A year ago, Seattle SuperSonics point guard Luke Ridnour was the saddest player at the team's pre-summer league practices at The Furtado Center. Instead of being out on the court to make his Sonics debut weeks after being drafted with the team's 14th pick of the 2003 NBA Draft, Ridnour was stuck on the sidelines because of a severe abdominal strain he suffered while working out before the draft, and his frustration was evident.

Ridnour's game was as different as his looks last week at The Furtado Center. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty

"It’s hard," Ridnour said at the time. "It’s terrible."

After a summer of rest and minor surgery healed Ridnour's injury, he settled in for a solid rookie season. Not expected to be a major contributor because of the Sonics veteran depth at guard, Ridnour played over 1,100 minutes. While there were the typical growing pains at times, Ridnour demonstrated he could play point guard in the NBA and shined in his six starts, averaging 10.0 points and 5.0 assists and shooting 55.6% from the field in those games, of which the Sonics won four.

Coming off of that rookie campaign, it was a different Ridnour who showed up for the Sonics summer-league practices this season, and not just because he cut his trademark curly blond hair in favor of a tighter crop. That physical change - which also included a surprisingly dark tan for the Pacific Northwest and larger biceps, the product of copious weightlifting - was matched by a change in Ridnour's personality.

Where a year ago, he was shy with reporters, Ridnour was quick and confident to answer the questions thrown at him by the media that descended upon The Furtado Center last week. On the court, Ridnour took something of a leadership role playing largely with and against players with less NBA experience, including fellow Sonics first-round picks Nick Collison and Robert Swift.

"It's just been fun for me to be able to take the floor general role and be able to be out there playing and running the team with a bunch of guys that don't really know the system," Ridnour said. "It helps me try to be more of a general about it. It's been fun; getting to play with the new guys and Nick is a lot of fun."

Ridnour was also more aggressive at both ends of the court during the Sonics practices, looking for his own shot on offense as well as setting up his teammates and using his quick hands on defense to keep offensive players from getting too comfortable. To Ridnour, it's a natural development of his game.

"Any time you get confidence you feel like you can do more, be more vocal, hit that shot when you have it, make the pass when you're feeling good," he explained. "It's definitely helped out, being more aggressive and just playing my game."

Unfortunately, Ridnour's aggressiveness was hampered during Rocky Mountain Revue play by a strained hip flexor which forced him to return to Seattle after three games. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Ridnour told the team he suffered the injury during practices in Seattle, but attempted to play on. If true, that explains why Ridnour struggled in Salt Lake City, shooting 4-for-19 from the field and committing nine turnovers in three games of action.

While the injury was unfortunate timing once again, Ridnour did get a chance to practice regularly in Seattle and play some in Utah with Collison and Swift, with whom he makes up the Sonics future core. Despite the fact that Ridnour and Collison's chances to play together have been limited by injuries to both players, Ridnour already sees chemistry building between the two of them.

"We both understand how to play and we play well off each other," Ridnour said. "The more we play together, the better we can be."

The same is true of Swift, who teamed with Ridnour for the first time last week.

"Robert's young, and he's got a lot of talent," Ridnour said. "I definitely think, the more we play together all of us, the better off we're going to be."