<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"Just looking at it from our standpoint, we felt like it was a bad loss. We just didn't play our style of game. Guys have different attitudes on this team. I don't know what the problem is, but we've got to solve it." Lewis declined to name who he believed the offending teammates were, but one Sonic, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said several players are upset with both All-Star guard Ray Allen, who made 6 of 11 shots and finished with 20 points, and forward Vladimir Radmanovic. "Too much one-on-one stuff and not enough ball movement," the Sonics player said. "You saw that game just like I saw it. Nate (Sonics coach Nate McMillan) talks about that all the time. Move the ball. But some of us in here don't do that." </div> <font size="1"> Full Story courtesy of Percy Allen and the Seattle Times.</font> We all saw Ray's comments after the Detroit loss. How inevitable was this, really? This is a team that has achieved what it has achieved purely through teammate, working for eachother and trusting eachother. But at the end of the day, half of the roster is still going to be out of contract this offseason. Let's pray this doesn't escalate any further and we can get everything back on track against the Magic. It's been too good a season to waste now.
Update from today's Times McMillan tells team to stay together <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Allen agreed with the latter assessment. As for his shot selection, well, let's just say he's happy with it. "I don't expect anybody to have a problem with it," Allen said. "For what we do and who we are, there are going to be times when we take tough shots. I don't need to hear or want to hear somebody beefing. "That's part of our nature. That's part of why we do what we do and get paid what we get paid. Same thing in Chicago. Do you think Will Perdue ever said anything to (Michael Jordan)? I'm not MJ. But there was a pecking order." </div> I remember an interview earlier in the season when things were cruising along and Ray made some statements on TNT about how being a leader meant 'Getting my guys ready to play every game' or some such thing. It reminded me of Jordan's 'supporting cast' comment way back when. Ironically, who would've thought that the Glove might end up being a better leader than Ray Allen.
Losing has a way of hurting chemistry and makes players point the finger at others. Has Ray Allen been playing any differently recently than he has earlier in the season when the Sonics were on a roll? I also notice that the Sonics are last in the league in assists, and they pretty much have been all season. Now, I know a large part of this is their exhorbitant number of points off the offensive boards, but still your primary offensive threats aren't offensive rebounders so that tells me the Sonics never were a great ball-movement team to begin with. They have very talented one-on-one offensive players who can create their own shots. But now that they're losing a game here and there, players are getting upset about this style of play.
Well he's playing pretty much the same, the difference I think is that early in the season the shots he was taking were - I won't say wide open - but teams didn't have a handle on our offense back then so he was getting more open looks. Now it seems teams are taking it away by playing Allen with a bigger guy and shading his shooting hand as he comes off a pick. But he's still taking the same shots except now they're contested. So it looks like a force. re: our assists, we don't have anyone that can consistently get around his guy, drive, kick and create. Not one guy. And we don't have a guy in the post that can draw the double team except for Rashard, and he's not in there all that much. Which makes it all the more important that 'everyone's on the same page' offensively.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post"> Ironically, who would've thought that the Glove might end up being a better leader than Ray Allen.</div> I would have thought and still think the Payton was a better leader than Ray. Gary led with an iron hand but he backed it up with a competitive spirit that was second to none. He gave it his all at both ends and when he criticized someone, it wasn't b/c he was insecure about his own standing on the team. No one can honestly say that Ray has contributed to the Sonics anything close to what Payton has. Payton was the catalyst for a consistent winner. Ray is tooting his own horn b/c he is the leader of a team that has had one successful season in his 2 1/2 seasons in Seattle. I read a quote from Ray saying that there is a pecking order on teams and that you would never hear Will Perdue question MJ's shot selection. Interesting considering that it was Rashard Lewis, our co-captain and All-Star, who criticized the motives of Ray. This story is not going to go away.
Sonics close ranks in wake of Detroit collapse <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Allen said he understood that his limited minutes were based on foul trouble, but he said that he has seen his playing time gradually recede over the past few weeks. "I'm sensing a trend where in the third quarter, my minutes have dropped," Allen said. </div> Ray please just STFU.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">I would have thought and still think the Payton was a better leader than Ray. Gary led with an iron hand but he backed it up with a competitive spirit that was second to none. He gave it his all at both ends and when he criticized someone, it wasn't b/c he was insecure about his own standing on the team. No one can honestly say that Ray has contributed to the Sonics anything close to what Payton has. Payton was the catalyst for a consistent winner. Ray is tooting his own horn b/c he is the leader of a team that has had one successful season in his 2 1/2 seasons in Seattle. I read a quote from Ray saying that there is a pecking order on teams and that you would never hear Will Perdue question MJ's shot selection. Interesting considering that it was Rashard Lewis, our co-captain and All-Star, who criticized the motives of Ray. This story is not going to go away.</div> Rashard did not specify who he was criticisizing. My guess is that it was actually Radman and James. There was an ANONYMOUS source who cited Ray. My guess is that the Will Perdue comment was directed at the ANONYMOUS source who plays the same position as Mr. Perdue on the Sonics starting lineup. He has been known to whine in the past.
