Video: '96 Finals Highlights

It's video time again. Today, we get a heart-breaking glimpse at what might have been: The '96 Finals. (Sigh.) The video is a bit low-res, but at least you get to see The Glove dunk on Jordan. (Sigh x2.) FEED THE HAWK!

It's Video Time!

Hey folks! Since Sonics news is a little slow right now, we're going to do what my old English teacher did when he ran out of stuff to teach . . . show videos! All this week, we'll be showing vintage Sonics videos. Today: The Glove's fighting technique is unstoppable!

US Loses to Greece?!

Like the rest of you, I was more than a little shocked to hear that the US dropped an egg to Greece in the FIBA tournament (aka "You Want Sweaty and Hairy White Guys? We've Got'em!").

Of course, the immediate reaction is hyperbole about how the US is being passed by in the international game by Euros, Argentinians, etc., etc. My favorite quote, though, came not from a national scribe, but from some anonymous reader of espn.com:

Dale Hawker: Why has no one discussed Spain beating Argentina? This is a bigger upset. Greece was the Euro champs ,so beating the U.S. should not come as a surprise, as they have the experience and big bodies to do it. Argentina, on the other hand, was hyped as the best team in the tournament. They have the experience from the Olympics, the team cohesiveness as Ginobili et al, have been playing together for years and all the commentators had them beating the U.S. So why isn't the Argentina loss being scrutinized and discussed? Because according to American media outlets they were suppose to win, not the USA.

Um, Dale, because I'm guessing that Spaniards aren't spilling onto the streets and stopping traffic to celebrate their win the way the Greeks are. No matter how you slice it, knocking off the US is the ultimate goal of every team, especially when you throw in the political ramifications.

Anyways, the key issue in my mind is this: This team is not the best display of US talent by a long shot. What's that? You don't believe me? I'm an American apologist?

Well, linger on this: There were 12 Americans named to the 3 All-NBA teams at the end of last year. Guess how many of those 12 were in Japan. Go on, guess.

4. That's right, 4. Kobe, Shaq, Chauncey Billups, Duncan, Ben Wallace, Gilbert Arenas, Iverson, and Shawn Marion are all stateside right now, while Shane Battier continues to do his impersonation of an NBA player in Japan.

In my mind, the reason the US keeps losing is that their big men refuse to participate in these events because of the cumulative wear and tear on their bodies. If you honestly think that Wallace, Shaq, and Duncan wouldn't have made all the difference in the world, well, you're either a fool, or Greek.

You can have Baby Shaq, I'll take the definite article.

Les Sonics

The dog days of August are upon we writers of NBA blogs. With no signings to report, here's a quick look at how Gelabale and Petro are faring at the 2006 FIBA World Championships.

Gelabale: 9.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 62% FT
Petro: 5.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg

Petro had a nice showing against Serbia & Montenegro, posting 8 points in a mere 12 minutes. Likewise, Gelabale's had 1 good game (14 points and 7 boards against Nigeria), and 2 other not-so-good games. Too early to get a good read on the games, but Gelabale's presence in the starting lineup is reassuring, and Petro has done what you would expect out of such a young player.

If you're wondering what the caliber of play is in these games, here's a quote from the AP story of France's win over Nigeria:

"Frederic Weis was the catalyst for France early on."

Um, yeah.

In other news, Eva Longoria's happy Tony Parker got hurt, because it makes it easier for her to root for the American team. Glad that crisis was averted.

Oh, and Ibo Kutluay is still alive. He also scored more points in 30 minutes against Lithuania than he did in his entire Sonic career. I'm guessing signing Ibo to a 2-year contract won't go on Rick Sund's resume any time soon.

X-Rated Action

Supersonics.com has a Q&A with Xavier McDaniel. Here, my all-time favorite Supersonic talks about my all-time favorite Supersonic playoff run:

What's your favorite memory from your Sonics career?

I would say going to the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers - having an opportunity really to beat them, playing four tough games. We lost all four of them. The two in Los Angeles could have gone either way - it felt like Magic Johnson got some calls he didn't deserve. Dale (Ellis) got his shot blocked by Michael Cooper in Game 3. I hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lose by one, being down by four. It was a tough series, but it was a situation where we didn't win that many games the year before, we were picked to be the worst team in the league again and we all just came together and meshed. Bernie was the mastermind behind everything. Tom Chambers and Dale were the go-to guys. I was that third go-to guy where, if one of them was slacking off, I could pick it up offensively. We ran a trap defense. I think that was a great year. The only part about that is I'm sad we never built on it. That kind of always spoiled things for me.

Read the complete interview here.

Rotation

It's still early, but here's a quick look at how the minutes may shape up next year for the Sonics.

Player, Minutes
Allen, 37
Lewis, 37
Wilcox, 34
Ridnour, 30
Watson, 28
Swift, 21
Collison, 18
Petro, 18
Wilkins, 15
Sene, 5
Gelabale, 5
Total, 248

Those numbers are obviously subject to change, especially in regard to Swift and Petro, as nobody knows which of those two guys will take over the 5 spot this year (my early vote is for Swift, if for no other reason than his additional seasoning and apparent physical development during the offseason). Plus, it's possible that Ridnour may see his numbers decline as the season progresses and Bob Hill salivates at the idea of Watson's strong defense getting more PT.

Thoughts?

Wilcox, The Second Coming?

If you dig deep enough in the coverage surrounding Chris Wilcox' signing, you'll find some good stuff:

"There is always going to be somebody who is hating on you. They hated on Jesus, so I can’t say they won’t hate on me.”

Sonic News

Quite a bit of Sonic coverage in the 3 dailies today, and by Sonic coverage, I mean coverage other than Clay Bennett/OKC/Schultz coverage (which, I think we can all agree, is about as fun to read as a study on snail remains).

Anyhow, the Times, PI, and Tribune all agree that Chris Wilcox will be inked to a 3-year deal, with his salary targeted at either $7 or $8 million per season, or basically what everyone's been expecting for about 2 months.

(It's official - read the Sonics' press release here.)

Buried in Frank Hughes' story at the Tribune was this nugget:

"From here, Sund is expected to offer a two-year, $25 million contract extension to Rashard Lewis in late September..."

Sounds as though Lewis would be getting slightly less than his market value, but it's a good deal for the Sonics. Also of note from the PI:

"Wilcox is expected to compete with Nick Collison for the starting power forward position this season ..."

Really, does anyone expect Collison to have any chance at all of starting over Wilcox? I think it would be more likely to see Earl Watson surpass Ridnour than to see Collison surpass Wilcox, but maybe I'm off base here.

In any event, a good bit of news for the Sonics today, amidst a summer of craptacular headlines. Hooray for us.

Wilcox to Stay?

I think anyone who writes/blogs (man do I hate that word) about the NBA should have a laminated card taped to their computer monitor. On it, they should have in bold-faced type:

"DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING ANY AGENT OR GM SAYS DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS, ESPECIALLY IN REGARD TO FREE AGENT NEGOTIATIONS."

This in light of the accumulating evidence that 1) Chris Wilcox will sign a 3-year deal for $20 million with the Sonics and 2) Drew Gooden will sign a deal with the Cavaliers. As of 1 week ago, all evidence pointed to neither of these events taking place, and yet, here we stand, with both likely to go down by mid-week.

Of course, to Sonics fans, this is a great thing. Signing Wilcox to a 3-year deal at that price is fantastic. Even if he turns out to be a 2-month flash in the pan in a contract drive, the Sonics will soon be rid of his contract. If he turns out to be a stud, well the Sonics just signed a double-double caliber PF for about $7 million a year. Not bad.

With Wilcox seemingly in place, it's now time to start looking at the Sonics' roster and starting lineup. Here's the roster as of today:

Allen
Lewis
Fortson (!)
Watson
Wilkins
Collison
Ridnour
Sene
Swift
Petro
Gelabale
Wilcox (?)

Fortson's playing status with the team is TBD, but he's on the roster regardless. No matter how you cut it, the Sonics have a couple of roster spots to fill. It seems likely that Noel Felix is sitting pretty for one of them, leaving one open. I've thought that a 3rd-string PG will likely fit that bill. Any thoughts out there on who the Sonics should pick up? To get you started, here's hoopshype.com's list of available free agents.

The other Eddie Johnson

It appears former Seattle Supersonic Eddie Johnson might be a child molester.

Not the "EJ" Eddie Johnson (pictured on the left) that we know and love, of course, but the "Fast" Eddie Johnson of the '87 Sonics. Read the whole story at Seattlest.

Thanks to Seth for the tip!

Happy Birthday, Rashard

In honor of Rashard Lewis' 27th birthday today (hey, doesn't it seem like he's been in his 20s for about 13 years now?), here are 5 facts about Rashard Lewis that even most die-hard Sonic fans probably don't know:

1. Rashard's most comparable player at age 26 is James Worthy
2. Despite not making the All-Star team in '05-'06 after making it the year before, Rashard stats are identical for the 2 seasons, perhaps even better for this past season
3. The last 10 guys picked in the 1st round of the '98 draft, while Lewis sat in the green room and stewed: Roshown McLeod, Ricky Davis, Brian Skinner, Tyronn Lue, Felipe Lopez, Al Harrington, Sam Jacobson, Vladimir Stepania, Corey Benjamin, Nazr Mohammed
4. Of the 31 guys picked ahead of Lewis in the draft, only 5 have scored as many points (Bibby, Jamison, Carter, Nowitzki, and Pierce)
5. At age 26, Lewis averaged 20 pts, 5 boards, 2 assists, and 1 steal. At age 26, Worthy averaged 20 pts, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 1 steal.

Rashard's a tough guy to pigeonhole. 6'10", he's a great outside shooter, yet he can also run the floor. He's not much for defense, but he's tall enough to shut down any SF in the league. He's been in Seattle longer than any Sonic, yet he's not nearly as popular as guys that have arrived since his debut. In sum, he is a conundrum, a tall small forward whose phenomenal talent has left Sonic fans always wanting more.

But maybe, just maybe, we should just accept Rashard for what he is - a classic 3. Great scorer, acceptable defender, capable of scoring 20 points every night, and a borderline all star. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't mind having a guy like that on my team.

Radman Redux

As if this summer of Seattle hoops news wasn't bad enough to begin with, now the Seattle Times reports the Sonics are planning on pulling a Radmanovic on Chris Wilcox. (Kudos to the Times and Percy Allen for running the most Sonics stories this summer, by the way).

You have to especially enjoy this quote from Jeff Fried, Wilcox' agent. "A one-year deal, in our mind, is not a deal," Fried said. "One year, in our mind, left Chris with no alternatives."'

Ah, the ol' player-backed-into-the-corner bit, the truest sign of oncoming autumn. Is this more negotiating, or are the Sonics and Wilcox truly at an impasse? No one can ever know the truth in these situations, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the Sonics would call a press conference for Monday to announce they had signed Chris Wilcox to a 5-year, $33 million contract, but I'm beginning to get that same feeling in my stomach I did last summer, when Radman, Reggie Evans, and Flip Murray saw their contract talks drag on throughout August and September.

I said it before, and I'll repeat it now: signing Chris Wilcox to a one-year deal is an absolute nightmare situation for the Sonics. With word that Wilcox is growing miffed at the Sonics for not inking him, we've now got the potential for a historically unmotivated player with poor work habits coming into camp with a chip on his shoulder.

Oh, yeah, that should work out well.