What? We still have a team? It's important to talk about basketball a little bit as well. Here are some various, moderately interesting things that I have heard:
Sonics Assistant Coach and head trainer Dwight Daub was dispatched to Washington DC to work with Kevin Durant and Jeff Green for the last couple of weeks. While I have not confirmed it my hunch is that they are working out at the Wizards practice facility. Teams generally swap considerations to use the facilities and sometimes it is this kind of interaction that facilitates trades. Seeing as Brendan Haywood and a couple of other Wizards are reportedly on the block I thought I'd throw it out there.
Daub will be returning home shortly as Jeff Green is expected to return to Seattle early next week to work out with the guys. Kevin Durant will be following closely behind.
It's a good thing that Daub is coming back to town because Robert Swift is scheduled for his first scrimmage today. We'll likely get an update on that one shortly. Swift feels like things are ahead of schedule and is anxious to get back on the floor.
Green will not be staying long in Seattle however. The Seattle forward was recently added to the Team USA practice squad and will be joining teammates Kevin Durant and Nick Collison in Las Vegas August 22-29. PJ Carlisimo will be coaching and the Sonics presence should be everywhere.
Last little tidbit picked up by Scott. According to the ESPN trade checker Boston picked up a trade exception for sending us Delonte West. How did they wind up getting a $1,050,000 exception (which could have a heck of a lot of value to them now...) at the same time we get a $2,800,000ish exception out of the deal(ESPN incorrectly lists this exception as $1,750,000. They got 1/2 of the deal right but missed it on the Sonics end)?
Simple: We had a trade exception left over from the Mikki Moore trade that we used to bring in Delonte West as part of the deal. There were really two different trades executed simultaneously, Delonte West brought in via the trade exception for the second round pick, and Ray Allen for Wally Z and Jeff Green. Another side benefit from the Moore deal. An exception worth $2,8 is actually a nice little asset in the pocket while one for $700K is virtually worthless and one worth $1,800,000 somewhere in the middle.
The Sonics currently have two trade exceptions, $2.8M for the Ray Allen trade and $1.2M left over from Rashard.
Nice maneuvering by the front office.