| Unlucky? Authored by Derek Flack - May 23, 2008 - 4:10 pm
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As the organization sat around waiting for the ping-pong balls to drop and show that there disastrous 2007-08 season might have benefited them, they were quickly punched in the jaw and knocked out like they had taken a blow from Mike Tyson in his prime as the numbered lotto balls rolled the wrong way and gave the Sonics the 4th pick in the upcoming draft.
If they would have prevailed and won the lottery the obvious choice for the Sonics would have been Rose, the outstanding freshman point guard that led Memphis to the NCAA Championship game in San Antonio. Rose would have given them an explosive, lightning quick point guard to run the offense and get the ball to 07-08 Rookie of the Year winner Kevin Durant. Rose has the ability to get the basket anytime he wants to and could create a lot of easy scoring opportunities for Durant, Jeff Green, and all the young Centers on the Sonics roster.
The addition of Rose would have immediately formed a deadly backcourt for the Sonics. Rose and Durant would certainly have had the potential to be nearly unstoppable in the future.
With Rose running the point the Sonics would have been destined to be a fast paced, up-tempo high octane team with. With Rose barreling down the court on fast breaks with Durant and Green on the wings would have been exciting to watch and probably would have been the lead highlight on Sportscenter at least a couple times a month.
Sonics fans, both in Seattle and Oklahoma, were probably dreaming of the endless possibilities when they closed their atrocious season with the second worst record in the league. The draft lottery was surely a nightmare for both the fans and the organization. However, all is not lost. There is some good that can come from the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft. The pick won’t be Rose, but it could be another guard who could make fans forget about the botched lottery and look towards a bright future, that player is Jerryd Bayless.
Bayless is not a true point guard, but he has the skill set to play the position. He is not a prototypical point, but that doesn’t matter because the guard can flat out play. In one of the best conferences in college basketball he put up 19 points and 4 assists a night, all while playing under an Arizona coach not named Lute Olsen in the PAC 10.
Bayless was the leader of that Wildcat squad despite only being a 19 year old freshman. His leadership quality is one of the attributes that will translate into the pro game and allow Bayless to run the point for the Sonics. Plus, he’ll being playing with exceptional young talent, so passing to the open man in the NBA shouldn’t be a problem either.
Because of the talented young players like Durant and Green that Bayless might be playing with, it’s not unreasonable to think that he could get 5 or 6 assists a night as a rookie if he can get the playing time.
At 6-3 with a scorers mentality Bayless is more of a combo guard than a true point guard. He is similar to other former Wildcat guards Jason Terry and Gilbert Arenas. Both of those Arizona products have successfully played the point and have flourished as players while making their teammates better. Bayless has the potential to have a career somewhere between these two players, hopefully with out Gilbert’s injuries.
Though he would be on a team with veteran point guards Luke Ridnour and Earl Watson, he still might get considerable playing time and maybe even starter minutes, the same way that Durant did a year ago. This team is very young and won’t have high expectations next season, so getting Bayless on the court with Durant and Green for extended minutes would be one of the team’s goals, since the best way to develop talent is to put it on the court in game situations.
If the Sonics do opt to select Bayless with the 4th overall pick, they could possibly shop Ridnour or Watson for another first round draft pick, even though they already have two first round picks (4 and 24) and four second round picks (32, 46, 50, and 46), they are clearly rebuilding and might as well stockpile young talent.
With their late first round draft pick from the Suns the Sonics will have an opportunity to draft another quality player to grow with the young nucleus of the Sonics. A guy they could look at is Brandon Rush out of Kansas. Rush has great size at 6-7 and can play both the two and the three. Rush could come off the bench as instant offense or even start alongside Durant, Green, and Bayless (if he is drafted by the Sonics) to form a high flying up-tempo team. Rush has the skill set and talent to be a lottery pick, but he never put it all together in college, instead playing passively and allowing others to develop their game.
That is why he could flourish with the Sonics; he would be a role player with them since Durant is the obvious go to player which would give Rush the opportunity to spot up and shoot jumpers and focus more on defense. He has the necessary size and athleticism to be a great perimeter defender.
Seattle could also package their late first round pick and some of their second rounder’s to either move up in the draft or to bring in a veteran to help mentor Durant and Green. So even though the Sonics missed out on Rose, this could still be a great draft for the Sonics. |
