One nice thing about writing a column for SonicsCentral.com is that it allows you to go back in the archives & see if you've flip-flopped on your ideas, or if you've remained fairly consistent. So when someone like Kevin, whom I really respect, started making crystal ball references in response to one of my posts as if no one could have known all these injuries were going to deplete our frontcourt, I had to go back & take a look at what I'd been writing before I went off on the "Heavy's Great Adventure" tangent. Now you may think I'm crazy for what I've written in the last month, but you can never say that I was the antithesis of omniscient. In January I was talking about our Krispy Kreme offense -- all sugar & sweetness on the outside, with a big hole in the middle. And this was when all the not yet ready for prime time players (save Booth) were still relatively healthy. Sort of. Long before this I claimed that any time Antonio Harvey could make the team, we had to be weak, or at the very least 'thin' up front. So what was I talking about? Let's look at the individual guys a little more closely, one by one.

Booth has never been a starting center in this league. A lot of people seemed to like him (& still do), but when push came to shove, he was always expendable. Three teams in three years is NOT a good sign. And now there is the question of toughness. I hope I'm wrong, but Calvin is starting to sound more & more like one of those guys that, for whatever reason, never lives up to his potential. Of course it's too early to pass such sweeping judgment, but it's CERTAINLY not too early to feel some doubts creeping in.

Our other experienced big man up front is Vin. We've hashed & rehashed Baker so often in here, there's no need to go over all the particulars again. While two months ago no one could have know what literally would befall Vinderella, surely the plethora of ticky tack injuries he had suffered this season alone should have given rise to questioning how much he could be counted on. Unless you were brain dead, you had to have a healthy amount of skepticism about whether or not he could finish out the season uninjured. You didn't know WHAT, but you just had this prescient feeling that SOMETHING was going to happen to him.

And these were/are our most experienced big men. With the players behind them, there was/is no margin for error.

Jerome James has been a pleasant surprise. Given the opportunity to prove himself with more playing time in Vin's absence, he has done admirably .But who could have predicted two months ago that he would have developed the way he has? Let's not forget that he was coming off injury himself. And even now, who would be bold enough to suggest that he'll become a long time starting center befitting more than 30 minutes/night? He may work up to 25 consistent minutes, but that would have to be the end product of a GM's dream. While he has developed a nice little low post game which I think is even more varied than Vin's, he is no more of a sure thing than either of the other two players mentioned. While he may be talked about for YEARS to come as Wally's fait accompli, he's never going to make anyone forget about Shaq, or any of the other great centers for that matter.

Then there's the rest. Art Long is hungry, but if he doesn't invest his money wisely, it's a feeling he'll know well for the rest of his life. Like so many CBA players who lack the necessary talent, no amount of desire in the world is going to make him a genuine NBA commodity. He may kick around the league for a few more years, but a few months shy of 30 already, his days are numbered. He'll be the kind of guy the Sonics sign to a 10-day contract in a couple of years because nobody else wants him. They'll say he's familiar with the system, works well with everyone, & has the respect of the coaching staff .But the real reason will be that he's cheap. If he was a couple of inches taller, & ever saw a foul he didn't like, he might be said to have a future. But on a team with any kind of depth in the interior, he is destined to ride the pine as a cheap insurance policy who gets off the bench mostly in garbage time, or occasionally when some opponent needs to be bruised.

Even less of a positive nature can be said about Oyedeji. Watching him flop around out there like a tuna on the deck of a fishing boat makes me wonder how so many people can have such high hopes for this guy. He will always be a project. The guy has a better chance of successfully running the old Nigerian Pigeon Drop scam than becoming a successful NBA player. First you have to know the game, & he doesn't. I give Vladimir Stepania a better chance of survival. Were it not for his age, I would give him almost no chance. Even so the only hope for him might be a stint in the CBA, or as a clown with the Globetrotters. Barring divine intervention, none of these guys starting with Long has a future with the Sonics.

Finally of the big men, there is Drobnjak. Three years younger than Long,& infinitely more knowledgeable about the game of basketball than Oyedeji, despite games that must make even his mother blush, if properly utilized, this guy has a limited future in the NBA. He can run the floor, & when his outside shot is on, he can create matchup problems. He's never going to be more than a situational player on a good team, perhaps 8th or more likely 9th in the rotation.

This brings me to the very point I was trying to make two months ago when I spoke of the "hole in the middle". While we may all be pleased as punch at how these guys have stepped it up in times of adversity, this is a patchwork quilt at best. I think I stole the phrase "center by committee" from someone as well. But the point is that save for Vin, there isn't a guy in this whole group that deserves to be talked about in the same breath as Bones & GP, or even Lewis & Radman (who's gonna be special).

You can try to mold an offense around the latter two all you want, but somewhere along the line the realization has to hit that you have to have some players up front who can do the things they can't. And when you look at the players mentioned & whether or not they can get the job done, you're left with the conclusion that they're always going to be the Achilles heel of this team. Watching Marc Jackson bang against us the other night after his recent trade made me wonder what all this talk had been about him being another soft offensive threat we surely didn't need. On this team, anyone young & strong who can stand their ground & box out would be a welcome addition. And if he has the kind of offensive game that Marc does, how could he NOT be an upgrade over Long or Oyedeji?

So having a better crystal ball has nothing to do with the true issue at hand. And that is, had we not had all these unfortunate injuries, we would still have several marginal players up front; they would still be the weakest link of the team; we would still be thin & susceptible to injury; & as such, ANY PRUDENT GM WOULD BE CONSTANTLY LOOKING TO UPGRADE THOSE PERSONNEL. Unfortunately as I also said back in January, Wally doesn't have the foresight to think like this. Wally reacts to problems AFTER THE FACT instead of preemptively acting. It was foolhardy not to upgrade before the trading deadline whether from frugality, lack of insight, or whatever. It was foolhardy not to grab someone on a 10-day contract as injuries began to mount. And I expect nothing less than further foolhardiness from the motley fool himself now that we find ourselves in this jam. No, crystal balls have nothing to do with it. But a GM with ANY kind of balls at all would be preferable to what we have now.

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