Comments on: Monday Bolts – 10.12.09

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:09:45 +0000

I really liked Henry Abbotts article today. I liked the first one and this one was even better.

By: Steve H

Steve H — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:25:52 +0000

@Derrick Thought the same thing about Abbot's response piece. I was expecting to fire off an angry response in KD's defense- instead, I came away thinking he had some nice points and that he expressed them in an entirely constructive manner.

By: Nix

Nix — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:00:46 +0000

@Keith Great reply. KD will be fine. If anything it will spur him to work harder.

By: Nix

Nix — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:59:04 +0000

@Bang4ur$
Did you feel the filmmaker’s had that opinion?

I’m not trying to generalize all Seattle fans by any means. My point would be you can’t use what Presti/Bennett did with the roster as a means to demonize them (and I’m not saying Bennett doesn’t deserve SOME heat). It was an incredibly savvy move, which netted great players to go around a (possible) future superstar.

The Save Our Sonics guy sounded like they were a lock for the Western Conference Championship if they wouldn’t have traded Ray Allen away, and he acted like R. Lewis would have been easy to resign.

I’ve heard the argument from a lot of people that Seattle would have supported the team more if they didn’t suck that last year. This is probably true when it comes to numbers, but you can’t also say that what they did to the team was a bad thing. It was the best thing possible for the future of the organization regardless of what city it played in.

By: Dooney

Dooney — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:15:46 +0000

I wonder if they are selling the soundtrack to Sonicsgate…. it’s pretty fly.

By: KingGondo

KingGondo — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:36:34 +0000

@B-RY
I wouldn’t worry too much about damaging KD’s “psyche.” Great athletes, and NBA players in particular, thrive off of criticism (Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame speech was nothing less than a laundry list of real and perceived slights over the course of his career). In a way, I’m glad that Abbott calmly and clearly laid out the “KD Conundrum.”

With everyone saying “Kevin Durant is the best young scorer of our generation, he’s doing things no one has ever done, how amazing, etc.,” KD runs the risk of becoming complacent. But as long as there are statheads and bloggers questioning his ability to win games consistently, he’ll work that much harder and improve his already fantastic work ethic. And personally, I can’t wait to see what happens WHEN (not if) Kevin takes his game to the next level. It will be fun to watch.

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:06:33 +0000

@B-RY
If Henry Abbot pointing out some of Durant’s flaws (while also generously praising him) is going to ruin his psyche, then he simply isn’t going to make it in this league. You can guarantee there is way more terrible stuff being written about Durant out there, so he can’t let one article really get to him.

And Henry Abbots points aren’t really arguable. The team DID perform better overall with Durant on the bench. However, the fact that the biggest problem(s) are easily corrected is a great thing. Durant has to know about these shortcomings, and has to be working on them. And at the same time Brooks has to create something that works with every piece. When Durant is in, the other guys can’t be hesitant and confused.

By: Bang4ur$

Bang4ur$ — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:42:12 +0000

@Nix: Well, take it as the film makers’ opinion, not Seattle fans in general. Wally Walker was flushing the franchise down the drain long before new ownership came along to complete the job. The failure to retain Nate was writing on the wall: someone looked at that roster from ’05 and decided it was the players, not the coach, who had accounted for those 52 wins. And it was done with Jerome James, Luke Ridnour, Danny Fortson, Vlad Radmonovich, and Antonio Daniels playing key roles. By the time Clay came around, the roster was one of worst in terms of players and roster balance I’ve ever seen. Nick Collison was the third-best player on the team–’nuff said (nothing against Nick–I love the guy). I thought Ray should have been traded a year or two earlier. Have I said this before?–the people running the franchise were arrogant idiots, a deadly combination (they’re also responsible for the completely incompetent attempt to get a stadium built before the team was sold). I wrote at the time that I thought Clay wanted to build a winner from the ground up, he just wanted to do it somewhere else, damm him!

By: B-RY

B-RY — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:39:44 +0000

@Derrick
I’m not sure how I feel about Abbott’s response to Durant’s tweets. If Abbott is right, then there is a problem… but a fixable problem. If he’s wrong, then he’s running the risk of damaging a young player’s psyche, all because he’s stat-obsessed.

By: Nix

Nix — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:15:38 +0000

I watched the first part of Sonicsgate.

Very well done.

One thing I find interesting that Seattleites believe is that the team was demolished for no reason.

If I was the ownership group that just bought a new team I would like to start fresh as well. New GM, new superstar, new arena, new coaches…the works. Tons of draft picks and plenty of cap space to work with.

They act like the Sonics were doing something right before the team was overhauled. DID ANYONE SEE THE BIG MEN THE HAD BEEN DRAFTING AND OVERPAYING???

I think it wasn’t a play to put a bad team on the court, but a play to build a team for the future. Which is clearly happening right now, and the moves taken back then have put us in the position we are in now.