While leaks to the media often make it harder for Travis Schlenk to do his job, the Hawks‘ general manager was appreciative of a particular leak on Thursday night, he said during an appearance on 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area (link via ESPN.com). According to Schlenk, the Hawks were considering a deal to move up two spots from No. 19 last night, but when word broke of the Bucks‘ plans at No. 17, Schlenk decided it against it.
“We had the 19th pick and we’re coming down and we’re actually talking to Milwaukee on the 17th pick, talking about trading up to get a guy we like,” Schlenk explained. “There were a couple of guys we felt really good about on the 19th pick, obviously Kevin [Huerter] was one of them, and it leaked who Milwaukee was going to take.
“So, all of a sudden, we were able to pull back out of that deal and keep the draft pick instead of packaging picks to move up because we knew that [there were] two guys on the board we felt really good about, and only one team in between us,” Schlenk continued. “So that was beneficial to us last night.”
Schlenk’s comments suggest that the Hawks were zeroing in on two players with that mid-first-round pick, and Donte DiVincenzo – who was selected by Milwaukee at No. 17 – wasn’t one of them.
Here’s more from Schlenk on the Hawks:
- Discussing the trade that saw the Hawks move down to select Trae Young instead of simply drafting Luka Doncic, Schlenk said the front office was “really, really split” between the two guards (Twitter link via Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal Constitution). Given how close the two prospects were in Atlanta’s view, it made sense for the club to take Young and get an extra 2019 first-round pick out of the deal.
- According to Schlenk, the Hawks had both Doncic and Young rated higher on their board than the top big men available at No. 3. The GM added that he has a “personal preference” for play-makers over bigs (Twitter link via Cunningham).
- Asked about Young’s fit in Atlanta with Dennis Schroder already on the roster, Schlenk said that the two players are capable of playing together. However, as Cunningham notes, it’s not as if the Hawks GM will come out and say he wants to move Schroder. The team has been exploring possible trades involving the veteran point guard, but interest has been “tepid,” Cunningham adds (Twitter links).
Schroder to Milwaukee would be great.
Now we don’t need another point guard who can’t shoot we already got Bledsoe.
He and Bud never saw eye-to-eye, and Bud even would suspend him for conduct detrimental to the team on occasion.
Schroder and Young would make a dynamic backcourt, if their size is not a matchup problem.
But Bazemore will be hard to trade too. CLE would have offered some value in trade last year, but it’s probably too late now.
Young, Huerter, Spellman, high picks added in r1 & r2 next year… super draft. But they will be keeping their overpaid vets till the end of their contracts, like everyone else for the most part.
Shroeder to the pacers. They need someone else along with Diop
Dipo
If they could combine the two players into one, then they’d have a superstar. This GM made a real nice pick last year (his first), but I think he did less with more in this one. Maybe, unlike most, he likes next year’s draft better.
Atlanta did a great job, I do feel like Young is comparable to Curry, at his age Young is way ahead of Curry, also is a better playmaker, passer & shoots very well too, so I think Atlanta got themselves a star in there, so why fans are so negative, it looks good man.