If there's a bright spot to getting blown out three straight games on the current road trip, it's the insertion of Collison into the starting lineup. Why did the Sonicscentral writers see this and not the coaching staff? I'm not trying to be critical, but it just makes sense.
I'm not overly impressed that he recorded a 20-12 because if the guy gets minutes, he's going to put up numbers. He's a quality player, and the more time you give him working with Luke and Ray, the better results you're going to get. Plus, I've noticed he's settling in on his free throw shooting and making his shots. Last year it seemed he had quite a few games where he scored 10-12 points but missed 3 or 4 free throws.
The new Reggie-at-the-line is Petro (Reggie's actually making his shots, but with Nick starting, Vladi needing minutes and Danny as the next backup, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Reggie's minutes shrink considerably). That's the product of being 19 and nervous. He has a decent rotation; his shot doesn't look bad at all so I think we'll see him settle in and start making some freebees by mid-season--well, at least not go 1-6.
I'm really excited about Petro's development and potential. Yeah, guys like Duncan and Ming are going to eat him up, but we need that size and athleticism up front and if he's going bad, he can be yanked out. Keep playing him Weiss.
Did you see Vladi's minutes Sunday? 16. I understand Weiss is tinkering, trying to find his rotation guys, but Vladi needs to play. Vladi's minutes aren't an option if this team wants to be successful.
Murray, eh, he's okay and he still hasn't come to the understanding he has to play both ends of the court, but if he plays like he played Sunday, there's still hope he can become that third guard. It's really simple with Murray: play hard defense, make your teammates better, STOP turning over the ball, and hit your free throws and you'll have a spot in Seattle's rotation and a nice NBA career. But those things still seem like a tall order for Murray to figure out.
Weiss' use of Wilkins Sunday seemed good. We learned last week that Damien's role needs to be limited to certain spots, like going in to shut down someone who is hot, giving a quick breather to Ray or Flip, not shooting much when he gets in there, and being a great practice player.
We really need one more win off this road trip. Tonight would be nice; two more wins would be a dream trip for this team right now.