New ownership and all, Nate McMillan gets a 4 year 10.8 mil. contract to keep coaching the Sonics. I wonder how, if at all, Payton fits in with this! http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SeattleTimes.woa/wa/gotoArticle?text_only=0&slug=sonicnotes28&document_id=134278160&zsection_id=268448577 Notebook: Sonics announce details of McMillan contract by Nunyo Demasio Seattle Times staff reporter The Sonics and Coach Nate McMillan agreed to a contract last month, but they didn't announce details of the long-term deal until yesterday. The contract is worth $10.8 million over four seasons, with every year guaranteed. McMillan will earn an average of $2.7 million. The deal was agreed in principle in mid-February, and McMillan signed it last week. But the announcement was made yesterday partly as a gesture to outgoing owner Barry Ackerley, whose $200 million sale of the Sonics to the Basketball Club of Seattle is expected to be approved Friday. "We all agreed, current ownership, new ownership: 'Nate's our guy,'" said club president Wally Walker, who negotiated the deal with McMillan's Atlanta-based agent, Lonnie Cooper. "We thought: 'Well, why are we waiting?' "The contract is the obligation of the Basketball Club of Seattle. But because of Nate's relationship with the Ackerleys, let's include everybody in this announcement because everyone was a part of it." The Ackerleys removed McMillan's "interim" tag Jan. 5, a week before the sale of the team was announced. After McMillan's 12-year career with Seattle ended in 1998, Ackerley asked him to remain in the organization in some capacity. McMillan served as an assistant coach under Paul Westphal for two seasons before taking over a 6-9 team after Westphal was fired Nov. 27. McMillan, 36, the youngest coach in the NBA, has gone 33-25, including this month's six-game winning streak. But on Jan. 11, the Sonics announced they would negotiate a long-term contract with McMillan. "The Sonics are my home," said McMillan, whose No. 10 jersey was retired last year. "I feel good about the future, and I am very happy to know that I'll have a chance to prove myself here." Seattle has won eight of its past nine games and is 4-1/2 games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves for the West's final playoff spot. The Sonics, who have nine games left, play Minnesota at KeyArena tonight. A surprise for Ewing Not even Patrick Ewing had an inkling his best friend, Alonzo Mourning, would play for Miami this season after suffering a kidney ailment. "I'm really surprised," said Ewing, who said he would donate a kidney if Mourning needs one. "I mean, he told me he was practicing, but I thought that's all it was. I just wish him the best." ------------------ There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
