We are eight games under .500 (15-23) right now with every loss looking more and more like this team has given up. We look worse now than we did with Bob Weiss running the ship, and it is not just because Ray has been suspended. Offensively there was more fluidity with Weiss than it seems to be now. As bad as we were defensively we still were able to put points on the board. There have been games under Hill where the offense looked great but if we are scoring under 90 points in games we have absolutely no chance of winning. Now the only positive that I can take out of these losses is that Robert Swift is looking more and more like he can be a impact player in this league. But that tidbit of good news is surrounded by this: What I've seen in the past 10 days <ul>Reggie Evans is awol Fortson and Potapenko aren't even going on road trips Potapenko is requesting a trade when he has absolutely no value to another team Fortson is calling the NBA Senior VP of Operations Stu Jackson a gangsta b/c he has more personal fouls and technicals than he has points and rebounds combined Collison is looking like he needs to be medicated with anti depressents Ray is frustrated enough to try to mimic a tough guy Luke Ridnour is crying himself to sleep at night when he isn't feeling nausea from Stackhouse hits or Madison Square Garden hecklers And as I'm typing Flip has probably missed another jumper.[/list] We flat out stink and I hope that Rick Sund can make another change to infuse some energy into this imploding mess that we call an NBA franchise. Bob Hill doesn't have the cloudt to come in and literally attack the character of individuals on this team. Yeah he criticize their play but he is so self serving that he actually thinks that he carries the weight of a tenured head coach. Iron fist and interim coach don't mix hand in hand--just ask Phil Ford in his last stint in Philadelphia. Bob Hill is passionate but he is dillusional if he thinks that he is going to get the best effort from this team by consistently putting them under the bus. I know we needed an infusion of discipline and accountability but I just get the impression that Bob is more interested in promoting Bob Hill than he is about putting the best interest of this franchise at heart. 2-6 ain't cutting it, fam. Save us Rick. Save us.
I disagree with a couple points. The offense looked much, much better up until a couple games ago and Luke has played pretty well since Hill has been the head coach. That said, the last couple games looked horrendous. There was no fight in the Sonics. We'll see what happens in the next game.
I don't see how we can recover from this to be honest, and while I don't want to ask this question, it has to be asked. Given we're basically no chance of making the playoffs, do we really want to keep winning? This roster needs an overhaul, and there's no better way to start than than with a top five pick. Playerwise, I think Luke has really upped his game since Hill took over - his last four games have resulted in two 20 point performances and 18/8/12 today. Sure, we've lost three, but numbers like that are going to do more good than bad for his confidence. Hill has also shown a lot of faith in Bobby Swift and he has responded with strong performances against Miami and Golden State.
I hope we tank it actually. We have not had a high draft pick in a long while, because we always end up somewhere in the middle. Walk with me for a sec - If we were to trade Shard for a big with some scoring ability, and replace him with Gay or Morrison, would one season of obscurity be worth it? You bet your sweet bippy it would. I think this may be what is going on in the front office, and while I don't want to give them too much credit, they may realize that developing those young seven footers might be worth the season we are having. They might have asked Wiess to tank and he wouldn't agree. It would explain why he is still with the organization. He didn't want the tag of being the hated coach who destroyed his team. So enter Bob hill, he doesn't care, it's not his team, he is just making a paycheck. Reggie won't be here, so don't play him. We want to resign Vlade so make him happy. Develope the young guys and make a paycheck, but we are going to fire you at the end of the season because we can't admit that we are tanking it. There is a nice severance package in it for you. Just a theory.
The problem with tanking it (besides the obvious) is that this draft is most likely going to produce a lot of role players at best. There's not a single franchise-altering talent out there. Adam Morrison and Rudy Gay (don't get me started on Rudy Gay, either, seriously) won't replace Rashard Lewis. If the Supes choose to rebuild, the entire roster is going to need an overhaul. I doubt we could get much for Ray unless a contender gets desparate. Rashard will probably leave unless we trade him, and a deal might bring back quality but it won't bring a franchise player. It would be a long process. I can understand why the front office is loath to let go of the hope that this roster can be salvaged. The team needs a new stadium and the fans of Seattle generally don't support a sports franchise unless they've won a lot recently. It's not as easy as deciding to start over one day, sadly.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Collison is looking like he needs to be medicated with anti depressents Ray is frustrated enough to try to mimic a tough guy</div> Yeah, what's the deal with Nick always looking passive and sad? He's a poor man's Tim Duncan. One thing that you left of the list is that Hill is experimenting more than a teenager who just discovered recreational drugs. At the Heat game he put Fortson in, of course Danny picked up two fouls literally within 30 seconds. Then he puts Pot in for 30 seconds, takes him out and puts in Petro. Why can't we just package pot and Flip and get a decent big man? We should start using Brunson at back up pg so he can get used to the system. That way when we deal Flip we won't have to worry about trying to use Ridnour to close games.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post"> Why can't we just package pot and Flip and get a decent big man? We should start using Brunson at back up pg so he can get used to the system. That way when we deal Flip we won't have to worry about trying to use Ridnour to close games.</div> Please provide some ideas as to what constitutes a decent big man. Unless they are a franchise player, the words decent and big man don't generally belong in the same phrase when discussing the NBA of late. We have Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, Nowitzki, J. O'Neal, the Wallaces and the rest of the "best" might actually qualify as "serviceable big men."
Nene is an example of a decent big man. Not that we'd want him this year, or ever because he seems to enjoy getting injured.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post"> Why can't we just package pot and Flip and get a decent big man? We should start using Brunson at back up pg so he can get used to the system. That way when we deal Flip we won't have to worry about trying to use Ridnour to close games.</div> Well, for starters - Flip and Pot are both garbage, so turning them into a decent guard without a terrible contract would be hard enough, a decent big man is virtually impossible. You proved as much when asked for examples and only came up with Nene, a player you then mentioned we might not want anyways due to injury difficulties. My guess is that DEN would never give up Nene for those two anyways, hurt this year or not, IMO... Brunson I believe is still not close to returning - could be a few more weeks. If he was available, I'd be with you in wanting to see him get some run, especially if it meant less of Murray. In response to the original thread, I agree with Casual in that the offense has looked much better since Hill took over. The big men are more involved through setting picks, Ray is being run off of more screens, just less standing around in general.
YES - the ship has sunk - play the rooks, get the high draft pick <font size=""3""><font color=""SeaGreen"">Nice post Ironman. I couldn't agree more. Rats in exodus from this hurtin' vessel. Here's a bright spot on the horizon of the Supersonics (or so we hope): http://www.FireWallyWalker.com</font></font>
The ship has sunk. Any reason to watch sub-par talent giving sub-par effort except for maybe a feel good win against another sub-par talent, sub-par effort team? Not for me, I find the team unwatchable right now, and wish the season was only 40 games long.
