I’m 28 years old, a graduate of the UW, and have spent most of my life in the Seattle Area. Although I grew up a casual basketball fan, I can remember the exact moment that I became obsessed. In April of 1992, a relatively unknown Seattle Supersonics team went up against the highly favored Run-TMC Golden State Warriors. During one particular breakaway, our young backup PF, Shawn Kemp, broke lose from the pack and took a feed for an alleyoop pass that resulted in a fully extended, almost completely horizontal, dunk. I was hooked. I’m sure that many of you remember the dunk.

I’ll be writing a weekly column titled “News from the Post” (the post position, not NY Post!) covering Sonics information and summaries of various message boards around the net. Feel free to e-mail me questions about players, rosters, stats, or the Collective Bargaining Agreement and I’ll get back to you.

This week’s column is very long and only moderately informative. Why? Because the season hasn’t started yet and all we can do is relay five months worth of stories we’ve heard before. I’ll try to include some tidbits you haven’t heard before:

News From the Post:
Offseason Summary: 10/08/01

When the Sonics' off-season began last June, just about everybody figured it would be an active summer. Patrick Ewing and Vin Baker would certainly be gone, Gary Payton was most likely on his way out along with Shammond Williams, and the Sonics would focus on a big man in the NBA draft. Restricted agent Ruben Patterson was a hot commodity and would return a great piece to the puzzle. The Sonics had promised plenty of cap room and were looking at a big name free agent, and, of course, we all wanted to know who we would be getting back from all of our trades. Names like Brian Grant, Sam Cassell, Terrell Brandon, and many others were mentioned throughout the offseason and it seemed a certainty that we would see one of them in green, gold, and red come September.

Looking at the Sonics' roster as we enter training camp, you have wonder what went wrong. Payton and Baker are back with familiar promises of better team play and increased production. Patterson returned exactly nothing when he signed a free agent contract with the Portland Trailblazers and somehow Shammond Williams wound up back on the roster. For all the talk of big-name free agents and draft picks, the Sonics wound up drafting a European small forward named Vladimir Radmanovic and acquiring several players you’ve never heard of, including Calvin Booth, Predrag Drobjnak, and Jerome James. For that matter, none of them will be in green, gold, and red because even the uniforms wound up having a sudden change of plans.

It would seem in hindsight that absolutely nothing went according to plan. However October is a time for eternal optimism in the NBA, so rather than chalk the off-season up as a failure we’re going to focus on the positives and try to examine how things changed so drastically in a few short months.

What happened:

Personally I feel that two factors contributed to the drastic change of plans. First, the Sonics were unwilling to make a bad deal. They resisted the pressure to make change for change’s sake and determined that none of the deals on the table gave them what they needed to get to the next level. Teams either didn’t see the value in what we were offering or, more likely, they felt that the Sonics' backs were against the wall. They came through with low ball offers, older players, and large contracts. The Sonics had to be disappointed that they didn’t receive anything more substantial but they resisted the urge to make change for change’s sake and more importantly avoided acquiring any long term contracts or players that they didn’t need. While this may not seem like such a big deal you have only to look at the New York Knicks to see how easily teams can fill their rosters with junk. Given the current CBA, poor contracts and players can weigh down your roster for years.

The second factor was the Sonics' commitment to the youth movement. The Sonics reportedly made a strong push for a draft day deal which would clear cap space while acquiring youth. Once that opportunity was missed, they simply could not find a deal which did not involve veteran players who would detract from their youth movement. In the end, they decided that they really wanted to get the ball to Rashard Lewis and Desmond Mason. Acquiring veterans who would demand the shots and playing time would only detract from their young guns, so they decided not to bother.

The Sonics deserve some credit for not encumbering the team with old players and large contracts. While its unfortunate that they didn’t get the offers they were looking for, they wind up entering the season with a great deal of flexibility for future years. The Sonics have the fourth lowest payroll in the league and an average age of 25 even with Gary Payton and Vin Baker on the roster. If a few of the young guys develop well, they should be back to the upper echelon in a couple of years instead of being choked by guys like Charlie Ward and Larry Johnson on the roster (In case you can’t tell, the Knicks are my idea of what not to do when trying to rebuild …).

You may not know:
 The Sonics actually could have arranged a sign and trade with Ruben Patterson and still had enough cap space left to sign Calvin Booth. They would have had to cut Shammond Williams to clear up the money. They weren’t offered much for Ruben and were caught off guard when Portland came in with big money.

Who did they wind up with:

1) Calvin Booth, Projected Starting Center: A big gamble
 The 6-11, 250lb Booth began the offseason as a relative unknown compared to higher profile players such as Golden State’s Marc Jackson and Atlanta’s Nazi Mohammad. However the Sonics maintain that they targeted Booth from the start because of his athleticism and shot-blocking ability. They had seen the results of pairing Vin Baker with a slower, more cumbersome big man, and felt that they needed someone who could run the floor and rotate more quickly on defense. Booth is a former reserve from the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards. His third year statistical development compares favorably to that of Theo Ratliff of Atlanta, and experts say that his upside potential is to be a Ratliff-like player. On the downside, of course, he could wind up reminding more of Jim McIlvaine.

2) Vladimir Radmanovic, Projected backup SF and PF:
 I’d be lying if I claimed to know any more about him than I’ve read in the paper. He’s a 20 year old European who some scouts claim is more talented than Dirk Nowitzki and Peja Stojakovic. Rather than try to claim any knowledge of his game, I will say this: I saw him standing next to Rashard Lewis at the open practice last July. Radmanovic is noticeably taller and bigger than Rashard and, contrary to popular belief should have the body to play the PF spot. At his age he could very easily gain another 2-3 inches and 15 20lbs to become a PF/C later in his career.

3) Predrag Drobjnak, Projected Backup PF and Center:
 Another Yugoslovian, Peja Drobjnak is a big center in the Vlade Divac mold. Acquiring him for a second round draft pick may turn into the biggest steal of the draft. Drobjnak was a starting center on a Turkish team that two years ago featured Hidyet Turkoglu of the Kings and Marc Jackson of the Rockets. For anybody who wanted Jackson, keep in mind that during the 2000 Turkish season, Drobjnak produced more rebounds (6.4 vs 6.0), more points per game (11.7), and a shooting percentage more than 20 points higher than Jackson (.657 vs .45). Drobjnak compared favorably to Turkoglu, whom many see as a future all star.

You may not know:
 The Sonics were so impressed by Drobjnak that they offered him a 3 year contract at the NBA minimum. This contract is significant because should Drobjnak develop into a solid NBA big man the Sonics will have both Larry Bird rights and right of first refusal for Drobjnak, essentially assuring the Sonics will be able to keep his rights for up to seven years.

4) Jerome Jamess, Projected backup C:
 James is 25 years old, 7-1, and a trim 262 lbs after losing more than 80 lbs in the last year. He has all the physical tools to be a premier shot blocker and rebounder but has suffered from a bad attitude in past seasons with the Sacramento Kings. The Sonics got their first look at him last July and feel that after seasoning in Europe he has gotten his game and his attitude together to be an impact player.

You may not know:
 James went to a High School so small that they did not have a basketball program. He did not play hoops at all until college. Nate McMillan describes him as, “in need of coaching.”

What to Expect:

Expect a number of these young guys to fail. We’re going into the season with a starting Center who’s never been a starter, a starting PF who was one of the worst players in the NBA last year, and three key backups (Radmanovic, Drobjnak, and James) who have never played a meaningful minute in the NBA. We shouldn’t be surprised if one or more of those guys struggles. It's part of the rebuilding process.

On the positive side, it’s October. We’re currently tied for first place and the time is right for optimism. Every one of these players has the potential to be really solid and we should hope that they pan out. I remember clearly hearing the press conferences for Shammond Williams and Ruben Patterson and saying “Ruben Patterson??? I wanted Mitch Richmond and they give me Ruben Patterson?” I was angry. So this year I’m just going to sit back and try to enjoy the failures as much as the successes. Expectations are low, so just savor the good times and understand that bumps in the road are part of the process.

I’ll be going to the first preseason game tomorrow night, so look for my thoughts about that on Saturday.

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