OK, here's the deal with Sene. According to Sonics brass this was largely Bob Hill's pick. After Sene's workouts Hill praised this rookie like I have heard few guys praised. They feel that Sene was better than any free agent center they could have signed that would have made the rotation this year, which I agree with. Basically you have to think of it as a Moneyball pick. I know that everyone will say "Why didn't they take Brewer?" the simple facts are:
1) There is a Brewer in the draft every year. Locke wisely compared Brewer to Dez Mason. Dez Mason is good, yeah, but still ...he's a replaceable player. Brewer wasn't going to get minutes here.
2) If Sene pans out then Seattle has THREE young centers all of whom can run, play at the NBA level and are all 20 years old. This is unprecedented. If two of the three guys pan out as rotation players then instead of being forced to sign the Calvin Booths and Jim McIlvaines of the league we can hold another team hostage for once trying to sign one of these guys away. 7 footers who can play are THE most rare commodity in the NBA. It's the equivalent of drafting left tackles in football, or LH pitchers in baseball, or stud shortshops.
3) Seeing as no matter who we picked was destined to have a minimal role, why not swing for the fences? Let's face it this draft was at best 6 or 7 players deep and the best guys were gone. Gay didn't drop to 10 (and it's questionable how good Rudy Gay really is to drop all the way to 8) and Foye was long gone by then.
4) Even if we drafted a swingman, where does he fit in behind Damien and Gelebale....the org has obviously not given up on Damien Wilkins after signing him to that 5-year deal and we should all give them their due diligence on following through with that commitment.
5) Even though offensively Petro and Swift made a good rotation at center last year, they sucked defensively. That's not hatin', it's the truth. If (and I readily grant it's a big if) Sene is as good as advertised as a shotblocker and a rebounder, then the Sonics have a guy who can help keep teams out of the paint and block a shot or two. If he's limited offensively, SO WHAT. We don't run any offensive plays for our centers anyhow. If the guy can hold down a 10 mpg backup role and give us 2-4 pts, 2-4 rebs and 2 blocks, he's doing his job as a rook. and Bob Hill says he WILL have a role in the rotation next year with Nick getting minutes as a 4 only and Petro being the 3rd PF on the depth chart behind Wilcox and Nick. Versatility and depth are a good thing since Nick hasn't shown he can stay healthy.
So that's my case for Sene. Hey, at least we didn't pull a Portland and draft 10 guards....