Two men enter. One man leaves.
Scratch that. Two men enter. Both leave with extensions.
How anyone can not be ecstatic about both of these deals is beyond me.
"We're excited to have Nick signed," Sund said. "He can play either the four or the five positions, so he's an asset to our team. We've seen steady improvement over the last two years out of Nick. He's a great young man who worked hard all summer long, and we look forward to a good year. We now have three young players signed, and we're excited about the next few years with the Sonics."
Winning teams have a Nick Collison. He is the consummate professional. His teammates enjoy having him in the locker room and most of all on the floor. He makes the smart play. He makes the correct play. In the areas he lacks he has shown the ability to overcome with experience
.
Agreed.
Clay Bennett has a busy first day on the job.
Bringing the NHL to Seattle is not a new issue, but the question is whether Bennett is also willing to own that team. Bennett wants an arena built to house an NHL team, unlike KeyArena, which is too small for NHL regulations.
"It is to be explored," Bennett said. "There may well be interest in hockey, and I think we ought to test that. I think it's worth understanding the feasibility of hockey in this marketplace."
I'm not entirely sure hockey would fly up here -- it'd be one more sport for fairweather Seattle "fans" to completely ignore if the team's not winning -- but I applaud the effort to try. Getting more than one major tenant is a must for any possibility of getting a new arena built.
The Dire Importance Of A Fast Start
New Sonics owner Clay Bennett and some of the ownership group will attend along with many skeptical fans who are wondering whether the Sonics are the same all-offense, no-defense club or if the emphasis on defense during training camp changed the culture of the team.
The Sonics play six of their first eight games on the road, and the Trail Blazers are likely their easiest opponent in that stretch. Last season, the Sonics dropped their opener to the upstart Clippers and proceeded to lose five of their first seven games. At no point during the season were they over .500.
The most crucial part of that quote is in bold. The team only has plays three games at home out of their first nine if memory serves, and the first ten games generally make the greatest impression on people's perceptions of whether or not the team's going to be good. A blowout win tonight would be fantastic from a PR point of view.
From yesterday, Jerry Brewer asks, "Are the Sonics worth it?"
In the words of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, If you have to ask, you'll never know Jerry.
Booji Boy writes a Sene article with exactly eight words from Big Mo himself. Actually, this piece was fairly well done and is the kind of thing Booj should stick to in the future.
"The room fell silent when it was Sene's turn to talk and, in his thickly accented English, he said, "My greatest fear is that I [don't] execute the plays."
So amid all the extension hoopla, Percy has a sit-down with Rashard's agent Carl Poston.
""We're saying that right now, we don't want to do an extension and we want to focus on the season," Poston said. "There's so many rumors, and not just with the team and the Seattle and the Oklahoma City thing, but rumors about the NBA in general. We just want to concentrate on the season and see how everything unfolds.
"It's been my experience that it's not a good thing to do these things [negotiate contracts] once the season starts. So as I told Rashard, let's focus on the season. Period. And then, who knows?"
I honestly wouldn't focus too much on anything said here. Poston is mostly a football guy and his representation strategy has always been a confrontational one. He's always holding his guys out and it wouldn't surprise me if Rashard chooses to go down that road in the future. We'll see.
Dude, did the Heat get their sh!t spanked last night or what???? I saw that game, crazy.
Let's play compare and contrast. Would you rather have Luke Ridnour for 3 years $25 mil or TJ Ford for 3 years $33 mil?
Supersonicsoul does the ultimate breakdown on Wally Walker, check it out.
Holy Cow, the TNT takes the cake today as far as content.
All-Time Sonic starting fives!
Kevin Pelton
Covers the team for SuperSonics.com.
F: Dale Ellis
F: Shawn Kemp
C: Jack Sikma
G: Gary Payton
G: Ray Allen
Dude, no love for the X Man? :D
Lenny Wilkens Sonics player (’68-72,) coach (’69-72; ’77-85), NBA Hall of Famer
F: Shawn Kemp
F: Dennis Johnson
C: Jack Sikma
G: Gus Williams
G: Fred Brown
Wilkens: “I don’t think I should put myself on the team.â€
Didn't stop Sikma ...
I'm just not a fan of the color commentaryzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...snorkSNORKsnork
Geez, sorry about that, I fell asleep during the color commentary portion of the Roundup. It happens.
Card-carrying Sonic sourpuss Mike Kahn indulges in misty green-and-gold-colored memories
There is no way to forget that first season in Seattle. It was the fall of 1986, when nobody knew if Xavier McDaniel and Tom Chambers could really co-exist, let alone with a new gunner – Dale Ellis – joining the Sonics in Bernie Bickerstaff’s second season as coach.
But when Ellis stole the ball from Dirk Minniefield and laid in the winning bucket eight months later, it clinched the six-game series and double-overtime victory over the Houston Rockets before a delirious sellout crowd in the old Coliseum. Oh, they were swept in the Western Conference finals by the soon-to-be-champion Lakers, but that was the first of three trips to the conference finals over the next 10 years during the most successful dozen seasons in franchise history.
If you read only one story, please make it this one: Kevin Calabro and Bob Blackburn Dual Interview
Have a great day, watch or attend the game tonight and GO SONICS!