Durant, Collison Dropped from Team USA

USA Basketball will not include Sonic teammates Kevin Durant or Nick Collison, as the pair were cut from the roster after practice on Monday.

Coach K explained to the press that the decision-makers felt the team needed more perimeter offense, but that Collison's ability to come as close as he did to making the team was remarkable considering the limited amount of time he spent with the team.

As a Sonic fan, it's just mildly disappointing. In reality, nobody cares all that much about the upcoming games, and while it would be nice to have Durant and/or Collison on the roster, it's not as if it makes any difference for the upcoming season. As I said before, this was a no-lose proposition for the Sonics; if either player made the team, he would benefit from the exposure to the elite of the NBA and if they were cut, both would benefit from the time off before the grueling season begins.

Did Donaghy doom the Sonics boom?

"Psst! What's the over-under on the Bulls game?"

ESPN reported on Friday that disgraced former ref Tim Donaghy might name up to twenty other refs that fixed games.

With this startling new announcement, I was reminded of a great Art Thiel article from a couple of weeks ago, where he wrote about a close loss for the Sonics last year that Donaghy officiated.

Coupled with the Robert Swift Conspiracy Theory, it makes you wonder how close the Sonics were to not completely sucking last year.

It also brings up the Big Question. That is, what effect, if any, will this have on the Sonics leaving town? Will Stern step in to avoid another embarrassment, or will the Donaghy Disgrace-o-rama overshadow everything else so much that no one even notices the moving vans packing up Lenny Wilkens' wheelchair and the stuffed corpse of the Wheedle?

Nick Collison: King Bad-ass for a Day

Who says Nick Collison is soft around the rim?

During practice with the Select Team on Saturday, "Crusher" Collison let loose a dunk straight from Lovetron, bringing down the rim, and some of his teammates.

"I was hoping coach would say, 'Hey, practice is cancelled.' That's the first thing that came to my mind," Lebron James said afterwards. "The second thing is 'I hope he didn't shoot a jumper and the basket fell.'"

Read all about here.

(Thanks to Joe Newell for the tip!)