Fiction. T...I don't even know the second letter in the guy's name. Skita will make 80% of his three pointers. Four out of five, all in garbage time. Fact or fiction: Bob Hill can actually be effective at something besides developing young players.
Fact: He can be an effective GM, since he is always telling the media what Rick Sund needs to do to cover his own inadequacies as a coach. He is effective in attacking the insecurities of secondary players. He is an effective bullshit artist. Fact or Fiction: If Danny Fortson is not traded he will make good on his threat to make the Sonics regret it.
Fact: He's been noticing how delicious Luke looks in their prayer sessions lately. He's going to bring some paprika one of these days. Fact or fiction: The Sonics have competent assistant coaches.
Fact: Gordon Chiesa is a veteran assistant who was involved with one of the most successful eras in basketball with Utah (during the Stockton/Malone era). Ralph Lewis seems know the game and he relates well to the players despite the fact that I don't think he has a significant voice in the locker room. Jack Sikma works well with the young bigs and Detlef Schrempf has the credibility from his playing days to have an impact with our established players (ie. Rashard Lewis). I think Hill has a good, not great staff. But at the end of the day it is on the head coach alone to make the decisions necessary for a franchise to be successful. My gut tells me that Hill is not that guy. Fact or Fiction: Our biggest weakness from a personnel perspective is that we do not have a physical interior presence in our frontcourt rotation. (Fortson excluded)
Fiction. Our biggest weakness is the fact we have no reliable perimeter defenders, meaning too much emphasis is placed on having a defensive interior presence as guards and slashers get to the basket so often. F/F - Jack Sikma will take over from Bob Hill whenever he leaves/is fired?
Fiction: New ownership has no ties to anyone on the staff and I imagine if they decide to get rid of Bob Hill that they would invest in a coach of their own. With Bennett's backround he'd probably go after either Kelvin Sampson or Billy Tubbs. Fact or Fiction: With Bennett and company announcing that there will be changes in the Sonics management structure, Rick Sund will be fired before his contract is up.
Assuming his contract goes beyond this year, fact. I think Bennet will clean house once the team moves, probably even if they don't. Fact or fiction: Trading Ray Allen for young players and draft picks would be a smart move for the franchise.
Fiction. Who could we actually get? You need to float me some actual scenarios, otherwise I can't see the wisdom in trading the franchise's marquee player at a time where we need the multitude of casual fans stepping up their interest, just for potential and unknowns. F/F - Shiek becoming a moderator will bring nothing but joy and good will to this site.
Fact. I look forward to him editing even more of my posts. Fact or fiction: Somebody besides Mockford knows who the guy in Mockford's avatar is. <font color="blue">Look no further, fam. -- Shiek</font>
Fiction : I know who this guy is F/F : This thread will soon be soaking with off topic f/f questions.
Fact: The only time it gets serious in this forum is when Voodoo posts. Fact or Fiction: Lenny Wilkins will be a considerable upgrade from Craig Ehlo in the broadcasting booth.
Fiction: Nobody can replace Ehlo's passion and excitement. His insightful comments kept me watching the games, even during blowouts. The guy has his own quote thread. Wilkens is going to have issues keeping up with KC's style. F/F: Mo Sene will make the ESPN highlight reel atleast once during the season with either a huge rejection or a monster dunk.
Fact: How difficult is it to make in a Sportcenter highlight? Hell, I even have two to my credit. Fact or Fiction: Chris Wilcox will earn all 24 million dollars of his incentive based contract. (Will average at least 10 rebounds a game and make the All-Star team during the length of his contract)
Fiction. It's still three years right? Though he may be worth the money (relatively) there is very little chance of him making the all-star team as a forward in the western conference. With names like Nowitski, Duncan, Stoudamire, Garnett, Anthony, Marion, Artest, AK47, Okur, Brand, and some dude that goes by the name of Tmac (back willing) playing forward on this side of the states he would have to sell his soul to beelzabub to make the All-Star squad in the next three years. I see top end for him being somewhere around Troy Murphy or a healthy K-Mart. F/F - My day old baby boy "Griffin" has a better chance of making the final roster than Skita.
Fiction, but I love that name. Fact or fiction: Brandon Roy and Adam Morrison will get the loudest cheers of any player in the arena including the Sonics when they visit Seattle.
Fiction - Luke will probably still get the loudest cheer, but Roy will go close. F/F - We should have made a genuine push at signing Bonzi Wells?
Fact: Shooting guard depth still remains a concern and in the event that Ray or Sweet Lew suffers an injury I'm not sure if we would be good enough to be competitive against upper echelon teams in the league. We haven't used our mid-level exception on anyone, so it was feasible that we could have offered Bonzi a competitive contract offer. I understand that he has some character issues but I'd rather have a good team of suspect character than a suspect team of good characters. Fact or Fiction: Milt Palacio is the best available point guard on the free agent market.
Fact - for what we need anyway, Palacio ticks all the right boxes. He is tough, experienced, plays defense, doesn't look for his own shot and has the size to play both guard spots if required. As far as third stringers go, he would be perfect and I am very confident he'll make the roster. F/F - Marc Stein ranking us mid 20s, but New Orleans and Golden State 10th and 13th respecitvely in his pre-season power rankings is sadly predoictable?
Fiction. It's not predoictable, but it is predictable. Fact or fiction: Me making that joke was more predictable than Marc Stein's rankings.
Fiction: You were gone so long we forgot that you had a sense of humor. Fact or Fiction: Nick Licata will be forced to resign from the Seattle City Council and check into rehab before the end of the NBA season when it leaks that he has secretly been sending emails attempting to seduce a number of the Sonics teenage ball boys.
