Unbelievable. On the same day that Kevin Pelton and David Locke write long tomes about the lousy luck the Sonics have in the fourth quarter, Gilbert Arenas throws in a layup with no time on the clock and the Sonics lose again.
With the Wizards in town, that means old friend Antonio Daniels suited up in Key Arena. AD was the unsung hero of the Sonics' run to the semifinals back in 04-05, and was one of the first casualties of free agency to that team. At the time Daniels left, everyone thought it made sense to let him go. After all, was it worth it to pay $ 6 million a year to a backup point guard?
Well, try this on for size. The Sonics are paying Earl Watson almost e
xactly what AD is getting, and their contracts both expire at the end of the 09/10 season. In other words, instead of having a malcontent, poor shooting point guard who can't play D, we could have a team-focused, poor shooting point guard who plays great D ... for the same price. Of course, AD might have wanted to leave regardless, inasmuch as he didn't feel he needed to subbing for Luke Ridnour, so this all may be moot. Still, I can't help wondering what the Sonics' record would have been the last couple of years if we'd had him coming off the bench instead of Watson.
xactly what AD is getting, and their contracts both expire at the end of the 09/10 season. In other words, instead of having a malcontent, poor shooting point guard who can't play D, we could have a team-focused, poor shooting point guard who plays great D ... for the same price. Of course, AD might have wanted to leave regardless, inasmuch as he didn't feel he needed to subbing for Luke Ridnour, so this all may be moot. Still, I can't help wondering what the Sonics' record would have been the last couple of years if we'd had him coming off the bench instead of Watson.Just goes to show you that the future is never as simple as it might seem.
6 comments:
I tend to think that AD was destined to leave, since he wanted a starting job and the Sonics were just not going to give up on Ridnour (especially at that point in his career). But it is striking how they ended up with a similar commitment, salary-wise, in Watson.
AD is also 4yrs older than Earl. The Sonics were also concerned with AD's age. They were afraid to give him a long term deal that would left a 34+ guard on the books that was declining. Earl drives me nuts with the way he bogs the offense down sometimes but he still is only in his 6th year and may "mature" enough to be more effective before he even turns 30 in 09.
I kind of think the Earl we've got now is the Earl we're going to get for the next couple of years.
-Poor 3 point shooter
-Too small to be truly effective on defense
-Erratic
-As you said, bogs down the offense
When we got Watson last year, I really thought it was a good move, especially considering we only gave up nothing pieces like Reggie Evans and Potapenko. Now, I'm not so sure.
No doubt, though, either Luke or Earl HAS to go this offseason. If only they could work a trade with Wilcox and Watson/Ridnour and maybe a pick to get a veteran big.
i could care less about AD
i want reggie evans back
ex-sonics tend to think they deserve to start and become disgruntled at the end of their sonics stint.... but always end up being bench warmers or big disappointments on other teams. ie. Ukraine Train, Garbage Man James, Reggie Evans, Radman. Murray isn't doing anything different than he was with the sonics, in fact, before billups went down, he wasn't doing much at all in detroit. AD could have had a better career here with us.... i really miss him.
I think this is an interesting point. The Sonics keep on taking on players others have given up and making them successful. Then those players decide that the Sonics are holding them back and want a lot more money/playing time. Why does this happen here?
-Nate
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