Walker Would Do Well To Give Karl More Say

They are basketball’s odd couple. George Karl is sportswear by Nike. Wally Walker is a suit by Armani. Karl is a down-and-dirty rebel. Walker is a by-the-book conservative. Karl is a gambler. Walker likes to play it safe.

Karl is SoHo. Walker is Wall Street.

And the future of the Seattle SuperSonics depends on the ability of these two disparate spirits to work together.

The topics of Karl’s end-of-the-season chat session this week were chemistry and commitment. Karl thinks his team lacked both this season. He believes he has to find them for next season, both with the players he has and the players he seeks.

Talking with Karl in his office as he rolled a stainless steel worry ball in his hands, a thought occurred for the summer of ‘97: Walker should give Karl more authority in the personnel decisions.

Let Karl meet with Shawn Kemp, who is back home again in Indiana, and try to coax him out of his I-Hate-Seattle Syndrome. Desperate times deserve desperate measures.

Let Karl hand pick the free agents the offense so desperately needs. Go for quickness with Utah’s Shandon Anderson. And go for jump shots by Byron Scott, Dale Ellis or Eddie Johnson.

After six years in Seattle; after finishing the best postseason coaching job of his life, Karl deserves the chance to coach his kind of team.

Tear off the expensive suit. Take a gamble. Go SoHo.

The first piece of business, of course, is to deal with the enigmatic Kemp. Either find a way to make him happy, or find a way to deal him.

Asked what the worst-case scenario was with Kemp, Karl quickly responded, “This season.”

The Sonics have to deal with Kemp, better sooner than later. Karl said there are three options.

“You can work your butt off to get him to mentally understand that this is the best place for him,” Karl said. “That’s my mode right now, to try and get in touch with him. I want to touch him a lot more than we did in the past couple of summers.

“Second would be to trade him. I don’t think I can do that or even vote on it until he sits across from me and tells me why. I can’t trade Shawn Kemp unless he tells me why he wants to be traded. Right now, it doesn’t make much sense to me.

“The third thing would be that I go and let someone else try to coach him.”

The third option is not a real option. Karl’s future is in Seattle. He is going to coach the Sonics next year and probably beyond.

Kemp’s future is in Kemp’s head. And Kemp’s problems aren’t with Karl.

“Shawn and I battle, don’t get me wrong,” Karl said. “Any coach is going to battle with Shawn when he makes those stupid mistakes. But I also know that he’s a damn good basketball player and he’s a big part of why we win. I think Shawn and I have a good relationship, if not a great relationship. When we go one-on-one, it’s sincere.”

Karl has one year remaining on his contract. His relationship with Walker probably is as good as it’s ever been. It’s Oscar Madison coexisting with Felix Unger.

And now it is time to gamble with Karl. Let him make the calls. Let him try to make one more championship run with his aging team.

If Karl had been in charge this season, maybe Eddie Johnson would have been shooting in the playoffs for the Sonics instead of the Rockets. Johnson called both Karl and assistant coach Tim Grgurich during the season, saying he wanted to return to the Sonics.

Johnson’s signing with Houston angered Grgurich enough that he probably will leave the Sonics this summer for the Portland Trail Blazers. Every time Johnson hits a jumper for the Rockets, Grgurich seethes.

Last summer was a disaster. Gary Payton had to be signed, but McIlvaine - at $33.6 million - didn’t.

Hindsight says the Sonics would have been better off signing a veteran like Mark West, a friend of Karl’s, or making a serious run at Buck Williams.

The money they saved on not signing McIlvaine could have gone to the Make Kemp Happy Fund.

“I thought there were a few more steps to go (in the McIlvaine negotiations), but then it was done,” Karl said. “I’m not saying I wasn’t supportive of it being done, but I was kind of surprised it was done so quick.

“But this was my first experience dealing with Wally in free agency. It might have been my fault, too, that I was blind or naive to think there were going to be a couple of more meetings before we sat down and said this is what we wanted to do.”

Another summer is about to begin. More decisions will be made that test the odd couple’s relationship. Give Karl the challenge of making Kemp happy, of making Shandon Anderson a deal he can’t refuse, of putting his team back together for another title run.

Do it this summer, before it’s too late.