According to several sources, Damien "The Omen" Wilkins has signed an offer sheet with the Minnesota Timberwolves:
Published reports in Seattle said the Wolves' offer is for five years and $15 million for Wilkins, 25, who only has one season of NBA experience.According to NBA rules, the Sonics have seven days to match the offer. Does anyone think the Sonics will pay that kind of money for a guy who averaged 6.3 points a game? More importantly, does anyone think they should?
"Damien is someone that we believe has tremendous upside," Wolves General Manager Jim Stack said. "He continually improved throughout last season, and he became a significant contributor for Seattle during the playoffs."
Wilkins caught the attention of new Wolves coach Dwane Casey when he was the Sonics' associate head coach last season.
(from the Star Tribune)
Well, let me throw my foam-based hat into the ring and say yes, they should re-sign Damien. Do I think he's worth 3 Mil a year? Based on his basketball skills, no. Wilkins flashed some moments of brilliance last year, looking at times like D-Mase with a jump shot, but it was mostly while performing mop-up duty at the end of a game—if the Sonics weren't willing to re-sign Jerome James based on his 15 minutes of fame during the playoffs, then they probably shouldn't reward "The Omen" for his 1.5 minutes of garbage time glory.
Re-signing Wilkins isn't about his talents on the basketball court, though, or even about Wilkins himself—it's about morale. After losing Casey, Nate, Jerome, and Antonio in the course of two months, the Sonics need to do something immediately to stop the hemorrhaging, and if that means forking out $3mil a year for 25-year-old with "potential", then I'm all for it. (Hell, we're probably still paying Ibby more than that!)
It's time for Wall-Walk to make some kind of peace offering to the fans and take one for the team. Damien Wilkins isn't the answer to all of the Sonics ailments, but it sure beats bleeding to death.
