ESPN.com says Rashard Lewis is off to Orlando

ESPN.com's Marc Stein is reporting tonight that Rashard Lewis has agreed to a max contract with Orlando and will sign the deal on July 11, the first day free agents can sign new deals.

This doesn't exactly break my heart. I would have liked to keep Lewis, but I'm not convinced he's a max player -- he's got one All-Star selection under his belt, and even that was tenuous, brought about mostly because the team was having success.

He's a nice player, but not a superstar. I don't want to see the Sonics handcuffed by a bad contract, the way the Wolves were when they gave Wally Szczerbiak his fat deal. A max deal to Lewis probably would have done that.

Now, we'll see how good Presti is. The one thing the Sonics had going for them was that they could offer him a six-year contract; the most Orlando can offer is five. Let's see if Presti can really earn his money by negotiating a sign-and-trade with the Magic, where Lewis gets his six-year deal and the Sonics get some kind of return on him. That also would be best for the Magic, who still have designs on signing Darko Milicic. A sign-and-trade would give them enough cap space to still sign him, which they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

I don't know exactly what the Sonics might get in return, but I know there are other people out there way smarter than me who break that stuff down. When I run across it, I'll pass it along.

TNT's Hughes gets it with column

My buddy Mike, who works for the Sonics, commented on this post that Seattle was the only place where the Ray Allen trade wasn't being hailed as a success -- that it was roundly being praised around the country.

In my response, I tried to make the argument that it's just not that simple. That people "around the country" aren't worried about losing this team the way we are, and that colors how we see everything. Frank Hughes at The News Tribune gets it.

"(S)adly, nothing can be taken in the context of 'purely basketball' with this organization, not now and probably not for the next nine months to a year.

"There is an overarching fog of uncertainty about the team’s future that never seems to dissipate, infusing itself into any discussion about the team and choking the excitement and optimism out of even the smallest scintilla of hope."

He goes on to tell of why he believes the Allen trade was a smart basketball deal -- a stance I'm beginning to agree with -- and explains that the consensus among NBA writers was that the Sonics got the best of that one.

But that doesn't mean we get the freedom to look at the move independent of the larger issues of the arena and the team potentially leaving town.

"It’s a good start to the reshaping of a roster that doesn’t need to be completely razed to achieve success. ... But how can an increasingly apathetic and alienated fan base generate the type of fervor that usually accompanies such dramatic decisions with the sneaking suspicion that it is intended for the benefit of another community? ...

"It’s a shame, really. These should be the best of times for this organization. New GM. Fresh perspectives. Innovative ideas.

"But there is one idea that never can be forgotten: In its current state, nothing with this franchise is purely basketball."

The day after: Reviews mixed on Sonics draft

Just thought I'd pass along some of the other reaction to last night's draft. Nationally, the Sonics' trade of Ray Allen and drafting of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green is being hailed as a success. Locally, many are left scratching their heads, the way I was last night.

And, by the way: Carl Landry (the second round pick that didn't make any sense whatsoever) was traded to Houston for a future second rounder and cash. So now that makes a lot more sense.

• The News Tribune's John McGrath agrees with me.
• Fans at the draft party felt like I did.
• The Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer thinks sending Allen away was the right move.
• The Times' other columnist, Steve Kelley, concurs -- he thinks the Sonics actually got better last night.
• The Seattle P-I's Art Thiel says this better not be it.
• Pete Nussbaum at SupersonicSoul says faith is the best course of action after last night's initial outrage.
• SonicsCentral.com also believes this was the right time to trade Allen.
• Seth over at Enjoy the Enjoyment likes the moves.
  
• ESPN.com's Chad Ford gives the Sonics an A- for their two draft picks and the trade.
• So does Sportsline.com's Tony Mejia.
• ESPN.com's David Thorpe gives them an A+, via True Hoop.
  
• Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix disagrees, labeling the Sonics as one of his losers.

Happy reading.

Sonics demonstrate uncanny ability to wiz on fans' excitement

This night was supposed to be the night the franchise turned around -- the night we celebrated the next great Seattle superstar's arrival in our town.

It was supposed to be a night of unbridled joy.

Instead, I'm left thinking that if Clay Bennett could send the Mariners on a 10-game losing streak or take a lead pipe to Matt Hasselbeck's kneecap, he would. He's that good at ruining pretty much anything that makes us smile.

On a night that was supposed to be all about Kevin Durant -- the night we dreamed that maybe, with just a little bit of roster tweaking, the Sonics were on their way to being relevant again by building around a new young superstar who would learn from the aging superstar -- we ended up talking all about Ray Allen becoming a Boston Celtic.

It really is amazing that anything could ruin this night, but Bennett and his guys figured out a way to do it.

I had hope that this team might become an instant contender. But it now is abundantly obvious that Bennett is intent on blowing the thing up and starting over, building around Durant. As I wrote earlier, the cynicist in me believes Bennett might just be trying to tank the team for just long enough to get it out of town. Even the most optimistic person would have to agree that losing 50 games again next year is not the way to get an arena deal done, and history tells us this isn't the best way to build to a championship.

Now, it's clear GM Sam Presti isn't done with this roster. He's got a sign-and-trade deal for Rashard Lewis to complete. They're still saying publicly they want Rashard back -- presumably to try and retain some leverage -- but let's get real. There are now three small forwards under contract in Durant, Jeff Green and Wally Szczerbiak, and as Allen said, Rashard is not likely to want to join a youth movement. He's got no scoring punch from the two-guard spot -- unless they're counting on Szczerbiak (who played in 32 games last year) -- and still has huge issues at point guard.

He's obviously got some substantial dealing left to do, so I'll reserve total judgment until I see how this all shakes out. But tonight could hardly have gone worse, from a fan perspective.

I'm not saying I don't totally understand parting with Allen; after all, he plays a position where the drop off in play is generally precipitous at his age. But I don't understand the pick of Jeff Green, a guy I think is really overrated. He's a nice player, but not the kind of guy who's going to pair with Durant to dominate the West for years to come. (And I don't just say that because he traveled against Vandy and ruined my bracket.) And to only get Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West thrown into the deal, while -- oh, by the way -- giving up your No. 35 pick in this draft (which turned out to be Big Baby Davis)? It just doesn't make sense.

And I really don't understand the pick of Carl Landry, rated the 63rd-best prospect by Chad Ford at ESPN.com yet picked by the Sonics at 31. Even if he is your guy, in such a deep draft, the Sonics could have easily traded down and picked up a pick next year or something and still gotten him.

I would much rather have seen the Sonics pick Corey Brewer -- a lockdown perimeter defender and solid shooter -- to play the point at No. 5, then seen them pick up Arizona's Marcus Williams -- a pure scorer at the two-guard -- at No. 31. Both are long and versatile, and fit the mold that apparently Presti is looking for. That would have gotten me excited, as I would have seen how the pieces were fitting together.

Instead, we got a 3/4 tweener without any discernable strengths other than athleticism and yet another undersized power forward, with only the promise that there is more work to be done.

Yippee.

Thanks, Clay, for sucking the life out of Seattle once again.

Sonics make a trade, only not the one we all wanted

The Sonics are blowing it up, and I don't like it. In fact, I smell a rat.

Ray Allen has been shipped to the Boston Celtics, and Rashard Lewis is as good as gone in what likely will have to be a sign-and-trade deal. In return, we get a team that features Kevin Durant (unbelievably awesome), Jeff Green (underwhelming), Wally Szczerbiak (terrifically bad and under contract at $12 million per for the next two seasons) and Delonte West (a crappier version of Earl Watson).

I know we're probably only getting part of the picture right now -- I'm sure GM Sam Presti will be making other moves to remake the roster -- but it sure seems like this is part of a plan to get the team to suck just long enough to get out of town, then blossom into a winner somewhere else.

I hope I'm wrong, but the original talk was that adding Durant to the original cast of characters would catapult the Sonics into playoff relevance.

Now, it's looking like they're following the Portland plan, which sounds nice, until you consider this: How many of the championship teams from the last 20 years built their squad by blowing it up and starting over at some point? None. San Antonio came closest, but their pick of Tim Duncan came after a 60-loss season in which David Robinson and Sean Elliott were hurt.

Yes, Portland has a nice nucleus of players, but there's no guarantee that team is going to become championship caliber. Keeping Ray Allen around -- a guy who's far and away better than anyone on Portland's roster -- would have made a lot of sense to help this team not stay in the 50-loss range. Now, it will be awful difficult to keep that from happening.

And once you start losing, it's awful tough to stop. The NBA is littered with franchises that started losing and are still losing.

Anyway, I'm rambling, so I'll check in later after we see how the rest of the night shapes up.

Latest on Sonic trade rumors

I'll be posting periodically throughout the day on NBA Draft stuff that I come across, but I won't have the time to necessarily be scouring the Internet for the latest on all the trade rumors.

That's why you should visit this thread at SonicsCentral.com. They are doing that dirty work for all of us.

Among the interesting things they've picked up:

• The News Tribune's Frank Hughes thinks Ray Allen will be traded before next season.
• The Oregonian's Jason Quick thinks Greg Oden going No. 1 still isn't necessarily a done deal.

In less than 24 hours, Kevin Durant will be a Sonic

Before we turn in for the night, some developments on the NBA Draft.

• Greg Oden apparently has been promised by the Trail Blazers that he will be the No. 1 overall pick, according to ESPN.com.
• No one really knows if the Sonics' on-again-off-again trade with Atlanta, in which Luke Ridnour would be sent to the Hawks in exchange for their No. 11 pick, is on or off at the moment. The News Tribune and the P-I are essentially reporting that the deal is done as long as the Hawks don't get involved in that much-rumored three-way deal that would send Kevin Garnett to Phoenix. ESPN.com is reporting, however, that the Hawks are having second thoughts about Ridnour. That's a bummer, because I can't wait to get Ridnour out of town. It's not personal -- it's just that he's not very good. (Don't tell the Hawks.)
• If Ridnour is shipped off, expect the Sonics to take Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey, says Gary Washburn of the P-I.

We'll have plenty of draft day/night coverage and analysis here tomorrow.

Sonics land Oden with No. 2 pick!

OK, so actually that's only according to ESPN.com's mock draft unveiled today. Usually, I think mock drafts are stupid, if only because they almost always seem to play it safe with conventional wisdom.

Well, conventional wisdom goes out the door when Bill Simmons is involved.

This mock draft is a tag-team effort between Simmons and NBA reporter Chad Ford, and it involves some pretty funny -- and insightful -- running commentary. Simmons was the guy to pick first, and had Portland take Kevin Durant. His reasoning?

(Durant's) a cold-blooded killer. I hate pre-draft workouts, but didn't you find
it interesting that Oden was nervous, awkward and apologetic during his workout
in Portland, but a confident Durant strolled in there two days later and blew
everyone away? You know what's funny about that? I knew that was going to
happen. One guy plays basketball because he was created to play basketball; the
other plays because he was bigger than everyone else and it seemed like the
logical thing to do. If there was a pickup game and Oden was on one side, Durant
was on the other, and your life depended on the game, you'd pick Durant. You
would.

Ergo, the Sonics land Greg Oden with the No. 2 pick. To which Ford says:

Bill, on behalf of the citizens of Seattle, Sam Presti, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis
and all eight remaining Sonics season ticket holders, I want to thank you. Not
only did you pass on the best big man to come in the draft since Tim Duncan in
1997 ... you handed him on a silver platter to your biggest rivals.

It's pretty good stuff. And, if you're curious, Simmons took Texas A&M's Acie Law in that No. 11 spot the Sonics would acquire if they ship Luke Ridnour's sorry butt to Atlanta (more on that later) -- Mike Conley Jr. and Corey Brewer already were off the board. And if you're still curious, Simmons selected Spencer Hawes at No. 13 for the New Orleans Hornets.

Hawes makes it official

As expected, Washington freshman Spencer Hawes has decided to stay in the NBA Draft.

From the official UW press release:

"After meeting with everyone, getting all the appropriate feedback and going through the entire evaluative process, I made a decision I believe is the best for my future and that is to remain eligible for the NBA Draft," said Hawes, who announced his intention to undergo the NBA Draft selection process in early April, attended the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla. earlier this month and worked out for five different teams over the past 12 days. "The decision to further my career in the NBA at this point in time was difficult. Every day I had different feelings about it. But, at the end of the day, I have to be realistic and trust my instincts.

"The fact that our team struggled a bit last season made the decision not to return to Washington very difficult. Certainly, there are some things I would have liked to accomplish in college. But, I feel I made the best decision to my family and my future."

We'll add to this as the situation develops today. Hopefully he'll have some more insightful comments for actual media members.

Deadline looms for Hawes to declare decision

Husky fans can almost quit shifting uncomfortably waiting for their favorite 7-footer to make his mind about the NBA draft. Spencer Hawes has until 2 p.m. tomorrow to make up his mind for good.

All indications have pointed to Hawes staying in the draft for some time, and that hasn't much changed, according to ESPN.com's Andy Katz:

There doesn't seem to be one NBA team that seriously believes Hawes will go back to Washington. But he has yet to give any real indication that he has made up his mind. He worked out in Minnesota, Chicago and Philadelphia and was scheduled to go to Sacramento, with Atlanta possibly on the docket after the Monday's deadline.

Boston caught a look at Hawes during the Sixers' workout this week. He is a lock for the lottery and likely wouldn't go below Philadelphia's pick at No. 12. If he can get that assurance and is comfortable with any of the previous stops, he'll likely stay in the draft.

If he returns to line up with Jon Brockman and Quincy Pondexter again, the Huskies should be a postseason team (they missed the NCAA and the NIT last season) and a thorn throughout the Pac-10. Hawes has a chance to move up in the draft next season but likely won't be a top-three pick. So he could move up a few spots by returning, but maybe not enough to make it worth his while.

I think that's asking the wrong question.

I don't think the question should be whether he would move up enough in next year's draft to make it financially worth his while; the question should be whether he'll improve enough next year to earn back the money he's forgoing over the remainder of the course of his career.

There's no doubt in my mind that Hawes would benefit developmentally from another year in school, and in my mind, that's usually enough to warrant coming back to school. Although I have no concrete evidence to back this up, it seems a player will usually develop at a faster rate playing 30 minutes a game at the college level than he will playing 15 minutes a game and sitting on the bench in the NBA.

My opinion hasn't changed. Hawes should come back to school.

Although, as a Coug fan, I won't exactly be sad when he doesn't.

Are the Spurs a dynasty? That's not the question ...

A lot is being made right now of the Spurs and the question of whether they are a dynasty. And while I think it's definitely a valid question, its dominance on the airwaves last night underscores a more pressing issue: The decline of interest in The Finals themselves.

I was interested in the NBA Finals last year, what with Dwyane Wade and Shaq teaming for an unlikely championship victory over the Dallas Mavericks. But that hasn't been the norm for me over the past decade or so.

I find it hard to pinpoint the reason I just haven't been able to get into The Finals. Maybe it's the fact that the Sonics haven't been relevant in the NBA in about that same amount of time. After all, I am a Seattlite, proven to be among the most provincial sports fans in the country -- if our teams aren't involved, we usually just don't care.

But I don't feel that way about the baseball playoffs, the NFL playoffs or the NCAA Tournament. Heck, I even follow the Stanley Cup playoffs, and we haven't had anything higher than junior hockey in Seattle in anything even close to my lifetime.

So what is it about the NBA that just doesn't get my sports fan juices going? I guess the big thing is that I just don't really care for the product.

Now, I'm not one of those self-righteous old people who points to the "lack of fundamentals" in the league and yearns for the "good old days" when Magic and Bird and the rest of the league "really knew how to play the game." To me, the bigger issue is the style of play, and how it absolutely kills the drama of the games.

Let me ask you this: Why were we all so entertained by the Warriors and their improbable victory over the Mavericks? Was it because of the sheer size of the upset?

Or was it maybe because the Warriors were doing something no one else in the league does -- and doing it successfully?

The NBA has become an incestuous league of copycats, and it has absolutely killed the game. Everybody runs basically the same kind of offense, they all run basically the same kind of defense. And they do it because it works.

When you watch an NBA game next year, watch how man times you see these three plays in a game: 1) The two-man isolation post up/kick out; 2) The high pick and roll; and 3) The one-man isolation dribble drive/kickout. Virtually every offensive play in the NBA is a variation on those three plays, because the results of those three plays get rewarded with either a foul or an open 3-point shot more often than any other.

It's the absence of that that makes other sports so exciting. It's Mike Holmgren figuring out a way to get his West Coast offense to beat the Steelers' 3-4 defense. It's the up-tempo style of Lorenzo Romar's Huskies trying to beat the slow-down style of Tony Bennett. It's the confrontation between a pitcher and a batter, trying to figure out how to beat each other.

With very few exceptions, that kind of creativity has been eliminated from the NBA. Don't believe me? George Karl failed to win a championship with the Sonics on the back of his trapping defense. The Warriors couldn't get past the second round with Don Nelson's style of play, and the Mavericks never made it to the Finals until they scrapped Nellie for Avery Johnson's copycat approach. The Suns haven't been able to get out of the conference finals for three years.

All had truly unique approaches of some aspect of the game. All have failed to win championships.

I can't say I really blame all of these organizations for going with what works. After all, if efficient offense and lockdown defense was good enough for the Spurs to win four championships with Tim Duncan and 35 other guys over nine years, then it's good enough for everyone else.

I blame the NBA for allowing it to get to this point. I blame the NBA for allowing its referees to become part of the story, year after year, dictating the outcome of games. I blame the NBA for not realizing that there's nothing less exciting than the final minute of a close game that takes 20 minutes to complete because of eight different time outs. I blame the NBA for allowing virtual literal muggings night after night that keep the best players from truly showcasing their talents.

For being such a visionary off the floor, David Stern has focused so much on image and marketing that he's ignored the very thing that truly pays the bills in his sport: The product.

Word was, he was just waiting for the next Bird or Magic or Michael to come along and pull the league out of its doldrums. Well, guess what -- he's here, he carried his team to the Finals, and it still didn't amount to a hill of beans in the ratings.

The NBA should take a cue from the NHL, which was willing to make radical changes to restore balance to its game. It eliminated old rules, such as two-line passes, designed to slow the game down. It implemented 4-on-4 overtime and shootouts to give fans exciting resolutions to its games. It cracked down on clutching and grabbing so that the smaller, more creative players could find a place in the league once again. It disciplined referees who refused to call penalties in the playoffs. And while it hasn't resulted in higher ratings yet, one can hardly deny the improved product on the ice.

The NBA has tried to do this before, what with eliminating illegal defense and such, but the reality is that teams have simply adapted the same mindset to a slightly different set of rules. The NBA is in need of a radical approach from someone with the vision to make it happen. Without it, the league will continue its slide into irrelevance.

Oh, and by the way, the Spurs are not a dynasty. Dynasties dominate their eras. The Spurs have yet to do that. End of discussion.

Hope for keeping the Sonics ... at least through 2009-10

The folks over at Save Our Sonics and Storm apparently have reviewed the KeyArena lease agreement between the Sonics and the city of Seattle and have come to this shocking conclusion: A signed lease actually is a binding agreement.

After careful review of the lease agreement between supersonics and the City of Seattle , there is a clear and unambiguous provision providing either party may specifically enforce the obligations of the other party.

PAGE 59 PARAGRAPH L OF THE LEASE STATES:

ENFORCEMENT OF THIS AGREEMENT: THE OBLIGATIONS OF PARTIES TO THIS AGREEMENT ARE UNIQUE IN NATURE; THIS AGREEMENT MAY BE SPECIFICALLY ENFORCED BY EITHER PARTY.

The release goes on to stipulate that it's up to the mayor's office to enforce the lease agreement.

While it's not ideal to have a ticked off owner for a tenant -- inevitably what would happen if the city chose to enforce the lease agreement -- what it could definitely do is buy the city/county/state some time to get their crap together and figure out a workable solution to keep the team longterm.

The city better think long and hard, though, about whether it wants to get in that kind of a pissing match with Clay Bennett. The man strikes me as the kind of guy just stubborn enough to slash payroll and put out a terrible product to sabotage attendance so nobody in Seattle makes any money off this team before running to the NBA and saying, "See, I told you I couldn't make any money in Seattle -- let me move the franchise." Then moves it to another city, resurrecting the franchise's value and making a tidy profit whenever he decides to sell it.

No matter how this press release appears, Bennett still holds all the leverage.

Why is it that everyone is worried the lottery is rigged and needs to be changed now?

To complete the roundup, how about some thoughts on the Sonics?

So, apparently people still think the NBA lottery is rigged. And there's a lot of clamoring for the NBA to change its lottery.

It cracks me up that this conversation comes only after Portland and Seattle secure the top two picks in the draft. Had Boston or New York done what the Blazers or Sonics did, there would be no clamoring, only talk of how great it is that a great talent would be going to one of the NBA's great franchises. (Although talk of it being rigged might not go away.)

The funny thing is, as Henry Abbott of True Hoop notes, talk of rigging seems a little silly at first blush, what with the two superstars heading to what is apparently widely regarded as the end of the earth.

The NBA is a business, and if they were going to rig their league, you'd think they'd rig it in a way that would make them more money. And keeping the best players from one of the world's most popular teams, the Boston Celtics, would be a bad move. Sending those players away from the populous, wealthy, and timezone-advantaged Eastern seaboard would make little sense, unless you were going to send them to a major center like Los Angeles.

However, others aren't so sure. Team execs seem to think that NBA commish David Stern rigged the lottery to punish teams who were tanking at the end of the season to try and get one of those top two picks.

I think that's awesome.

Once upon a time , the NBA had a straight lottery to prevent this sort of tanking from happening at all. Now, with a weighted lottery, the temptation to try and play the odds is just too great. Whether Stern actually did rig it or didn't rig it is completely beside the point. The fact that execs in his own league actually believe that he might do something like that says more than anything. If that dissuades them from tanking next season, well, let perception and reality become as blurred as possible.

Billy Donovan might actually succeed in Orlando; Other observations from the M's to LeBron to white GMs

So, Billy Donovan wants to coach in the pros, huh?

The college hoops fan in me -- and it's a big one -- is disappointed to be losing Donovan to a job where the odds are severely stacked against him. But I can't really say I blame him -- $6 million is a heck of a lot of money to pass up, no matter if you're going to be making $3 million at your previous place of employment or not.

And, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, I think there's actually an outside shot that this college coach could have some success in the NBA where so many others have failed.

I think most college coaches that get pro jobs fall into the self-fulfilling prophecy category -- they don't succeed in the NBA because they inherit terrible teams that have little talent. It's a league of superstars: If you've got one, you generally win; if you don't, you don't. The rule isn't hard and fast, but you try finding an NBA winner without a star. (You could maybe argue Utah, but Deron Williams sure looks like one to me after his team folded without him in the series-deciding game with the Spurs.)

So, let's look at the recent history of college coaches in the NBA:

• Rick Pitino: Inherited a putrid 15-win Boston team, missed out on Tim Duncan in the lottery. Think Pitino might have been a better pro coach with Duncan on his team?
• Lon Kruger: Inherited a putrid 28-win Atlanta team. (This just in: Without Kruger, the Hawks are still putrid -- only once since his final year of 2002 have they exceed the 33 wins he posted that year.)
• John Calipari: Inherited a putrid 30-win New Jersey team. His "stars" were an injured Sam Cassell and noted headcase Stephon Marbury; he was fired just in time for the team to hire Rod Thorn, who drafted Richard Jefferson, Kenyon Martin and traded Marbury for Jason Kidd. In what I'm sure was all the coaching skill of his successor, Byron Scott, the team won 52 games in 2001-2002.
• Mike Montgomery: Inherited a so-so 37-win Golden State team that hadn't had a winning record since 1994. Fired after two years, Don Nelson leads franchise to the playoffs in his first year -- but only with a healthy Baron Davis and after suckering Indiana into taking Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy for Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington, two key cogs in the Warriors' late-season success.

Donovan does have this going for him that those guys never had: This team just made the playoffs, and has a budding superstar. Granted, making the playoffs in the east -- and at 40-42 at that -- isn't the biggest accomplishment, and they were obliterated in the first round by Detroit. But with Dwight Howard as the centerpiece of the franchise, they're already heading in the right direction; Donovan will not be fighting against years of suckitude from the get-go, as virtually every other college-to-NBA coach has.

Additionally, I know that I'm overimplifying each of the four situations above, and that on some level each of them was in a bit above their heads in the NBA. Pitino's hard-driving nature grinds on players, while Montgomery's players never took him seriously. I'm not convinced that Donovan will be so over his head in Orlando. He's 42 years old, still young enough to relate to players (as was obvious from his rapport with his players in Florida) yet old enough to command some respect. He also was (briefly) an NBA player and (briefly) an NBA assistant. So he at least has some clue about the culture he's going to be entering.

If there's a guy to buck the trend of college coaches failing at the NBA level, I think Donovan might actually be it.

Other thoughts from the last 24 hours:

• Didn't catch hardly any of the Mariners game last night, but I was pleased to see that this team did exactly what it should have done: Beat the tar out of a terrible team. Good to see the offense continue to roll against an awful, awful pitcher, and good to see Cha Seung Baek do enough to keep his team in a game. Disappointing that Hargrove had to gas the bullpen a little bit to make a 7-0 lead hold up, but J.J. Putz needed to pitch anyway. A sweep would be fantastic; anything less than winning two of the final three is a failure.
• I also didn't watch the Cavs/Pistons game last night, but I did watch the highlights of LeBron James scoring 29 of his team's final 30 points here. This just might go down as one of the greatest playoff performances in the history of the NBA, but only if the Cavs can win the series. We'll see how much LeBron has left in the tank tomorrow night after that heroic effort. Guess he kinda does know what he's doing, doesn't he?
• What's with NBA franchises just handing over the reigns to former players who have absolutely no previous track record of any kind with player personnel? Why do franchises constantly think these people will be able to manage franchises? Here's to betting that Steve Kerr, like former players Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale before him, will figure out a way to run a perfectly OK franchise into the ground.
• And while we're at it: Is it just me, or are only white former players -- with the notable exception of Michael Jordan (who stunk at his job, too) -- the only people NBA franchises will hire for these jobs with no experience? With so many black coaches, it looks like the new color barrier in the NBA is to the front office. Just wondering why this is.

Around the 'Net: Beat writer takes M's management to task

Seattle Times M's beat writer Geoff Baker continues to show why he was a great hire by the paper after Bob Sherwin retired last year. The guy just gets how a blog can enhance his coverage of the team, and his is the best blog to come Seattle fans' way since Mike Sando's Seahawks Insider.

But where Sando mostly sticks to straight reporting with solid analysis (and with good reason), Baker often will veer into commentary -- a welcome stance in the day-to-day duldrums of the marathon of a 162-game season.

Yesterday, he took the M's management to task for not just putting Cha Seung Baek in the rotation to begin the year, analysis I think was spot on.

Baker doesn't claim to have known that Baek would be so effective, and neither do I. But he says that those who get paid to see these things coming should have, and that's as much of an indictment on GM Bill Bavasi and the M's front office than anything else: They just have been absolutely abysmal at evaluating talent and the relative value of said talent.

"Hard to believe the Mariners did not want [Baek] in their starting rotation to begin the year," Baker writes. "I mean, that 4-1 record last fall, did anybody see it? Baek had fifth starter material written all over him. I can understand the temptation to throw $8.3 million at Jeff Weaver. Theoretically, he could have been an improvement had he pitched like he did for St. Louis in the post season.

"Could have, but didn't. So, the team is out $8 million and finally has the right guy in the rotation. Should the M's be criticized for this? Absolutely. They underestimated Baek's talent and overestimated Weaver's. And cost their owner big bucks, not to mention all those lost games.

"Sure, it's hindsight. But plenty of people in that front office are paid top dollar to make accurate assessments. A Mariners team with three rotation vacancies could have saved itself plenty of headaches by filling one of those spots with a no-brainer internal move. That way, perhaps, the team could have been a little more discriminating with how it went about plugging the remaining two openings. Instead, they've got two underperformers on the DL and Miguel Batista."

Ouch. But right on.

Here are some other interesting things I ran across while surfing the 'Net on this lazy Sunday afternoon:

• Caron Butler is a stud. Not that I think athletes should do stuff like this all the time -- they have lives, just like we do -- but how much better of a place would our world be if more athletes realized how they can make someone's day with the simplest of gestures? How can you not read this and not think Butler is a great guy?
  
• A little Ichiro note to make you laugh, in case you missed it, courtesy M's Insider Larry LaRue.
• The Cougars continue to make inroads in basketball recruiting, showing they might not just be a flash in the pan under coach Tony Bennett. Getting Michael Harthun isn't exactly like landing Spencer Hawes or Quincy Pondexter, but it's a far cry from landing B-listers like Nick Graham and Justin Lyman ...
  

Let me be the first to say ... Portland sucks!

The sports talk radio airwaves were still abuzz yesterday afternoon with the talk of Kevin Durant likely coming to the Sonics. One of the radio hosts said that the No. 1 and No. 2 pick playing in the same division in two towns in the same region separated by less than 200 miles should lead to what has been a long-dormant rivalry.

My guess is, when the good citizens of Redheaded Stepchild Of The Northwest see this video, it might get ratcheted up even a notch further. Yes, that's the Sonics' employees you hear chanting for Portland to get the No. 3 pick, moments before the Hawks were revealed, to much rejoicing (photo, right).

What I love is that don't even bother to say, "Not the Sonics," which is all that really matters. They just fire a shot right across the bow of the Blazers. Makes me swell with Seattle pride.

The simple reality is that Portland wouldn't be much of a team if it weren't for big brother Seattle to take care of it. After all, we all saw what Portland could do when left to its own devices -- watch out for those Jailblazers!

Observe:

• Billionnaire owner of the team? From Seattle, made his billions in Seattle.
  
• Coach of the team? Spent entire playing career with the Sonics. Had number retired by the Sonics. Former coach of the Sonics. Family still lives in Seattle.
• Star of the team, savior of the franchise? Seattle high school and college basketball legend.
• Top pick the year before? Seattle high school star.

Portland can try to be like us by importing our stars; it might even try to upstage us by actually having a useful light rail system downtown.

But it will never be Seattle, no matter how hard it tries.

Quick thoughts on the night that was, plus the news of the day

I don't have a lot of time to write today, so here are some bulleted thoughts from what was a great night in sports.

• There's a lot of evidence that what Jarrod Washburn is doing more a function of the crappy offenses he's facing than it is a function of anything he's doing differently on the mound, as Dave Cameron over at U.S.S. Mariner accurately describes. However, I'll say this: I don't much care if it's statistically sustainable; I'm just happy we're winning some games right now.
  
  It certainly seemed to me that Washburn got equally hammered by both good and bad offenses alike last year, and I'm inclined to say that Washburn has to have at least something to do with the statistical anomaly that this season is becoming. I can remember a lot of times last year when Washburn would consistently fall behind hitters, only to get pounded into submission. Maybe the fact that he's facing such bad teams has to do with him being more aggressive in the strike zone, and maybe it will come back to bite him when he faces his first great offense of the year in the Yankees on Sunday. I'm interested in finding out.
  
  (And, by the way, if you're interested in understanding Dave's reasoning behind how he evaluates pitchers, check out this article. It's a little dense, but it'll give you some background to help you understand how he reaches his conclusions.)
  
  
• Unbelievable game in Dallas last night. I still think the series is over -- it ends Thursday night in Oakland -- but the reversal of roles in the last three minutes of the contest was so startling, it wouldn't surprise me now if the Warriors figure out a way to squander the series lead. (How's that for playing both sides of the fence!)
  
  For 4.9567 games, Golden State had been the loosey-goosey, we're-just-happy-to-be-here, there's-no-pressure-on-us team. Then, all of a sudden, when the pressure should have been on Dallas most -- facing elimination -- the Mavs and Dirk Nowitzki finally stopped wetting themselves and said, "Well, if we're going to go out in the next three minutes, we're going out swigning." That's the attitude they should have had all along, and now that they've discovered it ... well, that out to be enough to scare the crud out of the Warriors.
  
  
• If you don't watch the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, you just don't like sports, and you'll never be able to convince me otherwise. Period. It's some of the most riveting, intense television there is, and when it's on in HD ... well, let's just say I've been a very happy sports fan over the past few weeks. (Go Red Wings!)
  
  
• Interesting story that further underscores the differences between the haves and the have-nots in college athletics: "The NCAA's latest Academic Progress Report, released Wednesday, shows historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) account for about 13 percent of all schools facing potential scholarship losses or receiving warning letters because of poor classroom performance." Anyone think these HBCUs have dumber or less committed students than their BCS counterparts? Anyone? So what accounts for the difference? Hmmmmmm ... could it be the resources available to the players at schools with bloated athletics budgets?
  
  
• Speaking of race in sports -- a topic that fascinates me, if you couldn't tell -- there's a story in the New York Times today detailing some research that suggests white NBA referees call fouls on black players at a higher rate than they do on white players. The NBA, of course, has done it's own study in response that (shockingly) finds there is no bias. However, the Times had three independent experts examine both studies, and all found the original study "far more sound."
  
  The most interesting point made in the article is this: "The paper by Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price has yet to undergo formal peer review before publication in an economic journal, but several prominent academic economists said it would contribute to the growing literature regarding subconscious racism in the workplace and elsewhere, such as in searches by the police." Wanna find out if you've got subconscious racial tendencies? Take this test (Race IAT), and prepare yourself for the results ... you might not like what you find out.

That's probably it for today. I might check in later tonight.

Nellie is so far in Mavs' heads, this series is over

I'll readily admit that I haven't made it much of a priority yet to watch the NBA playoffs -- I usually wait until at least the second round, once the riff-raff has been summarily dismissed from the party -- but one story line that's been impossible to ignore has been the performance of the Golden State Warriors, who stand on the verge of knocking off the No. 1 seed Dallas Mavericks tonight.

No one has ever questioned the Warriors' talent, but after two years of aimless direction under Mike Montgomery and myriad injuries (most notably to star guard Baron Davis), many wondered if they ever would become more than a bottom feeder in the hyper-competitive Western Conference.

Turns out, all they needed was a little luck -- and a little Nellie.

Surely, not even the most ardent Don Nelson supporter thought he had this in him when he made his not-so-triumphant return to the franchise that first branded him a coaching genius. Certainly not after being cast off so irreverently by the Mavericks, who believed Nelson protege Avery Johnson could lead them to the promised land sooner than the mentor.

Yet, here the aging teacher stands, showing the student that he still has a few tricks to teach.

Nelson has played this series perfectly. On the floor, he has put together an offensive game plan designed to exploit the defensive weaknesses of a team that has improved in that area under Johnson, but still employs essentially the same players as when Nellie roamed the Dallas sidelines. His defenders have swarmed and overwhelmed Dirk Nowitzki -- the player he, himself, drafted out of Germany -- at every turn, to the point that Nowitzki seems to have resigned himself to his fate.

"I got to take what they give me and they don't really give me a lot. So I've got to make other stuff happen -- help out on defense more; hit the glass harder, as hard as I can, get some extra possessions; if I have a shot, try to knock it down and if I don't, move the ball and let someone else make a shot."

To that, Johnson responds:

"I'm tired of hearing about how they've taken him out of his game and any lack of confidence. You're just not supposed to have that, all right? I wasn't the best of players and didn't have the best of skills, but you were not going to shake my confidence. We need all of our players to be confident, to be resilient, to be persistent and that's what I want to see tomorrow. If I don't see it at shootaround, I'm going to be highly upset ... because I need to have it going into that game tomorrow night. We've got to be confident and really sure about what we're doing."

Nelson, ever the mad scientist, seems to have mixed the perfect concoction to cause the Mavs to implode. Off the court, he's channeled his inner Lou Holtz, consistently singing the praises of the Mavs while lamenting his team's inability to match up with the mighty No. 1 seed. Check out these quotes (my italics added):

After game 1: "It was really a super win for our team. It was something that was unexpected, and that makes it that much better."
"We don't expect to be world champs at the end of the playoffs. But every time we play in a high-intensity game like these are going to be, we gain experience. I'm really happy about that."
"We knew if we could keep it close we could have a chance. This win gives us a lot of confidence, but this team has been to the championship and one loss is not going to affect them."
Before game 2: "I think (the Mavericks will) do just fine the second game, they'll be dominant as they should be, and they'll probably mop us up, you know what I mean? We've got a better chance to get hit by lightning than to win tomorrow night."
After game 2: "We're not good enough to lose a player to an ejection, much less two. It hurt us when we lost Baron. I thought we had a shot at the time. It wasn't to be."

Absolutely classic Nellie, who's even got the series' best player -- Baron Davis -- in on the "aw, shucks!" schtick.

After game 3 (Remember, this is after the Warriors already won one game in Dallas.): "I think we caught them off-guard tonight."
After game 4: "Every game we play is a learning process and an adventure," and "Coming into the playoffs, Coach [Don Nelson] said we had nothing to lose. We just wanted to be in the playoffs for this city, for the whole Bay Area."

What it all adds up to is perhaps the most spectacular collapse in the history of the NBA playoffs, which, as a Sonics fan, is just fine by me. Intead of endless pictures of Dikembe Mutombo laying on his back, clutching a basketball after knocking off the No. 1 seed Sonics, we'll have pictures of Davis sinking a half-court shot.

After all, that Denver win was in a five-game series. This kind of stuff wasn't supposed to happen anymore.

Right Nellie?

"We have a great deal of respect for the Dallas Mavericks," Nelson said. "If any team can come back from this, it's them."

Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Thank you, Stern: Suspension of an NBA referee long overdue

There are a lot of reasons why my interest in the NBA has waned over the years, not the least of which is the presence of prima donna officials obsessed with stealing the spotlight from the games -- something that is slowly trickling down to college basketball, unfortunately.

Somebody finally did something about it, and that somebody is about the only person who could get away with such a smackdown: NBA dictator David Stern.

It's about time.

If you missed it, the NBA (read: Stern) suspended referee Joey Crawford indefinitely after he allegedly challenged Tim Duncan to a fight after tossing Duncan from a recent game. This latest incident apparently continues a pattern of boorish behavior on the part of Crawford, according to Stern.

By all other measures, Crawford is a good referee -- one of the best, according to the NBA's evaluation system. And don't read this as a defense of NBA players, especially Duncan, who is one of the most consistently whiny players in the NBA.

Instead, let's call this what it is: A long overdue step to put game officials back where they belong. If I asked you to name five more referees besides Crawford and you watch any amount of NBA basketball, I'll bet you could do it. That's just wrong. Officials are supposed to simply arbitrate the games, care for their execution -- not determine their direction.

Too often, that's the case with NBA referees, who should see this as a warning sign to do their jobs.

The NBA took the step at the beginning of the season to reign in its demonstrative players by coming down harder on players who repeatedly receive technical fouls; now it has done the same with its officials. Kudos to Stern for working hard to ensure that no one upstages the game itself any longer.

Checking in with other opinions on Hawes

The morning has brought a flurry of pieces on Spencer Hawes' decision to turn pro. I posted my thoughts last night, which centered around whether he actually is ready for the NBA, but here's a sampling of what others had to say:

-- Seattle Times college basketball writer Bud Withers says ready or not, Hawes sure sounded like a guy who is determined to make this jump and is as good as gone.

He's not hiring an agent, preserving his eligibility to return to Washington for a sophomore season. But there was a palpable vibe that Hawes is one-and-done as a Husky, a prospect his comments didn't discourage.

"In terms of any decision, you have to go in focused 100 percent on what your goal is," Hawes said. "I think right now, my mindset is to be as prepared as possible for the draft. If I was on the fence and trying to satisfy both situations [including the UW], I'd be doing myself and the team a disservice."

Which seemed to be a diplomatic way of saying: I'm outta here.

-- The (Tacoma) News Tribune columnist John McGrath seems to think that a clean break at this point is best for all parties involved. He also disagrees with me that Hawes is better off improving himself at the college level.

Hawes pointed out Thursday that an NBA career was “a lifetime goal.” There’s not a lot to misunderstand about those words. He didn’t go to college to complete a degree. He didn’t go to college to have fun and collect once-in-a-lifetime memories. He went to college because he wasn’t able to play in the NBA for a year. ...

As for the Huskies, Hawes’ return would guarantee that all the conjecture about his turning pro in 2007 is rendered a stark reality in 2008. Despite his athletic gifts, it’s difficult to build a team dynamic when potentially your most dominant player is an underclassman donating his services through a one-year rental agreement.

-- Seattle Times UW beat writer Bob Condotta, who knows the team as well or better than anyone, reached the same conclusion as Withers on his blog.

By the tone of Hawes' comments, he isn't doing this just to get an opinion on his game so he can find out what he needs to work on next season in college. After listening to him speak, and reviewing his comments in writing that story, I don't think there's any question he's looking at playing in the NBA next season if it makes any sense at all. And since it probably will, I think there's a good chance today was goodbye for Hawes.

There's a reason, after all, the Huskies had committed themselves to as many as 15 scholarships for next season. This was one of the things they knew would probably happen. Today was the first step. But it hasn't happened often that a guy in the position of Hawes declares and then comes back --- that's usually borderline guys, and not probable lottery guys like Hawes.