Summer League, Game Two

Another Summer League tilt tonight, and this time it’s the Knicks. Like every team in the Vegas League (motto: “Trying as hard as we can to train your young players while simultaneously seducing them with every evil known to man”), the Knicks have a multitude of Who’s That? guys, with a few Oh, I Know Him folks.

In the latter category, you’ll find Nate Robinson, of whom, as every New York newspaper will tell you, we Seattlites are in lust for even more than our flannel shirts, beards, cups of cappuccinos, and laptops. In fact, we’ll trade every player on our roster just to get the opportunity to bask in all 5’9” of Nate’s glory!

Please. The Sonics want Nate Robinson about as much as the Knicks do. I’ll let you read between the lines on that one.

Anyways, alongside the Mighty Mite are Renaldo Balkman and Randolph Morris, who would have been a first round pick last month if the Knicks hadn’t swiped him from college earlier this year.

Better yet, Olu Famutimi is listed on both teams’ rosters. From what I understand, it’s part of his agent’s plan to get him listed on all 30 rosters at some point this summer with the hopes that someone will forget that he’s there, he sneaks into the opening day roster, and then it’s all gravy from there. It’s really the American Dream for the 21st Century if you think about it – fame by association. If you think about it, there’s a little Olu Famutimi in all of us, isn’t there?

But enough about the flippin’ Knicks. How about the Sonics tonight? Well, Mickael Gelabale is supposed to be around after spraining an ankle and he should be a big help in providing some stability to the offense, which looked as erratic as could be expected in Friday’s opener. Unfortunately, Gelabale doesn’t play the point, where the Sonics were sorely lacking help on Friday. Here’s to hoping supersonicsoul favorite Zabian Dowdell was able to watch some Mo Cheeks classic video over the weekend and puts forth a better effort on tonight. We’re pulling for you, Little Z!

Elsewhere, Gary Washburn lists some possibilities for the vacant assistant coach positions for P.J. Carlesimo and informs us that Robert Swift has added a machine gun to the ever-growing artwork collections on his right and left arms. Watching Swift on the bench on Friday, he’s definitely bigger (270? Wow), and his hair might even be longer than before. Hard to believe he used to look like this. Quite frankly, if Swift broke his left leg and rolled up and down the court in a wheelchair, he’d still be an improvement over Sene and Petro. Man, did those guys stink it up on Friday or what?

As always, the game will be “broadcast” on nba.com (here’s the link). Game time is 7 pm. Hey, it’s going to be hot as hell today in Seattle (and Vancouver, as well), so why not grab yourself a nice glass of something cold and avail yourself of the best the internet has to offer?

Sonics still working on Sign-and-Trade for Rashard?

According to "Florida Today" (!), the Sonics are still trying to work out a sign-and-trade with the Orlando Magic for Rashard Lewis, who announced his intentions to bolt town last week:

ORLANDO - Hoping to clear enough salary-cap space so they can retain center-power forward Darko Milicic, the Orlando Magic continued sign-and-trade negotiations Friday with the Seattle SuperSonics.

The Magic have already convinced small forward Rashard Lewis, 27, to sign with a five-year, $75 million deal with them on Wednesday. Now, Orlando is looking to maneuver so that it can hang on to the 7-foot Milicic to fortify the frontline.

Keeping Milicic is of importance because the Magic have only Dwight Howard, Tony Battie, Pat Garrity and James Augustine along the frontline.

The Magic are trying to peddle the expiring contracts of Carlos Arroyo ($4 million), Garrity ($3.8 million) and Keyon Dooling ($3.5 million) to the Sonics. They are willing to sweeten the deal by including one or more future first- and second-round draft picks.

Read the rest here.

I can see why the Magic would like to do this, but it would mean half the Sonics roster would basically be over-paid stiffs. Granted, it would pay off huge in 2008 when all the contracts (except Wally World's) expire, but it would effectively make this year's squad a poor man's Pittsburgh Pisces.

Durant gets 18; Sonics lose

Seattle Supersonics rookie Kevin Durant gets his first whiff of the NBA.

Start the Michael Jordan comparisons, because if by classic MJ you mean a guy who's going to put up 20 shots to score 20 points, that's what you saw in Las Vegas tonight. Kevin Durant looked fantastic at times in a 77-66 loss to Dallas in the Las Vegas Summer League.

He put together a beautiful up-and-under move, nailed a fallaway jumper from the baseline, and took it hard to the hoop without any payoff. Overall, he finished 5-of-17 for 18 points, including 7-of-9 from the line. Julius Hodge, alternating between point guard and off guard, was the only other Sonics in double figures, grabbing 14 points and 10 boards in a solid showing.

Sadly, much-beloved Zabian Dowdell was horribly outclassed by Jose Juan Barea, whose name was voted "Most Likely To Be Confused With a Chilean Poet" by his graduating class. Barea went around, between, and seemingly under the Sonics all game, totalling 14 points and 9 assists in about 25 minutes of action. Jeff Green, while he racked up 8 fouls with only 7 points, looked strong on defense at times, but nowhere near as talented as Durant on offense. But then again, how many rookies look as talented as the Promised One?

All in all, it was your typical summer league Turnover-O-Rama, filled with mistakes, fouls, turnovers, and the like. Thankfully, the #2 overall pick seemed to be worthy of the admiration he's been receiving in his nascent NBA career.