Hawks have hired Rick Sund as new general manager

[Mr. Dynomite!]

http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/2008/05/28/hawks_0528.html

Hawks hire Sund as new general manager

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/28/08

The Hawks have hired Rick Sund as their new general manager. Sund most recently served as general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics.

An official announcement will come later this afternoon.

More to come.

[HoopsGuru25]

Sund? Isn't he the guy who drafts a different bust at the center position every year? I will have to check but I'm pretty sure his drafting record is terrible.....although he did get Ray Allen and Chris Wilcox for nothing.

[trickydik]

Rick Sund (Seattle Supersonics)

[trade: +5, re-sign: +3] 2/03

[HoopsGuru25]

The 2004,2005,and 2006 drafts make him look like an idiot. His draft picks don't look like he actually has an eye for talent(like a Danny Ainge or Isiah Thomas). I know Seattle has needed a center for years but it looks like he just picked the highest rated center available and hoped that one of the projects turned out to be good..NONE of them have and Swift and Sene are staring to look like busts(Petro is a decent backup).

I'm glad we're not REBUILDING with this guy but his trades and free agent moves(or non moves) look decent. He basically got Ray Allen and Chris Wilcox for players who were unrestricted free agents (Payton/Radmonovich) and left. I could see him trading for a big man this summer. Evans for Earl Watson looks like a good move in hindsight considering the Nuggets started Anthony Carter at pg last year. He also wasn't dumb enough to re-sign Jerome James which has to count for something.

[betta1]

Reign of masterful GMs seems likely to continue. Great hire ASG!

[saloonyk8]

Sund's first test is fast approaching. If he retains Woodson, that will say a lot about the GM position.

[tontoz]

I don't even remember seeing his name on the list of guys interviewed.

[ATLfan]

I would rather have Billy King than this guy.

[Skyhawk1]

Well, I do not know much about him to say anything now, but the Sonics are in a lot of turmoil due to their situation in Seattle. Out of all those things, I can say that the reason they let Lewis go was just because they didn't want to take on any salaries back. Anyway, I hope he finds a way to get us a C, since he seems to be as crazy about them as BK was about fowards.

[fo_o_fo_404]

I really don't know what to make of this move.

It's clear that Sund was the fourth or fifth option, or the worst case scenario in this process.

I'm OK with Sund's extensive resume (30 years in NBA front office), but he has a checkered past with some questionable moves in Seattle.

Wonder if he accepted the job under the pretense that Woody and his staff WILL return?

That would be interesting.

Like I mentioned before that the ASG had to move quickly on this hire being that a) the Pre-Draft camps are today; b) the draft is less than a month away; and c) there are no staff members under contract past June 30th.

We shall see what happens much sooner than later.

[Jjforprez]

Sund's first test is fast approaching. If he retains Woodson, that will say a lot about the GM position.

Exactly. That's the move I'm watching, regardless of who the GM was going to be. Because in my mind any GM who comes in here and keeps Woodson isn't worth a dam.

The only reason I was hating the possible hiring of Grant was because I figured this guy was a yes man for sure.... Him being so young, and never having done the job before. I guess we'll see...

[evildallas]

Collison and Ridnour haven't impressed me. Swift has been injury-prone. Petro at #25 shows signs of developing, but that was a deep draft with lots of late first contributing in the league. Sene has done nothing, but 2006 was a weak draft and he was seen as a long term project anyway. His second round picks don't impress me.

There are a couple things in his track record that scare me.
#1) Investing in mediocrity. Collison and Ridnour got long term deals averaging 5-6M per year in spite of not really producing during their rookie deals.
#2) Drafting the same position year after year. Smells like BK. He drafted 3 C's in a row and they're all still on the roster doing very little. At some point you have to have faith that one of your earlier picks will pay off and try to fill out a full roster.
#3) What was his role in the departure of Nate McMillan? They went from a high point of 52 wins to spiraling.

[HoopsGuru25]

I think Collison was a good pick at 12. Ridnour while not good is not a horrible pick at 14. However taking 3 centers in a row is (Please Use More Appropriate Word) esepcially considering that none of them are good(although I think Petro is decent). Sene was the 10th pick and isn't even good enough to play in the NBA after his first two years. He's had 6 first round picks(and 5 lottery picks)and I'd consider Collison his only draft pick who is an above average NBA player. He has no franchise damaging picks like Shelden over Roy or Marvin over Paul...but it's clear that he has no eye for talent when it comes to drafting ala Babcock.

[killbuckner]

I think he also is stuck in an old school mindset where bigs are clearly more important. Seriously- "don't trade big for small" is absolutely ridiculous with the new handchecking rules, but this style of drafting is entirely consistent with that. I just don't see what this guy did with Seattle that screams out that he deserves another shot.

[lunarblues]

his 2003 draft was pretty good when you look at who was drafted behind them. they were lumped into a group that included marcus banks, reece gaines, troy bell, zarko cabarkapa, and david west. out of those 5, only west ends up being a better player and he chose right in getting luke ridnour to be a point guard.

his 2004 draft was one where they needed a center and he basically chose the last one availible. they didn't need sabastian telfair and kris humphris and al jefferson were power forwards. swift can still be good though. they really should have looked into his injury history.

2005 was pretty good too. johan petro was the last good center left in the draft and swift was just coming off season ending surgery. they also picked up gelable in the second round. i also think that this was when the arena situation was starting to happen.

saer sene was a horrible pick in 2006. there were rumors that he was suppose to keep him in europe for a couple years but that was indefensible. they could have picked up hilton armstrong and been better off.

overall he's done a pretty good job of drafting and his trades and signing for the most part look good. his staff work is going to have to be alot better though. even if woodson stays, a number of his assistants are going to leave. he also is going to have to keep the joshes home.

[td00]

Rick Sund brings no new excitement to this franchise. Seattle is not known for long successes either. How long has it been sintce Payton and Kemp were there?

Getting vets in here and taking a starting spot or 2 is critical this year. We don't need to stay status quo. We need someone to come in here and know what this team needs.

Please don't come in here and tell us that we could stay put to be successful.

I can't get excited about this hire because this is not a manager that has had any championship runs. It can't be that hard to understand what is needed, can it?

To me, another mediocre move and may allow us to be competitive in the East. It could be a horrible move jusr as easy.

[GTfan]

I can't get excited about this hire because this is not a manager that has had any championship runs. It can't be that hard to understand what is needed, can it?

Championship runs? Are you crazy? What available GM has had championship runs? Seattle had a team that went deep in the playoffs in a very tough western conference with Sund as the GM. Thats about as close to a championship run as you're gonna get from any available GM's.

Compared to getting some rookie nobody like Grant this is a great hire. All he has to do to win me over is fire Mike Woodson.

[fo_o_fo_404]

Percy Allen, the beat writer for the Sonics was on 680 The Fan about an hour ago and said that Sund's a "good guy" who will NOT rock the boat....and works at a slow pace.

Sounds familiar?

So, essentially, he's a YES guy...and he won't come right in and start dismantling the staff.

Hence, Woody will be our head coach come opening night 2008.

Plus, Sund won't be available for an official press conference/ media interviews until next Wed at 1PM. As he is currently in Orlando at the Pre-Draft Camps.

Ironically, many of that press are already scheduled to be covering the Braves-Marlins Game which starts at the same time as the Hawks press conference....so the press not in attendance must schedule an one-on one with Sund at a later date.

So we have to wait a week, maybe longer, to see/hear this new hire's vision. This ain't good!

[AU hawksfan]

Blah. Not much for me to say about this hire.

Kind of seems like a lateral move.

Fire Woodson though, and we're a step in the right direction.

[Sultanofatl]

Good safe hire. Look we aren't a reformation project......we just need to some consistency and good decision making......I think Sund can do this......from what the AJC is saying Grant didn't turn us down.....we turned him down.....so if that's the case and this who they decided to go with.....I'll just wait and see.