Here's the Question of the Week: If you had a contract sitting in front of you worth $14 million over two seasons, plus a one percent share of a $125 million team, would you sign it?

	Coach George Karl has the Bucks poised to win their first division title in 15 years.

About 99.9 percent of us would.

Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl isn't.

And so, there is going to be speculation about why Karl isn't.

The most obvious is that Karl loves this sort of game, loves to be loved, loves to have people fawn over him, loves to do the dance, and not just the first few minutes of it, either. George usually likes to dance even after the music has stopped.

But there is speculation beginning to circulate the league that the real reason George is not signing this most obvious no-brainer -- which would make him the highest-paid coach in professional sports -- is because he is waiting for, you guessed it, another offer.

Specifically, an offer from the Portland Trail Blazers, where he can reunite with general manager Bob Whitsitt and assistant coach Tim Grgurich, where he can return to his beloved Pacific Northwest and where he can be given a team that already has been molded for him, a big center, an overpowering power forward, a feisty point guard and a few other spare parts that, oh yeah, happen to be All-Stars at one time or another.

It's no secret around the league that Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy is under a great deal of pressure to win this season, and if he doesn't make it back at least to the Western Conference Finals, and probably if he does not make it to the NBA Finals, he is as good as gone.

While I personally feel they will get it back together in time for the postseason, his team already is showing signs of falling apart in the wake of the Rod Strickland signing.

They have lost five straight games and have gone from first place in the West to fifth place, and would not even have home-court advantage were the postseason to start today.

There is word that Damon Stoudamire, while publicly calm, is quietly in turmoil over the signing of Strickland, and that unrest is being felt through the rest of the team.

But perhaps the best instance of unrest was witnessed the other night in Seattle, during a first-quarter timeout.

Scottie Pippen made a pretty bad turnover just prior, so during the timeout Dunleavy told him he was out of the game.

Pippen left the team huddle, slammed a bottle of water to the ground, and as ballboys scurried around cleaning up the mess, Pippen sat down and told a teammate, "This (expletive) can't coach."

Sounds like the perfect job for George. He could step in tomorrow and be crazier than any of his players. Hell, just for the fun of it, he might try to get more technicals than Rasheed Wallace, just to prove he can.

	“	The reason I have not signed the contract is not because I don't think it is a generous offer. It is more than generous. But I don't really believe in negotiating during the season. Senator Kohl has made an incredible offer, and I'm sure the Senator and I will sit down and get something done in June. But I don't want this to be a distraction to the team. And I love coaching these guys. It is more about freedom than anything else. Do I want to be in basketball beyond this contract? I don't know. I'm sure if I am in basketball, it will be in Milwaukee. But to say that I want to step into a championship team and am not willing to work, I don't think that is fair. ”
		— Karl

So on Thursday night, I presented this whole scenario to George, who, I must admit, I love. How can you not love a man who sits at a desk with a Viagra clock hanging above his head, who accidentally sent two dozen roses to his ex-wife instead of his new girlfriend, who recently took a serious interest in the ballet?

"The reason I have not signed the contract is not because I don't think it is a generous offer," George said. "It is more than generous. But I don't really believe in negotiating during the season. Senator Kohl has made an incredible offer, and I'm sure the Senator and I will sit down and get something done in June. But I don't want this to be a distraction to the team. And I love coaching these guys. It is more about freedom than anything else. Do I want to be in basketball beyond this contract? I don't know. I'm sure if I am in basketball, it will be in Milwaukee. But to say that I want to step into a championship team and am not willing to work, I don't think that is fair."

I worked with George long enough in Seattle to know that sometimes you've got to call B.S. on him. So I did.

Distraction, George? Wouldn't it be less of a distraction just to sign the contract and get it over with?

"Not to these guys in the locker room," George said. "I've talked with these guys. The guys in the locker room know what is going on. It has been going on for two months, but it only recently got out into the newspapers. I talked with them when the offer was originally discussed. Nationally, it's a distraction, from the perspective of all the questions and all the speculation. But for the guys in the locker room, around here, it is not a distraction."

So, George, I say, if Dunleavy got fired -- which you'll know by June -- and Bob Whitsitt offered you the job, would you take it?

"Grg [Grgurich], I would love to work with Grg again," George says. "I'd love to share the coaching moments with Grg again. He knows that, and he knows how I feel about him. Bob Whitsitt, I owe my career to Bob Whitsitt. He gave me a chance when I was coaching in Spain that nobody else would give me. But I have just as good a relationship with Ernie Grunfeld as I had with Bob Whitsitt, if not better."

Well, that's not exactly answering the question, now is it?

The best answer that George could have given was that he is under contract with the Bucks for one more season beyond this and couldn't leave even if he wanted to.

I brought up that point.

He'll probably re-sign in Milwaukee, he'll probably get his Bucks to the Final eventually and this will all eventually be a moot point.

But with George, you just never know.

Rocky Mountain Goodbye
In Denver, it seems that Dan Issel is as good as gone, at least in one capacity or another.

There is no way, sources say, he is going to retain both coach and general manager positions, and he may lose both.

There is continued speculation that Bob Huggins may be Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke's first choice because of Huggins' relationship with Bret Bearup, a mutual friend.

But some wonder now whether Kroenke is beginning to shy away from going with a college coach after the experiences of Rick Pitino and Tim Floyd and Lon Kruger.

Last summer, the trend in the NBA was to go with young coaches with innovative ideas and a fresh set of eyes.

One of the best that is available include Rick Carlisle, an assistant to Larry Bird on the Pacers team that went to the NBA Finals last season. Carlisle sat out this season while doing some part-time radio and television work, but wants to get back to coaching next season.

Milwaukee assistant Terry Stotts has ties to Bearup through Karl, and coached Kroenke's son in a summer league last summer. Stotts has been ready for a few seasons.

And now that he is associate head coach in Seattle, Dwane Casey's next step up is to head coach. He had conversations with the Raptors about the head position last season before they gave it to Lenny Wilkens. He should land his own team soon.

Around The League
Word from the entertainment industry is that longtime, legendary Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn is going to retire after this season due to some health problems.

Paul Sunderland may get the job as Chick's replacement -- although, as Lakers fans know, Chick can never truly be replaced. Kevin Calabro, voted by Sports Illustrated as the best in the business a few years back, also is a possibility.

Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.