Merged: Sund: Draft Isn't As Helpful To Playoff Clubs

[GameTime]

A very interesting listen for any Hawks fan with their very opinionated general manager, Rick Sund. Sund has strong positions on the draft, his free agents, and his current crop of players, especially Al Horford. Few things that struck me as odd in this interview: First, Sund seems very intent on watching his young players reach their ceiling before making any significant changes. I understand he doesn’t want to give up on Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, or Al Horford because they may blossom somewhere else, but there has to be decisions made at some point. Why can’t he surround them with better complimentary players? And, it comes down to evaluating talent - there just has to come a point when he says, ‘OK, this is what player X will be.’ Enough babbling about this squad by me, Sund does enough of it in this interview. Sund joined 790 The Zone to discuss that the draft won’t help his team in the near future, how he disagrees with the use of Al Horford, and how he wants to see growth from within the organization.

On the current state of the team:

“I like the direction of the club. I think every year it’s gotten a little better. We’ve got a young team. We had the 2nd youngest team in the playoffs; the youngest team that made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. When you put it all together, you don’t dismiss trades, you’re always looking to get better, but you got to be careful as you’ve got these young guys that haven’t reached their potential. One of the great things with this club is that there’s still growth from within. We’ll flatten at some point in time and when it does, then you’ve got to start looking.”

On his free agents:

“I’m hopeful. I think Mike would like to play, I think Flip found a home which is really good. I use the journeyman role as ‘that’s a nice label to have.’ If you can 20 years from now say, ‘I was a journeyman in the NBA, played 10 years and made a lot of money,’ that’s a great thing to do, knowing your role. He found a fit and this is a team that wants him back and I think he wants to come back and I think Zaza likes it. The question with Zaza is, he’s playing behind Al, will he be able to go somewhere else where he might get more playing time? Playing football, if you’re a backup quarterback, if you had the chance to go somewhere that might have more playing time, that may enter into the picture.”

His outlook on the upcoming draft:

“Generally if you’re a playoff caliber club, whoever you get in that draft pick isn’t going to play because it’s tough to beat any of your 8 man rotation… It’s going to be very difficult to say, ‘What are we looking for that we need?’ We really need the growth from within. Here’s the point - I can build a case and sit here today and say, ‘We should get a center because we don’t know the status of Zaza.’ We can say, ‘Hey, let’s get a forward because we might lose Marvin we can say, ‘What if Flip goes and we need a scorer off the bench and what if Bibby goes?’ You can build a case for any of these, which leads me to think we really should get the best player.”

On Al Horford:

“This is where we disagree - I think he’s a 5. Al played 67 games last year because of injuries. If he would have played 70, he would have qualified for playing enough games to be a league leader. He would have been the 9th best rebounder in the league at the center position. I watched Orlando in the playoffs and I don’t want Al Horford out there chasing Lewis. I’d rather have him with his back to the basket playing. I’d rather have him being able to board, be a physical presence in the middle. I’ve had several colleagues that said if he hadn’t gotten hurt whenever it was, he probably or possibly would have been voted onto the All Star team as a center. He’s got a heck of a shot to be one of the top 10 centers in this league. If he’s out there chasing Nowitzki and Rashard Lewis and Stoudemire and Garnett and all those people, we’re taking away from his strength and I don’t know if he can be an All Star player at the 4 spot. I do think he can be an All Star center at some point in time.”

On the possibility of Josh Childress returning to Atlanta:

“There is. I don’t want to say chance. Possibility? Yes. Chance I can’t say, you got to ask him that question… What his agents have told me is that he has an option clause which would allow him to leave if he got an offer in the NBA he wanted to play for. If we tender him the qualifying offer which we will do, we’re in the same boat that we were a year ago in the sense that we can match any offer, we can negotiate with him. We have better rules to sign him because he’s with his existing team than someone wanting to go after him. So that is a possibility.”

http://sportsradiointerviews.com/2009/06/2...rack-our-top-8/

Edited June 23, 2009 by GameTime

[DJKadafi]

Hawks general manager Rick Sund doesn't believe that the NBA Draft is overly helpful to playoff-caliber teams.

"Generally if you're a playoff caliber club, whoever you get in that draft pick isn't going to play because it's tough to beat any of your 8 man rotation," Sund told 790 The Zone.

Atlanta, however, does have a number of players on their roster that could leave via free agency.

"It's going to be very difficult to say, 'What are we looking for that we need?' We really need the growth from within. Here's the point - I can build a case and sit here today and say, 'We should get a center because we don't know the status of Zaza.' We can say, 'Hey, let's get a forward because we might lose Marvin we can say, 'What if Flip goes and we need a scorer off the bench and what if Bibby goes?' You can build a case for any of these, which leads me to think we really should get the best player."

The Hawks have the 19th overall pick.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/600..._playoff_clubs/

Rick Sund better draft Ty Lawson or Maynor with the 19th pick!!!

[coachx]

This is the same interview that 790 The Zone did the other day.

Glad to see it in writing.

Thanks !

Edited June 23, 2009 by coachx

[mrhonline]

The Spurs offering the MLE to Zaza scares me.

[GameTime]

Meh I liked my title better

[MaceCase]

The Spurs offering the MLE to Zaza scares me.

Hmm you just made my jaw drop with that idea. He'd be the first actual center to play next to Duncan in ages and does all the little things that Pop enjoys out of his bigs. He'd be a fleeter footed Rasho, and Umberto if Umberto actually had talent.

[mrhonline]

Hmm you just made my jaw drop with that idea. He'd be the first actual center to play next to Duncan in ages and does all the little things that Pop enjoys out of his bigs. He'd be a fleeter footed Rasho, and Umberto if Umberto actually had talent.

Yep. Imagine how efficient he'd be if he could sit in the lane fishing for offensive rebounds.

[AHF]

What kind of a playoff team would want to adds guys like:

Tony Parker

Josh Howard

Rajon Rondo (the Suns wish they had him back)

Jason Maxiell

Linas Kleiza

JR Smith

Jameer Nelson

Al Jefferson

Jermaine ONeal

etc.

[drzachary]

What kind of a playoff team would want to adds guys like:

Tony Parker

Josh Howard

Rajon Rondo (the Suns wish they had him back)

Jason Maxiell

Linas Kleiza

JR Smith

Jameer Nelson

Al Jefferson

Jermaine ONeal

etc.

Well.. that's kind of cherry-picking, isn't it? How long is the list of unhelpful players? I do agree that Sund seems a little absolutist about not finding help at 19, though. Maybe he's just managing expectations :)

[MaceCase]

Yep. Imagine how efficient he'd be if he could sit in the lane fishing for offensive rebounds.

It's official, I'm already saying goodbye to Zaza. They may not offer him full MLE due to the cap (but it's San Antonio so they might have to) but it's a definite that a starting position on a championship conteneder would be enticing to him. On the brightside, with the Jefferson trade, Ime Udoka is now avialable :sad:

[mrhonline]

"Generally if you're a playoff caliber club, whoever you get in that draft pick isn't going to play because it's tough to beat any of your 8 man rotation," Sund told 790 The Zone.

You guys realize his statement is true, right?

[Admin]

You guys realize his statement is true, right?

Yeah maybe for Woody that's true but every other coach in the league plays all 15 guys 30 minutes every night. I swear we have the worst GM and coach on the league. Couple of idiots for sure.

[drzachary]

Yeah maybe for Woody that's true but every other coach in the league plays all 15 guys 30 minutes every night. I swear we have the worst GM and coach on the league. Couple of idiots for sure.

I know! It's not fair that they get those extra 210 player-minutes on the court. No wonder we always get outscored!

[AHF]

Well.. that's kind of cherry-picking, isn't it? How long is the list of unhelpful players? I do agree that Sund seems a little absolutist about not finding help at 19, though. Maybe he's just managing expectations :)

It is cherry picking but you can continue cherrypicking guys who were drafted there who were big contributors like Tayshaun Prince, Boris Diaw, etc.

If he is just managing expectations that is fine but if he truly believes what he is saying I think we could be in for repeating the mistakes of the Phoenix Suns who turned away several talented young players for cash when they were a solid playoff team and ended up screwing themselves over in the process. When you are talking about top 20 picks, you should absolutely be looking to add talent to your team through the draft, IMO. That is what winning teams do.

Look at this year's NBA champions. Their best player was the #13 overall pick who was added via trade from another position © to a roster that was a playoff team with playoff caliber swingmen - Kobe Bryant. You always need to keep adding positive youth to your team or you will start to regress. Even the Spurs made this error by unloading their draft pick Luis Scola in part because they believed it would be too hard for him to step into their veteran rotation. Bad mistake.

Keep adding talent through the draft, Sund!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Do the right thing Rick,

Trade the dang pick.

[mrhonline]

. Even the Spurs made this error by unloading their draft pick Luis Scola in part because they believed it would be too hard for him to step into their veteran rotation. Bad mistake.

The Spurs traded Scola because of the luxury tax.

[AHF]

The Spurs traded Scola because of the luxury tax.

True - although I think this isn't mutually exclusive with them underrating the need to keep adding youth to the roster. My view is that they didn't see a need for him in the rotation and let him go and that this was undervaluing the need for additional youth on their roster in the present and future.

I think they could have pulled off that same trade of unloading Butler for a player who would never play in the NBA without giving up Scola.

[DrReality]

But I think the Spurs are on the way down. Duncan is long in the tooth.

[Supporter]

Yeah maybe for Woody that's true but every other coach in the league plays all 15 guys 30 minutes every night. I swear we have the worst GM and coach on the league. Couple of idiots for sure.

You've been on this little sarcasm rampage about Woodson and Sund for the past month or so.

[Admin]

You've been on this little sarcasm rampage about Woodson and Sund for the past month or so.

I wonder why? Could it because 8 out of every 10 posts do nothing but complain about Woody (and occasionally Sund) even if they're not part of the topic?