Assuming Hasheem Thabeet goes second overall, the question then looms for the Thunder whether or not they need to select Ricky Rubio. Last season they selected Russell Westbrook with their lottery pick and they don’t really need a point guard. However, a talent like Rubio is hard to come by and the Thunder may consider picking him up and sliding Westbrook over to the shooting guard position and Durant over to small forward. That would probably push Jeff Green to a key role off of the bench, but there is nothing wrong with that.

If the Thunder opt to bypass on Rubio and Thabeet is not on the board, the obvious choice would seem to be James Harden. He’s a scorer that can play within a system and has the ability to create for himself and others. Oklahoma City also has rights to the 25^th pick where depending on who is on the board, they could possibly select the best available player.

By: Dustin Chapman

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• Selected Russell Westbrook 4th overall.

• Selected Serge Ibaka 24th overall.

• Selected Walter Sharpe 32nd overall and packaged him with the rights to Trent Plaisted (46th overall) to Detroit for the rights to D.J. White (29th overall).

• Selected DeVon Hardin 50th overall.

• Selected Sasha Kaun 56th overall and traded his rights to Cleveland for cash considerations.

Seattle selecting Russell Westbrook at 4 ahead of Jerryd Bayless or Brook Lopez was surprising to most, but by no means was it a terrible pick. Westbrook is going to be an excellent NBA guard. Could others picked behind him establish themselves as bigger names in this league? Potentially, sure, but Westbrook will bring something to the Sonics that none of the rest could match: defense. Westbrook is hands down one of the best perimeter defenders in this draft class, and many would argue that he’s the very best. That has been an area in which Seattle has been significantly lacking, and Westbrook will add a new dimension to the roster.

The surprise of the late first round, other than Darrell Arthur slipping all the way to 27, was Seattle taking Serge Ibaka 24th overall. Not to say Ibaka wasn’t worthy of the pick, but his agent sent out a league-wide e-mail notifying teams not to select his client in the first round due to the contract he has on the table overseas. That didn’t scare Sam Presti away, however, as he took the gamble anyway.

While Seattle is waiting for Ibaka to come over in a few years, don’t sleep on D.J. White. He’s an all-out hustler with a terrific nose for the ball, very long arms, and an improving offensive game. He’ll catch the eye of the coaching staff early on with his hard work, and should be a great energy booster off the bench. DeVon Hardin could fit this mold as well, although this is just yet another project center for the Sonics to worry about. Luckily, this one is low-risk in the second round, as opposed to the previous three (Robert Swift, Johan Petro, Saer Sene).

Overall, a fairly solid draft for Seattle. They filled a defensive need at #4 and got a cast of potentially helpful role players later on. That, along with the expected growth of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, should produce a better basketball team in 2008-2009.

Grade: B+

A year ago, the Seattle Sonics rose in the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery in order to earn the rights to the second overall pick, which turned out to be Kevin Durant. The 2007-2008 Rookie of the Year represented his organization at last night’s 2008 lottery, but his good fortunes weren’t as strong as they had hoped. Seattle went into the night with the second-best overall odds, but fell two slots to end up with the fourth overall selection.

Derrick Rose? No longer an option. Michael Beasley? No longer an option. However, there are certainly a plethora of attractive options for Sam Presti to choose from. Percy Allen of The Seattle Times suggests that Jerryd Bayless may be the best option, and Presti didn’t refute that notion.

So say goodbye to Rose and Beasley and say hello to Jerryd Bayless.

The 6-foot-3 Arizona freshman, touted as the second-best point guard in the draft, is among a handful of second-tier prospects who will draw serious consideration from the Sonics.

Others include Stanford 7-foot center Brook Lopez, who will likely be taken by Minnesota, USC guard O.J. Mayo, Indiana guard Eric Gordon and Italian League forward Danilo Gallinari.

“Everybody goes into the lottery with hopes of getting the No. 1 pick, but we’re excited to have the fourth pick because we feel like we can get a quality player there,” general manager Sam Presti said. “We’ll get someone that can help and continue to build on the foundation that we have in place.”

Several draft Web sites believe the Sonics will select Bayless, a shoot-first point guard who averaged 19.7 points, 4 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 3 turnovers in 30 games.

“He’s is an explosive scorer and he is a relentless competitor,” said Washington Huskies assistant coach Cameron Dollar. “Every possession, he puts so much heat on you that it required everything we had to hold him down and contain him.”

Bayless scored 48 points in two games against the Huskies.

What sets him apart from Mayo and Gordon is his ability to score, dribble into the lane and draw fouls. He connected on 18 of 20 free throws against Houston and had a six-game stretch in the Pac-10 during which he attempted at least eight free throws each game.

“He’s very aggressive and very competitive with the right type of edge,” Dollar said. “He was the most difficult guy for us to prepare for in the Pac-10 season because of his ability to get to the free-throw line and his ability to take guys off of the bounce. He can shoot it with deep range and defensively he can get down and get after it as well.

“He has the whole package.”

Presti also has not ruled out the possibility of dealing the pick.

He said the Sonics are open to shopping the fourth pick. Seattle also has the No. 24 pick, four picks in the second round and a combined four first-round selections in the next two drafts.

“With that many selections in the draft, we’re certainly going to be busy,” Presti said. “The phone will probably ring a few times on draft night. We’re going to use those assets as ways to try to build our team and build on the foundation that we have in place.”

A Western Conference executive said Tuesday a handful of teams are interested in moving up in the draft to select Mayo and would likely call Presti inquiring about a trade.

The embattled guard, who faces allegations of accepting $30,000 from an agent last season, could be a poor fit for the Sonics. Since Presti arrived last year, the team has placed a high emphasis on rebuilding with high-character, low-maintenance players.

“I’m confident that we’ll add another talented player, so we’re excited,” Presti said.

Posted By: Dustin Chapman

The Supersonics are locked, loaded, and ready to move to Oklahoma City, despite how devastating it may be to the people of Seattle. Word on the street is that they have narrowed it down to four name-change possibilities, with black and gold the favorite uniform color combination.

With The Oklahoman’s NBA Team Name Contest now whittled down to the Final Four nicknames — Thunderbirds, Barons, Outlaws and Thunder — opinions still vary on what the team should be called. But some, like Moody, are among a growing segment who thinks black and gold could work as the team colors no matter the nickname or mascot.

Posted by: Dustin Chapman

Seattle Super Sonics

2006-07 record: 31-51 Last in the Northwest

Added: Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Jermaine Jackson, Wally Szczerbiak, Kurt Thomas, Delonte West

Lost: Ray Allen, Andre Brown, Danny Fortson, Randy Livingston, Mike Wilks

PG: Luke Ridnour, Earl Watson

SG: Kevin Durant, Delonte West, Jermaine Jackson

SF: Damien Wilkins, Wally Szczerbiak, Mickael Gelabale

PF: Jeff Green, Nick Collison, Mouhamed Sene

C: Robert Swift, Kurt Thomas, Johan Petro

Overview:

The Sonics really lucked out. The lottery balls fell their way allowing them to draft the most dynamic player to enter the league since LeBron. I can spend the next three paragraphs about how Kevin Durant figures to be on a level with Dirk Nowitzki by the time he is twenty-one, but I want to look at the bigger picture. For a franchise in a less than favorable stadium lease that has strained relations with the city, with new owners dying to move the team to their hometown of Oklahoma City, they got what amounts to a presidential pardon. Durant will put disgruntled fans in the seats and sell jerseys. So as a sign of gratitude for their good fortune, what does the franchise do with their new found luck? Trade the old face of the franchise, let their best young player walk, and start over in the hopes that they’ll be competitive again when they finally move to Oklahoma City.

The overhaul is not going to be in just personnel, but also mentality. Gone are the three for all and no defense Sonics, and in comes new GM Sam Presti and head coach P.J. Carlesimo cut from the branches of the Spurs tree. This year those two will try to figure out whether they have more than just one piece in place to build a winner. The Sonics will have nine players twenty-six year old or younger in camp, so they have youth on their side, and with their state of being in Seattle no urgency to be good right away.

It will be interesting to see how the style change affects the holdovers. Luke Ridnour has the reputation of being an offense only point guard, and that may cause him to lose more minutes to Earl Watson. Damien Wilkins figures to be teamed on the floor with Kevin Durant. Wilkins is Seattle’s best defensive wing player, and figures to have to guard the opponent’s best offensive player so they can save Durant for the other side of the court. Chris Wilcox and Nick Collison figure to be trade rumor darlings all year long. With Jeff Green, Kurt Thomas, the return of Robert Swift from injury, and decisions needing to be made soon on Johan Petro, Wilcox and Collison might get squeezed. Collison actually figures to benefit from the move to a more conventional style, but with a manageable contract and likely ability to fetch a decent young talent he might be more valuable to the Sonics in a trade. Wilcox is still only 25 and could still be viewed as a part of the team’s long-term picture, but with the team stock-piling big men in recent drafts the writing is on the wall.

Newcomers Wally Szczerbiak and Kurt Thomas don’t fit into the grand scheme, but Thomas came with two future 1^st rounders and Szczerbiak will play enough to get them another pick or young player in a trade. Delonte West was an interesting pick up. He is a nice little combo guard and young enough to be a part of the rebuilding effort, but the decision to play Durant at the shooting guard position could really hurt West. They can’t play West at the two and Durant at the three if they have any desire to stop the other team. I don’t think he’ll be able to handle too many minutes at the point and Durant figures to get at least 30 minutes per so West might be doomed for a disappointing campaign.

With Ray Allen out, the Sonics lost their other great scoring threat in Rashard Lewis.  At this point it is unknown if Rashard will be out for a length of time, but it at this point my first thought is it doesn’t look to good.

If the Sonics have to fend without Rashard, Luke Ridnour is going to have to shoot the ball 20+ times a game.  There is simply nobody else who can handle that kind of load if the Sonics plan to go on and still be in games.

The MRI results are expected back tomorrow, so we should know quite a bit more then.  With that said, the team is gonna have to be ready with or without Rashard on Saturday when they take on the Toronto Raptors.