<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Bob Hill speaks the truth ? to a point. The Sonics coach says the NBA is a player's league. When the team wins, the players get the credit. When the team loses, the coach gets the blame. Bob Hill is right ? to a point. But here's the problem. That has been the state of this league for maybe the last 25 years. Magic Johnson got Paul Westhead fired. Penny Hardaway got Brian Hill fired. If a coach doesn't understand the way the league works, he shouldn't be coaching. And if Hill thinks he's going to change the rules this season, he's nuts. The last thing Hill, coaching without the security of a long-term deal, needs at this early stage of the season is to lose his team. But 15 games into the year, he already is feuding publicly with his players. He is calling out his bench, and the bench is hollering right back at him. Backup point guard Earl Watson snipes about his lack of playing time, and Hill snipes right back. This is exactly what got Hill in trouble when he was the coach at Indiana and San Antonio. And it appears he still doesn't understand his flaws. This is part of the reason he was out of the league for nine years before he returned last season as Bob Weiss' Sonics assistant. Bob Hill is right. And he is wrong. It is a player's league and, unless you're one of the elite coaches with championship rings and a fat long-term contract in your portfolio, the players will quit on you if go after them in public. They will dog you until you're gone. Hill can't win these fights in the press. He doesn't have the clout that Phil Jackson, Pat Riley or Gregg Popovich has. He is a long-term interim coach, with no future past this season if he doesn't win. The players know that. He doesn't have to be their friend, but he can't afford to become their enemy. He has to understand the negative effect his comments can have on the team and on the season. And Hill isn't all right, all the time. How can Damien Wilkins and Watson and the rest of the bench players find their rhythm when their playing time changes so dramatically from game to game? How can his wildly erratic team develop any consistency when Hill's player rotations are so unpredictable? Fifteen games into this season, and this 6-9 team is as grumpy as Bill Parcells on game day. And Hill is making it worse. He is telling his players to shut up and play. And the players are wishing he would shut up and coach. It's one thing to criticize your players in practice, or yell at them in the locker room. But Hill is taking his talk public.</div> Source
I think he was. But the thing is, last season after the trade deadline everyone was happy and excited about the future of the team. So far the team hasn't been so hot. It's amazing how winning and losing can affect everyone mentally.
Lenny Wilkins will be the coach by the end of the season, Rashard will be traded to one of the Texas teams, and the team will move to OKC. And why? Because it just makes good business sense, something the Sonics have lacked since The Ackerly Group moved out and WW moved up. Wilkins is not a GREAT coach, though he has coached some great teams, and is a well known name. Shard won't resign with The Sonics because he feels he can get more elsewhere, and sadly he is probably right even though his defense is horrible for a player of his size with his athletecism. And finally, you just don't invest as much money into a business as it takes to buy an NBA francise, unless you plan on being around to run it. So either the group moves to Seattle or... The Sonics won't be in seattle after the 2008 season. period.
