Hawks GM Landry Fields wasn’t expecting to come away with the top overall pick in the draft, Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution relays.
Atlanta zoomed up all the way from the No. 10 spot in the draft lottery to the top of the heap. The Hawks, who won 36 games, had a 3% chance of getting the No. 1 overall selection.
“I was shocked,” Fields said. “If you look at the percentages, and when I first saw that it wasn’t between 10 and 12, that launched us into the top four. So I was like, ‘Alright, we got a real shot at this thing.’ So, a bit of surprise, but a lot of excitement.”
This year’s draft doesn’t have a consensus No. 1 pick. In fact, the Hawks could go a number of different ways. However, Fields isn’t turning down his lottery luck, Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks passes along.
“I look at it, frankly, as an opportunity,” he said. “These are the positions that you want to be in.”
If Fields has a particular player in mind, he wasn’t tipping his hand. They could use some frontcourt depth after enduring several injuries among their forwards and centers this season, Williams notes.
“I mean, there’s a lot of guys. I think it’s a lot of fun to so many different types of guys,” Fields said. “So many different variations. We’ll look at it. We’ll dive deep and see what comes in June.”
Until Sunday’s results, the Hawks had never won the lottery since its inception in 1985. It’s certainly not out of the question Atlanta could trade the pick, due to uncertainty at the top of the draft class. But Fields indicated that building through the draft is his preferred method.
“It’s how you build teams,” Fields told The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov. “You build through the draft, and to have an opportunity to swing as high as we are this year, that’s a really good thing.”
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