Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | October 17, 2006The Seattle SuperSonics held their annual Community Practice Tuesday night at Hazen High School. SUPERSONICS.COM's Kevin Pelton was in the house and blogged throughout.
Welcome to Hazen. The house is pretty full and I figure we'll have more people showing up throughout the evening as they finish with work and dealing with I-405 (which wasn't as bad as I figured coming north).
Hazen students are out in full force and, thanks to the Cheer Squad, there are posters for each player and coach. So far, the Hazen Drill Team, Cheer Squad and Band have entertained, along with Squatch, but the main event is obviously the Sonics. They're shooting around at the moment. We chatted briefly with Coach Bob Hill and Ray Allen beforehand. Hill likes the atmosphere, given it's the first time all year the Sonics have played in front of a Seattle crowd.
"You put our fans in the stands and our guys get pumped," said Hill. "It's good for the players."
Tonight is not solely a night for the players, however. Hill has some goals of his own - notably to check out different lineup combinations. The coaching staff and Director of Basketball Operations Dave Pendergraft planned out the rosters for the three 12-minute scrimmages they will play tonight. Hill also said he wanted to get guard Kareem Rush "as many minutes as possible" in just his second practice of the year.
Damien Wilkins continues to wear his practice jersey backwards, possibly in homage to Kris Kross. I'm not sure exactly why Wilkins has made the change - I'll try to ask him about it at some point.
Our lineups for the first scrimmage are basically your first and second units: Luke Ridnour, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Chris Wilcox and Robert Swift for the White; Earl Watson, Mickaël Gelabale, Damien Wilkins, Nick Collison and Johan Petro for the Green. Kenny Adeleke, Mike Wilks, Mouhamed Sene, Denham Brown and Kareem Rush are on the White bench with Milt Palacio and Desmon Farmer filling out the Green squad.
Fortuitous bounce for Robert Swift. The big redhead is fouled going up for a dunk in the lane and sees the ball bounce high off the rim and back down through for a three-point-play opportunity. The White takes an early 10-2 lead and Green Coach Detlef Schrempf responds with a timeout. This is a big change from yesterday, when the starters - minus Ray Allen, who was replaced by Kareem Rush - were beaten 23-4 by the reserves in a scrimmage. Yikes.
Ferocious dunk in transition by Chris Wilcox, who was able to cock way back before powering the ball through the basket. It's safe to say that Green trap was not particularly successful.
It was 15-4 White a moment ago, but a couple of Green baskets have made it interesting. With 3:38 left, White Coach Jack Sikma takes a timeout. Sikma is still learning a roster. A moment ago, he leaned down the bench and shouted "Milt! Milt!" No wonder Milt Palacio didn't answer - he's on the Green team.
You know the test of a great shooter? When they shoot and you're surprised whenever they miss. That's true about Ray Allen.
Our final in the first scrimmage: White 24, Green 11. Our panel - Kevin Calabro, KJR's Dick Fain and myself - awards Luke Ridnour Player of the Scrimmage honors, with nods to Ray Allen and Robert Swift for their efforts.
Our lineups for the second scrimmage: Mike Wilks, Denham Brown, Kareem Rush, Kenny Adeleke and Mouhamed Sene on the White squad (Ridnour, Allen and Wilcox on the bench) and Milt Palacio, Desmon Farmer, Rashard Lewis, Johan Petro and Robert Swift on the Green, backed up by Damien Wilkins, Mickaël Gelabale and Nick Collison.
We've also switched coaches. Ralph Lewis coaches the White, Jack Sikma the Green. Bob Hill and Gordon Chiesa are watching from a perch high up in the last row of the bleachers, taking copious notes. It's like a college football coach watching from the tower.
Overheard in the crowd: "Man, that number four is sweaty." That's Nick Collison, and I think he was sweating before the scrimmage. What can I say? The guy is working.
"Robert! Robert! Robert" - fans looking to get a picture with or an autograph from Robert Swift beforehand. Swift seems to be a fan favorite, probably in no small part because he was so recently a high schooler himself. The crowd is dominated by Hazen students and faculty proud to share their house with the Sonics for one night.
Good showcase for some of the guys battling to make the roster in this game. Desmon Farmer has played the best of the shooting guard invitees so far. Denham Brown has struggled, while Kareem Rush has been quiet - though that's probably to be expected given he's just coming back from a partially torn right groin. Neither of the point guards has stood out. Kenny Adeleke made a great play under the hoop to get an offensive rebound, but I think what separates him from Reggie Evans right now is he's not as good of an athlete. Adeleke doesn't have great ups or quickness.
Bob Hill did say before the scrimmage that he doesn't expect to make any moves until later in the week.
Your final for the second scrimmage: Green 20, White 6. Player of the Scrimmage pretty unanimously goes to Rashard Lewis, who put in a pair of and-ones and had eight points. Robert Swift deserves some credit as well, however, as Dick Fain wants me to make sure to point out. Swift has been working on the offensive glass and has been strong in the paint. From what I've seen, his expected move into the starting lineup Friday night when the Sonics take on Portland in an exhibition game is well-deserved.
The lineups for the final scrimmage: Mike Wilks, Luke Ridnour, Desmon Farmer, Chris Wilcox and Nick Collison for White; Earl Watson, Denham Brown, Mickaël Gelabale, Kenny Adeleke and Robert Swift for Green. Ray Allen, Kareem Rush and Mouhamed Sene back up White, with Rashard Lewis available for Green.
Ralph Lewis coaches Green, Detlef Schrempf White.
For the second straight scrimmage, Robert Swift gets a dunk off the opening tip. I saw the Sonics working on that early on in training camp and it has paid off.
"Save something, Swift," yells Ray Allen after Swift goes lefty off glass for his third bucket of the scrimmage. He then turns and shares a laugh with us media members sitting right behind him on the bench. Swift has looked very good. So far, he's the Player of the Night.
With 2:52, we're all tied at 14 in our most competitive scrimmage of the night. Kenny Adeleke has played really well in the paint in this one, while Chris Wilcox tied us up by finishing an alley-oop lob in transition from Luke Ridnour. Earl Watson has also been effective from midrange.
As a reminder that these guys are really just big kids, I offer what happened during the last timeout. Rashard Lewis was posing for some camera-phone pictures and Ray Allen snuck up behind him to give him bunny ears. They shared a good a laugh when Lewis noticed what was going on.
How do we know this is a scrimmage and not a game? Ray Allen is sitting on the bench, worrying more about signing his shoes than playing basketball.
Ooh, very nice alley-oop from Earl Watson to Mickaël Gelabale closes our scoring. That's the first time I think I've really been able to see Gelabale throw it down in person. He certainly was impressive on tapes of the ACB (Spanish League) dunk contest. Green wins the final scrimmage 28-17. We'll have Earl Watson and Kenny Adeleke share Player of the Scrimmage honors. Ray Allen closes out the evening by holding one last raffle drawing for the shoes he autographed a moment ago.
As I said earlier, I think the Player of the Night has to be Robert Swift. Swift played most of the evening without much fatigue and was the most effective big man on the court. It's a great night for Swift and hopefully a sign of things to come.
That about wraps us up. Thanks to Hazen for hosting us and to my fellow Sonics & Storm staffers for an evening that I'm sure was a lot of fun for fans. Thanks for coming out and we'll see you at KeyArena starting Friday night.
Post-Scrimmage Update: We had a chance to chat with Bob Hill after the scrimmage and he was effusive in his praise of Robert Swift.
"Did you see Robert Swift?" asked Hill. "Oh my gosh. I've never seen him play like that, with so much confidence."
Hill also singled out Kenny Adeleke, Desmon Farmer and Earl Watson for praise. Damien Wilkins and Luke Ridnour were a couple of players, in Hill's view, who did not perform as well as they have during training camp.
The worst news was that Kareem Rush tweaked his previously-injured groin while warming up before the scrimmage, explaining his limited court time.
"He tried to play, but he couldn't," said Hill. "We'll just have to see if he can heal up ... If he can't, that's just the way it is."
