Draft Outlook in a Lockout Year

by Connor Witt

The memorable. The outrageous. The surprising. The boneheaded. The NBA Draft has had it all.

In 2011, there’s no promise in that we’ll get to witness a prospect relegated to the green room as long as Rashard Lewis or a draft day suit to rival Jalen Rose’s red pinstriped number. But it is certain to be particularly interesting because of the NBA’s outlook for next year.

“Labor Uncertainty.” It’s every NBA pundit’s favorite phrase when looking ahead to the 2011 offseason. But let’s not beat around the bush, everyone and their sister knows that a lockout is on the horizon. We don’t know if it will swallow a whole season, but it is universally accepted that the 2011-12 season will not be the full 82 games. One effect of the lockout has already become apparent from the field of early entrants. Freshman standouts and lottery prospects Harrison Barnes, Jared Sullinger, and Perry Jones have all spurned the league to return for their sophomore campaigns. For those elite players, the choice to stay in school merely means deferring the millions they stand to make. But as a result of their decisions, a wave of second-tier players have entered an already weak draft. To this second group – unproven talents like Tristan Thompson, Tyler Honeycutt, and Tobias Harris – this year’s draft provides a unique opportunity to receive the coveted guaranteed contract that comes with being a first rounder, even if they have to wait a year to see a paycheck.

Another result: with the threat of a lost season, NBA teams will be even more inclined to spend a pick on a foreign project that can continue to improve overseas. As my fellow draftaholics know, this is a recipe for the awkward mispronunciations that David Stern has made into an art form. Just imagine: Donatas Motiejunas, Jan Vesely, Jonas Valanciunas, Nikola Mirotic, and my personal favorite, Bismack Biyombo all in the first round. Magical. Whether or not this draft class possesses the potential to succeed in the league, there is no doubt it has the potential to produce a record number of Stern fumbles and stumbles.

Old School Pic of the Week 5/2

For decades it has been thought that Wilt's moniker "The Big Dipper" came from having to dip his head under doorways as he passed through. However, this recently recovered photo now makes it clear that the name originated from his fondness for the occasional dip in the remote lagoons of the Caribbean. Mystery solved.

Court Adjourned.

The Dilemma of a Seattle Sonics Fan in 2011

by Connor Witt

I generally try to refrain from being a resentful Seattle sports fan who cries about losing his pro basketball team to conniving thieves masquerading as honest basketball owners Oklahoma City, but on Wednesday night TNT left me no choice.

After Kevin Durant completed his superhuman fourth quarter to will OKC to a series-clinching victory, TNT displayed a graphic proclaiming that this was Oklahoma City's first playoff series win since 2005. Well, TNT - allow me to provide some historical backgroud - the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise did not exist prior to 2008.

Alright, that's just me being bitter. Of course I know the station was referencing the Seattle Sonics' 4-1 victory over Sacramento in the first round six years ago, but Oklahoma can't lay any claim to that series. I get that it's technically the same franchise with shared records, so TNT isn't "wrong" per se. But everything that has transpired throughout the whole relocation process gives Oklahoma City no right to call anything the Sonics accomplished their own.

I believe that OKC owner Clay Bennett forfeited that right somewhere between promising to keep the team in Seattle, demanding the city build him a new arena on their dime, the now-infamous "I am a man possessed!" e-mail, and ruining 41 years of basketball tradition in Seattle. (The documentary "Sonicsgate: Requiem for a Team" provides much more detail on all the injustices that took place in the relocation saga. I recommend it.)

But the real problem for me at the moment isn't TNT running that particular graphic. It isn't even with Clay Bennett stealing my city's team, my team. The problem I'm facing is simpler: the Thunder are really really good, and I'm having trouble restraining my urge to become a fan.

In 2008, when Clay Bennett ripped the still-beating heart out of my chest and handed it to me in a fast-food takeout bag moved the Sonics to Oklahoma City, I vowed that I could never root for a team he owned. For the most part, I've been very true to my promise. It hasn't been so easy though. Now don't get me wrong here, I haven't gone soft, I haven't forgotten what happened to my city, and I don't despise Clay Bennett any less than I did in 2008. What's hard for me to ignore is that the guys going out there and dominating the Nuggets in the first round were my guys not so long ago.

Nick Collison was a fan favorite in Seattle. We respected his hustle on the court and his blandness off of it was endearing in an ironic sort of way. Seattle fans loved him like America loved McLovin in Superbad. Both played the role of the charming goof, the guy whose skills were limited, but that you pulled for anyway. Rising stars Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka never donned the green and gold, but every time we see Westbrook's high-flying dunks or Ibaka's thunderous blocks Sonics diehards know that those are our 2008 number 4 and 24 picks out there (and no, I didn't have to look that up. It seems us Sonics fans aren't very forgetful about the past.)

And then there's Kevin Durant.

I was first amazed by Durant when I passed by him at a hotel restaurant in Spokane, Washington during the 2007 NCAA tournament. He was successfully taking a phone call in his left hand while texting one-handed on a Sidekick with his right. A Sidekick, that's a QWERTY keyboard.

I should have known he was destined for NBA stardom at that very moment.

In May '07 when the Sonics were awarded the second draft pick in the lottery, I immediately grabbed a green sharpie and drew a #35 jersey onto a plain white tee so I could be the first one representing Durant at school the next day.

In Durant, we had the future of basketball playing in our backyard and we embraced him even though our '07-'08 team had little else to brag about. We may not have had many wins, but we had the second best thing, hope.

Then the whole city had the proverbial rug yanked from beneath us and next thing we knew the Durantula was a Thunderclap, or Thunderbolt, or whatever the hell you call one individual unit of Thunder.

At first, my loathing for Clay Bennett and bitterness toward the whole relocation debacle made it easy to resent the Thunder. I put aside the reverence I held for Durant & Co. and put full force behind scorning my former franchise. I made it through the first two seasons of Thunder basketball in that mindset without wavering.

But something different happened this year; OKC rose from a team content just to make the playoffs to a true contender in the West. Along the way they began playing an exciting brand of basketball characterized by Westbrook's high-flying dunks, Ibaka's defensive dominance, Durant's elite scoring ability, and James Harden's awesome beard.

It became increasingly difficult for me to see them play and fight off the urge to enjoy what I was witnessing. I watched Durant explode for 44 on Christmas Day and I caught myself sneaking guilty fist pumps after a dunk or clutch 3. Since the playoffs began, it's become even tougher on me. Durant is still the same guy whose handcrafted jersey I wore so proudly just three years ago, how can I be expected to deny his heroics just because I dislike the guy who cuts his paychecks?

Oh, that's right, because the guy who cuts his checks screwed my city on a scale never before seen in professional sports and heisted the team that I had grown up worshiping. But as KD rained jumpers on the Nuggets in the fourth en route to 41 points Wednesday night, it made me wonder. How long will it take me to forgive the whole OKC franchise for their injustices against Seattle? At the moment I don't have the answer. Maybe when Bennett is no longer the owner, maybe when professional basketball returns to Seattle, maybe when Satan begins construction on a subdivision of the underworld specially for Bennett and his ownership group. I don't know.

This is the dilemma of a Seattle Sonics fan in 2011.


Court Adjourned.

Forecast of Heat

by Connor Witt

July 8, 2010. 9PM Eastern. The Decision.

We all remember where we were when LeBron James so famously informed the world that he would be taking his talents to South Beach. To most, these words made LeBron a villain, a coward, and a traitor. But while the rest of the country was busy crucifying James for betraying his hometown, I was curious what the implications would be on the basketball court.

There was no shortage of theories. Jeff van Gundy insisted that this team would not lose twice in a row all season, and he predicted they would beat the regular season record of 72 wins. Others doubted the Heat, concerned that the egos of Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James would prevent the team from jelling. How will the team survive with two incredibly ball-dominant scorers in the same backcourt? Who would take the last shot? How will they win with no frontcourt depth? Before the Heat had even played a game together Miami’s Big Three were the hottest discussion in sports.

For me though, the Miami Heat were an opportunity. At age 19 currently, I was too young to fully appreciate the great NBA teams of the recent past. I never got to see the great Showtime Lakers or Bird’s Celtics. I was only seven when Jordan sunk what we thought was his final shot to beat the Jazz and complete the Bulls’ second three-peat. I remember the Lakers’ dynasty at the beginning of the 2000s, but was not old enough to really appreciate it from a basketball standpoint. But with LeBron’s decision, I had hope that I would finally be able to witness a truly great team that I could appreciate for their ability. It was as if LeBron was speaking directly to me when he made his projections for the Heat’s future upon his arrival in Miami. The Heat have shown flashes of greatness this season, but they will need to demonstrate greater urgency than they did in Sunday’s Game 4 if they want to both make their vision and my basketball fantasy come true.

NBA Should-Be Awards

As the NBA regular season comes to a close this week, it’s that time of year when a panel of sports broadcasters and journalists submit their votes for the NBA's Most Valuable Player. It has been probable since the All-Star break that Chicago’s Derrick Rose would earn the MVP award, and it became a near lock when two-time reigning MVP LeBron James endorsed Rose for the award in late March. So now that King James and the media have settled that debate, it’s only fitting that we move on to the awards that might still provide some intrigue. No, I’m not talking about Rookie, 6^th Man, or Defensive Player of the Year. I’m referring to the non-existent awards the NBA should hand out, inspired by the God of basketball journalism himself, Bill Simmons. These are the NBA Should-Be Awards.

Karl Malone Award: Named in honor of everyone's favorite former Rogaine endorser, this honor is bestowed to the player with the most prominent hair loss issues. While many players in the league with male pattern baldness take the plunge and shave their heads completely, this award is reserved for the player with the most outstanding coat of thinning locks. In a close call between finalists Chris Kaman and Manu Ginobili, the trophy has to go to Ginobili for the increased exposure his balding noggin received for being named to the Western Conference All-Star team.

Tyson Chandler momentarily pries
his focus from Ginobili's bald patch
in order to convert a lay-up

Frederic Weis Award: The award is given to the player on the receiving end of the season’s most magnificent dunk. It was named after former 7’2” French center Frederic Weis, who never played in an NBA game but nonetheless rose to considerable fame for getting posterized harder than any player in human history during the 2000 Summer Olympics. This year’s award belongs to Timofey Mozgov, who learned the hard way not to bother Blake Griffin while he is busy dunking. Though Mozgov takes home the award, Othyus Jeffers nearly stole the honor late in the season for his unsuccessful attempt to draw a charge on LeBron James.

Most Improved Tattoos Award: While the award for the NBA’s Most Improved Player is still very much undecided, the Most Improved Tattoos Award was a landslide. Chris “Birdman” Andersen was already in the running for most tatted player in the league before the 2010-11 season began, but his most recent ink hardly went unnoticed. In typical Birdman fashion, his newest masterpiece spanning from jugular to jugular incorporates all the colors of the rainbow and reads “FREE BIRD,” clearly in reference to his nickname (and his status as one of the few players ever expelled from the league). However, it will be difficult for Birdman to notch back-to-back Most Improved Tattoos Awards, as his 6’11” frame seems to be running out of real estate. Only time will tell if Birdman has the boldness to explore the lone unexplored frontier: his face.

Could the tattooed stars on Birdman's ears indicate his

intentions to tattoo his whole face? We'll have to wait and see

Court Adjourned.

Old School Pic of the Week

For the inaugural Old School Pic of the Week, I had to pay homage to the hometown and our former franchise with this 1980 Sports Illustrated cover featuring Paul Westphal. This is the first of my Seattle Sonics posts, but certainly not the last. If I haven't made it clear that I was still pretty bitter about to Sonics' relocation to Oklahoma City, it should become quite apparent soon enough.

Court Adjourned.