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As a result of that success, this year's goals are a little less clear.

For forward Rashard Lewis, it's about taking a step forward.

"To me, my main focus is trying to get back to the playoffs or win the division again." Chris Birck/NBAE/Getty

"To me, my main focus is trying to get back to the playoffs or win the division again," said Lewis. "I think if we don't win the division or get back to the second round, this season's a failure. You don't want to go backwards; you always want to move forward."

General Manager Rick Sund is primarily eying the Sonics defense of their Northwest Division Championship.

"I think the first goal is to defend the division," said Sund. "If we defend the division, we make the playoffs. I said it last year and I'll say it again, there are 10 or 11 teams that can win a playoff spot. We're one of those 10 or 11 teams and we're defending it, but it's a new year. It's a new challenge in front of these guys."

First-year Coach Bob Weiss has a slightly different line of thinking. While Weiss is aiming for a division championship as well, he believes that kind of success is a product of the Sonics doing the right things on the court, and that is where his focus is directed.

"We want to defend that Northwest Division Championship," said Weiss. "We're going to try to go further than we did. We're going to try to get that defensive (field-goal) percentage down.

"I think more than thinking about this as what we want to achieve in terms of wins and losses, it's how we play the game. We want to play it the right way defensively and offensively; the wins take care of themselves. Last year, that's the philosophy we took."

Sund pointed out that to achieve their goals, the Sonics must also enjoy the kind of health they did much of last season.

"I think it's going to be a fun year," said Sund. "The first and foremost thing is we want to be injury-free; that helps so much. Then we hope we can maintain that same focus we did last year."

"It's going to obviously be tough," said Lewis. "The Western Conference is still tough. Denver is going to be better; they were playing well towards the end of the year. San Antonio has gotten better. Dallas is still a good team. Phoenix is a good team. I think, to me, Golden State is better with Baron Davis. Sacramento's always been a good team. We've got our work cut out for us. We're going to have to come out and play every night."

There are many different ways of saying it, but ultimately the Sonics key figures are each pointing towards the same goal - a season that builds off of and maintains the success the Sonics experienced in 2004-05.