Just thought I'd start a thread for all the hoop junkies to keep up
with what's going on in the wacky world of the NBA......So far, all I
got is the Nate McMillian story.
So Nate coaches the Sonics back to respectability and this is the
thanks he gets??
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>Sonics: Sonics plan to wait on coach</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER type="block" width="1" height="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>The Seattle Times
July 2, 2005
Sonics management is willing to stay patient as NBA teams with coaching vacancies woo the man who led <LOCATION>Seattle</LOCATION> to the Northwest Division title last season.
To that end, Nate McMillan has told Sonics president
Wally Walker</PERSON> that he will visit with other teams in the next week. He is expected to visit <LOCATION>Portland</LOCATION> this weekend, if he hasn't already, and other likely suitors include the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons, should
Larry Brown</PERSON> step down as coach.
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The Sonics have offered McMillan a four-year, <MONEY>$18 million</MONEY> contract, which would place him among the highest-paid coaches in the league. But the Blazers are thought to be willing to offer double, and the Sonics have nine free agents and an uncertain financial future.
Walker said the Sonics have not placed a timetable on McMillan's decision. McMillan has said previously that he has not decided on a timetable, either.
The Sonics' plan, for now, is to let McMillan talk to other teams and reconvene "probably next week." That doesn't mean contract negotiations are on hold, though. Walker said he talked to McMillan's agent,
Lonnie Cooper</PERSON>, yesterday morning. Cooper could not be reached.
"What I said to Nate was, 'Hey, you need to go and do what you need to do,' " Walker said. " 'Then, let's talk and see where everyone is. Then we'll try to establish a timetable.' At some point, though, everyone has to get on with their lives."
Should McMillan elect to stay in <LOCATION>Seattle</LOCATION>, <LOCATION>Phoenix</LOCATION> assistant coach Marc Iavaroni is considered a front-runner for the Blazers job.
Terry Porter</PERSON>, who played in <LOCATION>Portland</LOCATION> and who recently was fired by <LOCATION>Milwaukee</LOCATION>, will likely also be considered.
Now we know how it ended. But I believe that seattle did not try hard
enough to keep McMillian as the coach. How much sense does it make to
hire a new guy and have to start from scratch?? Letting the coach go,
made absolutely no sense. The only free agents that matter to the
Sonics are Allen and Lewis. The rest are expendable. But this coach, with
these players, in this system, IMO, is not....
How ironic would it be if Seatlle now hires Terry Porter to take McMillian's
place?? Two backward assed franchises if you ask me. Just pay the brovas.
If this was Riley, or Brown, or Jackson, or even Jerry Sloan, they'd bend
over and let the coach ream them, but they brotha gotta leave town, even
when he does well....Case in point is Porter.....Like Doc Rivers before
him (in Orlando), he had one good season, followed by a mediocre
season and that was IT for his job team.
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