Well not really, but he ought to sign up as our front man if he wants to get traded as bad as I hear.
I don't claim to know Earl well but he's a friend of the site and has always been cool to me. The one thing that anyone will tell you about Earl Watson is that he tells it like it is. Right now I'm assuming he's telling people he doesn't like the situation. It has been a known fact that Watson has wanted out of this situation for a while. Last spring he gave strong indications that he expected to be moved over the summer. Just this week his desire to move out of town was re-itterated to management and suddenly Delonte West is starting? Funny timing on that one...
I'm going to let Earl know that advocating basketball in Seattle and being an active soldier for our cause may be just the thing to move him out of town.
Interestingly enough the most active suitors for Earl during his last free agent period were Miami and Cleveland. Both were clubs he expected to pursue him this last offseason, and both are rumored to be active in the PG market. Unfortunately Earl plays with some pretty damn unstable players and that makes it hard for a PG to get momentum and build his trade value. Here's hoping he goes on a roll.
Sounds like tensions within the locker room are high with the losses taking their toll. Some of the same beefs I had about Ray Allen are repeating themselves with the current staff. Most noticably are that having a guy(Durant) who is a volume shooter is great when those buckets are dropping in wins, but it rubs people the wrong way when the losses start piling up. Now nobody feels like they are going to get the ball back and they are all frustrated.
Ditto on the management side. The hard-ass San Antonio methodology, controlling every detail and keeping a tight circle contained by strong leadership seems like a small sacrifice for Brent Barry on the Spurs. Have a few more restrictions and be along for the ride on multiple championship runs in a professional environment. That same style is extremely grating on a team that can't get a win. The stories about friction between players and management are laughable. They are like my daughters pre-school, but they are unlikely to get better until they turn things around in the win loss column.
So to date I count only one loss, Orlando that was a stinker. Anyone have more? We need to track how many of our losses were entertaining games just because it is interesting. I will say however that 2 years ago I made the same claim and felt that our close losses were indicators were close to turning it around. I'm not buying into that theory quite so easily again.
Ciess said on the radio that the arena information would be out in a few weeks. To the best of my knowledge that is still on and there is lots of preparation in the background. The release timing for all this stuff is going to be strategized very closely to ensure that it maximizes pressure on the league and Clay to accept a reasonable deal. Furthermore indications from federal court are that Judge Martinez is having nothing to do with the teams request to expedite the hearings or move the trial to a new venue. He has basically said that the hearing to decide whether to expedite things is unlikely to occur until April and he is thinks a favorable(to the team) outcome is unlikely. He'd encourage them to go another direction.
Keep the faith. Happy Holidays.