Empty the Bench

What a day. About the only thing Bob Hill has going for him now is immortality which, granted, is supposedly pretty sweet. Following rampant speculation that the Seattle SuperSonics head coach would not return to the bench next season, owner Clay Bennett made it official yesterday by firing Hill and moving Rick Sund from the all-important general manager job to a token consultant role.

While Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell was on top of the world yesterday after being named the NBA’s top coach, then seeing his team even up their first-round series with the Nets at 1-1, Hill was suffering through a miserable afternoon. First, he had a fun-filled field trip to a San Antonio hospital, where he toured the operating facilities and had a lingering hernia worked on. Good times filled with squeals and giggles for everyone involved.

Then, despite being prescribed a strict diet of split-pea soup and afternoon reruns of Murder, She Wrote to aid his recovery, Hill had no choice but to disobey doctor’s orders and answer his phone. It was Bennett, and unfortunately he didn’t call with sympathetic get-well wishes:

“What he said was a lot of nice things,” Hill said. “He felt like he had to bring in his own people. I didn’t feel any sense of urgency to (defend myself). I think for me the last two years have been great. I got to do what I loved to do. The NBA can be thankless and unforgiving. But I don’t disagree with his decision. He should go in a different direction. I am all for it.”

And so are we, Bob. Aside from the Indiana Pacers, the Sonics are perhaps facing more uncertainty this summer than any other NBA franchise. No head coach, no general manager, an injured superstar (Ray Allen), a marquee free agent (Rashard Lewis), and a trio of first-round pick centers from the last three years (Robert Swift, Johan Petro, Sene) who, at this point, don’t look anywhere close to being ready to shine in starring roles. And, oh yeah, no one knows how much longer this franchise will even be in Seattle. Awesome time to be a Sonics fan, eh?

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