The Return of (the other) Nate?

With the imminent arrival of The Texas Tornado, trade rumors are swirling around the Sonics' Rashard Lewis. One of them involves the New York Knicks and two former Seattle prep stars:

According to NBA insiders, the Knicks could make the Sonics a sign-and-trade offer for Lewis that could include Seattle natives Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford.

Crawford is owed $35 million over the next four seasons, and the Knicks could add Robinson's contract or that of Channing Frye to come within 75 percent of a new Lewis deal, per rules of the collective bargaining agreement.

Wilkens said Tuesday that the Sonics plan to sign Lewis, who opted out of his contract Friday and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1. To execute a sign-and-trade, the Sonics would have to sign Lewis to a new contract and then trade him.

Read the rest in the Seattle P.I.

As much as I love Nate the Great, is he worth a Rashard? And for that matter, do the Sonics want to add two more small-fry guards to a group that already resembles the cast of Willow? This sounds like more wishful thinking on the part of the Knicks, who have a habit of leaking false trade "rumors".

2 More Coaches Hired

One problem with waiting to pick your head coach until after you've hired your General Manager is that there are alot fewer head coaches available when you're finally ready to make a decision.

Consider that Sam Vincent, Billy Donovan, Marc Iavaroni, and now Jim O'Brien have been hired in the past week, and that's four fewer horses on the coaching carousel now.

Hey, it could be that Lenny Wilkens wasn't interested in any of those fellows, anyways, and that odds-on favorite Sam Presti would like to bring his San Antonio associate PJ Carlesimo to take the job. If that's the case, then no problem.

But if it's not, and if Presti isn't the candidate and if PJ isn't, either, then, well, the Sonics are going to find themselves sorting through the clearance rack after the draft is over.

And considering that this coach will play a big factor in how Kevin Durant perceives the Sonics, that's not an appetizing proposition, now is it?

Kobe

It's the question every fan of every team in the league wondered this morning after hearing about Kobe Bryant's "Trade Me" declaration on Stephen Smith's radio show.

So, Sonic fans, are you interested in Kobe? Would you be willing to deal Ray Allen and a couple of picks to get him? In all likelihood, it would require Allen, one of this year's #2s, next year's #1, and another player, such as Damien Wilkins or Earl Watson to make it happen. Even then, I don't know that the Lakers would go for it, keeping in mind that a lot of GMs got itchy trigger fingers today.

It would make for an interesting lineup, for sure:

C-Oden
PF-Wilcox
SF-Lewis
SG-Kobe
PG-Ridnour

or

C-Milicic/Swift
PF-Wilcox
SF-Durant
SG-Kobe
PG-Ridnour

Personally, while the initial excitement over adding a guy who can score like Allen and play defense, too, is tempting, I don't know that it makes the Sonics tremendously better. You could argue that Kobe is Ray's better or equal in all phases of their games, and he's on the right side of 30 as well. But Kobe's tendency to dominate the ball, which wouldn't be a great atmosphere in which for either Oden or (especially) Durant to grow.

It's worth discussing, though.