<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SEATTLE (AP) -- The Seattle SuperSonics have determined that missing the playoffs wasn't Bob Hill's fault. The Sonics exercised Hill's contract option for the 2006-07 season Monday, 3 1/2 months after they promoted him to replace the fired Bob Weiss. Seattle is 21-29 since Hill took over after a few months as Weiss' assistant. The Sonics will miss the postseason for the third time in four seasons. The 2004-05 Northwest Division champions were 13-17 in the brief tenure of Weiss, a former longtime Sonics assistant who had been promoted at the players' behest last offseason after Nate McMillan left to coach Portland. "I just don't think that in today's NBA that we are as far away from being a playoff team as people think," Hill said from Sacramento, where the Sonics were preparing for Tuesday's game against the Kings. "I am impressed with the attitude of this team and I'm truly excited about the club's direction heading into next season." The Sonics are, too. "Based on the progress we've made as a team over the last third of the season, Bob is the best candidate to get the Sonics back to the playoffs next year," general manager Rick Sund said. Sund said Hill earned the early announcement. The team had told Hill when they promoted him on Jan. 3 that they would wait until after the season to discuss whether the eight-year veteran coach would return next season. Then came sweeping changes at the trading deadline. Chris Wilcox, a part-time player for the Clippers, has become a Sonics cornerstone. Earl Watson arrived from Denver to become a key guard to complement All-Star Ray Allen. The Sonics are 13-8 when both Wilcox and Watson have played. As those two arrived, out went unhappy Vladimir Radmanovic, Reggie Evans, Ronald Murray and Vitaly Potapenko. "Certain players we had before didn't want to be here," Hill said. "The difference with the players we have now is enormous. That equates to a lot of wins." Hill has also extensively used his two, young, 7-footers, Johan Petro and Robert Swift. Both played sparingly under Weiss and were close to a demotion into the developmental league in November. "It really was a no-brainer," Hill said. "We needed their length on the floor." Allen said Hill is "building in the right direction ... nurturing the youth of this team, unlike anybody in the past." </div> Source
Actually, this makes sense because the ownership wouldn't want to spend money on a coach when they're trying to sell the team.
Can't say that I'm happy with the move, but on the other hand I can't say that I didn't expect it either. Hill was assessed all season by management and I honestly felt that as long as there wasn't a public revolt against Hill by the players that he would be given a full season with this compliment of players to show that he deserved a long term contract as head coach. I'm very interested to see if Hill is going to look to rid himself of any of the assistants that he inherited. That will be a tell tale sign for me that being in a position of influence has truly gone to his head.
I like bringing Hill back for another year, but am a little torn over the length. If another coach is going to get locked up for more than a season, I'd prefer to get the chance to see if with a training camp, and some more seasoning on the young bigs, if he's able to improve the D. On the other hand, being a professional coach of a mediocre or poor team in the last year of your deal has to be one of the toughest jobs around. Hopefully he'll be able to get the players to respond despite his up in the air status. Overall I'm interested to see what he can do given a full camp to implement his system with the new group of players. The team has shown it has the ability to be competitive (post trade deadline). <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm very interested to see if Hill is going to look to rid himself of any of the assistants that he inherited. That will be a tell tale sign for me that being in a position of influence has truly gone to his head.</div> Heard him on KJR the other day talking about how much he likes the staff, and how good the lines of communication are between them all. I'd be a little suprised if tried ousting any of them - but everyone has their guys, so not too much I guess.
Well I suppose for continuity's sake, bringing Hill back is OK. And as long as the players respond to him, which it appears they do, that's the main thing. He seems a bit boorish, though, and I wish he'd reign back his penchant for criticizing players in the press. Not even his own, either e.g., he called Radman a 'soft rebounder' and said Smush was 'probably criticizing Kobe behind his back right now'. Stuff like that.
