I hate preseason sports. I typically don't watch them, and my interest in reading the recap the next day is to make sure no one got hurt. Preseason basketball is simply a countdown, for me, towards the regular season.
However, as the Sonics open their preseason schedule tonight against the evil Blazers, what are you anxious to see about the '05-06 Sonics?
Swift's starting. Well, injuries have already hit and Potapenko's out so the Sonics are starting 19-year-old Robert Swift. Swift's role is to block/change shots, rebound and set picks on offense. My goals for the big red head are significantly less: get comfortable on the pro floor and learn to play without fouling. If he can get those two figured out, the other stuff will be figured out in time; certainly not in preseason, but during the regular season.
Whatcha got Flip? The team doesn't have a long time to figure out if Flip can fill the role AD played last season. It needs to be determined early on if Weiss can employee the system Seattle used effectively last year (3 guard rotation), or if he needs to replace Luke with Brunson and Ray with Flip and Damien.
With Radmanovic nursing a sore foot (anyone else worried about this injury? I'm just hoping to not pick up the paper and hear Radmanovic and surgury in the same sentence anytime soon), Damien's going to have a chance to pick up some minutes and show what he can do. If he's smoothed out his jumper and he's ready to shoot above 75% from the free throw line, he should be able to claim some solid minutes and contribute.
The downside there is that Seattle needs to figure out what they're going to do with Radmanovic. Where's his minutes coming from? The 4? Does he pick up Rashard's bench minutes? I don't envy Weiss trying to figure out the PF's minutes.
What are your preseason hopes Sonic fan?