Opening Night Cartoon: Ooh, SCARY!

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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.

Viewing Pleasure

Just a reminder that tonight's Sonics-Lakers game will be broadcast on TNT at 7 pm. If you'd rather watch Bob Swift make his triumphant return to Bakersfield than see the Red Sox lose to the Indians, set your viewing plans accordingly. In all honesty, as much as I love baseball, the idea of sitting through 3 hours of Tim McCarver's horrific puns and Joe Buck's daily "Watch How Indignant I Can Get!" spiel is too much. I'm leaning heavily towards an hour of Sonics-Lakers, followed by "The Office" when I start remembering why networks almost never broadcast pre-season games.

Paranoid Bennett hounded by "disturbing fringe elements"

Just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder in Sonicsville . . .

Yesterday, the American Arbitration Association ruled that any arbitration hearings would be held in Seattle instead of Denver, as the Sonics had requested. Hooray for us!

Here's where the weird comes in.

While arguing their case with the AAA, the Sonics filed papers citing "disturbing fringe elements" surrounding the case, and even claimed the team's lawyers had "received threats and other highly charged communications" after taking the case. Wow! Were there threatening calls in the middle of the night? A flaming effigy of Slick Watts?

How about "two anonymous e-mails from the same address".

Now, I don't mean to make light of threatening emails, but C'MON! Nussbaum received more than that after making fun of Steve Nash! These scumbags are trying to steal our freaking team, and they only get TWO NASTY EMAILS?!

I am an avowed pacifist (and registered coward) who would never condone violence or illegal acts of any kind, but frankly, I'm surprised this is all this city could muster up. Couldn't someone at least mail them some sort of legal annoyance, like a lifetime supply of Kenny G albums or something? Where's your passion, Seattle?

Just ask yourself: What would Danny Fortson do? Disturbing fringe elements indeed!

Former Sonic Update

A quick recap of how some former Sonics are faring in the pre-season:

RASHARD LEWIS
The pre-season hasn't gone as expected for the Magic's big free-agent signing this summer. A bad ankle, cramps in his leg ... it all adds up to two games played and an average of 5 points in those two contests. Ouch.

RAY ALLEN
Like Lewis, Allen has spent much of the pre-season overseas. While Lewis has been in China, Allen's been in Europe, where he's averaged 17.3 ppg in three games. So far at least, the ankle trouble he experienced last season has been a distant memory.

ANDRE BROWN
Brown has hooked on with the Grizzlies, where he's contributed 6 ppg and 3.5 rpg in two games. It appears he has a fan in coach Marc Iavaroni, who says he sees a bit of himself when he looks at Brown, who, like Iavaroni, had to get his career started overseas before returning home.

VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC
It seems like ages ago the Sonics were frustrated by the 3-point-shooting big man, but it hasn't been that long since his bizarre hairstyles were coasting up and down the court. Radman has had a banner pre-season for the Lakers, leading the club with 16 ppg to go along with 5 boards a night. Will he be pumped to put on a show in Bakersfield in front of his old club? As always, the answer is "Who the hell knows with Radman."

FLIP MURRAY
Murray is still in Detroit, and appears to have found a home there. His 8.5 ppg and 4 assists are respectable for the minutes he gets, and perhaps he has begun to accept his future as a 6th or 7th man on a good team.

Lineups, More

Contrary to previous reports, it turns out Mo Sene will not be starting tomorrow night against the Lakers. Both Kevin Pelton at supersonics.com and Percy Allen at the Times report that the lineup for Thursday night's game in Bakersfield is:

PF Nick Collison
SF Damien Wilkins
C Robert Swift
SG Kevin Durant
PG Earl Watson

Personally, I like the look of that lineup, and it certainly ties in with the defense-first mentality we keep hearing about for this year's club. Interesting that Carlesimo would make a point of mentioning how he was trying to get everyone a chance to start in the pre-season, then shelve the idea of Sene starting. Maybe Mo's chance will come later in the exhibitions.

On the injury front, Gary Washburn reports that Kevin Durant's minor injury (he got smacked in the head above his right eye) is nothing to be concerned about, and that he attended practice Wednesday none the worse for wear; likewise, Johan Petro was back in action after the heart palpatations had him resting for awhile. Delonte West, however, will not be making the trip because of a bad back. West will be checked out by the team doctor. GW's blog also mentions that Carlesimo sees Wally Szczerbiak as more of a forward than a guard.