For newest Hawks, now it’s time to get down to work

The Hawks and their newest members have worked toward these moments for some time.

For the Hawks, having their three latest draft picks in the building took years of scouting and having them on their radar early. For the rookies, they’ve spent hours in the gym and on the court working to realize their dreams of playing in the NBA.

“The feeling was surreal,” Hawks second-round pick, Seth Lundy said Monday at an introductory press conference. “It was just a moment you dream about your whole life. You work so hard for this moment and the blood, sweat and tears that you went through, put your body through, a lot of sacrifices and to actually have that feeling, it honestly was the best day of my life. So, I’m looking forward to getting to work and get better.”

The Hawks selected Lundy with the 46th overall pick in last Thursday’s NBA Draft, along with Kobe Bufkin at No. 15. They also traded away a 2027 second-round pick to the Celtics to acquire the draft rights to Mouhamed Gueye (pronounced ‘gay’) at No. 39.

Bufkin, a 6-foot-5 guard from Michigan, echoed Lundy’s sentiments about the importance and grandeur of draft night. But like the rest of his rookie class, he has already turned his eye to the future.

“It was one of the best days of my life, for sure,” Bufkin said. “Hopefully, there’s better days down the road. We can bring some championships to the town but now it was a great moment. You know? It was good to see this hard work paid off.”

Hawks general manager Landry Fields said that the team targeted Bufkin, Gueye and Lundy early. He reiterated his feeling from his post-draft media availability that the three rookies embody Hawks DNA.

Over the last few days the team has begun to define what that entails and on Monday, Fields went further into depth of the definition.

“The internal drive that every one of these guys have, the work that they put in, the intelligence, the IQ, grit, all those things are very important for what we’re doing and what we’re building here with Quin (Snyder) in his system, and I couldn’t be more excited,” Fields said.

He later added that one of the hallmarks of being a Hawk included humility and that all three players drafted had the ability to be coached.

“Gotta have humility,” he said. “You got to have the hard working attitude that pairs with it. So, when you have that humility, you’re able to take in the coaching and you cannot develop if you cannot take coaching and all three of these guys, they have that.”

The three have already gotten the opportunity to chat with their new coach and with those conversations, they’ve begun to build the foundation of their relationship.

“I think Quin is a great guy,” Gueye, a 6-11 forward, said. “I think I learned that he’s really into details. He like details a lot. I’m just looking forward to see how he coaches and how he’s gonna push me to be better, and I’m excited to work with him.”

For Bufkin, Snyder already embodies the type of coach that he would want to be should he ever make the move to the sidelines.

“Coach Q is a great guy,” he said. “We had a lot of conversations with him. You can tell from the jump that he’s a coach that demands a relationship from his players. And that’s something that I enjoy. I love being able to talk to a coach on and off the court. But as far as what I’ve learned, just looking forward to if I were to get into coaching, that’s how I want to approach my teams.”

Lundy said that he and Snyder have already had one-on-one conversations.

“I’ve had a one-on-one conversation with him already,” Lundy said. “And he told me about his process on how he got here and stuff like that but also, we’ve had dinner with him and I feel like he’s a jokester off the court. He would joke around a lot, coming around the tables and (not only) talking to us but (also) trying to build a relationship with us and like Kobe said I feel like that is important. I valued that a lot. I feel like the best teams in the world and the winning teams, they have that relationship off the court with the coaches and the players as well.”

Bufkin, Gueye and Lundy will have plenty of time to get to know Snyder and the rest of his staff in the coming weeks. The three will participate in Las Vegas Summer League, as well as sophomore wing AJ Griffin and several others.

Snyder won’t be on the sidelines coaching the young players at summer league but he and his staff, along with the rest of the Hawks front office will be there watching.

From what they’ve seen though, the Hawks look forward to the potential that their new draft picks can offer.

“I think that we have the staff to absolutely get the most out of them,” Fields said. “And I’m just excited for them to watch their development over the next few years however long that is. Like we’re excited about the process we’re following.”