Hill: ‘It’s not the coach right now, it’s the roster’

SEATTLE – Bob Hill thinks the SuperSonics need continuity. The veteran coach said the team must have it, even more than healthy players, to become relevant again in the NBA.

This team just finished 31-51, is out of the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons and has an out-of-town owner who lacks any of his own people making basketball decisions.

Unfortunately for Hill, he’s part of that equation.

“If they replace me, they’ll have had five coaches in seven years. Players get tired of coaches changing all the time,” Hill said last week on what might have been his final Sonics game day, after 1 1/2 seasons since he replaced Bob Weiss as Seattle’s coach.

“Whether they have me back is not for me to say. I think in the big picture, continuity is what the roster needs.

“If you look at the power teams in the NBA, they keep their coaches and they keep their core. They build around it and they create continuity. And they win,” Hill added

Owner Clay Bennett said last week that “soon” he will meet with team vice chairman Lenny Wilkens to decide whether to extend the contract of Hill and retain six-year general manager Rick Sund, who has one year remaining on the contract he signed with former ownership.

That could come as soon as today, when Bennett is expected in Seattle.

Bennett also has to decide whether to bid on second-leading scorer Rashard Lewis in free agency this summer. Lewis has said he will opt out of the final two years of his Sonics deal and leave $21 million on the table. Bennett must also determine how to best operate a franchise he said lost $20 million in KeyArena this season as it enters what likely will be its final season in Seattle in 2007-08, unless a new arena solution falls out of the sky.

The Oklahoma City businessman said last week he has made up his mind on some issues – but wouldn’t say whether they included Hill or Sund.

Hill has shared his opinion on what Bennett’s choice should be.

“It’s not the coach right now, it’s the roster,” Hill said on the night Seattle lost its season finale to Dallas to finish with its worst record since the 1985-86 team also went 31-51.

“And this year, it was about 204 games missed (to injury). We have a good team when everyone is healthy.”

That sounds like the thinking Hill and Sund had last summer.

Instead, All-Star Ray Allen had what was becoming his highest-scoring season ever ended by surgery for bone spurs in his ankle. Lewis missed 22 games with a hand injury. Center Robert Swift blew out his knee in October.

“What happened is that the bench was not experienced enough to manage all the injuries and enable us to win enough games,” Hill said. “They were good enough to keep us in games.”

Seattle’s point differential per game was 2.9. Philadelphia, Charlotte, Portland and Minnesota – all fellow draft lottery teams that finished with better records – had worse differentials.

“We had a minus-2 differential and we had 31 wins,” Hill said, trying to offer some empirical evidence for why he should stay. “That says volumes.”