Full Court Pressure

The Seattle basketball team joined the NBA in the expansion of 1967; it won a division championship in 1979 but otherwise had a string of mediocre seasons, scarcely living up to its name of Supersonics. The ``Super'' was dropped by 1992, when George Karl became coach. A former pro player, he had coached in Cleveland for three tempestuous years, then briefly for the Golden State Warriors; then he alternated between the Albany team of the Continental Basketball Association (the NBA's minor league) and Real Madrid in Spain. A hard-driving, outspoken man, he took over the Sonics with high hopes and by 1993-94 was ready to move. Sampson (The Eternal Summer) covers that year, when Seattle compiled the best record in the regular season only to encounter a seismic shock in the playoffs. The result is a fast-moving read. Author tour. (May)