I think it's safe to say that Clay Bennett has modeled his current franchise on the San Antonio Spurs. From his GM to his coach to his "culture" mindset, it's evident that what you see in San Antonio is what Clay Bennett would like to see in the Puget Sound (or, Oklahoma, depending on your level of cynicism; at supersonicsoul, our level of cynicism for Mr. Bennett is currently at "Used Car Salesman" level and on the verge of "Politician During Election Campaign").
The reason I bring this up is in regard to the current stadium debate in Seattle, and how it ties in with an interesting piece of news from San Antonio, Mr. Bennett's land of milk and honey, where everyone is a Republican, speaks with the proper accent, and the NBA team wins 70% of its games.
For those of you too lazy to read the article, it boils down to this:
The Spurs got a $193.5 million stadium from the city of San Antonio five years ago. Now they want $164 million to upgrade the ancient edifice because "without new sources of revenue, [the Spurs] cannot pay the player salaries that would allow the team to keep winning."
In other words, the great seers of San Antonio, who can forecast a player's ability to succeed with phenomenal accuracy, who can tell that an obscure Argentinian and an unknown Belgian would vault them to heights unforeseen in the NBA, do not possess the ability to make a profit in a five-year-old stadium when they are the reigning NBA Champions?
This tells me two things:
1. The NBA structure must be horribly out of whack if the NBA Champs are struggling financially with a stadium that is a year older than my pre-school aged daughter; and
2. No matter how much money the City of Seattle throws away on a new Sonic Arena, within 5-10 years that building will be insufficient to meet the team's needs.
Call me a cynic, call me an oversimplifier of unbelievably complicated situations, but I am slowly reaching the boiling point for this arena situation. As far as I'm concerned, the NBA and their owners and their messed-up system can go jump in a lake. If you took all the sales taxes paid towards arenas and stadia in the past two decades, you could probably build a home for every poor family in the United States. Instead, we as citizens continue to subsidize these lying blackmailers out of fear of "losing our team." And yet, these owners and leagues continue to peddle flim-flam schemes that would make the Music Man proud, pawning one city off another, using one city's new toy arena as a threat to extort a new arena for themselves.
At what point do we say enough is enough?
Wednesday, September 12
Surprises
It's become common knowledge that every year in the NFL, one team will come from nowhere to make the playoffs. A team everyone expected to go 5-11 will run off a couple of shocking wins, vaulting them into double-digit win territory.
With that in mind, who can we expect on the Sonics this season to make a leap? I would exclude Kevin Durant and Jeff Green from the equation, since they're both rookies, but those two aside, who are you looking at that would answer the question at the end of the season: Wow, did you see that coming?
There are a couple of possibilities. Right off the bat is Robert Swift, a 7' center who has done nothing in the NBA other than tantalize, but who has hit the weights hard during his rehabilitation period. It's certainly possible that Swift could register a 10-10 season this year, and it's equally likely he could put up a 5-3 year as well. Considering what I've read about other players recovering from his type of injury, I think for this year at least, we're looking at the latter more than the former.
Another option would be Earl Watson or Luke Ridnour. I believe that one of these guys will earn the reigns to this squad in 2007/08, and will get the minutes that go along with it. If you give Frodo 33 minutes a night, he'll definitely post at least 11-12 ppg and 6 to 8 assists. Likewise with Watson. Coming off disappointing years for both of them, it's possible that Earl or Luke could be the answer.
Or, perhaps Chris Wilcox. Wilcox has the physical ability, will likely get the minutes required, and it's not entirely unrealistic to expect him to average 15-16 points and 8 boards a game. However, it's more likely he'll finish with his usual 13-7.
That's why I think the one guy who could surprise everyone this year is ... Wally Szczerbiak. Call me crazy, but if Wally gets 30 minutes a night, doesn't get hurt, and gets the touches you would expect a starting shooting guard to get, he could average upwards up 17 points a game.
What's that you say? That your humble narrator skewered the Sonics for acquiring this oft-injured marshmallow of a guard not three months ago? Touche, I confess to the earlier insults. But if you look at Wally's numbers, you have to assume that last year's 41% mark from the field is an aberration; other than his dismal 06/07 campaign, the guy routinely shot 48 to 50% from the floor, and that's not Jerome James-type shots, either. I think alot of Wally's problems last year came from lauching too many outside shots (he averaged nearly 5 3FGA per 40 minutes which is nearly double his career average). If he can be mobile enough to get off some inside shots, it's not crazy to think he might hit on 45% to 49% of his attempts, which makes averaging 16 or 17 ppg not so off the charts.
So there you go. Wally Szczerbiak is my nominee for Most Surprising Player for the 2007/08 season (and, yes, I'm fully aware that he might be dealt in February, but what can I do?). Feel free to submit your own nominees in the comments section.
With that in mind, who can we expect on the Sonics this season to make a leap? I would exclude Kevin Durant and Jeff Green from the equation, since they're both rookies, but those two aside, who are you looking at that would answer the question at the end of the season: Wow, did you see that coming?
There are a couple of possibilities. Right off the bat is Robert Swift, a 7' center who has done nothing in the NBA other than tantalize, but who has hit the weights hard during his rehabilitation period. It's certainly possible that Swift could register a 10-10 season this year, and it's equally likely he could put up a 5-3 year as well. Considering what I've read about other players recovering from his type of injury, I think for this year at least, we're looking at the latter more than the former.
Another option would be Earl Watson or Luke Ridnour. I believe that one of these guys will earn the reigns to this squad in 2007/08, and will get the minutes that go along with it. If you give Frodo 33 minutes a night, he'll definitely post at least 11-12 ppg and 6 to 8 assists. Likewise with Watson. Coming off disappointing years for both of them, it's possible that Earl or Luke could be the answer.
Or, perhaps Chris Wilcox. Wilcox has the physical ability, will likely get the minutes required, and it's not entirely unrealistic to expect him to average 15-16 points and 8 boards a game. However, it's more likely he'll finish with his usual 13-7.
That's why I think the one guy who could surprise everyone this year is ... Wally Szczerbiak. Call me crazy, but if Wally gets 30 minutes a night, doesn't get hurt, and gets the touches you would expect a starting shooting guard to get, he could average upwards up 17 points a game.
What's that you say? That your humble narrator skewered the Sonics for acquiring this oft-injured marshmallow of a guard not three months ago? Touche, I confess to the earlier insults. But if you look at Wally's numbers, you have to assume that last year's 41% mark from the field is an aberration; other than his dismal 06/07 campaign, the guy routinely shot 48 to 50% from the floor, and that's not Jerome James-type shots, either. I think alot of Wally's problems last year came from lauching too many outside shots (he averaged nearly 5 3FGA per 40 minutes which is nearly double his career average). If he can be mobile enough to get off some inside shots, it's not crazy to think he might hit on 45% to 49% of his attempts, which makes averaging 16 or 17 ppg not so off the charts.
So there you go. Wally Szczerbiak is my nominee for Most Surprising Player for the 2007/08 season (and, yes, I'm fully aware that he might be dealt in February, but what can I do?). Feel free to submit your own nominees in the comments section.
Monday, September 10
Council Comes Through
As reported by the Seattle Times' Jim Brunner, the Seattle City Council has approved a motion that would ensure the Sonics fulfill their lease with the City and KeyArena, keeping the team in town until 2010.
No word from Clay Bennett - yet - but I would expect some gobblegook about "legal action" and "negotiations" tossed about at some point. $50 says Bennett has one of his legal experts parrot the company line about how this ordinance is irrelevent and meaningless.
Kind of like Clay Bennett's promises.
No word from Clay Bennett - yet - but I would expect some gobblegook about "legal action" and "negotiations" tossed about at some point. $50 says Bennett has one of his legal experts parrot the company line about how this ordinance is irrelevent and meaningless.
Kind of like Clay Bennett's promises.
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