IMAGINE if the Spurs had traded David Robinson the summer they drafted Tim Duncan. Imagine the fans’ wild protest at the insanity of breaking up two great centers before they had a chance to compete for a championship.
Now imagine if the Sonics had allowed Rashard Lewis to skate to Orlando without so much as offering the unrestricted free agent a contract less than a week after drafting Kevin Durant.
Imagine new GM Sam Presti taking the time to fly to Houston July 1 to meet with Lewis and agent Tony Dutt, only to avoid all talk of a re-signing.
Imagine breaking up two superb small forwards before they had a chance to lead Seattle anywhere worthwhile.
Imagine not craving Lewis for what he’s capable of doing for the team and for what he could have done for Durant.
Imagine also trading Ray Allen, coming off the highest-scoring year (26.4) of his career despite foot and knee problems that limited him to 55 games and required relatively innocuous offseason surgery.
Imagine not doing everything possible to keep Lewis and Allen, the Sonics’ top scorers (a combined 48.8), together to take the offensive pressure off Durant and help accelerate his maturation in every phase of the game.
Imagine disassembling a solid squad that had won (52-30) the Northwest Division in 2004-05 and boasted a cluster of promising players: Nick Collison, Chris Wilcox, Damien Wilkens, Luke Ridnour, Earl Watson, Mickael Gelabale, Johan Petro, Mohammed Sene and Robert Swift.
Imagine failing to take advantage of “lucking” into the No. 2 pick last June due to widespread injuries – exactly how the Spurs backed into Duncan at No. 1 in 1997.
Imagine forfeiting such luxurious assets – a textbook balance of savoir-faire, skill, stimulus and selling power – in the same summer Danny (Pigtails) Fortson’s contract came off the cap.
Imagine getting older (Kurt Thomas, Wally Szczerbiak), not younger.
I can’t imagine Clay Bennett’s motive for self-destruction.
I can’t imagine why P.J. Carlisemo’s Sonics are 0-7.
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Two hundred million Chinese watched the first NBA encounter last Wednesday night between Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian when the Rockets beat the Bucks. I’m guessing both will eke out enough votes to start in this season’s All-Star game in New Orleans.
Would Jerry Buss, or someone in authority at Staples Center, please explain why there isn’t a statue of Kareem Abdul- Jabbar beside Magic Johnson out front?
I cannot decide which young point guard I enjoy eyeballing most, Chris Paul or Deron Williams. It always seems to be the one I watched last.
For the sake of consistency, if not to quell infer nal squawking by players and coaches, why doesn’t the NBA emu late major league base ball and the NFL and keep refer eeing crews intact instead of splitting them up each and every single game?
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It’s easy to foresee the Knicks at 2-7 by the next time they play a Garden concert. How positive am I supposed to be after watching them blow an eight-point early-fourth lead to a Heat team that’s so dehydrated 96 percent of Floridians and floatillians wanted it inside the Orange Bowl when the joint gets imploded.
If I’m Pat Riley, I don’t wait to see if Dwyane Wade can transform the Heat into a playoff contender; I would’ve fired Stan Van Gundy yesterday and declared myself in charge of the Magic’s sidelines.
Say this much for the Heat and Knicks, with Broadway dark, Shamu O’Neal and Eddy Curry turned the town into the Great Wide Way.
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It’s ludicrous to accuse Dan Fegan and Marc Cornstein of collusion against the Cavaliers, as some easily misled reporters allege, regarding Anderson Varejao and (now signed) Sasha Pavlovic.
I’m not saying the two agents didn’t talk about their clients’ unemployment situation. But the fact is, the two players were competing for the same money/cap space.
What’s more, Cornstein cost Fegan a fat fee when Memphis, at the last minute, changed its mind and signed Darko Milicic for three years at $27M instead of Varejao for a reputed $50 over five.
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I’m starting to think the Nets made a pretty good move three summers ago by withdrawing a 5-year offer to Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Lowering it by two years got the 6-foot-9 forward a bit steamed, pushing him to Sacramento, where he’s been a non-factor when not on IR.
I’m out on a limb on this one: LaMarcus Aldridge is going to make Blazers fans forget Peter Verhoeven.
This just in: To get everyone in Pakistan to calm down, President Pervez Musharraf has been replaced by President Pervez Ellison.