Where Are They Now?

Friday Where Are They Now?
Late 80s Edition

So much of the fun of being a fan is remembering the players from when you were first a fan. It’s great to root for Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Wally Szcz..., well it’s great to root for Durant and Green, anyway, but isn’t at least as much fun to recall people like Michael Cage and Sedale Threatt?

Well, maybe it’s just me, but I miss those guys. Here’s a quick update on some greats from Seattle’s hoops history.


SEDALE THREATT – Threatt was part of a quartet of great Sonic point guards – Avery Johnson, Nate McMillan, and John Lucas were the other three (and they got Gary Payton within a year or two!), all on the roster at the same time. Best known for his tremendous speed and defense, Threatt wound up being dealt to the Lakers for three 2nd-round picks, then spent half a decade in LA before finishing his career in Houston. Anyway, the former Sonic is now living Down Under, working with And1 Elite Camps as well as coaching. You can find more here.

MICHAEL CAGE – You can’t be a Sonic fan and not love Soul Glo, right? Cage, in addition to his duties working for FOX covering Memphis Grizzlies games, referees girls’ soccer games in San Diego, where he attended college. It’s refreshing to see that Cage, even though he’s now a part-time ref, has little or no sympathy with the NBA or its refs (and this article was written before the Tim Donaghy scandal broke).

DANA BARROS – While Barros is best remembered in Seattle for draining 3’s, I loved the way he battled Tim Hardaway in the playoffs more than a decade a go. But Barros’ recent life hasn’t been as smooth as his jump shot would lead you to believe. Folks in Massachusetts know this story better than us Westerners, but Barros has been embroiled in legal trouble over the Dana Barros Sports Complex, which failed and has placed him on the nasty side of some massive lawsuits. After the failure of his complex, Barros accepted a position as an assistant at Northeastern University for old friend Bill Coen in May 2006. Within a couple of months, he quit the Northeastern gig, opting to take a job as the Director of Recreation of City of Boston. After less than a year, Barros resigned from his job at the city, citing “personal reasons.” A great quote from the city, after Barros had been missing from his job for a couple of weeks: “We were wondering what happened to him.” Note to prospective employers of Dana Barros: Caveat emptor.

CLEMON JOHNSON – Finally, a little more enjoyable tale. Best known to Sonic fans for his odd platoon with Alton Lister (Clem would start the games, but Lister got the bulk of the minutes), Johnson is the head coach at the University of Alaska. Belying the stereotype surrounding most pro athletes, Johnson holds a Bachelor’s of Economics and a Masters in Sports Administration. Better yet, he hasn’t quit the position for something better, and with some recent recruits as evidence, seems to be helping in bringing the program to a new level.

Injuries

The Times' blog has info on the injury front at camp, where Delonte West, Bob Swift, Kurt Thomas, and Mickael Gelabale had pains of varying degrees of severity.

Swift's is the most worrying, as "Robert Swift" and "right knee tendinitis" are two phrases we'd hope would not be printed this season. It's early, obviously, but you've got to imagine there are going to be more than a few days like this for Swift this season.

Crunch Time

Question for a Thursday:

With training camp in full motion, there has been plenty of speculation on the Sonics’ starting lineup, but how about the finishing lineup?

We all remember the Supes’ wonderful run three years ago, when they came within a couple games of knocking off the Spurs. One huge key to that team was the effective way Nate McMillan used Antonio Daniels to spell Luke Ridnour at the end of games (a habit which drove Ridnour nuts). Many players, including Delonte West recently, have said that who starts the game doesn’t matter nearly as much as who finishes.

I agree. If the first 3 ½ quarters of an NBA game are the regular season, the final half of the fourth quarter is the playoffs. With that in mind, who should the Sonics be using to finish games this season?

To my thinking there are five key factors to making a crunch-time player:

1. Free throw shooting
2. Defense
3. Execution
4. Perimeter shooting
5. Rebounding

Obviously, it isn’t important for a shooting guard to rebound; I’m speaking more of the 5-man unit as a whole. With those five pieces in mind, if I was PJ Carlesimo, here’s who I would run out there in the final minutes of a close game:

PG: Earl Watson
SG: Kevin Durant
SF: Wally Szczerbiak
PF: Nick Collison
C: Kurt Thomas

Now, some explanations. With the exception of Watson, all five are great FT shooters, and Watson shot 74% last season, so he’s no slouch, either. While Earl’s outside shot isn’t as good as Ridnour’s, his defense is superior, and he outranks Delonte West in ball-handling and distribution.

(And, in case you felt like arguing about “crunch time stats,” bear in mind that Earl Watson’s eFG percentages in crunch time for the past five seasons were 42, 61, 43, 34, 48. If you can see a pattern there, you’re much smarter than me. Suffice it so say that I don’t anyone on the Sonics is any more “clutch” than anyone else; just than some players are better shooters than others).

Back to the lineup. You could argue that putting a rookie in a pressure situation isn’t the best idea, but this is a team trying to build for the future and Durant is that future. Add in his 81% FT mark at Texas, and it’s a no-brainer. Plus, this squad needs someone who can hit outside shots other than Wally, and Durant fits that bill.

Szczerbiak v Wilkins is a tough call, but I’m going with Wally just because he’s just such an outstanding shooter. Of course, with Szczerbiak’s proclivity to get injured Wilkins will still have plenty of opportunities (assuming, that is, that the Sonics have plenty of close games, which is a stretch).

Finally, Collison and Thomas are just so far ahead of their competition when it comes to defense and execution there really isn’t much of a contest. After all, who do you think is more likely to box out: Nick Collison or Chris Wilcox? Who is more likely to switch at the right time, Kurt Thomas or Bob Swift? It’s really not an argument.

Now, if the coaching staff wants to sabotage any chance at winning this season, Jeff Green or Swift could see more action, and I would even argue it would be smart to run those two out there at least occasionally so they can get a feel of the tenacity of late-game action. Still, I really believe the Sonics can’t afford to let Durant get a taste of losing every night, and he needs to be playing with guys who know what they’re doing at the end of games, if only to further his development.