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.

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