The Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association are currently in the midst of a storm similar to Seattle’s infamous rain. Headed by ownership loan hostages from Oklahoma and the departure of one of the team’s most famous players, Ray Allen, fighting against the lightning bolts of franchise relocation and a green roster of experience have longtime fans wondering what will happen inside. the next two years. But there seems to be some hope that the storms will turn those concerns into the great city of Seattle.
Kevin Durant, the 6’10” University of Texas phenom, is now part of the Seattle SuperSonics present and future. He became the only freshman in the history of the NCAA to make the Collegiate National Player of the Year Award, Durant became the city’s own Sandman, setting off dreams of victory and power championships-dreams long after the Sonics’ retirement last chased (lost) the title NBA in 1996 against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
With Allen and fellow second-team All-Star Rashard Lewis fleeing to the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, via trade and free agency, the cast of characters on the teams’ rosters has dropped a bit. In the aforementioned trade with Boston, Seattle also received big-bodied swingman Jeff Green from Georgetown in the 2007 NBA Draft, along with one season All-Star Wally Szczerbiak to help fill the role that Allen left at the open wing position. Solidarity, though, may be the best bet for success in the near future.
Promising center Robert Swift from an ACL injury, Chris Wilcox was able to power ahead of the tow man, and either Luke Ridnour or Earl Watson easily able to lead the teams first team guards, the Sonics were the best teams in the Western Conference to control the damage of their teams as the rest of the team could do in the panic of the first-unit line.
Likewise, the bench will remain strong with young developing centers in Johan Peter and Mohamed Saer Sene, guards Michael Gelabale, Damien Wilkens and Delonte West, and veteran power forward Nick Collison for muscle. With the dedication of a solid rotation, continued experience in the play by Peter Gallis and Gelabale, and the desire to develop Durant and Green’s stamina and strength over the course of an 82-game season, the Sonics could very well become 2007. -08 The Golden State Warriors version…but more dangerous.
Below is a potential starting lineup for the Seattle SuperSonics for the 2008 season (note the length of the players and the three point threats at the wing positions (shooting tackles and small forwards);
Power forward Chris Wilcox (6’10”, acting as a scorer/rebounder/defender), small forward Wally Szczerbiak (6’7″ as a shooter/scorer); in the middle is Robert Swift (7’1″, acting as a rebounder/shot blocker), as one of the league’s greatest shooting guards, Kevin Durant (6’10”, acting as a shooter/scorer/defender); and point guard: Luke Ridnour, 6’2″ (acting distributor/penetrator).
When the team is assembled, there is nothing that can stifle the improvisational theater, but the team itself. If Ridnour and Watson argue over who starts and gets the minutes at lead guard, if Wilcox and Collison get pushed around with the potential to back each other up, and if Swift, Sene, and Peters don’t break through as productive post players, he could easily see his future in the SuperSonics pot o’ gold dissolve into yet another rain cloud as the dog’s dreamy clear sky glories.
