His Name is Earl

Are the Sonics so desperate for a decent ball-handler that they would offer up three of their players for an over-priced backup point-guard? Answer: Yes!

Late Christmas Present

As we celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day and whatever other excuse we can use to get out of work, Supersonicsoul would like to give you, the loyal Supersonicsouljahs a little gift: The complete 1979 Seattle Supersonicsonics NBA Championship LP. Enjoy!



Sonic Boom - Side One

Sonic Boom - Side Two

Danny Fortson's Secret Identity?

Danny Fortson: Power Forward or Power Ranger?

No wonder DaFort's such a bad ass—he's a freakin' Power Ranger!

Sonics Take Whiz

Antonio Daniels: OWNED!

From the PI:

Revenge wasn't the central theme of the Sonics' 111-101 victory over the Washington Wizards on Monday night. This win was encouraging, as the Sonics used their poise to maintain a lead, and their emerging defense to get crucial stops.

The Sonics are past the point where they are strictly motivated by revenge. They sought to snap a four-game home skid and collect their first back-to-back wins in two weeks.

All that aside, however, beating Washington, which celebrated its 137-96 victory over the Sonics on Nov. 11 as if it had won the Super Bowl, was definitely rewarding.

Seattle used a combined 54 points from Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen and some second-half scoring punch from Luke Rudnour to pull away in the final minutes.

Read the rest here.

Radman Not Leaving

According to this report from Frank Hughes in the TNT, Radman will not ask for a trade this season, despite his ever-decreasing minutes. Further, he'll veto any trade (as is his right in the CBA) the Sonics offer. This isn't all that surprising, but it does put the kibosh on the trade rumors we hear regarding the 6'10" enigma.

As a side note, you have to love this quote from David Bauman, Radman's agent.

"They saw last week that when they play him 31 minutes, they get 23 points. If they play him 15 minutes, they are going to get seven points. That is just how it works."

Funny, when Vlade played 33 minutes against the Cavs on Nov. 9th, he scored 12. And when he played 40 minutes against the Lakers on Nov. 24, he scored 13. And when he played 26 minutes against the Warriors one week ago, he scored all of 8 points. Nice try, Bauman, but we all know the truth is that Vlade's point totals are as reliable as a Seattle weather forecast.

Rumorville

Here’s the latest from the internet regarding Sonic trade rumors:

1. MARC JACKSON:

“Starting today, players acquired over the summer can be dealt. [Marc] Jackson fits that criterion. The Nets are in the market for an athletic big man. They likely will pursue Stromile Swift, … and Reggie Evans, and perhaps Dan Gadzuric.”

Jackson is a uniquely talented big man who made the 1st team All-Rookie his first year out. Since then he’s bounced around the league a bit, but had arguably his finest season last year in Philly, averaging 12 points and 5 boards a game. In my mind, he’s really not that different from the Potato, except that he makes an extra $1.5 mil a year. I don’t expect the Sonics to pursue him, since the majority of his points come from the outside, and the Sonics already have enough soft big men who can’t score down low.

2. VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC:

“General Manager John Nash said in a perfect world the Blazers would be able to trade one of their small forwards for a power forward who can shoot, a player similar to Seattle's Vladimir Radmanovic.”

When you hear John Nash talk about trading a small forward, that’s code for Ruben Patterson. Obviously, the Sonics aren’t going after Ruben anytime soon, so that would mean the Blazers would be giving up someone along the lines of
Viktor Khryapa. I don’t like that move because, well, his name’s too hard to spell.

Stuffed Again

Ouch.

The season of unending pain continued last night, as the Rockets took advantage of Seattle's weak defense to shoot 56% from the field on their way to a 104-98 win. Pine-Sol Evans almost went for a double-double, but he was the lone bright spot as Ray Allen continues to miss shots at an alarming rate, Lewis scored less than 20 for the third consecutive game, and Seattle demonstrated a complete inability to defend the interior.

Want proof? Here's the combined FG mark for Juwann Howard, Stro Swift, Dikembe Mutombo, and Yao Ming: 20 for 29, or 69%. Folks, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that teams that allow opponents' big men to shoot 69% do not win very many games.

Tonight, the Sonics take on Nate and the Blazers in the Rose City. Luckily, the Blazers make the Sonics look like the Spurs, having won 2 of 10, and those two were against New Orleans (in OT) and the Hawks.

Looking for a crazy stat? The Blazers haven't scored 100 points in a game this season. Sonic opponents typically score 100 by the end of the third quarter. Something has to give!

Sexy Bob Weiss Photo of the Week

Can you handle this much sexiness? No you can't!

Artest a Sonic?

Hah, made you look.

There is considerable speculation throughout the NBA regarding the future home of Ron Artest, much of it focusing upon New York. Of course, Sonic fans can't be blamed for wondering if the defensively-minded small forward wouldn't just be a tonic for all that ails us.

Obviously, the Sonics would have to part with a marquee player to get someone of Artest's caliber, and the only guy on the roster that fits is Rashard Lewis (Sugar Ray, of course, is beyond marquee and his salary is out of the Pacers' orbit). A straight Lewis for Artest deal doesn't work due to their disparate salaries, but a Artest-Anthony Johnson for Lewis-draft pick deal could work, or a 3-team deal (more likely, inasmuch as the Pacers would need to get a backup PG to replace Johnson). One other possiblity would be Artest and Austin Croshere for Lewis and Radmanovic, but that deal would have to wait until after the holidays when Radman's available to be traded.

Sadly, there's little possibilty of it happening. Artest apparently wants to return home to New York, and I can't imagine Howard Schultz pulling the trigger on a guy that makes Gary Payton look like Mateen Cleaves. Count me down as one vote in favor, though. As much as Artest's mental stability can affect his team, he's young, on the cheap (relatively speaking), can play defense and score. There's nobody on the Sonics that can reply yes to all of those categories, and he would instantly make the Sonics a better defensive team. Add in a shot-blocking center and the Sonics actually could be tough in the playoffs.

That's Clean, Baby

The Quote of the Year Contest has heated up, with the latest entry from Reggie Evans.

After Tuesday night's Lunancy in the Lavatory, Evans came, well, clean regarding how he felt he did on the drug test.

"I've been clean since I've been in the league, I've been clean since I've been in college, I've been clean since I've been in high school, middle school, elementary school," Evans said. "I'm just cleaner than clean. I'm cleaner than Pine-Sol."

Forget Mr. Glass, The Collector, and all those other nicknames. Henceforth, I will only refer to Reggie Evans as "Pine-Sol."

Nertz! Sonics get Knicked, 104-101

From Yahoo!

SEATTLE (AP) -- Jamal Crawford has learned the secret to homecomings: Don't rush.

Back in his hometown, Crawford scored all of his season-high 31 points in the second half, and the New York Knicks rallied for a 104-101 win over the Seattle SuperSonics on Tuesday night.

Read the rest here.

Game Night: Knicks

In a way, statistics are to writers as voters are to politicians. So long as they are needed, they receive attention. But when they aren’t needed, well, you know the story.

The reason I bring this up is the utter disappearance from Seattle newspapers of the “Sonic defense stinks” story during the course of the recent 3-game winning streak. You would think from reading the pieces in the paper that – after about a week of stories regarding the woeful state of Seattle’s defense this year – that Weiss & Co. had resolved that irritating problem.

Well, yes and no. Prior to the win streak, I wrote a piece claiming that by allowing opponents to shoot 49% the Sonics had no chance at winning. Want to know what the Sonics have allowed during the past 3 games?

48.4%.

And now the yes. What I also noticed was how the Sonics have improved their perimeter defense. In the 3 losses before the win streak, opponents shot 20 for 41 from 3-point range, nearly 50%, a ridiculously high number. In the 3 wins, that has dropped to 20 for 61, a more normal 33%. Is it luck? Is it the law of averages? Is it improved defense? I have no idea, but it makes a heck of a big difference when the other team hits only 33% beyond the arc. 50% of 20 3’s is 30 points, a nine-point difference over 33%. That nine points is the difference – as Pacino’s character says in Any Given Sunday – between winning and losing, between living and dying.

Anyway, the Sonics play the Knicks tonight. In addition to being Retro Night, it’s also Hefty Bag night, so bring your garbage ban and waive it in support of Jerome James. The Knicks are also rumored to be in the Kevin Garnett sweepstakes, prompting one “ESPN Insider” to bet that he’d be in MSG by February. An interesting thought, especially considering the glut of bad moves that Isaiah Thomas has made in his career.

In any event, the Knicks have rebounded from their atrocious 2-7 start, going 3-4 in their past 7 games. Still, New York is all of 2-8 on the road this year, and I can’t expect they’ll add to that win column tonight.

The Knicks play a slow-down type game, as indicated by their 93 points a game and opponent FG% of less than 45. They also like to pound the ball inside (59% of their shots come off of jumpers, compared to 72% for Seattle), which could pose a problem with Seattle’s poor interior defenders. Take special note of rookie Channing Frye, the guy I said the Sonics should stay a country mile away from, who is now a candidate for Rookie of the Year (do I know my draft picks or what?). Frye’s +/- on the season is an astounding +23.5 and he has proven to be adept scorer and, surprise, rebounder.

However, with Seattle’s recent run of improved energy, I like the Sonics’ chances. Best of all, Da Fort is apparently healthy enough to go, which means there’s gonna be some rumblin’ going on.

Here’s my guess: Sonics 98 – Knicks 87.

Following A Little Too Closely in Ellis' Footsteps

...Or should we say, "Ellis' Tiretracks?" Photo cribbed from the Seattle Times.

Less than two weeks after he passed Dale Ellis on the all-time Sonics 3-pointers list, Rashard Lewis seems poised to mimic his predecessor's spotty legal history as well.

Late Monday came the news that Shard was charged for driving under the influence, two months (?) after getting pulled over on I-90 and hitting 0.132 on the Breathalyzer.

Longtime Sonics fans will be forgiven for feeling some deja vu. The Quiet Man's incident no doubt stirred up echoes of the original Silent Assassin wrecking his Benz and breaking some ribs while driving drunk way back in 1990. This is before Dale further sullied his image with, among other things, a much-publicized domestic dispute with his wife and an ugly legal battle with his neighbors. Dale Ellis, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? Let's hope not...

Cynical types might now wonder if Lewis' recent charity event was a pre-emptive public relations move. If that's the case, hey, so what. At least he's done one smart thing since doing a very, very dumb and potentially life-threatening thing.

We tend to focus on the non-serious around here at the 'Soul, but I truly, sincerely hope to God that Number 7 takes a much different path from Ol' Number 3. Thankfully he's still young and has time to make up for such a boneheaded stunt.

Nothing but 'Net

Last week, when I should have been doing some “more important” work, I thought I’d take a look to see what the Sonic players have done as far as the web is concerned. With images of Craig “Mint” Ehlo fresh in mind, I set out in search of the best the Sonics’ web presences have to offer. Here’s what I discovered.

Ray Allen – In a word, frightening. Many things come to mind when I think of the Sonics’ shooting guard, but K-9 defense is not one of them.

Bob Weiss – Apparently, Mr. Weiss is even more qualified to deal with Danny Fortson than we previously believed.

Robert Swift – I’m not entirely sure, but I’m guessing this could be young Bobby’s dad’s site. That, or Bob has made the best of his (considerable) time on the bench the past two years.

Surprisingly, no one else on the roster has anything affiliated to their names. Even such luminaries as Luke Ridnour and Rashard Lewis are shut out. What the heck are the agents for these guys doing? After all, if this guy can have a site, why can’t Ray Allen? And why the heck does this loser get a site, when Danny Fortson doesn’t?

I tell ya, it just don’t make no sense.

Sonics Punk Pacers, 107-102

The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Indiana Pacers 107-102 Sunday night without the benefit of a center.

Petro and the Potty-Man never left the bench as forwards Nick "Caveman" Collison and Danny "DaFunk" Fortson manned the middle. Flip Murray had another strong game, scoring 18 points off the bench to help the Sonics win their third in a row.

Could this mean the team we know and love from last season is finally back? Stay tuned.

Get Your Daily Recommended Dosage of Alley-Oops

Not much to say here. Shawn Kemp dunks, all in an extended 12" Dance Remix.

The ending will absolutely make you soil your drawers. I'm talking to you, Paul.

Warning: May contain filthy dunks and sick blocks unsuitable for young children, the frail, and the terminally un-funky. I'm talking to you, Vin Baker.

Thanks to K-Chung for the heads up.

Shard's Truckload of Love!

From Northwest Harvest:

Dec. 3, 2-4 p.m.: Truck Load Of Love. Join Sonics All-Star forward Rashard Lewis at Bill Pierre Ford as he attempts to fill three F-150 trucks with canned goods and monetary donations benefiting Northwest Harvest. With each donation of $10 or 10 food items, fans will receive an autographed photo of Lewis. A $20 donation or 20 food items will also receive Seattle Sonics game tickets while supplies last.

An autographed photo of Shard and two tickets to a game for twenty bucks? That's a bargain, my friends, and it's for a good cause as well. Of course, whenever I see a big celebrity doing an event like this, I can't help but think of the Mr. Show skit where Bob explains to David that "charity is giving while other people are watching". Yes folks, even Christmas© can't dampen my cynicism!

The Results Are In ...

... and Bob Weiss should perhaps avert his eyes. According to espn.com, Bob Weiss is the least-popular coach in the league, and it ain't all that close. Put it this way, if Weiss was running for President, he'd be looking at Ross Perot's behind.

The nasty numbers? Fully 83% of the people who bothered to click on their mouse (mice?) claimed they disapproved of Weiss' job so far. Goodness, if he keeps this up, he'll have to declare war on Bellevue in order to stay in power.