Hawks get rave reviews for draft from ESPN

Is grading a draft class before they’ve stepped on an NBA floor an incredible waste of time? Yes. Are we going to discuss it 100% of the time? Also, yes.

ESPN recently released their draft grades for all 30 teams following the conclusion of last night’s second round, and they’re high on what Onsi Saleh and the Hawks did once again.

Despite a run of backcourt players going off the board before their first pick, the Hawks landed Flemings, a freshman point guard from Houston.

Atlanta has quietly assembled a guard corps with complementary skill sets: Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a solid two-way contributor, CJ McCollum is the shotmaking veteran, Dyson Daniels is the energetic defensive stopper, and Flemings arrives as an explosive off-the-dribble threat.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder should be able to mix and match his personnel and allow the 19-year-old Flemings to develop on his own timetable. Ejiofor brings length and defensive toughness to an Atlanta frontcourt that needed more depth, and he should be ready to contribute immediately after spending four seasons in college.

The Hawks look to have landed two immediate contributors at areas of need with their first two picks. Flemings has All-Star potential and the floor of a player that commands the offense while adding much-needed perimeter defense that will be menacing next to Dyson Daniels, arguably the best perimeter defensive player in the league.

Ejiofor is also a really interesting player. He doesn’t have the traditional height of a rim protector, but he more than makes up for it with his strength and relentless pressure. You’d be hard-pressed to find a player that played with more intensity throughout his college career.

But there’s also some offensive upside with Ejiofor. He’s comfortable with the ball in his hands as both a scorer and facilitator. If he can develop an even respectable jumper from beyond the arc, he could eventually become a piece of the Hawks starting lineup.

With these two selections, Atlanta still needs to add a traditional seven-foot center to match up with some of the other teams at the top of the Eastern Conference, as we saw in the series against the Knicks. That should be attainable this offseason, and it will give Quin Snyder a ton of interesting lineup combinations depending on the situation.

Additionally, the Hawks snagged Henri Veesaar with the 52nd pick in the second round — a seven-foot sniper out of the University of North Carolina who shot 42.6% from beyond the arc this past season. Veesaar was a projected first-round pick, and landing him that late is a steal. It’s not often you find a guy with his unique skill set available in the second round.