bbAlvin

Stuck in traffic, I was flipping through the channels and came across a Blazer pregame show where they were interviewing somebody named, David Locke, who is apparently tied to the Sonics. He made some interesting, maybe controversial, comments about Telfair and his lack of skillset. He thinks his only questionable asset is his quickness, which he doesn't know to use effectively at this point in his young career. Since he plays at one speed, he's apparently not very difficult to guard. The "not difficult to guard" bit comes directly from Seattle players, and they additionally said his quickness is no more special or different from most young players. He says he's the equivalent to Earl Watson and doubts he would be so highly regarded if he didn't come out of the New York system.

He went on the praise some of Seattle's own young talent and marked the contrast between our two young team's cores. I don't know anything about him, but he didnt say anything to dispell the Seattle whisperings that Chris Wilcox may be a new incarnation of a young Shawn Kemp, so there might be some homerism involved and it makes his remarks on Telfair a little more dubious. In any case, I thought the Seattle player's comment was interesting, because I don't see it. He seems to be able to get by just about anyone. He has a problems making something happen once he enters the paint, but the fact he gets there should earn him some sort of distinction. Especially in an era where penetration is becoming a lost art in the NBA.

Billy

Grease Board material. Hope Sebastian sees it.

Dan

SOME homerism involved??

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Ed O

David Locke is the most impressive and knowledgable NBA commentator I've ever heard on a regular basis on sports radio. He's embraced qualitative analysis and he consistently brings up new ways to look at the game.

That doesn't mean that he's without bias nor does it mean he's always right.

But he's good, and he's been very close to the team, and if he reported that Sonics players told him they find Telfair easy to guard, I think that they probably told him that.

Ed O.

Dan

I remember sometime last year, maybe it was ruben maybe it was damon, one of the players said that another team basically said the team (under cheeks) was super easy to defend. They did 4 things, and 4 things only. Pass the ball to Zach, have Damon shoot, pass the ball to Zach, and pass the ball to Zach.

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A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't

tha supes

I am a Sonics fan, I think some on this blazers board know that already. but I DON'T agree with Locke here, Telfair is a good player and I truly believe he could become something great, future all-star. It's still a wonder why we didn't pick them, even though we did get Swift, Telfair would have been nice. But that's history, can't change it. Telfair is the best thing going for the whole Portland team, I also believe that.

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myELFboy

I follow David Locke (he does Sonic pre/post game, & is on weekdays from 7-10 on 950 kjr.) he's all about the numbers & statistics. He's pretty accurate a lot of times, but he's been wrong many times as well---I find him interesting to listen to though.

For the most part I agree with him, but the guy is a Sonic HOMER. He has some connections to the team, & of course is bias with them. He made these comments after the 39 beatdown Sunday on postgame.

He also thinks Swift is going to be an all-star ( , I disagree), and he is high on pretty much every Sonic player. Personally, it's hard for me to judge Sebastien this particular game because of the total lack of defensive intensity throughout the game, but I don't think Telfair is Watson. I like Earl & would prefer him starting at this point over Luke, but Telfair has never had consistent PT. Earl is a career backup. 2 years from now I'll judge Telfair. Is he a winner, or just a guy that puts up good numbers on a bad team?

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Blazer Freak

I've read other articles by Locke and he seems to be a good writer, but here his bias got in the way. Telfair kinda showed him tonight by just burning Ridnour and about every other Sonic tonight.

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myELFboy

That's why I'm giving Telfair 2, maybe 3 years before I determine if he is the "next..."---I am not going to judge on his individual play, but how he helps the team win. Some people call Luke "the next Steve Nash" but Luke will never be as good as Nash, & those comparisons are really bad.

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Blazer Freak

I think Ridnour would be a fine PG on a team more like the Spurs, more slow down fundamental type basketball. Watson just seemed like a better fit.

I don't really know who to compare Telfair to, I've heard Tiny Archibald, Isiah, but I'm to young to know how those guys played. Now that Telfair has really adjusting and is back to finishing well, he's got a whole lotta tools to use. I'm excited to see him next year.

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myELFboy

What's funny about your comments is that every time the Supes are on...say, ESPN...the commentators ALWAYS say he is best in a fast, high tempo offense. But last year, when the Sonics were more of a halfcourt, pick & roll team, he was very successful--thus confirming to me that those commentators rarely watch Sonic games . Luke tends to overdribble & act clueless in halfcourt this year though. Earl can "run & gun" as well as run a halfcourt offense (esp. in close game situations), better than Luke, & Earl is only one year older than Luke.

This year, in a more unstructured "run & gun" team (particularly under Weiss) he was HORRIBLE....a key to why the Sonics were so bad at the beginning. Just like I don't see Swifty becoming an all-star, I just DON'T see Luke being an all-star either. A nice role player that plays 30-35 minutes a game maybe, but never a 40+ minute stud.

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Blazer Freak

Exactly. He just doesn't seem like he can control a team in the fastbreak very well to me. If I were the Sonics, I might look to the draft for a PG this year, because next year looks to be very post heavy, with a lot of good Frosh's coming out.

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bbAlvin

I didn't include his comments about Swift and Petro, but he said each could potentially be a top 4 power forward/center in their conference, with Swift being a top 4 center in the entire league. I havent seen enough of either player to make a judgment, but Swift looks pretty solid to me for a second year player out of high school. Not only good size, but good coordination as well. Wilcox played well tonight as well, although I saw nothing in his athleticism that reminded me of a young Shawn Kemp. Good athlete though, probably great next to ZBo. I just thought his implication that Seattle's young core(Swift, Wilcox, Petro) is superior to Portland's(Telfair, Jack, Martell, Victor) was interesting in that Seattle's were later picks(Wilcox withstanding) and that it's a sample of bigs versus smalls. For the size reason alone, I would probably prefer Seattle's group.

Redbeard