<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">McMillan still declines to discuss his salary. ?Out of respect to Mr. (Paul) Allen,? he explains. But industry sources confirm that he received a five-year contract from the Blazers for $27 million, with a team option for a sixth year that could bring the total value to $35 million. If the sixth year is realized, it could be one of the largest contracts ever bestowed upon a coach. But, really, even if the offer had been less than the $18 million over four years the Sonics were offering, McMillan may have accepted. He knew, deep within the chambers of a heart that still grieved for his late mother and aunt, that his time in Seattle had grown stale, that his preaching and pleadings were becoming droning monotony to players, that his constant inner and external battles with management had exacted an irreversible toll. He had become a publicly recognizable troglodyte last season, retreating into a shell of mental fatigue about his situation. But as the season progressed, and the signs became more clear that the end was nearing, he became more and more stressed as factions demanded to know of his decision. By the end, he was almost unable to go on. When a team of coaches and front-office personnel went to Chicago in early June for the league?s annual pre-draft camp to evaluate college talent, McMillan said he begged out of two days of meetings, bereft of emotion and devotion. As CEO Wally Walker and general manager Rick Sund and director of player personnel David Pendergraft and assistant coaches Dwane Casey and Bob Weiss and Jack Sikma plotted for the team?s upcoming draft, McMillan retreated to his hotel room to sleep and avoid the nagging feeling that his heart just wasn?t in it with this organization any longer. As June slid toward July, and he had not signed a contract with Seattle because he couldn?t escape that growing sentiment, it became increasingly clear to him that his departure was inevitable. He wasn?t necessarily looking at this season, when he thought the Sonics would again enjoy success. But he said he was projecting three or fours years down the road and he saw not a paved avenue of success but a considerable amount of arrested development. He sensed that he no longer was going to be able to coach an aging Ray Allen. He would have been with Rashard Lewis for a decade. Luke Ridnour and Nick Collison would be seasoned veterans. The lone intrigue was Robert Swift, and that wasn?t enough. ?I didn?t feel like I could do any more with that group,? McMillan said. Blazers in transition It wasn?t a matter of when he would leave, but to where? </div> News Tribune.
And another from today's Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/spor...256_kell12.html <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"We got into a style of play that I think the organization wanted," McMillan said. "I realized then that we created a style that we wanted to play, but everybody in the organization wasn't on the same page when that style didn't work. It was done basically to build a fan base, more than to play the game the right way. "I thought I could do it. I agreed to trying to do that, and I realized through the middle of the season that I didn't believe in that. I was teaching something and coaching something I didn't believe in. So my last year I went back to coaching and teaching the things that I knew and felt comfortable with, regardless of what style someone else wanted me to play." The Sonics won playing Nate Ball, instead of some weak imitation of the Mavericks</div> I might be reading this wrong, but I get the impression that we can attribute the losing and mediocrity of the previous 4 seasons to the fact that management was forcing an up-tempo, crowd pleasing, Weiss-esque style of ball to the chagrin of Nate. And last year's breakout year was due to Nate going back to his beliefs, despite what Sund and Co. were pushing. Regardless, despite the fact that, as a long time Sonic fan, I hated to see Nate leave, it sounds like it really was best for the players and Nate that he move on. Even the very best pro coaches wear out their welcome after a few years.
