The Truth About Karl: Sonics Stuck With Him Despite His Insecurities

George Karl is a liar. Not just a damned liar but a pathological one. What Karl did last week was what he is good at doing - conning the media into revising history for him.

We recommend relying on your own memory of the recent past and not allowing Karl to do the recollecting for you.

It isn't that difficult. Recall that Karl wasn't fired; his contract was allowed to expire. And recall that Sonic President Wally Walker didn't tear apart seven years of coaching excellence, as Karl wants you to believe.

Truth is, Karl didn't need any help in doing so all by himself. He undid nearly everything he helped build in Seattle because he couldn't do what he still can't do now. He can't keep his mouth shut.

During several private conversations, Walker confessed sincere respect and admiration for Karl's coaching abilities, as well as his intention to retain Karl as Sonic coach. That's in spite of listening to Karl's rants against Sonic management for an entire year. And in spite of yet another Karl- inspired postseason implosion by his team.

Walker fended off public opinion and an angry owner to save Karl's job in 1995. He was prepared to do it again. But then Karl popped off on national TV, inaccurately as ever, about Barry Ackerley's corporate and private affairs, and that sealed his doom.

Longtime Karl-watchers know two things crystally about him: That he always has to have an enemy, and that his is an insecurity that breeds self- destruction. The latter happened in Cleveland, it happened at Golden State, and it happened in Seattle. Karl was so certain he wasn't going to be retained by the Sonics, he helped fulfill his expectations.

Karl was so consumed by his contract, he was unfocused during last year's playoffs. He again messed with his lineup during a pressure-packed time when maintaining comfort zones is paramount. And he was slow, even negligent, in making crucial adjustments against both Minnesota and the Lakers.

And now he can't live with the consequences.

Although he claims to, Karl doesn't respect anybody, not even himself. Last week, in addressing the issue of Latrell Sprewell, he couldn't help but demean another player for whom he claims admiration.

"I'd take a few chokes to have him on my team," Karl said. "Remember, I had Gary Payton. I've had more mental anguish than just a choke."

Karl's recent monologue about Walker's supposed shortcomings is masterful in one regard: It has diverted attention away from Karl's part in what currently looks to be the undoing of his former team.

The latest edition of the Sonics doesn't have the legs to run and play defense, and lacks championship-caliber depth, in large part because of Karl's serial neglect of younger players. Those who argue that the Sonics couldn't win with their trapping defense still haven't adequately explained the 1996 playoffs that ended in the Finals. We would say the Sonics couldn't follow up because the burden of the defense fell on aging legs and Karl didn't help replenish the supply of defenders by developing young talent.

Witness Eric Snow, on whom Karl quit last season. Snow now is the starting point guard for an apparently playoff-bound Philadelphia team. Think the Sonics couldn't use him these days?

We further say that if Karl hadn't alienated so many players, a lineup of Payton and Kendall Gill in the backcourt, plus Shawn Kemp and Derrick McKey at forwards, with any decent center, would have been one of the more formidable defensive teams ever assembled. And one also athletic enough to run teams into the ground.

But we digress into the past, of which we must let go.

Even if George Karl cannot.

About time

While we will keep the jury out on Paul Westphal, we stand by our assertion that Paul Silas is Grade A head-coaching material. In fact, we guarantee that he demonstrates it in Charlotte.

Next season.

By then, Anthony Mason will have returned and Silas will have conducted a full training camp. Silas is the NBA's first and truest adherent to the Bob Kloppenburg defense that the Sonics used to get to the 1996 NBA Finals. He plans to have Kloppenburg as a full-time assistant or part-time consultant next year to teach the Hornets the system.

In the meantime, Silas is trying to get Charlotte to run more on offense and front the post and pressure the ball more on defense. The blockbuster trade with the Lakers takes away Glen Rice but gives the Hornets a couple of players, Elden Campbell and Eddie Jones, that will be more suited to Silas' style.

Next year, the Hornets can open with Campbell at center, Derrick Coleman at his natural power forward position, with Mason, Jones and David Wesley and a strong Bobby Phils coming off the bench. Not bad. The fact that his players went all out to deliver a stunning 105-87 victory over Boston in his coaching debut is testimony to the way they feel about Silas.

The question is whether the Hornets will continue their trend of trading stars before they have to pay them (Rice, Alonzo Mourning) and give up Jones, who will seek the maximum $11 million salary in 2000. Silas says he has been assured they will not.

"We've already gotten calls about Eddie," Silas said. "(GM) Bob Bass says there's no way in hell that we got Eddie Jones to trade him."

Silas might be on firmer ground if the slough of sexual harassment lawsuits chases cheapskate owner George Shinn out of Charlotte. BET, among others, is said to be in line to snap up Shinn's share of the team. An ownership change would give Silas the fair shot he deserves.

After all, during his last head-coaching job - a criminally long 16 years ago - his owner was a Shinn-like businessman named Donald Sterling.

Road warrior

You would think the Sonics could have used a slightly off-kilter but championship-ring-owning veteran who could swing between both backcourt spots, right? So did Vernon Maxwell. He and the Sonics talked for a week after the lockout lifted.

"I thought for sure that Seattle was where I was going," he said.

But, all of a sudden, the calls stopped coming. The Sonics decided to go with youth and the sleepless Moochie Norris, who subsequently has gone rockabye on the injured list. Maxwell signed for minimum bank in Sacramento.

Passing on Mad Max was a curious decision by a team that regarded itself so close to championship level. Maxwell is one of the great clutch shotmakers in the game, a quality the scared-to-shoot Sonics could use. He also is determined to bury his somewhat checkered past.

"I'm ready to have a big year, keep my nose clean and sign one last contract somewhere," Maxwell said.

It should have been with Seattle.

Road to the finals

We keep telling you that the Trail Blazers are the phattest, dopest, deepest crew this side of the millennium from Michael Jordan. Now others, from ESPN, NBC's Peter Vecsey, to CBS, are hopping on. But the bandwagon probably won't get rolling with any abandon until Portland blazes the ChromaDomed, Clark Kent-for-a-coach Lakers.

By further quirk of an already quirky schedule, that can't even happen until the middle of next month. Beginning April 13 in Rip City, the West will be won in a span of just 23 days. The Blazers and Lakers will go at it four times during that period, ending on the last day of the regular season in La-La Land.

We can't wait.

"The way they're playing, I'd like to see them play Los Angeles," Sacramento's Chris Webber said. "Because of their big guys, J.R. Rider is putting up All-Star numbers every night. I think they've got two starting lineups. (Coach Mike) Dunleavy has done a good job keeping them happy. You can tell their guys feel secure. Everybody's been rewarded, and they just want to win. They really have the talent from top to bottom."

Road to the finals, II

Speaking of favorites to come out of the West, do we now concede the championship to the Lakes? Not necessarily. Let's first see how Rice adapts to fewer shots, what Kurt Rambis does when Shaq goes down, and how Robert Horry and Rick Fox deal with fewer minutes at odd positions.

But the real sleeper for the Lakers, if Rambis fits him into his rotation, could be J.R. Reid, who was part of the deal for salary-cap purposes. Reid was enjoying a renaissance season, and had scored 20 and 26 points during his last two games for Charlotte.

"I hate to lose him," Hornet Coach Paul Silas said. "He really became the leader of the club. His shooting and rebounding was way up. And he was a talker. Everything has really quieted since he left."

The Lakers had chemistry going, and there's something to be said for sticking with it. The Trail Blazers obviously made such a decision. In a compressed schedule, it may be the way to go.

But these obviously are changed times. Thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, Tom Gugliotta and Antonio McDyess, prospective free agents, are more open to picking teams based on situation than money. It's what made the world go around in Cleveland, Minnesota, Milwaukee and New Jersey on Thursday.

Like many, we hoped against hope that Stephon Marbury would find it in himself to stay with the Timberwolves and maintain the up-and-coming, hip-hop dynasty. But his heart was somewhere else, and he told Minnesota as much, particularly during a straight-up meeting last weekend with Coach Flip Saunders. Already stinging from losing Gugliotta for nothing, the TWolves didn't want to gamble with a possible sign-and-trade next summer.

Ditto for Cleveland and Vitaly Potapenko. And the Cavs dealt Potapenko even though he was starting for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is out for the season. Cleveland essentially is trashing this season to cut its future losses. The same may even be said for Milwaukee, which dealt malcontents Terrell Brandon and Tyrone Hill.

For the foreseeable future at least, the NBA is going to be somewhat of a merry-go-round, instead of the model of stability initially forecast after the New Deal was signed. Free agents already are guaranteed sizable enough salaries, and the ceilings are such that forgoing a few million is deemed a worthy price for freedom of choice.

Speak of the week

-- Laker guard Kobe Bryant to Dick Bavetta, after the referee called him for traveling: "You haven't seen that move before?"

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. BOTTOM 10 .

. Taking out the NBA's trash .

1. George Karl .

2. Paper Clippers .

3. NBA offenses .

4. YankeeNets .

5. George Karl .

6. SubSonics .

7. George Shinn .

8. VulnerBulls .

9. Defanged Grizzlies . 10. Quitting Cowens .