Sene a mistake? + Spurs Preview

The Seattle Times Sonics Notebook has a quote from Coach Carlesimo talking about the coming increase in minutes for Mouhamed Sene. Sene has shown almost nothing in a little over a year in the NBA, but the Sonics knew that he was raw and might take several years to develop. The Sonics have deservedly taken alot of heat for drafting big man projects the last three years, but take a look at the 10 players taken after Sene:

Pick Player

11 JJ Reddick

12 Hilton Armstong
13 Thabo Sefolosha
14 Ronnie Brewer
15 Cedric Simmons
16 Rodney Carney
17 Shawne Williams
18 Oleksiy Pecherov

19 Quincy Douby
20 Renaldo Balkman

Not exactly a murder's row. Of those players, Brewer was buried on the Utah bench last year, but has really broken out this year, Balkman is a nice energy player for the Knicks, and Quincy Douby gave the Sonics trouble in their game with Sacramento earlier this season. That's about the entire impact of the players the Sonics might have concievably drafted instead of Sene. I don't think you can mark this one down as a big loss when compared to who the Sonics could have had.

Now drafting Robert Swift (#12) over Al Jefferson (#15)...now that was a mistake.

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Everyone knows the Spurs are good. They are the obvious favorite to win their 5th championship of the Duncan era, and are blistering the league so far with a 11-2 record (I guess you could say the Spurs have been as good this year as the Sonics have been bad. The Spurs big three are playing at an all-star level right now, led by Manu Ginobili who has been out of this world so far, with a MVP-like PER of 30.49. The only other player over 30 is Lebron James. This is the 4th year in a row that Ginobili has played at an all-star level, but he's due his odd substitution pattern (Ginobili is a 6th man), and his low minutes (27.5 mpg this year), he doesn't put up the numbers or have the cache necessary to get to the all-star game, let alone MVP award contention. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan have played up to their usual high standards, and as such we might be looking at a blowout. Based off of PER, the Spurs have 3 of the league's 16 best players. They've played together for years, and will have every advantage possible against the Sonics.

The Spurs rank 3rd in the league in offensive efficiency (107.7 points for every 100 possessions), and 4th in the league in defensive efficiency (allowing 98.2 points for every 100 possessions) which is a deadly combination for Spurs opponents. The Spurs have a reputation as a methodical team, which is back up by the numbers, as the Spurs play at the 3rd slowest pace in the game (as opposed to the Sonics who play at the 2nd fast pace). They rarely turn the ball over (3rd best turnover rate), while the Sonics love to give the ball away (4th worst turnover rate). You get the idea. As Colin Cowherd would say "They're just better." Sorry. I think he's obnoxious too, but its a good quote.

So, can the Sonics win? Of Course! This is the NBA, and anyone can have a bad night. The Sonics play at home, but that hasn't been that much of an advantage thus far, as their actually scoring less and allowing more points at home. So much for a young team being energized. Expect a Spurs win.

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11/25/2007 Sunday NBA picks

San Antonio (-9) over Seattle

Toronto (-4) over Chicago

(Yesterday 0-3, 14-13 overall) The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away

Sonics Lose: 98-93

The Sonics played a huge 4th quarter, pulling to within a one point with less 55 seconds left after trailing the entire game, but in the end it wasn't enough. The Nets were just good enough to make the plays needed to pull out the game, while the young Sonics fell short again after a valiant comeback. It's not a terrible loss or anything, and if the Sonics have a chance to win every game in the 4th quarter, they'll start winning more than once every 7 games. As it is, the Sonics fell to 2-11.

Green is Good: Jeff Green is quickly becoming one of my favorite Sonics. Green didn't get the start, but he played great, scoring in double figures for the 3rd straight game and matching his 14 points with with 14 rebounds. This was also his 2nd consecutive double-double. Green brings a lot of energy to the floor, and is a very intelligent basketball player. He's beginning to take advantage of mismatches. The Net's are a nice matchup as they don't have very good post players to guard him, but at the same time, he had to guard some of the Net's perimeter scorers, specifically Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. He wasn't great, but was able to box out and he gets to a lot of loose balls. Green played 33 minutes and was 6-10 from the field. His one weak point was turnovers as he led the team with 4 (tied with Earl Watson and Delonte West).

Go West!: Delonte West was an impact player again, scoring 17 points and being the focal point on offense. West is excellent in the fast break game, and is learning how to work the pick and roll, the bread and butter play for most NBA teams. It was nice to see West put together consecutive strong games, maybe Coach Carlesimo will start to look at starting West. I like West's energy coming off the bench as well, but at some point, he is going to need to get consistent minutes and know that he isn't a few bad minutes of being yanked for another 30+ minutes of 'Watson-time'. West was confident and shot the ball 14 times, a season high for him. Playing against a familiar foe (he played the Nets 4 times a year with the Celtics before this season) might have given West added confidence.

KD on D: Kevin Durant, was taken to school by the Jefferson/Carter combo, as the pair took turns teaching the rookie a lesson on defense. Hubie Brown certainly didn't shy away from mentioning it. Aside from being abused on defense, Durant again struggled shooting the ball, going 4-12 for 12 points. But when the chips were down, Durant came up big, with a monster slam and nailing a contested three on consecutive possessions in the 4th quarter. I'm still waiting for Coach Carlesimo to get him some easier looks, but I know he'll figure it out. He's too good not to.

Crunch time lineup: West, Durant, Wilkins, Green, and Thomas. Wilcox has been the Sonics' best player this year, but Coach Carlesimo stuck Thomas in for crunch time, and it wasn't a bad decision. This was a game the Nets won with experience, constantly making the smart play to win the game. Thomas has that effect on the Sonics, and essentially always make the correct play, whether fouling to stop a fast break by pulling on Richard Jefferson's jersey, or making Jason Kidd go to the line to earn points the hard way.

Saddle Up: The Supersonics have tomorrow off, before facing the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. While I don't expect a win, it will be interesting to see the Sonics match up with their template. As everyone probably knows by now, Clay Bennett wants to model his franchise after the Spurs, and as such he pilfered Coach Carlesimo and front office up and comer Sam Presti to lead the Sonics. I'm sure there will be some emotions on Sunday.

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Saturday 11/24/2007 Picks

Dallas (-4.5) over Milwaukee
Denver (+4.5) over Houston
Boston (-6.5) over Charlotte - I know this is a trap, but I can't help it. There is no way Boston
won't win by 7.

(Yesterday 4-0, 14-10 on the year) I knew I would make it back.

I hope KD ate 20 pounds of Turkey last night...

...because I know I did. As NBA action picks up after a league wide off day (Thanksgiving remains a NFL day), the Seattle Supersonics try to get back in the win column vs. the New Jersey Nets (5-7). While the Nets seem to be having a slightly down year by their own high standards, Vince Carter returned to action on Wednesday, stopping a 6-game losing streak. On the season, the Nets are 5-2 with Carter, and 0-5 without. So the Sonics will get a full-strength Nets team, eager to climb out of the small hole they are in due to Carter's early season injury.

The Nets are of course led by their Big 3 of Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson (averaging almost 25 ppg this year). The Nets have had a variety of different starters in the frontcourt, but expect Sean Williams, Jason Collins, and Nenad Krstic (if healthy) to play a lot of the minutes. Krstic's knee isn't healthy, so I wouldn't expect him to make a big impact. Collins is big, averages 0.6 ppg game. He plays almost 20 minutes a game. That is indescribably bad. In fact between Krstic's injury and Collins' transformation into a mannequin, one might think that the Net's frontcourt would be devoid of talent. One would be wrong. The Net's have a giant X-factor in Sean Williams, the 17th overall pick in the draft. Williams slipped because of character issues (he was kicked off of the Boston College team midway through the season), but he's a shot-blocker/athlete extraordinaire, averaging 2.2 blocks per game in under 20 mpg. His 40 minute averages are excellent, and his 19.24 PER would lead the Sonics (albeit in lower minutes than most league leaders). The Sonics dependence on jump shots should neutralize Williams somewhat.

The Sonics have now had 3 off days to recuperate from their 5-game road trip, and I'm sure Coach Carlesimo will come back with some different looks. The starting lineup will likely include Green, Wilcox, Wilkins, Durant, and Watson, but if he wanted to give West the start it wouldn't surprise me.

In most cases, I would fully expect a Net's win, but the 3-days off gives a nice window for the Sonics to make some improvements. I'm picking the Net's but I'll have a live Blog of the game later tonight, so maybe I'll switch my pick midway through the first half.

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John Hollinger has an excellent article dissecting Kevin Durant's difficulties. Check it out. Despite Hollinger's rep as a 'stat' guy he does some nice old-school scouting here and points out Durant's three main problems which can be summarized like this:
1) Durant has terrible shot selection (duh)
2) Durant isn't creating shots for teammates or himself(He has the lowest pure point ratio in the NBA. That is he is the worst player in the league at creating shots. This was shocking.)
3) Durant isn't rebounding

I've talked about 1 and 3 at length, but point 2 was shocking. These problems are obviously related, we don't like Durant's shot selection because he isn't getting any easy shots to bump up his shooting %, and he isn't getting any easy looks because he isn't getting out on the break or getting garbage points off of offensive boards. Hollinger doesn't come out and say it, but I think the solution to a lot of his problems would be to move Durant off from the perimeter and give him some easier looks and mismatches inside.

I'm a game or two away from calling the Durant at shooting guard idea a disaster.

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Orlando (-9) over Charlotte - like money in the bank
Boston (-7.5) over LA Lakers
Utah (-6.5) over New Orleans ( No Chris Paul+No Tyson Chandler)
New Jersey (-3) over Seattle - sorry.

(3-1 on Wednesday, 10-10 overall...Back to .500!)

Since the Sonics are one of 4 teams off today...

I thought I would throw in a few thoughts and picks for tonight.

Bill Simmons, ESPN's lead dog and one of the best NBA writers in the business (note: I didn't always have to qualify the previous statement by adding 'NBA', but add me to the list of people who are more than a little tired of the Patriots crap), broke down the Western Conference. Here's what he had to say about the Sonics:

14. SEATTLE SUPERSONICSPreseason prediction: 25 wins (14th)Revised prediction: 18 wins

Speaking of depressed fans, here are the Sonics! They could be watching Kevin Durant learn the ropes from Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis right now -- instead, he's the overmatched crunch-time scorer for a rebuilding young team that's bolting within the next three years. You have to feel for Seattle fans, who want nothing more than to drink a celebratory triple, nonfat, soy latte while wearing their new $100 Durant jersey that they're terrified to buy until somebody announces the team is staying. On a personal note, I don't believe any former NBA champion should ever be allowed to move. This should be in the NBA bylaws and everything. You win a title, you stay in that city forever. Done and done.
Anyway, here's what I don't get: The best five Sonics are Durant, Chris Wilcox, Jeff Green, Damien Wilkins and Delonte West, an athletic unit that would work for SmallBall because Wilkins, Green and West rebound better than their sizes. According to 82games.com, they've played only nine minutes together this season. Whaaaaaaaat??? This team is crying out for SmallBall! Why play Durant at 2-guard when you could force mismatches by playing him at the 4 against everyone but the Knicks? It's not like the other guys give them a better chance to rebound and defend. For instance, they played a conventional lineup in Charlotte last weekend, lost by 16 points and got outrebounded 60-38. What do they have to lose? I wish Don Nelson could take this team over for two weeks.
Reason No. 12,806 why I love the NBA: Watching Durant drain a buzzer-beating, off-balance 3 in double-OT to beat Atlanta on Friday. It wasn't just that Durant came through in his ninth NBA game, it was how easy he made it look -- in end-of-the-game situations, he'll always be able to shoot over his defender because of his ... (hold on, give me a chance to sedate Jay Bilas) ... (wait, just another second) ... (OK, we're good, he's down) ... incomparable length. We haven't seen the last of the Durant buzzer-beaters this season. I'm predicting a 30-footer with a hand in his face by March 15.

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Simmons is generally dead on, though suggesting the Sonics should have kept Rashard Lewis when Orlando was willing to pay $100+ million for a guy who doesn't consider defense to be worth his time is laughable. He can make an argument about Ray Allen, though its too early to call that trade either way. Jeff Green is looking pretty good to me.
Durant absolutely needs a chance to play some time at either of the forward spots. How many power forwards can keep up with him? At least let him try vs. some teams. I talked about how the Sonics need to start getting Durant some easy shots yesterday, and what better way than to match up with with some burly power forward and let Durant take him off the dribble? Plus it would take away one more player from protecting the rim. The reason why this hasn't happened is that Coach Carlesimo is committed to defense (as evidenced by Earl Watson's minutes the first few games of the season), and Durant would get abused from time to time. But obviously the KD-Shooting Guard experiment isn't working. Let's try something new.
I should also note that Simmon's best 5 players and my best 5 players from a few days ago differs only by having Green in for Collison. It's obvious who the best five are to anyone but Coach Carlesimo. When you are 2-10, you can experiment a little.

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A number of websites are posting their Rookie Watch, a list of the top 10 rookies so far this year. As one can imagine, these lists vary wildly depending on what hallucinogens the maker of the list is on. I don't want to spend too much time on this, but I was mildly outraged that David Thorpe placed Jamarrio Moon above Jeff Green on this week's list. Moon has worse stats than Green despite playing more minutes and being six (6!) years older. I won't slam Thorpe too bad though, as he did say nice things about Green:

"Jeff Green is considered a face-up 4/3, but he is dangerous as a low-post threat. He patiently works to get his hook shot off, and he has great hands. Better yet, he has a nose for the ball and is very comfortable making plays in traffic. This kid is worthy of his top-five selection."

I wholeheartedly agree David. Just bump him up above Moon, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Luis Scola next time. You can make an argument that Green has been better than Al Horford and KD too, but both of those players have had a lot more responsibility pushed on them. And if we go just by PER, Sean Williams of the Nets is blowing everybody out of the water.

His notes on Durant aren't nearly as promising though:

"Seattle's Kevin Durant has the look of a guy focused on style over substance. Works for marketing, but not in the win column."

and

"2. Kevin Durant, SonicsIn Seattle's past five games, KD has attempted 16 3-pointers and grabbed just 12 rebounds in almost 33 minutes per game. That is an inexcusable stat for an athletic and tall guard who played so hard in college."

I agree. It's time for both KD and the Sonics coaching staff to step it up.
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NBA Picks:

Dallas (+2) over Houston
Atlanta (+8) over Miami
Cleveland(-5) over Minnesota
Orlando(+5.5) over San Antonio

(2-1 for last picks (11/14), 7-9 overall)

Losing: Not So Fun

As the Seattle Supersonics fell to 2-10 yesterday after a 125-108 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies (for the 2nd time this season), I was thinking about what to write. A lot of times it is tough to find positives out of another loss, but with a team as young as the Sonics in what can clearly now be called a rebuilding year, you measure a worthwhile year by other factors: player development, team improvement over the course of the season, weeding out the players who aren't part of the future, etc. With that in mind, I'll do a gimmick post, the classic 'thumbs up/thumbs down' rundown of the game.

Thumbs Up: To Jeff Green who earned his first start vs. the Grizzlies and recorded career highs in minutes (31) and rebounds (14). Green added 11 points for his first double-double, and was a monster on the offensive glass snatching 8 rebounds after missed Sonics shots. On the downside, Green shot just 4-12 from the field, and recorded only 1 assist (not usually an issue for a frontcourt player but Green's passing skills from college were especially hyped). Still Green has already turned out to be one of the top rookies in the NBA living up to his lofty draft status. While most expected Green to claim a starting job eventually this season, I think its safe to say he is ahead of schedule. Green is currently averaging 9.8 points per game and his numbers should continue to climb as he is rewarded with more minutes. Green could be a 12-13 ppg scorer his rookie year if he continues to get playing time.

Thumbs Down: Kevin Durant. Durant started his NBA career with a bang, scoring 18, 27, 24, and 27 points in his first four professional games leading a lot of people to believe he was going to be even better than we expected (and we expected alot). Unfortunately, since then Durant has struggled, scoring over 20 just twice, and even more discouragingly, shooting over 38% from the field in just one game. He's managed to balance his extremely poor shooting by getting to the free throw line more (where he converts an outstanding 84%), but he has been unable to balance his dropoffs in other areas, including rebounding , where he is averaging just over 3 rpg over the last 8 games. Almost no one expected Jeff Green to be the better Sonics rookie so far, but that's exactly what their PERs through 12 games say (13.88 to 12.60). It's November, and KD has plenty of time to pick it up, but by playing so well his first four games, he raised everyone's expectations. The worst news is that he appears to finally be losing confidence, taking a career low 8 shots vs. Memphis. We need you KD. Coach Carlesimo: Can you get KD some easier scoring opportunities? Would it kill you? He's only 19 for goodness' sake.

Thumbs Up: Sonics Rebounding. The Sonics outrebounded the Grizzlies 48-35, including an 18-10 edge on the offensive glass (thank you Jeff Green). In addition to Green's big game, Johan Petro added 7 in 17 minutes, Chris Wilcox grabbed 6, and Wally Szczerbiak and Damien Wilkins grabbed 5 apiece.

Thumbs Down: Starting slow. The Sonics came out like zombies for the start of both halfs, losing ending the first quarter down by 14, and losing another 10 points in the third. The Sonics aren't good enough to fight back from big deficits, and coming out of the locker room flat is the surest way for a young team to get blown out.

Thumbs Up: Delonte West. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Sonics leading scorer. West scored 17 points (including 3-3 from downtown) and added 4 assists in 26 minutes of action. Coach Carlesimo went with the hot hand giving Earl Watson 22 minutes. Watson had a decent night as well scoring 11 points, though he only recorded 3 assists less than half of his season average. With Luke Ridnour out two-four weeks, this is a great time for one of these guys to seize control of the point guard position.

Thumbs Down: Sonics counting stats. As expected in a loss where the outcome was never in doubt, the Grizzlies put up more steals (9 to 5), assists (33 to 20), blocks (9 to 3), hand less turnovers (13 to 16) and had an outstanding night from the field (55.8% overall).

Thumbs Up: The Sonics are done with their 5 game road trip and return home for Thanksgiving. Their next game is a nationally televised battle with the New Jersey Nets.

Thumbs Down: The Sonics had a losing record on the road trip.

Thumbs Up: I correctly predicted the number of wins for the Sonics on the road trip.

Numbers Breakdown: 11 games into the season

What we know, 11 games into the season.

The Sonics will have at least 3 solid scoring options for this season. We knew/hoped that Durant would be able to score 20 ppg, and he has (+/- a few points). Durant isn't hitting enough shots, but he's still a consistent scorer who is already drawing a lot of attention from opposing defenses.

Damien Wilkins has made a significant jump, averaging 17.1 ppg, but he has improved in all aspects of his offensive game, shooting nearly 50% from the field, and raising his 40 minute averages across the board. His improvement basically came out of nowhere, as there was nothing in his past that suggested he would make these kind of improvements with increased playing time, but regardless, Wilkins has been one of the best stories of the young season for the Sonics. He has had the best individual game of the season with 41 vs. the Hawks, which led to one of the Sonics' two wins. He's shooting nearly 53% from behind the arc, and he's hitting the boards harder, averaging almost 6 per game.

The third part of the Sonics triumvirate, is the athletic big man, Chris Wilcox. Despite averaging only 31.5 minutes per game, Wilcox is averaging career highs in points (16.2) and rebounds (8.1). Wilcox will easily be a 20/10 guy if he got the requisite 40 minutes per game. As I said in my last post, I'm not sure what is holding back Wilcox's minutes. Luckily he's not holding back, and is the Sonics strongest post presence.

Anyone who's watched a Sonic game this year could guess that Durant, Wilcox, and Wilkins are the three leading scorers for the team. But I wonder how many people would guess that the Sonics number 5 overall draft pick, Jeff Green was the 4th leading scorer, at 9.6 ppg along with 4.6 rpg. Green has been getting it done in 21.4 minutes. It's going to be difficult for Green to break into the starting lineup this year, as the forward positions are being manned by Wilkins and Wilcox (perhaps Green's play is one reason Wilcox's minutes have been limited), but he's making the most of his chances, and has shown steady improvement. Later in the year, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sonics go to a lineup with Wilcox at Center, Green at Power forward, and Wilkins at Small Forward, putting the best players all on the floor at the same time.

Nick Collison mans the center position for the Sonics and has been almost exactly average, with 8 points and 8 rebounds per game, and a PER of 13.41, which is right in line with his career average of just over 14. Since he hasn't shown any real improvement in his 4 years in the league, you know exactly what you are getting with Collison now. A solid, average frontcourt player, who's willing to take the abuse of guarding bigger stronger players. Collison is a solid asset to have on the team, and it's niced to see him locked up for a few more years at a reasonable price.

Now comes the diaster, the point guard position. Earl Watson: 8.69 PER. Delonte West: 9.36 PER. Luke Ridnour: 4.34 PER. Through 1/8 of the season, the Sonics haven't had rotation-level performance from the point guard position that is playing 48 minutes per game. Out of the three, Watson is acknowledged as the best perimeter defender, and as such as gotten the majority of the minutes. While West has the most offensive upside, and has in fact played the best (outside of positional defense), Watson has played below his past level, and is likely to improve as the season continues. I'd like to see Watson and West split the minutes equally, with Ridnour basically relegated to a bench role. West could develop into a starting caliber player, so he needs minutes, but Watson is the best option right now.

The only other players of note have been Wally Szczerbiak who has been average apart from his explosion against Sacramento. In fact, he's only scored in double figures 2 other times this season, averaging 9.1 ppg on the season. Kurt Thomas has been injured much of the season, but he will join the big man rotation should he get healthy this season.

End of the Dream (aka the two game winning streak is over)

They are still young, folks, they are still young. After a 2-game winning streak against two of the weaker foes in the Eastern Conference, Miami and Atlanta, the Sonics came back to Earth against the Bobcats in a 100-84 loss in Charlotte. This wasn't really that surprising, especially considering the shocking double-OT victory over the Hawks just the night before, which ended with Kevin Durant hitting his first game-winning shot, a 3-pointer as time expired.

Unfortuneatly for the Sonics, there wasn't much carryover, as Durant again struggled from the field, shooting just 3-12 from the field. But he showed some real grit, and went to work, going to the stripe 10 times and hitting all of his free throws to finish with 16 points. Durant has a lot of trouble shooting the rock this year, but this is the 2nd time he's had a rough shooting night, but still made a positive impact by getting to the line 10 times. For the season, Durant is shooting 86% from the line, in stark contrast to his 38% shooting from the field. If he's going to have such a rough time shooting the ball, he's going to need to have more games like this so that he doesn't become a liability. Not that there's any force on Earth that should keep the Sonics from playing him 30 minutes a night.

Damien Wilkins followed up his 41 point outburst with 19 points on 5-16 shooting with 7 rebounds. Clearly, Damien was still feeling it, as he uncorked those 16 shots on an off shooting night, but its nice to see another scoring option step up. One problem with the Wilkins/Durant combo at the small forward/shooting guard positions. Their opponents on the Bobcats, Gerald Wallace and Jason Richardson combined to go for 50 points on 50% shooting including 5-10 from 3. We know Durant is a liability on defense, but Wilkins is going to have to step it up to help out his young counterpart.

Chris Wilcox put together another really strong game, especially in the first half when he scored 19 of his 24 points. Wilcox also added 9 points, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 2 assists for a nice looking box score. He continued to get it done in limited minutes, playing only 28 in the game. Wilcox has been the Sonics best player this year with a PER of 18.14 through the first 10 games, narrowly edging out Damien Wilkins (PER: 18.13), but continues to play only 31 minutes a game. Wilcox's per 40 minute averages suggest he would be a 20/10 player if he got minutes a player of his caliber deserves. Does he tire easily (he's currently at a career high in minutes per game)? Is Coach Carlesimo under a management-edict to play Wilcox only 30 minutes to suppress his numbers and make it easier to resign him? Is Coach Carlesimo just enamored with the heretofore untapped potential in Johan Petro and M. Sene? Whatever the reason, if the Sonics want to win, Wilcox needs more minutes. Averaging 35 a game for the rest of the season would be a great start.

Luke Ridnour got another DNP as Earl Watson and Delonte Watson combined for 48 minutes of ineffectiveness. I don't think Ridnour is the answer either, but I'm tired of looking at the question. The point guard position must be addressed before the start of next season.

The Sonics now get Sunday off, before finishing their road trip with a game in Memphis. The Supersonics will get the chance to avenge a 105-98 loss to the Grizzlies which also included Durant's 3-17 game (though he did go 10-10 from the line as mentioned earlier).

Homecoming! Damien Wilkin shoots the Sonics to victory!!!!!!!

What a game. WHAT A GAME! Damien Wilkins had a career night scoring 41 points on 15-20 shooting, dominating in his homecoming. The Supersonics and the Hawks battled to a standstill for 57 minutes and 58 seconds, after Tyronn Lue hit a baseline layup to tie the game and presumably send the game to a 3rd overtime. But then came the moment we've been waiting for all season. Kevin. Durant. For. Three...SONICS WIN!

This night is going to be remembered as Durant's breakthrough shot, but it would have never happened without Wilkin's magnificent performance. He was scoring the entire game, but he was especially clutch in overtime, converting jumpers, showcasing a seldom-used post-game.

I don't have any thoughts, but the Sonics are 2-1 on the roadtrip, and broke out of a 0-8 slump with 2 straight in. Before the trip, I predicted the Sonics would win 2 of the 5 games, but they've already accomplished that goal. They'll have another great chance to grab a win against the Eastern Conference tomorrow against an uneven Charlotte team.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Free at last! The Sonics finally broke through against a lifeless Miami Heat team 104-95, led by the two most consistent players on the team thus far, Chris Wilcox and Damien Wilkins. Wilkins got the night started off right with 8 first quarter points as the Sonics jumped out to a 30-25 first quarter lead. The Supersonics then put the game away in the 2nd quarter, dominating in a 31-16 fashion, and building a lead as large as 21 points. Miami battled back in the 2nd half, but the game was never in doubt.

The Sonics put on a rebounding clinic, with Wilcox, Nick Collison and Kurt Thomas grabbing 10, 11, and 9 rebounds respectively. The Sonics domniated the defensive glass to outrebound the Heat 52-34. This helped offset the Sonics -10 turnover differential, as the Sonics again had 22 turnovers.

With Ridnour on the bench, Delonte West had his finest overall game as a Sonic, scoring 16 points, dishing 6 assists and grabbing 4 rebounds in 29 minutes of playing time. Earl Watson played a typical Earl Watson game scoring 8 points to go along with 6 assists in 24 minutes of playing time. Watson's stat-line actually looks pretty nice for a backup point, but he doesn't seem capable of putting up 'starter' stats.

The Sonics blistered the net from behind the arc, hitting 10-19 from behind the stripe with West, Wilkins and Durant combining to go 9-16. Speaking of Durant, he had another tough night shooting the rock, finishing 6-16 for 18 points. Sadly his 37.5% shooting is almost perfectly in line with his 38% season shooting. While he continues to miss shots, Durant was extremely effective in third quarter going 3-4 while draining two of his three 3's on the night. He's showing flashes, but he's going to have to start knocking down shots, or taking higher percentage looks. Steady play at the point guard position wouldn't hurt, but teams starting to respect Damien Wilkins will help more. Despite Wilkins' excellent shooting from outside, teams aren't giving him the respect he's probably earned, instead focusing on keeping Durant in check. So far, the league is succeeding.

At some point, Coach Carlesimo is going to have to give Chris Wilcox 35-40 minutes per game, every game. By limiting him to 30 minutes a night, he's limiting his most efficient offensive player and only credible low post threat. I'm not sure what the thought process is here. Maybe he doesn't like Wilcox's defensive intensity (thank God Earl Watson can't play power forward).

Best lineup, 11/14/07

Collison

Wilcox

Wilkins

Durant

West

Enjoy the off day boys, you earned it.

I don't want to talk about it

We're going to skip right over Orlando eviscerating the Sonics last night, 103 - 76. It's never good when you lose by 27 points, its even worse when you're never in the game, and its worst still when the free agent who left the team scores 19 in the first half. I'm not sure what kind of grudge Rashard Lewis could hold but whatever. The Supersonics have to rebound tonight against a Miami team coming off a 91-76 thumping of their own against Charlotte.

I'm taking a break from picking Sonics games for a few days, as I clearly am in too deep to guess what's going to happen. That said, I can still pick the rest of the games

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11/14 - Wednesday NBA Picks

Detroit (-2.5) over Golden State - This one is a lock
New York (+8) over LA Clippers - Either Marbury is gone and the Knicks come together to win without him, or he's back and he's out for blood. Either way the Knicks cover.
Cleveland (-3) over Orlando - maybe.

(1-2 yesterday, 5-8 overall)

On the Road Again (or for the first time)

A few notes, as the Supersonics begin their first extended road trip, with a 5 game East (the last game is a rematch with Western Conference foe Memphis).

SI.com has an excellent article about Kevin Durant's first week in the NBA by Jack McCallum. McCallum is one of the finest NBA writers, and his book :07 seconds or less, is one of the better basketball books of the past few years. He details Durant's adjustment to the NBA and notes that he seems well equipped to handle the demands being place on him by the media, the fans, and the franchise. Durant comes across as a great kid in the story, likeable, fun and talented. But he definetly comes across as a kid (the anecdote about Durant playing video games with neighborhood kids that stop by his house in the suburbs killed me). The story even dives into KD's umm...adult life as shown in this excerpt quoting his Mom:

"But doesn't the arrangement hinder Kevin's, uh, social life? "He respects me enough that he does not bring anyone home," Wanda says. When her questioner raises an eyebrow, she quickly adds, "I'm not saying he doesn't meet women -- he's in the NBA, he's young and he's handsome, right? I'm just saying he doesn't bring them home." Kevin later confirms this."

All in all, it's a must read. However, it does forshadow a potential problem if the Sonics do in fact move to OKC, as McCallum notes that KD's agent, Aaron Goodwin, has a history of looking for megadeals for franchise players in big markets to increase their earning potential. While I'm not saying that Durant's resignability wouldn't be a concern, as long as the Sonics are moving in the right direction, Durant would have to truly hate OKC to not resign there. It just takes too long to hit free agency, and its a lot of years wasted without getting the big payday. Plus, name the last elite superstar who didn't resign with his team? The Sonics can pay him the most money, the Sonics WILL pay him the most money, and Durant will be a Sonic throughout the prime of his career.

One last note on the McCallum story (sorry to be spending so much time on this, but it gives a really interesting look at Durant's life), his parents seem to be excellent people. While his Mom is living with him in Seattle (he's only 19 for goodness sake), his dad remains in Maryland to watch his less heralded brother Tony Durant play at Towson State. His mom comes across really well in the story, loving, yet not overbearing as one might expect a young superstar to have.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back to the task at hand, winning games. I think the Sonics will break through against one of the teams on the road trip ( I do not think they will fall to 0-12 before coming home), so we might as well put some odds on the games they play.

11/13 @ Orlando (5-2) 7:1

11/14 @ Miami (1-5) 2:1

11/16 @ Atlanta (2-4) 3:1

11/17 @ Charlotte (3-3) 3:2

11/19 @ Memphis (1-4) even

We're going to win a game, I know that. Orlando is far and away the best of the teams, so I'm doubtful the Sonics can break through in the Rashard Lewis revenge game. Miami is still without Dwyane Wade, and as long as it stays that way, the Sonics have a chance, though Miami plays every team tough. Charlotte has a terrible point differential (-8.7 ppg on the season) which makes their 3-3 record surprising. I think they are much worse than their record appears, while the Sonics are actually better than their record appears. Plus KD will be playing relatively close to home. This will be the Sonics first 4 games in 5 nights stretch, but they're young and it's early in the season. It's worth noting that KD did NOT play well in his first back-to-back game of the season vs. Memphis (3-17 shooting but 10-10 at the line).

If they somehow don't win any of the Eastern Conference games, I think they stand a good chance at beating Memphis. It will be the first time Durant knows exactly who is going against, and I think he's going to make Rudy Gay pay this time. Durant's quest for vengance + a day off before the game this time are going to make it a different story. Realistically, I think the Sonics win 2 of the 5 games and head back home with a 2-10 record.

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Picks for tonight:

Miami (+4.5) over Charlotte

Detroit (-4.5) over Portland

Seattle (+10.5) over Orlando

(2-1 yesterday, 4-6 overall)

Never Too Early to Talk About the Draft!

As the Sonics Express steamrolls to an 0-7 start (the perfect season is still within reach), it's natural to start to think about what the Sonics needs are, and where they are likely to fill those needs. While Durant is the only 'untouchable' player on the roster, I would go ahead and add Jeff Green (unlikely to be traded) Chris Wilcox (only effective low-post option, still young and has upside), and Damien Wilkins (Good 3rd-4th option) to the foundation of the team. Of those, Wilkins is the most expendable/replacable, but he's played well for over a year, and I think the Sonics would like to keep him at a reasonable price.

In addition to the core, Earl Watson, Nick Collison, and Luke Ridnour are all locked up for at least two years in the $6 million per year range. So they aren' t going anywhere.

Over the next three years, the triple-bust that was the Sonics center drafts over the last few years will come off the books, one by one. Swift is already in the last year of his rookie contract, Petro comes next, and finally Sene in 2009-2010. These three draft picks have set the Sonics back in the frontcourt indefinetly, and if it wasn't for the clever pilfering of Wilcox from the Clippers 2 years ago, the Sonics would be in even more desperate shape in the frontcourt.

So the seven players who get playing time going forward into next year will be Durant, Wilcox, Green, Wilkins, Watson and Ridnour. If we look at their 'true' NBA positions, that includes two point guards (Watson/Ridnour), two small forwards (Durant/Wilkins), and three power forwards (Wilcox/Collison/Green). Now Durant is playing shooting guard right now, Collison can play center, and Jeff Green might end up being a small forward (he doesn't really have a position right now), so these positions are in flux, but it's clear the Sonics need a back to the basket post, and someone to play guard (preferably a combo-type who could start at the point if Durant stays at shooting guard).

The Sonics will almost surely be drafting in the top 5, unless they show massive improvement between now and April. As such, I'll look at the top 10 prospects as listed by nbadraft.net, one of the best early draft projection sites on the internet. These guys do their own scouting, and make their own mock draft FAR ahead of any other source. The top 5 players RIGHT NOW according to nbadraft.net are:

1) Derrick Rose - 6'4" Point Guard - Memphis (Freshman)
2) Micheal Beasley - 6'9" Power Forward - Kansas State (Freshman)
3) DeAndre Jordan - 7'0" Center - Texas A&M (Freshman)
4) Chase Budinger - 6'7" Small Forward - Arizona (Sophomore)
5) OJ Mayo - 6'5" Shooting Guard - Southern Cal (Freshman)

I don't think the Sonics would take another wing type player in this draft meaning Budingers out. I also don't think that the Sonics will take a chance on OJ Mayo unless his talent proves too big to ignore (possible).

That leaves Rose, Beasely and Jordan as possible picks (depending on where the Sonics draft. Of the three, I think Rose fits in best with what the Sonics are trying to do, he's is a natural point guard who is hyper-athletic and can score. Beasely is an absolute beast, but I'm not sure how well he and Durant would mesh on the court. Jordan is just too raw, though he has a whole season to demonstrate what he can do.

If I had to make a wishlist right now for the Sonics, it would be

1) Rose
2) Beasley
3) Mayo ( character be damned! Though I bet Presti and Carlesimo feel otherwise)
4) Wait to see who develops at the end of the season. I'm not in love with any of these guys yet (and no, that wasn't a Kevin Love reference).

Aside from that, I'm feverishly working on my dissertation, so I better get back to it. Picks for tonight:

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Picks for tonight:

Utah (-13) over Sacramento
New Orleans (-1) over New Jersey
Cleveland (+7.5) over Denver

(1-2 yesterday, 2-5 overall)

Unlucky Number Seven: Detroit 107 - Seattle 103

With the 7th consecutive loss to start the season, its getting harder to be optimistic for the season. But for whatever reason, I keep finding reasons for hope, and feel like these things need to be pointed out. The Sonics have lost, but haven't been blown out in a single game. In fact, after losing control quickly in the fourth quarter for the first few games, the Sonics have played the last 3 games (@ Sacremento, Memphis, Detroit) very tightly with a chance to win if they could just make a play late in the game. These players still believe they can win, even though they just don't know how yet.

Jeff Green put together his second consecutive stong game with 17 points and 8 rebounds in 25 minutes. Even more impressively, he had zero turnovers, after having problems holding onto the ball recently. He's starting to look more and more like a solid pick. A game after setting a career high in points, he followed with a career high in rebounds.

After a run of strong games, Kevin Durant has struggled the last two games, combining to shoot 10-38, including a brutal 2-12 from behind the stripe. He's clearly been the focus of defenses after starting to find his way, and unfortuneatly teams are content to let Wilkens and Wilcox combine for 30 every game, while focusing their defense on Durant. He's had to go against two tough defenders in Andrei Kirilenko and Tayshaun Prince, both of whom have the genetic gifts needed to frustrate Durant (long, athletic and aggressive).

As mentioned, Wilcox and Wilkens have been remarkably consistent this year. Both are averaging 15-16 points per game, and are the only Sonics besides Durant to average 30+ minutes per game (coincidence?). Coach Carlesimo went in a radically different direction last night, giving Luke Ridnour the start, while giving former starter Earl Watson a DNP - Coach's Decision. I'm not defending Watson, as this is clearly a necessary move and the Sonics were 0-6 with him getting the lion's share of the minutes, but this is a dramatic shake-up. Ridnour played relatively well in his first start garnering 7 assists, but scoring a Watson-esque 4 points on 1-5 shooting. Delonte West was the primary backup and scored just 4 points, but also added 5 rebounds and 4 assists. West's size allows him to give the opposing teams a different look. I believe West has the most upside, but Ridnour is the most natural point. I don't really care who the starter is at the end of the season as long as someone grabs the role. Otherwise, the Sonics will be borderline forced to take a point guard (in lieu of a can't miss post player).

Finally, the Sonics had two post players going in opposite directions as Kurt Thomas made his Sonics debut, and made a huge impact scoring 10 points on perfect shooting and grabbing 7 rebounds. Obviously we can't expect a near double-double out of the 35-year old veteran, but it's equally clear he has something left in the tank. His toughness will be a much needed addition to the Sonics frontline. On the downside, Robert Swift sat the entire 2nd half after injuring his knee. The return of Thomas along with the lack of production from Swift was probly going to lead to reduced playing time anyway, but hopefully Swift can come back soon.

Finally, I went 1-2 on picks tonight. I hope next time the Sonics lose, they don't cover.

It ain't easy being green...(plus Game 7 preview)

With six games under our belt, some of statistics start to have some meaning. The Sonics are playing at the fastest pace in the NBA, and use over 105 possessions per game. This was surprising to me, as I expected the Sonics to rank in the top ten in pace factor, but not first. The pace that at team plays with isn't as important as long as they are efficient with their possessions. The Sonics...are not. In fact, by scoring an average of 94.5 points per 100 possessions, the Sonics rank in the bottom 5 of the league in offensive efficieny. So despite playing at the fastest pace in the league, the Sonics are only averging the 14th most points in the league. Things aren't any better on defense, where the Sonics rank 24th in defensive efficieny, allowing 104 points per 100 possessions. This coupled with the fast pace the Sonics play at leads to other teams scoring almost 109 points per game.

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Game 7 Preview
Who: Detroit Pistons (3-1) @ Seattle Supersonics (0-6)
When: 7:00 pm
Where: Key Arena

The Sonics take on their almost perfect opposite tonight in the Detroit Pistons, who are 2nd in defensive efficieny at 93.7, and 7th in offensive efficiency at 106.1. No team has scored more than 97 points on the 3-1 Pistons, who play at the 4th slowest pace in the league at 93.3 possessions per game. They are extremely balanced with their top four players (Chauncy Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince) all scoring between 14 and 19 points per game. In terms of PER, Billups (25.68) and Hamilton (24.19) both rank in the top 25 in the entire NBA. They are a tough veteran team, whose core has played together for several years. Needless to say, they will provide one of the toughest tests for the Sonics so far.

The Pick: Pistons 103 Sonics 90. The Sonics will breakthrough at some point. Its just going to be really tough against the Pistons.

Picks tonight
Detriot (-6.5) over Seattle
New Orleans (+1) over Philadelphia
Milwaukee (+11) over San Antonio

(1-3 from Fridays picks, 1-3 overall)

Jazz win 103-101, or 0-6: The Hard Way

Of the 6 losses on the season, this was the second most painful. The Jazz were seemingly in control for most of the 1st half, keeping a consistent 6-8 point lead, but never pulling away. Kevin Durant was having a tough shooting night, Chris Wilcox wasn't getting a ton of help (he had 14 of his 17 points in the first half), and it looked like the Jazz were going to escape with a relatively easy. The Sonics fought back and entered the 4th quarter down 3, and promptly tied the game with 10 minutes to play. Delonte West was on fire in the 4th quarter going 4-6 and scoring 8 of his 10 points on the night in his best game since the opener. Jeff Green had his best game as a pro finishing with 19 points on 7-12 shooting. The Sonics and Jazz traded baskets, and the Sonics had the ball and a 101-101 tie with 43 seconds left. After Coach Carlesimo's timeout, Deron Williams stole a Delonte West pass, which Carlos Boozer converted for the winning bucket after running the pick and roll to perfection. After another squandered oppurtunity for the Sonics, they stole an inbounds pass with under 10 seconds and Durant broke for the basket, but forced up a tough running layup that Kirilenko rather easily extended for and routed away. Game, set, match.

As far as losses go, there's a lot of good here. Jeff Green had his best game as a pro (just a hour or two after I started to wonder if the Sonics had made a mistake by passing on Yi). Delonted West broke out of a 4 game slump by making big shots in the 4th quarter. Durant continued to demonstrate his short memory by taking and making tough shots in the 4th. Chris Wilcox singlehandedly kept the team afloat in the first half. Damien Wilkins scored in double figures for the 5th time in 6 games. Most importantly, the Sonics went toe-to-toe with a Western Conference finalist, and very nearly sent the game to overtime, despite being behind the vast majority of the game. Nick Collison had his first double-double of the season, and the Sonics had six players score in double figures for the game. Carlos Boozer had his way, finishing with 27 and 15, but there's no shame in having Boozer put up big numbers. What ended up killing the Sonics is Andrei Kirilenko's near triple-double, and turnovers in key moments.

On the downside, Szczerbiak's roller coaster hit bottom as Wally had no points in 9 minutes. BOBBBY SWIFT! had an incredibly empty box score with 1 rebound and 4 fouls in 18 minutes. That's zero points, zero blocks, zero steals, zero assists, and zero impact. I want to get him some PT and give him a chance to develop. Johan Petro, in my opinion has just as much upside as Swift (both are 21), and while he isn't the shot blocker that Bobby is, he produces more in every other avenue. Neither are likely to develop into anything more than a serviceable center, so the Sonics might as well give more PT to the player who is further along at this time. Petro should get 20 minutes, and Swift 10. Ridnour did not play.

The Sonics now get a day to stew over their 6th loss before they get to play Eastern Conference power, the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are 4-1 on the season and will present another stern test for the young Sonics. On the plus side, the college scene seems to be rich with freshmen stars to stock the top of the draft this year.

Also, I went 1-3 on picks for the night, including the worst case scenario of the Sonics losing AND covering. Ouch. Somehow Charlotte slaugtered Indiana in the fourth quarter 31-14, forcing another loss. Better luck tomorrow.

Friday Links, Thoughts, and Picks

A new feature which I'm copying from Aaron Gleeman is going to start today: Friday Links, Thoughts, and Picks. I'm going to post some relavant Sonics articles, from National and Seattle media, as well as some general thoughts, and picks for the Sonics upcoming game (as well as other NBA games of note).

Links:

Jack McCallum wrote an interesting piece yesterday detailing his meeting with Clay Bennett. McCallum is one of the more 'inside' writers in the business and he gives a semi-positive report on his face-to-face with Bennet, as well as the the rest of key figures in the franchise.

Percy Allen has a nice story from last Sunday's Seattle Times discussing the opening week in the NBA lives of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green.

Good news: Kurt Thomas' hamstring is only strained, and he is still day to day. Bad news: probably won't play tonight, and the Sonics could use him against the rugged Utah frontcourt. Ugly news: Wednesday's game vs. Memphis drew only 10,761. Now this was a mid-week game, vs. a less than marquee opponent, but you would expect better attendance numbers for Kevin Durant's second game.

Luke Ridnour might be able to stop wearing the hideous face mask next week (bottome of the column in the notes section).

Thoughts:

Do the Sonics have anyone that can slow down Carlos Boozer? He's picked up right where he left off last season, averaging 24 ppg and 13 rpg for the 3-2 Jazz, and is an underrated passer out of the post, averaging over 3 assists per game over the last two seasons. Expect Wilcox to start on Boozer, but Collison should get solid minutes on Boozer after Swift sits soon after the opening tip.

The Jazz also have a decided advantage at point guard, as Deron Williams as seemingly taken another step forward averaging 20 and 10 (ppg/apg). His 22.14 PER is borderline all-star level right now. The second coming of Stockton and Malone indeed.

Mehmet Okur holds down the Center position...sort of. Though he's the biggest starter for the Jazz, he's a feared shooter, and will draw Swift (or Wilcox) out of the lane, as he must be respected from outside. Defensively he's not much to write home about, but neither are any of the Sonics options in the post aside fromWilcox.

Picks: The Jazz are a loaded team, and their strengths seem to match up perfectly with the Sonics weaknesses. They even have an excellent defensive player to lock-up Durant in Andrei Kirilenko. Utah 111 - Sonics 99.

Starting today, I'm also going to give a couple of recreational gambling picks. These will just be some games I particularly like, and would be inclined to bet on if there was any place to legally gamble in Oklahoma. Home teams are in bold.

Utah (-6) over Seattle
LA Clippers (+7.5) over Detroit
Indiana (-2) over Charlotte
Boston (-8.5) over Atlanta

We'll keep track throughout the season, and see how I do.

Stern: "If Sonics leave Seattle, NBA won't return"

At the end of his press conference announcing that the 2009 all-star game will be in Phoenix, NBA commissioner David Stern decided to throw a little fuel onto the Sonics ongoing relocation questions. The main quote:
"I'd love to find a way to keep the team there," he said, "because if the team moves, there's not going to be another team there, not in any conceivable future plan that I could envision, and that would be too bad."
While Stern has been outspoken in the past regarding his desire to see Seattle provide public funds to the replacement for Key Arena, this was the first time he put out such a threat to the city.
I want the Sonics in OKC as much as anyone (and judging by the mainstream media coverage, anyone consists of 3,579,212 Oklahomans), but this smacks of desperation by Stern. While I fully believe Bennett will move the team (is there really any doubt?), I also believe that Stern in his heart knows the best thing for the NBA is not a franchise in a mid-sized market. I'm just not sure that his trademark insults work as well when directed at an entire city, as opposed to Dan Patrick.

My take on the situation. Clay Bennett bought the Sonics, knowing he was in a win-win situation. Either he would get the the City of Seattle to build the Sonics a new arena, in which case the value of the Sonics would dramatically increase, or he would get to relocate the team to Oklahoma. Those of you that think his only goal is to bring the Sonics to Oklahoma are being short-sighted. Bennett is a businessman first and an Oklahoman second. Stern knows that Bennet will move the team, but also knows talks are going nowhere, so he tries to 'stimulate' the city by threatening to never return. But as discontent continues to grow in the Emerald city, he might be actually pushing the team further away.

0-5: What we know, What to do going forward

Going into this season the fans goals were as follows:

1) Make the playoffs
2) Don't screw up Kevin Durant

The expectations were quite a bit different, as most fans realized this was more than likely going to be an extremely tough year for the Sonics. As it stand right now (based off of Pythagorean Projections), the Sonics are expected to win about 14 games this year, which would rank them among the worst teams in recent history. Obviously it is extremely early, which means the sample size of points scored vs. points allowed is way too small to make an accurate projection, but it does give a picture of the kind of trouble the Sonics are in. For those that don't know, Pythagorean projections are based off of 2 numbers: points scored per game and points allowed per game. To give you an idea of the accuracy of these projections, last years Sonics gave up 102 ppg and scored 99.8. According to the Pythagorean projection, a team with those scoring numbers should average 31.4 wins in a 82 game season. The Sonics won 31. But as I said its early. Current projections would have the Bobcats (outscored by 14.5 ppg so far this season) winning 6 games on the season. They're actually 2-2 with two close wins and two blowout losses. But it all tends to even out over the season.

So the current level the Sonics are playing at is going to win about 14 games and put them right in the hunt for 1st overall pick in the draft (we're going to talk about the draft ALOT as we get a better idea of how good/bad the Sonics are and as the college season plays out). And for fans with long-term vision, maybe the best thing for the franchise is to lose a ton and pair Kevin Durant with whomever the best available college player is. But its hard watching your team lose night after night, and it isn't going to sit any better with the players. Plus, as Boston, Memphis and Milwaukee proved last year, sometimes losing big isn't all its cracked up to be. I'm okay with the Sonics having a tough year, but I'd much rather see them win 30 games as opposed to 15. With that said, here are a few things that need to happen for the Sonics to improve.

1. Find a player at the point guard posistion. I know a lot of fans want to see Luke Ridnour at the point. He's not a great player, and his defense stinks, but Earl Watson is playing terrible. Coach Carlesimo can't keep giving him 30 minutes a night for some assists, and defensive ability that peaked three years ago. How bad has Earl been offensively: he's checking in with a PER (which measures everything except positional defense) of 6.95 after 5 games, which is basically CBA level. Want to know something shocking? Wait for it...

Luke Ridnour has been worse. Ridnour has a PER of 3.02 in about 10 mpg off the bench for the Sonics. And again, that's not even considering defensive skills, in which there is no doubt Watson is the superior player. That said, you might expect Luke is slowed by his face-mask, and lack of minutes to get into the flow. As bad as Ridnour as been, I think you know what you are getting with Watson at this point. Opponents at least have to respect Ridnour's offensive ability a little bit. With Delonte West backing up Durant at shooting guard, the Sonics have two options. Watson's had five games to show what he can do. Give Ridnour a chance.

2. Help Durant get easier looks. Durant has shown he's not afraid to shoot the ball (ESPN ran a stat today showing Durant had the 2nd most shot attempts for a rookie through 5 games of all time), but he still hasn't quite differentiated good shots from bad. Coach Carlesimo needs to let Durant get the ball in different places. He can score from literally anywhere on the floor, why not give him some looks in the post? Why not run him off some screens? Durant can create his own shot, but when its not falling, the team needs to give him some help. One impressive note: with his shot not falling last night against the Grizz, Durant went to the free throw line 10 times, almost doubling his # of attempts in the first 4 games combined. His shot isn't going to fall every night, especially when he's as perimeter oriented as he is right now. But if he can get to the line like this...his off nights can still help the team.

3. Start feeding Wilcox in the post. After 5 games, Chris Wilcox has been the best player on the team. He's had 4 good games against 1 no-show, a dramatic improvement since last year. He's basically the only option for interior scoring on the team. He needs to be ridden as hard as possible. If Wilcox can start to demand a double team, the team has several good shooters (Durant, Szczerbiak, Wilkins), all of whom can make the opposing team pay for leaving them open.

4. Keep your head up. I know its been a tough start for the year, but outside of the Western Elite, the Conference is as weak as its been in years. In the Northwest division alone, the Sonics have 8 games against the Timberwolves and the Trail Blazers, who are 1-6 on the season. The Pacific Division boasts the Kings and the Warriors (1-7), and the Lakers who will likely fall apart whenever they trade Kobe. There are some really good teams, but there are alot of bad teams too. Even after an 0-5 start, there are still alot of wins left on the table.

Picking yourself up off the mat/Game 5 Preview: Memphis Grizzlies

Ugh. I still can't believe the Sonics crapped away last nights game against the Kings, but here we are sitting at 0-4 a week into the season. But this is going to be a long season, and there's no room for pity when you have to get up for another game tonight. So instead of focusing on the oh-so painful last two minutes, let's look at what went right for the Sonics last night.

Wally's World: Wally Szczerbiak showed that he's still got a lot of tread left on the tires with a scintillating 32 point performance on 12-16 shooting. Now Wally isn't going to pour in 30 (or even 20) every night, but even if he went 7-16 last night, he still would have scored around 20, with a decent shooting percentage. While Wally's never been known for defense (he'll fit right in!), he's one of the few veterans on the team (please get healthy Kurt Thomas), and he showed his shooting touch hasn't gone anywhere. He should be in the starting lineup very soon, as Coach Carlesimo played his two best scorers together for long stretches in the 2nd half. He should be able to average 18 ppg if he stays healthy, and though he won't fill up a box score like Ray Allen, he should be able to chip in 80% of his scoring on most nights. He's looked less like a throw-in to match up salaries and more like a player the last two games. Keep it up Wally.

Mr. Durant: We need a great nickname for Durant. I don't want him to be stuck with some idiotic like K-Smooth or something. It's too bad "Ice Man" is taken. "Goose" maybe? Goose Durant. It took Durant all of 4 games to establish himself as a 25 ppg scorer in this league. 4 games. He's 19, and has the legs of a 13 year old. What a player. He came up big at times last night, including a short portion where he decided to take over the game scoring 6 unanswered points and making plays on defense. The best part is, there hasn't been a point this season where you've thought, "man, Durant just has it going on tonight". He's just been consistent. He's still forcing a couple of shots (I could do with 2 less 3's per game and a couple more drives to the paint), and let's not get started on turnovers (yet), but only injuries are going to stop him from becoming one of the top 5 players in the league. I hope he doesn't let the losing get to him.

Second Quarter Sonics: After a fairly pedestrian 1st quarter, Coach Carlesimo left the entire second unit in to start the 2nd quarter...which turned out okay. Wally got fire, and the Sonics were running the Kings out of the gym at one point on a 27-6 run. The Kings clawed back in at the end when the starters came back out, but the Sonics still outscored the Kings 36-22 for the quarter, the first time they've decisively won a quarter this season.

Fourth Quarter Kings: Even though the Kings won this quarter 32-20 (including a 7-0 run to close the game), this was vastly different from the first 3 games, as the Sonics were ahead for almost the entire quarter, and were just 2 minutes from pulling it out They are an extremely young team (3rd youngest in the league) playing against a team that just knew how to win a little bit more. When you're 0-4, you have to look for the little victories. Despite the bitter way the game ended, this is one.

Now on the otherside, Turnovers remained an enormous problem for the Sonics (25 on the night), with Durant leading the way with 6, Swift with 4, and the rest of the team with 3 apiece. The Sonics shot the ball better, rebounded the ball better, and made more assists, but it doesn't matter when you are throwing away 25 possessions a game. This has to be the number 1 priority for Coach Carlesimo going forward (aside from defense). The points are going to come, they just have to be smarter with the ball.

If Coach Carlesimo wants to start the best five players, Watson, Durant, Szczerbiak, Wilcox, and Collison/Swift (depending on the matchup; if everything's even go with Collison) need to be there at the beginning of the game. Ridnour provides a spark off the bench, but he trails off quickly at this point. Watson is the best option right now. Wilkins might be better suited in a role off the bench, though he might come out gunning, which isn't good for anyone. Green is going to be inconsistent, and Coach Carlesimo has shown he's going to ride him if he's hot, and bench him when he's not. Delonte West is going to have to turn it up. I saw him on a milk carton at lunch today.

-------------------------------------Quickie Preview-------------------------------------------
Who: Memphis Grizzlies (0-2) @ Seattle Supersonics (0-4)
Where: Key Arena, Seattle
When: 7:00 PM PST

Key Matchup: Nick Collison vs. Pau Gasol. Gasol is one of the best big men in the league (24.22 PER last year), and its going to take an outstanding performance to limit him tonight. He's had a strained back and missed some practice time earlier this week, but the Grizzlies have had 3 off days since their last game. Collison will likely be the primary defender for Gasol, and can't let him dominate. The Sonics did have success slowing Gasol last year, as he average 16 points and 7 rebounds in 3 games last year. He hasn't been lighting it up so far this year, so catching Gasol at less than full strength could be the break the Sonics need.

Who to Watch: I'm a big fan of point guard Kyle Lowry for the Grizzlies. I think he might be available, as they have something of a glut at the point guard position (with Lowry, Damon Stoudamire, and rookie Mike Conley Jr.). Either Lowry or Conley would make a nice fit in the Sonics youth movement, and I'd really like to Sam Presti try to work a trade for one of them. I assume they are keeping Conley since they just drafted him, but shhh....Lowry might be the better player. Get it done Sonics. Thank me later.

Prediction: I've learned my lesson. The Grizzlies aren't good, but they are certainly better than the Kings, who are one of the worst teams in the league. I'll hope the Sonics will be more prepared as this is their 5th game while its only the 3rd for the Grizzlies, but I'm going to try out the reverse jinx tonight. The pick: Grizzlies 111 Sonics 102.

Game 4: Live Blog

With apologies to the Sports Guy, I've always wanted to do a Live Blog of a game. This is my first one, so it might be a bit rough, but let me try.

9:08: Starting lineup for the Sonics. I'm promised Luke Ridnour will play more tonight.

Earl Watson - Kevin Martin
Kevin Durant - Fransisco Garcia
Damien Wilkins - John Salmons
Chris Wilcox - Mikki Moore
Robert Swift (Bob Swift: Starter!) - Brad Miller

9:11: I just remember Reggie Theus is the coach of the Kings. I feel significantly better about the night.

9:13 Earl Watson is being guarded by Kevin Martin. I like that matchup for the Sonics.

9:14 Moore can take shots all night long

9:15 Durant nails a 3 and is promptly abused by Kevin Martin on the other side, with Martin drawing the foul. Teams have been been constantly attacking the Sonics after big made buckets all season.

9:18 Kevin Martin is a borderline deadly offensive player. You just don't see players improve like this once they get in the league. I don't see a player on the Sonics roster who can stop or even slow him down.

9:20 AND THE FOUL! Durant has 7 quick points after missing the free throw. Collison replaces Swift. I'm not sure what the thought process is behind starting Swift. Does Coach Carlesimo want to secure the opening tip that bad?

9:23 I wish Wilkins would apply his enthusiasm for taking shots to playing tough defense. 15-10 Kings, as Coach Carlesimo has to call timeout. Good timeout...something needs to slow down the Kings.

9:26 Just saw the final score of the Phoenix game. I'm really angry I don't don't have a bookie. Phoenix was only favored by 6 tonight. I would have bet my lifesavings on that.

9:27 I'm pretty sure an ugly 20-footer from Delonte West wasn't the play Coach Carlesimo drew up out of the timeout, but Collison bails out the airball putting it in. New Lineup: Ridnour, West Szczerbiak, Green and Collison. Its safe to say we haven't seen this lineup yet.

9:30 7-0 run for the Sonics. Ridnour took the rebound up and drilled a 20-footer. That was Nash-esque! Theus calls timeout for the Kings. The second unit actually provided a spark. West sliding over to shooting guard is a needed move, especially against a team without physical guards like the Kings.

9:33 2nd unit stays in. Someone named Quincy Douby gets in the game for the Kings. This can't be bad. Ridnour drills another 20-footer. Don't be afraid to step back a step. They are worth 3-points from there.

9:35 1:19 to go in the 1st. Why did Durant only get 4 minutes this quarter? Umm, Coach Carlesimo, he was pretty hot. Did you notice?

9:37 Quincy Douby drills a 3. I totally jinxed us. Quincy Douby is 1000 times the man I am.

9:38 Wally hits a long 2 to pull the Sonics within 1, 26-25. Wally has been a bit of a blackhole on offense, but if he's hitting the shots, you can't complain.

9:40 Check on my girlfriend. She's watching the new episode of Shot of Love With Tila Tequila. She is watching far too intently.

9:41 Ridnour remains in the game joined by Wilcox, Wilkins, Szczerbiak, and Bobby Swift. Every game is better when Bobby is in there. I missed him.

9:42 Five straight points on 3 straight shots from Szczerbiak. He calls for the ball and is promptly fouled. There's something about Szczerbiak that makes it hard for me to warm up to him, but its nice to have one true veteran.

9:43 BOBBY SWIFT gives the Sonics a 4 point lead.

9:45 It's Wally's World. We're just living it. 13 for Szczerbiak, 8 in this quarter.

9:46 Durant needs to come in after this timeout, but I'm convinced more than ever that the Starting Lineup needs changes. The five best players would be Collison, Wilcox, Szczerbiak, Durant and Ridnour. They might allow 150 points a game, but that's the best 5. I don't know if Szczerbiak needs to stay on the bench to provide instant offense.

9:48 Wilkins and Watson come in for Ridnour/West. West hasn't shown much since Game 1.

9:50 BOBBY SWIFT with the block, starting the break finished off by Wilkins with the layup. That's what I want to see.

9:51 This is getting ridiculous. Wally has 17.

9:52 24 second violation on the Kings. Kings fans, if you leave now you should miss traffic.

9:53 A methodical possession resulting in an open look for Wally, who now has 19 points on 8-9 shooting. I can't believe I was complaining about him earlier. What a player. MVP?

9:57 Uh-oh. Durant and Szczerbiak together. Can Reggie Theus just concede the game now? Has there ever been a worse hire? He was coaching college ball in New Mexico last year for Christ's sake.

9:59 Theus realizes he's allowed to use his timeouts, and halting a brief 29-6 run. That's TWENTY-NINE TO SIX. I'm so glad there's a lottery in the NBA, because there is no way the Sonics are going to be worse than the Kings this year. Ron Artest just threw his wife into his TV at home. To soon?

10:02 Watson steals, tosses to Durant who lets Collison have it for the finish. It's so easy sometimes.

10:04 Uh-oh. The lights got turned off. Reggie seems to have reminded the team that they are playing basketball. Coach Carlesimo calls a timeout, I think Wally needs a rest. He hasn't played 15 straight minutes in at least 2 years.

10:07 8-2 run by Sacramento until Jeff 'The Terminator' Green hits a mid-range jumper.

10:08 Durant with another 3!!!! I can't wait to type that 7,000 times over the next decade. How did we land him? How is it possible?

10:12 Green misses a jumper with 30 seconds left. It's going to be a rollercoaster season for Green.

10:13 Coach Carlesimo brings Szczerbiak off the bench for the last possession and he responds by hitting a 15-footer. 23 on the half for Szczerbiak.

10: 30 - 10:44 Nothing to say. Kings are closing the gap.

10:45 Ugh. Kevin Martin has 27 points in the middle of the third quarter.

10:47 Durant finally finishes off an ugly stretch of misses with a layup, forcing the Kings to call timeout with 4:18 left in the quarter. Nick Collison got the offensive rebound of Durant's errant three and assisted on the layup. Two things, first Collison is following up his bagel showing in LA by closing in a double-double.

10:51 Coach Carlesimo puts the second unit + Damien Wilkins (no Delonte West) back in. Let's hope they can

10:52 23 turnovers so far for the Sonics. It is REALLY tough to win games, and Kevin Martin makes them pay with his 29th point.

10:54 They go by the Grace of Wally. Wally hits a jumper while drawing a foul on Brad Miller. 25 on the night.

10:56 Durant comes in for Wilkins, pairing their two best options tonight, Szczerbiak and Durant.

10:57 Durant immediately goes to work drawing a foul off Mikki Moore (admittedly not the most difficult task) and hits a pair.

10:58 What a display. Ridnour fast break layup blocked...Durant cleans up and finishes at the rim for 2. Durant then strips Kevin Martin and slams it at the other end for 6 unanswered points. He has 21 on the night. He is dominating right now.

10:59 Douby races back after Durants slam and hits a bank shot at the buzzer to bring the Kings within 4, 78-74 at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Kings won the quarter, but at least Durant gave the Sonics back some momentum.

11:01 The refs are reviewing Quincy Douby's shot. AND ITS WIPED OFF!! 78-72 Sonics! Let's finish it!

11:02 Alright guys time to finish it. If anyone wanted to show up and help out Durant and Szczerbiak tonight now's the time. The starters minus Wilkins are in for the Sonics.

11:03 Wilcox goes to the line drawing Kenny Thomas' first foul. Wilcox has 6 points, 8 rebound on the night, but I think this is the first time I've typed his name. Not a good sign.

11:05 BOBBY SWIFT!!! with the foul. Crap. He really knows how to not stuff a stat-sheet. 2 points and 4 rebounds in 14 minutes of action. And Brad Miller hit the shot he was fouled on. Foul harder BOBBY!

11:07 Szczerbiak with his first rebound. That stops a perfect game for Wally who had 0 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0 assists and 0 steals before that.

11:08 Douby continues to make me pay for my ignorance. Another 3, only to be answered by Wally at the other end. Wally then fouls Salmons on D. He's everywhere!

11:09 Durant and Miller trade buckets, 84-82 at the official timeout.

11:13 Well, 3 minutes into the 4th quarter and they haven't been blown out of the game yet. That's progress.

11:14 I had a post all typed out bashing Earl Watson's distance shooting and he makes a traditional 3-point play over Kevin Martin. Sorry Earl. I won't doubt you again for at least 3 possessions.

11:15 SZCZERBIAK WITH ANOTHER 3!!!!! He's unconscious. How is this possible?

11:16 Durant forces a 3. Bad shot Kevin. You're better than that.

11:17 Wally draws the charging foul! Wally gives up his body! 92-88, as Reggie calls another timeout. I have to say, if this game comes down to X's and O's, I feel pretty good pitting Coach Carlesimo against a guy named Reggie.

11:21 Jump ball between Collison and Garcia. I'm worried about Garcia. Skinny guys can jump.

11:22 Collison to Durant. Great execution. Durant off the screen from mid-range...Good!

11:23 Martin has 31. Right now I hate him.

11:24 Really nice offensive possession. Wilkins missed from close range, grabbed his own rebound and passed to Szczerbiak who instead of immediately shooting it, pulled it out and made the Kings play more defense down 4 with 4 minutes left. The Sonics then rotated the ball around to Collison in the post who was fouled. Collison knocked down both shots.

11:25 Salmons has a 3-point play, 96-93.

11:26 Wilkins for 3. I just don't feel good when Wilkins is shooting, 40% from 3 last year or not. Just a feeling, I can' t explain.

11:28 Martin misses 2 free throws. He only shoots 90%, so this isn't surprising at all.

11:29 Coach Carlesimo calls timeout as Salmons heads to the line for two, with the Sonics up 96-93 with just under 3 minutes to play. The Kings seem to have momentum, but its nothing another Durant or Szczerbiak jumper wouldn't fix.

11:31 Durant hits a huge mid-range shot, countering Salmons free throws.

11:32 Shot Clock Violation Kings! 1:54 to go, 98-95 Sonics. Not many fingernails remaining.

11:33 Salmons with an easy layup, 98-97. Coach Carlesimo call timeout. 1 minute to play. Come on boys. Pull this one out. You deserve it.

11:35 Coach Carlesimo goes with Watson, Durant, Szczerbiak, Wilkins and Collison.

11:36 Durant turnover. Garcia hits the 3. Agony. 100-98 Kings take their first lead in forever. Coach Carlesimo assigns an assistant coach to let the air out of Garcia's tires in the parking lot. Sonics timeout, 29 seconds to play

11:37 Wilcox, Durant, Szczerbiak, Watson, Wilkins for the Sonics. Miller is the only big out for the Kings . Wilkins takes a hideous spinning bank shot which has no chance of going in. That's why you leave him on the bench Coach Carlesimo. He thinks he's at least 40% better than he is.
11:38 Brad Miller hits both free throws for a 4 point lead with 10 seconds left, sealing the win. Stupid, stupid loss. I'm very angry.

11:40 After the 700th timeout this quarter, Coach Carlesimo convinces the ref that shots taken behind halfcourt are worth four points. Durant for 4...Sonics Win!!!!

11:40 Sorry, I was hallucinating. Durant misses a 3 instead, Wilcox fouls Douby again on the rebound.

11:42 104-98 Kings. I'll discuss this more tomorrow, but right now I'm not happy. This should have been a win.

Game 4: Sonics - Kings Preview

Who: Seattle Supersonics (0-3) @ Sacramento Kings (0-3)

Where: ARCO Arena, Sacramento, CA

When: 10:00 pm EST/7:00 pm PST

About the Kings...

• The Kings will be without Mike Bibby (2006-2007 PER: 16.07) and Ron Artest (18.59), their starting point guard and small forward. The loss of Artest is on defense is significant as he's long been one of the best lock-down defenders in the league, and would have had the task of shutting down Kevin Durant. In his place, John Salmons is having his best season, averaging over 20 ppg and 6 apg through the first 3 games. Mike Bibby is a bigger loss in name only as his game has declined over the past two years. His 16.07 PER last year was only slightly above league average. Salmons has been shockingly good through the first 3 games, and is likely playing above his head. I expect him to come back to earth soon, and hope its against the Sonics.



• The Kings are led by 6'7" shooting guard Kevin Martin who exploded onto the season after two relatively non-descript years by averaging over 20 ppg last year. He's an extremely efficient offensive player, and he's been even better this year averaging 25 ppg through the first 3 games. He will score on whoever guards him, but he isn't a physical player, as he's listed at only 185 pounds. The Sonics have to hope Durant's length gives Martin trouble.



• In the frontcourt, the Kings have two veterans who had their production fall off of a cliff after they were paired together last year. Shareef Abdur-Rahim's PER dropped nearly 4 points last year to 13.16, and Brad Miller had a similar 4 point fall to 13.56. No one is rebounding for the Kings, as John Salmon leads the team with 5.3 rpg. Abdur-Rahim has been so disappointing that he is only getting about 14 mpg as Mikki Moore has been taking most of the minutes next to Brad Miller after a 'career' year with the Nets. Moore is the exact type of player the Sonics need to avoid wasting money on over the next few years, as the Kings inexplicably gave him a 3 year $18 million dollar year after he put up 9.8 ppg and 5.4 rpg for the Nets last year.


• While both teams need a win, to avoid starting the season 0-4, the Kings will be energized by playing their home opener. Expect a packed house to welcome the Kings home in one of the rowdiest environments in the league.

About the Sonics...

• This game will be a contrast of styles. The Sonics have been playing at the fastest pace in the league, with a pace factor of 108.7 while the Kings have been one of the slowest teams in the league checking in at 93.1. The pace factor gives the average number of possessions used by a team each game. It's worth noting that Sonics have played the three fastest teams in the league thus far, possibly artificially inflating their pace, but at the same time, if the Kings slow down the pace to their standard, the Sonics are unlikely to win a halfcourt based game.


• At the same time, the Sonics are one of least efficient teams on offense, averaging just 91 points per 100 possessions while the Kings have only been slightly better averaging 97 points.


• Believe it or not, the Kings have been SIGNIFICANTLY worse on defense thus far, with a defensive efficiency of 115.8, allowing over 9 points more per 100 possession than the Sonics. This is masked partially by the Kings extremely slow pace.


• Chris Wilcox has a great chance to have another strong game against a weak Kings frontline. Wilcox will likely have to guard Mikki Moore, which means his defensive responsibilities will be limited to blocking out.


• Without Artest, the Kings have no one who can pretend to check Durant. He has a great chance for his first 30 point game in the NBA.


• The three headed monster of Earl Watson/Delonte West/Luke Ridnour need to have a breakout game. The Kings will play long stretches of time with no one quick enough to keep up with the Sonic guards. Pushing the tempo at all times will pay off for the Sonics.

The pick: I was intent on picking the Kings in their home opener, until I saw just how poor the Kings have been defensively. Durant scores 31 and the Sonics break away with a 103-91 win.

LA Clippers 115 - Seattle SuperSonic 101

My final score prediction was really close (113-104), but I had the teams backwards. For the 3rd consecutive game to start the season, the Sonics lost the game in the 4th quarter, as their opponent blew the game open. So far the Sonics have been outscored 98-64 in 4th quarter, with the opposing team outscoring the Sonics by between 10 and 12 points each time. To put that in the proper context, the Sonics have been outscored by 38 points on the season (303-341), and 34 points (90%) of that differential has been in the 4th quarter. The Clippers blew the game open with offense, scoring 37 points against 25 for the Sonics.

The rookie combo of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green both had their best game. In fact, Green took over the game for a stretch in the 2nd quarter, and finished the first half with 12 points. Green finished the game with 14 points and 7 rebounds, on 4-7 shooting (including 6-6 at the free throw line). KD had a terrfic game (HE'S ONLY 19 YEARS OLD) scoring 24 points pulling down 8 rebounds and dishing 5 assists. He even finished two baskets while getting fouled, already demonstrating improvement in that respect. His intelligence is already showing as his shot selection is significantly improved (for the first time he shot the ball less than 20 times), cutting out those 3-4 shots he was forcing up in the first two games.

Chris Wilcox continued his strong start with his 3rd straight solid game. He finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. His play in the post has been the saving grace for the Sonics offense, as Collison proved he can't not be depended on to provide consistent offense scoring 0 points from his 6 shots. Damien Wilkins his 2nd solid game this season scoring 22 points and stuffing the stat sheet with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. After Durant and Wilcox, he's working towards establishing himself as the 3rd option on a team that's going to need offense this year. Wally World has his best game as a Sonic scoring 13 points in only 18 minutes of action, and abusing Tim Thomas with some nice stepback jumpers.

The buzzword of the night was turnovers, as the Sonics combined for 22 of them on the night. The second unit was especially careless combining for 14 compared to only 8 for the starters. This was especially disappointing as the aside from the turnovers, the Sonics outplayed the Clippers, and the final score largely results from the extra shot attempts the Sonics gained via turnovers. The Sonics did have a good night at the line shooting 18-22 from the line.

The point guard position was not disappointing. In a combined 50 minutes of action, Watson (26 minutes), West (19 minutes) and Ridnour (5 minutes) combined for 4 points on 4-10 shooting with 10 assists and 6 turnovers. If I'm Sam Presti, I'm looking to see what the Grizzlies want for Kyle Lowery (perhaps one of the Suns 1st round picks?)

One more note: as you might have noticed from the photo, the man, the myth, the legend Robert 'Bobby' Swift made his long awaited comeback in 16 minutes of action. Welcome back.