Rick Sund.

SUPERSONICS.COM: How do you feel about being the Sonics representative at the Lottery?
Rick Sund: It’s a long way to go for a day. Seattle is just geographically so far. I’ve always been a lucky guy, so maybe it will work out.

Do you have any lucky charms you’re going to bring to the Lottery?
Sund: I was going to try to find a lucky toupee, but I thought that it might scare my mom.

Did you have any experience with the Lottery during your time in Dallas?
Sund: I did have some time with the lottery because when it first got instituted, we had done some trades and we had some other teams’ picks. That’s a great way to be in the lottery. You’re sitting there, having the pick, but it’s not your own. We did get into the rebuilding program, so we were in the lottery there. That was kind of interesting because we knew in 1992, we had the worst record, we might pick one, two or three. That was the year Shaquille O’Neal came out. We were excited about maybe getting the opportunity to get Shaq, but we didn’t.

We had Cleveland’s pick a couple of times, and they were in the lottery. That was really nice. You were sitting there and thinking, 'If this comes up, we can really make our team better.'

The boost provided by Allen’s acquisition makes going to the Lottery a little easier. D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty

Does it make it easier to go to the Lottery knowing that after the trade for Ray Allen, the team played at a playoff caliber?
Sund: Yeah, I think it probably is a little easier. I’ve only been here two years. This is the first time I’ve been in the lottery with the Sonics. We were 8-2, then we had 40 games where we were 14-28. Then we did the trade and we had a very good second half of the season where we like to think that we ran out of games – that if we would have had more games we might have been able to make the playoffs. You always want to be in the playoffs. I love to be in the playoffs. Once you’re in the playoffs, you never know what’s going to happen. Once it’s over, then you start looking for 'How do we get better?' With the draft coming up, we’ve got in all probability two picks – you never know – and maybe we’ll have one of those picks and get real lucky and it’s one, two or three.

A lot of experts believe this is one of the strongest draft classes in years. What’s your take on it so far?
Sund: I don’t know. It’s too early to say. You never really judge drafts until about two or three years later. You don’t judge them the day of the draft. You don’t judge them the next year, or even the year after. You usually judge them four or five years later.

How do you feel about possibly having two picks in the first round this year?
Sund: I like having two draft picks in a situation where we – make no mistake, when we made the trade, that validated that we are definitely in a rebuilding situation. We got younger. And we have two picks. Those are assets. Whether or not we use those picks to draft players, or we use those picks for trades, who knows? That remains to be seen. But it at least gives us some assets in our rebuilding.

Does having two first rounders change your strategy? Are you more willing to make a risky pick?
Sund: I don’t know. I don’t know if it necessarily changes the strategy. It can. What it does do is gives you flexibility. You might take the best player available. Rather than take the best player, you might say, 'Well, let’s not take the best player one pick, let’s fill a need.' You might say, 'Let’s take a player who’s in Europe and wait on him.' By having two picks, you’ve got some flexibility.

“ Tracy McGrady was an MVP candidate this year – he didn’t play very much his first two years.” Noren Trotman/NBAE/Getty

How much does what you expect to be able to do in free agency affect what you do in the draft?
Sund: Maybe some, but not a lot. I think it’s the other way around. What we do with our picks might affect what will happen in free agency, because you can never say, 'Okay, free agency in the summer means we’re going to do this,' because you don’t know. So you probably take the bird in the hand.

How does the fact that today’s players are no longer as prepared for the NBA change how you approach the draft process?
Sund: I don’t know if it necessarily changes the process, but it does change the expectations. I think a lot of times we sit down with coaches and management and say, ‘Alright, this kid’s not ready to play, but he’s got a chance to be a pretty good player in years to come.’ There have been some tremendous examples of that the last six, seven, eight years. Prior to then you didn’t have that. You’ve got situations where Kwame Brown, the number one pick, hasn’t played very much. DeSagana Diop hasn’t played very much. Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, their first year, didn’t play, because they were high-school players. Rodney White came out of college as a freshman, he’s just starting to play. Tracy McGrady was an MVP candidate this year – he didn’t play very much his first two years. Not only minutes but games, he played 60 games, one year 40-some. Guys are missing a lot of games because you have to develop them and it takes two, three, four years. I think that’s probably the biggest thing, where in the past you had kids who stayed in school three years, four years, and they’d get that college training. I think it helped Tim Duncan become an established player quickly, staying four years. Grant Hill – unfortunately he’s hurt – David Robinson, same thing.

How big of a factor will age be in your selections?
Sund: Not a lot, because we’re rebuilding. I think talent, what somebody can do and potential are going to override age.