Hawks take gamble, select Jalen Johnson in first round

The 19-year-old Johnson abruptly left Duke in the middle of his only season in February and declared for the draft. He reportedly said he wanted to be 100% healthy for the draft after dealing with a foot injury.

“Listen, he is an extremely talented player,” Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said. “Great size, great raw skills. Rebounds. Defends. Obviously, had some issues at Duke, in high school as well. When you are picking at 20 and that sort of talent (is there), you certainly feel good about it. … We’re excited to add a player of his talent level to the roster.”

Johnson said he spent time after he left Duke working on all aspects of this game.

“I did everything,” Johnson said. “I worked on my shot a lot this past season or this past offseason. Training with Chris Johnson, I credit a lot of my improvement to him. He was consistent with me in the gym, two-a-days, three-a-days, and I improved a lot just overall, every aspect of my game, even the things I’m good at I sharpened up and continue to work on. I’ll never be satisfied. So, at the end of the day I’m always going to work and continue to improve.”

In 13 games, including eight starts, he averaged 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 21.4 minutes. At 6-foot-9, 220 pounds, with a 7-foot wingspan, he shot 52.3% from the field and 44.4% from 3-point range.

Schlenk said the Hawks got a clean medical report on Johnson Thursday morning and the team will do their own medical tests.

Johnson was a five-star recruit coming from Wisconsin. As Schlenk said, he is considered to have considerable upside.

“Jalen Johnson now, I’m in the league now, so that’s who I compare myself to,” Johnson said. “But there’s a lot of guys I looked up to, of course LeBron (James), Ben Simmons, those bigger play-making guards. But I’m a Jalen Johnson fan now.”

The Hawks did not bring Johnson to Atlanta for a pre-draft workout. He said the team spoke to him at the scouting combine.

Johnson thinks he can add to the young core of players that made a historic playoff run last season. He said he watched – and was impressed.

“They’re a crazy young talented group,” Johnson said. “Like it’s so fun to watch. Trae (Young), he was a bucket the whole playoffs and he was just entertainment, pure entertainment. I’m excited to play with him, the other guys, Cam Reddish. It’s just a great young talented group. I feel myself fitting in just great there. So, they’re definitely going to make some more noise in the next couple years.”

The Hawks get some front-court depth with Johnson. The Hawk face the possibility of losing John Collins, a restricted free agent.

“I see him as a combo forward,” Schlenk said. “He’s got the versatility to play a lot of different positions … and he’s got the ball skills to play on the perimeter but the size and strength to play inside as well. We view him as the modern NBA, being able to play both inside and outside and defensive versatility.”

Schlenk said the Hawks did explore trade possibilities, looking at trading up inside the top 10, just outside the top 10 and even back. However, none of those options materialized.

With their second-round pick, the Hawks selected guard Sharife Cooper of McEachern High and Auburn. The 6-1, 180 pounder played in just 12 games, all starts, at Auburn and averaged 20.2 points and 8.1 assists in 33.1 minutes. He shot 39.1% from the field, including 22.8% from 3-point range. His freshman season start was delayed by an investigation into his eligibility.

Credit: AP Photo/Julie Bennett

Credit: AP Photo/Julie Bennett

Cooper led McEachern to a state title in 2018-19 and he was named Mr. Georgia Basketball and won the Gatorade Player of the Year award.

“We had him ranked much higher than 48,” Schlenk said. “We got pretty excited when we saw him there late. Just a really, really good playmaker. Good with the ball in his hands. Very good passer. Pushes tempo. Has the ability to get to the foul line.”