<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The same words of wisdom basketball pioneer and Hall of Famer Wayne Embry hooked Rick Sund with during his first job interview are the same simple words that Sund lives by 34 years later. "I told him that to achieve success in any business, you have to be able to communicate and manage people," Embry, then the general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks and the NBA's first black general manager, said Saturday afternoon." So when Sund walks into his new office in a couple of days at Atlanta Spirit headquarters, those words will echo in his every move. The Hawks' new general manager as of last Wednesday, Sund will draw on a lifetime full of front office experiences to help steer the Hawks onto the path to the NBA's elite. The Hawks are looking for a new path after Billy Knight, architect of the team went 106-222 the past four seasons, resigned May 7. After ending a nine-year playoff drought by extending the Boston Celtics to the limit in the first round, the second phase of the Hawks' continued rise from the ashes begins now. Sund will try to usher in a culture change in an organization that has been somewhat resistant to outside influence, until now. "So much of my philosophies and management thoughts were developed by Wayne," Sund said last week from Orlando, where he served as co-chair of the NBA's predraft camp. "Back then there were only five people in the front office." Sund also learned the guiding rule for any general manager in the NBA. "If you don't have the ability to be a people person with basketball knowledge you're in trouble, because what happens, I think, all too often is that it's not just about making basketball decisions anymore," Sund said. "It's about being able to get everybody on the same page. It's about management." When Sund started out in the business in 1974, he was Embry's intern while finishing the sports management program at Ohio University. Sund had just earned All-Big Ten honors his senior year at Northwestern and the NBA was a shell of the global, multi-billion dollar behemoth it is now.</div> Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you are a general manager who is trying to put your stamp on the franchise it doesn't make sense to bring back a coach whose cumulative record is 106-222 (.323) with one postseason appearance. Do I think that Mike Woodson did a poor job with the Hawks? No. Do I think that there are people who could have done a better job? Most certainly. And there are very good candidates that I'm sure would jump at the opportunity to become a good head coach. One would be former Minnesota head coach and long time Sonics assistant Dwane Casey or current San Antonio assistant Don Newman. In moving forward it is important to have a coach that can demand respect. Mike Woodson seems to be a class act in all aspects but considering some of the actions of Josh Smith, Zaza Pachulia, and others in their locker room I'm not sure if he can command the respect needed to go forward. Just ask Flip Saunders. There is one thing for a coach to bring a team to respectability. There is another to take a team to a level that makes them a contender. I'm not sure that the Hawks are capable of getting to that level but I am pretty confident that they can't make that leap with Mike Woodson. Sund is not afraid to make tough choices. He fired Bob Weiss after his first 30 games as head coach of the Sonics. He negotiated very cap friendly contracts with free agents who felt that they were worth much more than they ended up signing for. He put together a very well balanced roster that was capable of making the post season each season when he was a general manager of the Sonics. His drafts were not his strong suits but considering that he never had a pick higher than #10 I don't think that people can put that much weight on the fact that he was never able to draft an All-Star. Everyone of his first round picks (with the exception of Mo' Sene and its still early on him (kid is only 21)) have received or are in line for their second NBA contract...which is must better than most GM's can say.
