Blazers want Sund?

[hawkrule152]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7917919/portland-trail-blazers-interested-rick-sund-gm-atlanta-hawks-sources-sayPlease dear lord, let them have him!!

[willthepureshooter]

Yeah, put a pretty bow on his forehead and drop him off at the door step. Try to sneak Marvin if you can..

[turnermx]

They can take LD with him! PLEASE!

[lethalweapon3]

If Sund leaves or retires, I'd like some A$G crumbs to be thrown at Troy Weaver to pry him from Oklahoma City.~lw3

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Yeah, let the Blazers have him and Marvin. Time for change from the top down. Perfect time for him to leave and get someone new since LD's contract is up and the draft right around the corner. Need to get a GM with some respect in the league so that we can maybe land a great coach and lure some players here.

[MaceCase]

Elgin Baylor is in talks to replace him.

[NekiEcko]

Elgin Baylor is in talks to replace him.

Are you serious about that

[MaceCase]

Ha! Oh God no. Just giving an example of "the deviil you know" for those glad to see him gone.

[itsslomotionbaby]

why is sund catching all the hell, i think he has done wonders for what he is given to work with.

[APE]

why is sund catching all the hell, i think he has done wonders for what he is given to work with.

"I don't operate during the regular season."

[KB21]

There is a lot of misplaced angst towards Rick Sund in this thread. It is very difficult to get a good read on Rick's true ability as a GM because he is nothing more than a puppet for Michael Gearon Jr. in Atlanta. He does whatever the ownership wants him to do. So, the angst at him for not making trades or spending more money on reserve players should be targeted at ownership, not him. Rick Sund isn't the guy that decided to give Joe Johnson a max contract. That was the ASG, and Sund just went along with it.Now, to me, I think you get rid of him simply because he is apparently spineless and not willing to stand up for himself. However, his scouting isn't that bad. Regardless of whether you think Jeff Teague is a starter or not, getting him where Atlanta got him is a better draft pick than any that Pete Babcock made. Drafting Jordan Crawford was a good move, even if trading him for Kirk Hinrich wasn't. Rick also brought in Ivan Johnson, who has a future in this league and long term could be a Grant Long type of power forward. Throughout his career as a GM, he has done a good job of finding guys in the second round and even undrafted players who contribute in the NBA. Also of note, Larry Drew was not Rick's choice of coach. All reports suggest that Rick really wanted Dwane Casey, and that Larry Drew was the choice of Michael Gearon Jr.If he does move on to Portland, the inherent question is this:1. Will the next GM be given the power to make moves without interference from ownership, or will this be the same marionette situation is currently is?The spin off question is whether the new GM will be able to hire the coach he wants?

[Joker]

I hope we land Kevin Pritchard. Sund is hand tied with ASG.

[KB21]

I hope we land Kevin Pritchard. Sund is hand tied with ASG.

I hope we hire a GM that is well versed in the use of adavanced statistics as a tool to aide in making decisions.

[Guest]

No matter who we land, as long as the ASG owns this team, there hands will be tied. We need ownership that is first willing to invest in front office personel (GM, Coach, scouting, player development) before caring one iota who the GM will be.

[Guest Walter]

There is a lot of misplaced angst towards Rick Sund in this thread. It is very difficult to get a good read on Rick's true ability as a GM because he is nothing more than a puppet for Michael Gearon Jr. in Atlanta. He does whatever the ownership wants him to do. So, the angst at him for not making trades or spending more money on reserve players should be targeted at ownership, not him. Rick Sund isn't the guy that decided to give Joe Johnson a max contract. That was the ASG, and Sund just went along with it.Now, to me, I think you get rid of him simply because he is apparently spineless and not willing to stand up for himself. However, his scouting isn't that bad. Regardless of whether you think Jeff Teague is a starter or not, getting him where Atlanta got him is a better draft pick than any that Pete Babcock made. Drafting Jordan Crawford was a good move, even if trading him for Kirk Hinrich wasn't. Rick also brought in Ivan Johnson, who has a future in this league and long term could be a Grant Long type of power forward. Throughout his career as a GM, he has done a good job of finding guys in the second round and even undrafted players who contribute in the NBA.Also of note, Larry Drew was not Rick's choice of coach. All reports suggest that Rick really wanted Dwane Casey, and that Larry Drew was the choice of Michael Gearon Jr.If he does move on to Portland, the inherent question is this:1. Will the next GM be given the power to make moves without interference from ownership, or will this be the same marionette situation is currently is?The spin off question is whether the new GM will be able to hire the coach he wants?

Well said. I think Sund has done a reasonable job. I'm not against him staying. I have doubts that the 8 headed hydra ownership can stay out of his way and agree that anyone judging him has to be cautious given ownership meddling. Drew pretty much lost me with the playoff series-costing unwillingness to fight for his team getting the right call. Now that was spineless. I have to admit I never thought we should hire from within when we hired Drew. We still need a veteran outsider if the current players hopefully plus another talent were to have any chance. WW

[Joker]

Morey biggest problem is he needed to get players with more talent fit them in a system. Houston style isn't best for those talented but need the right system type and they don't have enough talent anyway.

[KB21]

Thought this was interesting because Sund is not actually a big proponent of advanced statistics:http://sports.groups...is/message/5547I do want someone with advanced statistics, but not someone who is as married to it as Daryl Morey. But if this is someone we want, the first step is to actually get an advanced statistics scout. After that, you can add another and call it a department.

A guy similar to Sam Presti would be ideal, but I wouldn't be against going after Morey's top assistant (forgot his name).

[Sothron]

I don't understand the misplaced anger towards Sund. He is clearly just a puppet whose strings are pulled at whim by Gearon. Sund couldn't even hire the coach of his choice in Casey. He had to go with Drew because he was willing to sign the cheapest contract in the league. He was forced to take back Joe at that insane contract because the A$G wanted to keep Joe so bad. The only real freedom he seems to have is the draft (when the owners don't sell the draft picks) and signing vet min contracts. He has done a good job in both of those areas. I actually feel sorry for the man because he's done a good job here and I think if he had more freedom like other GMs then he would rebuild the roster. But we all know as long as Gearon and the other clowns in the A$G are here that no GM will ever have that power.

[GameTime]

I don't understand the misplaced anger towards Sund. He is clearly just a puppet whose strings are pulled at whim by Gearon. Sund couldn't even hire the coach of his choice in Casey. He had to go with Drew because he was willing to sign the cheapest contract in the league. He was forced to take back Joe at that insane contract because the A$G wanted to keep Joe so bad. The only real freedom he seems to have is the draft (when the owners don't sell the draft picks) and signing vet min contracts. He has done a good job in both of those areas. I actually feel sorry for the man because he's done a good job here and I think if he had more freedom like other GMs then he would rebuild the roster. But we all know as long as Gearon and the other clowns in the A$G are here that no GM will ever have that power.

I'm not completely buying the puppet angle due to Sund's past history. He always was stagnant.

[Sothron]

I'm not completely buying the puppet angle due to Sund's past history. He always was stagnant.

He had more authority in Seattle, no question there. But here? He's just a glorified puppet. This is why Knight left the Hawks. He couldn't make the trades he wanted or sign the players he wanted and most importantly they wouldn't fire Woodson the three times he asked them to because they refused to pay two coaches salary at the same time. So yes, I question why any of us are being hard on Sund when he has almost no power.