http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20051115-124753-7050r.htm
Sleeping in Seattle
By Kevin Brewer
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 15, 2005
Expect Bob Weiss to be the first coach fired this NBA season.
It may not happen this week. It may not happen next week. But the first-year coach will be terminated soon -- and with extreme prejudice. For now, Weiss is still the coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, who just completed one of the worst weeks in NBA history.
The Sonics mailed in a 25-loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, phoned in a 27-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers and just plain quit in a 41-point loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday night at MCI Center. Seattle did salvage the week with a victory against the winless Toronto Raptors ... in overtime after blowing an 18-point, fourth-quarter lead.
Of Friday's evisceration, Weiss said, "It was an embarrassment. We have to become accountable. We've got to become more aggressive. We've got to take it personal. We're letting teams manhandle us. We've got to get more physical. We have to get after people. We've got to have more pride. We're just in a funk. We're out there stumbling around. We're not competing. It was just completely unacceptable."
Weiss is sugar-coating it. It wasn't that good.
The Sonics are the Team of the Living Dead. They are just going through the motions. They are nothing more than cones for the opposing team to dribble around.
NBA teams don't quit in November. They quit in January, February and March. They use November as an extended training camp. Instead, the Sonics are using this time to pack their bags and make vacation plans.
Said forward Reggie Evans: "I never experienced this ever in my career. Not just my NBA career but my career overall. It just gets worse. It seems like we can't stop the bleeding. Just constant, constant, constant bleeding. We haven't found a Band-Aid to patch it up yet."
The Sonics don't need a Band-Aid. They need a new attitude or a new coach. Weiss: "We're going to watch this entire tape, and we're going to take responsibility, all of us, to see what we're doing wrong."
No, please. No more. Burn the tape.
The Sonics (2-4) re-signed a number of players from last season's 52-win team, but they didn't re-sign coach Nate McMillan, a disciplinarian who didn't let his teams get away with not competing.
Franchise player Ray Allen, who received a five-year deal worth $80?million: "Mentally, it just got worse. And physically, you're just running up and down the floor, and it seemed like everything just went [the Wizards?] way. Again, I know we'll recover from this."
They better -- for Weiss' sake.
Something sounds vaguely familiar about this.
Sleeping in Seattle
By Kevin Brewer
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 15, 2005
Expect Bob Weiss to be the first coach fired this NBA season.
It may not happen this week. It may not happen next week. But the first-year coach will be terminated soon -- and with extreme prejudice. For now, Weiss is still the coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, who just completed one of the worst weeks in NBA history.
The Sonics mailed in a 25-loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, phoned in a 27-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers and just plain quit in a 41-point loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday night at MCI Center. Seattle did salvage the week with a victory against the winless Toronto Raptors ... in overtime after blowing an 18-point, fourth-quarter lead.
Of Friday's evisceration, Weiss said, "It was an embarrassment. We have to become accountable. We've got to become more aggressive. We've got to take it personal. We're letting teams manhandle us. We've got to get more physical. We have to get after people. We've got to have more pride. We're just in a funk. We're out there stumbling around. We're not competing. It was just completely unacceptable."
Weiss is sugar-coating it. It wasn't that good.
The Sonics are the Team of the Living Dead. They are just going through the motions. They are nothing more than cones for the opposing team to dribble around.
NBA teams don't quit in November. They quit in January, February and March. They use November as an extended training camp. Instead, the Sonics are using this time to pack their bags and make vacation plans.
Said forward Reggie Evans: "I never experienced this ever in my career. Not just my NBA career but my career overall. It just gets worse. It seems like we can't stop the bleeding. Just constant, constant, constant bleeding. We haven't found a Band-Aid to patch it up yet."
The Sonics don't need a Band-Aid. They need a new attitude or a new coach. Weiss: "We're going to watch this entire tape, and we're going to take responsibility, all of us, to see what we're doing wrong."
No, please. No more. Burn the tape.
The Sonics (2-4) re-signed a number of players from last season's 52-win team, but they didn't re-sign coach Nate McMillan, a disciplinarian who didn't let his teams get away with not competing.
Franchise player Ray Allen, who received a five-year deal worth $80?million: "Mentally, it just got worse. And physically, you're just running up and down the floor, and it seemed like everything just went [the Wizards?] way. Again, I know we'll recover from this."
They better -- for Weiss' sake.
Something sounds vaguely familiar about this.
) I said that we are depending on Luke's improvement. Unfortunately for us, Luke has not improved as much as expected, especially on the defensive side. Strong PGs that can take the ball to the rack exploit this very easily. This was a problem even last year and AD was able to stop some of the PGs, but now we are totally vulnerable over there. I am nervously waiting what's going to happen when we face Detroit, Sixers, Chicago, Suns, Spurs... and we have seen what happened already against Wizards.