2013:

First Round: Dennis Schroeder, Shane Larkin (Traded)

Schroeder led the Hawks through their rebuild and has become a consistent 6th man in the league. We got a terrible return for him, though, when we traded him to OKC (Carmelo Anthony was waived, lottery-protected 2022 FRP)

We traded Larkin to Dallas, and didn’t get any contributors. Waste of a pick.

Second Round: Mike Muscala, Raul Neto (Traded), James Ennis (Traded)

Muscala carved a career as a solid role-player and sometimes starting center during the rebuild years. Neto has become a good bench player for the Wizards, and Ennis is out of the league.

The big note about this draft is that we thought Giannis Antetokounmpo would fall into our laps at 17, as no one else seemed to be scouting him. Then, we would have taken Schroeder at 18. The Bucks got him first. What could have been...

////////////////////////// 2014: Random Nobodies, One was traded to get Kevin Huerter’s future pick, which is good.

/////////////////////////// 2015: The only notable player is Kelly Oubre Jr., but we immediately shipped him to the Wizards. Solid role player/starter/3-point shooter.

//////////////////////// 2016: This is a low point in Hawks’ drafting. We took De’Andre Bembry with the 21st pick, but he was never more than a role player (now on the Nets).

//////////////////////////// 2017: JC. John the Baptist. Our 1st good draft pick in years, the talent of John Collins fell into our lap at pick 19. He’s now playing at an All-Star level this year after getting paid the near-max. Best pick.

Other: Tyler Dorsey, now in Europe

///////////////////////////// 2018:

THAT DRAFT.

Luka for Trae and a future FRP (Cam Reddish).

People still think Luka is the better player, but Trae is a true superstar. Him and JC are the face of the franchise, and Trae has a team around him. He’s averaging almost 30ppg this year, while Luka’s numbers are down the past 2 years.

🥶

We also got Kevin Huerter in the late first round. “Red Velvet” has become one of the best 6th Men in the league and led us to the Eastern Conference Finals with a 27-point performance in Game 7.

Omari Spellman had promise, but was a bust of a FRP. We took De’Vontae Graham with the 34th pick, but trade him away. He’s now a really good starting point guard stuck on the hapless New Orleans Pelicans.

///////////////////////////// 2019:

Another GREAT draft. We traded Jaxton Hayes (the 8th pick) and more for the 4th pick, which became De’Andre Hunter. While Hunter shoots at incredible percentages and his defense was a glaring omission in the ECF, Hayes was arrested a few months ago and barely gets any minutes on the worst team in the league.

Can Reddish has ridiculous potential, and is showing more glimpses of it with his 20 point games off the bench. We got the 10th pick from the Luka-Trae trade.

Note: The Knicks declined our offer for the 2nd pick (RJ Barrett), which was the 8th and 10th picks.

///////////////////////////// 2020: I still believe this was a great draft.

Onyeka Okongwu was the 6th pick in the draft, and while I questioned it at the time, seeing him shut down GIANNIS DANG ANTETOKOUNMPO was awesome.

He has so much potential on the defensive end and to learn from Capela, he just needs to stay healthy.

Our SRP was Skylar Mays, who has showed glimpses of scoring potential, but is in the G-League.