Official Seattle Supersonics Thread

[Air Zoom Kobe I]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... 5~22~25~30


^^^The sonics need a trade like this. They need some sort of leader or star to help them.

I don't think they'll make tha playoffs for a good while unless someone steps up. I think Durant will be ROY but I doubt if he'll be putting up VC or T-Mac-Like numbers to help his team get there. (F)Luke Ridnour is going to have to step up in order for this team to function. Collison will have a breakout season. So should Saer.

[maes]

That trade will never happen. No GM in the league will trade Okafor for Wally Sczerbiak. Otherwise Boston would have done that years ago and Sauru would be kissing Ainge's feet.

I do like Collision, but i don't think any breakout year is coming i think he's doing what he'll always do, rebound well & score garbage/opportunity buckets.

Sene is nothing but a tall guy in the middle.

Swift is going to have a breakout year. He's gone from 240 to 280 from working out, now benches 315 and has been showing a lot more aggressiveness & confidence and apparently has been working on turnaround jumper, at 7' 2".

[Sauru]

i was really praying that the reports were true that swift was in the allen deal. actually i wish we would have offered something else to get swift in deal. i think that the sonics were so eager to not only get the 5th pick but also get rid of allen that we could have gotten our hands on swift without offering much more.

[Air Zoom Kobe I]

Wow, a turnaround jumper?? at 7'2? Maybe he WILL break out, who knows. But i believe Collison will be better than last year. Theyre going to have to share the ball because since Ray and Rashard are gone, they don't have a primary scorer.


http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... 22~22~22~3


If I was Seattle's GM, I'd take this.

[Dro]

Wow, a turnaround jumper?? at 7'2? Maybe he WILL break out, who knows. But i believe Collison will be better than last year. Theyre going to have to share the ball because since Ray and Rashard are gone, they don't have a primary scorer.


http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... 22~22~22~3


If I was Seattle's GM, I'd take this.

The only team that would take Francis is a team that is in dire need of a point guard...and NOH has Chris Paul. Makes no sense for NOH.

[Air Zoom Kobe I]

They need a shooting guard, too. Francis is pretty versatil in that department. He could be insurance at the point if CP3 got injured. But he could play point

But anyway, we would be getting a scorer in Peja. So that's wat i was getting at.

[---]

Kevin sure as hell can carry this team, just like LeBron and Melo did in 2003. They may not win a whole lot of games, but thats because of the lack of a supporting cast. I do think Durant can lead a team in his rookie season.

[maes]

IMO...let Durant get stats and experience, it's OK to lose games...hit the lottery...draft Derrick Rose, sign a big free agent, and call it a rebuild and hit the playoffs in 2 years.

[Sauru]

Kevin sure as hell can carry this team, just like LeBron and Melo did in 2003. They may not win a whole lot of games, but thats because of the lack of a supporting cast. I do think Durant can lead a team in his rookie season.

he can carry them, but not yet. he is not there yet and its silly to think that in his rookie season in the western conference he can carry them anywhere. seattle will not make the playoffs this season, but thats ok. give him his year, feed him the ball like maes said. let his confidence grow. let him show the world he can do amazing things with the ball. then tell him, now if you wanna win this is what we need to do with your game. if he is willing to be a leader instead of a stat whore then seattle will be a good team soon.

[Lamrock]

PJ Carlesimo to be named coach. Pretty obvious. As much as I hate them, I think this is very smart. Defense wins championships.

Its a shame Fortson is leaving, I just know he would have strangled PJ within a week.

http://www.nba.com/news/423339.html

[---]

he can carry them, but not yet. he is not there yet and its silly to think that in his rookie season in the western conference he can carry them anywhere. seattle will not make the playoffs this season, but thats ok. give him his year, feed him the ball like maes said. let his confidence grow. let him show the world he can do amazing things with the ball. then tell him, now if you wanna win this is what we need to do with your game. if he is willing to be a leader instead of a stat whore then seattle will be a good team soon.

I don't get this post. He can carry them, but he's a rookie. LeBron carried his team his first year and they were still pretty bad. He carrried them, they just didn't go anywhere. As I said, KD could very well carry this team, be the focal point, the "man". The thing is, without much of a supporting cast (Ridnour? Wilcox? Wilkins?) this team wouldn't go anywhere. Swap KD with LeBron his rookie season, the team still wouldn't go anywhere. He is still carrying them though, just like KG carries that Timberwolves team.

Durant will be a 20+ PPG scorer, maybe the highest rookie scorer since AI. Scoring is what he does, its his specialty. His offensive game is more diverse than almost anyone I have ever seen.

But he is by no means a stat whore. He took some questionable shots last season at Texas, the thing is he made them. Example, with the clock winding down and the game tied against Oklahoma State, DJ Augustin drives in, doesn't go anywhere and fires up a wild shot around the freethrow line. The shot misses, but the ball is tipped out to KD on the right side, just inside the three. Theres like 40 seconds to go, enough time to hold and take a good shot, but Kevin takes a couple dribbles and pulls up for three almost immediately. He knocks the shot down. Texas wins.

He is all team. During every press conference he said DJ Augustin was the man that makes this team go (which was entirely true) and always sent credit DJ's way while the media piled it up on him. He's a great guy and a winner. He took alot of shots because he was the only real scorer on that team. DJ can score, but he is just so great of a passer that he was more effective playing that role and deferring to Kevin. AJ Abrams has trouble creating his own shot and got his points off of screens leading to open jumpers, so he was pretty limited in terms of scoring. Kevin was the number 1 offensive high school player in the country, of course he was gonna get as much shots as he wanted. The rest of the roster were mainly garbage men that did the dirty work, eg Damion James. Rick Barnes coaching scheme of "Give it to Kevin!!!" doesn't help either. Looking at his stats and how many shots he takes may make him look like a stat padder, but watch a few of his games and you'll see he's all about winning and he's a true team guy.

As for the last part of your post, statwhore or not, a Kevin Durant lead Seattle team will not go anywhere until he is surrounded by some great players. It's the same with every other player in the league. It doesn't matter how selfish he may or may not be, no player in the league could make the current Seattle team a contender. Nobody.

[1CenT]

I think KD will be the ROY, Sonics will win ~30 games...
KD will average 22-25ppg, 7-9rpg, 2-3apg, 1-1.5bpg, 1-1.5spg, shooting maybe 42-46%fg, 30-35%3pt, 75-82%ft, and more than 2.5TPG

so he could be a 24/8/2/1/1 player, shooting about 44%... since he will go to the perimeter more given he is lacking a little bit of strength...

I am sure he is not athletic as Tmac...
Damn Durant is not even 19 yet?
Will he be a 32/10/4/2/1 player in the future?

[---]

Kevins potential is off the charts. I wont even talk about his scoring because he is one of the best offensive players in college history after just one season. He also scores in everyway imaginable.

But his defence, while it needs alot of work, could get very good. He has one of the most amazing work ethics of any player in the last decade. If he wants to become a lockdown defender, he can. With his height and wingspan, he could become a freak of a defender - inside and out. He defended guards in college alot and the quickness didn't seem to bother him, while his huge arms and height caused problems for the guards. Downlow he wasn't that great of a man defender, mainly he just came in on help D and blocked shots.

If he works on his D he could become one hell of a player. If not, he's a more diverse Rashard Lewis.

But think about this. Have Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony reached their primes yet? No way.

These guys were the studs of the 03 draft class and this 07 class featuring KD could turn out to be just as good. If those guys haven't reached there prime and will continue to improve for at least another 5 years, the thought of Kevin Durant being just 18 years old and acheiving what he has just shows how much further his game can grow.

He is 4 years younger than LeBron James. 5 years younger than Carmelo Anthony. 5 years younger than Chris Bosh. 7 years younger than Dwyane Wade.

Kevin is gonna dominate this league for a long time, he will probably be putting up all star numbrs in his 15th season.

[Sauru]

when i talk about carrying a team i talk about letting them on your back and you WIN the game for them. you are not carrying anything if you are losing. i think he has the potential to do it, just not season 1. however i dont think he should be expected to in his rookie season. i think year 1 should be about him. let him get adjusted. let him do his thing, find himself, then learn how to get team involved and play with him instead of against his rythem.

[NovU]

judging from video clips of KD, i think he'd be like upgraded Detlef Schrempf, former seattle star forward...
can't wait to see him develop...

[---]

Anyone else watching the summerleague Sonics/Mavs game?

Kevin's shot isn't dropping, but he still has 13 points at halftime from getting to the line.

Maurice Ager looks just as impressive as when he was at Michigan State.

EDIT: Robert Swift has a ponytail.

[maes]

There are more examples of guys that young not leading a team than leading a team. Bron is a rarity, the Kobe Bryants, McGradys, Jermaine ONeal, and Garnetts are more common.

My take on Bron is that he's unusually advanced for his age physically. Being a 240 lb guard is not normal for college kids!

[Patr1ck]

The one thing that bothers me about Kevin Durant is his body. It reminds me of Shaun Livingston, so I hope he can work on conditioning his body so he doesn't end up twisted on the floor after some hard contact.

[-Young Buck-]

I dont understand why the Sonics traded for the 5th pick and then drafted Green. Doesnt he play the same position as Durant? They have Ridnour and West, no need for a PG. I think they should have taken Brandon Wright for PF, or even Corey Brewer to play SG. Why draft someone that high to play backup?

[maes]

I dont understand why the Sonics traded for the 5th pick and then drafted Green. Doesnt he play the same position as Durant? They have Ridnour and West, no need for a PG. I think they should have taken Brandon Wright for PF, or even Corey Brewer to play SG. Why draft someone that high to play backup?

Same here. When the trade was announced i was sure it would be for a big man, since Conley was gone at 4. When i heard it was for Green, i was just dumbfounded.

But most of the media thought it was a great move. Both DX and draft.net had Green going top 5. Eddie Johnson in his column said he thinks Green will challenge Durant & Oden for ROY honors.

One thing to consider is that Presti may think Durant will eventually play PF, and thus Green goes SF.

[Sauru]

i dont think green will really have a chance to challenge for the roy now though he might have had the chance else where. i still think brewer would have been a good choice at 5 but we will see how it all ends up.

[-Young Buck-]

maes, you may be right if they play durant at the 4 and green at the 3. but that would only work if they plan to play run and gun. Durant is way too skinny to be playing power forward. They could also play green at the 2, but i dont know how quick he really is.

[Silas]

I think that they'll work well together. They obviously like each other so that's definitely going to make things easier for them. The good thing is that they're both very versatile players. Durant can play 2,3, or 4, and Green can play 3 or 4. I always thought Green was the better post defender and shot blocker so he'd play the 4, but if I'm not mistaken it was Durant who played the 4 in their most recent summer game.

If Green can be the facilitator that everyone hopes he will be, then I think he'll have been by far the best choice for the Sonics. But, especially in drafts as deep as these, you never know who's going to be the best choice until the season is well underway.

I would give it some time at this point. I think they wanted people who could produce from the get go, and if they'd drafted somebody like Brandon Wright, they'd have to wait some time for him to develop. They obviously didn't want a big time Center, like Hawes because I think both Swift and Petro will be better players than him, and they're farther along in their agonizingly slow development process. I think the other two possible picks could have been Yi Jianlian, who is like Green, but more of a gamble, or Corey Brewer. But I think they felt Brewer was too one sided, and didn't have as much potential to be a big time player, like it appears Green has the possibility to be.

In the end, it was about putting a new face on the franchise. They have an entirely new one-two punch now with Durant and Green verses Ray and Rashard. They've got Robert Swift finally ready to break out into the league. They've got a stern, defensive-minded coach in P.J. Carlesimo instead of the non-defensive Bob Hill. They've got a new G.M. in Sam Presti, who at 30 years old must have something special because he's made some smart moves, though losing Rashard was most certainly painful and at least I felt was possibly avoidable.

On top of that, they're heavily shopping Ridnour and I'm sure Watson as well. Gone is the Era of the unrealiable front court that couldn't support Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, and Luke Ridnour. Now, it's a young, super athletic team that has nowhere to go but up and is missing only a veteran leader at the point. If they can land a player like Mike Bibby (which I think is possible, especially with all their cap space), I think there's a very, very good chance this team will make the post season.

[johanpetro]

Good to see we can score nearly 100 points without ray and shard, but we turned the ball over like mules tonight.
West had a big burst in the second quarter, and looked good.
Durant struggled defending Martin by the looks of it. Hit some text book shots in the second quarter but.

[Lamrock]

Well, they are 0-8, and a win doesn't look like it will come any time soon. Want to take bets on how many games they will lose before winning a game? I predict 12.

On another note, I'm joining Silas in making my member title "Save Our Sonics", and I hope more of you will support the cause here.