Plenty of good news yesterday ... and one big piece of bad news. It appears that [Now confirmed on the Sonics' website; Swift is out for the year] Robert Swift may be out for the year, pending analysis of an MRI. That would be a blow to the Sonics, and a huge blow to Swift himself, who was hoping this year would be his opportunity to demonstrate his abilities to a greater extent.Regardless of Swift's condition, the Sonics played quite well last night, especially the non-Allen and -Lewis part of the team, which has been frustrating to say the least in October. Among the highlights:
- Chris Wilcox gets 11 / 6 in 19 minutes, with only 1 turnover.
- Johan Petro hits 16 points, best of the exhibition season for him.
- Luke Ridnour posts another solid outing.
- Nick Collison again looked great, scoring 19 points to go with 12 boards.
- The Omen grabbed 7 rebounds and scored 18 points.
- The Warriors only hit 2 of 11 3-pointers, the best defensive performance of the exhibition season for Seattle.
I'm feeling a little better about the Sonics' chances today than I was a few days ago, which isn't saying much considering I expected them win about 37 games this season. We'll be back with our Predictions for the 2006-07 season in the next few days, so feel free to clip 'n save and throw those picks in our faces this spring.
Hey I just noticed Paul got quoted for the ESPN.com Sonics preview. Good stuff, glad to see you guys getting some more mainstream recognition and I hope it pays off in more readers.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of Swift sucks. This should've been his year to step forward, and now? Bleh.
I feel awful for Swift now. The guy had an epiphany this summer, worked his butt off, was set to inherit the mantle from Scott Pollard as the craziest white big man in the NBA, and then blows out his knee two games before the start of the year. It's not tragic, but it truly sucks for him.
ReplyDeleteStill, I don't think it'll have a huge impact on the Sonics this season. Best case Swift would've scored 6 or 7 points a game with maybe 4 or 5 boards. You can't tell me that Petro won't get similar numbers, and that the Sonics won't bring in a vet to take Swift's place that wouldn't help as much.