Hornets, Davis Stay Together

The Charlotte Hornets ensured on Friday that point guard Baron Davis would remain with the team through 2003 by picking up the option year on his contract.

Davis, a high school standout at Santa Monica Crossroads and later at UCLA, has completed the second year on the rookie-scale contract he signed with the Hornets after they made him the third overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft.

He was signed through next season and the Hornets held an option on the fourth and final year.

His potential emerged during Charlotte’s postseason run and there had been speculation that he might flee to a bigger market when his contract is up.

But Davis said he didn’t want to play for anybody other than Charlotte Coach Paul Silas, adding: “Charlotte has been a great city to play in and represent.

“I look forward to building on what we accomplished this season. I love playing for Coach Silas, and with the nucleus of young guys and veterans that we have, we have a chance to do something special in Charlotte.”

Davis increased his production in virtually every category over his rookie year.

He averaged 13.8 points, 7.3 assists and 2.07 steals during the regular season and averaged 17.8 points in the playoffs as the Hornets went to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals before losing to Milwaukee.

Rick Sund, a former executive with the Detroit Pistons, was hired as general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics.

The opening was created when Wally Walker became the team’s CEO after it came under new management earlier this year.

“I’m really excited,” Sund said. “Seattle is a great city, a vibrant city. I really like the new ownership. Howard Schultz is energetic and enthusiastic, and I’ve known Wally Walker.”

Sund most recently spent six years with the Pistons, where he was executive vice president of basketball operations.

In that post, he helped Joe Dumars, the club’s president of basketball operations, with roster and player development, trades, contract negotiations, player drafts, free-agency acquisition and other team operations. The Pistons made the playoffs his first two seasons there.

This will be Sund’s second stint in Seattle. He was a consultant to the SuperSonics during the 1994-95 season, managing Seattle’s college scouting program and helping Walker with personnel decisions.

Also Friday, the SuperSonics hired University of Missouri Kansas City Coach Dean Demopoulos as an assistant.

Demopoulos coached one season at UMKC, finishing 14-16, after spending 17 years at Temple as an assistant to John Chaney.

Fourteen of Demopoulos’ former players went on to play in the NBA, among them Eddie Jones, Aaron McKie and Marc Jackson.