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They just want Nate McMillan back.
In retrospect, it was a good choice to get rid of Hill although Pop wasn't completely ready to take over as coach. As timvp said, the players did some of their own coaching to start until Pop began to expand his abilities. Cutting your teeth under Larry Brown (considered one of the best teaching coaches around even with the New York fiasco and a "play the right way guy") and Don Nelson (a great, if unorthodox strategist) is a good way to get your start and not too many will argue against the idea that Pop has grown into a great coach. But Pop's move to fire Hill at the time was not without plenty of critics, including some of the "Pop is God" people that populate the forum.
The excerpt below appears in the Seattle Post Intelligencer along with other items about the Weiss firing. It also attempts to give some insight into why Hill has been blacklisted for so long.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basket...8_thiel04.html
They just want Nate McMillan back.
Yes. It's hard to look in the mirror and say "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
Well, he could clear the whole matter up with two phone calls but it's better just to let the lie live on and start out on Hill's good side.
poor, stupid Seattle
sounds to me like it was Hill that posioned his own chances by speaking out so publically against Pop. It kinda like Stan Van Gundy toeing the company line so that he can get another head coaching job. It's just common sense if you want to continue to work in the field, you dont burn bridges, just take your medicine and move on.
If I were a employer I wouldnt want to take a chance hiring a coach that would one day be so childish in the media just cause he was fired.
yea Pop got lucky getting Duncan, but Duncan didnt do it all by himself, it has been the ultimate teamwork of DRob, TD, Pop and RC that has led the Spurs to were they are now.
Let's see how much the Seattle media is singing Hill's praises by the end of the season.
Precisely. On the other hand, I think everyone needs to bear in mind the way Bob Hill FOUND OUT HE WAS FIRED. That was the classless part, the part I feel was beneath the Spurs organization; I hope to never see them handle a situation like that again. As I said earlier, I really didn't have any problem with the actual firing, just with the way it was handled.
I feel sorry for the Sonics come February 21, 2006.
"he was crappy and ruthless"
wow, what pissed this writer off so much to use that language for an affair going back 9 years?
Yeah, that was pretty funny. I've never before seen a columnist use the word crappy whne he was trying to be taken seriously.
Surprised he didn't say re ed.
I get the feeling this is one of those guys Pop shat upon when he asked a stupid question at a press conference.
I got a snazzy headline for this: Writer Takes Pop at Pop
Whaddya think, Blaze?
I never understood the uproar over Hill's firing. It was Pop's team long before he took over as coach. He built the team, hand-selected every piece. So who knew the team better than Pop? And what had Hill proven?
History will judge Hill, and history will judge Pop.
Accurately.
That's it, The Sonics better go down next time we face them.
SA210, correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't it a politican's job to be two faced? don't get me wrong, i am no bush supporter, but politicians lie, it's a fact... sorry to make such an off topic post everyone
Whatever. I'm glad Pop is our coach, but honestly, it's easy to be villainized when you fire someone. Our media doesn't like complexity. Better to paint a big broad bull stroke (for example, the runup to our immersion in Giant Mess-O-Potamia).
The fact is, getting fired sucks, and I dispute the notion that there is a good way to get the heave. You've got two options when you get canned. You can go like Stan Van Gundy (my wife misses me in bed, etc) or you can go like Hill (those big meanies fired me!). Option one leaves you unemployed only long enough for another gig to come along that will make you want to hitch up your boxers over your Van Gundy and get back in the game. Option two is much like trying to date again after getting dumped when all you can talk about is what a your ex was; you'll be suitorless for a long time.
Last fact: Bob Hill was a good coach, who couldn't find a way to get his teams to survive in the post-season (i.e. play defense). Hopefully for him, he'll have learned a thing or two during his long exile (such as just how much emphasis defense should have).
ive said for the longest time.
Had Hill not been sucha baby and wouldve been willing to take a step down.
Pop as the defensive coordinator, and hill the offensive coordinator, wouldve been fantastic.
But Hill is a whiney little , so oh well.
... and the Sonics would fire Hill tomorrow if they could hire Pop in his place.
Pop is a top 3 coach in the league.
He is on par with all time greats such as Phil Jackson and Pat Rieley.
I would love to have Pop coach a team for me.
Hill has the Phil Jackson sized ego...without the resume. He just couldn't conceive that Pop didn't want to coach, but the Two Lefties went to him and begged him to get rid of Hill.
Hill reminds me of an ex Sonics coach: George Karl. They both have great hoops minds, but stumble when it comes to handling players. Hill loves to take the credit when his team wins, but doles out the blame to the players when they lose. That's a fatal tail in a player's league.
Right On!
Sent:
Mr. Art Thiel:
You are a fine writer as someone who used to live in the Seattle area but your article on Hill's hiring makes several erroneous statements.
The facts are David Robinson only played 6 games in the entire 1996-97 year that Popovich took over, and Popovich took over a team without him.
To verify this see Robinson's NBA bio and statistics on this the year before Duncan was drafted at:
http://www.nba.com/history/players/robinson_stats.html
The stated reasons given had also nothing to do with the record - rather at the time it was stated (and at least this point is accurate) that Hill's teams stressed little or no defense.
Hill also did not contrary to what you claimed handle the Dennis Rodman situation well.
Moreover, Hill also for some dubious reason refused to double Hakeem Olajuwon, when Houston was in turn doubling or tripling David Robinson on the other side. That decision probably cost the Spurs a finals shot alone.
Was it wrong to fire Hill this way? Probably, but please get the facts straight and Hill's immaturity in handling his firing (which is a common thing among NBA coaches) is perhaps unparrelled in going to the media.
The Sonics are getting exactly the type of coach they do not need in my opinion in Hill, after losing a great one in Nate McMillian in the odd front office moves of last year.
Seattle remains a team in serious trouble.
Peter Rumm, MD
"You are a fine writer as someone who used to live in the Seattle area"
where does this "fine writer" live now?
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