Fantasy

Thought you might be curious to see what espn.com expects from the Sonics this season. According to their fantasy player projections for the 07/08 season, here’s our roster:

C – Bob Swift, 5.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.5 blocks
PF – Chris Wilcox, 11.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg
SF – Kevin Durant, 19.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.5 assists, 2.7 turnovers, 1.1 steals, 1.2 blocks (“His field-goal percentage will be poor as he will be asked to take so many shots and defenses will key on him.”)
SG – Damien Wilkins, 7.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.6 assists
PG – Delonte West, 10.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.8 assists, 1.0 steals (“West's defense and ability to play under control will earn him minutes on a young Seattle team.”)

Bench
Luke Ridnour, 9.9 ppg, 5.2 assists, 1.9 turnovers, 1.2 steals (“While he is the best passer (or at least the flashiest) of the Sonics' three point guards, he is by far the worst defender. P.J. Carlesimo replaces Bob Hill, who had a poor relationship with Ridnour, but he will not go easy on Luke's open-door policy on defense.”)
Earl Watson, 8.4 ppg, 4.7 assists, 2 turnovers, 1.1 steals (“As you all know, King Ghidorah was the three-headed arch-nemesis of Godzilla. He was nasty, destroyed cities and benefited no one. Except for the destroying cities part -- though Seattle fans may disagree if the team bolts -- the Sonics point guard situation is very similar.”)
Wally Szczerbiak, 14.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.3 3fgpg (“If, as promised, it keeps the recurring sprains at bay, we could have a great value pick here.”)
Jeff Green, 12 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.2 turnovers
Nick Collison, 8.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg
Kurt Thomas, 5.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg

And some other former-Sonic-related projections:

Ray Allen, 22 ppg, 7th best shooting guard
Rashard Lewis, 21.5 ppg, 6th best shooting guard (behind Gerald Wallace; ouch)
Flip Murray, 6.8 ppg

Some observations: This is definitely fantasy-land, because I can’t see Ridnour, Watson, and West averaging a combined 40 points per game this season. Just seems unlikely to me. Also, I think the Green projections are a bit too optimistic, and Wilkins’ numbers should be higher, considering he may wind up being the starting small forward and that Szczerbiak will wind up getting hurt at some point this year.

Interesting to see how they projected Swift; can’t say I can disagree too much. The Wilcox numbers are much too low; I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t average closer to 13 ppg and 7.5 boards.

Durant Injured, Sonics Lose

Ouch. The only thing worse than (another) Sonic loss at this point is a Sonic loss combined with an injury to Kevin Durant.

Fortunately, it appears Durant's sprained ankle isn't serious (he tells Gary Washburn that he'll be ready for Opening Night). He suffered the injury with a couple minutes to go in the fourth quarter of last night's OT loss to the Warriors, a loss which dropped the Sonics' pre-season record to 1-5. However, Percy Allen notes on his Times blog that Durant will miss the final two pre-season games, including the game in Vancouver that I get to go to. Thanks alot, Marco Belinelli. I hope you wake up with a horse head on your pillow.

On a brighter note, the insertion of Nick Collison into the starting lineup seemed to help the team's tougness. Granted, the Warriors are not the Rockets when it comes to size (heck, they might even qualify to play in a Filipino league with some of their lineups), but when Collison and Chris Wilcox combine for 21 boards, I'll take it.

Oh, and you can't miss this quote from Don Nelson, brought to you from Percy Allen's blog:

"Seattle is not a good team and they almost beat us tonight so I don't know where that puts us. They're kind of a fun team. They're so young, they're going to suffer early until these young guys learn how to play. ... PJ has a tough job in front of him."

Normally, you'd be angered by reading something like that about your team, but I totally agree with Nelson. As these pre-season games drag on, I am more and more getting the feeling that we could be in for a really l---o---n---g season. I'm talking less than 30 wins kind of bad.

In fact, before I had read Nellie's quote, I had thought about how much money you could make this year by betting the over on Denver and/or Utah's total wins. Portland, Minnesota, and the Sonics are all going to suck royally this season, and the Jazz and Nuggets will be able to reap the benefits over and over again.

Finally, in a sign of how far off the radar Mo Sene, Johan Petro, and Mickael Gelabale have fallen with this coaching staff, the three imports combined for 0 minutes.

In a pre-season game.

With at least two teammates injured.

In overtime.

Au revoir, mes amis.

Sonics waive Jermaine Jackson, world mourns

The Sonics waived Jermaine Jackson yesterday, prompting basketball fans everywhere to say "Jermaine Jackson plays basketball?".

In tribute to the fallen Sonic, here he is singing that one song from the 80's. You know, the one they used to show on Friday Night Videos? Anyone? Sigh . . .