Grading our GMs: Dimitroff’s at the top, but where’s Wren?

The "D" also stands for "Don" and "dean of Atlanta GMs. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)

Two are in their offseasons. Two are approaching their midseasons, one with a monumental decision to make. Three of the four are relatively new to their positions; the other is Teflon Don Waddell. Today’s assignment: Assess and grade the general managers of Atlanta’s four major sports teams. We start at the top.

Thomas Dimitroff, Falcons

Start date: January 2008. Recap: Two winning seasons in two tries, one playoff appearance, no playoff victories. Major achievements: Hired Mike Smith, the 2008 NFL coach of the year; drafted Matt Ryan, the 2008 offensive rookie of the year; signed Michael Turner, who rushed for 1,699 yards in 2008.

Assessment: Has brought precision and professional calm to a franchise roiled by the abrupt departures of Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino; made the absolute most of his first NFL draft, landing three starters — Ryan, Sam Baker and Curtis Lofton — with his first three picks; the 2009 draft was less successful, given that top two picks Peria Jerry and William Moore were lost to injury; might have overreached in trying to change nearly half the defensive starters in one offseason; landed Tony Gonzalez for a second-round pick in a trade that essentially enabled the Falcons to post consecutive winning records for the first time in their history.

Grade: A big fat A.

Rick Sund, Hawks

Start date: June 2008. Recap: One winning season, one playoff series victory; the Hawks are leading the NBA Southeast in Year 2. Major achievements: Bolstered the 2008-2009 team with deft (and cheap) acquisitions of subs Flip Murray and Mo Evans; held the Hawks’ core together by re-signing Mike Bibby, Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia over the summer of 2009, again on the cheap, and landed the excellent Jamal Crawford to boot.

Assessment: Started rather ingloriously by seeing sixth man Josh Childress leave for Olympiakos of Greece; made up for that by landing Murray and Evans; made the correct choice upon arrival by granting coach Mike Woodson a two-year contract extension; is risking distraction and Woodson’s lingering ire by refusing to renegotiate until that contract expires after this season; took Jeff Teague with the 19th pick of the 2009 draft, and even Woodson, who’s hard on rookies, says Teague “will run this team someday”; is more a nuts-and-bolts guy than a grand visionary; knows the NBA and its workings as well as anyone, having worked in it since 1979.

Grade: B-plus for technical merit.

Frank Wren, Braves

Start date: October 2007. Recap: One winning season, no playoff appearances. Major achievements: Rebuilt the Braves’ rotation in one winter; lifted a club that had lost 90 games in his first season to 86 victories in 2009; presides over a farm system that just yielded Tommy Hanson and boasts top prospects Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman.

Assessment: Had to follow the estimable John Schuerholz; banked on aging starting pitching in 2008 and saw his team crumble due to injury; landed Javier Vazquez, Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami last winter, rendering the new rotation more durable; traded Vazquez to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera and two prospects in a deal that pretty much stumped the band; signed Troy Glaus, a career third baseman coming off surgery, to be the Braves’ 2010 first baseman; guessed wrong on the composition of the Braves’ 2009 lineup but made midcourse corrections by landing Nate McLouth and dumping Jeff Francoeur and Casey Kotchman; both he and Bobby Cox dismissed a Yahoo! Sports report of friction between the two; the next day it was announced 2010 would be Cox’s final season as manager;  irked John Smoltz by not offering more guaranteed money last January and Tom Glavine by cutting him last June; gives the impression of being in too big a hurry; has no ear for public relations.

Grade: A loud and busy C-plus.

Don Waddell, Thrashers

Start date: June 1998. Recap: Two winning seasons, one division championship, one playoff appearance, no playoff victories. Major achievements: Drafted Dany Heatley with the No. 2 overall pick in 2000 and Ilya Kovalchuk with the No. 1 pick in 2001; has spent more time as an Atlanta GM than the other three combined.

Assessment: Was hired to build a roster from the ground up; the Thrashers, now in their second decade, are 28th in a 30-team league in attendance and would not qualify for the playoffs if they began today; was handed a major setback when Heatley, who was driving in the crash that killed teammate Dan Snyder, demanded to be traded; managed to pry the best two-way player in Thrashers annals from Ottawa for Heatley but couldn’t persuade Marian Hossa to re-up in 2008, forcing a midseason trade to Pittsburgh; has had spotty drafts, although Zach Bogosian and Evander Kane show great promise; has had rotten luck with goaltenders, dating from Damian Rhodes to Kari Lehtonen;  faces a Hossa-like dilemma with Kovalchuk, whose contract is expiring at season’s end and whom Waddell has worked hard to keep; hope for retaining Kovalchuk wanes with every day, and his loss could spell doom for hockey in Atlanta.

Grade: D, but it drops if  Kovalchuk exits.