Michael Cunningham reports that the Atlanta Hawks ownership group has extended Hawks general manager Rick Sund's contract through the 2011-12 season.
Sund’s return was expected after the Hawks snapped a 15-game losing streak in the second round of the playoffs. His major decisions include replacing coach Mike Woodson with Larry Drew and signing guard Joe Johnson to a $123.7 million free-agent contract.
At first glance it seems that a one year extension in this case is just putting off the decision on a new general manager until after the likely sale of the Hawks. I am not surprised that Sund is coming back given that the Hawks snapped a long losing streak in the second round. Arguably they played their best basketball of the season in the playoffs and that is very different from what we have seen the last couple of seasons.
AJC writer Jeff Schultz also weighs in on the move:
Bottom line: Sund may have had some missteps. But he’s a vast improvement over his predecessor, Billy Knight. I don’t have a huge problem with him coming back for another season to see if he can fix this roster. Also, with ownership in flux, it wasn’t realistic to believe a significant change was going to be made at the top.