Wilkens ‘put out to pasture’

The News Tribune
Last updated: June 8th, 2007 01:22 AM (PDT)

Less than two months into his role as Seattle SuperSonics president, Lenny Wilkens had his power stripped by chairman Clay Bennett.

When the Sonics hired Sam Presti as general manager Thursday, Bennett took away Wilkens’ title as president and renamed him vice chairman because, sources say, Bennett was upset with the short tenure of the 69-year-old Wilkens and wanted to, as one source said, “put Lenny out to pasture.”

From Wilkens’ unsavory handling of the announcement of his position of president to his perceived mismanagement of the hiring of a general manager and coach, Bennett was said to be so upset with Wilkens the divide was irreversible.

Wilkens will remain with the organization in an advisory capacity, but day-to-day power has been handed to the 30-year-old Presti.

Though Wilkens is likely to be a small part of the search for a coach, the ultimate decision will fall to Presti and Bennett, who has quietly taken on more of a decision-making role in basketball operations.

The team attempted to downplay the decision at the news conference announcing the hiring of Presti and buried the information in the ninth paragraph of a 13-paragraph release.

When asked about the restructuring, Bennett said: “I am so pleased to find the skill set that Sam represents. And to do the job and be accountable and be responsible, he has to have the authority. He has to have the absolute authority in conjunction with ownership.”

Still, as the search for a general manager unfolded, sources say it became clear Wilkens no longer was favored by Bennett, who in part hired the Seattle icon because he was a conduit to the public for an ownership group from Oklahoma City that had no ties to the Pacific Northwest.

That relationship began to unravel almost immediately, when Wilkens went on KJR-AM radio on April 26 and announced he was the team’s president.

On April 25, the day after the Sonics fired coach Bob Hill and general manager Rick Sund without a press conference to explain their decisions, KJR producers contacted Sonics staffers in an attempt to get Wilkens on the air with host Mitch Levy the following morning.

Sonics employees told KJR they needed to clear the interview with Bennett in Oklahoma City. The Sonics told KJR they would call them back Wednesday night if the interview was on, and the Sonics told Wilkens they would call him if it was OK to conduct the interview.

Late Wednesday night, Bennett’s representatives said it was not OK to conduct the interview. A source told The News Tribune it was because contract negotiations between Wilkens and Bennett were not complete. A source said Wilkens was asking for far more money than Bennett was willing to pay and the sides had not reached an agreement.

Thursday morning, KJR producers hadn’t heard from Wilkens so they contacted him at home. Wilkens told producers he had not heard from the Sonics. KJR producers said they had been speaking with the Sonics the day before. Wilkens then relented and went on the air with Levy.

Apparently, it was a miscommunication. When Wilkens said he had not heard from the Sonics, he meant he had not gotten confirmation to conduct the interview. When producers told him they had been speaking with the Sonics the day before, Wilkens assumed they meant they had gotten the OK.

Still, when Wilkens went on the air, he told Levy the team was working toward naming him president of the organization – even though a contract had not been signed.

A team spokesman that afternoon said Wilkens’ claim was not true, and that he would confirm it later in the day. The Sonics did not confirm Wilkens’ new position until the next day, after an agreement on a contract had been reached.

Bennett was enraged by Wilkens’ pre-emptive announcement, multiple sources say, and viewed it as an underhanded way for Wilkens to force him into agreeing to a contract. Before the relationship even started, a rift was formed. One source said while the contract was agreed upon, it was never signed, the reason it was so easy for Bennett to demote Wilkens back to a consultant role.

Despite his anger, Bennett had no choice but to allow Wilkens to conduct a search for a general manager and a coach. He had fired Wally Walker, Sund and Hill and had no one left to whom he could turn.

But as teams around the league with vacancies conducted their own searches, Wilkens allowed his search to drag on while hiring his son as a scout.

Then, as the San Antonio Spurs were competing in the playoffs, coach Gregg Popovich called Bennett to endorse assistant coaches P.J. Carlesimo and Don Newman as potential replacements for Hill.

During the conversation, Popovich also told Bennett he did not have to wait until after the playoffs to request an interview with Presti. Bennett asked Popovich if Wilkens had called the Spurs to request permission and was informed he had not. Bennett was further angered by that bit of news, sources say.

Though Wilkens had interviewed Portland consultant John Gabriel and Atlanta Hawks assistant general manager Gary Fitzsimmons, Bennett interviewed Presti and Washington Wizards assistant general manager Tommy Sheppard by himself.

It wasn’t until Tuesday night in Colorado Springs, Colo., that Wilkens met Presti, though by then it was established in Bennett’s mind that Wilkens no longer would have a significant say and Bennett was going to make the final decision.

In fact, up until Bennett decided to hire Presti, Wilkens had been informing Gabriel he was going to recommend Gabriel to Bennett for the opening. Apparently, Wilkens did not know Bennett was planning on taking away his power.

What this means for the future of the organization and for Wilkens remains to be seen, but in the short term it implies Presti will have significantly more input in major decisions than originally believed.

Several league insiders thought Wilkens wanted to hire his friend Paul Silas for the coaching vacancy, but this likely means Silas will not get the job, at least not based on Wilkens’ recommendation.

Presti has a good relationship with Rick Carlisle, recently fired by the Indiana Pacers, and though he is not close with Carlesimo, he has inside knowledge of him.

Also, this means the end of Wilkens’ one-year stint as the team’s color announcer. FSN spokeswoman Jill Wiggins confirmed on Thursday that Wilkens had telephoned program director Mark Shuken and informed him he would not take the job next season. Wiggins said it was too soon to name a replacement.