Sonics, Blazers, Blow Up Their Teams Before Our Eyes

Other than June 5th, 1977 and June 1st, 1979, June 28, 2007 has got to rank as the best day in Northwest pro basketball history.

Draft 2007 was at the Kiwi & Kangaroo for me, where the best development of the night was that they played KEXP the entire time so I didn't hear a word Stephen A. Smith said.

The first two picks were anti-climactic. Everyone expected Oden #1 and Durant #2. Instead of the screaming and jumping up and down that happened on Lottery Day, my roommates and I shook hands and immediately began discussing our plans for traveling to the Blazers/Sonics games this year.

Things dulled up at this point, and since ESPN kept showing "must improve" for each player drafted, (example, Spencer Hawes' "must improve" was rebounding) we came up with "must improve"s for ourselves.

David
Must improve: looking up while dribbling.

Seth
Must improve: making layins.

Frank
Must improve: height.

The excitement came back when the Ray Allen trade was announced, and we began to argue with each other.

I'm fully in favor, but appear to be in the minority.

A friend called to tell me: "I'm not saying I don't like it, I don't understand why you'd get another fuckin' forward."

SupersonicSoul hates the deal: "This was supposed to be a great day for Seattle basketball, a day when the flowers started to blow thanks the fertilizer laid by the previous administration. Instead, I feel like we just traded our b.s. for somebody else's pile of crap."

And so does SonicsCentral: "Needless to say they have absolutely killed my enthusiasm." (really? killed your enthusiasm on a day you got KEVIN DURANT???!!??? Take some deep breaths, boys).

I love the deal. You just got two of the top five picks in the deepest draft in 20 years.

I never had an emotional connection to Ray Allen, he's a hired gun to me. And he's not going to be much good three years from now, when the Sonics will be contending for the title from wherever they are.

Sure, the Sonics don't have a shooting guard now, but as I argued with Frank, positions don't exist in the NBA anymore.


Tell me this: Who is Phoenix's shooting guard?

...

...

They don't have one.

Back in the old days, you had a 1 who could dribble, a 2 who could shoot, a 3 who could shoot and defend, a 4 with post moves, and a 5 who could block shots (and, ideally, had post moves).

Ten years ago, there was no-one, at least who I can remember, who was 6-11 and shot threes, like Dirk Nowitski, Rasheed Wallace, and Kevin Garnett regularly do now. Back then, anyone over 6-11 stood in the middle of the court with their arms up and had a 3-inch vertical. Think Benoit Benjamin.

Benjamin wouldn't last in the NBA now, because you can't just have one skill in the NBA today, you need at least two or three of these:

--Handles
--Slashing ability
--Outside shooting
--Passing
--On-ball defense
--Post moves
--Rebounding
--Shot blocking

Ray Allen's an amazing outside shooter, can dribble and plays decent defense. That's it.

He's led the Sonics to the playoffs exactly one of the last four years. Am I sad about losing that? Not really.

I like the other guy the Sonics got, Delonte West, a tall point guard who can rebound and post people up--think a poor man's Gary Payton. West, presumably, is the new point guard, and Ridnour or Watson will be gone. I expressed my feelings about the third player in the deal earlier. Ew.

Then, the Portland trade, which I like even more. Randolph is a points/rebounds machine, but also a turnovers and easy-baskets-for-the-other-team machine. The Blazers get a versatile tweener in Channing Frye and a giant contract that expires in two years in Steve Francis.

Blazers' Edge is not impressed: "There's GOT to be another aspect to this, right? This was the best offer we could get for Zach? Here's my theory: Commissioner Stern comes to KP a month ago and says, 'We're going to rig the first pick for you but you have to help the Knicks.' That's the only thing I can think of right now."

Randolph, like Allen, hasn't presided over a winning team recently, plus he has legal trouble. Frye and Francis isn't great return, but it clears up cap room a few years down the road when the Blazers expect to be contending for a championship.

The fans hate these deals. This is to be expected--rabid fans always overestimate the value of their team's players. The national media, on the other hand, loves what the Sonics and Blazers have done. Here's True Hoop's take on the Randolph trade, and, from True Hoop, David Thorpe's take on the Sonics' dealings.

So, just to recap, when the Sonics and Blazers tipped off the 06-07 season, here were the starting lineups:

Sonics: Luke Ridnour, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Chris Wilcox, Saer Sene
Blazers: Jarrett Jack, Brandon Roy, Ime Udoka, Zach Randolph, Joel Pryzbilla

These, we guess, will be the teams' lineups in 07-08:

Sonics: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox. (Rashard instead of WallyWorld? Holy crap, that's a quick 5)

Blazers: Jarrett Jack, Steve Francis, Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden.

Total speculation, there could be more trades to come. But those are two young teams, both with highly-paid #2s who will go away soon and get replaced, potentially, by veteran superstars. Yum.