As I sit and watch this game, I can't help thinking that we are going to somehow package Vlad with either Danny or Vitaly this season. Now, I do understand as a signee of the QO, Vlad has veto power on any trade, but he has said that he would be open to any trade that would get him minutes. He will not be a focal point here.... He has not improved... And he is not worth the $ he is seeking, nor will he ever be... he just doesn't have it... With Damien here, Vlad does not belong.... I would not be surrised to see us sign Felix, trade Vlad, and re-sign Reg next summer to 4-5mill per... We don't want to lose Vlad for nothing, but he's not worth re-signing... Damien needs to play 25-30 a night... he's improved that much! G
Possibilities Here are just some possibilities that I can see.... Vlad and Pot to Orlando for Kelvin Cato (a FA this summer). Vlad and Pot to The Grizz for Lorenzon Wright (hate to help J. West tho). Vlad and Danny to Boston for Raef LaFrentz (large salary Ainge may want to move- he's been infatuated with Vlad and he'd be a great fit). Vlad and Danny to New Orleans for P.J. Brown or Jamaal Magloire (like this, but who doesn't). Moving Vlad with Danny (who is a possible cancer and won't play much anyway) or Pot (walking injury) for any of the above decent centers will make us a serious contender. Each of the above centers have their + and -. Cato or Lorenzon Wright can be a one and done... re-sign either next summer if they play well, or either is our stop gap for a year until Pet and Swifty grow... Raef, although tremendously overpriced, is atleast a true center who will board, block shots, and bring centers out of the lane and shoot 3's on them, a la Perkins in the 90's... this is an under-rated move if you ask me). He only has 3 more years after this one on his contract which, although it's large, isn;t ridiculous for a decent center. Prying Magloire away will be quite tough, but N.O. may not want to pay him $$$ this summer (he's a FA) and they may want to move him rather than lose him. I'd love him in Green and Gold. P.J. is a one or two year stop gap for Pet or Swifty... I'll take it... G
No thankyou, to everyone of those deals with the exception of the N.O. trade which will never happen. They could just sign him outright next offseason and keep Magloire. Lafrentz would be alright, if he was making the MLE, but instead he's slated to cash in 9.9, 10.9, 11.8, and 12.7 million dollars respectively over the next 4 seasons. Why in the world would we want to absolutely destroy any cap flexibility we might have for a middle of the road center??? Cato and Wright are serviceable solid vet centers, but still think its WAY too much to give up. If either of those guys bolt during the offseason, your left with Mikki Moore, Forston, Collison, and the twin teens as your only centers - basicall a backup center, two PF's, and two guys who can't drink. I just think that we'd be giving up a solid/mediocre center and an extremely talented SF/PF for a medocre center in both cases.
Seems like everyone looked horrible except for Damien tonight, shocking performance. Only problem is Vlad has to agree to be traded when he's on the one year tender, and unless we're helping him get into a better situation, I don't think he will agree. I'm also one who believes we need Vlad firing if we hope to go anywhere near the success we had last season. I love Damien, but he can't stretch the D like Vlad can.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Seems like everyone looked horrible except for Damien tonight, shocking performance. Only problem is Vlad has to agree to be traded when he's on the one year tender, and unless we're helping him get into a better situation, I don't think he will agree. I'm also one who believes we need Vlad firing if we hope to go anywhere near the success we had last season. I love Damien, but he can't stretch the D like Vlad can.</div> Probably the one area on the court you can Vladimir is better then Wilkins.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">Probably the one area on the court you can Vladimir is better then Wilkins.</div> Yep, Vlad is better than Damien at one thing. That happens to be shooting from distance, and when you have Vlad knocking down treys, it opens up the entire floor.
I wouldnt mind seeing vlade being shipped out. I mean, i actually thought that he could go that extra step and add some D and rebound, but...so far he's just taken a step back...he has some ego issues. I'd much rather get something in return, rather than see him leave at the end of the year and not get anything back. I like damien better than Vlade...i think damien is more worth playing.
I'm sorry folks, Vlad is better than Damien Wilkins. If not for the fact that he is 6'10" and can do everything that Damien can do outside of playing consistent defense. Like SD said earlier, we like Damien b/c of the impact he had when Vlad went out last season. But Vlad is a guy who, coming off the bench, can be the offensive spark that makes our bench the top bench in the league. I'm not knocking Damien, but I'm not ready to give him the 6th man of the year award either (which Vlad would have strongly contended for last season had he not gotten injured). No point in even discussing a trade b/c no team is going to guarantee Vlad the money that he is looking for next season--and no team is going to give up any quality assets for an unrestricted free agent (unless it was a bad contract and we all know that we are the last team that would eat a bad contract). Let the season play out how it will. Vlad's play will dictate his worth and I'm sure that he'll want to put his best foot forward while he looks to improve his market value. Seattle fans aren't helping the situation by bashing him every chance we get. He hasn't done anything wrong, he just has an unrealistic perception of his worth.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm sorry folks, Vlad is better than Damien Wilkins. If not for the fact that he is 6'10" and can do everything that Damien can do outside of playing consistent defense.</div> Yeah..just defense. Not important I know.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post"> Yeah..just defense. Not important I know.</div> I don't think anyone would dispute the importance of D, but it doesn't give grounds to say he's the superior player overall. Damien Wilkens is not better than Rad, period, there really isn't a debate here. We get all excited about him having a solid few games here and there because we don't expect him to be good, while Rad has so much potential that if he's playing average ball he gets nitpicked to death. Last season if Damien made a great play, you almost would want to start giggling because you half couldn't believe it. Rad makes a great play and you almost want to say its about time. I guess thats the price that comes along with demanding a big long term contract, he deserves to be nitpicked. We need Radmanovic to win basketball games this season - him spreading the floor is a big part of why this team can flat out score points. I'm glad we matched Wilkens offersheet, it gives us a serviceable backup for not only this season, but also in case Rad takes off after this year - but his skill set doesn't bring as much value as Rad's does.
We also need to remember that Vlade is coming off his foot problem. There hasn't been much talk of it, but I am sure the pain effects his lift on that jumper. He is a shooter, he just needs some time to recalibrate.
I am a teacher... and just the other day I was reaming one of my lazy, smart students... and told him "If you take potential, and put it in a your hands.... you're holding ****!" (Yes, I cursed at him.... it's the Bronx) If you take a look at the growth from the preseason last year to today as far as Damien goes, it is remarkable. In fact, there is more growth there than Rad's improvement over the 4 years that he has been here. Yes, Vlad's shot can be deadly, and he does stretch the D, but at 10 mill/per, he had also better grab 8-10 rbs a game, 1-2blks, 1-2 stls, and be abl to create his own ****... he does none of the above.... Meanwhile, no one here could have predicted Damien would be where he is now as far as his growth... His shot is now dependable, and he has the quickest hands I've seen on the Sonics since Earl Watson, maybe even quicker. Although he doesn't stretch the D as Rad does AT THE MOMENT, he plays for 3 mill per, plays D, grabs as many rbs per min as Rad if not more, and plays both ends of the floor throughout unlike Rad who seems to only play 100% when his shot is on... I'll take Damien on my team over Rad any day, especially considering his price! G
Its not that Vlade doesnt have the talent...it just seems like he doesnt put forth the effort. In my opinion if he actually tries...he can be a 15 and 8 guy. On the other hand, we see Damien hustle for the things he does. Thats what everyone likes about him. vlade definitely has the potential to be great...he just isnt consistent enough.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MMM_MMM_GOOD:</div><div class="quote_post">If you take a look at the growth from the preseason last year to today as far as Damien goes, it is remarkable. In fact, there is more growth there than Rad's improvement over the 4 years that he has been here. Yes, Vlad's shot can be deadly, and he does stretch the D, but at 10 mill/per, he had also better grab 8-10 rbs a game, 1-2blks, 1-2 stls, and be abl to create his own ****... he does none of the above.... Meanwhile, no one here could have predicted Damien would be where he is now as far as his growth... His shot is now dependable, and he has the quickest hands I've seen on the Sonics since Earl Watson, maybe even quicker. Although he doesn't stretch the D as Rad does AT THE MOMENT, he plays for 3 mill per, plays D, grabs as many rbs per min as Rad if not more, and plays both ends of the floor throughout unlike Rad who seems to only play 100% when his shot is on... I'll take Damien on my team over Rad any day, especially considering his price! G</div> This is exactly what I have been trying to say.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MMM_MMM_GOOD:</div><div class="quote_post">I am a teacher... and just the other day I was reaming one of my lazy, smart students... and told him "If you take potential, and put it in a your hands.... you're holding ****!" (Yes, I cursed at him.... it's the Bronx) If you take a look at the growth from the preseason last year to today as far as Damien goes, it is remarkable. In fact, there is more growth there than Rad's improvement over the 4 years that he has been here. Yes, Vlad's shot can be deadly, and he does stretch the D, but at 10 mill/per, he had also better grab 8-10 rbs a game, 1-2blks, 1-2 stls, and be abl to create his own ****... he does none of the above.... Meanwhile, no one here could have predicted Damien would be where he is now as far as his growth... His shot is now dependable, and he has the quickest hands I've seen on the Sonics since Earl Watson, maybe even quicker. Although he doesn't stretch the D as Rad does AT THE MOMENT, he plays for 3 mill per, plays D, grabs as many rbs per min as Rad if not more, and plays both ends of the floor throughout unlike Rad who seems to only play 100% when his shot is on... I'll take Damien on my team over Rad any day, especially considering his price! G</div> I agree that at 10 mill per Rad should be grabbing 8-10 boards as well (which by the way I don't think he'll ever get), but I never was debating the value per dollar that each player brings - I merely took exception to you saying Damien is the superior player, I don't think he is. Your "smart, lazy" student potential analogy at the beginning was amusing - but a paragraph later your talking about how Damien "doesn't stretch the D as Rad does AT THE MOMENT" - sounds like you think Wilkens has potential. I just don't understand why its alright to discuss the improvements Damien can make without also giving Rad the benefit of the doubt as well? Rad hasn't shown the strides any of us would have liked, it would be hard to argue he has - but you've got to remember the guy plays 80% of his minutes on the defensive end at an unnatural posistion for him - but has still found a way to contribute in a huge way the the success of this team. I think thats a huge testament to the skills he does have. It was always a questionable draft pick considering we already had Lewis, everyone including mgmt knew that if he struggled a bit with the transistion to PF it was going to be rough for him, and to an extent it has. But the fact that he has the ability to play a posistion that the two all-stars on this team don't play is something you can't say of Damien. As well as Damien played at the end of last year, its still a minus for the team when he's on the floor, and a big plus for Rad - something to consider. 82games.com link I agree with alot of your points on Damien, he has some solid skills and some great intangible ones as well, and is locked up at a seemingly great price long term, and I LOVE that he is around. I just think this team suffers greatly if we replace Rad with Damien all things else considered equal.
