Who is that guy?

Who is that guy?

Perto Swift is a pretty good center, better than JJ ever was. He, Petro Swift, is a little inconsistent, from one night to the next you are note getting the same thing, you're getting more of the better things and fewer mistakes. Petro Swift is growing right before our very own eyes. Last night Petro Swift played 38 minutes (20+18) 12 points (8+4), 5 rebounds (2+3), 3 blocks (2+1), 4 turn overs (2+2), 9 fouls (3+6).

Sure I'm joking but let's just look at the low end that is Robert Swift (buy low), and not forget his improvement from one game to the next is very impressive. I think coach Hill is right, Robert Swift woke up one morning and the light went on. At this point he's still thinking about what he's doing, but you can see that he knows what he wants to do. He's getting there, in a hurry.

This is Robert Swift's line from last night, he gave 10 or 50 pounds up to Cato, he gave some quickness to Dwight Howard, but he used his reach to his advantage with both, and some better defensive footwork in the paint changed what was an automatic foul to stuffing the ball back down on Howard's head when he got to the baseline for a lay-up. Howard, no lay-up for you! Swift ran him under the glass a little, took a slight step back, planted his feet and reached over Howard to shut off the sky. No foul.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

Robert Swift's line last night.

Robert Swift, 18 minutes, 1-3 FG, 0-0 3pt, 2-4 FT, 3 rebounds, 0 ast, 0 stl, 1 blk, 2 TO, 6 fouls, points 4

Jerome James' career year last year (same as the prior 3)

16.6 minutes, 2.2-4.3 FG, 0.0-0.0 3pt, 0.6-0.8 FT, 3 rebounds, 0.2 ast, 0.3 stl, 1.4 blk, 1.1 TO, 3.5 fouls, 4.9 points.

One of these guys is 20 years old, the other is 30.

As I've said elsewhere, you could play Swift all of JJ minutes from last year and you wouldn't miss JJ one little bit.

Petro was dynamic at times last night, fluid, I could see him getting PT at the PF spot and Robert at the C. Remember the playoffs last year when Tim Duncan would pity-pat the ball high-over who ever we had in the paint, to Nazr Mohommad for easy points in the paint? I don't know if Perto Swift can stop that but they could emulate it.

Petro had another good game

20 min, 2-4 FG, 0-0 3pt, 4-5 FT, 0 stl, 2 blk, 2 TO, 3 PF, 2 Reb, 0 ast, 8 points

That's better than the JJ average or the line Swift had last night.

Here's the and-1

James will make 5 million dollars this year, Swift will make $1,764,480 this year, Petro will make $936,600 this year. Petro.

You couldn't Trade their contracts even if you swapped Isaiah Thomas for Rick Sund (i.e., lost your mind).

RealGM Trade checker #2813283

And the 20 year olds are improving each game.

 

--
supersonicsfan

Steve Kelley Could Have Warned Us...

instead of kissing Bob Weiss' ass, and waxing poetic about the bad old days.

Steve Kelley, from Sports: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 (archive story, login required)
A longtime NBA figure, Weiss knows how to rebound

...
"By choosing Weiss, the Sonics took the safe, less adventurous path. Losing McMillan, former associate head coach Dwane Casey and former assistant Dean Demopoulos cost the team years of experience and countless man-hours of preparation.
It remains to be seen whether Weiss and his staff can be as well prepared as their predecessors. Weiss, who is an amateur magician, will need all of his magical powers to keep the team in the thick of a Western Conference that will be even more competitive than last season.

The Sonics gave him this last chance because he has been an assistant here for 11 years, and they want to maintain continuity. And because the players, especially re-signed All-Star Ray Allen, championed his promotion."
...

Hmmm, Not really brow beating Wally Walker over hiring Bob Weiss there, is he.
Nope, not like here:
Steve Kelley, from Sports: Wednesday, January 4, 2006
The Sonics' real problem is Wally Walker

...
"All of the questions today should be about Wally Walker.
Why did Walker hire Weiss in the first place? What did he expect?
Did Walker, knowing Weiss' coaching history, really believe Weiss could maintain the surprising momentum established last season by then-coach Nate McMillan?
Did Walker think that Weiss, who never, ever raised his voice in practice in his 11 years as a Sonics assistant, had the clout to make Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis play the kind of grinding defense McMillan pushed them to play last season?
Did Walker think Weiss could motivate phlegmatic forward Vlade Radmanovic?
Was Walker the only man on the planet who truly thought the Sonics could win with Weiss as their coach?
And why wasn't Walker available to answer some of these questions on Tuesday?"

. . .

Hey Steve, now you are sporting some tough questions that maybe you could have asked last July. What the heck, you can still be a buddy to Bob, and still go off about Wally Walker. All good, for Steve.

I'm not going to say if I agree with you now or back then, that's not the point I'm making, it's about you Steve. Did the questions just come to mind this past week, or did you have them back in July. Did you not see this coming in July, or are you being a jerk?
Well, "No one should be surprised that he failed." you said last Wednesday in the same wally bashing story.
So, I guess you are just taking some shots at Wally. Maybe Wally should take some shots, but you didn't have much to say about Bob, or Wally, back in July.

Ron Artest a Sonic?

I suppose that I didn't really thing about it in this way but, if I saw the Sonics as a possible 3rd team to get the parts to the Pacers that they wanted (without giving up Ray or Rashard) so that they could send Artest to a third team then why not just take Artest back? Why would the Sonics need something else from another team, really, Early Watson or Ron Artest? Hmmm, I'll go with Artest. Maybe George Karl found that Watson was useful while he was showcasing him to other teams? Whatever the case, I'm not terribly surprised that the Sonics have been directly linked to the Pacers and Ron Artest, see the Tacoma News Tribune story today),
"Pacers executives Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird have been narrowing their potential trade partners to a handful of teams in the Western Conference – including, apparently, the Seattle SuperSonics. "

What would the Pacers want from the Sonics that the Sonics would be willing to give? It would have to be enough salary in order to get within 75% of the 6.5 million coming back from the Pacer. Danny Fortson straight up would work salary wise, but not in the real world.
Vitali Potapenko has requested a trade and he makes 3 million this year.
Pacers, or another team could use either Damien Wilkins (unlikely, he has a trade restriction since the Sonics match the Twolves offer last summer), Reggie Evans. As it is now, the Pacers are over the luxury tax line at 79 million, so sending out more money than they take in would give them double the return in dollars.

The Sonics and Pacers could get creative an move a lot of salary off the Pacers books, more Artest, get a pick, and get a player or two that can actually help them right now. Sending Reggie Evans, a #1, and filler might sound like a raw deal, but remember, it isn't a Sonics player that publicly demanded to be traded and can't go back to his team. Right now the Pacers have nothing but an unresolved issue and are paying 6 million dollars for that treasure.

Rick Sund can say that he wants to sit on this team and give Bob Hill a chance to figure out his rotations, but the fact is that Bob has already figured out that Reggie isn't his starter, and Vitali isn't likely to play again.