Annnnnd Nooooooow, Your Seattle Suuuuuuuper......

Let’s play Coach today. Assume the Sonics’ roster is set (I know, I know), and that this is your depth chart:

PG: Ridnour, Watson, West
SG: Durant, Szczerbiak, West
SF: Green, Wilkins, Gelabale
PF: Wilcox, Collison, Green, Petro
C: Thomas, Swift, Collison

So, which five names should Matt Pittman call out when the Sonics take the floor against the Suns on November 1?

Here are my nominations:

Watson, Durant, Green, Wilcox, Thomas

Off the bench (in order):

West, Collison, Wally, Ridnour, Swift, Wilkins, Gelly, Petro

As some of the smarter commenters have pointed out, it’s unlikely that Luke will be dealt until next summer because he’s a base-year compensation player, and that makes it difficult to work out a deal unless 3 teams are involved. Unless a deal with Earl can be worked out, it appears we will be re-staging the “Luke and Earl Soap Opera” that proved so unpopular last year.

But that’s just my uninformed opinion. Anybody think Durant should be at the 3 with Green off the bench? Are you hungry to see Swift get a chance to start? How about Nick Collison; does his January-February monster run entitle him to the starting spot?

There are plenty of options, so have fun putting the jigsaw puzzle together.

Sonics News in August

Shockingly, there's actually something to read about today, as both the PI and TNT have news.

Gary Washburn reports that the Sonics will open on the road against the Nuggets, although the official schedule won't come out until later today.

[UPDATE: Here's the schedule. Hold onto your hats, the Sonics are playing on Christmas Day, against the Blazers!]

But the meaty story is from Eric Williams in the TNT, where Mayor Greg Nickels is talking about the Sonics kicking in $100 million towards either renovating Key Arena or building a new facility altogether.

“Our door is open [to Bennett and the Sonics],” Nickels is quoted as saying in Williams' story. “It will be open today. It will be open tomorrow. It will be open Oct. 31.”

The key person in the story is state auditor Brian Sonntag, who is looking to act as mediator between the city and Bennett's ownership group. Sonntag - unlike most of the folks involved in this situation - doesn't seem to care how the arena kerfuffle gets settled, so as long as it gets settled with the Sonics still settled in Seattle.

My only quibble with the $100 million is whether that comes from arena naming rights, or from Bennett's pocket. If Bennett's $100 million comes from selling the rights to the name of the building, then I'm less than impressed.

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Williams also reports that Jeff Green has been added to the practice squad for the Olympic team, joining Nick Collison and Kevin Durant, and that PJ Carlesimo will join the coaching staff.

Shaq's Big Score

Two months ago, I wrote a snide comment about Shaquille O'Neal's new reality television show, a show which purported to show Shaq helping six young kids go from obese to fit.

After all, I reasoned, isn't it a bit hypocritical for Shaq - who's notorious for not getting into shape until the playoffs appear on the horizon - to teach youngsters how to work hard?

Well, color me corrected. I'll admit that I got hooked on the show, and watched most of the episodes, and from that small sample, I can honestly say that all the bloggers and columnists who teased Shaq about this idea owe him a great, big obese apology. Because if you watched the show, you saw that O'Neal cared about the kids, and, more importantly, cared about the epidemic of overweight kids that plagues the U.S.

There are plenty of writers who sit back, do nothing, and criticize someone who tries and fails. Well, Shaq saw a problem, thought he could do something about it, and succeeded. If it's just the six kids that improve their lives, that's success in and of itself. But if 600 or 6,000 kids get the message, that's even better. And if educators and administrators and parents across this country smell the frying bacon and wake up to the fact that they are doing a grave disservice to their children and students by providing them with fast food and a lack of physical activity, that's even better still.

Kudos, Shaq, on a job well done.