First summer league game for us, not much to write home about, a 72-66 loss to the Bulls. - Ridnour 2-11, 4 pts, 4 rebs, 2 assists, 3 steals, 4 turnovers - Damien Wilkins 8 -15, 22 pts, 7 rebs, 2 steals - Swift 2-4, 5 pts, 2 rebs - Collison 4-7, 9 pts, 5 rebs, 4 turnovers - David Young 8 minutes, 1-3, 4 pts - Mateen Cleaves 3-4, 6 pts, 4 asts, 1 turnover - Josh Powell 4 pts, 5 rebs - Leon Smith 4 pts, 4 rebs Make of it what you will, people. Ben Gordon with 21 points for the Bulls.
It's the journey, not the destination... As long as Ridnour, Collison and Swift build a rapport over this stretch of games, that's all we can ask for.
It didn't get much better in game two, with an 83-61 loss to Atlanta. Shining light was Nick Collison, who posted 16 points on 7-10 shooting, and eight rebounds in 24 minutes of court time. Other performances: Ridnour: 8 points, 4 assists Swift: 6 points, 4 rebounds Wilkins: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals Leon Smith: 8 rebounds David Young: 8 points <font size="1">Box Score (Adobe required).</font> What pleased me was the fact that Swift played 27 minutes, but only had three personal fouls and one turnover. While that may not seem that significant, you usually see big men, especially HSers, come in and rack up the personal fouls.
Game three was an 83-61 loss to the Bobcats - Collison continued to impress with 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. - Wilkins had 19 points and three steals, and I'm told we really like him. - Leon Smith had nine points, six boards and three steals. - Ridnour continued his poor Summer League with no points and four fouls in 10 minutes, while Dave Young seems to be on the bad side of Bob Weiss, only getting seven minutes. <font size="1">Box Score (Adobe required).</font>
And we're on our way people!! An 82-80 win over Portland, with Sebastian Telfair taking 17 shots to score 16 points. - Damien Wilkins led the way again with 28 points, six rebounds and seven assists. - Collison had 13, five rebounds, four blocks and played a SL high 30 minutes. - Mateen Cleaves had 14 points and eight assists. - James Singleton had 10 points and seven rebounds. - Leon Smith had seven points in 11 minutes. - David Young logged a DNP/CD <font size="1">Box Score (Adobe required).</font> Coach Weiss playing favourites or does Young have an injury we don't know about? I'm not sure what's happened to Trepagnier either, apparently he was successful in an earlier Summer League this off-season (with whom I forget).
Trepanier just signed w/ another team (I forget who). Dave is not injured, Weiss just doesn't want to play him. I'm sure that Dave will get invited to training camp b/c he was our second round pick, but Weiss is not making it easy for him.
After missing our first 12 shots of the game, we struggled throughout to go down 76-60 to the Suns. Nick Collison continued his strong play with 12 points and 11 boards, James Singleton had 10 points, while Leon Smith blocked four shots. Dave Young had five points in six minutes. Can't get a boxscore to work for this one, unfortunately, so I'm going off the re-cap.
I had a chance to see the game on NBA TV. Leon Smith was the most impressive defensively. He only was credited for four blocks but it seemed as he had at least seven. Overall I was not overly impressed by anyone. There is a reason why we have only won one summer league game, most of these guys aren't NBA players. Robert Swift looked extremely tentative out there. He didn't have an impact on either end and was obviously overmatched physically. Nick Collison is having trouble with his shot, although his footwork and rebounding weren't bad. Damien Wilkins is solid even though he didn't play exceptionally well last night. Dave didn't get in until the fourth quarter, but he was aggressive offensively and looked comfortable shooting from distance. (He didn't look comfortable defensively or running plays though) Robert Swift will not have be a regular in our rotation this season. He is years away from contributing and I am a little disappointed in how he played b/c I was hearing that he played more aggressive than his frame would indicate. The only other players I can see getting invited to training camp outside of the people who were drafted are Leon Smith, Damien Wilkins, and (reluctantly)Mateen Cleaves. I think that of these players Damien Wilkins has the best shot at making the team.
I don't know anything about Smith really.. His size seems like something we could definitely use though. "Very strong and athletic... Aggressive rebounder... Raw offensively... His stability is a major concern." -HoopsHype I'm not quite sure what 'stability' refers to.. But "strong and athletic" and "aggressive rebounder" seem like things the Sonics need more than yet another SF or SG.
Day 8 - July 23 - Game #2 Seattle 64, Dallas 53 The Line 1 2 3 4 F Dallas 17 14 13 9 53 Seattle 16 24 11 13 64 Leaders: Points: Michael Morandais 16 (SEA); Josh Howard, Devin Harris 11 (DAL) Assists: Mateen Cleaves 3 (SEA); Josh Howard 3 (DAL); Rebounds: Leon Smith 15 (SEA); Josh Howard 7 (DAL) http://www.nba.com/jazz/Revue/rrmr04_game30.html Dave Young again logged a DNP CD. Leon Smith grabbed 15 rebounds. The Sonics finished the Rocky Mountain Revue with a 2-4 record. If this is any indication of what is ahead for the Sonics expect Seattle to be one of the worst teams in the league. There seems to be a defeatous attitude already spreading in the Sonics camp. I feel that our lame duck coaches and general manager are already looking for work elsewhere.
I thought Jeff Trepangier was expansion drafted by the Bobcats? I may be wrong though, seems like Ridnour has not been up to what is expected of him as of late. Oh well, Good luck Sonics, in 2004-2005
Well thats the end of the Rocky Mountain Revue Summer League. The Sonics finished 1-4, with their only win being a two-point escape from Portland. Will this horrid showing be indicative of the season to come?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tradebark:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not quite sure what 'stability' refers to..</div> Read this. He came to the NBA out of HS when he was not ready and suffered a lot of mental issues as a result of this and other events in his life, resulting in a botched suicide attempt at one point. Smith is basically the poster boy for not coming out of HS if you're not ready for the pressures of the NBA.
