Exibition Season…Why bother?

Already I see the difficulty of writing a weekly column here …. Not only am I on the road (currently in Oakland, CA), but the fact is it's jusT hard to find anything too meaningful in the preseason to write about. Needless to say, this column will be fairly short. I went to the exhibition opener and may in fact go to the Warriors Fan Fest in Oakland where the Sonics and Warriors will have an open scrimmage in Jack London Square.

Preseason Opener:

Sorry to not have gotten a review of this game up sooner. More than a week ago the new look Sonics took on the up and coming LA Clippers in their exhibition home opener. It was a preseason game against the perennially bad Clippers, so any commentary should be taken with a grain of salt. However, many publications have in fact picked the Clippers ahead of the Sonics in the Pacific Division this year, so it was interesting to see how our guys looked against them.

The Good: The Starting Unit looked like a finely tuned machine. They appeared to be as advertised by Nate McMillan. Prepared, focused, energetic. We jumped to an early lead and the starters never faltered. In particular Vin Baker was amazing, Gary Payton possibly looked better than ever, and Calvin Booth appeared to be the perfect compliment to our squad. He was very active on defense and hitting the boards while not demanding the ball on offense. The two times they decided to leave him to double another player, he made them pay by swishing a couple of pretty jump shots.

The Bad: Our bench looked (as expected) young. Radmanovic showed some real flair but had trouble converting and Drobjnak needs to trade in his lead boots for a pair of Nikes. The dude is just slow. He does seem to be a very heady and effective player and I think he’ll be a fine backup but physical limitations may hold him back from being the player I thought may be.

Jerome James didn’t show much and Earl Watson didn’t play.

Preseason Strategy:

If our win/loss record concerns anyone in the preseason, please stop worrying so much. Every team goes into the preseason with certain goals. Playoff contenders attempt to fine tune their strategies. Teams with one or two new pieces attempt to integrate those pieces. Teams with Rosters that are set play the guys who will actually be on the roster. The Sonics have clearly made an effort to evaluate the young guys who will man their deep bench and make decisions on the final 1-2 roster spots. All of their young guys and non guaranteed contracts have logged heavy minutes often against other teams starters or actual rotation players. So just because Raef LaFrenz seems to have a more promising career ahead of him than Art Long and Shawn Marion made Jamal Kendrick look silly we shouldn’t be jumping off the bandwagon. In a year, we’ll struggle to remember those guys names and the Sonics season will be determined by Gary Payton, Vin Baker, Rashard Lewis, and the rest of the guys who will actually play.

I’m Pissed:

I thumbed through a copy of Avalon Sports Hoops Preview last week and they show the Sonics as last in the Pacific behind such powerhouses as the Clips and Warriors. Unfortunately that’s not the worst of it. In their off season reviews they give the Sonics a C- for their acquisitions, bash Calvin Booth and our Euros, and blast management for being unable to blow it up and go young.

Now I’m not a professional NBA writer but I want to point out a few serious flaws in their logic.

1) In Avalon’s own words our management was unable to trash the roster and start over. While that hurts our rebuilding effort it does mean that we return Gary Payton and Vin Baker. In my mind that helps greatly with our win/loss record this season and any team with GP should be ahead of the Clips and Warriors in my book.

2) In the Dallas Mavs review they point out how sorely Calvin Booth will be missed and tout him as a big loss for the Mavs. Somebody please explain how he can be a huge loss for a playoff team but a lousy acquisition for an average contract by a rebuilding team?

3) Heres why I’m pissed: This same reputable publication that gives us a C- actually give the NY Knicks' off season a B+. They praise the acquisition of Clarence Weatherspoon at the same contract as Booth and seem to think that the acquisition of Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson will help the team. Seattle gets blasted for not addressing its weaknesses but somehow the Knicks come out golden when they still don’t have a true center, a high end PG, and managed to clear out their cluttered roster by winding up with 7 PF’s and 3 average PGs. Avalon lost all credibility with this one .…

Final Shots

Drobjnak may be slow but statistically I like what I see from him so far. He seems to be able to consistently put up 6-10 points and 4-6 rebounds with a good percentage. If he can keep this up or improve upon it during the season he’ll be a real find.

Brent Barry may have a breakout season. He seems to be thriving in the “Double Post Offense” that Nate has implemented. The offense is basically this: Instead of having your PG at the top of the key orchestrating the offense with two players on the wings the team will have 2 guards (or even a guard and a forward) spaced off center at the top of the key. They will both set the offense and basically be interchangeable as PG/SG reacting to the defense. It should cater wonderfully to our team that has great jump shooters, a PG who plays great SG, and several SG’s who can distribute the ball. Barry and Payton together at the top of the key will be tough to defend and I look for big things from Bones this year.

As mentioned earlier I’m on the road. I haven’t had a lot of time for this column and do not have time to check statistics or proofread information. Future columns should be better but if the Knicks actually have 8 PF’s on their roster please don’t send me hatemail. It’s the preason anyway so none of this matters ….

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All opinions expressed in this column are solely the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of other columnists or staff of Sonicscentral.com