Game Night: Nets

So, here we sit, 11 games into the 2006-07 season and the Sonics are showing little or no signs of being the playoff team some of us (yours truly not included) hoped they would be.

Coming off a trio of losses to Philly, Utah, and Golden State, Seattle's record of 4-7 is, wait for it, .... worse than their record at this point last season.

I'll let you digest that for a moment.

Yes, the Sonics are thusfar underperforming from last season, which was perhaps the most disappointing season in team history.

Of course, we all know that a healthy Robert Swift would have catapulted the team to the top of the NW Division (Seriously, does anyone really believe that getting tattoos and adding 40 pounds means anything? Did anyone really think Swift was going to make a lick of difference on this team? Consider Johan Petro; it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Petro outperformed Swift last season, at best they were equal. So if Petro sucks so far, why couldn't Swift have sucked as well?).

Hopefully, the numbers indicate that despite the record discrepancies, the team is improved. Last year at this point, Seattle was being outscored by an average of 105 to 98, while this season's they're being outscored 103.5 to 103. Of course, last year's numbers were skewed by 3 blowout losses on the road; taking those 3 games out and the numbers are almost identical.

Regardless of the numbers, whatever optimism I had about this team before the season started is rapidly beginning to dwindle. Wilcox' horrible foul-line performance against G-State, Collison's continued mind-numbing ineptitude, Ridnour's Jekyll and Hyde performances, Watson's inability to resemble anything close to a $5 million a year player, and, most notably, the complete and utter lack of anything from Petro and Sene mean this team would be overachieving to win 40 games this year.

The bottom line? Never doubt Vegas, folks. Despite our hope the Sonics would win 40 or even 45 games in 2006-07, the oddsters were right to put this team's over-under for wins at 36.

Oh, yes; the Sonics are home tonight, against the Nets.

Spread: Sonics by 2 1/2
Pete's Pick: Seattle 112-New Jersey 108
Record ATS: 2-3

Jazzfest

Want to scare the kids? How about a Carlos Boozer puppet?

Earlier this year, I wrote that there's no team easier for a Sonic fan to get up for than the Blazers.

I was wrong - I'd forgotten about the Jazz.

I think I speak for all Sonic fans when I say the greatest playoff win in team history was knocking off Utah back in 1996. It wasn't just that Seattle was going to the Finals, it was that Malone, Stockton, and Hornacek were all going home. In honor of that wonderful series, I'm asking all fans in attendance tonight to start a 10-count when Carlos Boozer steps to the foul line. You know, for old times' sake.

One thing in particular worries me about the Sonics this year - the amount of minutes Lewis, Allen, and, especially, Ridnour have been hauling thus far. Both Lewis and Allen are over 40 minutes on the season, and Frodo's been 40+ in each of the past three games. Considering Luke's never averaged more than 33 minutes a game in his career, how long can he maintain this Sprewell-like pace? Likewise, Allen and Lewis are both averaging career-highs in minutes (albeit not as extreme as Ridnour's case).

Unfortunately, Bob Hill doesn't have much in the way of options. It would have been nice to see the Sonics pick up an experienced 2-guard to back up Ray, and it would have been nice to see Earl Watson shoot better (at this point, I think Earl Hickey could pretty much do what Watson's done so far), but it didn't/hasn't happened.

Still, Hill's going to have to start going to the bench more, or else this team's going to crash and burn in January or February.

But enough of my pessimism - how about tonight's game?

Why I like the Sonics: Home team, coming off a strong road trip, second game of a home stand, Kirilenko's out, Giricek's out, great offensive rebounding, unbelievable foul shooting, strong play from the big 3.

Why I like the Jazz: Best start in team history, strong defensive rebounding, smart shooting, outscoring opponents by 8 a game.

Believe it or not, this could be a fantastic game tonight. Aside from seeing Utah wearing black sneakers (this is what passes for news in SLC), we've got two clubs seemingly on the upswing, and with K-Mart gone for the year in Denver, they are the favorites to win the NW Division. The Boozer-Wilcox matchup will be a good one (look for Carlos to easily get 20-10 against Chris), and when the top two most efficient offenses in the league get together, well, you know points will be scored.

Luckily for Seattle, they'll be facing a team that gets killed at the line. Both the Sonics and Jazz have seen opponents get to the line way more often than they do, but tonight it shouldn't be a factor, which will hopefully even out the field.

SPREAD: Sonics by 4
PETE'S PICK: Sonics 110 - Jazz 104
RECORD ATS: 2-2

Sonics Deep Sixed

I have a confession to make.

Even though I write about the Sonics on a blog, I've yet to see them play this year, with the exception of via the magic of Paul Silvi and KING-5 sports. You see, as a resident of Vancouver (the exciting one, not the one next to Portland), I don't get FSN or ESPN, which means I don't get the Sonics.

So it was with much excitement that I saw in the local listings that the Sonic-Sixer game would be on Rogers SportsNet ("Where Curling Matters!") Wednesday night. I set the VCR to record and got ready to see Luke Ridnour go up against his alter-ego ... and 30 minutes later the power went out.

God, in His infinite wisdom, apparently wants me to continue living like it's 1958, where I only get to see the Sonics live, in person, and not through the magic of television.

A lot of people in the Northwest will remember November 15, 2006 as the night of a massive storm that wiped out power, closed roads, etc. I'll remember it as the night a rainstorm cost me a shot at watching the Sonics lose to Philly.

Crossover

So I guess Jay-Z likes basketball.

The recently unretired rapper/producer/bigshot appears in a new series of videos for the NBA on TNT (Jay-Z Uncut Video 1 and Jay-Z Uncut Video 2). He's also appearing as an unlockable player in the new NBA Live 07. Oh, and he's a co-owner of the New Jersey Nets.

Maybe we can get Sir Mix-A-Lot to buy the Sonics. Courtney Love? Anybody?

A New Hope?

After winning three in a row on the road, including an impressive victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday, you'll have to excuse our giddiness. Just when the Supes looked like their heads were already in Oklahoma, the boys have started to play like the team we dared not hope they could be&mdash fast, furious and fun to watch. It seems we're not the only one high on the Big S&mdash check out what ESPN's David Thorpe has to say:

SEATTLE'S BETTER: The Sonics have me scratching my head more so than any other team thus far. Lost their first two games by 10 points total, lost their next two by only 4 points. The Nets expected to see a lowly Seattle team, and got their butts handed to them in the first half.

This team has some moxie to them, and they have Ray Ray too. Imagine their frontline with a healthy and effective Robert Swift (now imagine they took David Lee two drafts ago instead of Johan Petro). They are closer to getting back to the playoffs than I originally thought two weeks ago. -- David Thorpe

Dare to dream, my man, dare to dream.

(thanks to Jason for the tip)

Sonics win third in a row--then stupid blogger jinxs them with headline

If wonder if the Sonics can play all of their games on the road?

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.(AP) Luke Ridnour scored a career-high 32 points and Seattle opened a 28-point, first-half lead and then held off a late New Jersey Nets rally in posting a 119-113 victory on Monday night, giving the road-weary SuperSonics their third straight win.

Rashard Lewis added 27 points, Ray Allen and Chris Wilcox had 22 apiece for the SuperSonics who saw the Nets get within five points in the final 1:39 before Ridnour sealed the game with four free throws.

Read the rest here.

Buzzer Beater

I've been doing so much shameless self-promotion lately that I thought I'd spread the love a bit and point out the Seattle Weekly has an excellent new Sonics blog, Buzzer Beater, written by none other than Managing Editor Mike Seely. Head over there and check it out. But then hurry back here, because we're lonely. So. Very. Lonely.

Supersonicsoul in the NY Times!

I know the Sonics won a couple of huge games on the road over the weekend, but let's focus on ME for a second, people! I'm on the front page of the NY Times today! O.K., the Sonics story is on the front page--you have to continue inside to read about me. Still, I managed to plug both Supersonicsoul and my fledgling stand-up "career" in the same paragraph, so that's a good day for me.

Weekend Reading Assignment

Author and Sonics fan Sherman Alexie has a great piece about the team in (of all places) this week's Stranger. It completely sums up how I feel about the Sonics and the whole stadium fiasco. Read it and weep.

Oh, and I'm going to be in the New York Times this weekend. More details to follow.

Go Stay Sonics!

Sports Execs Love their Hoops

In an otherwise relatively interesting piece in the PI regarding the passage of Tuesday's sports-financing ballot measure, I came across this nugget from UW AD Todd Turner.

"And Turner, in an interview, said losing the Sonics could hurt Washington's recruiting efforts of elite basketball players, who like being in an NBA town."

So having the Sonics will make the difference for the Huskies, huh? Maybe if Turner would take a look at the top 10 teams in the pre-season AP poll, he might re-evaluate that position. Of the top 10 schools, guess how many play in cities with an NBA team?

Two. That's right, 8 of the top 10 teams are in cities sans NBA. Shocking, I know, that a "sports executive" would use a flat-out false statement to make a point. It's a pretty good rule of thumb that when people make up ridiculous arguments to back up their points, their points aren't worth making.

Sonics Looking for Magic

Sorry about the headline, I'm running low on creative juices today. If last night's game was somewhat winnable going in, tonight's is definitely so. The Magic have gone 2-2 thus far, with wins against the Bulls and Wizards, and losses to Philly and Atlanta.

The surprise story to me about Orlando is the strong start of Carlos Arroyo. The King of Puerto Rico has been dazzling for the Magic, easily compiling the best +/- numbers on the team and piling up 17 points in only 23 minutes. Conversely, Jameer Nelson has struggled, which means a change a the point could be coming.

It'll be interesting to see how Ridnour handles Arroyo in their matchups, or if Coach Hill opts to go with more minutes for Earl Watson in an attempt to contain the quick Arroyo.

Want a weird stat? Nobody on the Magic is averaging more than 3.5 assists a game. I don't know what it means, but it's weird, man.

Want another one? Carlos Arroyo is shooting 80% from 3-point range. Yeah, that's right, 80 per cent. I'm guessing that number may slide a little as the year progresses.

The Sonics will struggle a little in the second of a back-to-back, but I can see this being a winnable game. With the Magic favored by 7 points, it's a good bet.

Spread: Orlando -7
Pete's Pick: Seattle 105-Orlando 102
Record ATS: 1-2

Follow the Money

With today being Election Day, I was trying to think of something election-related to write about the Sonics. Then True Hoop swoops in with a nice piece about how NBA folks donated their money, politically. And with a one-sentence blurb about new Sonic owner Clayton Bennett amidst that article, I was off and running. These are some of the folks Mr. Bennett has donated his money to in the past 3 years:

1. John Sullivan (R), Rep. 1st District – Sullivan believes life begins at conception, opposes stem cell research, opposes gun control, believes in building a fence along the Mexican border, voted to make the Patriot Act permanent, loves the flag burning amendment, got a 0% rating from the ACLU, thinks we should keep the troops in Iraq forever, and has been arrested 4 times. Other than that, he’s great.

2. David Boren (D), 2nd District – Former Oklahoma governor, a fiscally conservative Democrat. Currently the President of the University of Oklahoma, Boren called for the NCAA to throw out Oklahoma’s controversial loss to the Ducks this year, because, you know, as the university prez, he didn’t really have much better to do with his time than worry about a football game.

3. Tom Cole (R), 4th District – In favor of privatizing social security and father of this delightful quote from the ’04 election, “What do you think Hitler would have thought if Roosevelt would've lost the election in 1944? He would not have thought American resolve was strengthening. What would the Confederacy have thought if Lincoln would have lost the election of 1864? ...I promise you this, if George Bush loses the election, Osama bin Laden wins the election.”

4. Ernest Istook (R), 5th District – Thinks collecting intelligence on US citizens is great, pro-private social security, pro school prayer, anti-abortion, pro flag burning amendment, pro amendment on same sex marriage (against the marriage, for the amendment), and received money from Jack Abramoff.

There’s more, but that’s enough for now.

You know, when I was in high school and college, the Oakland A’s were the team Mariner fans loved to hate. I was an M’s fan, so I hated the A’s. In fact, I went so far as to boycott Levis jeans, because the Haas family – the patriarchs of Levis – owned the A’s and I sure as hell wasn’t going to buy a pear a pants that went towards paying Jose Canseco’s salary.

In retrospect, it was silly, because the A’s didn’t need my $19.99 to whack the Mariners on a regular basis. But the principle remains the same, and when you buy a Sonics ticket, when you buy a jersey, when the City of Seattle and State of Washington are bullied into building a $500 million edifice sufficient for the Sonics and Storm, our tax dollars will be going to subsidize Clayton Bennett’s profit margins.

Just thought you should know.