Sekou's First Impressions of our new GM

[JackB1]

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-bl...awks/index.html

[diamond_dave]

that sounds very positive. Usually Sekou can give all sides, but in this case there are no negatives. I'll be very interested in reading the Sunday article.

[frosgrim]

Sekou sounds relieved at the hiring. Sekou seems to refute the report that Sund is a bad communicator with the media. I hope that Sekou is right and that Sund will be a regular with Sekou and on the sports talk shows (ala Thomas Dimitroff and the entire Falcons' coaching staff).

I agree that these next 60 days will tell us a lot about:

A. Sund's level of autonomy

B. How Sund will handle contracts

C. How well he can still work trades- man the Hawks could use a deal like the Ray Allen one he swung with the Bucks- strangely enough the Bucks have another shooting guard that would work well for the Hawks...

For me I am now cautiously optimistic. I am less enthuesed by this hiring that I was of the TD hiring, but the next two months will go a long way to moving me impressions one way or the other.

[KB21]

I agree. I know very little about Rick Sund outside of what I've read. He really does seem to be very well respected inside the league, so that is a strong positive. I will continue my wait and see approach with him.

The thing is, in this GM search, the Hawks had the choice. The choice was to go with a retread that had some black marks on their record, or to go with an inexperienced guy. We weren't going to get one of the guys considered to be the top GMs in the league, because they aren't available. Even then, there are really only three or four GMs in the NBA that I believe are clearly above everyone else, and everyone else is kind of bunched together.

[jezmund]

I think one of Marvin Williams or Josh Smith as to go (preferrably Marvin obviously). We can't afford Marvin next year so we might as well get something for him.

Don't know if I'm ready to pay Josh Smith $70M if that is indeed his market. If Michael Redd's contract wasn't so big I would have wanted us to make an offer for him yesterday.

[AHF]

Definitely a good read and an encouraging review for Hawks fans.

[WraithSentinel]

I am willing to give this guy a chance. Everytime I want to start to bash the move for hiring him. I catch myself from saying anything. For some reason I just got a good feeling about this guy.

[EazyRoc]

Quote:

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I think one of Marvin Williams or Josh Smith as to go (preferrably Marvin obviously). We can't afford Marvin next year so we might as well get something for him.

Although, if I had to trade, I would prefer to keep Josh Smith over Marvin, I don't think money will be an issue like you think. Mostly all teams are over the salary cap, and if we are competitive next year, we could afford to keep him. Ever since the playoff series, we have sold many more season tickets. Therefore, I believe we'll have enough to resign players even if it takes us over the cap.

[DrReality]

Things I like:

He owned up to his past mistakes (drafts and otherwise) that different

This cat’s “old school” in every sense of the word. But he’s got enough new school in him to understand how much things have changed since he’s been in the league.

And his candor is going to be a refreshing change for many (there wasn’t a single question he balked at answering and not a single topic that seemed to make him uncomfortable.

There was universal respect from Sund’s colleagues

Those are huge differences. Even if he's wrong in what he does he'll do respectfully. That's a change.