It's All Gaard's Fault

Apparently, if the Sonics leave town, you can place the blame squarely on the shoulders of KIRO-TV's Gaard Swanson.

Yes, the man with too many vowels offended Clay Bennett by stating to an Oklahoma City station "nobody cares about whether the Sonics stay in Seattle." (The quote is courtesy of the The Oklahoman, a paper owned by Mr. Bennett's wife, with a tip from a commenter). Mr. Swanson's quote was held up by Mr. Bennett as an illustration of how the Seattle area is apathetic about retaining the Sonics.

You know how when you pull up to a four-way stop and there's no one else around, and you just kind of slow down but never come to a complete stop? In the Northwest it's called a "California" stop, but I've also heard it called an "Oklahoma" stop.

I guess when Mr. Bennett said he intended to use 12 months to explore the situation here and look for alternatives, he meant an "Oklahoma" 12 months, which is really 7 or 8 months.

I suppose I should reserve judgement and toss aside this rhetoric as just, well, rhetoric. And that Mr. Bennett is just saying all of this to ratchet up negotiations with the state so that an arena deal gets done in time for October. And, if all of that comes to pass, most of this talk will be water under the bridge when we're sitting in our $125 seats in the third level with binoculars watching Kevin Durant dunk on Greg Oden as the Sonics cruise past the Blazers for their sixth straight NW Division Title.

And I suppose that continuing to berate Clay Bennett serves no purpose than to irritate his seemingly thin skin. After all, it is difficult at this point to determine where the truth lies - is he truly this frustrated, or is it just posturing?

But I can't help but being a little bothered by Mr. Bennett's continual complaining about the situation here. Yes, the city and state are obstinate in getting a deal done, but he had to have known how difficult the situation was when he entered into it, did he not? Did he really think that Howard Schultz was an oveslick city incompetent and that all this situation needed was a shrewd cowboy from Oklahoma to git 'er done? That the region would just rubber-stamp whatever proposal he threw at them in slobbering love-fest to honor a team that had just held them up for a similar ransom 10 short years ago?

Sorry, but I just do not buy it. I'll wait to reserve judgement until the situation is resolved one way or another, but at the moment, it sure appears that Mr. Bennett's trip to Seattle was truly an "Oklahoma" stop.

Sonic News Aplenty

With the draft camp close at hand, all sorts of rumors are floating about the Sonics' future. To wit:

-A league insider tells the Times' Percy Allen that the reason Lenny Wilkens is taking so long to hire a coach is because he wants to hire Lenny Wilkens to be the coach. I can't imagine this is true - Lenny wouldn't be that deceitful, would he - but it still makes me shudder.

- Kerry Eggers in the Portland Tribune says the Blazers' Kevin Pritchard intimates he likes high-risk, high-reward players more than low-risk, low-reward players. If that means he's taking Durant, I've got no problem with that. Pritchard also indicated that Durant is the more NBA-ready, at least offensively. "Kevin is going to come in and score points right away, probably 20 a game."

-Frank Hughes is optimistic that the Sonics will re-sign Rashard, simply because they can offer him a six-year deal and other teams cannot.

-Trenton Hassell tells Mark Madsen the same thing I've been thinking: He'd rather have the 2nd pick than the first. “Because you can’t go wrong with the 2nd pick….I’d hate to be the GM that had to choose between Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.”

How Much

If you follow the Sonics like we do, you know that Greg Oden more than Kevin Durant precisely fits the team's needs. Of course, the Blazers know this, too, and even though they'd be better served with Durant than Oden - at least with the present roster intact - they're not dumb enough to help the Sonics out.

So, if you're running the Sonics (and, at the moment, you may as well be), how much ransom do you give Portland in exchange for the #1 pick? I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone discuss this yet, but it's worthy topic of consideration.

Salaries always make these sorts of deals difficult, but because the #1 and #2 picks are both worth so much, we're not at a wide impasse. I'll make the first bid:

Sonics offer the #2 overall pick and the first pick of the 2nd round in exchange for the #1 overall pick.

Is that a ridiculously poor offer? Would both 2nd round picks make it more equitable? Should we be including a #1 in the future into the deal? I'd be curious to hear what Blazer fans think of the idea (well, except for those running the draftkevindurant site; I love you guys!).

2nd Round Questions

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the direction the Sonics should take with their two second-round picks. One player who intrigued me was Brandon Rush, who, naturally, decided last week to stay in Kansas for another season, reasoning that another good year at KU would ratchet his selection number up a few spaces.

Honestly, I’m really not all that thrilled about picking Aaron Gray (although I’ll admit he was fantastic in Buck Rogers), and the point guards available at that point in the draft just don’t strike me as helpful to this roster. At first glance, the best option for the Sonics seemed to be a combo guard a la Antonio Daniels, something that Rush would have fit well.

But it got me to thinking, “What about Mickael Gelabale and Damien Wilkins?” Which further led down the path to, “Which of those two guys had a better season, and who are we better off with going forward?”

Those are two tough questions, but let me throw out a couple of things first:

1. Damien Wilkins made some huge improvements in his game this year, improvements that were lost amidst the gloom of the 06-07 year. First, he continued his remarkable free throw transformation, improving from 62% his rookie year to 84% last year to 88% this year, good for 9th-best in the NBA. Second, he shot 41% on 3PA, easily the best mark of his career. Considering he had never cracked 30% going into the season, that’s an incredible improvement.

2. After sinking 2 3’s in the first three months of the season, Gelabale nailed 4 in March and 5 in April.

3. Per 40 minutes, Wilkins posted better numbers in steals, assists, points, and FTA. Gelly had the edge in blocks and rebounds (he also drew more fouls per shot than Damien). Wilkins also gets off 3 more shots per 40 minutes.

4. Damien Wilkins went to the same high school in Florida as Johnny Damon, Wayne Brady, Joey Fatone, and AJ Pierzynski. Just so you know.

It’s tough to compare the two, inasmuch as Gelabale is a young man from another country with limited experience in the NBA game, while Wilkins is now a 3-year vet, whose father and uncle both played in the league.

Even with his strong numbers, for some reason Wilkins left us wanting this year. But if you really look at the numbers, it seems pretty clear that whoever the Sonics find in the draft, he’s not going to be a huge improvement over Wilkins, assuming Damien maintains something close to his shooting percentage on 3’s next year (which is a big assumption, I know).

As for +/- stats, Gelabale was the clear winner (the Sonics outscored opponents by .3 points while he was in, while Wilkins had a -6.2 mark). Further, his block percentage was double Wilkins’, and he did that without a concurrent increase in fouls committed, a remarkable accomplishment for a rookie player. Because he didn’t handle the ball as much, he didn’t turn it over as much, either.

Of course, the area statistics don’t cover is energy, and Gelly seems to have that in spades over Wilkins. From his hair to his Plastic Man-like body, Gelabale seemed to be at all places on the court when Bob Hill relented to playing him last year. And while his youthful exuberance got him into trouble on numerous occasions, he left fans with some hope for the coming season.

For that reason, it seems like Gelly deserves to get the backup role behind Allen next year. The two big questions will be if he can hit the 3 and if he can play the point. If Mickael can take a lesson from Damien and figure out a way improve his shooting, while also proving he can handle the ball as a point guard, the Sonics will be in good shape for the next few years with Gelly.

Peter Bagge on the Sonics

My good friend (and fellow Ballardite) Peter Bagge has a great new cartoon about Sports Stadium Fever over at Reason. Check it out, then go buy some of his books.

Nuss gets props from Times, call from KIRO

Peter J. Nussbaum, the hardest working man in blog-ness, is featured in not one, but TWO major Seattle media markets today. First, in this morning's Seattle Times, and later (possibly) on KIRO (he was asked to be on tonight, but we're having a hard time tracking him down in the wilds of Canada).

Anyway, imaginary high-fives all around!

UPDATE: Pete also got name-dropped on AOL Sports today!

Lewis Files for FA

Shocking, I know. But just to make it official, Rashard Lewis filed for free agency on Friday (first report goes to KRIV in Houston, Texas). The Times and PI also checked in with stories as well (quick note to Percy Allen at the Times: the 6.6 rebounds per game is Rashard's 3rd-best effort of his career, not his career-high; it's not a big thing, but it does defuse the "contract-year" hype we're going to be hearing in the next couple of months). Not much interesting news, but according to the espn.com story, Lewis' agent, Tony Dutt, commented:

"We've been in contact [with Lenny Wilkens]. We'll probably stay in contact on and off until July 1."

The bidding is expected to reach $15 million per season.

More Ra

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 ...

Hill+Magic=Lewis

Bob Hill is wasting no time. Apparently, Hill recovered from his hernia operation by visiting workopolis.com, polishing his resume, and learning euphamisms for "led team to 31-51 record."

That's right. The man responsible for this past season's craptacular performance has contacted the Orlando Magic about their opening, less than 24 hours after Brian Hill got the axe.

Apparently, Hill is "close" to Rashard Lewis, and is intimating to the Magic that he can help deliver the potential free agent to their doorstep. If by "close," Hill means "I coached him last year," then I'd agree 100%. But if I'm the Magic, I'm thinking to myself: At the Off-Season Sushi Buffet, is the Bob Hill-Rashard Lewis Platter what I want to be ordering?

Highlights of Durant on ESPN

As you might have heard, the Sonics picked up the #2 pick in the draft. Supposed to yield some guy named Durant.

Anyhoo, the folks at espn are interested in all this draft stuff, too. So much so that they brought Durant in for a Q&A with fans. Here's an abbreviated transcript:

Andrew (Charlotte, NC): To Kevin Durant: What current NBA player would you compare your game to?

Kevin Durant: That's a tough one. I'd say probably Dirk Nowitzki, with the way he can shoot and post up.

--

Lehi utah : hey kevin , What do you think Of playing with Ray allen and rahard lewis if you get drafted by the sonic.

Kevin Durant: If I go to the Sonics, that would be tremendous, playing alongside two all-stars. I know they would teach me a lot of things.

--

Jon ((Dallas)): Out of all the players you went against last year in the NCAA, who was the best player, other than you?

Kevin Durant: Oooh. Julian Wright. He would just hit shots over the top of me. I said, I couldn't do anything to stop that.

--

John Balcita (Carson, CA): Before a game, do you listen to any music to pump you up? What's your pre-game ritual?

Kevin Durant: Before the game, I just sit and be focused. I listen to Usher before the game. It calms me down a little bit.

--

Okay, I'll admit, that was useless. I now know that Durant likes to listen to Usher before games. Whoop-de-doo.

Anyways, the point is that I can't remember the last time a Sonic-related person had such a high profile at espn.com. We're livin' in different times, folks.

Do You Gotta Have Ra?

The Durant Delirium still hasn't subsided, but I'm wondering if a certain small forward is wondering how this affects his future in Seattle.

Rashard Lewis is not a lot of things. He's not a defensive stopper, he's not a low-post menance, he's not a tenacious rebounder, he's not an intimidating bruiser, and he's not famous for making last-second clutch plays.

He is, however, a young former all-star (who would likely have made the team this year were it not for injuries), a good 3-point shooter, a tremendous scorer, and someone who can score 20 points a night without breaking a sweat. Say what you will about Rashard, the man puts the ball in the hole, and that counts for something in this league.

But Kevin Durant has gone and turned that all upside down. And now, the Sonics - and Rashard - are facing a dilemna. Do the Sonics re-ink Lewis, who plays the very same position as Durant? Does Rashard walk away from the only team he's ever known, simply because he'll be #3 on the depth chart within 2 years?

Don't forget, Ray Allen isn't getting any younger. Allen, while a wonderful player, is coming off surgery as well, and I don't think he'll be able to maintain this 40-minute-a-night pace that Bob Hill put him through the past year or so.

So, what do you want, Sonic fans? Do we deal Rashard in a sign-and-trade? Do we keep him and pay him the big bucks he wants? Let's hear your thoughts.

Alive

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
John 12:43

I’m not a big believer in fate, at least not in a karmaic, “do one good turn” sort of way. Last night, though, got me to wondering.

I purposely avoided the 5:30 announcement of the lottery picks, afraid that the Sonics would draw the fifth, or even worse, slot. We had a couple of friends and their daughter over for dinner, and this being Canada, the topic of the NBA certainly didn’t come up.

By the time they left, it was time to put our daughter to bed. When she was born, a friend of mine gave me a Children’s Bible, and we read her a chapter out of it every night. Last night, fatefully, was the story of Lazarus. I’ll spare you the spiritual side of the story, because this is a basketball blog, not a Basketball for Jesus blog. But while I was reading the story – of a man raised from the dead to live again – I allowed myself to ponder the possibility of the Sonics grabbing a top two pick. Could it happen? Would we, the deadest basketball franchise in the NBA, be brought back from the brink?

Well, as they like to say in the Bible, it came to pass. The Seattle Supersonics, given up for dead by two ownership groups, a league, a city, a fanbase, have risen. Seattle, a city whose best-known music – grunge – is as inspirational as a funeral dirge, has joy. In one moment, the Sonics have passed the Mariners on the city’s radar and are within sight of the Seahawks.

Will Kevin Durant or Greg Oden bring a new stadium to Seattle? Who knows. Will either of those two men bring excitement to Seattle basketball? Without doubt.

And while many may despair in light of Portland’s winning ping pong ball, I say this: Isn’t it better to have both teams on the upswing? Yeah, I’ll admit to hating the Blazers, but it’s a helluva lot more fun to hate an equal than it is to hate an inferior opponent. The best part of the Sonic-Blazer rivalry has come when both teams were playoff contenders, and yesterday’s activity has put these two on that path again.

(Aside #1: As if yesterday’s news couldn’t get any better, don’t forget the Sonics own the Grizzlies’ 2nd-round pick, as well as their own. Which means the Sonics get the #2 pick, as well as the first (Brandon Rush?) and fifth picks of the 2nd round. Nice.)

(Aside #2: Kudos to the commenter who pointed out Bob Hill’s responsibility for both Tim Duncan and, now, Kevin Durant/Greg Oden. Unbelievable; the guy is like something out of a Woody Allen movie. Bob, thanks for the memories, and extra thanks for getting us Kevin Durant.)

As for the rest of the whining teams and fans complaining about their luck (or lack thereof): Tough. Boston fans, you seriously expect anyone to feel pity for you? Your NBA team has more banners than anyone, your NFL team routinely wins the Super Bowl, and your baseball team spends close to $200 million a year in payroll. Sorry you didn’t Greg Oden, but not that sorry. Memphis? Memphis? I’m supposed to feel sorry for a city with 10 minutes of NBA pain? People, Seattle has won one title in 40 years of professional sports. If you expect me to feel any sympathy for you, get in line. If you don’t like the way the lottery is set up, then you should thought about that before you tanked your seasons and extended your head coach (Boston) or let the best GM in NBA history walk away (Memphis).

For now, though, we’re feeling no pain. The sun is shining in the northwest, Seattle and Portland are back from the dead, and all is right with the world.