<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The temptation lasted the entire night. As the picks started rolling in Thursday's NBA draft, Hawks general manager Rick Sund and his entire basketball operations staff kept checking their draft board to see how things matched up. Without a pick in the draft for the first time in the franchise's Atlanta history, the Hawks had to watch impatiently as the rest of the league played the draft game. Just how close the Hawks were to making a deal to get in the mix remains a mystery. Sund wasn't giving up any secrets. When he and his crew emerged from a conference room as the draft ended shortly before midnight they weren't interested in discussing any of the particulars. "It was a little strained to watch because we were strictly bystanders," Sund said. "It was really us, Denver and to a degree Dallas because they didn't pick until [51] or whatever. The Hawks were major players in the draft the last four or five years. "This year with no picks — and it was difficult to get picks — we just weren't going to give up future picks to get in. So we watched it as spectators. "The summer for us is really focusing on free agency and working on our own free agents, and that will be a process that we'll concentrate on now and just see how it all plays out. Even though we were bystanders, it was still an interesting night like it always is on draft night." The Hawks resisted the urge to join the fray, abstaining while also paying the debt of recent trades by surrendering both of their picks Thursday night. Phoenix took Stanford center Robin Lopez with the 15th pick, the last bit of compensation for the sign-and-trade deal that brought Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson to town three years ago. Sacramento took Virginia guard Sean Singletary with the 42nd pick, cashing in the second-round pick they snagged from the Hawks in the February trade that put Mike Bibby in a Hawks uniform. The mood Thursday night was a complete about-face from a year ago, when the Hawks controlled the draft with two of the top 11 picks. They chose Al Horford with the third pick and Acie Law IV with the 11th. Horford finished his first season as the Hawks' starting center and was the runner-up to Kevin Durant in the Rookie of the Year race. Law didn't play as big a role because of injuries early and the addition of Bibby at the trade deadline. He saw spot duty most of the regular season and in the Hawks' first-round playoff series against Boston. "If I had to trade being active on draft night with what we experienced in the playoffs, I'd do it every time," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "The draft has been our bread and butter for so long, so it was certainly a bit strange watching the way we did. But nothing compares to the NBA playoffs. And I think making it there was more important than anything we could have done [Thursday night]."</div> Atlanta Journal-Constitution
