{"id":77362,"date":"2024-05-13T22:23:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T02:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=77362"},"modified":"2024-05-13T22:23:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T02:23:26","slug":"2024-nba-draft-potential-no-1-pick-excited-to-play-for-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/13\/2024-nba-draft-potential-no-1-pick-excited-to-play-for-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 NBA Draft: Potential No. 1 Pick \u2018Excited\u2019 to Play for Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Entering the night with just a three percent chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks proved that Disneyland isn\u2019t the only place where magic happens.<\/p>\n<p>Now gifted with an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/12\/chaotic-hawks-can-calm-storm-with-no-1-pick\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">unexpected opportunity to improve<\/a> their roster after an unsatisfactory season, the Eastern Conference contender is trying to figure out the right way to play their cards. With one or both of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a> likely on the trade block, the Hawks can use the No. 1 pick as a sweetener, targeting any number of All-Stars. However, Atlanta could opt to keep the pick whether it\u2019s because they were unable to find a suitable deal or because they grew fond of a specific prospect.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, one projected lottery pick may already have a leg up on the competition.<\/p>\n<h2>Alexandre Sarr \u2018Excited\u2019 to Play for Hawks<\/h2>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/andscape.com\/features\/potential-no-1-draft-pick-alexandre-sarr-excited-about-chance-to-play-for-atlanta-hawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I\u2019m really excited<\/a>,\u201d Alexandre Sarr says of potentially being drafted by the Hawks, per Andscape\u2019s Marc J. Spears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Hawks are an exciting organization,\u201d he continues. \u201cThey are trending in the right direction. It\u2019s great that they have the No. 1 pick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked why <em>he<\/em> should be selected first overall, Sarr says \u201cI bring a lot of versatility&#8230; I am a game changer defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 19-year-old isn\u2019t wrong. In 2023-24, Sarr averaged 19.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.1 blocks, and 2.1 assists per 36 minutes. Capable of bringing the ball up in the open court and creating in the halfcourt, his guard skills as a 7-footer are alluring. However, his ability to protect the rim at a high level while still being able to guard in space makes him a rarity at both ends.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alex Sarr Season Highlights | Offense &amp; Defense | 2024 NBA Draft\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MSkcxV8228k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>That said, the rationale behind the Hawks drafting Sarr is that he gives them the best of what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/capelca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clint Capela<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okongon01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Onyeka Okongwu<\/a> have to offer in one player.<\/p>\n<p>Capela is a traditional rim-running center but lacks the fluidity to be depended upon when defending on the perimeter. With over 18,000 career minutes played, there\u2019s also a lot of mileage on the 30-year-old\u2019s body, further impacting his defensive activity. At the other end of the spectrum, Okongwu is springy enough to protect the rim and agile enough to guard in space. However, he\u2019s only 6-foot-8, primarily playing center because of his offensive limitations.<\/p>\n<h3>Returning to The A?<\/h3>\n<p>A native of Bordeaux, France, Sarr spent two years in Atlanta playing with the Overtime Elite before signing with the NBL\u2019s Perth Wildcats last May. In that time, the big man attended \u201ca lot of Hawks games,\u201d taking to the team\u2019s passionate fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know a little bit about Atlanta,\u201d Sarr says.\u201d \u201c&#8230;I was just going to school and was in the gym. It\u2019s a great city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Spears, \u201codds are the Hawks will visit privately with Sarr\u201d at the NBA Draft Combine. Notably, Hawks general manager Landry Fields reveals that he went to Australia to see Sarr play up close. That type of longstanding mutual interest may not result in him being a franchise pillar in Atlanta. However, the Hawks are certainly considering it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Entering the night with just a three percent chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks proved that Disneyland isn\u2019t the only place where magic happens. Now gifted with an unexpected opportunity to improve their roster after an unsatisfactory season, the Eastern Conference contender is trying to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":77382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,62,556,3],"tags":[49146,98],"class_list":["post-77362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-news","tag-alexandre-sarr","tag-nba-draft"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}