Much talk in the papers (and from our more astute readers) about how Rick Brunson could be paid $1 million to hang out with Ibo Kutluay this year. Alex Scales (Go Ducks Go! #12 in the BCS, baby!) has emerged on the scene as an alternative to Brunson, and Mateen Cleaves’ deal with Satan has apparently at least one more year to go, meaning his inexplicable continuing run in the league will continue for 82 more games.
Whither Brunson, then? Here is the roster, as of today:
ALLEN
Brunson
Cleaves
COLLISON
EVANS
Felix
FORT
LEWIS
MOORE
FLIP
PETRO
POTATO
Powell
RADMAN
RIDNOUR
Scales
SWIFT
WILKINS
Those in capitals are on the roster, no matter what, and it adds up to 13 guys, the minimum roster number. However, the team is required to average 14 guys on the roster for the season, so that’s the key number to look at. (All teams are allowed to have as many as 15 on the roster at a given time). With that the case, it makes sense Seattle will keep 2 of these 3 guys: Brunson, Cleaves, Scales. I don’t think Cleaves is as much of a lock as it would appear on the surface, so it is conceivable the Sonics will keep Scales and Brunson, but Cleaves is nice insurance at the point should the Flip Murray Experiment fail miserably. To me, the best move is to say goodbye to Mateen and keep Scales and Brunson.
The league as a whole is required to average 14.
ReplyDeleteThe only requirements individual teams face is keeping at least 13 and, of course, no more than 15.
Well, count me skeptical of the Robert Swift era ever panning out. I found this caption on a picture on the sonics page of the Seattle Times....be afraid.
ReplyDelete"Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo, right, drives to the basket past the
Sonics' Robert Swift. The Sonics lost to the Rockets 93-85."
MUTUMBO!
Carl
yeah Swift is killin' me right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not seeing or reading anything that's making me feel better.
Would be nice to play a preseason game with Potato, Fort and Moore out there mixing it up a bit.
Cleaves contract is not guaranteed, according to Percy Allen.
ReplyDeleteBrunson's deal is picked up at least partially by the league because he was signed to a veteran minimum contract.
I'd personally keep Brunson, Felix and Scales and try to trade Murray to a team like Atlanta for a second round pick. Then cut Cleaves but ask him if he wants to stick around as a consultant. His long term goal is to get into coaching.
With all of this talk about Robert being a stiff, I took a look at the rest of the 2004 NBA draft to see if there were any other players the Soncis could have drafted that fared better than what we have. Here are all of the 1st round picks after 12:
ReplyDelete12. Robert Swift
13. Sebastian Telfair
14. Kris Humphries
15. Al Jefferson
16. Kirk Snyder
17. Josh Smith
18. J.R. Smith
19. Dorell Wright
20. Jameer Nelson
21. Pavel Podkolzine
22. Viktor Khryapa
23. Sergei Monia
24. Delonte West
25. Tony Allen
26. Kevin Martin
27. Sasha Vujacic
28. Beno Udrih
29. David Harrison
Two conclusions I make:
1. This has to be the worst draft in the past 10 years and possibly the worst draft for big men ever. Remember, Dwight Howard went No. 1! DWIGHT HOWARD! 12ppg/32min is not a No. 1 pick...
2. Al Jefferson is the guy they should have gotten. He hasn't been great yet, but I think he is going to blow up this year.
Now, swifty hasn't been a total success, but he hasn't been a total failure, either. It is still too early to tell. We all would just like him to age three years NOW because we need him now.
Remember, we could have had Pavel Podkolzine!
-Q
Carl - I had the exact same reaction to that Mutombo picture. Dikembe is making like Dr. J vs. the Lakers in that shot. Pathetic.
ReplyDeletewhy so many cleaves haters. HE WAS THE BEST IN TRAING CAMP. He has leadership skills none of the others has. Those to combined give u the best backup of the 3.
ReplyDeleteright on. hunter for detroit is the same way.
ReplyDeleteCleaves also outpreformed all backup gurds tonight with 5pts 2 ast in 11 minutes. Not bad for 11 minutes.
ReplyDeleteYeah to Petro!! Summer league had me scared, and honestly his offense is even worse than I remember (but he is athletic), but he's done better with fouls than I had hoped for and his defense/rebounding is better than expected too. He's not great but he'll do, and deserves some playing time from day 1.
ReplyDeletei would say keep cleaves and scales to be honest. cleaves was clearly the best backup in training camp. he took over at some points.
ReplyDeletebrunson hasnt impressed me very much, except for his experience
swift needs to go. i dont know what they were thinking when they drafted this guy. hes almost as slow as D-Fort. he has no coordination. did u see him in the first preseason home game? he got a great pass, all he had to do was take the 2 steps and throw it down hard. but no...what does he do? he acts like hes going to throw it down but instead pulls the ball down and tries to do some jordan-type windmill and lay it up off the glass. of course, needless to say it failed miserably.
i am actually pretty impressed with petro. he is very athletic and can actually put the ball in the hole. if he keeps improving i can see him being a solid center in the future.