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Johan Petro

"He thinks he belongs out there," said Sonics Coach Bob Weiss after Petro finished with two blocks and three boards in 18 minutes against the L.A. Clippers Tuesday, playing with the starters down the stretch. "He's not out there wide-eyed. He's out there playing."

"I feel good," said Petro in a brief chat with the media Wednesday morning. "I think it is the best opportunity for me, being in this league and with this team. Now I need to prove what I can do."

"I didn't expect him to be where he is now, so we don't know what he's going to be like by the time we get to the season." Sam Forencich/NBAE/Getty

The French rookie's English has improved to the point where he is no longer using a translator to conduct interviews, but Petro's development on the court has been even more rapid. Weiss said he puts no limits on Petro's development.

"I didn't expect him to be where he is now, so we don't know what he's going to be like by the time we get to the season."

Asked about his first career start on Monday against the Rockets, Petro was low-key.

"It was my first start in the NBA," he said. "It was really exciting."

Petro said most of his development comes in, "Practice, because somebody takes the time to explain things to me," and said "everybody" has helped him.

He also cleared up one of the biggest mysteries surrounding him during his first month with the Sonics - including to his coach - how to pronounce his name. While YO-han has been a common pronunciation and JOE-han accepted as accurate, the correct way adds a more exotic flair to end up ZHO-han.

Injury Update

While Sonics center Vitaly Potapenko is expected to make the team's brief trip to Phoenix and Golden State, he will not play in either game.

"He started doing some running on the floor a little bit last night," said Weiss.

A more realistic goal for Potapenko's return to action would be the team's final two preseason games, next Thursday and Friday. That will give him some conditioning work before the start of the regular season, though the strained left hamstring that has sidelined Potapenko much of training camp has left him behind.

"As hard as you work on the cardiovascular stuff, it's not the same as running up and down the floor," said Weiss. "So we'll have to see where he is."

The patellar chondromalacia that continues to bother center Mikki Moore, who will not make the trip, is for Weiss "A big concern. It's got to come around or he's not going to be able to play."

Danny Fortson, who started against the Clippers but was limited to 10 minutes (all in the first half) by the turf toe that he is battling, went through a full practice today and should see his minutes increase slightly on this trip.

"I think he'll probably be able to graduate up a little bit from that, but I haven't talked to (Athletic Trainer) Mike (Shimensky) yet about that," said Weiss.

After starting Fortson and Nick Collison yesterday, Weiss plans to move Reggie Evans back into the starting lineup alongside Collison against the Suns.

"I will probably play a few more people than I did in this last game," Weiss said.

The Sonics waived rookie forward Roger Powell before practice, bringing them down to 17 players. Weiss doesn't see another cut coming for a week or so.

"(We'll carry 17) probably at least until we play those last two games," he said. "Maybe we'd make a decision before then."