From Frank Hughes' article at The News Tribune today:
"It appears that Vladimir Radmanovic is going to stay with the Seattle SuperSonics for the rest of the season.
Radmanovic’s agent, David Bauman, said the fifth-year forward will neither seek a trade nor allow the Sonics to trade him because it would not be to Radmanovic’s financial advantage. He becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer. Radmanovic turned down a six-year, $42 million offer from the Sonics last summer."
Vlade has to be regretting turning down that $42 million now. His game has been inconsistent so far this year, and he's done nothing to force Weiss to find more time for him. When Reggie Evans is taking minutes away from you, I think you have to start evaluating your effort. There is no doubt Vlade is talented, we've seen bursts here and there over the past few seasons. It seems to me that Vlade thinks he's entitled to something he has not yet earned, both in terms of money and in terms of respect as a player.
And then Vlade's agent throws Flip under the bus:
"If Vlade was a mid-level guy or less, we would be looking at trades. For a guy like … Flip Murray, in the last year of (his) deal, he should look at that. For a guy like Vlade, who wants more than the mid-level, the only way to do it is to do a sign-and-trade or do it with a team that has cap room."
And perhaps Vlade's agent hasn't been watching his stats lines this season, but he said the following at the end of the article:
“The only thing affecting him is how the season started, that’s all,†Bauman said. “He got into a funk, he got out of the funk. We have had people call us from around the league with assurances that he is going to be fine. They are not going to hold this season against him because they know it is just a struggle this year so far.
“(Coach Bob Weiss) has been struggling with the lineups for a long time. They know they can get 17 to 25 points a night from Vlade in the right circumstance. Basically that is up to them. They saw last week that when they play him 31 minutes, they get 23 points. If they play him 15 minutes, they are going to get seven points. That is just how it works.â€
Twelve times this season Vlade has had 20+ minutes in a game, and in only 7 of those games has he scored more than 10 points. In only two of those games has he grabbed 6 or more rebounds. Beyond that, he hasn't put forth much effort on the defensive end of the court. In the 4 games prior to his DNPCD vs. Portland on the 16th, Vlade posted 4 straight stinkers. He averaged 23ish minutes per game, but wasn't really looking to score from what I could see. Vlade needs to take it to the hole when he gets the chance, he's a great FT shooter and causes problems for the defense when he does this. He also needs to wait patiently on the weak side wing, ready to drop a 3 at a moment's notice. He hasn't been doing either of those much lately, and when you pair that with his limited rebounding, his apathy on defense you don't have a player who is making a strong case for playing time, or a new, larger contract no matter what his agent would have you believe.