Sonics!

The Sonics season opener is tonight! Lucky enough for me they're playing the Clippers, which means FoxSports SoCal will have it on TV. "But Shane, you don't have a TV, so how are you going to watch it?" The same way I watch all of my sporting events these days - watch it during my workout at the gym. :-) Talk about easy motivation to workout (not that I need any more than I already have...). I'm excited to see what the Sonics will do this year after last year's breakout season - or, if you're one of ESPN's "experts," fluke season. Seriously, I don't think more than one or two of the "experts" actually watched a single Sonics game last season. I don't necessarily have a problem with most of them picking the Sonics to finish in the lower half of the Western Conference (though I do have a problem with them unanimously picking Denver to win the Northwestern division...). I do, however, have problems with a few of their reasons:

1. The loss of Jerome James will set the Sonics back. One guy when as far as to call James "underrated." No. Take your head out of your butt and watch a regular season game. Jerome James sucks. Yeah, he can show moments of talent (see first round vs. Sacramento), but more often he's lazy and not a team player. Did any of them bother to notice that James is currently 3rd on the Knicks' depth chart at center behind Eddy Curry (a nice player assuming he doesn't die during the season) and Channing Frye (a Rookie out of Arizona). He's gotta be the most expensive 3rd-string center in the League. Isiah Thomas sure took the bate on that one... Though that doesn't really surprise me. Isiah Thomas is quite plainly an idiot when it comes to GMing.
2. The Sonics' defense will get worse with the loss of Nate McMullan... *cough* McMillan. Hmm, except that with McMillan the Sonics still ranked 25th in the league in defensive efficiency. You might argue that the Sonics' defense would have been a lot worse without Nate. I'd argue that Nate's great defense as a player wasn't translated to his players as a coach.
3. Ray Allen will back off production after earning his contract. Nope, sorry. Ray-ray isn't your average take-the-money-and-run NBA player (see Jerome James). He's a class guy, the antithesis of Vin Baker (who really should be dubbed "Big Mushy-Butt II." Of course Benoit Benjamin was the first). If anything, Ray Allen is going to step up his commitment to being a leader now that he's stable and secure with his contract, similar to what Jordan did with the Bulls. Yeah, I know Allen isn't Jordan... but Ray believes he can have the same effect on his teammates, and, as I've said many times, beliefs are empowering.

So, some thoughts/predictions/hopes for the upcoming season:
1. 45-47 wins, into the playoffs but without homecourt.
2. Allen and Rashard Lewis are All-Stars again (baring injury)
3. Nick Collison has a break-out year and contends for 6th man of the year
4. Robert Swift stays benched all year while Johan Petro shows promise as a rookie (though not enough for ROY contention)
5. Flip Murray doesn't meet expectations, and Ridnour picks up his slack.