Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | October 11, 2005
Tests Seattle SuperSonics forward
Vladimir Radmanovic underwent Monday helped bring the team closer to pinpointing what is causing the inflammation in Radmanovic's left foot that has kept Radmanovic out of practice since last Friday.
"It’s getting better," Radmanovic said after Tuesday's practice. "There’s more progress. I’m glad it’s not a bone or anything like that - it’s only soft tissue bothering me. It’s day by day."
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"It’s getting better. I’m glad it’s not a bone or anything like that."
Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty
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An MRI and blood tests Radmanovic took ruled out the possibility of bone damage or a virus causing the inflammation, meaning it is likely a soft-tissue problem. That's the best-case scenario, and could allow Radmanovic to return to the court soon. Tuesday, he attempted to run for the first time since feeling pain, but was unable to continue.
"It’s a little puffy and really sensitive, so I can’t push off of it," Radmanovic explained.
For Radmanovic, the most frustrating part of the injury - not knowing what the problem was - is past him.
"You wake up in the morning and you have a sore foot," said Radmanovic, describing the uncertainty. "You didn’t feel anything in practice the day before that. That’s what happened to me, basically."
Radmanovic is treating the injury with ice and anti-inflammatories, and how it responds to this treatment will determine his return to the lineup.
The Sonics other serious injury is to center 
Vitaly Potapenko, who re-strained his left hamstring yesterday and missed practice. He will not travel to Portland with the Sonics for their preseason opener. Neither injury is considered particularly serious by the Sonics, however.
"Both of them, I think, are very minor," said Sonics Head Coach 
Bob Weiss. "Vitaly’s is a slight pull, slight strain, whatever you want to call it. Vladimir has a soft tissue problem in his foot and today was the first day he ran at all on it. He’s day to day. Both of those guys are not going to be out extended times. I think with Vitaly they’re talking five days to a week."
Fantastic Finish
The Sonics six-minute scrimmages (alternating between three squads - Green, Red and White) again produced a wild ending during a matchup of Green and White.
With no time remaining, Green forward 
Reggie Evans tied the scrimmage at 13 with a fadeaway jumper off of an inbounds play. That forced an NFL-style sudden-death overtime. After Green failed to score on a 
Ray Allen miss, White guard 
Mateen Cleaves drove the lane and drew a foul on Evans. Cleaves hit the first free throw to end the scrimmage, then headed for the bench celebrating exuberantly.
Weiss on his goals for tomorrow's game: "We want to make sure we’re playing defense the way we did in camp, we want to run the ball and we want to execute offensively. That’s going to get boring over the year, because you’re going to hear those three things a lot."
After Coach Nate McMillan banned the Sonics from wearing headbands last season, Weiss was allowed whether he'll allow them this year.
"You can wear one," he told the reporter who asked the question.
"Nobody’s been wearing headbands, so if you don’t need one in practice, I don’t think you need one in the game."
