Good Morning from Salt Lake City, Utah where today the temperature is expected to hit 100 degrees and the Seattle Supersonics will open up summer league play with a 1pm PST tip-off against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Sonicscentral.com will provide an update immediately following the game and depending on internet access will try to post a running game log. Early indications are that wireless connections will be on available at luxurious Salt Lake City Community College.
As an opening statement just let me say that any arena opponents who think that Renton or Bellevue are too small to host an NBA franchise need only look at downtown SLC to get an idea of how easily possible that is. If This city can have an NBA team then I start to believe that downtown Mukilteo may have the capactity for it. Onto the game...
The Sixers boast an undersized lineup with 6'11 Steve Castleberry likely to start at center. His backups include Shavlik Randolph and 6'8 Harold Jamison out of Clemson. This may pose problems for 7'0 center Mo Sene who is expected to start for Seattle and will likely have trouble matching up with the smaller opponents. Good thing for Sene that you cannot foul out of summer league because he is likely to rack up a ton of them.
The two local angles of this game, besides Sene's debut would be Sixers rookies Bobby Jones and Rodney Carney. Jones is a Seattle fan favorite after playing for the University of Washington and Carney was a likely draft choice had the Sonics not decided to select the 7 foot Sene. I expect to watch Carney and Utah Jazz rookie Ronnie Brewer very closely to see if the Sups passed up something special.
My guess for Seattle's starting lineup is completely arbitrary. I expect them to go with many different looks throughout the review.
PG: Patch Morliende
SG: Denham Brown
SF: Ronnie Burrel
PF: Noel Felix
C: Mo Sene
The team arrived in town yesterday and went through a walk-through and shootaround this morning. They are expecting to arrive at the gym around 2pm for their 3pm game.
Check back for updates often.