Battle for Backups

Not much news to report on the Sonics front with the exception of a nice story in the PI about Kareem Rush and Earl Watson returning to Kansas City. Kudos to Gary Washburn for finding a story most people would have skipped - I'll bet 90% of us thought of Nick Collison when the words "Kansas" and "Sonics" appeared in the same sentence, but Washburn delved deeper and found two guys with stronger ties than Nick to the area.

With no games to review, let's take a look at how the battle for the final roster spots are going for the Sonics thus far. As I see it, the following guys are locked in for the season:

Allen, Lewis, Collison, Ridnour, Watson, Wilkins, Wilcox, Petro, Swift, Gelabale, Sene, Fortson.

That's 12 people, leaving 2 or 3 open slots. Of those 12, they break down this way by position:

PG - 2
SG - 3
SF - 3
PF - 3
C - 3

(Some guys can play multiple positions, so it's not faulty math on my part).

The Sonics will likely carry 13 or 14 guys, including the "King of DNP-CD" Danny Fortson, at least until he's moved to somebody else by midseason. That means the rest of the guys on the training roster are competing for 1 or 2 spots. Here are the competitors (And wouldn't this make a better reality show than most of the crap out there? Really, do we need 2 nanny shows?)

1. Denham Brown, 6'6", SF, 8-1
2. Desmon Farmer, 6'5", SG, 20-1
3. Mike Wilks, 5'10", PG, 10-1
4. Milt Palacio, 6'4", PG, 30-1
5. Kenny Adeleke, 6'8", F, 50-1
6. Kareem Rush, 6'6", SG, 5-1

The last bit in each line is my guess at the odds of each making the roster. Palacio and Rush have a leg up on the rest with their relatively extensive NBA experience, but the fact Milt's only gotten 8 minutes in the first two games shows where he ranks in my mind. Wilks' presence on the roster last season should be an edge for him, and Brown's extensive minutes in the Portland game shows how the staff seems to like him.

Obviously, this is a total crapshoot at this point, and the ends of the roster have (almost) zero influence on how many games the Sonics will win, but, hey, it's a Saturday and there isn't a whole lot else to talk about, so there you go.

Sonics All-Star Team

The voting is mostly done for the Sonics' 40th anniversary team (Actually, in a strict interpretation of the word, next year would be their 40th anniversary, because the first year doesn't count. Think of it this way: You get married in 1971. Would that mean that 1972 would be your 2nd anniversary? No, it would be your first anniversary. The Sonics' first season was in 1967-68, which means their 40th anniversary would be the 2007-08 season, not the 2006-07 season. But I digress).

The lone remaining spot is for the "Wild Card," and your options are:

Tom Chambers
Slick Watts
Brent Barry (!)
Sam Perkins
Bob Rule

I'm sorry, but I don't want to live in a world where Brent Barry gets more votes than any of those 4 guys. For the love of all that is holy, get yourself to supersonics.com and vote as often as you can for any of the other 4 guys. Personally, I'll mark a big X for Mr. Sam Perkins.

Sonics Fall to Lakers

The big story out of LA wasn't that the Sonics lost a pre-season game to the Kobe-less Lakers, but that Nick Collison is a MAN ON FIRE!

Collison contributed 20 points in a scant 24 minutes, his second consecutive impressive showing in the two pre-season games. In fact, comparing Collison to Chris Wilcox through two games, you get:

Collison: 31 points, 16 boards, 4 fouls, 51 minutes
Wilcox: 11 points, 13 boards, 5 fouls, 46 minutes

Conclusion? Pre-season games don't mean squat. Still, it's nice to see Nick isn't racking up fouls like Alton Lister on crack anymore. Hopefully, it will be a trend he continues during the course of the regular season as well.

In other news, Ray Allen broke the shotclock on a dunk, Luke Ridnour's thumb isn't broken but he'll still miss the next game, the Sonics will be playing in Collison's old gym, the Sonics' trio of young centers stunk up the joint last night, Bob Hill doesn't think Earl Watson should start, Gelabale impressed Hill by scoring in the post in the late stages of the game, and the Sonics have been outscored 45 to 18 from beyond the arc.

Phew.