out and like resource and make sure that they have everything that they need in order to make the most informed decision I I certainly don’t think of it as negative I just think of it as this is the process that they had to undertake and you know they’re continuing to go through and see what’s available yeah a point I’ve made before and I know you takeen into account too is not only did they not know that they were gonna have this pick but they’re also the very rare team at number one that’s like kind of in win now mode it seems like not necessarily like they’re not every chip in the in the middle like some of these teams are but they’re not a rebuilding team with a blank slate they there’s clear at least there has been and maybe there’s a change that I’m unaware of but there’s been clear ownership pressure like they want to win sooner rather than later so it’s not just like clean slate take whoever you want to so the roster is more built to win now than later so like we we can talk about the efficacy of that and like whether or not they should go down that road but if if they’re going to make moves in order to change direction they have to change direction like with four different moves you know what I mean it’s not just like one thing like they’d have to find a landing spot for DeAndre Hunter find a landing spot for Clint capella find a landing spot for um honestly if I was them and I decided I wanted to rebuild it would be both dejon Murray and Trey young that I would be moving so I I don’t see a like substantial change in Direction in that respect like I don’t think they’re going you know you know changing everything in um looking in a holy new environment like in terms of what their situation is going to look look like I I think that it’s going to be you know maybe they try and get out of the tax maybe they try and you know flip this roster and you know some way that fits a little bit better than it does currently and then kind of go from there Today’s Show is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs and when you’re hired for a small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for the roles that you have available and that’s why you check out the folks at LinkedIn jobs they have tools to professionals that you’re looking forward for your team they help you to do it faster and they help you to do it for free I’ve been on the hunt before my a job for a few different times when it comes to hiring someone and folks jobs has been huge making the process easier and much more efficient for you any the small businesses are often wearing a ton of different hats and might not have the time or the resources needed to hire properly and easily but LinkedIn it’s not just another job board they have a network of more than one billion professionals that makes it the easiest and best possible place to find someone to hire it gives you access to professionals that you can’t find anywhere else they do it all while making the process easy and intuitive for you hiring is so much easier when you have all of that um as far as that is making it easy and also that many qualified candidates for you it’s so easy in fact 86% of small businesses they are looking for qualified candidates can do so in under 24 hours L also helps you find them more ways to back the process be easier and two and a half million small businesses have used LinkedIn jobs for hiring and they still are at this point in time post your job for free by going to linkedin.com lockon NBA one more time that is linkedin.com lockon NBA TR Supply to that end I want to ask you of course about the players in play here and uh yeah it’s interesting you know covering one team like I do I uh hear just about one team and uh it seems like there has been like almost a holy war right now with between alexar and kind of Donovan kingan with some reees to the side because it seems like the one player of the Hawks have been kind of like everyone agrees that they like on some level is Donovan King and I’ll ask you about that but I you know I know you already said we kind of don’t know what they’re going to do that’s the one piece of thing that’s kind of been pretty out there is like they like Donovan Clinton now what does that mean play teams like players Quin like not CL by accounts all that stuff but um you know even process wise what would you what would you be looking to do and also what have you heard they might be interested in doing because those are two different things and also it’s not again it’s not just a repeat myself but it’s not just take the guy you have number one on your board if everything is not uh you know close together yeah so in terms of like what I’ve heard like I guess like I would just say that they continue to be open to a lot of different things right like you know I think if they got presented some offer in a trade down like they would consider that I think if they got presented you know some something that made sense for them they would really do that like I I think that they’re just continuing to go down the road of a process um and that that’s not like a sexy answer I understand that you know me saying that yeah like my impression is that we don’t know what’s going to happen at number one like I think everyone like kind of looks at me for answers on this stuff like to me like that’s that’s just kind of the answer right now right and we’ll see where it goes you know a lot of these teams try to posture after the fact oh we knew what was gonna happen after the like we knew it was going to happen for a month you know I remember the Hornets last year like saying that yeah we knew after the lottery we were gonna take Brandon Miller you had scoot Henderson in for like two workouts you had Brandon Miller in for two workouts like you don’t do that if you’re planning on just taking like one guy from the jump you know what I mean so to me it’s it’s a very it’s very interesting to see what they would do in terms of what I would do is that kind of what you asked before yeah I I know I know it’s I know it’s different but like you know with knowing what you know now what we just talked about with this like I guess we just start with what you would do and then go through some of the players and what you think about them I would try and trade down incrementally um multiple times if I was Atlanta I would try to go from one to two and say hey Washington if you give me number 26 M we’ll allow you to move to number one uh intake you know to me like the guy that makes the most sense for Washington is alexar uh you know High upside swing athletic in the way that that front office you know under Will Dawkins you know has tended to like athletic you know long players they’re skilled um and have some like real upside for growth like the impression I’ve gotten is like upside they’re swinging for like real upside because they think that they have guys like you know Cory kissper Denny AIA BL kabali kulali obviously saw some upside but like um they they want like to swing in this cycle right and we can talk about whether or not that’s the right move but you know if you want to swing I I would if I was Atlanta I would present to Washington saying hey we have another deal on the market you know we don’t really want to move down that far but we you know would like to you know stay in the top whatever of the draft would you be willing to do two and 26 so that you know that you get your guy because the impression we get is that they’re coming up to take alexar right whenever they do this deal I would do that to go to number two and then I would put the pick back on the market and say hey I’ve got number two here if any of you guys like Detroit or San Antonio like really want Zach R AET because you think that like he’s the perfect fit with wemi he’s the perfect fit at the four for Detroit moving forward um if you want like Maas or like whoever you’re looking at right I would then try and like move back again and get like another asset like I’d draft day this thing like I’d be like trying to like go like incrementally like move down where I can to um the lowest area where like I have guys in the same tier basically on my board and just keep like accumulating assets and keep like adding things because again at the top of this class the reason that there’s so much uncertainty is that all of these guys are like fairly close in terms of overall talent and like Prospect status and everything I would try to capitalize on that and try to continue to add assets and add Assets in the way that I could best and that’s again like I think people want to take Atlant like want somebody to you know go number one overall the Atlanta Hawks I understand that that’s not the sexiest answer but like that’s what I would try and do if I was running the team yeah generally speaking you know this fans hate trade Downs they just want to take the guy and it’s it’s not sexy but no you’re everything you said there is something that I would kind of I have talked about and it’s you especially the everybody being kind of close together so I wanted to Let’s unpack that for a second because sure a lot of hawks fans and this is not surprising are basically Alex saw or bus don’t tell me about anybody but Alex sawar we only want Alex sawar and I understand that Viewpoint to some degree because he’s been number one on my board not by a ton but number one on my on my overall like not even just Hawks but My overall big board for a while sure I don’t know I don’t know where you are but on your most recent one that you published a while ago he was number one on your board is that still the case yeah no look I think he has the highest upside if it all really breaks right but like yeah we we we can be honest and also say that there are floor outcomes if the offense doesn’t if the offense doesn’t ever improve and come along from a shooting perspective from like a rim pressure perspective um and from a frame perspective is really what we’re talking about like he needs to get stronger and More Physical yeah so going down that road there’s this whole debate which we can get into or not about whether he’s going to be a center or what position he going to play and that’s particularly relevant I would say in Atlanta because they do love Jaylen Johnson who you referenced before and Jaylen is to this point a four I know there’s a thought he might be able to play some three and I think he can do that but he has been a four in bold letters for Hawks since he arrived how much does fit come into this too like Beyond just the alexar evaluation which there’s Nuance to that too do you care does it change your evaluation of alexr in Atlanta because Jaylen Johnson is there because he’s kind of the tier Prospect for the Hawks that you have to start to care is kind of the way I think about it yeah it does it definitely comes into play because I don’t have a tier one or tier two grade in this class like all of my top five guys are in the same tier in this class and that includes Donovan kingan risset um SAR certainly uh Reed Shepard is in this group for me although like taking another guard doesn’t seem particularly ideal for them uh and then finally like I have Steph Castle in this group as well I understand if people don’t but uh yeah so the way that I look at this is when you get into like a tier three type of player I think that it does matter a little bit more because those are the players where yes they probably have like All-Star upside of things break right but they probably need the right developmental environment to be able to reach that kind of ceiling and I think that like all three of the main guys that we’re talking about maybe to an lesser extent risse because I think that like his athletic tools are just not particularly strong and like his physicality is not particularly strong but like I I can see a world where Donovan kingan like sneaks an All-Star Game in the same way that like Jared Allen did you know what I mean um I can see a world where alexar is an All-Star like a couple of times right I I don’t I don’t know that any of these guys are like many many time Allstars if I was like realistically projecting them um I guess there’s a world where you could hit that level but uh you know if I’m finding middle grounds right of what like the most likely outcome is I don’t know that I would say multi-time All-Star for any of these guys realistically I think that where fit comes into play with Johnson and SAR particularly is I think that they can work together long term if SAR and Johnson both continue to improve as Shooters I also don’t mind the idea of alexar entering a mix that also includes Ana aono uh who will be able to take on like more physical matchups early in his career while Alex like helps off the wing and then you have Jaylen you know flying across the court with his athleticism right I think that that would be the kind of ground coverage that you would need around Trey young in order to like facilitate a potentially positive defense but I would also understand like the shooting concerns that you would realistically have early in their careers if Jaylen Johnson doesn’t take big Le if you know Ana kongu obviously like doesn’t take some leap as a shooter right and then uh you know Alex R takes a few years to like really iron out the consistency of like his off-hand involvement in the jumper and like becoming like more consistent with his mechanics and release point and everything like that so look I I don’t think the Hawks are like anywhere near contending so if I was them I would just take the guy that I think had like the best long-term up side that also like has a chance to fit with your players yeah but I understand them at least looking cling in if they are willing to move a Kongo and like then try and like find a home for him is like a cheaper option that can be a starting caliber Center somewhere today show is brought to you by price and with price you turn $10 into $1,000 in a single game I’m watching your favorite sports this summer you can make a line of prize picks in just as little as 60 seconds that’s huge if you’re so busy like I happen to be sometimes and all you have to do is pick pick more or pick Less on two six players St projections and you are locked in at prize pick America’s number one fantasy sports app over five million active members get on the daily action with your friends and become a part of the price Bas Community right now today you can get boosted payouts and select basketball Stars you won’t find anywhere else when the NBA playoffs are over the Hoops action does not stop at Price Pi they have women’s basketball stuff when it comes to stars like Caitlyn Clark and Adel ree Etc and with 100 times the money on your cash while watching them ball out this summer price is also the best way on to get on the action in sports in more than 30 States across the country including California in Texas and of course in Georgia and they have quick withdrawals as well you can download the price pick app right now today and when you get there use the promo code locked on NBA for first time deposit match up to $100 Again download the app and use code locked on NBA when you get there for a first time deposit match up to $100 pick more pick less it’s that easy with prospects so let’s go to cling it for a second because again I said it before but they’re that’s probably the loudest Intel is like the Hawks do like him I don’t know if they’re gonna take him at one overall um it seems like that’s usually correlated in what I’ve heard from like we like kinging if we can move down not necessarily take him at one but maybe they would at the end of the day I don’t know that and maybe you do um but I I don’t I don’t know that yeah it’s worth I don’t I don’t have a full answer on that and you know it seems like kingan was not really seen as an in the mix for number one overall most of the way and now he’s kind of maybe getting pushed there whether it’s fit whether it’s that people are really more impressed by looking at the tape and I I like what I’ve seen on tape too I really like Donovan kingan I also have I think what many have is kind of like a hesitation at number one overall it just seems like that’s not quite the level he is but that’s kind of the same for all of these guys just to say that out loud you kind of talked about that too but um there’s a you just for people that don’t understand what what Sam said earlier about not having a tier one or two Prospect Sam is been going back for years and tier one is like yeah tier one guys and then like like Victor Luca I had Aon in that mix I had Kade there um yeah like a bunch of you know a bunch of those style players but to have no to have nobody in tier one or tier two is kind of all you need to know about the top of this class it’s kind of like yeah so so for reference over the last four years that I’ve been doing draft guides I had I think 16 players in tier one or tier two um I’m like not stingy stingy with those grades uh last two years I had nine players tier one or tier two so like an average of like four and a half per draft class um and then this past this year I have zero like point blank which I think is not necessarily like full on everybody thinks that but a lot of people in the same boat you are of like not seeing the top top uh guys in this class um on linging you know there’s kind of two debates happening right there’s one is like everyone agrees he going to be a good Defender basically on some level but it’s how good are you that’s how good is he and also how you know scheme versatile like there’s the Rudy stuff that’s out there if he’s not Rudy what do you make of his defense because that’s kind of where you have to start with playing in then the offense is important too at number one overall in particular but um if he’s not a generational Defender um a sub generational defender on defense like it’s it’s kind of a harder cell so where does that stack up for you as far as his projection yeah I I think Donovan is a genuinely great defender um unbelievable in drop coverage unbelievable like backpedal and drop coverage while using his length to stay enormous has that 9 foot seven standing reach uh unbelievable in terms of the mind to play like cat and mouse in ball screens really really sharp uh awareness of his surroundings and like knows when the time I need to recover knows when the time okay like I need to like be available to help my guard who isn’t getting over the screen right just like really really sharp instinctually um the thing I will note with Donovan is has like a bigger frame right and part of the reason that you didn’t see his name brought up in like number one conversations early is that he dealt with a injury in the preseason to his foot it is not like most people hear like foot injury for a 7 fo2 guy and be concerned from what I understand it is not like a longterm worry um it’s like it’s not like a significant like middle part of the foot like weightbearing you know con like concern for him you know what I mean not um it’s it it so like he ended up kind coming back struggling a little bit like not like a crazy amount but like wasn’t moving as well as we saw last year by the end of the year right I think he was up around like 290 295 pounds because like when you have a foot injury it’s harder to do conditioning exercises right so he was heavier he’d put on like you know 20 pounds unable to do conditioning stuff then sprains his ankle and honestly like that ankle sprain ended up being like kind of a like it’s it’s hard to say it’s positive but like it gave him some time to like really really get back into shape uh so that when he returned from that after spraining the ankle at Satan Hall he ended up like really like moving well again and like looked like he was back to the level that we saw last year when he would have been a first round pick even though he played like 10 minutes A Night at uh Connecticut on their first national championship team in the last two years so the the thing that worries me just to touch about klling in is like if he does suffer these random injuries here and there right is he going to be able to consistently stay in condition to make the most out of his athleticism I I think the answer I hope the answer to that is yes maybe is the way to put it but I’m not 100% sure on that and even more than like the injury stuff that’s more where M my mind goes in terms of like is he gonna be able to like stay at full health you know all the time uh it’s more about the conditioning factor and like staying in Peak physical condition as opposed to uh you know the is he going to like break a foot and like be done for a year at a time like kind of thing and he is huge which is a selling point generally speaking especially with for his defense’s he’s absolutely massive um but there is I’m not even sure it’s he just hasn’t been a high minute guy I mean there’s a reason his freshman year was because he you know they were loaded and they didn’t need him this year you just laid out part of reasons why but he’s never really gotten to that I guess maybe in the tournament he was up around 30 what 32 33 minutes um yeah and I’m not saying you can’t do that and it’s but anyone with the size he has is a in the NBA over 82 games a can you play 35 minutes a night question for both guys like that’s not a new question it’s just it is notable if you’re going even not even number one if you’re talking the guy you know top two three four in the draft you’re hoping he’s going to be your full-time in bold letter starting center 30 minutes a night and if you don’t 100% so on that that’s kind of a kind of a question mark yeah and like on the offensive side of the Court like I’ll say this too I think he got incredible as a screener by the end of the year so like I recorded with um cam Spencer earlier this morning to do a film room that’ll go up on the game theory Channel at some point and the thing that Cam and I talked about is just like how sharp he got like with his angles and like with his screens and just like really really smart in terms of understanding how to rescreen understanding how to position his body like he became an awesome screener over the course of his season in Connecticut this year he is also extremely comfortable in like dple handoff settings he’s very comfortable High away from the basket he can really pass the ball for a big like he is very comfortable passing and playmaking like the the name that like comes to mind for me when I watch him is it’s almost more like like this is a name that also went number one overall like it is somewhat like Andrew bogaty to me in terms of what his impact is and like to me if you ended up with Andrew bogot like as an Atlanta Hawks fan from this draft like I would probably be pretty happy with that uh in terms of like his play on the court like I know that bogot obviously like broke his elbow and that like completely like derailed the upside that he had at one point but like Andrew was like on his way to like a all NBA career uh like multiple times like that’s kind of the name that like kind of stands out when I watch him in terms of like the feel for the game the passing the rim protection the size like kind of kind of all of that put together I take that and I’m sure you know people that weren’t around for like Peak bogit may not understand how good he was at one point so I’ll just I’ll EO he was very very very good at one point and was a worthy number one one number one pick that that was not a huge surprise nor was it a weird pick like he was a deserving number one overall pick that happened um and yeah I mean the offense is interesting we don’t have to go deep into it I know we’re cous enough time but kingan like there’s this thing about is he is he gonna shoot it in the future I like his passing quite a bit that’s my favorite thing about him yeah I’m skeptical of a shooting uh you make you make kind of a face okay it’s gonna I’m all for like these guys trying to step away and shoot but I don’t think that he’ll ever be guarded as a shooter is the way I would phrase it like he might step away and like he might have a year where he makes like 40 53s yeah but at that point like you’re still not being guarded and I’d rather just have you around the rim at the end of the day yeah it could maybe be helpful in some lineups and all that stuff and you know his poor free throw shooting is kind of a red flag for that all that stuff we’ll leave it there uh I do want to at least mention the name of re I know you mentioned it earlier but he’s the other seeming you know actually I’ll just ask you this would it shock you if they drafted at one if they stayed at one and took someone not named saw re Sher Clingan yes would think I would also be shocked but you have better sources than I do um so that’s I’m I’m not saying it’s impossible like right that’s what I’ve said if if modest like went in and like blew the doors off the place in a workout um modest is like Intel like all super positive like great work ethic um great like basketball character um like wouldn’t blow my mind uh if like something crazy like that happened but I I would be I would be surprised if it was any one of those anyone other than those three if they stay at one again I gave that Cav uh anyway so Ray it’s interesting like M I’ll say mainstream a lot of people have him number one and like has been sitting there for a while I know I I don’t have him there you don’t have him there but he seems to be a pretty highly regarded Prospect and it’s more of the it seems to me you can correct me it seems to be more of the like 69ine Wing who can shoot it that’s kind of the archetype everybody wants how much of that is just the appeal for Zachary ceet versus like the actual player that he is and like where are you maybe pros and cons on him yeah I would throw in the defense as well I think he’s a really good off ball Defender I think he’s a really really good like weak side um Can guard like one on twos on the weak side really really well because of his length and like he’s pretty balanced in terms of his athleticism um I do I do like him on that end of the Court he also so like they would occasionally run him like at the point of attack and just like try and like use his length to bother teams but uh for the most part like I think he’s a uh he’s gonna be like an NBA starter like to me like I’ve heard the name like fron vogner come up with him I think fron was like way more Dynamic like on the ball in the moments that we even saw that at Michigan you know what I mean um you know people have brought up like Brandon Miller and like Brandon Miller is just like so much more flexible in the way that he operates ball screens right like like R like struggles I think sometimes to like control the ball in those you know circumstances like really needs to improve the tightness of his handle I think he’s like just kind of an off ball wing and like he’ll be a guy that has a good career like he’ll play in the NBA for a long time I think as long as the shooting holds up but I do think that like you know he was he was Streaker this year as a shooter than what people think like he was you know he started like 40 8% from three up until January 22nd and then you know had a stretch for three months where he was at like 22 and then like finished really well right so he’s like the floor I think is a little bit lower with risset than what I think other people will say and admit um despite the fact that like I think the odds are he will be a good player but I do at least want to acknowledge that like it’s not like a 100% virtual luck that this guy is like a starter in the NBA and that’s why he’s going to go in the top three it there there are holes here that could cause some issues but I think that he will likely be a good solid starter in the NBA yeah I share your concerns especially with the ball in his hands I think he could be like maybe an attack Closeouts guy but I I don’t see a ton of on ball juice with him not that he you don’t have to have that but you have to know what you’re what you’re going to get too like if if the understanding is that you’re drafting him as an off ball win that’s fine but that isn’t Scream number one overall pick but again this is a curve for everybody in this class and I get that um and he is projectable in some ways but I agree I do agree with you though like what happens if he doesn’t sh not not that he doesn’t shoot but if he’s just an okay shooter yes it gets it gets a little bit gets a little bit dicey if that’s I’m not saying that’s the case but if it does happen that would be a concern big time yeah no I agree I completely agree um I’m gonna get you out of here I promise in a second you got you got like seven or eight minutes I would say perfect uh SO trading down was on your on your radar right and I’m not going to make you go through exact I know you mentioned the Washington I’ve actually thrown that Washington hypothetical out there in most you know last year especially but in most drafts that wouldn’t be enough to get you from two to one in this class it I think it probably would be or at least should be at least in the conversation um let’s say they move down a bit um I think that they would probably like to get klling in in a trade down that would might be the the the check all the Box scenario for the Hawks would be maybe go down and get clinging who they seem to like um is there anybody else in the trade down scenario that you would be interested in in Atlanta in particular maybe it’s somebody that you have already in your top five but like anybody that strikes you as a trade dot option that we haven’t talked about yeah like I think Clingan makes a lot of sense for them in a trade down um I think R like if they end up like in a circumstance where some maybe like they do trade down and they’re trying to get like like it ends up where some team is trying maybe Portland’s trying to move up from to two to get Kling in like you could maybe end up in a circumstance ret won’t fall to seven I guess though no but I mean yeah if if you did what well your your multi-tier option might be a way to get him get re at three or something like that slide back up to like four maybe yeah if like you know San Antonio is comfortable with what they have right um yeah like tiered trades ideas um I mean look but that’s the area of the draft like I’m most comfortable with like I like that like you know seven or eight to 18 range in this class I think that’s actually like you know if not like a normal draft class like maybe even like a little bit better than a normal draft class like in this it’s yeah it’s probably the I think we agree that’s that’s the that’s the best part and now I don’t know just for Hawks fans probably don’t they’re gonna yell at me I haven’t heard the Hawks want to go down that far but maybe they maybe there’s an offer that just presents itself and that’s what they end up doing um I I tend to think that they probably don’t want to go down that far but yeah time will tell yeah like so like the if you if you do end up in a circumstance where you want cling in like could you realistically go from one to four in like a multi-tiered move where it’s like okay you know you tell Washington hey I have a team that’s moving up to move to get SAR um we don’t really want to move that far down though like do are you willing to come up to two for 26 or come up to one and include 26 okay great you can go from like two to four then maybe and end up you know say San Antonio just like really wants racee right and you could do the same thing and say like hey like I’ve got a team that’s coming up here to get risset um you know we don’t really want to move down that far though like what would you give us to go from four to two right now and maybe they get back you know obviously those two teams have like a lot of synergy potential trade-wise because of all the picks that Atlanta owes them or uh yeah Atlanta owes San Antonio so like may maybe you could get something in return that way right um I think you probably could go down to four and still get clinging because if that was the circumstance yeah because I think hou like the only concern would be if Houston then traded out trades with Memphis or Portland OR yeah one of those teams that might which would be plausible I think well that’s things like there’s this I you know you will not be surprised there are lots of hawks Spurs hypotheticals that I get asked about every single day because of the guards and the the owed picks and all and the fact that they have 4 and eight and they all this stuff uh uh are you on same page with me I I think I think a 4 and eight for one offer is not coming from San Antonio personally does that seem like too much to you yeah I I think that’s way too much I think that’s like way way too much like if you told me that like the Spurs would be willing to go from four to one and give up like one of the future picks that’s kind of what I think like a San Antonio pick where they think they’re going to be really good because they have Victor I I would buy that potentially but they’re I don’t think they’re giving up eight to move to I I agree with you there and yeah that’s but one of those even like is one of those conditional trades right where it’s it’s hard to do that because you have number one you have to agree on the player at one so like let’s just say in this hypothetical the Hawks want kingan they want to get him at four the Spurs want to go up and get their guy you have to agree on who the backup plan is so like if the Hawks go to four but it’s cont on kinging cling may not be there there’s no guarantee that cling is going to be there and that means you have to agree with San Antonio on who they want number one and be okay if that’s the guy you pick and that’s that’s it’s it’s happened before but it’s hard to there’s a lot of moving Parts with that kind of totally and you still run the risk that Houston could like move to trade out in some way at that point at number three and like I think Houston you know obviously is like very involved in a lot of rumors right now for reasons that make sense they have a number of younger players on their team and you know while I think like adding Reed Shepard who you know would be awesome there I think makes a ton of sense there um makes sense but like they they could also like do cling if they wanted to as well I think in theory like they just went out and got Stephen Adams right but like I I got the impression that Stephen Adams move was just to stay above the cap um as much as like they liked Stephen Adams to be sure like I don’t mean it’s it’s a free look at him for basically is what it comes down to it’s like it’s a it’s a free look at a year while you solve an objective uh that was staying over the cap like you could if you really think Donovan kingan is like the next era’s stepen Adams and some way or something right you could lock in Domin kingan for four cheap years you know what I mean so yeah I I think that you do if you run if you drop below number two you do run the risk that you lose kingin I think for sure yeah it’s hard if if he is the only guy you want you are running the risk of losing him going down too far Sam I’m gonna get you out of here um thank you for doing this uh of course so if they’re on the clock at number one and they have to make a pick if someone make someone says hey Tony wrestler you must make this pick Alex would you take alexar Tony wrestler too well that was that was that was on purpose that I said that you C that did you oh who do I think it is I don’t know the answer to that I don’t either I mean it’s it’s really uh it’s also like I yeah and my takes I feel I feel back because my takes are not as strong as some people are because it comes down to what you said multiple times on this you’re these guys are all in the same tier for you on some level it’s hard for me to get too worked up in any direction which is bad podcasting but it’s like it’s just what it is I know what I would do I would just take Alex I think if I had to make the pick I’m I’m trying to hold out to like my firm decision until the day before the draft so I can announce it on the show but I I tend to agree that’s what I would probably do if I was that number one and I couldn’t get out and I couldn’t get out yeah like that’s the thing but like I I think that my price to get out would not be as expensive as maybe what theirs is you know well and that’s well and there’s also you know in real life and uh there is the I almost said vanity but there’s like the pr play right the number one overall pick like a more casual Observer is not going to be moved by two and 26 you know like so if that matters to anybody if the pr aspect matters and you know if you if you pass on alexar at number one you trade down a spot or two and Alex becomes alexar makes you look bad you it’s bad P anyway thank you Sam anything to plug not not you need need me to plug you for any reason but anything you want to share coming soon uh the draft guide is coming soon that’s a big one that’ll be up I think this week at some point I’m literally doing final like minor minor edits on it today on Sunday when we’re recording this so um that’ll be this week as far as I know like that comes this week uh yeah go to the game three podcast uh you know go support that thing you know up over 10,000 subscribers on YouTube which is fun um you know bunch of you listening on the podcast feed too so go check that out it’s a it’s a really fun time Bry Simon and I have a you know enjoyable time we just did our favorite po prospects of the um of the cycle so yeah I listened to that while I was waiting for you to get done with it and by the way I laugh because you told me that you that you weren’t GNA go long tonight I think you guys went like two hours plus because that’s just yeah like Bryce and I are at the point where not long is an hour 25 if we get done at an hour 29 we’re happy uh anything beyond uh an hour 45 is a normal uh normal show at this point Bry came on with me and we went an hour and 10 and we could have gone three hours so we were we were nowhere near done and I was like BR I gotta let you go you gave me way too much time anyway thank you Sam I appreciate it my friend try to get some sleep at some point in the next month or something you probably won but that’s yeah I’ve been okay so far once the draft guide gets off the plate like it’s all it’s all great at that point well good I’m sure I will see you soon but thank you for doing this check out Sam’s work Game Theory the athletic Etc subscribe to this podcast if you’re a new listener I’d appreciate that and we’ll see you all next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts episode No. 1740 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie, The Athletic, Game Theory Podcast). The conversation discusses the Atlanta Hawks and the 2024 NBA Draft, including options with the No. 1 overall pick, the latest intel, Alex Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher, Donovan Clingan, trade-down options, and much more.

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