Posts tagged ‘seattle supersonics’

{K. Weidie}

John Wall has shown signs that he’s starting to hit that dreaded rookie wall.  He’s been struggling to fight off injuries, and as a result, his aggressiveness, his explosiveness and his ability to defend opposing point guards has suffered. I’ve been watching basketball long enough to know that all rookies go through this type adversity at some point, let alone rookies who are assigned the arduous task of running a team and saving a franchise. With the Utah Jazz in town to face the Wizards on Martin Luther King afternoon, I knew I would have the opportunity to get some point guard perspective from three different members of that model franchise.

Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan instructed Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton for 15 seasons, and he’s coached All-Star Deron Williams for six. Williams is in the ‘best point guard in the league’ discussion along with Chris Paul, Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo. His backup, Earl Watson, was coached by former Sonics great point guard Nate McMillan and mentored by a future Hall of Famer Gary Payton.

Among those three men, I was sure I could learn the traits of a good point guard, what Wall might be going through right now and get a good assessment of how he’s progressing almost halfway through the season.

Before the game, Sloan talked about how little the Wall/Williams match-up meant to him, and how important intelligence is to playing point guard:

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On this night of Cinco de Mayo, the Denver Nuggets square off against the Dallas Mavericks, playing in the second game of their first 2nd round series since ’93-94.

In 1994, Denver became the first #8 seed to beat a #1 seed in the NBA playoffs (they only played a five game series back then). Pivotal game four of that series was played on May 5th. Dikembe Mutombo led the Nugs with eight blocks, to go along with 10 points and 16 boards.

But it was the play of LaPhonso Ellis in game four which allowed Denver a chance to return to Seattle and win game five. Ellis dropped 27 points and 17 rebounds on the squad formerly known as the Sonics. Both those numbers remain playoff highs for Ellis. Of course, he only played in 16 career playoff games, 12 coming that year with Denver, and four coming in ’00-01 with Minnesota.

You want more? Well, that night, and today, Cinco de Mayo, happens to be LaPhonso Ellis’ birthday.

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Over on Bullets Forever, the summer project is to recount past franchise curiosities. Robert Pack, Jim McIlvaine, LeDell Eackles, Tim Legler, and Haywoode Workman have been covered to date. There are many good players still left to remember, but there’s one particularly interesting character who we all forgot……

Going through the Bullets cards I collected as a 90s youngin’, I came across the gem(s) below. Larry Stewart, was he really a rookie sensation? Stewart wasn’t known to possess a lot of skill, rather he was a hustling, hard-working, versatile 6’8″ big man who made the most of his ability. Making it to the NBA when no one thought he would was, in fact, sensational…….but what’s happened to Larry Stewart since?

33>32

High School in Philly
Hailing from Philadelphia, Stewart starred at the famed Dobbins Technical High School. In 1985, the duo of Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble led Dobbins Tech to the Philadelphia City Title before heading to USC together in the fall of that year (and later, Loyola Marymount in late ’86). Dobbins has also produced Doug Overton, Dawn Staley (USA Today’s female high school player of the year in 1989), Linda Page (who scored 100 points in a game in 1981), and Horace “Pappy” Owens (’79 McDonald’s All-American and current assistant at LaSalle).

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Recapping the Best of the Recaps.

Don’t Sleep on Roger Mason in Seattle

• If you say “must win” 5 times in front of a mirror, the Silent Assassin will appear.
  
• Of course, the live game blog.
• A report from someone at the game.
• Prada doesn’t want to make ‘small ball’ a routine.
• NBA.com game info
  

Seattle Sonics Blog on seattlepi.com:

There were several disturbing things about the game. How in the world did Roger Mason Jr. get open for six 3-pointers en route to 22 points? At about the third or fourth 3-pointer, you have to double Mason to get the ball out of his hands. There was a definite lack of defensive adjustments and that is coach P.J. Carlesimo’s fault.

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flickr photo from Simonds

The Wizards need to rebound in more ways than one: rebound from last night’s demoralizing game (for fans) and rebound the damn ball. 55-36. That’s the rebounding total from the Wizards’ time in Oregon. Joel Pryzbilla had 17 rebounds….8 of those offensive. Tonight, I’m going to pay special attention to any offensive rebound the Wizards give up and the responsible party.

The Wizards blew the Sonics out in game 32 of the season, DC side. In that game, Seattle provided us an example of their youthful sloppiness. Tonight in Seattle, the Wizards need to provide a consistent veteran effort.

Sixers and Raptors have both already won, so the pressure is on. I love these late-night West Coast games.

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Eddie Jordan, I’ve seen your local Mercedes commercial and I’ll be honest, you can’t act at all brah. Not saying that I’d be better…..well actually, yea, I’d definitely be better. But hey, they don’t give commercials to random bloggers, they give ‘em to NBA coaches — so, good for you captain.

Bullets Forever had the tight game preview, so I’m just going to start the show…..

1st Quarter

11:10 – Haywood gets going early. He has a little bit of a tough time with a double from the top, but he stays persistent and gets the basket. BTH should abuse Nick Collison this game.

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