Where Are They Now: Jimmy Mac

Saying the words “Jim McIlvaine” to a Sonic fan more than twelve years of age is tantamount to saying “Dick Cheney” in front of a democrat – them’s fightin’ words, bud.

Ah, McIlvaine: So hated by so many for so little. So little performance, that is. His $5 million a year contract sounds like peanuts now, but it was that contract which contributed to the downfall of an entire roster, ushering in more than a decade of organizational ineptitude (thanks, guys!), that only now appears to be clearing up.

But that is, thank goodness, the past. What does the present hold for the man who made an entire region so angry?

Broadcasting, for one. McIlvaine is the color commentator for Marquette’s men’s basketball team, and also writes a blog (“Chronicles from the bizarre world of Jim McIlvaine”)for the ESPN affiliate in Milwaukee. He even weighed in on the Sonics’ situation in one blog entry (and, thankfully, he doesn’t take Clay Bennett’s side).

Photography, for another. The former center has done work for Popular Hotrodding and GM High-Tech Performance, and even wrote a piece for go-fast.org.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, McIlvaine hosts a summer camp for children called Camp Anokijig, located about an hour north of Milwaukee. Oh, and he had a bit part in the movie, “Shallow Hal.” Yes, I know, I missed it, too.

So, there you go. Jim McIlvaine: broadcaster, photographer, writer, actor, summer camp president. I guess it shows that you can make alot of your life even when things get tough. Of course, it helps when you make $5 million a year for half a decade, but still.

Before I go, here’s a quote from McIlvaine I found especially enjoyable (taken from marquettehoops.com).

MarquetteHoops.com: Is there any college player out there right now that reminds you a lot of yourself?

Jim McIlvaine: Not really, they're all better than me.

Can’t say the man isn’t honest.

Sonics + A-Rod = Greedy Mofos

Fox Sports has a great article about the A-Rod-Boras-Bennett Axis of Evil:

Over the last decade Seattle dropped $6.2 million dollars a year to watch the Sonics. Talk about getting hosed. Does Bennett want more seats? Nope. More luxury boxes? Nope. He wants Seattle to shell out a whopping $220 million for new restaurants, shops and a practice court. All essential tools to building a championship caliber team. Especially the shops. One question remains, where will Clay park his yacht in Oklahoma?

Read the rest here.

You're preaching to the choir, my friend!

Bennett makes his move

KIRO radio just reported that Bubba Bennett has released a press release that (big surprise!) he's moving the team to Oklahoma. This, of course, comes on the heels of the other big announcement today that there is a group of local businessmen who want to buy the team.

Read the entire press release here.

More updates as the day goes on . . .

Plans for tonight?

OK, so the Sonics lost their opener last night. Big whoop. Tonight's another night, and we here at Supersonicsoul are hoping everyone goes out to support the team tonight in what may be the last Sonics home opener in Seattle history.

In case you missed it yesterday, Chunkstyle thoughtfully provided us with a good way to help celebrate the Sonics without celebrating the evil men who own them. Print them. Wear them. Make us proud.

And after the game, come across the street to Mainstage Comedy (across from the Team Store), where I'm headlining a great comedy show.

See you tonight, kids!

Opening Night Cartoon: Ooh, SCARY!

Print and clip your choice of Vanilla or Lime Flavor!

I know, it's too easy. Halloween, Clay Bennett, arena deal deadline, general creepiness... The story and pictures practically make themselves. Although, after looking at/working on this into the wee hours, it started to look like frickin' Greg Nickels to me.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy this, whether you think it looks like Clay, Greg, KOMO anchor Dan Lewis, or whoever. Happy Halloween and GO SONICS!

Artest Determines Sonics' PG

Whaa? Yes, you read that right. According to PJ Carlesimo (gleaned from Kevin Pelton's blog at supersonics.com), Earl Watson is in the lead to be the starting point guard for the Sonics on opening night, and one of the main reasons is the mask Luke Ridnour is wearing after Ron Artest boffed him in the nose in the first pre-season game of the season (wow, that sentence was waaaaay too long).

Anyhow, as was evident in the Suns game, Frodo is having trouble getting used to the mask, and it's inhibiting his play. Pelton also muses that Damien Wilkins will likely start as well, meaning the first lineup of the year could look something like

C - Nick Collison
PF - Chris Wilcox
SF - Kevin Durant
SG - Damien Wilkins
PG - Earl Watson

Of course, Durant's slightly injured left ankle could play a role, and it's possible Bob Swift will have recovered enough to merit a start, but that's the five I would expect to see, with West, Wally, and Thomas the first three off the bench.

We've got a load road to hoe (ho? heaux?), but it appears that's how it looks like it will start.

Sonics Lose (Again)

Stop me if you've heard it all before ...

As in the previous loss to Golden State, the Sonics led or were close the entire game, then came up short at the end. This time Brandon Roy played the assassin, but it all added up to the sixth loss in seven games.

Of note, Earl Watson sat out (no injury reported, and Eric Williams at TNT figured it was due to getting more time at the point for Ridnour and West), Petro got some run, and, as always, showed some talent and more frustration, Mo Sene collected dust on the bench, Ridnour put up good numbers (8 assists, 0 turnovers), and Mickael Gelabale had one of his best games this pre-season with 15 points on 5 of 6 shooting.

On the Kevin Durant front, he will definitely miss the Friday night affair with Phoenix, and his status for opening night against Denver is up in the air. Some reports say he'll play, others say he'll sit. For the sake of all the folks who bought tickets, I hope he can be there. In what promises to be an uncomfortable season for Sonic fans off the court, it would be nice if a few things fell our way on the court.

Fantasy

Thought you might be curious to see what espn.com expects from the Sonics this season. According to their fantasy player projections for the 07/08 season, here’s our roster:

C – Bob Swift, 5.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.5 blocks
PF – Chris Wilcox, 11.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg
SF – Kevin Durant, 19.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.5 assists, 2.7 turnovers, 1.1 steals, 1.2 blocks (“His field-goal percentage will be poor as he will be asked to take so many shots and defenses will key on him.”)
SG – Damien Wilkins, 7.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.6 assists
PG – Delonte West, 10.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.8 assists, 1.0 steals (“West's defense and ability to play under control will earn him minutes on a young Seattle team.”)

Bench
Luke Ridnour, 9.9 ppg, 5.2 assists, 1.9 turnovers, 1.2 steals (“While he is the best passer (or at least the flashiest) of the Sonics' three point guards, he is by far the worst defender. P.J. Carlesimo replaces Bob Hill, who had a poor relationship with Ridnour, but he will not go easy on Luke's open-door policy on defense.”)
Earl Watson, 8.4 ppg, 4.7 assists, 2 turnovers, 1.1 steals (“As you all know, King Ghidorah was the three-headed arch-nemesis of Godzilla. He was nasty, destroyed cities and benefited no one. Except for the destroying cities part -- though Seattle fans may disagree if the team bolts -- the Sonics point guard situation is very similar.”)
Wally Szczerbiak, 14.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.3 3fgpg (“If, as promised, it keeps the recurring sprains at bay, we could have a great value pick here.”)
Jeff Green, 12 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.2 turnovers
Nick Collison, 8.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg
Kurt Thomas, 5.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg

And some other former-Sonic-related projections:

Ray Allen, 22 ppg, 7th best shooting guard
Rashard Lewis, 21.5 ppg, 6th best shooting guard (behind Gerald Wallace; ouch)
Flip Murray, 6.8 ppg

Some observations: This is definitely fantasy-land, because I can’t see Ridnour, Watson, and West averaging a combined 40 points per game this season. Just seems unlikely to me. Also, I think the Green projections are a bit too optimistic, and Wilkins’ numbers should be higher, considering he may wind up being the starting small forward and that Szczerbiak will wind up getting hurt at some point this year.

Interesting to see how they projected Swift; can’t say I can disagree too much. The Wilcox numbers are much too low; I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t average closer to 13 ppg and 7.5 boards.

Durant Injured, Sonics Lose

Ouch. The only thing worse than (another) Sonic loss at this point is a Sonic loss combined with an injury to Kevin Durant.

Fortunately, it appears Durant's sprained ankle isn't serious (he tells Gary Washburn that he'll be ready for Opening Night). He suffered the injury with a couple minutes to go in the fourth quarter of last night's OT loss to the Warriors, a loss which dropped the Sonics' pre-season record to 1-5. However, Percy Allen notes on his Times blog that Durant will miss the final two pre-season games, including the game in Vancouver that I get to go to. Thanks alot, Marco Belinelli. I hope you wake up with a horse head on your pillow.

On a brighter note, the insertion of Nick Collison into the starting lineup seemed to help the team's tougness. Granted, the Warriors are not the Rockets when it comes to size (heck, they might even qualify to play in a Filipino league with some of their lineups), but when Collison and Chris Wilcox combine for 21 boards, I'll take it.

Oh, and you can't miss this quote from Don Nelson, brought to you from Percy Allen's blog:

"Seattle is not a good team and they almost beat us tonight so I don't know where that puts us. They're kind of a fun team. They're so young, they're going to suffer early until these young guys learn how to play. ... PJ has a tough job in front of him."

Normally, you'd be angered by reading something like that about your team, but I totally agree with Nelson. As these pre-season games drag on, I am more and more getting the feeling that we could be in for a really l---o---n---g season. I'm talking less than 30 wins kind of bad.

In fact, before I had read Nellie's quote, I had thought about how much money you could make this year by betting the over on Denver and/or Utah's total wins. Portland, Minnesota, and the Sonics are all going to suck royally this season, and the Jazz and Nuggets will be able to reap the benefits over and over again.

Finally, in a sign of how far off the radar Mo Sene, Johan Petro, and Mickael Gelabale have fallen with this coaching staff, the three imports combined for 0 minutes.

In a pre-season game.

With at least two teammates injured.

In overtime.

Au revoir, mes amis.

Sonics waive Jermaine Jackson, world mourns

The Sonics waived Jermaine Jackson yesterday, prompting basketball fans everywhere to say "Jermaine Jackson plays basketball?".

In tribute to the fallen Sonic, here he is singing that one song from the 80's. You know, the one they used to show on Friday Night Videos? Anyone? Sigh . . .

Where Are They Now?

I’ve realized that if I want to continue writing a weekly “Where Are They Now?” piece, I’m going to have to limit the number of folks I look at each week. Otherwise, I’m going to have to run out of people in a couple of months, and by April I’ll be running stories on whatever Sonic is on the disabled list. So, with some prompting from the comments, here is Friday’s Where Are They Now?

HERSEY HAWKINS – If you think of Hersey Hawkins, you either remember him for winning the NBA Citizenship Award, for being traded for Brent Barry, or for being the quiet guy in the background on the great teams of the mid-90s.

The Hawk has been quiet in his retirement, not surprising considering the understated way he played in the NBA. After spending a couple of seasons post-retirement as a color commentator for the Grizzlies (where he served as the predecessor to Michael Cage), the former shooting guard spent 2006-07 as the Varsity Assistant Coach at Estrella Foothills High School in Goodyear, Arizona. A role he will continue this season as well.

Hawkins has two sons on the team, Brandon and Corey (note that this Brandon Hawkins is not that Brandon Hawkins). Interestingly, Corey was not only first-team all state in Arizona as a freshman, but he also found time to be number 2 on the golf team. Brandon is expected to play at the NCAA level, and is rumored to be choosing among USC, Bradley, Tennessee, and a couple of other schools.

Lakers Top Sonics

With less than two weeks before the first game of the season, the Sonics look to be fulfilling the expectations of prognosticators around the country:

That is, they won't be very good this year.

A 20-point loss to the Lakers in Bakersfield last night highlighted: 1) the Sonics lack of an inside presence to stop bigger, stronger big man, especially with Bob Swift still recovering from his injury last year; 2) inconsistent play from young players; 3) some absolutely awful 3-point shooting.

It's ironic that a team known the past few seasons as a chuck-em-up group has totally transformed. Think about it: With whom on this team would you feel comfortable on a last-second 3? Durant? Wilkins? Quite a difference from year's past, when Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, or even Vlad Radmanovic were capable of sinking 5, 6, or 7 threes on a given night.

It's not all gloom and doom, though. Starting this weekend, if Percy Allen's intuition is correct, we'll be seeing more of the regular rotation and less of the free-for-all typical of pre-season games. I'm guessing that means more Nick Collison and Kurt Thomas and less of the French Connection. Seriously, whatever French fans of the Sonics remain, they might consider rooting for another team come November, because it does not appear Mickael Gelabale and Johan Petro are long for this roster.