<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Because the Sonics' summer to-do list includes evaluating draft prospects, preparing for free agency and presumably re-signing Ray Allen, coach Nate McMillan isn't likely to receive an extension before the 2004-05 season begins. "It simply hasn't come up," team president Wally Walker said last week at the predraft camp in Chicago. "That's not an indictment on Nate or anything like that. ... I guess, what I'm saying is first things first. There's a lot on our plate right now." Walker acknowledged the possibility that McMillan, who is in the final year of a four-year, $10.8 million contract, will coach next season without assurances of future employment with the team that he has been a member of since 1986. It's the same hard-line stance the Sonics took with Gary Payton, who was traded to Milwaukee in February of 2003, and Brent Barry, who becomes an unrestricted free agent in a few weeks. Both sought to restructure their deals before the season began, but were unable to reach an agreement with Seattle after a few failed attempts. In McMillan's case, he doesn't expect negotiations to begin any time soon. "To tell you the truth, it probably shouldn't," he said. "I don't have a problem with coaching this year out and seeing what happens. "The last few years we've been developing young guys, but we haven't made the playoffs, and I'm sure they want to evaluate everybody. Not only during this season, but at the end of the season. If I was in their shoes, I would take that approach. That doesn't bother me at all."</div> <font size="1">Full Story courtesy of Percy Allen and the Seattle Times.</font> No real surprises here, good to see Nate taking a mature approach to it and not sulking about not getting a guarantee beyond next season. I'd kill to see him have some success too, after all he gave Sonics basketball as a player.
