Lotterrific

4 days and counting until the future of the Sonics is revealed ...

Tuesday is the big day, of course, and it's entirely possible the Sonics walk out of the NBA's Seacaucus, New Jersey studios holding onto either Kevin Durant or Greg Oden, and, thus, an improved future.

But let's be reasonable. It's much more likely Seattle will be picking 5th or 6th than 1st or 2nd. That being the case, who should the Sonics be taking, or should they be dealing the pick away entirely? (Remember, Rick Sund isn't here anymore, so allay those worries about Seattle taking a 15-year-old handball player from Madagascar).

The more I look at it, the more I think that Corey Brewer is the answer for the Sonics. He's a defensive-minded small forward with a decent offensive game (he'll have to improve in this area to be a star at the NBA level), and, perhaps just as important, he's been around winning teams for the past two years, something about which not a soul on this Sonic team can boast.

But what about Rashard Lewis, you ask? Sadly, I'm leaning more and more to the idea that even if Lewis wants to stay (which none of us know for sure), we might be better off seeing him head elsewhere. The Lewis and Allen combo is not going to produce a championship in Seattle, and a sign-and-trade deal for Lewis might be the best way to salvage the relationship.

Feel free to discuss my incompetence at your leisure.

(Sonic) Uni Watch

Get your stinkin' hands off of Gus Williams' jersey!

Ever read Uni Watch at espn.com? A great column, one of the better reads on the internet.

Paul Lukas, the author of Uni Watch, posted a nifty article a couple of weeks ago with a brief write-up on the best reasons for wearing each jersey number from 0 (Al Oliver, Rey Ordonez) to 99 (Wayne Gretzky, Turk Wendell).

Naturally, it got me to thinking about Sonic jersey numbers. With my trusty Sonic media guide in hand, I set out to find the best player at each jersey number in team history. Here we go:

0: Olden Polynice. Accept no imitations.

00: Benoit Benjamin. Only for his marvelous performance against the Blazers in the 90-91 playoffs.

1: Gus Williams. Sorry, Sherrell Ford, but when a guy gets his numbered retired, I think he gets the honor.

2: Gary Payton. Everybody remembers GP as #20, but he started out as #2.

3: Some interesting fellas here; Dana Barros, Greg Kelser, Burnin Vernon Maxwell, Eric Snow, but the best 3 in Seattle history is the best 3-point shooter in Seattle history: Dale Ellis.

4: Currently Nick Collison rocks the 4 (although he plays the 5, curiously), but Sedale Threatt gets the nod; tip of the cap to Al Wood, if only because he got traded for Dale Ellis in a steal of a deal.

5: Avery Johnson, many moons ago, as part of the greatest collaboration of PG talent in NBA history (AJ, Nate, Threatt, John Lucas, all on the same squad).

6: Only one candidate, Moochie Norris.

7: Rashard, and if he sticks around, it’ll eventually be retired.

8: Well, you’ve got the white folks (Scott Meents and Luke Ridnour), and you’ve got the not-so-good Eddie Johnson and Kevin Ollie. But how can you not pick Lonnie Shelton?

9: I hate to give him 2 awards, since he doesn’t deserve it, but clearly Dale Ellis is more deserving than either Randy Livinston or the Potato, Vitaly Potapenko, right?

10: When your nickname is Mac-10, you get the award. Sorry, Bob Love.

11: Detlef Schrempf, not surprisingly, took a very efficient number for his jersey.

12: Ick; Drew Barry, Damien Wilkins, Quintin Dailey, Art Harris, Nick Weatherspoon, Bob Weiss... do I have to pick someone? I’ll go with Dailey, only because he once ordered – and ate – a hot dog on the Sonics’ bench.

13: Slick Watts, of course. A Sonic, and Seattle icon, through and through. Big Snacks and Kendall Gill get honorable mention.

14: Greatest sign in Sonic history: “Sam, Sam, Sam for Mayor!” Sam Perkins, Big Smooth, slowest deep threat in team history.

15: Yikes, 11 guys to sort through. Well, toss out Gerald Henderson, Gelabale, Lucas, Flip Murray, Bud Stallworth, Aaron Williams, ... who do we have left? Ahh, Vinnie Johnson (love The Microwave) and Eddie Johnson (the good one). I’ll go with EJ, simply because I loved the way he was able to score in any situation.

16: Tom Burleson. No other competitors.

17: The Fiddler! Vincent Askew makes an appearance.

18: Mo Sene, because he’s the only guy to ever wear this number in team history.

19: Lenny Wilkens. Hey, he’s Team President, right? Right?

20: The Glove gets some decent competition (James Bailey, Maurice Lucas) and some not-so-decent competition (Jon Sundvold, Eugene Short), but, seriously, this ain’t even an argument.

21: A lucky 13 folks have worn this number, from Gerald Paddio to Danny Fortson to Butch Beard to Ricky Pierce. And don’t forget Dennis Awtrey or Ruben Patterson, an Odd Couple if there ever was one. I’ll take Pierce, coming off a screen, and then ambling on down the court.

22: Oh, Jim McIlvaine, you overpaid stiff, you. Sure, logic says Danny Young or Pierce or even Bill Hanzlik were better, but who remembers them, when you helped to bring down an entire franchise?

23: In his second incarnation with the Supes, OP went for 23, but I’m going with Danny Vranes, the Sonics’ most-recent #5 pick in the draft, in the hopes it will remind the front office not to opt for undersized small forwards from the WAC.

24: Wow. Over here you’ve got Dennis Johnson, DJ, RIP, Finals MVP and all that. Then in that corner, you’ve got Tommy Chambers, All-Star MVP, best dunking white man you ever did see. And let’s not forget Spencer Haywood, who actually had the jersey retired in his name this year. Can I wimp out with a 3-way tie? I guess not; got to give it to Haywood, because he was better than either of the other two (though not by much).

25: What, a current player? What’s this? Earl Watson, come on down. I’ll give special mention to David Wingate and, sadly, Rich King.

26: None

27: John Johnson, the original JJ. Averaged a Pippen-esque 5.3 boards and 5.2 assists in the championship season, then upped those numbers again in the playoffs. When you look up unsung in the dictionary, John Howard Getty Johnson stares you right back in the face.

28: None

29: Mike Wilks, for the greatest end-of-the-season run in 3rd-string point guard history. Let’s hope David Locke’s favorite underdog gets a nice, fat guaranteed contract from somebody next year.

Alright, that’s enough for one day. I’ll finish up with numbers 30 and up later this week. If you’ve got any arguments, or if I’ve omitted anyone, feel free to post them in the comments section and we’ll try to make the corrections.

Good Ol' Stu

Let me lend a little bit of perspective on the adjudicator of the Horry v. Nash situation.

Stu Jackson was, in all reasonable analysis, the worst general manager in the history of the NBA, if not the worst GM in the history of professional sports. In fact, if you studied the case long enough, you could make the argument that Jackson might have failed more successfully at his job than anyone in the history of anything.

Foisted upon the good people of Vancouver by David Stern in a case of affirmative action gone bad, Jackson wasted first-round picks on Bryant Reeves, Antonio Daniels (#4 overall!), Steve Francis (who had already indicated he wanted to play in Vancouver about as much as David Stern wanted to be commissioner of the Palestine Liberation League), and Stromile Swift (#2!). Oh, and he also refused to select Steve Nash in the draft, even though Nash would have been an immediate hit in Vancouver due to his Canadian heritage.

Not satisfied with that unprecedented level of crapitude, or perhaps sensing that he was hopelessly inept at finding quality college players despite possessing high level picks, Jackson punted, and dealt a #1 pick to the Detroit Pistons ... for Otis Thorpe. And this wasn't prime-time O.T., either, this was 35-year-old Otis Thorpe, the Otis Thorpe that Jackson peddled to the Sacramento Kings for Michael Smith and Bobby Hurley. Um, yeah.

So you have to forgive me if I'm not the slightest bit surprised by Jackson's lousy decision-making in suspending Stoudamire and Diaw for Game 5. You see, after Jackson was ousted from Vancouver, Stern allowed him to crawl back to NYC and become the league's suspension czar. It was either that, or Stern would have to admit that he (Stern) had made a horrible mistake in letting Jackson be a GM, and you know David isn't keen on admitting mistakes.

The outrage shouldn't be that Jackson made a bad decision. The outrage should be that that an imbecile like Jackson is even allowed to have a job in the NBA at all.