SEATTLE – The way team executives presented it, the Seattle Sonics did not need any interviews or player recommendations to find the right head coach. All avenues kept delivering them to the same man.
And so on Monday the team hired Bob Weiss, a Sonics assistant since 1994, to take over for Nate McMillan.
“We got the best possible coach for our position,” said team president Wally Walker. “He was the right fit. Money had nothing to do with it. … He’s been here 11 years, so he knows the situation.”
Walker, owner Howard Schultz and general manager Rick Sund were so impressed by Weiss that they did not schedule anyone else for interviews. By the time players like Ray Allen voiced their confidence in Weiss, the decision-makers had already been won over.
The Sonics’ front office put more stock in Weiss’ familiarity with the team after 11 years in Seattle than it did his combined 210-282 record as a head coach with San Antonio, Atlanta and the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Last summer was about resolve,” Sund said. “This summer is about continuity.”
Weiss, 63, admitted that his lack of success as a head coach had led him to believe another opportunity would never arrive. But after McMillan left to take over as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this month, Weiss’s window of opportunity opened again.
“I became comfortable as an assistant,” said Weiss, whose last head coaching job included a 27-55 record with the Clippers in 1993-94. “I drifted out of the mainstream for a while. It would have taken a perfect scenario, probably, for me to (get a head coaching job).”
Easy-going and self-effacing, Weiss is confident that he has learned a lot since his first three coaching stints.
“The first couple jobs I had were complete rebuilding jobs – in fact, they weren’t done deteriorating yet,” Weiss said. “This is the first opportunity I’ve had to work with the (quality) talent of Ray and Rashard (Lewis), and the young players we have.
“… In this league, you’re always learning. That’s one of the things that I love about this league, that it’s always evolving. I think I’m quite different than I was in my first couple jobs.”
Weiss was a popular choice among the players, many of whom called Sonics officials to endorse him as the top candidate.
“I’m very excited about their response to me,” Weiss said. “I’m happy that they like me as an individual, but I’m more happy that they had the confidence in me that I could help carry them where we want to go.”
Weiss is the 13th coach in Sonics history, and the second consecutive one who was promoted from assistant. McMillan took over for Paul Westphal in November 2000 and led the Sonics to a 212-182 record before joining the Trail Blazers on July 7. McMillan’s Sonics went 52-30 last season, winning the Northwest Division before going to the Western Conference semifinals.
“It’s going to be a tough act to follow, but (the Sonics have) the ammunition to do it,” Weiss said. “We’re still in the process of forming the team, and we just want to continue the winning tradition that these guys started and carry it on from here.”
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