- 13 hours ago
The Atlanta Hawks selected guard Kingston Flemings from the University of Houston with the No. 8 overall pick and forward Zuby Ejiofor from St. John's with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Hawks GM Onsi Saleh hopped on with Dukes and Bell to break down what they see in the players and what else is in store this offseason.
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00:00Let's talk to the general manager, the guy with the deepest voice, Ansi Saleh.
00:05Hey, man, what's going on?
00:06Congratulations on a good first night, Ansi.
00:09How you doing?
00:10I'm doing great.
00:11How are you guys doing?
00:12Man, we're good.
00:13Excited.
00:14Yeah, I mean, look, we're taking it in from Hawks fans.
00:16I love that you, you know, basically, you know, dropped a cuss word at the presser
00:20because he was like, I'm not lying to y'all.
00:21And you didn't.
00:22You said you were going to take the best guy on the board.
00:25Tell us what made Kingston Flemings the best guy, in your opinion,
00:29and what the scouting staff and everybody who contributed to this decision,
00:33what were you sold on about him?
00:36Yeah, with Kingston, man, it was just his competitive nature,
00:39his ability to play both sides of the ball,
00:41and his leadership tendencies.
00:45I just heard you guys talking about it a lot.
00:47And coming from a program like that, man, you've got to have it,
00:51or you're not playing.
00:53Forget getting a role on offense.
00:55You're just not playing.
00:56And the kid is just, he's lightning quick, too.
01:00If you look at, like, his speed, he could create an advantage,
01:04like get by as a defender, essentially, without a screen.
01:06And that's pretty rare in this day and age.
01:09And he was doing that in college, guys, where the spacing was a lot trickier, right?
01:13Like, you could play zone.
01:14You could have a big, just camped out in the lane.
01:18Now, imagine that kid with that speed, with NBA spacing.
01:21It's pretty unique.
01:23And he shot the hell out of it.
01:25He doesn't turn the ball over.
01:28And he just makes good decisions.
01:30And will guard the heck out of, like, the other team's best player on the perimeter, too.
01:34So just really happy with Kingston, and he's going to be a good one, guys.
01:37Right.
01:37With him and Dyson Daniels, man, we're talking about potential for locking it down.
01:40You sounded almost like Zenlite at peace before the draft about your plan.
01:44Was this guy, your mark, for you, or you had a couple of guys on the sheet?
01:48Yeah, no, he was the one that we were really excited about, man.
01:51It was just like, he fits into how we play.
01:54We want to play fast.
01:55He could play fast.
01:56We want to play both sides of the ball.
01:58He's really good on both sides of the ball.
02:00And, I mean, honestly, he was the highest on our scouting model,
02:04and he was the highest on our analytics model.
02:06So when those two things align, it's usually like, you feel like you make a good pick.
02:10Wow.
02:10That's interesting.
02:11Ansi Saleh, our general manager for the Atlanta Hawks,
02:13joining us here on Dukes and Bell, guys, reacting to the first round of the draft.
02:18We have round two tonight.
02:19Obviously, we still have a pick in the second round.
02:21Ansi, I want to ask about your experience with the previous stops for yourself
02:25and how that shaped your philosophy about team building.
02:30I'm talking about Golden State.
02:32I'm talking about the Spurs.
02:33We just saw the Spurs playing for the NBA championship.
02:36And all those guys, you know, they're all still there.
02:40A lot of the guys in the front office part of things.
02:43How did that build your philosophy about team building?
02:47Yeah, when it comes to team building, for me, it's just like you have to have the guys
02:51that are really good processors, really can play both sides of the ball.
02:56By processing, it's just like decision-making, right?
02:58Like, what's a good shot?
02:59What's a bad shot?
03:00Are you moving?
03:01Are you spacing?
03:02Are you re-spacing?
03:03Do you understand what spacing concepts look like?
03:05How are you screening?
03:06You just need guys that are different archetypes.
03:09Like, in those teams that, you know, I was on back in the day with Golden State, San Antonio.
03:14Like, we had guys that complemented each other really well.
03:18And they could do that because a lot of the guys could also play multiple positions,
03:21which we feel like we're trying to build a team that could do that.
03:24The more guys that could play multiple positions, the more diversity, the lineups you could have,
03:28and the more chaos you could create on both ends.
03:30So, just being really malleable with the group and the archetypes of players that we bring in
03:35is really important, and I think that's what's led to the success of those two organizations.
03:40It's the Hawks general manager, guys.
03:41Ansi Saleh with us here on the Sweet James Accident Attorney Hotline on Dukes and Bell.
03:45Full disclosure, I'm a big Rick Pitino guy.
03:47I love St. John's, so I knew about the age of four.
03:50You get the Big East Player of the Year.
03:53Seven foot two wingspan.
03:55What do you see?
03:55What's his role?
03:56Is he going to be our...
03:57I hate to do the comp on Bam out of bio and all that stuff, but how do you see
04:00his role with the Hawks?
04:02He's an interesting one, man.
04:04He's really, really...
04:05Like, again, when we went back and looked at it, like, highest on our scouting rank, highest on our model,
04:09our analytics model as well at the time we picked him.
04:12And with Zuby, I mean, you've seen him.
04:14The guy could guard one through five point guards.
04:17Like, there's clips of him guarding like Darren Peterson at Kansas at times.
04:21And, you know, he could guard anybody on the floor.
04:23He's an insane offensive rebound.
04:25I think there was, like, a couple years where he averaged, like, more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds.
04:30So, it's like, the guy is just...
04:32He has probably the highest motor in the draft, in my opinion.
04:36He gets up and down.
04:37We want to play fast.
04:38He could play fast.
04:39He could play the four or five.
04:40It doesn't really matter.
04:41He could guard one through five, which makes him, like, really malleable with different lineups.
04:46And I think that once the shot comes around, he's going to be really interesting.
04:50He's better offensively than, you know, like, people probably expect with, like, the lack of shooting because he could create...
04:56He sets screens, gets other guys open.
04:59His processing of the game, like, the ability to pass in various ways where it's, like, driving kick and whatnot.
05:05He has a really good feel for the game.
05:08And kind of like, you know, this is a Swiss Army knife at times.
05:11So, we're really excited about him.
05:13I think you guys are going to...
05:14I mean, you've seen him a lot.
05:16So, the intensity and the energy that he brings on both ends of the floor, I think, is just really
05:22needed for us, too.
05:23Antti, I don't think there's an analytic for toughness.
05:28You got it.
05:28But how do you throw that into the equation?
05:31Because Kingston's tough.
05:33And you just talked about Zuby.
05:35To play for coach, he's got to be tough.
05:38How do you throw that in on top of what you're getting from the analytics that goes,
05:43all right, on top of all this other stuff, guys, this is something we need?
05:47For sure.
05:48Like, we're not going to take a guy straightly on analytics, either.
05:50It's part of the equation.
05:51Like, the philosophy we use is eyes, ears, and numbers.
05:54Eyes being a scouting eye.
05:57Ears being the intel you hear from, you know, different people in their camps and their, you know, their programs.
06:02And the numbers being the analytics.
06:03Because it's a three-pronged approach that we take.
06:06And, like, the toughness factor is something all our scouts measure.
06:09And, like, they look at it and they understand.
06:12Especially, like, you guys saw the playoffs, right?
06:14It's physical as hell.
06:15And, like, that is something you just need.
06:18And I think that's one thing.
06:19Like, it's harder to make guys tougher.
06:21And, you know, you kind of got to have it in a lot of ways, right?
06:25It's kind of a nature versus nurture thing.
06:28And these guys have it.
06:29These guys are tough as hell.
06:30You guys have seen them play and the programs they come from.
06:33Like, you've got to be tough to play in those programs or else, again, you're not getting it on the
06:36court.
06:37It's the GM, Ansi Saleh, with us here on Dukes and Bell.
06:40One of the things that we talked a lot about this week was size and adding size to the front
06:43court.
06:44And I said, well, Ansi, I see it that way.
06:46You might be happy with an Onyeka Okunga.
06:47We think maybe he's better as a four.
06:49Do you still want to get more size in the front court?
06:52Yeah, I mean, there's some options out there where size is really important for sure.
06:56Like, don't get me wrong about that.
06:57But there's also, like, a physicality component where it's, you know, a guy could be big.
07:01But if they're not physical and they're not doing the things in production-wise, that makes sense.
07:06It's not really a fact that you just have a tall person, right?
07:09That's not really how it translates in the league, especially at the next level.
07:15So, like, I think adding size is really important.
07:18But also, like, I don't think it's the end-all, be-all to, you know, our success.
07:23Like, we also couldn't score in the playoffs, guys.
07:25Like, we, you know, lost our game against New York.
07:27We didn't score 100 points.
07:29So there's some needs there, definitely.
07:32But I thought our defense was pretty good this season.
07:35We were ninth in defensive season, according to our models and our metrics.
07:40But we were a pretty good team on that end.
07:42We're going to get better next year at that.
07:44Like, I think the goal is to eventually be, like, a top-five defensive team.
07:48If you look at the nature of, like, those teams, they make pretty deep runs in the playoffs.
07:53So I think the offense will come about in time.
07:56And I think we added to it in the draft.
07:58And, you know, we feel good about the group moving forward.
08:02Antique, Hawks fans really want to know, were there any real conversations about potentially making one of these blockbuster trades?
08:11Jalen, all the rumors that were out there.
08:14Can you give us a number as to maybe, you know, how close was it?
08:17Was it 30 percent, 20 percent, or 5 percent?
08:21No, man.
08:22It was like, I don't know why we're in every conversation, every rumor mill, but no idea why.
08:26I told you guys and I told everybody, like, we're not one player away from contending.
08:32At least out of the way that I look at it.
08:34You know, we lost in the first round.
08:35We've still got some steps to go.
08:37And we've got to be a little patient with the process.
08:39But, no, there was never, like, a blockbuster on the table for us.
08:42And we're not in that game right now.
08:44Okay.
08:45There you go.
08:45In case, Hawks fans, you heard it from the man himself.
08:47Where do you see Jonathan Kaminga's role in this next season?
08:50Because he gave us certainly the bounce and the two wins over the Knicks.
08:54I mean, he did have to wait to get on the court when he first came over.
08:56But do you see him as he can earn a spot or is there still a chance you can trade
09:00him at the deadline?
09:02Well, Jonathan was great for us this season, man.
09:04Like, he helped us win two playoff games against New York.
09:08And his physicality saw how important that is in the playoffs and the ability to guard multiple positions.
09:12Like, he's an important piece to what we do.
09:15So, we love Jonathan.
09:18And, yeah, just I think, like, the other thing is, like, we haven't basically put that team together in two
09:23months.
09:23You know, like, I played two and a half months of basketball together.
09:26Like, to actually get a training camp under our belts would be really, that would be pretty nice.
09:31You know, just get a little bit more time to figure this out.
09:34But I think that'll go a long way to the development of all our guys, too.
09:37Do you think, because I've been critical of him, Hansi, when we traded for him.
09:42And I think I asked you when we had you on when we got him.
09:45And I said, you know, how well did you know him?
09:47And you were like, well, you know, well, we know each other.
09:49But that wasn't the end all.
09:51But I was critical of the inconsistent play.
09:53And I thought that's what he was in Golden State.
09:55And then he got here.
09:57And I said to our listeners and fans, I said, he's been inconsistent.
10:00And that's how I view him.
10:04Are you thinking, is the staff thinking that's just a function of him, again, maybe getting a training camp and
10:10being here?
10:11Or is there something else to that?
10:14Oh, no.
10:14I think with a lot of our guys, it just takes some time to figure out.
10:17And, you know, he also was battling an injury throughout a lot of that process, too.
10:23So he came back, played, you know, some regular season games.
10:26And honestly, like, our record when he played was pretty good.
10:29And I think just fitting in with the system.
10:31Like, we're not just, like, an easy system that we play in as well.
10:35So it takes time to figure this stuff out.
10:37You've got to trade it in the middle of the season.
10:39And then getting back on the court and working from an injury that he suffered previously.
10:43Like, it just takes time with these things, man.
10:46And, like, you don't really practice during the NBA season in the second half.
10:50There's not a lot of time for that because you're just traveling and then you're playing the next day.
10:54And you don't want to go hard in a lot of these practices, too, because, man, you know how this
10:58goes.
10:59One of those guys get hurt and then you're basically playing back-to-back-to-backs every single day.
11:05So you've just got to manage that with a sports science group and figure all that stuff out.
11:10But I think it's just a matter of time, honestly, and learning.
11:14Man, I hated losing Jock Landale, too, for that.
11:17I don't know what the rules are if you can talk about him as a free agent.
11:19I'll skip that.
11:20It's Ansi Saleh with us here, guys, on the Sweet James Accent Attorney's Hotline.
11:25Love getting McCollum back.
11:27Love the Aaron Wiggins trade for depth.
11:29But what do you see for Zachary Resauchet?
11:32His minutes went down.
11:33He couldn't get on the floor in the finals.
11:34How do we get him right?
11:36Yeah, we love Zach.
11:37He's going to be a big part of what we do.
11:40And, like, there's not many 6'10 wings out there that could shoot like him.
11:44And he's younger than a lot of guys in the draft.
11:46Like, that's the other thing I think that we're forgetting.
11:49And, like, development isn't always linear, right?
11:51Like, there's guys that go up and down in that process.
11:54But, you know, we're really committed to Zach.
11:56We love Zach.
11:57And he's going to be a big part of what we do here.
11:59And I think, like, just kind of like what I said, you know, at the press conference yesterday,
12:04is, like, everybody's minutes have to be earned here.
12:06It's not like it doesn't matter who you are in a sense.
12:09It's just, like, you've got to be able to, you know, do your work and do everything.
12:13But, like, we have all the confidence in Zach to do that.
12:17He has a 6'10 wing that works his ass off.
12:19And he's in here every, you know, he works every day.
12:23And he can guard multiple positions.
12:25He's one of our best athletes on the team.
12:28So, we're really excited about what Zach's going to bring in year three.
12:33We're, in terms of role and stuff like that, I can't, you know, I don't control the minutes
12:37when it comes to that.
12:38But we expect Zach to have a big role next year.
12:40Yeah.
12:40And I love the fact you're saying it.
12:42I know Coach Quinn, he said, you've got to earn your minutes.
12:44I love that.
12:45Like, there's nothing given.
12:46And there shouldn't be.
12:48Anse, when we do on lunch, man?
12:49You got that new deal.
12:50Lunch on Anse.
12:51Come on, man.
12:52When we going out to lunch?
12:54Oh, man.
12:55I don't think of the Wendy's or something like that.
12:57Really?
12:58You're going to give us a double?
12:59A double, huh?
13:00The value menu is great.
13:02It's unbelievable.
13:03Paul, they're on a budget.
13:04I'm telling you.
13:05And just for the fans who are hitting us up on the text line, Anse, shall we expect
13:09more action and free agency?
13:12I mean, we could be active.
13:15Like, there's different things.
13:16There are different scenarios, like, with our exceptions that we have and things like that.
13:21So, I mean, we'll see how it goes.
13:22So, it's an interesting market this summer.
13:24But we'll be in some conversations, I'm sure.
13:27We'll be making our call and making reservations at Bones, Anse, just so you know.
13:32Hey, hey.
13:33Gotta be.
13:33This could be.
13:34You know, if this works out.
13:34And right now, it's looking good.
13:35We'll give you one of the coolest GMs we've had in town.
13:37No, man.
13:37He's on his game.
13:39And he's doing a great job.
13:40By the way, tonight, round two.
13:41Don't know what's going to happen.
13:43But we'll be watching.
13:4457th pick we have?
13:45Correct.
13:45Yeah.
13:46We'll be watching and seeing if we stay there or if we move or move out or whatever.
13:50But, hey.
13:51Thank you so much.
13:52And we like these picks, man.
13:53I think a lot of Hawks fans, I don't know how many people you've heard from, that they
13:57like what we're trying to do here as well.
13:58So, Anse Saleh, thank you again.
14:00I appreciate it, guys.
14:01Have a good day.
14:02You too.
14:02You got it.
14:02There he is.
14:03Answered a lot of questions.
14:04A lot of guys hitting us up going, okay.
14:05Check that box.
14:06Check that box.
14:07So, the Kaminga thing's interesting.
14:08I know we've got to take a break.
14:09We'll come back and talk about this.
14:10Because he said, and he's not lying.
14:13He's right about all the things.
14:14I just, I think we have to know halfway through this, the first part of the season, Mike, if
14:20this guy's going to be a player or not.
14:22And it's easy for us to say, yes, he helped us win two playoff games.
14:25But is he a key cog in building what we think is going to be a championship caliber team?
14:30Because he brings physicality.
14:32We know that.
14:32But you saw the above the rim stuff.
14:34The jump shot is a question.
14:36It is.
14:36But he knew him from Golden State.
14:38Well, come back.
14:39We'll talk about it.
14:39Because there still is a chance.
14:40If he doesn't, you know, earn that, then you could use him at the deadline.
14:44All right.
14:44Stay there.
14:45Stooks and Bell.
14:45We've got a lot more to get to on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
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