Ceis Looking For Solutions

Olympia may have passed up on the Sonics, but Seattle's Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis says the city is not throwing in the towel. With an April 10 deadline looming to take advantage of the $150 million offered by the new ownership group, Ceis told the TNT's Eric Williams that "we’re going to give it our best shot."

Ceis admitted that coming up with the missing $75 million expected from the state will be difficult, but thought something could be done.

Art Thiel has a well thought out piece discussing the situation at the PI, while Greg Johns runs down the possible next steps in this ongoing saga (and gets in more than a few digs at David Stern while he's at it).

At this point, the next move belongs to the city. It seems that the powers there are firmly in support of the Sonics, so the only moves to be made are finding ways to come up with $75 million, whether it be selling the arena to the new owners, adding more tax to the proposed admission tax, or some other machinations.

Call her out!

From Save Our Sonics:

"Dear Fellow Sonics Fan

Today the Washington State Legislature voted on their budget and, if they adjourn as scheduled will have failed to even address our issue despite the flood of calls they have received.

Last night Governor Christine Gregoire joined other politicians in commenting on our massive display of support. She provided some hope by seeming to embrace the idea of a special session and declaring "I understand how passionate Sonics fans are. I've known that all the way along. I'm a Sonics fan myself. I know how passionate taxpayers are. I've heard from them loud and clear," but I don't think you should ever think that conversations are dead until they Sine Die in Olympia. Today we have a report that calls to Gregoire are running lukewarm in support of this statement. Perhaps because many sports fans feel that they have already called and that our job is done.

Our loud message is getting through to people and there is still significant chance for success. Please continue your support and call the Governor to POLITELY tell her you appreciate her comments and are counting on her to help save the Sonics.

Governor Christine Gregoire Comment Line:
(360) 902-4111

We're in it till the end!

Brian and Steve
Save Our Sonics"

Green Not So Golden

Most seasons, the NBA draft is a gigantic game of ring toss, with each team hoping the seven-foot guy with the decent footspeed turns out to be more David Robinson than Rich King.

But some seasons, the gods smile upon the drafters and they are given a bounty of solid options from which to choose. 1998, 1995, and, of course, that hallowed year of 1984, when teams chose from Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton (and Michael Cage, lest we forget).

This past June was supposed to be one of those drafts, with all sorts of experts weighing in on the talent available. With two picks in the top five, the Sonics and their fans should have been dancing in the streets, right?

Leaving aside the arena situation, why are we, well, less than thrilled with the results? Kevin Durant’s shot selection has been mocked from coast to coast, but he is still the odds-on favorite to win Rookie of the Year, and no one disputes that his career appears bright.

But Jeff Green, that second selection, fifth overall? The guy with the college experience? The Pippen to Durant’s Jordan? What of him?

In a way, Green’s year has mirrored the opinions of him: not bad, but not good either. Green is seemingly too small to regularly play power forward, yet he doesn’t seem especially suited for small forward either. His stats bear that out.

First, let us look at the most recent #5 selections in the draft (with the notable exception of Nikoloz Tskitishvili), listed in chronological order:

player	PER
jeff green	9.4
shelden williams	12.3
ray felton	14.2
devin harris	14.7
dwyane wade	17.6
jason richardson	13.8

Obviously, Green’s numbers are lacking. Of course, PER is but one measure of a player’s worth and I am quite sure his defenders could produce a litany of reasons for why he ranks the worst.

But what if we expanded the list, to, say, the past 20 years rather than the past five, and we looked at all the numbers rather than just PER? For the purposes of this discussion, I will omit such players as Jonathan Bender, who languished on the bench their rookie seasons. Here are the numbers, from best to worst:

player	PER
vince carter	19.6
dwyane wade	17.6
mitch richmond	17.2
laphonso ellis	16.6
kevin garnett	15.8
kendall gill	15.4
juwan howard	15.0
devin harris	14.7
ray allen	14.6
ray felton	14.2
jr rider	14.2
jason richardson	13.8
tony battie	13.3
mike miller	13.2
scottie pippen	12.9
steve smith	12.5
shelden williams	12.3
jr reid	10.2
jeff green	9.4

Doesn’t look so good, does it? It is one thing to be the lowest ranked man in a list of five, but another entirely when you rank 19th out of 19. I won’t re-create the entire lists here, but Green ranked 14th in true shooting percentage, 17th in effective field goal percentage, 16th in assist percentage, last in offensive rating, 18th in win shares, and last in steal percentage.

To be fair, Green did fairly well in rebounding, ranking 8th in rebounding percentage. And to say his career is over after less than a full season would be a foolish argument to make, but I doubt that anyone could argue that Green’s season has been somewhat of a disappointment. Even David Thorpe, who constantly ranks and re-ranks the rookie class for ESPN, has Green slotted as 16th in his class, two spots below Glen Davis and nine below Carl Landry, two second-rounders the Sonics traded away.

Will it mean anything for his future, though? It is important to note Felton, Harris and Wade all dramatically improved their passing skills as their careers progressed and Williams became a much better rebounder statistically this season. People are not machines, and to say Green’s accomplishments, or rather the lack thereof, this season are the sum total of his capabilities is silly. There is plenty of upside to Green’s future, and I won’t be type of person who says that the Sonics made a big mistake in taking him. It’s just too early to tell all of that.

With that said, though, if you find yourself reading this off-season that the Sonics’ front-office attributes Green’s numbers to first-year troubles, well, I guess you know a little better, don’t you?