Playoffs? Not if you listen to Rick Sund. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Sonics, who have lost Brent Barry, are still in consideration for Derek Fisher, but general manager Rick Sund said the aim of making the playoffs will depend upon another All-Star season from Ray Allen, another year of improvement from Rashard Lewis and the continued development of the young quartet of Vladimir Radmanovic, Ronald Murray, Collison and Ridnour.</div> <font size="1">Full Story courtesy of Danny O'Neil and the Seattle PI.</font> Great. Maybe he's just saying the right things, but this line seems to come out every year. If we are relying on Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis to carry us to the playoffs, we won't be getting there in a further strengthened West (now with K-Mart going to Denver, Boozer and Okur to Utah and Nash and probably Richardson to Phoenix). I stand by my belief that Lewis and Vlad shouldn't be on the same roster when both have trade value, or Vlad won't be back after his rookie contract. We have two shooting guards capable of putting up All Star numbers, too. I guess it's early, but comments like this are a bit disheartening. If it turns out the only off-season move we really pursue is signing Fisher, then you really have to wonder what this team is doing to keep track with the strengthening Western conference.
I think that we are in a situation where we have a lame duck coach and a lame duck general manager. Neither one of them want to make any predictions that could come back to haunt them when/if they look to renegotiate their contracts. There seems to be a bit of apathy in the Sonics camp this year. Someone needs to infuse some energy into this organization otherwise we could be lottery bound for quite some time. As Bert Gordan in the original Hustler so eloquently said, "Losing is easy when you have an excuse." My gut tells me that the front office have excuses all ready lined up for this upcoming season.
We need our own Mark Cuban. Mr Starbucks seems to be content to sit courtisde, smile when we win and pull his cap down when we lose. His five year plan is going to take 10.
As far as the playoffs go, there are a few teams that will make it by default. San Antonio, Minny, Dallas, Sac, and the revamped Rockets should have no trouble. That only leaves three other spots. If the Lakers keep Kobe they should make it as well. That leaves two spots for Denver, Memphis, Utah, Portland and Seattle to fight for (sorry Clipps/Suns/Warriors fans, but they aren't in the running. If the Sonics do lose Ray, it's over. Even with him, they are going to be running with either Flip, or Luke at the point, neither of which is vocal enough to lead. Relying on Collison to be a low-post prescence? Shard is a great 2nd option, but the 18ppg that he scores are scored so quietly that I often forget that he was even on the court. The Sonics need a low-post offensive man, and their three "centers" don't even total one real one. They wont make the playoffs this year.
Despite the heavy rumors and high expectations for this offseason, it looks like we're up for another typical Sonics season. I think we'll probably run mid-pack most of the year like always, just miss the playoffs, and get stuck with the 12th pick in the draft again. We then proceed to draft more raw talent and have another stagnant offseason. This is all barring the fans organizing a coup d 'etat to overthrow Howie and Co... anyone interested?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">We're going to have a ton of cap room, though, even if Ray is resigned.</div> What's the point of cap room when our general manager is too lazy to actively pursue quality players? I could have done what Sund has done this offseason from my living room sofa.
You can have all of the cap room in the world, but when was the last marquee free agent to sign w/ the Sonics? Teams w/ cap room now seem to be overpaying veteran free agents in order to justify that they are spending to get better. Then they are burdened w/ that contract for years down the road. I think that the Sonics are best off trying to trade for talent as opposed to acquiring talent via free agency.
Ever since Mr Starbucks has been the owner of the Sonics, I've been waiting and expecting for something huge to happen to our team that will make us a playoff contender, but that has yet to happen. I seriously don't understand how the three stooges(Walker, Sund, Shultz) can be so utterly stupid when it comes to running a basketball team. They think they can just sit there and twiddle their thumbs and let the free agents come to them. I'm really getting sick of these non-active summers. Then they feed us a bunch of BS about how it's good to be patient. This is the one time where I'm really not that excited at all about the upcoming season for the Sonics. I think the only exciting thing of the season would be if there was another "Fire Wally Walker" plane flying above the Key Arena.=P
I agree with Shiek on this one, Seattle is not a great place to attract free agents - it never has before, unless we overpay. We just don't seem to make the effort to make a guy feel welcome, and actively recruit him. I suppose caproom is caproom, but I think it's overrated anyway. Look at some of the deals made this summer by teams with caproom, arguably just for the sake of getting something done after looking forward all of last season to having caproom to pursure free agents.
I'm just saying, we're getting rid of overpaid players who barely contribute anyway, so the cap room will give us a little flexibility. We do have to resign Flip, though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm just saying, we're getting rid of overpaid players who barely contribute anyway, so the cap room will give us a little flexibility. We do have to resign Flip, though.</div> Is that including Ray's big extension or assuming he isn't re-signed?
