Now that the draft position is settled, the next few steps are a little clearer

Since the NBA suspended play March 11, the Hawks haven’t had much concrete information to go on.

Months later, though, they know much more: what team activity will be permitted in the offseason and where they’ll be picking in the NBA draft Oct. 16. They also know, after Commissioner Adam Silver’s comments before the lottery Thursday that the 2020-21 season may start later than Dec. 1, with Silver saying that target date feels early.

At the very least, the next few steps for the Hawks are finally a little clearer.

They’ll have the No. 6 pick in the first round, having fallen from the projected fourth to sixth (although percentage-wise, sixth was their most likely individual option, with a 25.7 percent chance). They also will have pick No. 50, in the second round.

The Hawks will continue to interview prospects via Zoom.

They’re still waiting to hear if there will be some sort of draft combine, most likely virtual, and more information on the 2020-21 season’s start date and calendar, per Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk.

“We’re in kind of an unprecedented time here,” Schlenk said.

Because players are less likely to travel these days, the Hawks have been able to talk with more prospects than in years past.

“Just because kids were at home, so agents were willing to set up interviews for us,” Schlenk said. “We have the sixth pick, but we knew we were going to have a pick in the top eight, and then we have the 50th pick. But we’ve talked to almost every kid, probably, that’s going to get drafted in between those two spots. And in a normal year, you wouldn’t get those kids to come to Atlanta to work out because they can only go so many places.

“Agents don’t want kids flying all over the place. So we would get just a group of guys that, no one wants to admit they’re going to be at 50, they all won’t be. If they’re in the second round, they’re in the first half of the second round. We get a lot kids that want to be picked sixth.”

Then there’s the matter of the players already on the roster and what team activity will be allowed by the league and the players union.

Because their poor record (20-47) placed them more than six games out of playoff contention at the time of the season’s suspen- sion, the Hawks were one of eight teams not invited to the Orlando restart. Facing around nine months between games (and that’s without factoring in a later 2020 start date), the Hawks have been vocal about wanting to find some way to play and get reps during that lag, particularly since their young players could benefit from added practice.

On Tuesday, they finally got some direction.

Along with the seven other teams that did not qualify for the restart, the Hawks can hold voluntary individ- ual workouts at their practice facility from Sept. 14 to Oct. 6, with daily COVID-19 testing. Then, from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6, they can hold group workouts including team practices, skill or conditioning sessions and intrasquad scrimmages, with con- tinued daily COVID-19 testing. For that phase, players must enter a bubble, which the Hawks will have to create somewhere in Atlanta.

The Hawks will take it, but they wanted more.

“Any time you can get your group of guys together and get practice time with them is advantageous,” Schlenk said. “Now we at least have two weeks in September where we’ll be able to conduct full practices, which is exciting. Our guys are excited about it.

“We were one of teams, all the way back, that was pushing for the second bubble, or to be able to go scrimmage. Our guys wanted to play. … We wish there was games versus other teams. I understand the players association and the league’s point of view, putting health and safety at the forefront, so we’re going to take everything we can get and run with it.”

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM Because players have been less likely to travel, the Hawks have talked with more prospects than usual, GM Travis Schlenk says.