Theheel Posted May 11, 2013 Author Share Posted May 11, 2013 NBA Free Agency - Top 25 players plus notables Besides the players the Sonics took in Free Agency, the following big name players signed with the following teams. Player Pos Old Team New Team Contract Manu Ginobili SG San Antonio San Antonio 2yrs -$42,375,021 Andrew Bynum C Philadelphia Philadelphia 5yrs -$100,649,794 Chris Paul PG LA Clippers LA Clippers 5yrs -$100,649,794 Darren Collison PG Dallas Dallas 5yrs -$83,874,831 Dwight Howard C LA Lakers Atlanta 4yrs -$74,743,412 Tyreke Evans PG Sacramento Atlanta 4yrs - $62,286,178 Kevin Martin SG OKC Utah 4yrs -$63,868,649 Brandon Jennings PG Milwaukee Seattle 4yrs - $62,286,178 OJ Mayo SG Dallas Milwaukee 4yrs - $60,004,704 Corey Brewer SG Denver Denver 5yrs - $83,874,831 David West PF Indiana Sacramento 2yrs - $19,236,340 JJ Hickson PF Portland Portland 5yrs - $60,924,137 Josh Smith PF Atlanta Portland 4yrs - $59,598,444 Dorell Wright SF Philadelphia Phoenix 4yrs - $31,347,300 Nikola Pekovic C Minnesota Minnesota 5yrs - $41,886,582 Monta Ellis PG Milwaukee Milwaukee 5yrs - $78,324,327 Gerald Henderson SG Charlotte Dallas 2yrs -$8,591,595 Rick Hamilton SG Chicago Chicago 2yrs - $12,902,744 Leandro Barbosa PG Boston Chicago 3 yrs - $9,146,022 Jordan Farmar PG Brooklyn Brooklyn 3 yrs - $10,690,707 Al-Farouq Aminu SF New Orleans New Orleans 5yrs - $35,672,494 Chris Kaman C Dallas Milwaukee 4yrs - $31,361,135 Jose Calderon PG Toronto New Orleans 4yrs - $35,951,128 Devon Harris PG Altanta Houston 4yrs - $35,760,858 James Singleton SF Houston Cleveland 4 yrs - $31,825,570 Byron Mullins C Charlotte Washington 4yrs - $19,241,196 Al Jefferson C Utah Washington 2yrs - $11,103,231 Rasheed Wallace PF New York New York 2yrs - $7,655,022 Obviously the biggest shocker was the Lakers losing Dwight Howard. While some will say this is a good move for the Lakers many people are feeling that with an aging Kobe and a supporting cast that isn’t what it once was that the Laker’s should blow the team up and start over. In one of the move curious moves, the Portland Trail Blazers the #8 seed in the West last season and upset the #1 seeded Houston Rockets, since 2 power forwards in Josh Smith and JJ Hickson to large deals. With LaMarcus Aldridge already the Blazer power forward how these moves work for the Blazers will be interesting to see? Is Aldridge’s time in Portland nearing an end? Who is going to play center for them in the upcoming season? Mano Ginobili signed a 2 year extension worth $42,000,000 to remain with the Spurs. At some point the Spurs will need to add some young talent into the mix but Ginobili appears to be the starting shooting guard or 6th man for the Spurs again for the next 2 seasons. Andrew Bynum resigned a max deal with the Philadelphia 76’ers. Of the 28 players mentioned above, only 12 re-signed with their old teams. Atlanta appears to be a big winner in free agency while the Lakers were surprisingly quiet during the off season in any big moves. We will see if all these large contracts pan out for all the teams involved in the upcoming season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theheel Posted May 11, 2013 Author Share Posted May 11, 2013 [bThe Sporting News Pre-Season predictions[/b] Pacific Division 1.) LA Clippers 2.) LA Lakers 3.) Phoenix Suns 4.) Golden State Warriors 5.) Sacramento Kings 6.) Las Vegas Gold Northwest Division 1.) Denver Nuggets 2.) Portland Trail Blazers 3.) Utah Jazz 4.) Minnesota Timberwolves 5.) Seattle SuperSonics Midwest Division 1.) Oklahoma City Thunder 2.) San Antonio Spurs 3.) Houston Rockets 4.) Dallas Mavericks 5.) New Orleans Hornets Western conference Playoff Teams Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets, Thunder, Spurs, Rockets, Blazers, Suns Eastern Conference Predictions SouthEast Division 1.) Miami Heat 2.) Atlanta Hawks 3.) Memphis Grizzlies 4.) Orlando Magic 5.) Washington Wizards 6.) Charlotte Bobcats Atlantic Division 1.) Philadelphia 76’ers 2.) Brooklyn Nets 3.) New York Knicks 4.) Boston Celtics 5.) Toronto Raptors Central Division 1.) Milwaukee Bucks 2.) Indiana Pacers 3.) Chicago Bulls 4.) Cleveland Cavs 5.) Detroit Pistons Eastern Conference Playoff teams Miami, Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Indiana, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Memphis Western Conference Finals OKC Thunder over LA Clippers Eastern Conference Finals Miami Heat over Milwaukee Bucks NBA Finals OKC Thunder over Miami Heat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theheel Posted May 11, 2013 Author Share Posted May 11, 2013 Sonics Training Camp and first 3 pre-season games Here in Seattle the 1st training camp for the returning Seattle SuperSonics is in session starting today. All players have reported to camp as the Sonics look forward to playing their 1st exhibition games. October 21, 2014 Pre-Season Game #1 Sacramento Kings vs Seattle SuperSonics It seems fitting that these two teams match up in the first ever pre-season game in the re-birth of the Sonics. The Kings almost came to Seattle several years ago before the NBA wisely decided to expand and bring back the Sonics. Sonics 106 Kings 100 Starting lineups - Seattle Vicente White -C Anthony Randolf-PF Austin Daye-SF Wayne Ellington-SG Brandon Jennings-PG Starting lineup – Sacramento DeMarcus Cousins-C David West-PF John Salmons-SF Marcus Thornton-SG Isaiah Thomas-PG Trailing 78-76 entering the 4th quarter, the Sonics rallied to win their 1st game of the pre-season over the Kings. While neither team is expected to challenge for a playoff spot for the 1st pre-season game it was surprisingly well played. The Sonics were led by free agent point guard Brandon Jennings who had 27 points and 9 assists for the game. Anthony Randolf had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie center Vincente White played 17 minutes in his first game and contributed 6 points with 6 rebounds. The Kings were led in scoring by David West’s 22 points. The Sonics dominated the boards with a 57-44 advantage and also held a huge advantage at the foul line hitting 25-35 while the Kings were just 12-16. Seattle Sonics at Miami Heat Heat 111 Sonics 93 Game 2 of the preseason took the Sonics to Miami to take on the Eastern Conference Champion Heat. The game was as much a mismatch as it sounded as the Sonics trailed at the half by 24 (63-39) and after 3 quarters by 32 (97-65). The bright spot for the Sonics was the play in the 4 quarter as they outscored the Heat 28-14 in the 4 quarter but ended up on the losing end 111-93 to even their pre-season record at 1-1. Sonics were led in scoring again by Brandon Jennings 21 points. The Sonics only shot 37.4% in the game compared to the Heat hitting at over 50% checking in with 58.7%. Ray Allen led the charge for the Heat against his former team with 25 while Dwyane Wade added 24. Seattle SuperSonics at Toronto Raptors Raptors 98 Sonics 84 The Sonics head north to Toronto for their 3rd pre-season game taking on the Raptors. The start of the pre-season took a turn for the worse in the 2nd quarter as the Sonics lost starting point guard and team leader Brandon Jennings for approximately 3 weeks with a broken cheekbone. John Lucas had 28 minutes playing in the absence for Jennings and had 9 points and 5 assists filling in. The Sonics shooting struggles continued as they only hit 36% for the game, but Wayne Ellington tried to pick up the slack with 24 points but only hit 11-27 shots. The game was tied at halftime at 46 but the Raptors came out with a blitzing 3rd quarter and outscored the Sonics 30-14 and ended up beating Seattle 98-84. Vincente White continued a slow pre-season with 22 minutes but only 4 points and 4 rebounds on the night. The Sonics only attempted 5 free throws in the game hitting only 3. The Sonics pre-season record stands at 1-2 losing both games on the road while winning their only home game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theheel Posted May 13, 2013 Author Share Posted May 13, 2013 As we head into the 2nd part of the pre-season, the Sonics have a record of 1-2 and have lost their floor leader Brandon Jennings for 2-3 weeks. In his stead John Lucas will start at point guard as the Sonics try and rebound from the tough road defeats. Tonight's game is against the Memphis Grizzlies who have moved from the Western Conference over to the Eastern Conference and have a rough physical lineup to test the young Sonics. After that the Sonics will host Phoenix and then also play Las Vegas in the final pre-season tune in a battle of expansion teams. While it isn't important who will win that matchup, the real question is which of these expansion teams will win more games, the Gold or the Sonics. Gaming odds have put the over/under on games won at less than 30 for each team. The Gold at 29 and the Sonics at 27 wins respectively. Based on the expansion draft and the free agents signed are their any predictions out there on who will have the better regular season between these two teams? OOC: I will post the last 3 pre-season games tonight and then we will start the regular season games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theheel Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 I am going to move the last 3 pre-season games pretty quickly here as the Sonics were pounded in 2 out of the 3 games and in the last game against the expansion Gold, they might have set a combined futility record as one of the worst games in NBA history. Pre-Season Game #4 Memphis vs Seattle Memphis 98 Seattle 81 John Lucas got his chance with Brandon Jennings out of the lineup and he laid an egg. Shooting 2-13, Lucas scored 7 pts and dished out a total of 4 assists in 25 forgettable minutes of action. Seattle was led in scoring by the 17 pts from Alonzo Gee and 13 points from Orlando Johnson. Memphis was paced by the unforgettable backcourt tandem of Bayless and Conley who had 25 and 22 points respectively. Pre-Season Game #5 Seattle at New Orleans New Orleans 120 Seattle 74 Didn't look like the Sonics decided to board the plane and go to New Orleans as the half time score was Pelicans 62 and Sonics 30. After not thinking it could get worse in the 3rd quarter, it did as the Sonics trailed 94-41. Not really much to say other than it could be a long season. John Lucas at least gave some glimmer of hope as he rebounded from the lousy shooting night against Memphis to led Seattle with 33 points on 12-17 shooting. Too bad the rest of the team was 16-61 28%. Pre-Season Game #6 Las Vegas Gold vs Seattle Las Vegas 78 Seattle 70 A real stinker at the Key on this night. The Sonics did play defense at least on this night giving up on 78 points, but again the offense was horrible scoring just 70 points for the 2nd straight game. The Sonics did hold a huge rebounding edge of 55-34 with 23 offensive rebounds. Unfortunately for Seattle with those 23 offensive boards they couldn't put many of them back into the basket as they shot 30.4% for the game. John Lucas continued on his roller coaster with a 3-17 shooting night for 10 points and handing out 1 assist in 28 minutes. It appears that Seattle is going to need Jennings back on the floor to be any kind of threat this season. So that ends the pre-season and after the opening night win, the Sonics finished losing the last 5 games in mostly convincing fashion to go 1-5. Vegas managed to go 2-4 in the pre-season games. Onto the regular season.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michgcs Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 I think the Gold will have the better season, but that's because their team is full of veterans. Hopefully you make a big splash in the next offseason because I have my doubts on Jennings as a centerpiece and Anthony Randolph has been underwhelming so far. Good luck, though, and hopefully the Sonics prove me wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theheel Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 Mixed emotions about what transpired yesterday. Yes I would love to see the Sonics return, no I never really wanted the Kings but if Sacramento hadn't stood up and showed the kind of support it did, I would have accepted them coming. I will give kudo's to KJ and the fans of Sacramento though, they really stepped up to the plate when it was 4 and long and hit a well executed hail mary for the winning score. The issue for me is that jerk that is commissioner of the NBA. Did he really have to start a press conference like that....."this will be short I have to go to a playoff game in Oklahoma City"? I mean what a complete horses &%$*# Right now I am not sure I even want to deal with the current NBA and especially while David Stern is still Czar. I was going to kill him off in this diary and maybe I will someday..... I have run most of the season and I will try to get into it again after the sting of the latest slap in the face by Stern eases some. Maybe one day the Sonics will come home, but I do not want this community to be used as a pawn like that again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nichols Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 All I can say about this whole process is . Even telling myself not to get too excited unless it was official it still kills me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michgcs Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 <p>My sympathy goes out to you guys. I always liked the Sonics logo and color scheme, and I think you have a great fanbase... unfortunately, the only owner willing to sell (and relocate) are the Maloofs, which don't exactly have the best track record.</p><p> </p><p> Still, being a CWebb fan, I'm kinda glad the Kings stayed. They'll always be the 'Sacramento Kings' in my mind. Hopefully a team like the Bobcats or something decide to sell.</p><p> </p><p> Or <em>MAYBE</em> in a year or two, this diary will turn into fact when the Sonics and the Gold become the latest expansion teams <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emark Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 <p>I couldn't agree more after listening to that press conference. It's unique for me as I have lived in the Seattle area for many years but am originally from Sacramento and lived there just as the Kings came to town. My first team love was the Sonics and became a Kings fan since they were my local team and the only pro team in town. I really want Seattle to get a team and it seems like the little dictator pretty much set up Seattle to fail. Stern completely avoided the direct question as to whether Seattle was used as a pawn to get a better deal in Sacramento and it seems pretty clear that was the case. Sure, Johnson somehow got a group together to keep the team in Sac but will they actually build a new arena remains to be seen. Hopefully when this new national TV deal is complete, the league will expand by two in order to keep everything balanced. I will now step down from my soapbox. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Back on topic, I've enjoyed what I've read so far and will keep up with this one. Adding the local radio talent to the diary is a plus as well.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theheel Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 Thanks guys appreciate it. I will be back on track but it is a rough one, but a weekend of rest and I will be smiling again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theheel Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 Tonight the Seattle Super Sonics make their debut in the NBA on the road taking on the Charlotte Bobcats. Seattle fans have been waiting 7 years for this return and tonight without their rookie center Vincente White they will start their expansion journey. The starting lineups tonight are as follows: Seattle C– Anthony Randolph PF- Austin Daye SF-Alonzo Gee SG-Wayne Ellington PG-Brandon Jennings Charlotte C-Brendan Haywood PF-Jack Spector SF-Alan Anderson SG-Delonte West PG-Kemba Walker http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5111&stc=1&d=1369630992 The Sonics came out a bit slow in this game, showing their jitters against the Bobcats in the 1st quarter and trailed 29-15. Fortunately as bad as the 1st quarter was the Sonics were able to rebound with a great 2nd quarter 37-18 to take a lead in their very first game 52-47. Led by Brandon Jennings coming back early from injury with 21 pts and 6 assists, but the real star for Seattle was Austin Daye pouring in 26 points on 10-11 shooting from the floor and 6-6 from the line. The Sonics shoot 45% from the floor and 41.7% from 3 pt land and hit 16-17 shots from the line in hanging onto to win a nail biter to the bitter end 98-97. Game #2 Seattle Sonics 1-0 @[ATTACH]5111[/ATTACH] Boston Celtics 0-1 While the Sonics were victorious on the road in their 1st game of the season, the Celtics disappointed their home fans with a very poor performance at home against Detroit and are looking to rebound. The starting lineups tonight are as follows: Seattle C– Anthony Randolph PF- Austin Daye SF-Alonzo Gee SG-Wayne Ellington PG-Brandon Jennings Boston C- Kevin Garnett PF-Jared Sullinger SF-Jeff Green SG-Paul Pierce PG-Rajon Rondo http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5112&stc=1&d=1369631188 Tonight the young Sonics showed their youth and Boston was ready to capitalize. Coming out fast and hard, the Celtics put duplicate 27-17 1st and 2nd quarters to led 54-34 at the half and never looked back. As good as Seattle shot in Charlotte from 3 pt land tonight they hit only 8 of 31 25.8% and 32.5% overall. Jared Dudley had 15 points and backup center Festus Ezeli had 12 rebounds while Vincinte White remained out but looked to be ready to play in the next game against the expansion Gold in Las Vegas. Game #3 Seattle Sonics 1-1 @ Las Vegas Gold 1-3 Tonight we get to see the NBA regular season debut of the Sonics 1st round draft pick, C Vincente White. While both clubs are expansion teams, there is no doubt that the Gold hold the experience edge with veteran players Jason Kidd, Ben Wallace, Kirk Hinrich and Emeka Okafor. Starting line ups Seattle C-Vincinte White PF-Austin Daye SF-Alonzo Gee SG-Wayne Ellington PG-Brandon Jennings Las Vegas C-Emeka Okafor PF-Jonas Jerebko SF-Matt Barnes SG-Jason Kidd PG-Kirk Hinrich http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5113&stc=1&d=1369631498 These two teams appeared evenly matched throughout this game as at the half the Gold held a slight lead 50-48. Brandon Jennings led the Sonics with 29 pts and 10 asssists, while Jared Dudley poured in 19 off the bench. Vicente White made his debut and played 25 minutes scoring 4 points on 2-5 shooting and grabbing 8 rebounds but it was not enough as Kirk Hinrich hit a 3 pointer with 15 seconds left to win the game for the Gold 96-95. The Gold improved to 2-3 on the year and 2-1 at home while Seattle dropped to 1-2 on the season with all the games having come on the road. Next game Seattle @ Houston Rockets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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