Dammit. I just spilled coffee all over myself and my cubicle. This sucks. On the bright side, I smell like the rich, smooth aroma of the finest mountain grown Colombian ...
Coffee, that is.
Nick will start at center tonight vs. the Pacers.
Jayda wrote a piece about it too.
Allen, who forced his offense along with Lewis late in the game, complained about the offensive structure. Allen spoke with Hill before practice Thursday, and although the All-Star was unavailable to media, he was seen still discussing breakdowns against the Magic with reserve Mike Wilks long after practice.
"A lot of that is situations that we put them in by not executing," Collison said of pressure on Allen and Lewis to score. "We put them in a position where they've got the ball and the shot clock [is running down] and we kind of just stare at them and say, 'Make a play.' It's tough for those guys to do. They're going to be able to do it sometimes, they're probably as good as there is in the league at doing it, but it's hard to consistently do that."
I'm all for it. I like the combo of Wilcox and Collison, and Petro's energy may work better with the second unit. Anyone who views this as some kind of promotion for Collison is missing the bigger picture. I would expect this could result in more run for Sene and that is a good thing IMO.
Now about this other lineup change ... You suppose there's kids out there that'll just refuse to accept the new Wiggles singer? Are there Wiggles purists out there who'll never accept anything but the classic lineup? Does it take that special something to belt out "Choo Choo Chugga Chugga Big Red Car'? And as a childless thirtysomething adult male why the flying flork do I know ANY lyrics to their music? Why couldn't I smoke those brain cells? Let's move along rather than ponder that.
With regards to the Talented Mr. Shuttlesworth:
Allen was frustrated after Wednesday's loss to Orlando and expressed a lack of confidence in his teammates, adding the revelation that he sometimes forces shots rather than pass to an open teammate.
Revelation? WTF? That's the no sh*t statement of the week ...
Lenny's obviously the big news. Art Thiel does a nice take on it here.
But does he want to be responsible for more?
Like, say, coaching the team?
Or, say, becoming its general manager?
No and no, Wilkens insisted. Bennett concurred.
"We talked about it," Bennett said, "and he assured me his coaching days were over. Same with the GM job. There might be a concern were it someone who didn't have Lenny's character."
Wheew. Here's the P-Is straighter news version.
"For me it's a challenge, but I am very excited," [Wilkens] said during a news conference at the Sonics offices. "I want to do everything that I can to help this grow, help this become a reality. A new building would be exciting for Seattle. I am here to do everything I can to help the franchise be successful."
The obligatory Steve Kelley precis.
Wilkens can't play point guard and he said he never will coach again, but he believes his presence and his past history here can return some of the some of the buzz to this once-vital franchise.
"I think any time you sell a franchise there's that hesitation by people to see what's going to happen," Wilkens said. "How's the team going to do, things like that. But we just have to let people know that we're for real and we do want this franchise to be here."
One of the leading sites in Bellevue is still the old Safeway distribution center east of Interstate 405, near Bellevue-Redmond Road. The 75-acre site is close to three freeways and is part of a 900-acre stretch of aging warehouses and office parks the city wants to redevelop.
The team also has looked at the city's "Auto Row," a string of dealerships along 116th Avenue Northeast, just east of I-405. The team is evaluating the stretch between Northeast Fourth and Eighth streets, though it is unclear which side of 116th, Bellevue Planning Director Matt Terry said.
The last confirmed potential site in Bellevue is a 15-acre vacant parcel on Southeast Eastgate Way, west of the Eastgate Park & Ride lot and owned by King County.
I used to work right by the Eastgate site, which isn't really big enough for the size and type of arena in my opinion. The best site of the 3 is still the Safeway parcel, if a deal can be worked out.
Where's the outcry by Van Dyk over this?
This is a decent story by Dave Boling to try to put some of the skepticism to rest, but I really take offense to a statement he makes in it.
And on top of being seen as an absentee owner of the lamentable Argyros-Smulyan-Behring lineage, Bennett has to carry all the baggage left by Barry Ackerley, Wally Walker and Schultz, in a series of owners and managers who did little to cause the public to embrace them.
Being seen by whom Dave? You? That's f****d up man. The guy has owned the team for about 30 business days and you compare him to Behring and Smulyan? Pure crap. Nothing this group has done warrants comparison to those two.
Frank's got some choice stuff in his blog, I just wish more of the good stuff would wind up in the stories.
Ray Allen was on the verge of blowing up after the game, at least for Ray. He is clearly frustrated that he is trying to get teammates involved, they are either missing shots or turning over the ball, and it is to the detriment of Ray and Rashard's production or to the detriment of the team. It sounds to me like he may just start pulling the trigger whenever he gets it and say screw his teammates, they can get theirs in transition or off turnovers and offensive rebounds.
I hope not, Ray Allen bricking more shots and trying to go mano a mano against double teams is NOT what this team needs.
Pete over at Supersonicsoul writes about the possibility of trading for Jamaal Magliore, which I've been in favor of almost since Robert blew his knee out.
Mike Seely blogs about on the scouting perspective.
One interesting tidbit from their patter: on more than one occasion, the sets the Sonics ran elicited laughs from my quartet of neighbors. Not a good sign.
You don't have to be a scout to laugh at some of the shenanigans I've seen them pull on offense this year Mike. Pretty much 90% of Earl Watson's possessions end that way for me.