Oh no you didn't!

For the second game in a row, Ray Allen won a game with a buzzer-beater, proving once again that anyone who thinks the Sonics would trade Ray-Ray for Ben Gordon is a retard. (Yes, Sam Smith, we're looking at you!)

$200 a Day, Plus Expenses

I think we all can agree that this hasn't been the greatest year in Sonic basketball history. Injuries, poor hiring decision, whiny point guards, foul-prone cyborg warriors ... it's enough for a Seattle basketball fan to just plain give up.

But a shining light has emerged that has made this fan, at least, smile. Yes, The Rockford Files is now available on DVD.

I have waited for years for this show to make on disc, only to watch as Hee Haw, Charlie's Angels, and plenty of other crap passed it in line. In fact, I had flat-out given up that Jim Rockford would ever grace my $49 DVD player, resigned to watching it on VHS tapes I had recorded from WGN.

Then, today, while looking at the internet, I thought I would check and see if anything was shaking on the DVD front for Rockford, and, lo and behold, not only is season 1 available, but season 2, extras, and it's been available since December!

Go ahead and lose the rest of your games, green and gold, I could care less. I'm waiting 5-7 days for my small piece of heaven to arrive. All is right with the world.

Danny Fortson: Cyborg Smasher, Part 1

Click thumbnail to view complete image.

Let us forget the collective hardwood heartbreak of the past four days (State o' Washington teams 1-3, the one win a rousing though ultimately meaningless Sonic win over the Spurs) and see what merry adventures our dear Mr. Fortson has in store for us.

Warning: viewer discretion advised for some salty language. (And, in case you missed it, here's the front cover.)

Note: When viewing the complete image, Internet Explorer users might have to click the "Expand to full size" button to read the comic.

UPDATE---> To read the entire comic GO HERE!

Proposed Blog Use Action

Not like anyone but me and Paul give a Rip Hamilton, but the Danny Fortson: Cyborg Smasher saga finally resumes next week. Paul did his part and supplied the words. I've been too preoccupied this week, earnin' papers and watching the shorties to hold up my end of the deal, but I promise to come through by Monday.

In the meantime, here's a sneak-peek at the behind-the-scenes featurette.

Hughes Dishes

A day after the Zags choked away a seemingly insurmountable lead to UCLA, West Virginia gave up a 3 after they seemed to have guaranteed overtime, and Duke fell to LSU, White America is most likely in mourning this Friday. If I was a black man, I would tread very lightly today.

But that aside (and, really, why does anyone from this side of the Cascades even root for Gonzaga?), Frank Hughes of the TNT had an interesting piece over at hoopshype.com where he took questions from readers. Okay, the Q&A is now nearly a week old, but, still, where else can you find out that:

1. Flip Murray was the least media-friendly member of the Sonics
2. Rashard Lewis is the most frustrated player on the team

Pretty good stuff. Hughes is a bit of a headline-grabber with his articles, but he still seems to work hard at getting Sonic news.

(Our pal, Jeff at Celtics Blog, also has a great piece on this year's draft: apparently it's really going to suck! -Paul)

Dance-off? Dance-off!

The Sonic Dance Team continued its miraculous voyage to a championship with a stirring 59-41% victory over the Houston Rockettes.

Many will look back on the 2005-06 season as a sad one, fraught with trades, injuries, firings, and disappointments, but, I, for one, will relish the memories of the Sonics Dance Team posting double-digit triumphs over a myriad of opponents. In joining the Heat in the Final Four, the Dance Team has shown that you can never underestimate the heart of a champion, or pictures of women in bikins.

Buck Wild

Well, it was back to the old ways last night for Ridnour/Watson, as Bob Hill went with Earl Watson for the fourth quarter (they actually played together for a couple of minutes mid-way through), and the Sonics came away with another win, despite an off-night from Sugar Ray.

What can you say about Chris Wilcox that hasn’t already been said? The guy has been flat-out amazing since his arrival in Seattle, and the only man more excited about his performance than us has to be his agent. For crying out loud, Wilcox has probably made his unborn grandchildren rich by his performance the past few weeks. After all, if Jerome James and Calvin Booth can get 5-year deals based on a week’s worth of average performances, how much does The Beast get for playing near-All Star-like for a couple of weeks?

For all the Ridnour-bashing of the past week, you have to give him credit for posting a strong +11 last night, for nailing all 8 of his FTs, and for dishing out 10 assists (his third double-digit performance in four games). Face it, people, the man can run an offense; if we could get him to trade places with Watson as he runs back on defense, we’d have one of the three best PGs in the league.

All in all, a stellar game for the Sonics.

Kinged

Luke Ridnour was out to prove something last night, and he was successful, but not in the way he hoped.

Fresh off some somewhat stinging comments to the local media regarding his dissatisfaction with sitting in the 4th quarter of games, Frodo was given the opportunity to be The Man last night as Earl Watson sat out with a throat injury. How did the Young Duck react?

By going 2 for 10 from the field and scoring as many points in 33 minutes as Mike Wilks did in 15 (six). Oh, and did I mention he was -17 while on court? I didn't? Well, now you know. Or that the Sonics went on a 9-0 run when Wilks entered at the end of the 1st quarter? Or that they went on an 8-3 run when he sat in the 3rd?

Luke, feel free to test the free agent waters, because the tide is beginning to turn against you in this town.

Boo-Hoo Baggins

Frodo during happier, hairier times.

Not one, but two local papers are reporting today that Sonics guard Luke Ridnour is unhappy in Seattle. It seems Frodo doesn't think the arrival of Earl Watson and the subsequent improvement of the team adds up to good times:

"It's tough because I went on such a good stretch and [was] feeling so good, just playing and playing pretty well and then something like that happens," Ridnour said after Monday's practice at the Furtado Center. "I still played well, but it's tough to go through. (from the Seattle Times)

O.K., Luke, but tell us how you really feel:

“It sucks,” Ridnour said. “It is frustrating, and especially when I felt that I have played well for a long time now, and just like that, even when I played well, it hasn’t mattered, I still haven’t played. It has been tough. I am trying to stay focused and stay positive because it always comes back around. But it has been tough, I am not going to lie.”

“It is something I have to pray a lot about and see where I want to go." (from the Tacoma News Tribune)

Well Frodo, maybe if you spent less time worrying about What Jesus Would Do, and more about What G.P. Would Do, maybe you wouldn't be sitting on the bench in the fourth.

Goodbye Mr. Fizz

It's back to the D-League for you, Mr. Fizz.

The Sonics decided not to renew the 10-day contract for former lottery pick (4th overall!) Marcus Fizer. How sad is it to get cut by the Sonics?

In happier news, it appears The Hardest Working Man in Green and Gold may be getting an extended tryout for next year.

And, back to the crappy news, it seems Flip Murray suddenly remembered how to play ball. Great.

Well, at least we still have the Huskies and Zags, right? (Oh man, I hope I didn't jinx them. Nooooooo!)

Watson and Ridnour

There was a lot of talk when the Sonics acquired Earl Watson as to how his arrival would impact Luke Ridnour. Frodo’s had the best year of his career this season, but there was a concern among many that he was playing too many minutes (of course, according to some people who read this site, two minutes is too many minutes for Luke, but I digress).

I thought I would take a look at the brief run of Watson-Ridnour to see how it has affected Ridnour’s game. Is he playing better? Making more turnovers, or less? Shooting more conscientiously? How many hypothetical questions can I ask before you become annoyed and start reading bowling.com?

The one area of Ridnour’s game which has changed the most since Watson’s acquisition is 3-point shooting. Prior to this season, Ridnour was an acceptable option from long-range, but this year he was off, never rising to more than 33% in any month and bottoming out at a Lloyd Daniels-like 15% in February.

Enter Earl Watson. This month, Frodo has been draining long-range jumpers to the tune of 43%, a remarkable number. That ties in with fewer minutes and fewer attempts, which leads one to believe that Ridnour is being more selective in his shot attempts, and therefore more successful.

Another area of improvement is turnovers. After turning the ball over once every 17 minutes for most of the season, that figure has shrunk to one turnover every 22 minutes, a 30% improvement. Again, I think this can be attributed to fewer minutes and a reduction in fatigue. Concurrently, his assist figures are up slightly on a per-minute basis, to the point that this month he posted the best per-minute assist numbers of his career.

As for defense, it’s hard to tell. 82games doesn’t break down +/- figures on a daily or monthly basis (geez, guys, how hard could it be, there’s only 300-odd players to crunch numbers for), but it’s worth noting that Frodo’s +/- has been mostly minus lately, despite the Sonics recent spate of wins. Obviously, Earl Watson can do many things, but improve Frodo’s defense is not one of them.

On the whole, I’d say it’s pretty obvious that the Watson trade has improved Ridnour’s game. Has he improved enough that he merits starting for the near future? As an Oregon grad, a proud Duck fan, and a UCLA hater, it pains me to say no. Watson is clearly outplaying Ridnour right now, and it seems obvious to me that the Sonics play better with Earl than Luke running the show. If Frodo is willing to come off the bench for 20-some minutes a night, I think he’d be a great fit. But as a long-term starter for this team, the Sonics seem to be better off with Watson.

Schadenfreude

From the "Sucks To Be You" Department, the Nuggets have gone from having too many point guards to not having enough in the space of about 1 month. Earl Boykins, the Mighty Might who serves as Andre Miller's caddy - and the reason why the Nugs thought they could offload Earl Watson on the Sonics without missing a beat - has broken his hand and could be out for up to 5 weeks (according to Dr. George Karl). All of which means that Howard Eisley will now have to be taken down from the cabinet in Kiki Vandeweghe's office, dusted off, and inserted at the beginning of the 2nd quarter in Denver's next game.