January 10, 2006
SONICS COACH 
BOB HILL:
On the Sonics fatigue against Philadelphia:
Last night, before that game, I was sitting there before going out on the court and it was probably the tiredest I've ever been going into a game. But as soon as I got in the arena, I was fine. The adrenaline gets going. But then I couldn't sleep on the plane.
On how long of a "grace period" the Sonics will have under him:
When I took over Indiana, I told them 10 games - they had a 10-game training camp. I didn't put a number on this one, because this team is a little better than the Indiana team was. What's it been, four games? You guys will have too much fun if I give you a number.
On the bench:
At the end of the day, you're going to win because of your bench. Last night, the first rotation, the bench did a great job. We had a lead, control of the game; we went to the bench and kept the lead. That's their job. If we're ahead, they've got to maintain what we've done. If we're behind, they've got to try and catch up.
On his ideal rotation:
What I ultimately want to do is, I rotate by minutes. This guy starts this game for this many minutes (and is replaced by) this sub. So if I'm up there arguing with a referee or talking to a player, they just go. That's what they do. If 
Ray (Allen)'s on fire, I'm going to ride him a little longer; if 
Rashard (Lewis)'s on fire, 
Vlade (Radmanovic)'s on fire. Then they know when they're going in, they know how long they're going to be there. They know if they're playing good, they'll stay longer; if they play poorly, they're coming out quickly.
You have to create a system of accountability with NBA players. That's what we're headed for.
On 
Reggie Evans:
Reggie's the odd man out right now. I can't say enough about his continued work ethic. I know he's disappointed, but he's been great. When I've called on him, like last night, he goes in and plays hard. I love the guy. But right now, as I've told him - I met with him - he's going to be the odd guy out. I'm playing 
Robert (Swift) and 
Johan (Petro), so 
Vitaly (Potapenko)'s minutes are going to be limited. We might need him against the bigger teams, like when Miami comes in. 
Danny (Fortson), same way.
On Swift and Petro:
I'm excited, really excited, about both of them. They've worked really hard, they've taken our coaching. I've kicked their butts pretty good in the film sessions; they've taken it and they're getting better. I'm pumped up about that.
More on Swift:
Robert against Philly last night was very good. He went after every shot he could try to block or adjust; he went after every one of them. He was in good position. He ran like a deer. He scored the ball, got a tip dunk and made a jumpshot. He did really well. We should all be pleased with that.
On playing 
Damien Wilkins at point guard:
I experimented last night. When I put Damien in for Rashard and put Ray back in, I put Damien at the point as the point forward. It didn't go as well as I thought it would, but I let it go a little bit more than I normally would because I wanted to see if he could work his way out of it. It didn't work last night, but that doesn't mean it's out. I'm a big, big Damien fan. It's my job to put him in a position where he can have success on the floor, so I'm still searching.
