After his firing, Sund was hired by the Hawks, who had fired
Billy Knight. Prior to the
2008–2009 season's start, sixth man
Josh Childress left for Europe after not receiving an offer higher than his restricted free agent qualifying offer. Sund acquired
Maurice Evans and
Ronald "Flip" Murray to fill Childress' vacancy. While Evans was overpaid (three years at $2.5 million per year), Murray did serve as a great sixth man in his one season with the Hawks, averaging 12.2 PPG on .447 FG% from 2008 to 2009, while being paid $1.5 million. The Hawks clinched the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference during the 2008–09 season, edged the
Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs in seven games after falling behind 2–1, and then were swept by the
Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round. Over the summer 2009, Sund's Hawks made some more moves. They drafted
Jeff Teague and
Sergei Gladyr. , Gladyr still has not played an official game with the Hawks. He also re-signed free agents
Mike Bibby (three years, roughly $6 million per year),
Zaza Pachulia, and
Marvin Williams (five years at about $7.5 million per year). Then, Sund acquired
Jamal Crawford via trade for
Speedy Claxton and
Acie Law, and Crawford went on to become the NBA Sixth Man of the Year, averaging 18.0 PPG on .449 FG% in the 2009–2010 season. He also signed free agents
Joe Smith and
Jason Collins, neither of whom made significant contributions in the 2009–2010 season. The Hawks won 53 games that season, clinched the third seed behind the
Orlando Magic, and edged the
Milwaukee Bucks in seven games after falling behind 3–2. In the second round, the Magic swept the Hawks in the most lopsided playoff series in NBA history.
Joe Johnson made a comment following one of the losses that he didn't care if Hawks fans showed up. Over the summer of 2010, Sund signed Joe Johnson to a six-year, $119 million contract. That summer he also did not re-sign
Mike Woodson as head coach, but instead of hiring a coach and changing the Hawks mediocre culture, he promoted Woodson's head assistant
Larry Drew (three years, about $1.25 million per year). However, he also extended Al Horford for five seasons at $12 million per season, in return. The Hawks however did upset the Orlando magic in six games as the #5 seed in the 2011 playoffs, and played competitive for a while against the top-seeded Bulls in the second round (winning game 1 and almost game 2, only to lose game 3 badly, win a close game 4, and lose 5 and 6 badly). Jason Collins proved to be useful against
Dwight Howard on defense, but not against the Bulls. In the summer of 2011, the Hawks only draft pick, in the second round, was used on
Keith Benson, who didn't make the team during the December training camp. Jamal Crawford was not re-signed to avoid going into the luxury tax. However, Sund also re-signed Collins, and added
Tracy McGrady,
Willie Green,
Jannero Pargo,
Vladimir Radmanović,
Jerry Stackhouse, and
Eric Dampier, all at veterans minimums. Signing that many veteran minimum contracts pushed the Hawks into the luxury tax, although McGrady, Green, and Pargo had productive seasons. Childress also came back from Greece, and was signed-and-traded to Phoenix for a trade exception (not used) and a second-round draft pick (sold for cash to pay the luxury tax). The Hawks also signed 27-year-old rookie
Ivan Johnson, who had a productive season, even finishing as rookie of the month in April. The Hawks won 40 games in the lockout-shortened season despite Horford missing most of the season, and clinched home court and the #5 seed against the #4 division winner
Boston Celtics. The Hawks lost in six games. Since 2012, Sund has been the Hawks senior advisor for basketball operations. ==Sources==