From today's PI: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/244117_sonx11.html <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"I don't know why teams let Brunson go," Weiss said. "He's great in the locker room. You don't use him for four games, but you put him in, and he's a guy you can trust. "A lot of teams make mistakes on guys like that. They don't think he's ever going to be a star. They want to keep searching. But he's one of those guys who can really help you win."</div> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/243943_sbok10.html <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The season is so long," he said. "Minutes change. I want to be the guy that, at the end of the year, their best lineup is with me on the court. Whether I start, it's not that big of a deal."</div>
Everything I read about Brunson makes me like the guy more. He may not be the talented guy around, but if you can think of a better guy to have around a young point guard like Luke, I'd like to hear it. To be perfectly honest, Luke has had a fair few breaks go his way early in his career and has had a lot of faith put in him, so it's good to have a guy like Rick who will teach him not to get ahead of himself at any point or take anything for granted. As for Nick, I was sceptical about taking him in the lottery when we did, but the kid is just a super basketball player and a super teammate. The sort of guy every winning ballclub loves.
Great pieces. Brunson seems the quintessential backup - hopefully he picks up this season where he left off last year. Good point by SD about him being a good influence on Luke - he needs the leadership in his back pocket for another season or so before he'll be ready to take over the duties himself I think. Nick is just quickly becoming my favorite Sonic. His quotes just always seem to be honest assessments of whats going on, without throwing anyone else under the bus and without regurgitating a cookie cutter response. Never complains, works hard, and just plain gets it. Radmanovic should take a page out his book on the starting issue. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As for Nick, I was sceptical about taking him in the lottery when we did</div> Really? I can't remember anyone being taken after him that I really wanted more that year. His NCAA tourney was phenomenal that season. I remember wanting Sweetney more than Nick, but NY snatched him up early. Lampe was a guy I was kind of hoping we'd take a flyer on with Luke's pick, but obvisouly I was suffering from the hype-wagon since I'd never even seen him play.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting M_Cage89:</div><div class="quote_post">Really? I can't remember anyone being taken after him that I really wanted more that year. His NCAA tourney was phenomenal that season. I remember wanting Sweetney more than Nick, but NY snatched him up early. Lampe was a guy I was kind of hoping we'd take a flyer on with Luke's pick, but obvisouly I was suffering from the hype-wagon since I'd never even seen him play.</div> I worked with a guy in seattle that grew up with Ridnour (older than Rid, but blaine is a small town) and said he is going to be awesome in the pros. It seems he has had a bball in his hands since he was 5 or so, and he never went anywhere without it. If you saw Rid walking down the street he was dribbling his basketball. Anyway, I guess he was schooling highschoolers when he was in elementary, and everyone from Blaine has always known he was gonna be special. So when we took Collison I was like "DOH!" because I wanted Ridnour. Once NY took the fat guy, I was sure we had him. I was very happy that year. It is the only draft I have been satisfied with other than Dez at 17, but at the time I had no idea who that was.
My buddy was coach at a high school that played Ridnour and he said he was the best player they played against and they 'couldn't do anything with him'. I too was somewhat disappointed we took Collison in the lottery...I thought he'd be a big, white, slow, can't finish, good college, terrible pro Mark Madsen type player. He has a ways to go still but he's clearly much better than that. I was heartened when Iverson and Ray spoke glowingly of his play in the Pan Am games or whatever it was and predicted rook of the year for him before his shoulder injury. I still love the way he switched over Marbury 3 times in a row and denied him each time.
my town is a short drive away from Blaine.. (like 10 minutes on the freeway); Luke's definitely got local support and that "legend" about him having a ball everywhere is true afaik
