I think we’re committed to it,” Schlenk said. “Obviously our pick is going to be a top-10 pick, so obviously we’ll keep that, unless some great offer came our way, something we couldn’t turn down. But according to Schlenk, they’ll look for the best player available and not focus as much on fit.
“We could be anywhere between 1 and 8,” Schlenk said. “Last year, we were going in at fifth and we end up at 8 because three teams jump in front of us, so a lot of that is just going to depend on where we end up picking. But we’re going to take who we feel like is the best player there. We’re not going to position it.
What we’d like to do, ideally, is add guys to our core that we feel like are still growing, maybe not 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds like we have, but maybe guys in their mid-20s who still have room to improve and are maybe coming off their first contract, or that we feel like would be good additions to our group, and try to increase our depth a little bit.”
Don’t be surprised if the Hawks show a little more aggression in free agency than they have in years past.
“If there’s guys that we think are good fits, we might be out of the gates a little bit sooner,” Schlenk said. “I think the thing I’m always hesitant of is a lot of the times the first couple of contracts handed out might not be the best ones, the ones that look the best on paper.
“I think it’s conceivable that we might make some offers before we have in the past, whether or not teams or I should say agents or players want to jump at the offers we make right away, or see if there’s something better out there, might prevent us more from signing someone right away, but I do anticipate us being a little more assertive in free agency. … It’s all going to come down to the cap.”
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