As a result, we can safely assume that Ridnour didn't hear the rhetorical question he's helping to answer so far during his first season as an NBA starter.

Bill Simmons has found the kind of point guard he was looking for in Ridnour. Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty

"What happened to the point guard position?" asked ESPN.com's Bill Simmons this summer, reacting to the US Olympic Team's finish out of the medals in the Athens Olympics. "Why are the best ones (like [Carlos] Arroyo and Tony Parker) coming from other countries? Why do we keep producing dominant, shoot-first point guards who can't create for teammates in the open floor ([Stephon] Marbury, Baron Davis, Steve Francis, etc.)?"

It took Simmons only a few weeks into this season to recognize that Ridnour could be what he's looking for - a young American point guard who takes more pleasure in an assist than a score, who truly believes the timely seasonal maxim that 'tis better to give than to receive.

"Luke Ridnour looked nervous on opening night, but he gives them a classic slash-and-kick point guard," wrote Simmons earlier this month, "like the kind that always gives USA teams trouble in international games."

As a rookie, after some dazzling distribution during the preseason (12 assists in the exhibition finale) that earned him a spot in the rotation, inconsistent playing time meant inconsistent passing from Ridnour. There were flashes of brilliance - most notably 13 assists in a 106-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks on April 10 - but Ridnour ended the season averaging 2.4 assists per game and fewer assists per 48 minutes - 7.0 vs. 9.1 - than converted shooting guard Brent Barry.

Even when averaging nearly 20 points per game as a junior for the Ducks, Ridnour has always had the passing mentality - "It's not my main job right now to hit shots," he says. "It's to run the team." - and the results have been obvious this season.

With Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis starting the season hot from the perimeter, averaging a combined 44.7 points per game (a mark bettered by only two other NBA duos), much credit has gone to the screens being set by big men Nick Collison, Reggie Evans and Danny Fortson. Equally important, however, is the point guard getting the ball to Allen and Lewis once they have freed themselves from the shackles of their defender, and Ridnour shows precocious skill in this task.

"He just wants our team to be organized and know what we're in and to run the sets that he calls," Ridnour says, relaying his instructions from Coach Nate McMillan, "and to get people shots when they're coming off (a screen) when that set's called for those people."

There has been much talk this season, both from McMillan and the media quoting him, of playing McMillan's brand of basketball, something that had fallen into neglect in recent years. It's notable that while there was once a perception amongst observers that Ridnour was the pick of the Sonics front office, not McMillan, it is the point guard whose name and abilities most often seem to be associated with what McMillan specifically states as playing his way.

"I'm coaching my style," McMillan said after Monday's practice. "They've got to play the way I want to play. I'm able to do that. I can play aggressive, pick up full-court pressure defense because I can use Luke in that fashion."

Ridnour considers himself a McMillan-type player. Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty

On offense, Ridnour has quickly developed into the Sonics best pass-first point guard since, well, McMillan. After the initial nerves Simmons witnessed, Ridnour has successfully found balance in the decision a point guard must make each trip up the court - drive, dish or shoot? - scoring double-digits in six of his last 11 games and leading the Sonics in assists eight times this season.

So does Ridnour himself consider him a McMillan type of player?

"I'm getting a chance to play, so …," he says.

"I've been trying to do what he tells me to do - pick up the ball, bring energy to the game, play the way he wants the game to be played. He wants it to be fast, and I think that's kind of how I play, so yeah."

A move that has helped both Ridnour and the Sonics has been McMillan pairing him in the backcourt regularly with backup point guard Antonio Daniels. The move has filled the minutes behind Allen at shooting guard vacated by injured Ronald "Flip" Murray, allowed Daniels and Ridnour more playing time than the 48 minutes a game they'd be forced to share if they exclusively played the point and given Daniels and Ridnour the opportunity to focus on their respective strengths, Daniels' ability to get to the basket and Ridnour's ballhandling.

"I think it makes it tougher for people to guard us, because if the point guard's on me, then AD has a two-guard, and he's quicker than them and can attack that," says Ridnour. "On the outlets, either of us can get it and we can push the ball. It's been good. When you have two point guards on the court, it makes decision-making easier. Getting into an offense, you don't always have to go get the ball, you guys can go get it together."

The numbers back up Ridnour's observation. In the 167 minutes the two have paired up this season, the Sonics have outscored their opponents by 34 points. That translates to +9.8 points per 48 minutes; overall, the Sonics are outscoring their opponents by a smaller margin, 7.6 points per game.

15 games into his second season and at age 23, Ridnour has much time left to develop and much learning left to do, but he's already figured out the McMillan style, making him a rare and valuable commodity in the modern NBA.