George Karl's eyes lit up like flashing lights on a scoreboard.
"Most of our guys that I've talked to have said we would like it the same way, the exact same way," said the Seattle head coach with a smile.
"We'd like another chance to win a championship, but we'd also like another chance against Chicago."
Karl was at the UH Special Events Arena to observe Pete Newell's Big Man Camp yesterday.
He said that his Western Conference champs will be ready - especially after pushing the Bulls to six games in last year's NBA showdown.
"You gotta give the Bulls their due - they're a great team," Karl said. "If Michael (Jordan) didn't leave for a couple of years, they might have won four or five in a row.
"But we feel good about our chances. Once we beat them, we felt good about what was going on. But it took us three games before we could beat them."
The Sonics have added guard Craig Ehlo and center Jim McIlvaine to their already potent roster, which is built around superstars Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton.
But Karl knows not to expect an easy road back into the championship series.
"San Antonio has Robinson, there's Hakeem in Houston, the Lakers have Shaq," he said. "Right now, there's five or six teams that could win the Western Conference next year, even though we're the defending champion."
Karl, who will begin his sixth season as the Sonics' head coach, said that last year was an enjoyable one - especially after getting bounced out in the first round of the playoffs the two previous years.
"The team was so together last year," he said. "It brought back a chemistry and an attitude that had been missing from my last couple of seasons in Seattle, when there was more turmoil than success.
"Mentally, we overcame some of the past catastrophes, the devastating losses."
The 45-year-old Karl has certainly paid his basketball dues.
After four years of playing college ball at North Carolina, he signed as a free agent in 1973 with San Antonio, which was then an ABA team.
He stayed with the Spurs after they became an NBA franchise for the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons, then became an assistant coach with the team for two seasons.
After that, there were coaching stops at Montana and Albany of the CBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State of the NBA - even Real Madrid in the Spanish League.
Finally, on Jan. 23, 1992, he took over at Seattle. And it has been a roller-coaster ride ever since.
Karl had a 176-66 record in the CBA, along with a 20-23 playoff record. In the NBA, he is 385-280, and 34-38 in the playoffs.
The Pennsylvania native said that coaching in the NBA is tougher than ever these days.
"Right now the money is so distracting," he said. "It's hard to keep the players concentrated on what the job is.
"The off-the-court distractions - the money, the marketing, the TV. It's kind of a new ballgame and everybody is trying to understand it."
But Karl is confident as the new season gets closer - especially coming off an outstanding 64-18 regular season, along with throwing a late scare into the powerhouse Bulls.
"Anytime you get close, you're real anxious to get back on the court," he said. "Once it gets here, we'll be ready.
"And when we play, we're a difficult team to beat."
With Payton re-signing with Seattle, and Jordan and Dennis Rodman back with the Bulls, it could be the same two teams back in the NBA finals.
That scenario would be just fine with George Karl.