Hill and Sund "Gone" http://sonicscentral.com/blog/?p=1244 Hill is gone and Sund will remain as a consultant (they have to pay him his last year anyway.)
Rick Sund did a tremendous job as a GM in his 6 years in Seattle. When you don't have a high draft pick and you are unable to lure quality free agents b/c of the risk of overspending and crippling your roster it is pretty difficult to put together a competitive roster for that long of a period. Rick was able to do that and it is amazing that people are trying to judge him strictly on the Sene selection and his handling of Danny Fortson. I wish that someone would go on the record and state that Fortson was not released b/c of insurance reasons -- and that by keeping him on the roster the Sonics saved over 5 million dollars. Or if the Sene selection was so horrendous, why can't any of these experts name a player that we should have selected in his place? No one expected anything from Sene this year - partly b/c we all expected Robert Swift to have a breakout year. I wonder if Rick's name will resurface for any vacant GM's position. He was a class act. He never discussed any information pertaining to player's contract negotiations with the media. He was patient enough not to make any drastic moves that would end up crippling the franchise but was also competent enough to improve the roster to get rid of "dead weight." Those moves that he made at the deadline last year were remarkable and that Gary Payton/Ray Allen deal turned out to be one of the biggest steals of the decade. Bob Hill deserved to be fired but Rick Sund was more than capable of finishing the duration of his contract as GM of the Sonics. Lenny Wilkins may have Clay Bennett's ear, but I doubt that he has the foresight to make moves that will enable us to compete for a championship. Truly a sad day for the franchise. However, I am ecstatic that Bob Hill was fired. Never should have had the job in the first place.
