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The Seattle SuperSonics are a team full of youth, vigor and yes, inexperience.? The coach for the team, P.J. Carlesimo, charged with molding this group into a team that is expected to contend for the playoffs in the next year or two, certainly had his hands full as growing pains were aplenty in Seattle.? Not to mention that Carlesimo’s job status, according to Gary Washburn of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, was not addressed during a press conference that took place Thursday; Sonics general manager Sam Presti toed the company line in response to the media inquiries as to Carlesimo’s future with the team.

Since technically this is early in Carlesimo’s tenure with Seattle, it was widely assumed that he had some latitude during the team’s makeover, yet as of this writing, his status is unclear.? Some of the answers were cryptic in nature; here’s some examples: “Part of the process is going to be sitting down.? P.J. and I are going to do that together and really peel the layers back on the season and look at how we can get better, and obviously coaches are a big part of that as we evaluate our team, evaluate our direction and the personnel we have in place.”? Another gem: “Like I said, I think for us, the system we have in place and the process we have in place, the one I believe in is that we need to get away, come back, and look at our team, look at our staff, look at every little thing and build on where we are now.”

So what can you glean from all of this?? Myself – not much, really.? Sounds pretty much like what most GM’s typically say after the season’s over, so I expect that the media at the press conference were as unsure of Presti’s comment as I am.? But I can say that Carlesimo’s short time with the Sonics isn’t enough to really justify the front office to make a change already.? The Sonics have a good core of players on their roster, and they just need time to meld together and be able to form a bond that will be invaluable as they continue to grow and progress as a franchise; Carlesimo needs to be part of that process if Seattle expects to progress to the next level – the playoffs.