The general consensus in regards to Jerome James' recent signing commitment to the New York Knicks seems to be that it pushes Robert Swift and Johan Petro's developmental time table up. In reading between the lines this tells me that the sports writers in our town have no confidence in the Supersonics ability to go after a big through free agency. While unlikely, it is still a possibility for several reasons. Vladimir Radmanovic gives the Supes some good sign-and-trade bait, even if I'd hate to lose him. In the time I've spent watching him play he has consistently shown the potential to improve every facet of his game, including his much maligned defense. He is still only 25 as well, so it would appear that time is on his side. Some have suggested that he could eventually reach Dirk like heights, but the question of whether he even wants to get there hasn't been answered. Have you ever heard of someone within the Seattle organization referring to Radman as a hard worker? Me neither. The biggest Ray of hope (if you will) lies with the lenient structuring of Sugar Ray's contract. Because of his good will(?), Seattle has room to finagle a deal for someone who could help to stave off Robert Swift's embarrassment. It remains to be seen if Seattle could or would pull the trigger on a deal in the free agent market, but it is not impossible. Season tickets for the 2005-06 season have been on sale for a minute now, and I can't help but wonder how that's working out. Certainly the Sonics haven't given fans any reason beyond Ray's return to snatch them up. He's good, but without some help there will be no banner to hang after next season. The truth about Seattle sports fans, in general, is that we are a fickle bandwagoning lot who only come out in droves for a winner, and on paper the Supes are looking a little thin what with AD and Vladimir still not guaranteed to return to the green and gold. Do we sign and trade Vlade for a big, or what?
As far as replacing BGJ, it's funny when I read the ESPN article about him signing with NY, it said something like 'The 7-1 James averaged 4pts and 3rebs a game last year for Seattle' So normally one wouldn't be all that concerned about finding someone to pick up the slack
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">As far as replacing BGJ, it's funny when I read the ESPN article about him signing with NY, it said something like 'The 7-1 James averaged 4pts and 3rebs a game last year for Seattle' So normally one wouldn't be all that concerned about finding someone to pick up the slack </div> We are so thin at center that we, at the very least, need a body to stick in there.
We don't win the Sac series for sure without JJ, but looking back at the other 99% of the season, we were thin at center last year too.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">We don't win the Sac series for sure without JJ, but looking back at the other 99% of the season, we were thin at center last year too. </div> Well, true, but I don't know if "thin" is the word we're looking for. Our girth was good, it was just in the skill department that we were lacking. Secondly, I know that JJ had his coming out party in the Sac series, but I think it said more about Sac-Town's poor pick & roll D then it did about JJ's potential.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hnkjr:</div><div class="quote_post">Our girth was good, it was just in the skill department that we were lacking. </div>
