Tuesday, October 9

The Omen

Looks like Damien Wilkins will get the call for the Sonics' first pre-season game, and not Jeff Green.

Percy Allen reports in his Sonics' blog that the starting five for tonight's game with Sacto are:

Ridnour, Durant, Wilkins, Collison, and Swift

Wow, I've got to agree with Allen that Bob Swift in the starting lineup is not something I expected to see, and likewise with Collison replacing Wilcox, although the recent minor injury troubles for Weezy might have played a role. And The Omen? Who saw that coming?

And, it's entirely possible that Carlesimo is just interested in seeing how certain fit together. As he and the rest of the coaching staff have said repeatedly, this is just another version of practice and we shouldn't read anything into who starts or gets the most minutes. At this point, it's a case of the coaches getting a better feel for their roster.

Nancy, With the Laughing Face

In case you've forgotten, at SuperSonicSoul we've got it bad for erstwhile Va Tech guard Zabian Dowdell. After his failure to latch on with an NBA team in either round of the June draft, Dowdell drifted to France, where he now takes up residence with the Nancy Cougars (and, no, I don't know if that's really their nickname, but it appears to be).


Thus far, Dowdell has registered an average of 13 ppg through two games. Interesting or no, you've got to be intrigued by the first piece of artwork you see when loading up the Nancy team page.





I honestly have no idea what it says, but kudos to the folks designing the team website for throwing something onto their page that includes: 1) a cross-dressing moose and 2) French General Joseph "Papa" Joffre from World War I.

Pre-Season Begins

So, the long haul kicks off tonight in Sacramento. You know Sacramento; it's the place David Stern pays attention to.

(Sorry, how about a moratorium on arena- and owner-bashing for the rest of the pre-season. At least until Clay Bennett's inevitable press conference the day after opening night).

Anyhow, PJ Carlesimo has yet to release a starting lineup for tonight's affair at Arco Arena, but from all reports it sounds as though the game will be even more pre-season than normal, and that the coaching staff is looking at it as merely another form of practice.

As Kevin Pelton points out at the supersonics.com blog, Gelabale, Szczerbiak, Swift, and Thomas will likely all sit out due to minor injuries.

One minor thing I'm trying to find information on: pre-season stats. I can't seem to find info anywhere on pre-season stats from previous seasons, and I would like to do a comparison of highly touted rookies in the past few years to see how their exhibition stats stacked up to their regular season ones. It might be illustrative for Durant and, to a lesser extent, Jeff Green. Any help would be appreciated.

Go Sonics!