Sonics Edge GS in OT

Plenty of good news yesterday ... and one big piece of bad news. It appears that [Now confirmed on the Sonics' website; Swift is out for the year] Robert Swift may be out for the year, pending analysis of an MRI. That would be a blow to the Sonics, and a huge blow to Swift himself, who was hoping this year would be his opportunity to demonstrate his abilities to a greater extent.

Regardless of Swift's condition, the Sonics played quite well last night, especially the non-Allen and -Lewis part of the team, which has been frustrating to say the least in October. Among the highlights:

• Chris Wilcox gets 11 / 6 in 19 minutes, with only 1 turnover.
• Johan Petro hits 16 points, best of the exhibition season for him.
• Luke Ridnour posts another solid outing.
• Nick Collison again looked great, scoring 19 points to go with 12 boards.
• The Omen grabbed 7 rebounds and scored 18 points.
• The Warriors only hit 2 of 11 3-pointers, the best defensive performance of the exhibition season for Seattle.

I'm feeling a little better about the Sonics' chances today than I was a few days ago, which isn't saying much considering I expected them win about 37 games this season. We'll be back with our Predictions for the 2006-07 season in the next few days, so feel free to clip 'n save and throw those picks in our faces this spring.

Sternspeak

You know how you can tell when David Stern is filling your ears with B.S.? Okay, it's an old joke, but get a load of this gem from Mr. Stern, courtesy of Frank Hughes' article in the TNT:

“I would say that Howard, we are indebted to him,” Stern said. “People forget that the success of the Storm is an important aspect of his tenure. The (Sonics) team was one of the most competitive teams in terms of his NBA tenure. And he was very much focused on social responsibility as a platform."

Now, put aside the other crapola in the statement, and focus upon this particular claim:

"The (Sonics) team was one of the most competitive teams in terms of his NBA tenure. "

Unbelievable. It's not enough that Stern, Schultz, Bennett, & Co. are attempting to extort the people of Seattle so they can make even more money, but now Stern is going to stand there and tell us that Schultz fielded "one of the most competetive team" during his tenure?

Really? The fact Stern's Sonics went 209-201 during the five years he owned them makes them "competitive?" Compared to what, the Hawks? Or the fact his "competitive" team advanced to the playoffs twice in five years, winning all of one series? That's competitive? What's uncompetitive in Stern's dictionary, suiting up a team of lemurs?

I'm sorry, I promised I wouldn't talk about this crap anymore, but when I read something like that from Stern it makes me want to vomit. Repeatedly.

Waivers Bring Roster to 15

The Sonics announced Thursday that Denham Brown (picked in the 2nd round this year) and Milt Palacio have both been placed on waivers, putting Seattle's roster at 15.

With Swift likely to head for the DL, that leaves Farmer, Rush, and Wilks competing for 1 or 2 spots.

In other news, Rick Brunson - the former Sonic who got practically no time last year in Seattle - got canned by the Sixers. I'm sad to see it happen in one sense, because Brunson was a Temple grad and a seemingly good guy (gotta love the A-10). On the other hand, maybe this puts him closer to being a head coach, if not at Temple, then perhaps as an assistant.

Thus endeth your waiver update.