Saturday, November 26, 2005
SONIC DOOM
[actual post ~6:39p]
So it'd be an understatement to say I've neglected the start of the Sonics' season over the past few weeks. Last year, I was unemployed and in Bremerton with no Canuck action due to the NHL lockout. What I did have was a cable connection with FSNNW and the ability to watch 70-plus Sonic games during that season which surprised and captivated me and many others throughout the state of Washington.
This year, I'm employed and in Virginia Beach with no NBA League Pass, and the games would be at 10pm and 10:30pm, making it that much tougher to follow them. Still, I read articles whenever I can, and I pull up some KJR on the internet every once in a while, so I try to keep somewhat of a pulse on what's going on with the green and gold.
In a schedule form, here's how they've done, game to game.
2: L 101-93 vs. LAC
4: W 107-102 (OT) vs. MIN
8: L 94-69 at MEM
9: L 112-85 at CLE
11: L 137-96 at WSH
13: W 126-121 (OT) at TOR
15: L 109-99 at NJ
16: W 113-100 at BOS
18: W 98-84 vs. CHI
20: W 106-104 vs. SAC
22: L 93-87 vs. UTA
24: L 108-96 at LAK
26: L 105-99 vs. NOK
The schedule makers once again put the Sonics on the road for a six-game east coast swing in November, just like last season. This year's Sonics lost the first three on that road trip, but won two of the final three on the trip, giving at least some indication that maybe the ship would be righted a bit after losing four of five to start the season.
What's missing?
On the ridiculously obvious level, there's no Nate McMillan coaching the team. There's no Dwane Casey as an assistant coach, and his efforts were greatly instrumental in what last year's Sonic team achieved. On a lesser level, Dean Demopoulos followed McMillan to Portland and is now his lead assistant coach.
Also gone is the motivation that McMillan used with a team of nine free-agents-to-be. Ray Allen definitely got paid, as well he should have. Vladimir Radmanovic was a bit ill-advised in not taking the nice offer the Sonics had put onto the table.
The other obvious thing is that there were some departures. Jerome James and the garbage bag cape left, sure, and he had his moments last year, but he was mostly inconsistent up until the home game last year against Detroit. He did give you a 7-footer with six fouls though. An even bigger departure, though, was Antonio Daniels. I pretty much knew after Game 6 of the series against the Spurs had ended along with the season that Daniels was out the door. The Sonics would miss his energy off the bench and surehandedness when Luke Ridnour was busy being young on the floor and not running the point as smoothly.
A double-whammy of new personnel additions to fill the departures, injuries during the preseason, and a new head coach, and there definitely would be some sort of adjustment period even when everyone got healthy. The first few regular season games had Bob Weiss wrestling with his rotations and really having no feel for them whatsoever. Two of the new additions that were supposed to fill the void in some fashion were Rick Brunson (backup for Luke Ridnour) and Mikki Moore (fill some minutes left by Jerome James). Brunson has played in one game for the Sonics so far, and Moore played in just his third game today. This team also started Johan Petro at center on Opening Night, which wouldn't be such a big deal if he wasn't the Frenchman they just drafted last summer.
I'm not sure what the bright spots on this team are so far, though it appears Reggie Evans would be one of the few who is holding his end of the bargain. There's the eternal question of "who will be a third scorer?" after Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. The problem is that there have been nights where one of those two is off, and then the onus is on someone else to step up, which is greatly hit-or-miss. Luke Ridnour and Nick Collison had a couple of good games in the recent stretch where the team won four of five. Radmanovic up until the last couple games has been erratic. Ron Murray isn't taking advantage of all the minutes that Daniels freed up (and that Brunson hasn't been healthy enough to take). Murray's been disappointing to such a level that Weiss is playing last year's practice all-star and team player rep Mateen Cleaves for a spark off the bench. Damien Wilkins for the most part hasn't played like the Damien Wilkins that gave the Sonics a new dimension in the last few weeks of last season and in the playoffs.
You see, I could spout off about how the coaching is different, how the mix of players is different, how the players' roles aren't clearly defined, how Radmanovic shooting his mouth about playing time really wouldn't have gone over well in Nate McMillan's locker room, and how if Bob Weiss doesn't succeed here, you can probably put it on Ray Allen and a few of the players because they gave Weiss their blessing, but for the most part it's all smoke, though it all figures in to the equation.
The Sonics are 5-8 and mediocre and inconsistent after 13 games because of one thing...one big thing.
THIS TEAM CAN'T DEFEND.
They won't get much further until they do. They've allowed over 100 points in 10 of their 13 games, for goodness' sake. That's inexcusable. The Sonics themselves, despite their offensive firepower, have broken the century mark in only four games out of their 13. That's the blatantly obvious way of putting it.
So it'd be an understatement to say I've neglected the start of the Sonics' season over the past few weeks. Last year, I was unemployed and in Bremerton with no Canuck action due to the NHL lockout. What I did have was a cable connection with FSNNW and the ability to watch 70-plus Sonic games during that season which surprised and captivated me and many others throughout the state of Washington.
This year, I'm employed and in Virginia Beach with no NBA League Pass, and the games would be at 10pm and 10:30pm, making it that much tougher to follow them. Still, I read articles whenever I can, and I pull up some KJR on the internet every once in a while, so I try to keep somewhat of a pulse on what's going on with the green and gold.
In a schedule form, here's how they've done, game to game.
2: L 101-93 vs. LAC
4: W 107-102 (OT) vs. MIN
8: L 94-69 at MEM
9: L 112-85 at CLE
11: L 137-96 at WSH
13: W 126-121 (OT) at TOR
15: L 109-99 at NJ
16: W 113-100 at BOS
18: W 98-84 vs. CHI
20: W 106-104 vs. SAC
22: L 93-87 vs. UTA
24: L 108-96 at LAK
26: L 105-99 vs. NOK
The schedule makers once again put the Sonics on the road for a six-game east coast swing in November, just like last season. This year's Sonics lost the first three on that road trip, but won two of the final three on the trip, giving at least some indication that maybe the ship would be righted a bit after losing four of five to start the season.
What's missing?
On the ridiculously obvious level, there's no Nate McMillan coaching the team. There's no Dwane Casey as an assistant coach, and his efforts were greatly instrumental in what last year's Sonic team achieved. On a lesser level, Dean Demopoulos followed McMillan to Portland and is now his lead assistant coach.
Also gone is the motivation that McMillan used with a team of nine free-agents-to-be. Ray Allen definitely got paid, as well he should have. Vladimir Radmanovic was a bit ill-advised in not taking the nice offer the Sonics had put onto the table.
The other obvious thing is that there were some departures. Jerome James and the garbage bag cape left, sure, and he had his moments last year, but he was mostly inconsistent up until the home game last year against Detroit. He did give you a 7-footer with six fouls though. An even bigger departure, though, was Antonio Daniels. I pretty much knew after Game 6 of the series against the Spurs had ended along with the season that Daniels was out the door. The Sonics would miss his energy off the bench and surehandedness when Luke Ridnour was busy being young on the floor and not running the point as smoothly.
A double-whammy of new personnel additions to fill the departures, injuries during the preseason, and a new head coach, and there definitely would be some sort of adjustment period even when everyone got healthy. The first few regular season games had Bob Weiss wrestling with his rotations and really having no feel for them whatsoever. Two of the new additions that were supposed to fill the void in some fashion were Rick Brunson (backup for Luke Ridnour) and Mikki Moore (fill some minutes left by Jerome James). Brunson has played in one game for the Sonics so far, and Moore played in just his third game today. This team also started Johan Petro at center on Opening Night, which wouldn't be such a big deal if he wasn't the Frenchman they just drafted last summer.
I'm not sure what the bright spots on this team are so far, though it appears Reggie Evans would be one of the few who is holding his end of the bargain. There's the eternal question of "who will be a third scorer?" after Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. The problem is that there have been nights where one of those two is off, and then the onus is on someone else to step up, which is greatly hit-or-miss. Luke Ridnour and Nick Collison had a couple of good games in the recent stretch where the team won four of five. Radmanovic up until the last couple games has been erratic. Ron Murray isn't taking advantage of all the minutes that Daniels freed up (and that Brunson hasn't been healthy enough to take). Murray's been disappointing to such a level that Weiss is playing last year's practice all-star and team player rep Mateen Cleaves for a spark off the bench. Damien Wilkins for the most part hasn't played like the Damien Wilkins that gave the Sonics a new dimension in the last few weeks of last season and in the playoffs.
You see, I could spout off about how the coaching is different, how the mix of players is different, how the players' roles aren't clearly defined, how Radmanovic shooting his mouth about playing time really wouldn't have gone over well in Nate McMillan's locker room, and how if Bob Weiss doesn't succeed here, you can probably put it on Ray Allen and a few of the players because they gave Weiss their blessing, but for the most part it's all smoke, though it all figures in to the equation.
The Sonics are 5-8 and mediocre and inconsistent after 13 games because of one thing...one big thing.
THIS TEAM CAN'T DEFEND.
They won't get much further until they do. They've allowed over 100 points in 10 of their 13 games, for goodness' sake. That's inexcusable. The Sonics themselves, despite their offensive firepower, have broken the century mark in only four games out of their 13. That's the blatantly obvious way of putting it.
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