Sund on 680

[gsuteke]

I probably portrayed it worse than it was, and stuttering probably isn't the best word. Maybe repeating his words?

I was fighting my 3 year old to stay out of the front seat while we waited on his sister and my boss's boss's boss called my cell just after he began talking about Marvin so I wouldn't argue with you one way or another.

I like that he hit the nail on the head spot on as far as what the Hawks need

a. "you can never have enough bigs"

b. "following the Hawks casually I could see they lacked a 3 point threat to balance the floor"

[gsuteke]

A couple of clarification points on what Sund said as well.

Either he is lying/misleading us or Chillz lied. Sund said they offered Chillz the biggest offer of any NBA team. That may be true, only if nobody else offered him anything. Chillz basically said they offered him like 4.6 if I remember correctly.

Also he said he's for overpaying for your own FAs, but with a caveat. He said you let the market dictate what they'll make. He doesn't want to over or under pay a FA. Figure out what their market value is and pay them a little over that so they and the rest of the players on the team see that and appreciate it.

On JJ. Keep your players apprised of what's happening but don't allow them to get actively involved in stuff like FA.

On Smoove feeling unwanted. Philly and LA rolled out the red carpet for Josh. Sund said there's no restaurant in Atlanta he could take Josh to that he hasn't already been to. They recruited Josh, you don't recruit you own players.

I still stand behind the position the ASG are a bunch of F*tards but I don't think this guy is BK Bad.

Stay tuned......

[thefloydian]

Who in the East who had a worse record last year, has improved and is now better than us?

I think the Bulls could easily have a lot better season than they did last year.

[DrReality]

I disagree. There was one time when he litterally went: R R R R R . . . . . I tried to count them and couldn't. Worst GM interveiw I can ever remember. I heard the replay and maybe didn't hear it all, but his answers were defensive and sounded like a politician.

[GTfan44]

There are less freebee games like against Miami. If Wade an d marion are healthy they could be tough. The Hawks have ZERO depth. None. Woodson will have to ride the starting lineup at 40MPG just for the team to push 30-35 wins again.

No depth?

ZaZa averaged 14/7 2 years ago and was hampered by injuries this year.

Acie Law will be improved.

We signed Mo Evans and Randolph Morris and still have money to sign players.

Time for you to quit being a pessimist and get off this board. You bring nothing here but negativity.

Get lost.

:dancing18:

[GTfan44]

I disagree. There was one time when he litterally went: R R R R R . . . . . I tried to count them and couldn't. Worst GM interveiw I can ever remember. I heard the replay and maybe didn't hear it all, but his answers were defensive and sounded like a politician.

He wasn't stuttering, but he was REPEATING EVERYTHING.

He obviously is smart and had that 4-step career process which I found very clever and thought-out, but unless he's nervous or something, this guy really is bad at interviews

[TnDawg]

A couple of clarification points on what Sund said as well.

Either he is lying/misleading us or Chillz lied. Sund said they offered Chillz the biggest offer of any NBA team. That may be true, only if nobody else offered him anything. Chillz basically said they offered him like 4.6 if I remember correctly.

I think the key here is what each party considers a legitimate offer. Chillz and his agent may have received a verbal offer providing the Hawks were willing to accept some sort of SNT and they thought that was all they needed to do. However the ASG and Sund didn't consider it to be legit because no NBA team actually put anything in writing to Chillz that they could match. You can't really blame Sund if that was the case. You don't take back another teams undesirables just so they can pay your player more money and take him away from you.

[Plainview1981]

No depth?

ZaZa averaged 14/7 2 years ago and was hampered by injuries this year.

Acie Law will be improved.

We signed Mo Evans and Randolph Morris and still have money to sign players.

Time for you to quit being a pessimist and get off this board. You bring nothing here but negativity.

Get lost.

:dancing18:

ZaZA played decent on a 25-28 win team. When the team was aiming abit higher last year we saw his poor quality of play. The dude ain't good. He thinks he is Vlade Divac when he is nothing more than roster filler that can't produce on a team with any sort of expectations. Mo Evans? If he was anything special he wouldn't have went so cheap. You call Randolph Morris depth? What has he done? He is bench filler signed for the league min. I don't think teams were knockin his door down to sign him up.

The Hawks bench is full of players the rest of the league doesn't want.

Try harder next time.

Edited August 12, 2008 by Hotlanta1981

[Dexmethylphenidate]

ZaZA played decent on a 25-28 win team. When the team was aiming abit higher last year we saw his poor quality of play. The dude ain't good. He thinks he is Vlade Divac when he is nothing more than roster filler that can't produce on a team with any sort of expectations. Mo Evans? If he was anything special he wouldn't have went so cheap. You call Randolph Morris depth? What has he done? He is bench filler signed for the league min. I don't think teams were knockin his door down to sign him up.

The Hawks bench is full of players the rest of the league doesn't want.

Try harder next time.

I agree on the Zaza part. He's not that good; the refs aren't giving his flops a second look anymore. I'd take Bastista over him... he'd rough up KG real good.

[Plainview1981]

I agree on the Zaza part. He's not that good; the refs aren't giving his flops a second look anymore. I'd take Bastista over him... he'd rough up KG real good.

Evans is the only guy we can surely expect to give decent minutes. People think and HOPE Acie Law can be a decent player, but that's not a sure bet. Same with everybody else.

[DJlaysitup]

The Hawks have ZERO depth. None. Woodson will have to ride the starting lineup at 40MPG just for the team to push 30-35 wins again.

Nobody c

[DJlaysitup]

The Hawks have ZERO depth. None. Woodson will have to ride the starting lineup at 40MPG just for the team to push 30-35 wins again.

Nobody can mess with that.

[sturt]

1. This won't be the case too much longer, but for now, the team improves to some significant degree just by getting a year older. Most players reach their peak by 25, and the best ones will plateau there for a number of years; otherwise, they begin their descent. This isn't news. Many threads over time where this is rehashed.

2. I won't disagree that adding Kwame Brown would have made me feel a whole lot better about the depth of this team. Still, though.... Speedy Claxton (knock on wood) plus Maurice Evans plus Randolph Morris minus Josh Childress equals ????. I don't know what it equals, but it doesn't seem that far off of the much-ballyhooed depth of last season.

3. Mark Simien off that list of possibles... he went down with an injury.

4. Can't seem to find any news on Justin Williams, but his disappearance from the Summer League roster was particularly sudden, and for what it's worth, apparently his family lives on the southside of Chicago, fwiw. If Sund is bargain basement hunting, Williams' skill set sure seems to be in-demand.

[Packfill]

Who in the East who had a worse record last year, has improved and is now better than us?

Hard to say, but there is always a team or two that exceeds expectations. I think Chicago is a candidate to improve, as is Charlotte with Larry Brown at the helm - just because their old coach was even worse then Woody. Miami with a healthy Dwayne Wade, Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley could be decent as well.

Obviously all three could flop again, but I do think the east is a bit deeper this year and that it will take more then 37 wins to make the playoffs. The Hawks should have the inside track but they will need to improve over last season to get back.

[Vol4ever]

Good to see that Hotlanta is his ususal optimistic self!

Sund, even tho he IS the GM, must answer to the owners. THEY are the people

who are furnishing the $$$$ to run the Hawks. No matter who the GM is, they

would still have to answer. Can't blame the owners for that, no matter who

they happen to be.

Hated losing Childress. He will be missed. Marvin will miss the first game of the

season - suspension from the playoffs - Will the new players added improve the

roster over last years team? We hope so. Maturity, playing together for a year

and the playoff experience from last season won't hurt.

Personally, despite Hotlanta's optimism, I expect the Hawks to finish over .500

next season and again make the playoffs - Hopefully no major injuries - and IF

we really do get Speedy back, who knows what might happen!!

:beer:

I agree with these players having another season together. Horford will be better than his rookie season as will Acie Law. Law concerns me a little bit but I hope he comes along and can contrbute this year.

Starting five of Marvin, Smoove, Horf, Bibby, and JJ is a pretty darn good lineup. I think Morris will surprise people. I saw several of his games when he was in college and he has a low post game, just needs the chance to show it and I think he is better than ZaZa already.

[DrReality]

Point to consider: we didn't have a leader on the second team. usually look to a pg and we crapped out there. Traded AJ, Law didn't develop. That role fell to Chill but we've found out there was tension amongst the team?

I wonder how much difference it would make to our rag tag bench if we had a leader who could run the show. My nomination is Acie Law.

[sturt]

The season hinges on Horford's development as a consistent low post scoring option, and on Law's emergence as a legit starter in the league. Sure, others have room to grow, and likely will. But the greatest determinant of our outcome for 08-09 to my mind rests with our sophomores asserting themselves at the next step up from where they were last season.

[Swatguy]

Point to consider: we didn't have a leader on the second team. usually look to a pg and we crapped out there. Traded AJ, Law didn't develop. That role fell to Chill but we've found out there was tension amongst the team?

I wonder how much difference it would make to our rag tag bench if we had a leader who could run the show. My nomination is Acie Law.

I'll go out there on the limb and pick Zaza and Speedy as the big surprises. I got a feeling marvin may turn the corner also. I hope Evans, Morris and Law (I'd rather have Javaris) solidify the 2nd unit. I believe what helps Zaza is staying state-side this summer and working with Al.

Zaza gets his minutes and Speedy plays in 68-72 games, averaging 3 steals and 4 assist.

[Wretch]

From when I tuned in, basically what he talked about was how he cannot confirm/deny any numbers about Josh Smith's contract negotiations. Also iterated that there are certain complexities about offer sheets like it must be hand delivered and so that is why it took them as long as it did. Said again that the owners would allow him to go over the luxury tax if he felt it would make us into contenders.

Talked about summer league and how he wanted to evaluate a lot of the players to add shooting, specifically 3pt. Said that one guy's brother was shot and killed so he had to bail summer league and another guy's brother had major surgery so he had to bail summer league as well. Really wanted to evaluate them.

Discussed Marvin and how his body has matured. Said he (and other GM colleagues) do not look at where players were drafted, just how their development has been going. This was after being asked about Paul/Deron so he essentially side-stepped the question very politically. Went on to say he thinks Marvin will contribute this year.

Thats all I can remember and could decipher. He was really bad at stuttering so when I listen to someone who is stuttering I don't retain information as well.

Sounds like a puppet to me. What the owners will "allow" him to do...didn't BK have a similar line?