<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Seattle SuperSonics are on the verge of solidifying their center position by closing in on an agreement with Vitaly Potapenko. An announcement could come this week. It is not clear what the terms of Potapenko?s contract will be, but it is thought that his salary will be about $3 million. When Jerome James signed a $30 million contract with the New York Knicks earlier this summer, the Sonics were left at center with second-year player Robert Swift and rookie Johan Petro. Though the Sonics spoke with free agents DeSagana Diop and Andrew DeClerq, they decided to bring back Potapenko, a solid if unspectacular veteran who averaged 3.5 points and 2.4 rebounds in 33 games for the Sonics last season. He has averages of 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in a 10-year career. In training camp last season, Potapenko emerged as the team?s starter. But then his right hand was broken by ex-Sonic Ruben Patterson in an exhibition game against Portland. When Potapenko returned, the Sonics had started the season so well that coach Nate McMillan did not want to alter the starting lineup so he kept James as the starter. Now, presumably, Potapenko will enter training camp as the unrivaled starter, given the inexperience of Swift and Petro. Potapenko will hold the job until Swift, 19, is ready to start. Oddly, Potapenko has asked to be traded in each of the past two seasons because he was unhappy in his role. He switched agents recently because he thought his agent did not do enough to facilitate a trade. But the native of Ukraine got little interest in the free-agent market this summer, and the Sonics were holding a starting spot for him. So his career in Seattle will continue.</div> Tacoma Tribune. Interesting. I'm not that keen on having Pot back, but as far as alternate options, there isn't a lot out there given what we're obviously looking to spend. The bit on bold surprises me, as the Indy Star reported again today we are interested in Dale Davis, and I would assume Dale would be starting if he did come on board.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Tacoma Tribune. The bit on bold surprises me, as the Indy Star reported again today we are interested in Dale Davis, and I would assume Dale would be starting if he did come on board.</div> I doubt that Dale would start. He would be that veteran backup to either the C or PF, but he is getting on in years. He would offer better rebounding than Pot but less scoring. His midrange jumper doesn't fall that much, the majority of his points come off offensive put-backs.
Ah, get off Dale Davis's jock. Potapenko is underrated. He doesn't block shots, but he can keep guys off the block and he's probably a better scorer than Jerome or Dale.
Unspectacular signing but important nonetheless. We can't afford to gamble that we're going to get someone who is better than Vitaly because if we lose we would be forced to play Bobby and Jo Pet more minutes than they deserve. This signing makes Reggie's signing more important because now we are going to be able to continue our five man post rotation that we had last season--with Nick starting in place of Reggie. It's always good to have front court depth and it looks like we'll continue to have that, just without a shot blocking presence. Now the waiting game begins with our restricted free agents. I hope that we have enough bodies for training camp.
Cal Booth has been released via the amnesty rule - wouldn'it be be an ironic circle of events if the Sonics signed him on the cheap and he was killed in training camp by Danny.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Cal Booth has been released via the amnesty rule - wouldn'it be be an ironic circle of events if the Sonics signed him on the cheap and he was killed in training camp by Danny.</div> LOL, I was actually thinking about Booth coming back when I heard he was released. He would give us a shotblocker, thats for sure. Its too bad he lost those couple of years due to injury with us. He never recovered. I actually always liked Cal, not for the money he was inked at - but if your going to have a guy languishing on the end of your bench, I can of alot of worse C/PF practice players in the league. Cal just forever seemed to me like a guy whose sum of his parts ended up adding up to less than it should have. He seemed to work hard when he was in games, great shotblocker, a couple decent post moves, good mid-range shooter, decent rebounder, good FT shooter. Just never quite pulled it all together, and the one place where he was going to get a chance to excel, SEA, he was injured right off the bat and never recovered. Too bad really, he seemed like a likeable guy.
I remember when Booth actually came out and dropped 24 on Dallas in one of his first games as a Sonic, and I thought we had a rising star on our hands...
He really burst onto the scene in the postseason with Dallas, I think it was the Utah series and he looked like he was going to be an easy 15-12 guy for a long time. Funny how for a big man one good playoff series can be parlayed into a lucrative long term contract I too always liked Cal and maybe he'd be another guy that could flourish with Nate being gone
