It's one thing to be outclassed by a superior team on the basis of talent, which the Sonics were last night. It's another thing entirely to be run out of the building after a five day vacation.
Frank Hughes dissects the many injuries physical and mental that are plaguing the Supes right now. Although I'll kindly just say no to the possibility of adding JJ Redick. I have this thing about Dukies not named Elton Brand, you see.
“There is a damper on the team and the rest of the season,†Lewis said. “I don’t know if we are just giving up … but it seems like nothing is going our way right now.â€
The rest of the season? Is it that hard to motivate yourself Rashard? What the hell, dude. Rest the ankle and get happy. It sucked to be at my job yesterday, big time. I was snappish, unmotivated and being a jerk all day. But at least I showed up. Seems like these days there's about two or three Sonics that show up for the whole game. One thing I noticed about last night's game is that the Supes just crumble like a sand castle once the team gets down by 10 or more points. I think Locke makes this point on his simulblog as well. Basically once they go to the bench and it's Flip Murray or Wilkins in the backcourt this team just can't do anything.
Luckily, help may be on its way. The oft-talked about Earl Watson trade may go down tonight or tomorrow, and frankly it can't come soon enough. This team does need a veteran backcourt player and even though Earl comes with a slightly bigger price tag he's clearly the best option the Sonics can probably get right now, much better than some of the other options I'm hearing. Especially after Rick Brunson got in last night's game for eight minutes and basically brought ... nada.
From the too much time on your hands file. He'll be good. Trust me.
Robert Swift has apparently broken the orbital bone in his skull, not his nose as previously reported. That's very serious. The Times is reporting that he could miss 10-14 days and 8 games and in the opinion of the optometrist I talked to yesterday that's an extreme best case scenario. Get well soon Robert!
I don't know if the Sonics are going to win tonight, even though a matchup with Atlanta is probably just what they need right now ... but I do know Damien Wilkins is probably going to go off.
Wilkins traveled to New York for draft night hoping the Hawks would nab him. Instead, they took Donta Smith, Royal Ivey and Viktor Sanikidze. Only Ivey remains on the active roster. Wilkins is one of the Sonics' key reserves and top defenders.
"The fact that they had five draft picks. Five picks? I could have been one of the second-round picks, at least the last one," he said. "It didn't really affect it (relationship with Dominique), but it didn't help it. He never really gave me a reason. I always wanted him to just give me a reason why. He was in the room on draft night. What happened? Did my name come up?"
Wilkins does not talk with his uncle very often, but when he scored a career-high 26 points against Atlanta on Feb. 11, Damien received a call from Dominique.
"(Dominique) doubted, that's what it is," Damien said. "He, like them, didn't believe in me. I truly believe that my uncle didn't believe in me. I had to prove myself to him and that's disappointing because he knew me better than anybody. He's in my family. He's blood and he knew what I was capable of doing."
Don't feel bad Damien. You could be nephew to Isiah Thomas. Zeke is rapidly closing in on winning the Daily Roundup's Award as Dumbest Knicks GM Of All Time. That's some pretty exclusive company.