CHICAGO – Seems too perfect, right?
The Atlanta Hawks win the NBA Draft Lottery in a year in which the closest thing to a consensus top prospect, Alex Sarr, knows exactly one American city: Atlanta, where he lived for a year as a member of the Overtime Elite in 2022. 2. 3. . Sarr, a French big man who played last season for the Perth Wildcats in Australia, has lived in Spain, the United States and Australia for the past three years while developing his game.
At the NBA Draft Combine, Sarr told reporters that he often went to Hawks games as a spectator (OTE was just two and a half miles from State Farm Arena), but that he didn’t know or meet any of them. Players. He will surely recognize several of them if he is Atlanta’s choice, as the Hawks have made virtually no transactions in the last two seasons. (That includes Clint Capela, by the way, the French-speaking center Atlanta already employs; Sarr said he and the Geneva native have never met.)
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Atlanta fans may roll their eyes at the thought that of course the Hawks won the consolation prize lottery year – another French center went first in last year’s draft, if you haven’t heard, and the class of 2025 is pretty packed, too.
However, there’s no doubt the Hawks got very lucky last Sunday. A team that has no tank option for the next three seasons due to unprotected picks stemming from the Dejounte Murray trade was instead lucky to get a No. 1 overall pick anyway. Sarr may not be Victor Wembanyama, but he (or whoever the Hawks take with the first pick) should still be an impactful player, one who will also be on a four-year, team-friendly contract. And most importantly for a team that was gutted on defense a year ago, Sarr’s strengths lean heavily toward that end of the floor.
“I’m a versatile defender,” said Sarr, who stood just under 7 feet tall without shoes last week, “and I can play inside-out offense.”
Sarr didn’t mention the city’s preferences at the combine, but said he wanted to be No. 1.
“I’m a competitor, so I want to be first in everything I do,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s important because I can’t control it. “I would tell you that I am the best player in the draft.”
Unlike some tall players who pick up the game late when they realize their size advantage, Sarr said he started playing basketball at the age of 4 because his father and older brother played. (His brother Olivier played collegiately for Wake Forest and Kentucky and is currently on a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder.)
This path of development is to be expected, because France has become a true basketball country. Sarr’s emergence is part of a powerful new wave of French talent arriving in the league in this three-year span. In addition to Wembanyama in 2023, Rookie of the Year lottery partner Washington Wizards forward Bilal Coulibaly and projected 2025 high lottery pick Nolan Traore, four French players are likely to be first-round picks in this draft: forwards Zaccharie Risacher, Tidjane Salaun, Pacome Dadiet and, of course, Sarr.
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The Hawks will consider at least two of them, Sarr and Risacher, at No. 1. Sarr is the name most frequently mentioned on draft boards, but Atlanta executives Landry Fields and Kyle Korver and the coach at boss Quin Snyder said au revoir to the draft combine. on Thursday to cross the pond and see Risacher play in France (including this scandalous photo from the game that shows Snyder wearing normal human glasses). Salaun, meanwhile, is an early riser who can hit the lottery in a similar way to Coulibaly a year ago. Dadiet’s range is more toward the end of the first round.
Given this influx, I met with the most notable French player of the old guard, Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, before Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals to chat about his young compatriots.
“I think we have a lot of talent, it’s exciting,” Gobert said. “If you go back 20 years ago, we had some guys like (Tony Parker), Boris Diaw and (Nicolas) Batum, and now you look and see there is a lot of talent every year. Credit must be given to the French clubs and the French. federation for being able to develop some of this talent and allow them to play with their abilities.”
Gobert knows Olivier Sarr well but he doesn’t know Alex yet. Gobert still follows French prospects’ games, even if time zones don’t allow him to watch them.
“It’s really important to me to be one of those guys that inspires the younger generation. Some of those older guys inspired me,” Gobert said. “It’s just the cycle. “I try to lead the way and be there for them…giving them any knowledge or anything they need.”
As for his scouting report on young Sarr?
“Sure, he has all the tools to be an incredible player,” Gobert said. “It always depends on the way the boy works, his way of thinking and his mental strength. In this league, that’s what it all comes down to. That is the only aspect that people do not realize and that is not talked about from the outside.”
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Sarr, who weighed 224 pounds at the combine, has a slim build. This brings us to Gobert’s great advice.
“Embrace the moment… and work on your body. Obviously skill is really important, but as a 7-footer in this league, body is the key, and then skill.”
In theory, Gobert and Sarr could be teammates starting in July, when the French team will play in the Olympics, but Sarr could have little chance of making that roster given the presence of two star centers (Gobert and Wembanyama). in a veteran team. . Gobert will most likely face Sarr for the first time in the jump circle in a Timberwolves game early next season.
Whether that will happen against Atlanta or another team is still unknown, and neither the Hawks nor Sarr left any clues during the week. Regardless of who they draft on June 26, the Hawks are in a much better place than they were a week ago.
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(Photo by Alex Sarr: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
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