Rick Sund.

SUPERSONICS.COM: With the evaluation process coming to a close, what do you think of the talent available with the 12th and 14th picks?
Rick Sund: We’re still in the process of doing that. We’ve got guys coming in tonight, and we’re working out people this weekend, even into early next week. It’s part of the process, so we haven’t completed the process. I think at 12 and 14, you have to be prepared for a number of scenarios, because you just don’t know. It’s too early for anybody to commit other than the top three. We all know the top three are pretty much committed. From four on, we don’t know, and there are some real confusion there. So we have to be prepared – these guys might slide, these guys may be gone, so we’re going over a whole number of scenarios. Secondly, we have to be prepared to entertain thoughts of trades, because we’re not married to those picks. If we can move those picks, stay within young guys, we’ll entertain those thoughts.

How much do the early entrant withdrawals affect who may be available?
Sund: I think Pavel (Podkolzine) – and I’m not even going to try to pronounce his last name. We all call him Pavel – I think he affected it a little bit. I think he was certainly a player who was probably going to go somewhere in the top 15 picks, but he wants to go in the top ten. I thought his quotes today were pretty good. ‘If I’m going to be a project, then I’m going to stay in Europe, I’d rather come out when the NBA thinks I’m more ready to play.’ He’s just 18, so he’s like a high school kid. This is probably a pretty sound move on his part.

There are a number of different ways to evaluate potential picks. Can you explain how you balance all these methods?
Sund: Excellent question. I think there are probably five or six different variables we look at in the process of throwing all the information and all the data into a hopper. Where these kids were, from a scouting perspective, as high school kids to – let’s assume they stayed there all four years – what we thought of them. There were some kids you say, ‘Hey, let’s flag these kids now because they’re prospects, and let’s see what they do their freshman year.’ That freshman year, flag them and watch them, sophomore, junior. You keep watching them and you see their progress. That’s one scenario, which makes it very difficult when kids come out as high schoolers or after their freshman year. You haven’t had that time to look at their progress.

Another thing you do, another process you do is look at post-season basketball. Post-season basketball slash one. You look at post-season conference tournaments, the NCAA tournaments, the NIT tournaments, and each time the pressure gets bigger. How they perform in those games, I think that’s a big tool that’s used in our evaluation process. Then you go to post-season basketball slash two, which is tournaments – Portsmouth, Chicago. We used to have a tournament in Phoenix. But those two venues right now are the top ones. How they perform in the combines.

Then you go to individual workouts. How they do in individual workouts, when you bring them in. Then you take the interview process. How they interview, how they test. A lot of teams do pyschological or behavioral tests. We do some. You put that into a hopper. Then you do the background analysis. You talk to high school coaches who’ve coached them, you talk to college coaches who’ve coached them. Not just their coach who coached on their team, but a lot of these guys played international basketball as they’re growing up, AAU coaches. If you can get a feel of what their strengths and weaknesses are, you throw that in.

And then the last one is film analysis. You can’t watch these guys play every game, so you need to supplement that with the tapes. That process has become a real useful tool – way more useful now than it was, say, ten years ago, because of the sophistication of the technology. We can break tape down better, we get tapes easier. We used to use films years ago. I think that’s six data tools that you throw in to the hopper, and you make decisions based on that. It’s still guesswork, but you try to make educated guesses, having all that information at your hands.

How much more difficult is that with very young players?
Sund: Way more difficult for players who only played one year (in college) or coming out of high school. You just don’t have as much data in the hopper, as I call it. You have to do it with less. Sometimes, maybe it’s easier because you say ‘I like him’ or ‘I don’t like him’ and you can eliminate him if you don’t like him, because there just isn’t enough information. You’re really judging on potential. More and more NBA drafts the last four or five years, you’ve been drafting on potential because guys don’t play right away.

Do you look at the combine numbers like height, agility, strength, etc.?
Sund: Oh yeah, we do all that. That goes with all those other variables when you use combines or you use workouts. We do height, we do reach, we do flexibility, we do vertical jump, we do speed/quickness tests. All those things are just additional data. I don’t think anybody makes decisions based on that, but it’s additional data so that if you have a difficult time deciding – say, ‘Well, two guys equal, this guy’s a little quicker, a little taller’.

How popular have you been with other GMs looking to make a trade?
Sund: What happens is, talks don’t really initiate significantly until the Chicago pre-draft. Once the Chicago pre-draft gets going, general managers and coaches will talk with their colleagues. You get a feel for what direction they want to go, what players they like in the draft. You plant a few seeds. The week before the draft, it picks up a little bit, and then by Monday, the phone’s ringing. We’ve made it perfectly clear we’re not married to the draft. We like it, but we’re not married to it.

Memphis picks between your two first-round picks. How much do you have to consider what Memphis might do in developing your strategy?
Sund: You always try to judge what people are doing, and that’s why you have a lot of conversations. That’s how conversation generally is. You call these teams, your colleagues, and you say, ‘Alright, you’re picking ten . . . what are you looking for? Do you have a feel for what type of player you’re looking for?’ and that generates, ‘Would you like anybody on our club?’ and vice-versa. That’s how the talks go, and unfortunately in this business, you never know for sure. We haven’t had a draft in a long time where people knew one, two and three. It’s been a while. People never commit. Early, they do. Then after that, they don’t commit, they say - and I believe this - they’re not sure. I’ve been in the office – I try to get a workout – somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 every day, and staying until 11 every night. The coaches are right there. Scouts and the Director of Player Personnel are here. There’s a lot of man-hours put into this.

Despite the time commitment, is this one of the most enjoyable times of the year for you?
Sund: Yeah, I like this time of year. You surprise yourself – you don’t get tired, you’re working on adrenaline. I’ve said this all along – there are two real trading periods and team-building periods of putting a club together. One is at the trade deadline, which has really diminished over the years. The other is this draft period. The draft period begins about a week ago and lasts until about July 15, maybe August. In that time period you make trades, you’re talking to free agents. On the heels of the draft, free agency comes in. Now you’re juggling a ton of balls again, because teams are putting together their summer-league teams. I really laugh at this, people say, ‘What do you in the off-season?’ I’m telling you, people don’t realize how busy we are from May 1 to August 15. That time period is way way busier for front offices than October 1, when the season starts. Not even close.

Consider, just in my position, the day that our season ended – April 16 – we finished with Phoenix. The next two days were closure to the season. Exit interviews, exit physicals, meeting with the coaching staff, going over our thoughts for next year. The very next day, I left for Europe to catch up on as many players as I could put into a two-week period that our Director of Player Personnel wanted me to see. I come back here about May 1, May 2, and come into this. April, actually March and April, are huge months. In March we have the tournaments, and I told you the importance of the tournaments. Then you go right into Portsmouth, which is in April, and that’s a big week. Then you go right from that to May (because I went to Europe). Then you’ve got the Chicago pre-draft, and then you go into the draft. It’s really busy. The question you asked was ‘Do I get excited’, yeah, it’s a time of year where there are rumors, trying to decipher rumors, trying to make decisions. There are discussions, there are arguments within the organization about players. It’s a great basketball time if you love basketball and if you’re working in this business. I think that sums it up.