Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | February 23, 2006
The week and a half leading up to Thursday's trade deadline were busy for Seattle SuperSonics General Manager Rick Sund. After completing a pair of deals Thursday, acquiring guards
Earl Watson and
Mike Wilks and forward
Bryon Russell, and dealing for forward
Chris Wilcox from the Los Angeles Clippers last Tuesday, Sund has turned over more than a quarter of the Sonics roster. The result, he hopes, is that the Sonics have improved their core group of players going forward.
"I like our core," Sund said Thursday when he met with media at The Furtado Center. "Hopefully we've added to our core. Wilcox is just 23 years old, so he's still young, and Watson, whom we drafted out of UCLA, is 26, so we still have that youth. Probably the biggest weakness that I've seen with our club this year, if I were to look at it and analyze it, would be our depth, and that was one of our greatest strengths last year. So hopefully we added to our depth with these trades."
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"I think Earl's a solid player who has surprisingly improved his shooting, particularly his 3-point shot, and who's got great speed and quickness and can really cover some people."
Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images
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There is no question that Watson is the centerpiece of today's trades. The 2001 Sonics second-round pick, who served as the team's third guard much of the 2001-02 season, is expected to reprise that role after spending three seasons in Memphis and the first half of this season with the Denver Nuggets.
A year ago, the performance of Antonio Daniels backing up starting guards 
Luke Ridnour and 
Ray Allen was key to the Sonics run to the Northwest Division Championship. The Sonics struggled to replace Daniels after he parlayed that performance into a lucrative deal with the Washington Wizards as a free agent. Veteran 
Rick Brunson has only returned to the lineup this week after battling plantar fasciitis and a torn plantar fascia, leaving the position to Ronald "Flip" Murray, who was dealt to Cleveland before the deadline. While Murray's scoring prowess is impressive, he is not a true point guard.
Watson should solidify the Sonics backcourt, particularly at the defensive end of the court.
"If you're going to describe him, I think Earl's a solid player who has surprisingly improved his shooting, particularly his 3-point shot, and who's got great speed and quickness and can really cover some people," said Sund. "That's a plus for us because I think that was an area last year that AD helped us but never got noticed for."
Watson has been called the best defensive point guard in the NBA by ESPN Insider's John Hollinger, and a statistical analysis by Dan Rosenbaum for 82games.com ranked him the league's third-best defender at the point. He ranked in the NBA's top ten in steals per 40 minutes in each of his first two seasons and has the quickness to put heavy pressure on the ball and harass opposing point guards.
"He helped us when he was a rookie here," Sund said. "He helped Memphis and I thought he did a nice job of helping Denver. Denver didn't play him early and then they played him and they took off."
With three quality point guards in Watson, Earl Boykins and Andre Miller, Nuggets Coach George Karl faced difficult playing-time decisions all season before today's trade. Watson was the odd man out early in the campaign, but eventually saw more playing time at shooting guard despite his 6-1 height. Denver was 7-3 when Watson started, and the Nuggets were 7.1 points better per 100 possessions with Watson on the court this season. Watson had a strongly positive impact in terms of plus-minus while on the court in each of his three seasons in Memphis.
In the three deals over the last 10 days, the Sonics traded away all three players - Reggie Evans, Murray and Vladimir Radmanovic - who, as restricted free agents last summer, opted to accept the Sonics one-year qualifying offers and become unrestricted free agents this summer. In part because of their uncertain futures, all three players saw their playing time reduced after Bob Hill took over as Sonics coach.
"The guys that signed the one-year deal, initially I thought, 'This is going to be a good deal for everybody,'" explained Sund. "As it turned out, I don't think the players were nearly as productive as they were in their previous years. With that, I don't think they were going to re-sign with us. This gives them an opportunity to get a new lease on life and a fresh start and it also enables us to get an asset in return as opposed to them signing a contract with someone else. Hopefully, it's a semi-win-win for everybody."
In particular, Sund portrayed the deal that sent Murray to Cleveland in return for Wilks and cash considerations as one made with the player in mind. Murray had requested a trade and will have the opportunity to potentially start at shooting guard for the Cavaliers, who are without starter Larry Hughes because of a broken finger.
"I never want to hold anybody back, as long as we can get something that might make some sense," said Sund. "Wilks makes some sense and we got some cash in the deal as well."
Sund commended Hill, who has brought long-term vision to the sidelines for the Sonics, for looking for a deal that would help the Sonics not just over the remaining 27 games of the season but also beyond.
"Bob's been terrific in the whole process," Sund noted. "He said, 'Don't make a trade just to make a trade. Let's set our sights on some things that make sense for the Sonics now and for the future. If you can, do it. If not, don’t do it. Our free agents will leave and we'll replace them through other free agents or trades or whatever.' He was pretty reassuring during the process. I kept him informed daily of where we were."
By getting Wilcox, who scored 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting and added seven rebounds in Wednesday's win over Atlanta, and Watson, Sund feels the Sonics have done just that.
"Hopefully, we're adding enough pieces with our core that however it shakes down with starters and playing time, we've got more depth," he said. "That's probably the biggest plus to what we've done the last couple of weeks. And they're young enough they can be here next year."
