Vitaly Potapenko completed his first full practice since early October today, returning from an injury suffered on the third day of training camp. After several days of conditioning and light contact drills he advised that he felt fine during the Sonics daily full-court scrimmage.
Potapenko’s return added a new wrinkle to the debate about who should start at center on opening night. Rookie Johan Petro appeared to be the likely starter in Potapenko's absence but coach Bob Weiss has indicated a desire to start Potapenko if healthy. Today’s scrimmage provided a strong indicator of who will likely take the floor with the starting unit on opening day but unfortunately I was not on hand to witness it. The team broke practice early for a group lunch and only the Tacoma News Tribune’s Frank Hughes was on hand to watch the scrimmage. As a courtesy to Frank I’ll encourage you to read his piece tomorrow morning and expect that you’ll get a good hint about the starting lineup at that time.