Teams Looking for Diamond in the Rough

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">At first glance, they're just names on a list who normally wouldn't draw much attention around these parts.

Upon closer inspection, the collection of players that the Sonics have assembled for their three-day summer-league camp is a who's who of basketball trivia.

They include the best of the Continental Basketball Association and the worst of the NBA draft. They are former high-school standouts who miscalculated their value and fell further in the draft than they expected, and can't-miss prospects who were never selected.

They include players such as former Kansas guard Aaron Miles, who finished his career as the eighth all-time assist leader, and former collegiate standouts such as Rick Rickert, who once starred for the Minnesota Gophers and was taken in the second round of the 2003 draft by the Timberwolves. He's looking to re-ignite his NBA career after returning from Greece.

Taken as a whole, the Sonics summer-team invitees are not an impressive-looking group. Last year's first-round pick Robert Swift and Johan Petro, Seattle's top pick this year, headline the roster of 17 players that begins practice today at the Furtado Center.

But the individual parts are what's important. When the team pares down to a dozen or so players on Wednesday and embarks for the Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City, wins and losses will be secondary to developing 7-foot centers Swift and Petro.

And maybe once again, the Sonics will discover a diamond in the rough as they have in each of the past three years.

Last summer, Damien Wilkins and Mateen Cleaves parlayed strong performances in the Revue into invitations to training camp as free agents, where they secured the final spots on the regular-season roster.

A superlative summer outing in 2003 helped Richie Frahm gain recognition, and the sweet-shooting swingman eventually earned a roster spot as a free agent.

And Reggie Evans, the rugged power forward who epitomizes hard work and hustle, began his professional career with the Sonics' summer team in 2002. He has led Seattle in rebounding the past three seasons.

Roughly 10 percent of current NBA players were free agents and the new collective-bargaining agreement, which expands the active roster to 14 players, makes it easier for non-drafted players to secure a spot.

One of the most notable Sonics invitees is Matt Walsh, who left Florida after his junior season and was one of seven Southeastern Conference underclassmen who declared for the draft. Six went undrafted, including Walsh.

Some NBA insiders believed the 6-6, 205-pound shooting guard would be selected in the first round. He was the MVP of the SEC tournament and averaged 14.1 points during three seasons.

Walsh shot .426 from behind the arc in college and exhibited NBA range on his three-point shot during pre-draft workouts. Limited quickness and strength dropped his stock, and his agent, Jason Levien, was widely criticized for giving him bad advice.

Forward Ousmane Cisse was once considered among the top high-school basketball players in the country in 2001. The native of Mali and an exchange student at St. Jude High School in Montgomery, Ala., was chosen by Denver in the second round (47th overall), but never panned out.

Other notable invitees include: Ezra Williams, a 6-4, 190-pound guard who was second in the CBA in scoring for Great Lakes; and Noel Felix, a 6-9 forward from Fresno State among San Antonio's final cuts last season.</div>

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