Shoulda. Woulda. Coulda.It started out so promising, with Johan Petro looking like the second coming of Hakeem and Reggie Evans scoring six points (!) in the first quarter. Then, reality came crashing down like David Thompson at a disco. The Sonics suddenly remembered to forget how to play defense and let the Clippers score over 100 points (!!), losing 101-93.
Despite a complete lack of "D" most of the night, the Sonics tied the score late in the game. In the end, though, three things sealed the Supes' doom:
1) Sam Cassel hit three 3-pointers in the final five minutes.
2) Danny Fortson had five fouls in eight minutes.
3) Flip Murray still thinks he can dribble.
Let the grumbing begin . . .
26 comments:
man this was a bummer. i dont keep track of stats but it seemed like when fortson came in, clipper points as well as sonics fouls were going up. his horrible play for sure over powers any of his good play. i really dont think hes worth keeping.
other than fortson, ray looked good as usually, and i was really impressed with petro.
sonics need to practice the D, they cant afford shooters (like cassell) to drain almost every shot he takes. ha.
Randomness: If only this were hockey. The Sonics woulda won since they were up 11 after 3 periods... Everyone in the building and watching at home saw the starting 4th quarter lineup was a fuster-cluck -- everyone except Mr. Slate that is. Was he "experimenting" 'cuz he thought it was another exhibition game?... Given a choice between Reggie's delusions of grandeur, Danny's bonehead fouls, and Petro's rawness, please gimme some more of the Frenchman. Whoever coined "Vote for Petro" I applaud you... Who the !@#$ are James Singleton, Quinton Ross and Daniel Ewing?! Dudes the Sonics made look good tonight that's who... And of course, S.C., the Extra-Terrestrial, who warmed up by feasting on 18 footers from the elbow most of the game, before blowing up from 3-point land in the 4th. Further bolstering his spot on the "All-Time Ugly Mofos Who Are Sonics Killers List," right up there with Nick Van Exel, Anthony Peeler, Kevin Johnson, Michael Adams...
Had to get that off my chest.
That "Flip Murray: Backup PG" situation is going to be worse than anticipated.
Don't forget that it was the Clippers who made us look silly on opening night last year.
Fortson was bad... I am starting to agree with the types who say he doesn't even play basketball out there.
Radman couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The only consolation for me about that is if he shoots that poorly during the season, I know it will hurt him much more than it will hurt me.
Why in Gods name did Weiss leave Murry on Cassel the entire last 7 minutes? I hated the three guard line-up, and would have liked to see Wilkens come in for Murry. Having Ray play the 3, Rashard play the 4 and Collison the 5 didn't make sense to me when we needed stops. And Murry holding the ball for 10 seconds of each possesion killed us. He slowed down the offense way too much and his defense was terrible. He should not be allowed to bring the ball up, or even touch it unless they run a play for him. I hope we aren't in for this all year long. That was painful.
Losing to the Clips sans Maggette is no good.
The Clips have a guy name Boniface Napos Dong? WTF!
Murray needs to be benched until after the all-star break (or longer - I give up on him). Fortson needs to sit if he gets his second foul within one minute of his first. Someone needs to tell Reggie to PASS THE GODDAMN BALL when you're 4 feet & 3 defenders from the hole, while Lewis & Allen are all alone on the perimeter. I know he's in a contract year, but if he really intends to try to score every time he gets the ball, we're screwed. Oh yeah, the rotations sucked as well.
i think the sonics-fortson marriage needs to be annulled...quickly. just as he has with every other team he's been with, he's had an outstanding half-year or so, then seems to implode with his own ego and waste away, sulking on the bench wondering "whadeyedo?"
Mr. Slate needs to go back and work at the rock query. He had one good year as a head coach, and that was with the Hawks when 'Nique' was still in his prime. his magic tricks won't win any basketball games. Our offense was undisciplined, there was no flow and we looked completely out of sync. At least with McMillan, there was always a set play to run, and more importantly DISCIPLINE. The pick and roll did not work because we don't have a big man that can shoot the mid-range, nor do we have someone brave enough to try to dunk on anyone (jerome james). Then there was our defense...i won't even go there.
The opening fourth quarter line-up was a joke. With Daniels gone, we cannot afford to not have at least Allen or Lewis on the floor. when both are off the floor everyone forgets how to move without the ball, and more importantly shoot.
it's only one game but if this is a sign of things to come under Weiss...this year will be hard to take.
re: Weiss - his system seems ok, but he needs to learn to adapt more during the game. Elho, of all people, made a good point: Wilkins had the best chance of shutting down Cassell (and is also a decent ball handler, passer, and rebounder). Where the hell was he in the last quarter?
re: Fortson. Yeah, the memories of "good Fort" from early last year are pretty much dead and gone. Push the "eject" button on this guy as soon as Potato is healthy.
re: Murray. I'm actually hopeful that he could be a useful part eventually, especially if he is confident that he'll get his minutes and his shots if he plays within the system. But he sure didn't look great last night.
Whoa, everybody. Slow down. Weiss lost one game. Hopefully he won't make the same mistakes next game. Flip pissed everyone off in Key Arena. I wonder if he heard it afterwards. After the buzzer and durring the huddle, I could hear people screaming at him as the crowd left. Will that guy ever learn that Point Guard means a lot more than dribbling a lot? Luke dribbles a helluvalot, but you can see that the whole time he's looking for angles. Fortson just had a bad game, while Flip showed that he has a lot to learn with no sign that he's learned anything in the last two years.
Yes, good advice, Voice of Reason. My rage has bled off somewhat since last night. I have to remind myself that Nate and the whole team were regarded as buffoons this time last year as well. I pray that they came away from last night's game with some knowledge. Because after all:
"KNOWING is half the battle."
-Duke, G.I. Joe
I only saw one comment related to the fact that Crap-ranovich can't do the only job we hired him for -- to be a third scorer. Lewis is still not demanding the ball enough and still is not defending enough. Luke will be a great PG and Ray will be Ray. Petro was impressive. I'm not impressed by anything I saw except for Petro and Wilkins. Minnisotta isn't that great, but we'll find a way to make them look like Title contenders on Friday. JESUS!
they had this game in the books. but like a classic seattle team, they lost it in the 4th quarter. they got outscored 37-18. Sam lit us up for 35 i believe, and the sonics did not even throw a double team at him.
i was not very impressed with Weiss' rotation, he coached it like a preseason game. there were so many times when there was no leader on the floor (ray, rashard, luke). Weiss kept throwing players in a every few minutes (in the first half)...how do u expect them to go on a run or get comfortable when u are switching the line up every whistle?
here are my thoughts on your list:
1) Cassell never really saw a double team (coaching)
2) DFort has 2 (maybe 3) legit fouls..the others were bogus..as usual. Expect Danny to be picking up useless fouls all season. Its not always his fault, he has a target on his back.
3) Flip can dribble, better than a lot of the NBA actually. his problem is that he does it waaaay too much and he seems to think he is allen iverson. he prefers to go one on one instead of running the offense. i would really like to see cleaves as the back up. he knows how to get the ball up the floor and run the offense...even better hes very unselfish. might as well give him a chance!
Brunson didn't look bad except that one pass. I'd prefer him to flip. Just slow the game down like AD did, and run some plays. Collison looked like he was trying to do too much, but hes a gamer and will get it back. Petro was great other than the FT's. I wish they'd kept him in, because he was our most consistent scorer down low. He would find a nice little seem in the paint and use his athleticism to score. Wilkins looked good too. Vlade, Reggie and Flip can sit on the bench and cost themselves millions of dollars if they don't get it together.
oh yeah... and they looked great until the 4th. Don't use that 3 guard baloney again Bobby!
First, I agree with the main thrist of several people's arguments that Weiss did a poor job with his rotations. Well, that might be something that improves over time. What really worried me about him was his utter inability to understand game and clock management. With the Sonics down 4 and with 35.7 seconds on the clock (and the Clippers having a fresh shot clock), he let Cassell dribble the clock down (never mind that he made the shot). Even if Sam I Am misses and the Sonics get the board, they're still down 2 scores with 10ish seconds left. How are they supposed to score, get the ball back, and score again within that time frame. If they'd fouled right away, they could have at least extended the game, which is all you can ask for in that spot.
sorry, that should say main thrust. Though you should always obey your thrist.
Flip is a SG. Murray is sorry, trade him now for a couple of old balls.
On a much brighter note Petro looked like the second coming. I was watching on an LA feed and the announcers, though total dipshits, were impressed. He reminds me of a young Robert Parrish, long and tough, hopefully he pans out as well as the aformentioned.
The Seattle Supersonics pretty much needs a mild overall in regards to its roster. For the time being, however, Bob Weiss should establish a set rotation like the following:
FIRST QUARTER/THIRD QUARTER
6 Minutes
C: Johan Petro
PF: Reggie Evans
SF: Rashard Lewis
SG: Ray Allen
PG: Luke Ridnour
2 Minutes
C: Nick Collison
PF: Vladimir Radmanovic
SF: Rashard Lewis
SG: Ray Allen
PG: Luke Ridnour
4 Minutes
C: Nick Collison
PF: Vladimir Radmanovic
SF: Damien Wilkins
SG: Ray Allen
PG: Rick Brunson
SECOND QUARTER/FOURTH QUARTER
Four Minutes
C: Johan Petro
PF: Reggie Evans
SF: Damien Wilkins
SG: Ronald Murray
PG: Rick Brunson
Two Minutes
C: Johan Petro
PF: Reggie Evans
SF: Rashard Lewis
SG: Ray Allen
PG: Luke Ridnour
Six Minutes
C: Nick Collison
PF: Vladimir Radmanovic
SF: Rashard Lewis
SG: Ray Allen
PG: Luke Ridnour
DNP—COACH'S DECISION
C: Vitaly Potapenko
PF: Danny Fortson
INACTIVES
C: Mikki Moore
C: Robert Swift (NBDL)
PG: Mateen Cleaves
Come December 15th, which is when players who have signed new contracts this past off-season can be traded elsewhere, General Manager Rick Sund ought to ship off the recently re-signed Vitaly Potapenko and the recently signed Mikki Moore; they are each relatively untalented post players who are tied into two-year contracts that are going to put a burden upon the salary cap next season.
Sund should attempt to trade both of them to a team such as the Toronto Raptors -- especially since that Rob and Pete Babcock aren't known as the smartest front office personnel members in the NBA -- for the expiring contracts of center Aaron Williams and power forward Pape Sow.
Anyhow, I've made it very, very clear regarding my feelings about Rashard Lewis, Danny Fortson, and Robert Swift; unfortunately, their craptastic play -- which, concerning Lewis, is relative to his fellow NBA All-Stars -- is going to sway damn near everyone to my side of the arguement. In the end, ultimately, Fortson should've been moved when his stock was at its highest, which is a time that's far away in the past.
I am interested to see the Garnett-Petro matchup tonight. Maybe Johan can steal a few moves after the up close and personal look he is going to get. I already like his game, he can only get better.
The Flip Murray experiment should be aborted ASAP. He is a scorer not a distributor. We all know what happens when he gets the ball, a couple of crossovers between the legs and more dribbling with no progress. If he wants to do that, go to the AND1 tour. I'd rather see Brunson or even Cleaves out there when Luke is out, at least those two are PGs.
Fortson: just plain dumb. Can you make your fouls any more obvious. Guys can get away with what you do, just don't tell everyone you are about to do it.
Petro: impressive. Considering he is 19 and I outweigh him even though I'm only 5' 8", he actually provided a presence in the middle on both sides. I just hope the FTs were jitters.
Weiss: cost us the game. EVERYONE who saw the game knew that the starting group in the 4th could not have scored 12 pts for the whole quarter. What was he doing? Did he really think we could nurse the lead the entire qtr? When a team is down, they should just put them away.
But, it is one game..............
1 down
81 to go
Lets see what happens tonight before we slit our wrists or jump off a bridge.
BTW - Enjoyed the Crap-Manovich comment.
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