MIA: Chris Wilcox

With all the talk recently about Seattle’s bench woes and the ugliness between Hill and Watson another Sonics’ dismal performance has sort of slipped through the cracks.

Try this on for size: Chris Wilcox has scored in double figures once in the past eight games.

To a casual observer, the fault would lie in the lap of the man making $8 million a year, the free agent acquisition that never performed prior to a salary drive in the spring. But if you look more closely, you can tell that it may not entirely be Weezy’s fault.

For some reason, Wilcox has turned into the Sonics’ version of a Saturday night television show on CBS – invisible.

After taking 70 shots in those first eight games, Wilcox has attempted only 49 in the past eight, a decrease of 21%. His rebounding numbers, minutes played, and all other peripheral stats haven’t changed, so it’s merely a matter of not getting looks.

It’s as if on the plane ride back from New Jersey, the team’s luggage – containing the secret ingredient responsible for the successful trip – wound up in North Dakota, while the Sonics continued on to the West Coast. Somewhere in Fargo, a group of kids stumbled across the magic potion, drank it, and are now contending for the state basketball title while the Sonics continue to lose at a Blazer-like pace.

Prior to the flight home, Seattle was averaging 39-for-84 from the floor and 105 points a game. Since the flight, those numbers are down to 35-for-79 shots and 94 points, while Wilcox has gone from 9 attempts per game to 6, and from 12 points to 8. It’s a shocking development, and completely unexplainable.

I can’t see what the root cause of the problem is, as it doesn’t appear to make any difference if Wilcox plays with Watson or Ridnour, so it’s not as if he needs Earl to play more so he can get more looks. It’s not that he’s not getting enough minutes, as that hasn’t changed one bit from the first half of the season to the second.

As always, the Sonics are over-relying on Allen and Lewis, and Allen and Lewis are getting tired of it. Sugar Ray’s comments in the papers the last couple of days seem to indicate a man frustrated with his teammates’ inability to produce. With Coach Hill’s statement last night regarding a new potential starting lineup, how about we offer this suggestion:

SG Allen
PG Ridnour
SF Lewis
PF Wilcox
C Sene

I’d leave Sene in there for 5 minutes, bring Petro off the bench, then bring Collison in with a few minutes left in the 1st quarter. That would allow Wilcox to get some rest and then actually play more than 2 minutes in the 2nd quarter.

And pray Sene doesn’t foul out in 5 minutes.

Notes from last night’s loss: Seattle attempted 8 3’s in the first half, 13 in the second and attempted 14 in paint in the 1st half, 9 in second ... The Sonics made one shot from the right side of the court in the entire game, a Ray Allen 3 in the second quarter.

Sonics-Magic

Top 5 Greatest Magic-Related Moments in Sonics History:

1. February 24, 2006: The Sonics stop at the wrong restaurant between Orlando and Miami, resulting in half the team getting sick, forcing Bob Hill to play with only 7 available guys. Ray Allen throws up on the bench, both from the food poisoning and from watching Mikki Moore get 27 minutes.

2. January 11, 2006: Ray Allen and Keyon Dooling throw down at the Key, followed by Keyon pursuing Allen into the hallway underneath the stands. Side note: Rashard Lewis drops 45 in 44 minutes in his greatest game nobody will ever remember.

3. March 21, 2004: Admit it, you have no idea why this game is on the list. My friends, when Vitaly Potapenko goes for 21 points, that merits inclusion on any list. Besides, any game featuring Ansu Sesay, Reggie Evans, Andrew Declerq, and Tyronn Lue has to be here.

4. January 5, 1996: This one is a little hazy, but I have a firm recollection of the events, if not the date. This much is sure: The Sonics were losing to the Magic in Orlando, back in the Brian Hill-Shaq-Penny days. With little or no time remaining in the game and the outcome no longer in doubt, Hill reinserts Shaq into the lineup for some statistical achievement. George Karl, sensing this and pissed off like only he could be, decides that he's going to put Frank Brickowski back in. 10 seconds later, Shaq heads to the bench as Brian Hill realizes his future as coach (i.e., Shaq's health) rests in the forearms of the Brick.

5. March 12, 1990: God, I miss the old NBA. Seattle scores 130 points and 7 Sonics score in double figures. Check out the point guards who played for the green and gold that night: Avery Johnson, Sedale Threatt, Nate McMillan, and Dana Barros. My friends, they call that depth. Bonus points for random Reggie Theus sighting.

Help!

Like most of you, I’ve been puzzled by the Sonics’ start to the season. The same team that nearly sweeps the Heat and Magic and destroys the Nets on the road loses to the Kings at home? How does a running team score 78 points? Whose hair is longest: Gelabale or Fortson?

Difficult questions, but let’s try to ascertain what’s going on in Sonic wins and losses. To wit:

1. Rashard Lewis is shooting 49% on 3’s in wins; 37% in losses
2. Johan Petro shoots 54% in wins, 35% in losses
3. Luke Ridnour hits 53% of 3’s in wins; 37% in losses
4. Chris Wilcox gets 9 FGA in wins; 7 in losses
5. Damien Wilkins averages a steal every 15 minutes in wins; every 30 in losses

There are more stats to look at, but I think it’s important to note that it’s unrealistic to expect Rashard Lewis and Luke Ridnour to hit 50% of their 3-point attempts this year. In fact, it’s flat-out impossible. Yet, unless they do, the Sonics struggle to score.

In looking at those stats, I’d recommend the following to shake this team out of its’ current 5-losses-in-7-games slump:

1. Give Watson more minutes. Earl is not as bad as he’s shown so far. For the same reason that Ray Allen is allowed to keep chucking when he’s hit 4 of 18, Earl needs to be allowed to keep playing. Now, that doesn’t mean Watson gets to take 3’s with 18 seconds on the shot clock, but if Hill can sit down with Watson and tell him that he’s going to be playing 20-25 minutes every night, regardless of the FG%, it will help the team.

2. Beat Wilcox over the head until he understands that this team needs him to take shots outside of fast breaks or put-back dunks. Force Ridnour to feed Weezy the ball down low at least once a quarter.

3. Allow Petro to keep screwing up. At this point, he’s our only legit big man. We have to pray that the good games eventually start to outnumber the bad.

4. Decrease Ray Allen’s minutes and allow Wilkins and/or Gelabale to play some more.

5. Finally, make up your mind with Danny Fortson. Explain to Danny that if he keeps his head about him, he’s going to get 10-15 minutes a night this year. The Sonics need a backup big man after Nick Collison’s graduation summa cum laude from the Benoit Benjamin School of Infuriating Big Men, and Fortson is helpful on the boards and scoring garbage points in the paint.

Easy, breezy. 5 Simple Steps to Make the Sonics Better. Tomorrow’s game against Orlando will be a real test for this team and the Bob Hill tenure as the coach. If the Sonics drop this one, and the bench fails to get the minutes they think they deserve, the sharks will smell the blood in the water.