Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM
On the morning of October 29, an article was posted on this site entitled
"Potapenko Holds His Ground," unofficially giving the Sonics starting center job to
Vitaly Potapenko. By the end of the day, Potapenko was headed for the injured list. That evening, in the Sonics final preseason game against the Portland, Potapenko fractured the fourth metacarpal in his right hand.
Before then, training camp and preseason had been good to Potapenko. Despite starting 39 games in 2003-04 during the second half of the season, Potapenko did not enter camp as the Sonics unquestioned starter in the middle. But he came into camp in better shape than he had been in recent seasons. In five preseason games, Potapenko averaged 6.8 points and 4.8 rebounds, shooting 50% from the field. As a result, he had maintained his starting spot.
By the time Potapenko returned in mid-December, the Sonics were off to a fantastic 17-3 start to the season and 
Jerome James had established himself as the Sonics starting center while 
Danny Fortson had secured a spot in the rotation as the backup.
Through the All-Star Break, Potapenko did a lot of sitting and watching. He totaled only 53 minutes in 11 games, scoring 16 points. (He did make his only start of the season in the stretch, coming in to defend Shaquille O'Neal when the Sonics were without 
Reggie Evans against Miami.) Over the second half of the season, however, Potapenko would play a larger role.
In particular, Potapenko was important against the Houston Rockets because of his past success defending 7-6 Rockets All-Star Yao Ming. Potapenko's first extended action of the season came Feb. 22 in Houston. In 18 minutes, Potapenko grabbed six rebounds as the Sonics came up with a key road win. Three nights later in Seattle, Potapenko played one of his better games of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at KeyArena. With Fortson returning to the lineup, however, Potapenko would play only 10 minutes over the next three weeks.
Potapenko's next chance to play extended minutes came in late March when James was sidelined by a right quad contusion and Fortson was bothered by a sprained ankle. Potapenko played at least 15 minutes four times in a five-game stretch, with the Sonics winning all four of the games. Potapenko had seven rebounds against Orlando on Mar. 18 and scored 11 points against the L.A. Lakers on Mar. 20.
With the Sonics battered by injuries, Potapenko saw extended action at Denver on Apr. 9 and vs. Houston on Apr. 11, finishing with 12 points and six rebounds and then 13 points and seven rebounds. He again saw good minutes in the Sonics last two games in Texas, scoring seven points at Dallas and then tying his season high with 13 points at Houston in the season finale.
After not seeing any action during the Sonics First Round series victory over the Sacramento Kings, Potapenko got some minutes off the bench against the San Antonio Spurs because of his ability to defend Spurs star Tim Duncan. Potapenko played 16 minutes in Game 1, but his biggest performance was in Game 3. With James fouling out, Potapenko was called upon to defend Duncan for the final two minutes of the game. Down one with seconds to play, San Antonio went to Duncan, but Potapenko pushed him off his spot enough that Duncan missed his attempt at the buzzer. Unfortunately, Potapenko couldn't repeat the success during Game 6, as Duncan was able to score the winning basket when Potapenko had to provide help against Manu Ginobili's drive.
Potapenko's willingness to accept his limited role and come up big when needed was a major boon for the Sonics.
"Not everybody's going to get the same minutes," Potapenko said during the playoffs. "It's the story of NBA life. Everybody is searching for minutes. Everybody's always unhappy, but certain things you can't control. So why worry about those things? But I'm not going to lie. It was tough in the beginning. It was very tough. But I tried to take the negative energy and spin it and put it in the right direction."
As Potapenko pointed out, he only played 20+ minutes in seven games. In those games, he averaged 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds, numbers much more indicative of his ability than his overall season averages (3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds). Potapenko shot 51.7% from the field for the season, the best mark of his NBA career.
2004-05 Highlights:
Scored double-figures five times.
Scored a season-high 13 points twice against Houston (4/11 and 4/20).
Shot career-highs of 51.7% (field goals) and 87.1% (free throws).
Started one game.
SUPERSONICS.COM Player of the Week:
Feb. 21-27
