Good moves in the NBA don't just appear out of thin air. There are always moves that precede moves that precede moves, and the move that preceded the additions of Kristaps Porzingis, Nickiel Alexander-Walker, and Luke Kennard was the hiring of Onsi Saleh as general manager.
Saleh has been GM for about five months, and Hawks fans are already building the statue out front of State Farm Arena. Of course, the Onsi Saleh Hawks have yet to actually play a basketball game, but there's more optimism heading into 2025-26 than since at least 2021-22, the year following the ECF run.
But Saleh has been as proactive as possible in his first few months on the job, and it's doubtful the roster would look this exciting if he never took the reins.
Are the Hawks decision-makers trending toward winning back the favor of fans? Maybe. It's complicated.
Tony Ressler still has tons of work to do to win over Hawks fans
The best thing an NBA owner can do is open their checkbook to the decision-makers who actually know anything about basketball, then get the hell out of the way. Hawks owner Tony Ressler is doing a solid job at the second part of that equation — it seems like Saleh has close to full say on roster moves thus far — but whether he'll be willing to dig deep financially to assist the Hawks' path to greatness is to be determined.
If you ask Hawks fans whether they think Ressler will put his money where his mouth is, they'll likely point at all the times he didn't do that. And that would be a pretty fair reaction, in my opinion. Lip service during the offseason falls flat, especially when it comes a few months after trading a 27 year-old wing with two full seasons left on his contract just to duck the luxury tax.
I digress.
Inserting Saleh as the GM may have been a lucky guess by Tony Ressler. But if he follows up that lucky guess by forking over a negligible amount of the $11.3 billion in his bank account to help the Hawks jump from near-competitor to real contender, then no one will begrudge him for being lucky instead of good.
In the meantime, letting Saleh run the show is how Ressler can slowly but surely win back the favor of fans who have rightfully become alienated in recent years. Hiring Saleh might be the best move Ressler has made since he bought the Hawks. He can now make the second-best move of that tenure by completely taking a backseat on all future basketball decisions.