SuperSonics retain Hill as coach
The Seattle SuperSonics exercised Coach Bob Hill's contract option for the 2007 season Monday, 3 1/2 months after they promoted him to replace the fired Bob Weiss. Seattle is 21-29 since Hill took over after a few months as Weiss's assistant. The Sonics will miss the postseason for the third time in four seasons. The 2005 Northwest Division champions were 13-17 in the brief tenure of Weiss, a former longtime Sonics assistant who had been promoted at the players' behest last offseason after Nate McMillan left to coach Portland.
Hill's overall head-coaching record is 278-241 (.536). He led the San Antonio Spurs (1995-97), Indiana Pacers (1991-93) and New York Knicks (1987) before Seattle.
T'wolves' Hoiberg ends career
The fear of playing with a surgically repaired heart wouldn't let Fred Hoiberg return to the NBA. His doctors weren't preventing him from playing. But the risk -- no matter how small -- was still there, and the gnawing doubt was enough for the 33-year-old to retire.
"It came to the point," Hoiberg said, "where one day I would say, 'All right, I'm doing it. I'm coming back.' . . . The next day I'd be out running and feeling my heart was going to jump out of my chest and I would say, 'What am I thinking? I'm stupid for trying to do this.' "
Hoiberg, who served as a special assistant for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season after having the operation last June, announced his retirement Monday. He will join the team's front office.