Can this man lead us to the playoffs?

Please read this article from ESPN.com before continuing.



Now what troubles me about this article has nothing to do with Reggie Evans. In fact, the Pine-Sol line will be on the Sports Guy's homepage tomorrow. What bothers me is the following passage and quote from the Sonics head coach Bob Weiss:

Seattle coach Bob Weiss said all he was told was that Evans was in the bathroom and didn't know if he was sick or if he would return. Weiss put Robert Swift in the lineup to start the second half.

"I don't know if people did know that he wasn't out there warming up," Weiss said.

Does this shock anyone else? How does an NBA coach lose a player? And secondly, why would he admit that to the media, using the "all I was told" defense?

(and third: Robert Swift????)

Most of what we know about a sports team is what we read in the media (or gleaned from what some guy at work told Paul/Hitchcock). Great coaches understand this and are able to manipulate the media to achieve their ends (Ricky Neu was a master). The media is the public's window into the team and for whatever reason, Weiss doesn't seem to grasp that. He repeatedly makes himself look incompetent with remarks that don't exactly inspire confidence.

This is a coach who, earlier in the season, willfully admitted he had no idea how to stop other teams from scoring at will. These quotes have led to an image of a cuddly old uncle who lives completely detached from the world except when drawing up L-cuts and weakside screens.

At this point, Bobby Weiss reminds me of another assistant handed the head job by default: Keith Gilbertson. Both good guys, offensive geniuses as coordinators, hopelessly overwhelmed as head coaches.

Right now, I wouldn't feel confident about letting Bob Weiss babysit my nephew, let alone an NBA team. But he probably could get him an open 18-footer.