Sonics Coming to Vancouver?

Here’s another blogger’s reaction to the Thomas trade:

I'm going to try not to get too infuriated by this until we know whether or not there's more to it. Who knows, maybe we're going to get another announcement that they found another (maybe even upgraded) big man to replace KT, and then I'd feel silly for posting a tirade. So for now, I'm going to take a wait and see approach. But if this is all there is to it, I have to say I'm not a happy fan right now.
Bright Side of the Sun

And the complete AP story on the deal (the writer termed Presti’s wheeling and dealing with Rashard Lewis and the subsequent return as “an unexpected windfall.” I think it’s safe to say that’s the nicest thing written about a Sonic GM since Zollie Volchok dealt for Gus Williams and Howard Cosell called it "a humdinger of a deal.").

And, now the meat of this post. The Sonics’ pre-season schedule is out ... and the Sonics are going to play the Suns in Vancouver, BC! Woot!

For a Sonic fan in absentia, this is manna from heaven. I get to watch the Sonics without driving for 2 ½ hours. Bonus Woot! I get to heckle Steve Nash and get dirty looks from Canadians who are constitutionally forbidden from actually accosting anyone! It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Here’s the complete schedule. Any and all are cordially invited to my place on October 26 for the game. Are you 19, a Sonic fan, and desperate for legal alcohol? Come to Vancouver! Do you fancy marijuana cafes and heroin addicts? Come to Vancouver! Ever wonder why Canadians are so obsessed with naming their first-born sons Gord? So am I!

Win, Trade, Petition

New Sonic Kurt Thomas looks to show Collison and crew the ropes.

For a summer following a 31-win season, it’s been pretty active in Sonicland.

As Paul mentioned earlier, Johan Petro and Mo Sene decided to put in their annual “Tempt Us With Your Potential” display yesterday in SLC.

But that effort takes a backseat to two important bits of news.

1. The Sonics have apparently traded their trade exception from the Rashard Lewis deal and a second round pick to Phoenix for Kurt Thomas and two future first-rounders (and, no, neither is the Atlanta pick; you’re not that lucky, Sonic fans).

2. Brian Robinson at sonicscentral has launched a PAC called “A Deal is a Deal” which will begin the process to launch a petition calling for the city of Seattle to hold Clay Bennett and his dust bowl friends to the lease they became a party to when they bought the team.

Phew. That’s a lot to digest. First, the Thomas trade is manna from heaven. The burly center is in the last year of a contract that will pay him $8 million this season, which means the Sonics aren’t on the hook for some Calvin Booth-esque deal. He immediately alleviates the pressure on Robert Swift, helps the team’s interior defense, and makes Petro that much more expendable. Plus, Seattle picks up two future late first-round picks, which they can leverage for something, or hang onto to solidify depth. Beautiful all around for Sam Presti and the team. Kudos to the front office.

As for Brian’s initiative – if you’re a Sonic fan, I don’t see how you don’t get on board with this. The most important paragraph in his story is this:

“If we can recieve [sic] sufficient financial contributions we believe that we can have the required signatures in as little as 3-4 weeks. Checks can be made out to “A Deal is A Deal, PAC” and mailed to 2622 NW Market St., Suite A, Seattle WA 98107”

Honestly, if you’ve ever spent a dime on the Sonics, if you want to see this team stick around for your kids, if you just want to just stick it to Clay Bennett, whatever the case may be, I suggest you drop a check in the mail. This is a huge, David vs Goliath effort and Brian and the Save Our Sonics group can use all the help they can get. Get on board.

Sonics Win! Petro scores 20! Pigs fly!

Has the world gone cuckoo? First, we hear that Clay Bennett is meeting with Mayor Nickels about returning to the Key, and now this:

Centers Johan Petro and Mouhamed Sene, first-round selections by the Sonics in 2005 and 2006, respectively, started together and had their best games of the summer to lead the Sonics to victory. The combination, which played 57 minutes together all of 2006-07, totaled 35 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks. The Sonics also got 22 points apiece from No. 5 overall pick Jeff Green and rookie free agent Quinton Hosley in their best offensive effort of the summer.

It was Hosley, undrafted out of Fresno State before joining the Sonics for the Revue, who got the team off to a fast start. He scored 14 points in the first quarter as the Sonics built an early nine-point lead and took a four-point advantage after one quarter. They never trailed, but the Bulls rallied to make things interesting before the Sonics made the key plays down the stretch to earn the victory.

Read the rest at Supersonics.com

Petro and Sene lead the team to victory? It's almost enough to make a Sonics fan take a step back from the ledge!

And in case you were wondering, Count Durantula missed the game tonight because he practicing with Team USA in Vegas.

Agent All-Stars

I stumbled across this link at hoopshype.com, listing all the agents in the NBA and the clients which they represent, and naturally I thought:

‘Man, that’s a lot of money.’

Of course, then I thought, ‘Which agent would have the best team? Not just the five best players, but the best team?’ To even things out, I only allowed one bench player, because otherwise the depth of the top agents would wipe everybody out.

Well, here’s how it played out (agent payroll in brackets):

TITLE CONTENDERS:
LEON ROSE ($67M)
Starters: Eddy Curry, Andrea Bargnani, LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Rip Hamilton
6th Man: Eddie Jones
Yeah, you might say this club would win a few. How do you double-team Curry down low when Iverson, LBJ, and Rip are standing around the wings? Bargnani could just stand there and eat pasta all night and he’d still get 7 assists.

LON BABBY ($105M)
Starters: Tim Duncan, Shane Battier, Luke Walton, Ray Allen, Andre Miller
6th Man: Grant Hill
A little long in the tooth (how many games missed due to injury in this lineup, 40? 60? 300?), but any team with Miller, Allen, and Duncan is going to be tough.

JEFF SCWARTZ ($97M)
Starters: Tyson Chandler, Emeka Okafor, Al Jefferson, Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce
6th Man: Lamar Odom
Now that’s a lineup. Solid at all five spots. My odds-on favorite to win it.

ARN TELLEM ($211M)
Starters: Pau Gasol, Jermaine O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, TJ Ford, Joe Johnson
Sixth Man: Antawn Jamison
A solid squad, and if you slid T-Mac to the point and Jamison to forward, it might even be better. Definitely a 50-60 win team.

ROB PELINKA ($58M)
Starters: Chris Kaman, Carlos Boozer, Gerald Wallace, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher
6th Man: Andre Iguodala
Strong all the way through, with the exception of the mercurial Kaman. 3 all-star small forwards, plus Boozer, means a tough night for opponents.

ANDY MILLER ($100M)
Starters: Kevin Garnett, Antonio McDyess, Rasual Butler, Chauncey Billups, Cuttino Mobley
6th Man: Chucky Atkins
Oddly, similar to his situation in Minnesota, Garnett is surrounded by lesser stars, although Billups helps make it better.

HENRY THOMAS ($68M)
Starters: Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem, Michael Finley, Devin Harris, Dwyane Wade
6th Man: Anthony Parker
Getting it done on the (relatively) cheap, Thomas spends his money wisely with superstars Bosh and Wade.

PLAYOFF TEAMS:
DAN FEGAN ($80M)
Starters: Nene, Shawn Marion, Jason Richardson, Jason Terry, Stephen Jackson
6th Man: Troy Murphy
Solid players, but no MVP candidates on this bunch.

AARON GOODWIN ($49M)
Starters: Dwight Howard, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Kevin Durant, Rodney Stuckey, Nate Robinson
6th Man: Chris Webber
No guards, but Howard and Durant make up for it.

MARK BARTLESTEIN ($78M)
Starters: Brad Miller, David Lee, Bobby Simmons, DeShawn Stevenson, Luther Head
6th Man: Devean George
Bartlestein is the Wal-Mart of agents, long on quantity (40 players under contract), short on quality. Stevenson/Head ain’t exactly a backcourt you dream up for your fantasy team.

BILL DUFFY ($68)
Starters: Radoslav Nesterovic, Hakim Warrick, Tayshaun Prince, Steve Nash, Mike James
6th Man: Al Thornton
I’d love to see this happen, just so we could find out how much of an MVP Nash would
be when he has to dish to Nesterovic and Warrick all night instead Marion and Stoudamire.


SORRY, CHARLIE
MARC FLEISHER ($51M)
Starters: Memet Okur, Zaza Pachulia, Andrei Kirilenko, Gordan Giricek, Tony Parker
6th man: Viktor Khryapa
A great big pile of Khryapa.

DAVID FALK ($45M)
Starters: Dikembe Mutombo, Elton Brand, Juwan Howard, Jeff Green, Mike Bibby
6th Man: John Lucas
The nice thing is, this team might not make the playoffs, but they get a group senior discount at Denny’s.

JEFF WECHSLER ($35M)
Starters: Alonzo Mourning, Mike Sweetney, Darius Miles, Larry Hughes, Quentin Richardson
6th Man: Bobby Sura
This team’s waiting for a lottery selection.

HERB RUDOY ($22M)
Starters: Fab Oberto, Jorge Garbajosa, Bostjan Nachbar, Emanuel Ginobili, Carlos Arroyo
6th Man: Linas Kleiza
Not a great squad, but wouldn’t you like to hang around a team with Oberto, Arroyo, and Ginobili?

JUST FOR FUN
MIKE CONLEY
Starters: Greg Oden, Daequan Cook, Mike Conley Jr., Me, Paul Merrill
Hey, even if they double-team Oden and Conley, then leave one guy on Cook, me and Paul have a decent shot to hit an open 15-footer, right?

Revue Nues

Sonic Summer League assistant coach Mike Brown gets a profile in the Deseret News. In addition to his coaching life, Brown is interested in helping African child soldiers get out from their war-torn lives. Turns out he's hoping to head to Senegal with some American kids next year. Wonder if he'll be asking Mo Sene for any tips ...

Turns out some guy was so amped to see Kevin Durant in SLC that he punched a security guard and was hauled away in handcuffs. As I always say, you got to watch your back around those Mormon gangsters ...

Taking a cue from the Artest family, Paul Millsap's brother, John, is joining him in the summer league. And, if that wasn't enough, the two older brothers have two younger brothers; one was Freshman of the Year at college, and the other stars for a Utah high school ...

Kevin Pelton has a nice summary of each of the newcomers to the Sonics' roster at supersonics.com. ...

Also at supersonics.com, Clay Bennett issues a "call to action" to get the arena deal moving again. Plenty will/have mocked Bennett (yours truly included) on this issue, and the cynical way to look at his latest statement is to see it as pure CYA in case the team leaves next year. Or, you could be glass half-full and say that he could have just done nothing until October and said, "Hey, I tried, but see y'all later."

And, finally, also on the arena front, it turns out that Nets fans in Brooklyn (or whatever they would be called if they moves), would be looking at some pretty hefty ticket price increases with a new stadium, as reported in Atlantic Yards Report. If you read the entire article, you'll see that while there will be plenty of $15ish tickets for the regular folk, personal seat licenses and other faves of ownership will be implemented. Ironically, it will be the season ticket holders and mini-season ticket holders who will bear the brunt of the price increases, not the bleacher crowd.

Why is that ironic? Because it's the bandwagon fans who are against the stadium that would benefit the most. Meanwhile, the season ticket-holders, who take the unpopular view politically in support of the arena, that will pay the most for it. Somewhere in there is a karmaic message, I suppose.

Sonics Take On Chicago

Watch out, Thabo Sefolosha, we're coming for you! D'or Fisher, you think we're afraid of an apostrophe? Hah! JamesOn Curry, your bizarrely spelled first name makes me laugh! Boo Davis? How about Poo Davis?

In all seriousness, the Bulls are fielding the most oddly-named team in the Rocky Mountain Revue this year, and that's not even counting the absent Joakim Noah. But, in an event that sounds as though it would be hosted by the Osmonds, perhaps it is apropos that they do.

The Bulls have featured a number of double-digit scorers, a technique the Sonics have yet to perfect this summer (anybody know a way to make up a clever rhyme along the lines of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain", but suited for Durant and Green?).

One member of the roster who has performed decently is Aaron Gray (sadly, not this one). Mocked before the draft in the, well, mock drafts for his white skin and plodding ways, Gray has grabbed 13 rebounds in his two games, or more than Kevin Durant grabbed in four games, and blocked four shots. Hey, I know, stats don't matter in the Revue, but kudos to Gray for not pulling an Uwe Blab this summer.

Andre Barrett, who, like Sonics' coach PJ Carlesimo, spent time at Seton Hall, will be there as well. This in spite of the fact the Rocky Mountain Revue typists list his alma mater as "Sexton Hall." Something Freudian is lurking there, methinks ...

Game time is 4:30. No tv, but you can always imagine the game, and sometimes that's even more fun than the real thing.

Green & Durant, Yada, Yada, Yada

Man, this is getting lame. Once again, Jeff Green and Kevin Durant did all the scoring, shot poorly from the field, nailed a boatload of free throws ... and the Sonics lost in their debut showing in the Rocky Mountain Revue.

To liven things up a bit, the Sonics inserted some new background singers to the duet, but the record came out the same. Will Blalock, Elton Brown, Ryvon Coville, and Quinton Hosley all made their summer league debuts in Salt Lake City, but they weren't able to make any difference as the Supes fell to the host Jazz 102-88.

Durant was a big draw in SLC, filling the 5,000-seat arena to beyond capacity. The rookie finished with 29 points, while Green 25 points on 18 FTA. The Sonics had 59 free throw attempts to Utah's 34, but made 19 fewer shots from the field. The Sonics were also out-rebounded by a margin of 39 to 26. Oh, and only two Sonics managed an assist.

Altogether now: "It's only summer league. It's only summer league. It's only ..."

From Harlem to Colorado to Salt Lake

Quinton Hosley.

Ring any bells? Probably not. The 6’6” small forward is just another name on another roster in another summer league. Just filler.

But he’s not. He’s a young man whose story is as interesting as anyone in the summer league this year.

After all, how many other guys playing this summer are the son of Ron “The Terminator” Mathias, or the daughter of Hazel Hosley, both renowned basketball players from NYC. Mathias, whom Newsday’s Jim Baumbach wrote in a fine piece a few weeks back “is one of the greatest cases of wasted talent,” bounced around the CBA and overseas, never capitalizing on the ability that made him one of the legendary players in street ball history.

Hosley is hoping to not follow in his father’s angry footsteps. After being recruited by St. John’s, Oklahoma and a number of other schools, he committed to St. John’s, then saw that plan go up in smoke with a coaching change; then he decided on Providence, only to see nebulous academic reasons get in the way; enrolled at Lamar Community College in Colorado; transferred to Fresno State; sat out a year; then finally was able to parlay his potential into reality, leading the Bulldogs to the NIT.

As a Bulldog, Hosley made a name for himself as a stellar defensive player, a terrific dunker in transition, a fantastic rebounder (more than 9 boards a game at 6’5” is saying something), and earned second-team all-WAC honors in both seasons at FSU. When you read his bio in the draft guides, words like “coachable,” “hustle,” and “team player” leap out at you, as if it was drawn from Spurs’ central casting.

It’s a long road for a young man who grew up in Harlem before moving to Colorado in the seventh grade. Expected to go in the second round this year, like Zabian Dowdell Hosley was bypassed, and now he’s trying to make it in the league any way he can. He was on Minnesota’s roster in Las Vegas, getting into three games and failing to make much of an impression.

Off the court, Hosley volunteered in a project involving the local Children’s Hospital while attending Fresno State, and it is clear he’s eager to avoid the mistakes his father made. Like Dowdell, he seems to be a hungry guy with a classy streak.

It almost makes you wonder, is it just a coincidence that Sam Presti has added such people as Dowdell, Hosley, and Jeff Green to the Sonics’ roster? Probably not. Perhaps – in addition to the defense-oriented culture Presti and Carlesimo are bringing from San Antonio – they’re looking to bring in good people.

It’ll be a difficult path for Hosley to make the Sonics’ roster, as Damien Wilkins, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Mickael Gelabale all stand in his way as a small forward, and his lack of ball-handling skills mean he won’t make it as a 2-guard. But that’s probably not his goal, anyway. At this stage in his life, Quinton Hosley just wants to show he belongs, just like every other guy in the summer league.

He might be just another guy, on another roster, in another summer league, but it’s safe to say we’re rooting for him.

Monickers

One of my favorite books is the Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. It’s not really a book, it’s more of an encyclopedia for baseball fans, but it makes for great reading sitting on the sofa when you don’t feel like committing an hour to a novel.

Within the book, James breaks down baseball history into decades, drawing out the unique highlights from history that statistics gloss over. Heaviest player, fastest player, worst fielders, best fielders, best young players, etc. Great stuff.

Anyway, one of the best parts is his recounting of the best nicknames from each decade, and how nicknames change throughout time. From Arlie “The Freshest Man on Earth” Latham to “Sudden” Sam McDowell to Larvell "Sugar Bear" Blanks, it’s an interesting insight into how the players were viewed in their times.

As I was reading about some 19th century nicknames, I got to thinking: What would Kevin Durant’s nickname be if he played in the 1920’s, or the 1950’s? Since the young man from Texas is still without a real nickname, I thought it would be a good warmup for those thinking of what he should be called.

1890s: Deerfoot
1900s: The Maryland Marauder
1910s: The Dark Destroyer
1920s: The Dalmation
1930s: The Flying Freshman
1940s: Kool Kat
1950s: The Texas Tornado
1960s: Apollo Kevin
1970s: Dunkalicious
1980s: Heavy D
1990s: Durantula
2000s: TBA

Scouting Report: Zabian Dowdell

Oh, please, like you didn’t know this was coming.

Everyone’s a Zabian Dowdell fan these days. Supersonicsoul, True Hoop, Kevin Pelton at supersonics.com ... for a guy who went undrafted, he’s getting a tremendous amount of ink.

So, it was with anticipation that I sat down to watch the Sonics-Blazers Summer League finale Sunday night. I was hopeful that 1) Dowdell would get some serious minutes and 2) that he would play well.

Well, at least I got one of the two.

Dowdell played about half the game Sunday night, subbing in for Brandon Heath in the second and fourth quarters, receiving more minutes than he had in any previous game. He finished with 5 points, 4 fouls, 4 boards, and an assist in 18 minutes.

So, what were my impressions of Dowdell? A lefty, he’s sort of a cross between Kenny Anderson and Khalid Reeves, at least physically. I know all lefties look alike when they shoot, but Dowdell did remind me of Anderson on his outside shot, although he’s a bit heavier than the lanky Anderson.

Dowdell lived up to his reputation as a shoot-first point guard, as most of his better plays came when he took the shot, and not when he was setting up his teammates.

The Virginia Tech grad entered the game at the 3:54 mark of the first quarter with the Sonics trailing Portland 15-9. On his first touch, he found Ronnie Burrell in the paint for an easy basket, a promising omen. The next time downcourt, Dowdell’s pass to Jeff Green resulted in another basket.

On defense, Dowdell was responsible for guarding the slippery Sergio Rodriguez, yet another daunting task for the Sonics’ challenged point guards this summer. Dowdell proved up to the task, generally staying in front of the quicker Rodriguez, although he did let Sergio slip by a time or two.

On his first shot attempt – still in the first quarter – Dowdell came up lame when he landed, but he re-entered the game after the next commercial break. It was on this re-entry that Rodriguez drove the lane and beat him, but we’ll chalk it up to the lingering affects of the sprained ankle (hey, we want Zabian to succeed; deal with it).

Dowdell found Kevin Durant in a semi-transition fashion the next trip down, resulting in a Durant 20-footer for two. As all point guards will learn for the Sonics this year, the smartest play is to throw it to the youngster and hope for the best.

Finally, halfway through his first tenure on-court, Dowdell showed some of the ability on offense that got him such reknown at Virginia Tech when he drove the basket, offered up a double-pump and came close to sinking a layup. No points, but a solid move that opposing point guards will have to respect. He followed it up on defense with a poor bit of communication on a screen and roll, leaving Rodriguez alone and resulting in an open Blazer jumper in the corner.

Not to be held down, Zabian parlayed a canny inbounds pass from Green (who is looking better and better as the summer progresses; can it be possible that he’ll be this generation’s Nate McMillan?) into an easy layup.

As the period progressed, Dowdell – as is the way for rookie point guards – alternated between smart and dumb plays, although he more than held his ground against Finnish youngster Petteri Koponen during their time matched up together. When he finally left the court, the score was 30-27 Portland, which meant the Sonics outscored the Blazers 18-15 during his time on the floor.

After resting up for halftime and most of the third quarter, Dowdell re-entered the game with about 4 minutes to go in the period, and he again found Jeff Green for a free throw opportunity. He later drove the basket and dished to an open teammate for a jumper, a promising sign.

I had Dowdell down for one 3PA, which he missed, but the boxscore said he had none, so who knows. I also figured him for 3 or 4 assists instead of the 1 he wound up with, but maybe the Blazers brought a road crew to run the stats department on Sunday.

Perhaps the most telling sign of the night came not on the court but in the broadcast booth, from the mouth of Kevin Calabro. In talking about the Sonics on the roster, Calabro offered this:

“Realistically, with the exception of [Brandon] Heath, who has an outside shot to make it, there aren’t any point guards on this roster who will be with the club this year.”

I don’t know if Calabro’s opinion was his alone, or if he’s getting that from talking to the Sonics’ braintrust, but that’s a harsh sign for Dowdell. Of course, KC was assuming that Watson and Ridnour will be on the opening day roster, an assumption even he mentioned was tenuous at best judging the Sonics’ level of activity this summer.

Bottom line: Zabian Dowdell is not ready to be a starting point guard in the NBA, and he’s barely ready to be a #3 point guard. Still, his defense was adequate and his offensive abilities are there when it comes to scoring. His passing and playmaking abilities aren’t there, though, at least not yet. Suffice it say he’s a work in progress; a work we’re rooting for.

Durant in Nikes

Cue the Mars Blackmon clips, Kevin Durant's shoe saga has apparently ended, and he'll be wearing Nikes this year.

Sportsbusinessradio.com is reporting the story, and, honestly, I couldn't care less. I've avoided this story for the past couple of weeks, because I just don't see why anybody cares about this stuff. I like the shoe ads like everyone else, but is it really all that interesting what type of shoes any athlete wears? I can see if you're in high school or junior high and you want to emulate your idol, but c'mon, should a 35-year-old man really give a crap what kind of shoes the forward on his favorite basketball team wears?

Maybe I'm just getting old ...

All Green & Durant in Sonic Loss

I'm not one for moral wins (I overdosed on them during the 80s rooting for the Mariners), but last night's loss to the Blazers might qualify.

Jeff Green's wonderful 32 point, 13 rebound night was almost matched by Kevin Durant's 28 point effort in a 84-78 loss to Portland in Las Vegas that left the Sonics 0-for-Las Vegas in the Summer League.

All I'll say about former first rounders Johan Petro and Mo Sene is this:

11 fouls, 2 points, combined.

Ack.

Now it's off to Salt Lake City, as the NBA continues in its quest to find the most morally opposite communities in which to hold its summer league festitivites. Rumor has it that next year's twin billing will be Riyadh and Sao Paolo.