More Numbers

As mentioned earlier, this past season the Sonics took the fewest number of 3-pointers of any team in the entire league. Naturally, this means the Sonics also ranked at the bottom in points scored from 3-point attempts, checking in at 11.5 points per game (actually, they just edged out Philly, but it was a close race).

However, as the father of the nerdy 27-year-old virgin says to him at his 28th birthday party, “You’ve got to score sometime, right?”

In the Sonics’ case, they scored on 2-point jump shots. Call it the Alex English Approach.

Long ago, 3-pointers were not commonplace. Even after the league added the line 20-some years ago, it just didn’t happen. Just as an illustration, Kobe Bryant, the NBA’s leading scorer this season, attempted 415 3’s this year. In 1983-84, that would have led the league.

And, by league, I mean league. San Antonio led the league with 308 attempts as a team. Kobe Bryant is a gunner, to be sure, but, still, he attempted 100 more 3’s than any team did in '83'-84.

Anyhow, how does that relate to the Sonics? Well, Seattle led the league in points scored off 2-point jump shots, and, in this year of melancholy, I suppose that’s a bright spot (these numbers all swiped from 82games.com). After all, they could have ranked last in 3-point attempts and 2-point attempts, right?

Interestingly, the 2-point leaders were not all cellar dwellers. Among the top ten were Dallas, Detroit, New Orleans, Toronto, and Utah. Of course, the top ten also included the Clippers, Bulls, and T-Wolves, so it’s not exactly a who’s who of great NBA teams.

But here’s the rub: the playoff teams, unlike the losers, were good at taking 2-point shots, which is why they took so many of them. Here’s an illustration:

Granted, the difference between the worst and the best is not huge, but is it really a coincidence that the four worst teams out of the top ten all failed to qualify for the playoffs?

It speaks volumes to the inefficiencies of an organization that 1) produces a team which is unsuccessful at something and 2) continues to do it frequently. It’s fine that the Sonics are not good 2-point jump shooters, but why continue to do it? The Golden State Warriors hit 36% of their 2-point jump shots, a woeful figure to be sure, but that accounted for only 33% of their total attempts on the season, the second-lowest in the league.

That’s what smart organizations do: spot inadequacies and make moves to minimize the impact those inadequacies would have.

In a way, though, the decisions facing the Sonics’ coaching staff this season paralleled the decisions facing the creators of the Bush Presidency DVD. It’s all fine and dandy to tell them what NOT to focus on, but what should they include?

Because, after all, what the hell do you emphasize when the entire thing is a miasma of crapitude?

Long Range

Sometimes, graphics and statistics can be misleading. The number of foreclosures reported in the newspaper, for example, is misleading in that it tells the total number of foreclosures, but fails to explain that a single home can have two, three, or four mortgages, meaning a single home could be “foreclosed” up to four times. In reality, only one family is facing foreclosure, not three or four, but if you read the paper you would have no idea of that fact.

Likewise, sports statistics are often misleading. The Nuggets and Warriors forced the most turnovers in the league this season, but that doesn’t mean that they necessarily have the best defenses, it just means that they play at a higher pace than most squads, with more possessions.

Sometimes, many times, statistics are insightful, though. Take the Sonics and 3-point shooting, or lack thereof.



No, self-satisfied lovers of Al Franken, it’s not George Bush’s approval rating. Rather, it’s the Sonics’ ranking within the NBA on 3-pointers attempted. The chart begins with Ray Allen’s arrival in Seattle in 2003, and concludes with the season just completed.

Taking their cue from the team’s greatest star, Allen, the Sonics quickly emerged as the top-gunning team in the league, and by 2004-05 (year 2) they took more three-pointers than any other team. That trend continued in the next two seasons, but tailed off until this season, when the Sonics finally made the transformation complete, ranking dead last in the league in attempts.

In other words, within five seasons the Sonics have gone from the most likely to attempt a three to the absolute least likely; from World B Free to Olden Polynice in half a decade.

It’s a remarkable turnaround, a change in philosophy shown in other figures as well. 82games.com shows that only 13% of Seattle’s field goal attempts were from long-range, the lowest percentage in the league (Orlando, home of Rashard Lewis, ranked first).

But consider this: of the 13 teams who attempted more than the league average in threes this season, 10 qualified for the playoffs (77%). Of the 17 who attempted fewer than the league average, only six made it beyond the end of the regular season (35%). And that’s not an isolated trend, either. Last year, 80% of above-average gunners made the playoffs, while only 27% of the non-gunners did. The previous season, the numbers were 76% of gunners and 23% of non-gunners.

Clearly, this is not an isolated trend. Combined with Kevin Durant’s reluctance to launch threes as the season went along, and the departure of the team’s best shooter, Wally Szczerbiak via trade, it is painfully clear that the Sonics need to acquire outside shooting this summer. While the first pick they make will likely be for Derrick Rose (assuming the ping pong balls cooperate), Sam Presti will no doubt be looking hard at shooting guards this June.

Assuming, of course, he’s trying to make a better team. Which, in these days of uncertainty, is a big assumption to make.

PJ Back Next Year

Ending a month or so of speculation, Sam Presti announced at a press conference today that PJ Carlesimo will return as the Sonics' head coach next season.

Carlesimo enters the 2008-09 season having posted a winning percentage below .300 in three of his past four seasons, and since leaving the rosy confines of Portland a decade ago has compiled (emphasis on "pile") a record of 66-175.

In other words, if the Sonics go 82-0 next season, Carlesimo would still have a below .500 record in the NBA coaching teams outside of the state of Oregon.

However, were the Sonics to win all 82 games, then continue with a 27-game win streak to start the 2009-10 season, PJ would then be right smack at .500 for his post-Blazer career.

Of course, it's not really fair to PJ to blame him for this past season's roster. It's not as if he benched rookies in favor of veteran retreads like Donyell Marshall or Francisco Elson in an attempt to study the mystical powers of those veterans. And it's not as if he didn't have, oh, I don't know, the starting point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers collecting DNP-CDs for half the season.

Oh, nevermind.

Trial Delayed?

Hard to say at this point, but the City of Seattle filed a motion in Federal Court yesterday asking for the trial to be delayed by six months should Judge Pechman agree with the Sonics' recent motion requesting the amount of money be decided at the conclusion of the trial.

To give a quick synopsis, the team is asking for Pechman to render a decision on 1) the trial and, should the Sonics emerge victorious, 2) the amount of money the city should be compensated should the team leave prior to the end of their lease.

Keep in mind that this motion to delay only comes into affect if Pechman agrees with the team, which is no surety. Should Pechman decided that the team's request is not merited, then this delay becomes moot. In a way, if Pechman agrees with the team's request, then agrees with the city's request to delay the trial, Clay Bennett is going to be awful ticked at his lawyers for even bringing this issue up, as their idea to speed up the process by including the money with the trial will have had the unintended affect of ruining any chance they had of playing in Oklahoma City this fall.

In other trial-related news, the company which compiled a market study of Seattle v Oklahoma City for the NBA has objected to Seattle's subpoena for said study, citing client confidentiality and a lack of adequate response time. The NBA also objected, in that the study would reveal that moving a team from Seattle to Oklahoma City would, in the words of the study, "be as dumb as putting a team on the moon."

I kid, of course.

And, finally, some people look to swallows returning to Capistrano, or seeing a robin in the front yard as an indication of spring arriving. Me? I look for the "Will George Karl Get Canned?" headline to let me know it's time to break out the shorts and clean up the barbecue.

Stern takes Seattle

Our very own Rafael Calonzo, Jr. (aka Chunkstyle) designed the awesome cover art for this month's Sports Northwest magazine. It features a great article on the Sonics, so go to the newsstand and buy one already.

Durant Named ROY

Percy Allen at the Times is reporting that Kevin Durant will become the first-ever (last-ever?) Sonics Rookie of the Year.

Durant's 20 ppg were apparently enough for people to justify the selection, despite the arguments from others that Al Horford of Atlanta was more deserving. We all know that Durant is the first Rookie of the Year from Seattle, but can you name the last Sonic player to make the first team of an all-rookie team?

Still waiting ...

Okay, now that you're back from looking at basketball-reference.com, you know the answer is:

Derrick McKey

McKey was joined on that squad by Armon Gilliam, Mark Jackson, Greg "Cadillac" Anderson, and Kenny Smith.

Yep, Armon Gilliam. Holy cow, that was a looooooong time ago. Other first-team all-rookie team members include Bob Rule, Al Tucker, Art Harris, Tom Burleson (!), Jack Sikma, and Xavier McDaniel.

SEATTLE SuperSonics highlights on ESPN.com

Ted Bauer, from ESPN the Magazine, has compiled a great big pile of Seattle Supersonics highlight videos. Fantastic, yet bittersweet. (Actually, mostly bitter.)

Also, in case you missed it, we posted the winning LOLSonics pics yesterday. Check it out!

How Ya Like Me Now?

You probably noticed the Magic knocked off the Raptors last night, propelling them to the franchise’s first series victory in more than a decade.

Actually, come to think of it, you probably didn’t notice. With eight simultaneous playoff series it is difficult to focus upon all of them, and such anonymous clashes as Orlando-Toronto always seem to fade away.

The only news emanating from the series involves Dwight Howard, who lived up to his Superman nickname by rattling off three separate 20-20 performances in a command performance worthy of Moses Malone. In addition, Jameer Nelson leapt from mediocrity to acclaim, with one reporter going so far as to dub him the “story of the series.”

Not surprisingly, Rashard Lewis was the invisible man. Since readers here are Sonics fans, and since Lewis plied his trade here for one of the longest tenures in team history, I thought you’d be interested to see how Rashard did for his new team.

After a slow start in the first three games, Lewis exploded in the final two, posting 27 points and 18 rebounds in a game four win followed by 18 and 13 in the finale.

It was the rebounding which was most surprising; Lewis only made it to double figures twice all year in rebounds, so the fact he equaled that number in consecutive games is impressive.

Equally impressive are his +/- figures. Shown by game:

Game 1: +19
Game 2: +11
Game 3: -17
Game 4: +14
Game 5: +12

In a series Orlando won by a combined margin of 19 points, Lewis finished at plus 39, a difference of 20 points. Considering Lewis averaged 42 minutes a night, that’s a considerable difference.

Admittedly, Rashard’s outside shot was less than impressive, with a 42% success rate from the field, and his 0-for-9 performance from long distance in game two certainly didn’t help the cause.

Still, Lewis’ team prevailed and he played a key role on it. Granted, it’s only one playoff series, and the Magic weren’t exactly matched up against the 1983 Sixers, but a playoff win is a playoff win.

So, to those critics of Rashard, who say he 1) can’t rebound and 2) can’t play in the clutch, consider this: He just did both.

LOLSonics: We has winners!

We has winner: ED MILLER!

If I had known you guys were so talented, I would have outsourced this blog a long time ago.

We received dozens of entries for our LOLSonics Contest, and to my surprise, none of them sucked! They were so good, in fact, that it was almost impossible to choose a winner. In the end, I went with Ed Miller's "LOLCarlesimo" just because it made me literally laugh out loud. There were a lot of other great entries that could have easily won, so I've made some special awards for them as well.

Click below to see the rest of the winning pictures:

BEST USE OF NERD LINGO: Camp Jones

BEST USE OF A MINOR: Aron Bender

BEST USE OF SONICS LEGEND:  Josh Claar



BEST LOL LANGUAGE USAGE: Ed Miller

BEST USE OF FORMER SENATOR: Camp Jones

SADDEST: Camp Jones



Thanks again to everyone who took the time to enter. There are many, many more awesome LOLSonics pics, but I just didn't have time to post them all. I will try to do another edition, so if you still want to do one, send 'em my way (see contact info on upper right column).

Stern to Testify?

Hold on to your hats - the Daily Oklahoman is breaking news, and it's not necessarily pro-Clay Bennett news!

In what the lead lawyer from the City of Seattle called "a success," Federal Judge Loretta Preska ruled Monday that the NBA must turn over relevant financial documents pertaining to the relocation of the Sonics to Oklahoma City, and that David Stern may be called upon to testify in the future, depending upon the answers received from other witnesses.

In other words, if you're David Stern, do not book non-refundable tickets in June, because you could very well be headed for a Seattle court.

LOL Sonics

I thought it might be time to take a break from the drama and have some fun, and what's more fun than a CONTEST?

Make your own wacky LOLCATS picture featuring the Sonics (you can use this great online tool) and send it to us. We'll pick our favorites and post them tomorrow (and maybe send you some Sonics swag if I can drag my ass to the post office).

More Email Fodder

Clay Bennett, writing in response to an email from the NBA’s Maureen Coyle, passed along to him by way of Brent Gooden, Bennett’s PR representative, on April 15, 2007. Coyle had proposed that Bennett make a gesture of allowing the Sonics name and colors to remain in Seattle, while the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City. Bennett’s response:

“[The concept Maureen Coyle] has put forth is excellent, but it does presuppose expansion which I don’t think is in the cards. Thirty is the right number for many reasons and with instability in Memphis, Atlanta, Charlotte, Sacramento and with Las Vegas, Anaheim, San Jose, Nashville and others in play, not to mention the China expansion, there is a lot to work on.”

Obviously, Bennett is not solely responsible for doling out expansion franchises, so his opinion his just that, his opinion.

That said, it is a learned opinion (hey, you in the back, quick guffawing). Learned in that he has talked to David Stern about this subject as much or more often than just about anyone on this planet.

Why do I bring this up? Because Clay Bennett sat in front of a packed news conference a week ago today and completely contradicted everything he said in that email. Bennett stated (and I wish I had the transcript to quote him, but I will be relying upon memory here) that his willingness to leave the colors and name in Seattle was NOT a throwaway gesture on his part at all, despite what the media had argued previously. In fact, of all of his comments from that day, he seemed to increase his indignance level up the highest when asked about the subject.

Well, is that true at all? Considering that, first, Bennett and his people seem intent on re-branding the Sonics when they arrive in Oklahoma City, and, second, holding out hope for an expansion is as useful as looking for oceanfront property in Tulsa, is there any inherent value in the promise to keep the Sonics’ name and colors?

Sadly, no. Just like every other promise we have heard from Bennett & Stern Snake Oil Inc. for the past twelve months, it’s not worth a whole lot.