The conversation got pretty heated here yesterday concerning Seattle selecting Sene with the 10th pick and letting Brewer go past (to Utah with the 14th pick).
For me, there's a solid reason for this:
This is Bob Hill versus Nate McMillian.
Nate has had success drafting or acquiring 6'6" guys and making them NBA players. His idea of a big man is Reggie Evans and Art Long. We all remember the someone-stole-my-bicycle look on Nate's face when Swift was taken.
Bob Hill has always been around big centers and power fowards and trusts a game that works inside out versus outside in (he has adapted with the personel he was given from McMillian's roster).
This maybe overly simplistic, but I think it has a lot of merit. Look at what Nate's building in Portland. A team full of 6'5" guys that can run around and play his scramble game.
The drafting of Sene was solely because Bob Hill's the coach.
Seattle's building a bigger squad that can pound people. It's a huge philosophical shift from what we've all known in the last few years as Sonics fans.
No one here is giving the Sonics front office a free pass on drafting raw 7'0" projects while Ray's biological clock is ticking. There's just been a shift in the guard, or away from the guard as primary weapon, and it takes awhile to get used to. Some of us that have been watching the Sonics try and compete using solely small ball are interested in the new direction, not giving free passes.
It should also be noted that Seattle tried to trade up and get either Gay or Foye. So it's not like they weren't interested at all in swing players. If I'm upset about not getting a swing player, it's that we maybe didn't try hard enough to get Battier.