Everything From Onsi Saleh's First Media Availability Ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft

There are two days until the NBA Draft and the Atlanta Hawks remain one of the most interesting teams in the draft this year. They hold the 13th and 22nd picks in the draft this year and could go in a number of directions.

For the first time since being elevated to the general manager position, Onsi Saleh got a chance to speak with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement

"So first and foremost, just wanted to thank the Ressler family, Tony just empowering me to build out our front office. I thought we had two tremendous additions in Graham and Peter Dinwiddie. It's 30 plus years experience for us. Amazing human beings, culture adds. So just thanking Tony for letting me build out this front office and empowering me to do that. Just feel like we're in a really good place, organizationally. Feel like we're a great place with our front office moving forward. Just really excited to build with the Hawks now, Absolutely, and it's draft season now too. So a lot been going on. We've had 80 plus players come through our program here and probably spoken or connected with at least 100 when you take into Chicago in the combine. So we have some flexibility and some optionality, but I really like our two picks at 13 and 22. I think we're gonna be able to add two quality players to that mix, so really excited about the draft, feel really prepared about it, looking forward to it."

1. On Staying at 13 and 22 as opposed to moving up in the draft...

"Yeah, I think the key for us is optionality. I think the two picks gives us that. You know, there's different things we could do, but I do feel really comfortable with 13 and 22. I think there's going to be good players there."

2. On his philosophy about the draft and how he plans to apply it to this draft...

"Yeah, absolutely. It's a great question. Just stepping into this role is comfortable. In a sense that I was very fortunate to be in two organizations like the Spurs and Warriors. I hit the lottery when it came to learning from under R .C. Buford and Bob Myers and Pop and Steve Kerr. So I got really lucky there, but they really helped me along and be prepared for this role. And honestly, just ready to roll with it. And when it comes to the draft, I always pick the best player available. That's my philosophy. I don't believe in picking for a position. If there's a guy that makes sense for us, we're going to take him."

3. On if Trae Young is having any input when it comes to the draft or free agency...

"Yeah, like I mean, Trae's, me and him spoke the other day and he's just locked in for this season coming up, we're both locked in and we have a lot of optionality this summer like between the moves we made at the deadline a little bit more optionality, flexibility of the trade exceptions that we got long way to the tax, different things that we could do but also have authority to go into the tax between the two so just looking forward to locking in and next season I think it's going to be a fun one."

4. On how far the team is from contending from a championship...

"It's a great question. I think we're making strides. I think it starts every day in practice, every day when you walk into this facility, but one thing we saw from these two teams in Oklahoma City, in Indiana. They were developmentally focused. The rules have changed when it comes to roster construction, but if you look at those two teams, they really developed, they built a culture, and the chemistry and cohesion between those groups, I think, stood out when you watch them play. They both play the right way, so try to bring that mentality and that direction to our program."

5. On if he is going to be reporting to a president of basketball operations...

"Honestly, I understand and appreciate the question, but I don't have any information to answer that question. As far as everything that's been, you know, indicated to me, I'll be making all basketball decisions for draft, free agency, all that."

6. On balancing patience and wanting to win now...

"I feel like we're in a great position honestly like when you look at our season last year we had some injuries still won 40 games despite those injuries and again the optionality that we're adding to our group like our guys are developing still for sure we got potentially two more guys coming in but we also have optionality with different mechanisms to add to this team with the mid -level, the trade exception, things like that. So always looking to make our team better."

7. On where they need to improve the most...

"It's a great question. I think there's a lot of avenues there where we could get better. Experience is always one. But honestly, you're kind of going to go back to my draft philosophy, like the best players that are available will make our team better and that's how I look at roster construction in general that fit within what we're trying to build and the culture that we're trying to build."

8. On if there are any untouchable players on the roster...

"Yeah, I mean it's crazy in this NBA, it's like a silly term, touchable with some of the stuff we saw transpire. But again, just looking to add to our group, just looking to build something that's consistent, that has continuity and stability for a long time, instead of just being one hip, one new type of team. So try to build this into a program in the two places I came from, or an example of that. And it might not be good for a long time."

9. On the importance of this offseason due to the flexibility they have...

"Potentially it depends on how we structure contracts and things like that we could have flexibility next to next summer as well so it is an important summer for us for sure and the goal is to get better through the draft and through summer acquisitions, re -signing people that we really like on our team. So yeah, excited for it."

10. On Trae Young's Future...

"Yeah, we're locked in with Trae, and we talked last year, next season, we're just locked in the next season, waiting to move forward and be the best team that we could possibly moving forward. And I think a lot of his leadership from last season probably went unnoticed to the common eye. Like, the way that he helped develop our young guys and make them better was significant. So, I mean, just continuing on with that and hopefully Just making our team better."

11. On his partnership with Quin Snyder...

"Q and I have a great partnership. It's, he is you know, whenever I talk about roster stuff, draft, you know looking into what's next for the roster and the team. I always take his input without, without question. At the end of the day though it's always going to be my decision on whatever we do with our roster."

12. On the importance of bringing in size to the team when they have an undersized point guard and undersized center...

"Yeah, it's a good question. Again, like I think there are ways that you could build a team that you don't need traditional types of things. In the sense of like we do have some long athletic guys out there, which is really interesting for our defense and our play style moving forward. Yeah, when we get to that point in our season, we'll address some things there, but I feel really good about a lot of our group moving forward. We are a very young group that is still developing, And I think that's important to realize here. I'm really excited for Onyeka. Really excited for Onyeka."

13. On his vision for the type of player he wants to bring in...

"Yeah, I think first and foremost, like just appreciating Landry's friendship. You know, I wouldn't be here without him, so just appreciating his vision and what he brought to the table when it came to talk about Hawks DNA and things like that. I don't really use terms like that. It's more of the things that I look for. Like in San Antonio, we always had this,the three things we cared about most were character, selfless, pound of rock. Here, it's competitiveness, toughness, resilience, and adaptability. Those are the things I look for with players."

14. On traits he looks for when drafting the best player available...

"It's a good question. Honestly, ways to impact winning, I think, are just always important. There's skill sets that we probably would love to have. But at the same time, if somebody is really good at something that impacts winning on either end of the court. That's ultimately what we're looking for, and that fits within the guys we currently have in our team."

15. On doing a deep evaluation of the draft...

"So we had to cast a really wide net, made a lot of scouts go all over the world. I was in Europe for a couple of weeks, checking out guys in the middle of America looking at some dudes and yeah, it's a process. You end up in small tiny gyms in different places across the world, but that's the fun part of this. It really is."

16. On Atlanta being a place where free agents want to come...

"Yeah, I think a cool thing about like when you look at like OKC, I think when you build a culture and have a program in place, that's really important to players. Like the city for sure, I think we have a clear competitive advantage with our city of Atlanta, but you have to have a foundation and stability within the organization to get that. Players care about that stuff, and I think people just think it's like big market or whatnot, but you know there's, there's guys that end up going to OKC because it made sense for them. And now they're NBA champions. So that's where we're getting to, like building, controlling what we control internally, develop how we want to develop, get the guys to be the best version of themselves, and add to that."

17. On where he thinks the draft is the deepest...

"Honestly, it's it's a great question. I just, I just, again best player available, like the highest talent, highest ceiling is what we're looking for."

18. On his conversations with Trae Young...

"Yeah, it's only been positive, we've only been just talking about whatever, we talk about the finals, things like that, now we've had a great relationship this whole time but it's never been to the extent of like roster construction or anything like that."

19. On the feedback he has gotten from Trae Young...

"Yeah we talk about the culture, the young guys, developing these guys so just to that extent really more than anything is again building a program."

20. On if any decisions have been made regarding the Summer League Roster...

"Yeah it's a great question, we're still still working through especially with the draft."

21. On what he brought from San Antonio that he is going to use in Atlanta...

"That's a great question. It was it was really awesome working in both those environments man like they're two different leadership styles between RC and Pop. Steve and Pop just like like one thing that is always important is just making sure that everybody's aligned and everybody's on the same page, the building is together and we're just working cross -functionally across departments. I think like that was a superpower of those organizations when you're a well -oiled machine like it just everything just works after that you talk about building a program and you can't really have one or a culture if everybody's not aligned on the vision from honestly like from me as a GM to an intern like we have to be able to have the same alignment where you walk in the building you know what what's going on where your role is that was big in both places just structure, infrastructure, stability, and culture honestly culture."

22. On the 13th pick...

"Yeah, I mean we have a group of guys at both positions that would be great and we feel good about honestly both just playing out the scenarios. I think we're going to get good players at both positions."

23. On getting to the position he is in now...

"Yeah, yeah, growing up in the middle of Canada, middle of nowhere in Canada. Like hockey was religion, but me and my brothers were just bigger than everybody else. So we kept watching NBA on NBC and just had a passion for it growing up and once I realized I wasn't good enough I was like how the hell do I get in the NBA and I'd done some research and a lot of people were attorneys and luckily this worked out because I'd be a terrible attorney probably so there was a passion for it from early age even like when people play NBA 2K and when I was younger you always go to like the off -season mode and like build a team up that way so there's always been an intrigue with team building in general but I found that like law school was really important for me because when you look at the CBA for example like it's a book of laws and translating that book of laws essentially to your advantage was important and then bringing that into layman's terms to the decision makers and trying to find loopholes and things like that was always like an interesting thing for me as well as the salary cap and all that but scouting as well. From every level it was always really exciting to me so it's been a passion love, the desire to be in this sport."

24. On the two new front office hires...

Yeah, I mean, I knew Peter and Bryson. I've known Peter probably for a little bit longer than Bryson, but both, like, we just cross paths in all the events and we always hang out and talk every now and then, but, you know, I just felt like they were, like, the two most qualified individuals to add to our team. And this was more about, like, functionality of positions that and extra like extra leadership it's like I talked about to your question earlier it's hard to manage a building, a basketball operations group and have everybody feel connected but those guys as leaders really help in that world."

25. On how hands on he was with the team prior to being promoted to GM...

"I was very hands on with our group. But it was a very collaborative effort across our group. Yeah, all the roster staff and scouting-- pretty, pretty significant role. But it was very collaborative across our group. "