Rick Sund, I said it.
by michaelfox99 on Apr 27, 2009 7:19 AM EDT
12 comments
Hello all.
Former Sonics fan here. I have followed the Hawks pretty closely this year as I recently moved to ATL. My impression of the Hawks, as someone who is genuinely interested in seeing them succeed, but not a die hard fan, is that their talent level far exceeds their on the court performance. I am not going to get into specifics, but I want to point out that the Hawks have a very deep problem that extends deeper than Woodson or Smith- Rick Sund.
Sund is a complete idiot. His saving grace his entire career was the Gary Payton and scraps for Ray Allen and scraps deal. Ray Allen was about 7 years younger and entering his peak years while Payton was well off of his. I will grant him that this was a great deal.
Nevertheless Sund managed to completely destroy the Sonics. The worst thing about him was his drafting, a feature you Hawks fans have yet to see.
While the writing may or may not be on the wall for Woodson, don't expect to see your team get any better. Go take a look at Sund's last THREE drafts for Seattle and see if there is one name there you even recognize. The best players this guy has ever drafted were Nick Collison, Luke Ridnour, and Vladimir Radmanovich. In other words, the best he has ever done is find a solid bench player. He has a huge thing for his own guys too. Wherever he goes you will find Flip Murray and Early Watson, so expect him to just bring his guys in instead of the guys you really need.
There is nothing worse than a bad GM because it means you get worse year after year. Expect to be back in the lottery shortly.
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Trust me
It goes even deeper than that. The Atlanta Spirit Group, our current owners in case you haven’t heard, are the worst in the league. They are currently sueing each other will keep Sund from trying to do anything to make this team better.
Flip Murray has been a pleasant surprise so I would be one to believe that Sund is in the positive thus far. As for his drafting standards, well, I would like to believe that people naturally learn over time and get better at what they do. This year’s draft will tell us more about Sund than anything he has done to date.
The coaching situation will tell us whether our ownership is going to give Sund the leeway he needs to make this team better or if they still only care about one-upping each other in court. I’m banking on the latter since they are mostly laywers and they all have claimed huge losses from the Hawks.
I didn’t agree with the Sund hiring, but there wasn’t much anyone could do. Atlanta is a nightmare of a job destination because of the horrible ownership in place. Until that changes we will never get talented front office management or coaching.
"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments
I am also interested to see what they do with Bibby or the hole created there.
Not to knock Bibby, I have been a fan since his Arizona days, but at this point in his career he is only marginally more valuable then say Daequan Cook or Daniel Gibson. He is only worth keeping around for MUCH less money than he is getting now..
The Hawks desperately need a true PG. I don’t see anyone falling to them or becoming available though.
by michaelfox99 on Apr 27, 2009 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions
His first offseason went pretty successfully
But the ownership group is a serious issue here. BK tried to fire Woodson, after he went out on a limb defending him over his first few season. At the end of the year, he basically told the ownership “It’s him or me.” Reportedly, the ownership tried to keep both of them despite this. Billy Knight realized that if he wasn’t allowed the autonomy to decide who his head coach should, that the job wasn’t keeping. So the ownership goes out and finds a GM who will work under the consent of keeping Woodson as the head coach. They’re currently bleeding money, and we’re looking at making decisions on key players like Bibby, Murray, Williams, and Zaza, with JJ’s expiring contract looming in that fateful 2010 class.
But Sund actually handled several things pretty well. I thought Murray was a crappy signing, but he and Evans have been extremely valuable. He also refused to overpay for Josh Smith and let the market dictate Smith’s actual value. His biggest blunder was in waiting too long to begin serious negotiations with Childress, and he ended up losing him, getting back nothing, and still being strapped by a cap hold for him. But he also added Othello Hunter who was undrafted, but who I am confident would be at the very least a useful 11th/12th guy on a decently coached team. His ridiculously few and ridiculously short stints have proven nothing, but he has never looked like a guy who only deserves 92 minutes in a season.
Of course, we know about the drafting record. Saer Sene was a ridiculous pick, and it’s not like Robert Swift or Johan Petro were even decent selections. Still, with this squad and this head coach, the draft isn’t really relevant-they don’t have a high enough pick to reasonably expect an impact rookie, and the coach is unlikely to allow a young player to develop.
Lawson,Flynn, Blair,Young, etc.
There will be several guys available that can help this team in this draft. He needs to make a good pick. I dont agree that its not reasonable to think that we can get an impact rookie.
by Hawks-Semi Fan on Apr 29, 2009 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions
Obviously
You forget who our head coach is. Rookies get no play in his system unless he has no other choice.
"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments
Re: Flynn
I’ll have to look at the whole draft for info on others for sure, but Flynn is a no-sale for me. I watched the guy enough times this year to know that he has talent but much, much work to do. And that stupid zone Syracuse always runs reveals very little of a player’s defensive abilities and pretty much encourages passivity.
I love his heart but he is not Paul or Parker and does not shoot well enough to even be Bibby.
Despite Bibby's defensive liabilities,
this series has shown that our offense requires a PG that can shoot 3’s. He has bailed us out quite a few times with JJ not playing well.
But more importantly,
how much longer will that last? Bibby has proven over the course of not only his career, but this year specifically, that he is extremely streaky with his shooting. I don’t think we can rely on him too much longer and if JJ stays in this funk of his, we are going to be in trouble. Woody’s can’t or won’t make the adjustments necessary to cover for our shooters not getting their shots to drop. He has no post gameplan whatsoever; it’s like his entire offensive scheme depends soley on JJ or Bibby being on fire, after that “it takes care of itself”.
Moon is out for the season because of a sports hernia, so that’s one less defensive and semi-decent post player the Heat can rely on, and a weakness we should exploit with a strong post game. Unfortunately for us, Woodson is a logic assassin and instead we’ll probably get stuck watching JJ get doubled constantly on the perimeter trying to run wing-iso’s.
Personally, I’m scared of what’s going to happen tonight. Do our guys get pumped for the home crowd and display a Game 1-like excitement or do will they so relieved from winning Game 4 that they come out complacent and flat? I think tonight determines who wins this series.
"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments
Agree
One of the few posts I agree with so-far. I think the guy is clueless we will see after the draft though. Flynn, Lawson, and maybe even Maynor would be a good addition to Bibby at less money. Maybe trade Acie and a future 2nd to get another pick if a small forward or one of the few bigs you like is still around in the mid to late first also. He has some things to work with lets see how he works this.
Can you just list everyone from the Hawks that you want gone?
It seems like it’s basically everyone.
You are correct
It’s everyone. JJ, Bibby, Smith, Law, ZZ, Marvin, Evans, Jones, West, RM, basically everyone except Horford and Flip. The Hawks finally have a team that can make the playoffs after a decade of futility, and he wants to have a fire sale. One night no one on the team has any heart and they should all be let go or traded, the next night the team shows heart.
"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments
Acie, Marvin and maybe Joe
That’s it. Depends on price with Bibby. I like Joe but not at price and not as no. 1, depends on what u can get for him and Acie needs to go, its good for him and the Hawks.
by Hawks-Semi Fan on Apr 29, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
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