The Hawks have been linked to the stars of the executive world in the search for their next President of Basketball Operations. It began with Bob Myers, the architect of the Golden State Warriors, and most recently, Marc Stein has reported they are eyeing the Raptors’ Masai Ujiri, one of the most respected active general managers in the game today.
Stein also linked the Hawks to agent Alex Saratsis, who just so happens to represent Giannis Antetokounmpo, and if you start to read between the lines, the picture is pretty clear. The Hawks have targeted or interviewed three potential candidates — Masai Ujiri, Alex Saratsis, and Danny Ferry — that all have a relationship with the single biggest name that could be on the trade block this summer.
Things will get very interesting quickly if any three of them land the job, but in Jake Fisher’s latest report, there’s a chance the Hawks don’t hire a President of Basketball Operations at all, citing they feel very confident in Onsi Saleh, who was promoted to general manager at the time Landry Fields was relieved of his duties.
“They (the Hawks) announced to the world on April 21 that they are searching for a president of basketball operations to take over the front office, but sources briefed on the situation have suggested that Atlanta could opt for making no additional changes to its management structure after promoting cap strategist Onsi Saleh to general manager,” Fisher writes.
“The search firm Sportsology has arranged for the Hawks to interview a number of candidates to date and, as The Stein Line has reported, that includes the interest in both Ujiri and an unsuccessful pursuit of former Golden State Warriors lead executive Bob Myers as well as outreach to numerous player agents — including Antetokounmpo’s longtime representative Alex Saratsis.”
The Hawks decision to fire Landy Fields came off as a head-scratcher. He took over the organization in a very difficult spot, one that could have gotten ugly quickly. However, his trade of Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., and a couple of first-round picks is looking like it could go down as one of the best moves in the history of the franchise. It single-handedly might have saved Atlanta from hitting the reset button and moving off Trae Young this offseason, who is the club’s biggest star since Dominique Wilkins.
The Hawks are in a far better place today than they were when Fields took over, but how much of that is because of Fields’ doing? In theory, it could have been Onsi Saleh pounding the table for Daniels behind closed doors, which might be why the Hawks are so confident in his abilities moving forward.
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Photographer: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire
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