It's the story that won't go away, and now even the heavyweights are talking about it.
Rashard Lewis receives first-page treatment from Ian Thomsen at si.com, detailing his possible future homes. According to Thomsen, Orlando and the Bulls are the first options, with New York, Cleveland, Washington, Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, Indiana, and Portland waiting in the wings.
It's funny, isn't it? The Sonics go all season without making as much as a blip on the NBA radar (what's below a blip, anyways? a bloop? a tick?), and now between Durant's arrival and Lewis' possible departure, we're front page every day.
Count me as a "thanks, but no" on the Darko rumors. Free Darko? Great. Darko Milicic? Not so much. Yeah, he's 7', and yeah, he can block shots, but from what I've seen of Milicic in his games against the Sonics, I'd rather not tie up a big chunk of salary cap space on his "potential." Put it this way: Nick Collison's rebounding numbers (percentage-wise) were better than Darko's this year, and I don't hear anyone clamoring to give Collison a six-year deal worth upwards of $10 mil a season.
Now, Jermaine O'Neal? That's a whole different story ...
If Durant is drafted, I think the likely scenario is the Supes let Rashard walk for nothing.
ReplyDeleteKD is thrown into the fire and allowed to star right away. In the meantime, Bennett saves a boatload of money while he waits to move the team.
Sign and trade Lewis for Jason Terry.
ReplyDeleteJust found your site, great work! Keep the good writing coming!
ReplyDeletethe more i think about it the possibility of Cuban wanting to get Lewis at ALL costs is not such an out there proposition.
ReplyDeleteCuban loves Rashard and he might try to move someone big for him...Terry would be too good to be true, but that will never happen.
With no offense intended, I'd rather you guys didn't have Darko either. I'm happy with the progress he made last season and I hope we retain him rather than take a chance on Lewis, who is too injury-prone for my liking.
ReplyDeleteActually, Rashard's about as reliable as it gets in the NBA. Prior to this season, Rashard had played in 93.6% of his team's games in the past 7 seasons. Don't go by one season, Ben; Rashard isn't AC Green, but he's not injury-prone by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I'd be surprised to see Darko here is that I get the feeling Lenny Wilkens isn't a big fan. Wilkens (in his job as color commenter) really gave it to Darko when the Magic played in Seattle this past season.
You're right, Darko absolutely made progress last season and his game is much better than his reputation. For the Sonics' purposes, though, I think they're better off getting a veteran who will make less money. They don't need a scorer, they just need a rebounder and shot-blocker.
Injury prone? in his 9 year career he's missed 59 games if you don't count his rookie year. This past season is the only one where Rashard's been out for an extended period, 22 games, and that's coming off of surgery
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize he was that durable. Sorry for that inaccuracy. Being on the East Coast, I don't see a lot of Western teams -- yeah, go figure -- but it seems like whenever the Sonics were playing on ESPN this season, there was at least one segment with the sideline reporter talking about 'Shard's finger while the camera lingered on him on the bench.
ReplyDeleteFair enough. It's strange, but Rashard has this image of being a super-softy, but he's really a durable player. That's why I think he's a good investment as a free agent. He's still young, he doesn't miss a lot of games, and he's very consistent. I'd rather overpay him, than overpay somebody who's 33 and injury-prone (see Ben Wallace).
ReplyDeleteNot a problem. I can see how you'd get that impression because he did miss a lot of time this season and reports focused on it a lot because of how bad the Sonics were struggling and because of the other injury's the team had all season
ReplyDeleteYou guys are swaying me into thinking that Rashard might be a good investment after all. I think he'd give us a shot for the next 3-5 seasons, whereas Darko and Dwight could play for another 10 together if they wanted to.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on landing that draft pick, by the way. You all deserve it after the crap you went through with injuries last year.