You Schlenk(y) b@st_rd

[HawkItus]

Friday, June 22, 2018
Hawks GM: Didn't trade up from 19th pick because of media projections
ESPN

When Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk found out whom other teams were planning on drafting and that he'd be able to select Kevin Huerter with the 19th overall pick, there was no need to trade up to get the Maryland guard.

Schlenk told 95.7 The Game in San Francisco on Friday that he had a deal in place to acquire the No. 17 pick from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for a draft pick, but he never had to make that deal because the media were projecting picks on Twitter. 

2018 NBA draft

The Suns made Deandre Ayton the No. 1 overall pick, as the Arizona big man kicked off a draft that saw a record-tying 18 one-and-done players selected. 

• How this draft sets up free agency, trades
• Best, riskiest and most surprising picks
• Six big winners from the first round
• How Luka Doncic got to the Mavs
• Grades: Who wins the Doncic-Young swap?
• Suns take Ayton at 1, trade for Mikal Bridges
• Trade tracker: Details for every deal

Schlenk was talking about how leaks to the media make his job more difficult, but he said that a leaked report worked to his advantage during the draft.

"Last night, for instance, 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 said. "There's 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, two guys on the board we felt really good about and only one team in between us, so that was beneficial to us last night."

The Bucks took Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo with the 17th pick.

During Thursday's draft, various media reports, including ESPN, projected picks before they were officially announced.

[Ropadope]

I wanted Divincenzo and Walker ahead of Huerter 

[frosgrim]

I don't have a problem with Schlenk not doing this deal. His player fell to him at 19.  We can definitely question if Huerter or Divincenzo are the better picks, but if Schlenk's board had Huerter ahead, then Schlenk did the right thing.  For me, I really liked Dante, but the Red Mamba may prove to be the better player in the long run.

[DS5]

I think the 2 guys Schlenk was talking about are Lonnie Walker and Kevin Huerter. 

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Did anyone notice that our last two picks didn't get leaked? Every other picked for other teams were leaked. 

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Oh and I wanted Walker over both Divincenzo and Huerter smh