Bob Hill during his weekly radio show tonight announced that Nick Collison will be returning to action on Friday night barring any setback in the full practice the team is running tomorrow. According to Hill he will be the backup PF as Chris Wilcox has earned the role as the starter with his play over the last couple weeks. Mikki Moore will move back out of the rotation completely once Johan Petro is deemed healthy enough to return the court.
On Wilcox, Hill mentioned something to the effect that during the negotiations with the Clippers Mike Dunleavy told him that if Chris were placed in an uptempo offense he would completely blow up. According to Hill one of the early conversations with Wilcox surrounded how he could be a top flight PF, Hill's answer was basically he needs to average 10 boards a game. Furthermore if he gets out and runs he can create 6-8 PPG and to be a starter he would really only have to create another 8 PPG and he'd be on the right track.
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Hill said the one thing that both Robert Swift and Wilcox need to work on is defensive footwork. Watching them together they play off each other really well. Given a full off-season to work together, I believe they will make great strides on the defensive end. Offensively there will not be many teams whose big men can keep up with the Supes.