G-Force

Robert Swift had been okayed by his doctors to enagage in full contact play.

See: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports...ry/117094.html

Note this exerpt from the article:

Swift said he has gained 40 pounds in the past two years and is up to 280 pounds. He is expected to help anchor Seattle inside along with centers Johan Petro and Mouhamed Sene.

That's good news. Perhaps this season we will see what he can do when given consistent minutes on the court.

Damian Necronamous

What the heck are Seattle fans projecting as their depth chart for next season?

You've got three young guys in Petro, Sene and Swift at C. Then, two high draft picks who both play the same position (Green and Durant), no real 2-guards, and three PGs who are almost pretty much at the same level performance-wise (Ridnour, Watson, West).

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Chick Hearn: This game is in the refrigerator. The door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are gettin' cool, the butter's gettin' hard, and the jellooooooo's jigglin'!

Current 2008-2009 LA Lakers Roster
PG: Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar
SG: Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic, Sun Yue
SF: Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovic, Josh Powell
C: Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm, D.J. Mbenga

Tooeasy

petro will probably not be a sonic for much longer, he really hasn't shown that he is gonna be a legit C in this league but someone will probably takea chance on him. KT is just a 1 year rental, and sene is still extremely raw. Swift is by all estimations gonna start and should prove that hes worthy of doing so, and collison has the savvy to play at the 5 as well.

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TOOEASY'S FAVE FIVE

Ruff Draft

Yeah, I see the log-jam at the 1&5 beign shipped off for some wing players.

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"I'm not just saying we are going to do it my way, I'm just saying we are going to do it the Championship Way."
-Michael Curry

2008-2009 Detroit Pistons
PG: Chauncey Billups, Rodney Stuckey
SG: Rip Hamilton, Arron Afflalo
SF: Tayshaun Prince, Walter Herrmann, Walter Sharpe
PF: Rasheed Wallace, Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson
C: Kwame Brown, Antonio McDyess, Cheick Samb

Chan

Swift was the projected starter last year.

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G-Force

I gotta feelin' that Sammy the Wheeler Dealer isn't done dealin' yet. We could use a shooting guard to add to the mix and have some seemingly excess players.

different_13

Everyone seems down on Petro, so ship him - you can afford to wait on Sene, and if he doesn't work out, Wilcox and Collison can both play center for stretches behind Swift (and it's not like scrubs are hard to pick up).

Of Watson and West, I see West as the better shooter, and Watson as the better playmaker.
Ridnour's a keeper cos he's a pure pg (even if his defense is crap).
So I say ship Watson (also, West can play some 2..)

Jellyball and Wilkins are backups anyway, but I think they're both decent enough as 2nd/3rd stringers.

Watson/Petro/1st (Phoenix) could probably get you a SG. But that player would only be a stopgap, as I'm assuming Seattle's going for the big guy in free agency or the draft.

Swift/Thomas/Sene
Wilcox/Collison
Durant/Green/Wilkins
..../Sexyback/Jellyball
Ridnour/West

With ..... being the sg that gets traded for.

If Swift isn't ready to play straight away, I can see Thomas starting alongside Wilcox. Thomas would guard the stronger/better post-player on the opposing team.

And of course, there's no guarantee that Petro/Watson etc get traded.


I'm stuck on a fence - would you rather Sene plays in the nba now, gets some experience, starts meshing with teammates..
or that he goes in the nbdl for at least another year?
As you're rebuilding now, I see no real danger in letting him play proper league ball. Of course, Swift and Thomas will be playing most of the center minutes.. But as you're not contending for anything, why not let him play? Make Thomas more of a gym/lockerroom guy?

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Damian Necronamous

Do you see Szczerbiak as being a part of the team next year? Wally still has a lot left in the tank and is only 30yrs old. I think he'd be a solid 6th man for any team. He got 15ppg in the games he played last year.

If they don't make any more trades (which shouldn't be an option, because they need to trade a PG and a C), I could see them going with this lineup. Watson, Szczerbiak and Collison give them scoring and toughness off the bench. Wilkins is then in the starting lineup to go along with the athleticism of Durant, Wilcox and Swift.

PG: Luke Ridnour...Earl Watson...Delonte West
SG: Damien Wilkins...Wally Szczerbiak
SF: Kevin Durant...Jeff Green...Mickael Gelabale
PF: Chris Wilcox...Nick Collison...Kurt Thomas
C: Robert Swift...Johan Petro...Saer Sene

__________________
Chick Hearn: This game is in the refrigerator. The door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are gettin' cool, the butter's gettin' hard, and the jellooooooo's jigglin'!

Current 2008-2009 LA Lakers Roster
PG: Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar
SG: Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic, Sun Yue
SF: Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovic, Josh Powell
C: Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm, D.J. Mbenga

Chan

Szerbiak doesn't seem to be a Presti-type player. Presti seems to like those defensive players with some leadership (Green, Thomas). I wouldn't want Szcerbiak to play.

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Hold on a sec, sweetie.

number1pick

Wally is there because he can contribute and his contract comes off the books in 2 years, if he can put up #'s some contender desperate for a scorer off the bench my take a chance on him and they could get expiring contracts. Also in his contract year he will be very valuable.

I see Seattle losing a lot this year and it should set them up to get a top 5 pick. This would allow them a chance to pick either a great PG or a PF.

PG's most likely available will be: OJ Mayo, Derrick Rose, Ty Lawson, Sherron Collins, Willie Kemp, Scottie Reynolds, DJ Augustin, Mario Chalmers, and other great PG's will be availble, although other than Mayo and Rose most should be available later in the 1st round.

SG's most likely available: Eric Gordon, Jerryd Bayless, Wayne Ellington, not many more, a lot of them jumped to the NBA the last year HSers were able to.

PF's most likely available: Michael Beasley, Darrell Arthur, Kevin Love, DeAndre Jordan.

A lot of good players will be available at the sonics positions of need the next few drafts when they have 5 1st round draft picks and I'm sure numerous 2nd round picks. With Presti in charge and KD and Green signed the Sonics look to be headed in the right direction although they may not be in Seattle when they begin having success.

different_13

Well, they're prettymuch set at pg and pf (5 servicable players over those 2 positions).

Obviously, you draft Derrick Rose if he's available, but I do think they need to go for a pass-first pg. You need to get Durant the ball.

If they're drafting a guard, it better be a pure sg - I don't think a combo-guard would be good for this team (in the starting lineup, at pg). With Durant and Ridnour, you need some decent defenders on the court, and a tall sg would help a lot.
Chase Buddinger would be brilliant, obviously. I think he can become a good defender with a little bulking up.

If they DO get Derrick Rose (or another great pg - btw, I don't see Mayo as a pg, except in the Marbury/Francis style) then they need to decide which of West/Ridnour/Watson to keep. I'd line t