Sonics waste no time picking Weiss

12:11 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Associated Press

SEATTLE - Flip Saunders and Paul Silas were among the available options for the head coaching vacancy in Seattle. Neither got a serious look, let alone an interview.

No, the SuperSonics knew which coach they wanted, and that man already was working under their roof.

Seattle hired Bob Weiss as coach Monday, promoting the 11-year assistant who worked under former coaches George Karl, Paul Westphal and Nate McMillan.

"I've said this before: Being an assistant is like being a spectator," Weiss said. "You can contribute. But when you're the head coach, it's almost like being in the game."

AP

Bob Weiss smiles after being introduced as the new head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, Monday, July 18, 2005, in Seattle. The 11-year Sonics assistant has worked under former team coaches George Karl, Paul Westphal and Nate McMillan. This will be the fourth NBA head coaching job for the 63-year-old Weiss, who agreed to a three-year deal. He coached the San Antonio Spurs from 1986-88, the Atlanta Hawks from 1990-93 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1993-94.

This will be the fourth NBA head coaching job for the 63-year-old Weiss, who signed a three-year contract. He coached the San Antonio Spurs from 1986-88 (going 59-105), the Atlanta Hawks from 1990-93 (124-122) and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1993-94 (27-55).

"It was a simple decision," Sonics chairman Howard Schultz said. "What Bob demonstrated to us privately was absolute unbridled enthusiasm."

The jovial Weiss noted he's going into a much different situation this time around.

"We don't have any players on a respirator," he joked. "The first couple of jobs I had were complete rebuilding jobs. In fact, they weren't even done deteriorating yet."

General manager Rick Sund goes way back with Weiss. Sund was the first personnel director for the Dallas Mavericks when Weiss was an assistant under Dick Motta in 1980.

Sund acknowledged he interviewed only one candidate, downplaying that part of the process as "the least important variable."

"The real question mark is all the homework going up to it," he said. "We had a short list and a long list. When we analyzed it, we kept coming back to a feeling that the best person for this job was Bob Weiss."

Weiss led the Spurs to the playoffs once and reached the postseason in two of his three years with Atlanta.

Weiss has been known to shoot pool with reporters during road trips and perform card tricks on Seattle's charter flights. He was endorsed last week for the top job by five-time All-Star Ray Allen, who recently agreed to a five-year, $85 million contract.

Weiss also will get to coach Rashard Lewis, who made his first All-Star team last season, as well as young standouts like Luke Ridnour and Nick Collison.

"This is the first opportunity I've had to work with talent like Ray and Rashard, all the nucleus, Luke, Nick Collison," Weiss said. "There's the caliber of people, the city, the friends we've already made here. All those things are very, very special to me."

After 19 years in the Sonics organization as a player, assistant and head coach, McMillan left earlier this month to coach the Portland Trail Blazers. Another top assistant, Dwane Casey, became Minnesota's head coach in June.

Weiss said he turned down McMillan's offer to continue working together in Portland, hoping instead to become the 13th head coach in Seattle.

"We had talked about it," Weiss said. "I told him that the only way I wouldn't go down there is if I got the head job here."

Seattle is coming off a 52-win season that ended with a dramatic six-game series loss to the eventual champion Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals.

By hiring Weiss, Sund said the front office can assure some measure of continuity -- a huge factor in the decision.

"Today is more of an announcement of a head coach, rather than an introduction," Sund said.

Some of McMillan's influence will carry over from last season, but Weiss hopes to install an even more high-powered offense than the one that averaged 96.6 points per game during the regular season.

On defense, Weiss plans to simplify, saying he'll probably borrow from systems used when Karl coached Seattle from 1992-98 -- a span that included the team's last trip to the NBA Finals.

"I know what our weaknesses are," Weiss said. "I know the history of what's been done and I know where the holes are."