Wednesday, January 3

Mavs Maul Sonics

Seattle SuperSonics head coach Bob Hill holds his head during a timeout in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007, in Dallas. Dallas won 112-88.<br />(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
What's the opposite of a halftime pep talk? Because that's what we need to call what Bob Hill did last night - the Sonics were outscored by 6 points in the 3rd quarter and by 18 points in the 4th.

With Chris Wilcox continuing to do his best to prove that I was right when I said the Sonics should avoid signing him, Hill is likely one more 3 point-4 rebound night away from dumping the $8 million man in Puget Sound with Andreas Glyniadakis tied around his ankle.

To make things worse, the Sonics are in Houston tonight, where they will undoubtedly fall behind by 12 points in the first quarter, rally in the second, then put on a Mike Wilks Show in the fourth. Seriously, can anyone think of a reason why you would want to watch the Sonics tonight?

The rumors are swirling that the Sonics are looking at NBDL players to fill a void at center, which has got to make you cringe, in that the Sonics have drafted big men with their #1 picks for the past three seasons yet don't have anyone ready to play the position right now.

Oh, right, I forgot, Robert Swift was going to average 20 points and 11 boards this year. My bad.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the whole Bob Swift is getting a little out of control. You know he would have averaged 7 points with 6 boards this year, which is nice in its way, but there's no way he would have made more than a 2 or 3-win difference in the season.

Jeff

Anonymous said...

There was a lack of logic used in the decision to offer Wilcox more than the mid level exception.

Anonymous said...

I can understand why the Sonics felt the need to give Wilcox more than the MLE, simply because they didn't want to relive the Radman/Reggie Evans/ etc. situation from a year ago, when you had all these guys playing for contracts and complaining about minutes. If you sign Wilcox to a 1-year, maybe he starts bitching when Hill benches him for poor play.

No, the problem wasn't signing Wilcox to more than the MLE, it was signing him at all. Mike Dunleavy Sr. isn't an idiot; there was a reason why Wilcox would sit for months at a time - because he wasn't giving the team the effort they felt they needed. And that's the same thing that's happening now - except that the Sonics are on the hook for 2 more years of his crap at an exhorbitant salary.

Look at it this way: the Sonics will be paying their power forward $12 mil next year and $13 mil the year after that - and all they're getting for that money is Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox.

In the words of the great Bill Veeck, "It's not the high price of stardom that bothers me, it's the high price of mediocrity."

Anonymous said...

Detroit desperately needs a backup guard, and Seattle desperatley needs a veteran big. What about a Wilcox/ Watson trade for Rasheed Wallace?

Anonymous said...

Sounds great to me, but the Pistons can't be excited about acquiring Wilcox and his complete inability to play defense, and I don't think Rasheed would be all that thrilled about playing here. Say what you will about Sheed, but the guy is obsessed with winning, something he doesn't have in common with the rest of the Sonics.

I think it's more likely the Sonics pick up someone like Dale Davis - an extra piece on a team. In other words, nobody that's really going to make a difference to Seattle's record.

Anonymous said...

The Detroit Pistons won't trade Rasheed Wallace.

Yet, that notwithstanding, Rick Sund could offer Mouhamed Sene, Mike Wilks, and Desmon Farmer to the Detroit Pistons for Dale Davis, a 2007 first-round draft pick, and a 2007 first-round draft pick (via the Orlando Magic).

It's highly unlikely that either team would consummate that trade proposal, though. I, too, wouldn't agree to it.

Anonymous said...

Davis would help some, but it's not worth giving up Sene to get him. I think the phrase "re-arranging deck chairs on the Titantic" would apply.

Plus, I can't imagine the Pistons would surrender 2 first-round picks for the right to watch Sene sit on the bench for two years. They gave it a shot with Darko, and I don't think they'd try it again.

Honestly, the only way I see this team getting better is by dealing Ray or Rashard. Anything else is just - as my uncle used to say - fiddle faddle.