The Sonic Slide Begins

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Portland 100
Seattle 94

[whottt]

I'm read for the Suns slide to begin, Seattle is playing way over their heads but the Suns are scary...Nash is the MVP of the season so far IMO. He has a chance at leading the league in assists and FG%...how often has that combo been pulled off? Once maybe? Wilt?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I don't see Phoenix going anywhere. They will win their division, and we will be in a dogfight with them come playoff time.

[SequSpur]

Ray Allen is good.

[SuperManu!!!]

I don't think seattle is sliding....no team can win all the 82 season games

[Solid D]

Moral of the story. Get Fortson out of the game, any way you can and you improve your chances against the Sonics.

[boutons]

hey Supermanu, your sig has uncompressed .bmp's which are huge compared to compressed .jpg and .gif.

[boutons]

"Fortson out of the game"

huh? Fortson doesn't start, and he doesn't get "in the game" very much. He's avging only 17 MPG.

A real SEA weakness is that their 2 bombers, Rashard and Ray, must play 38 - 40 MPG to keep SEA in the game, because their bench is so weak. That's worked pretty well so far, but will it work all season? after the ASB?

[Kori Ellis]

I think SolidD said get Fortson out of the game because a) He killed the Spurs in their game against the Sonics and b) He was ejected from tonight's game.

[boutons]

ok, but "getting anyone out of the game" isn't a very reliable tactic, and lard-butt Fortson isn't much of a force to reckon with anyway (is why he's on his 5th team in 7 years) even when he's playing his 17 MPG.

[timvp]

Fortson is having a great year.



Ranks #6 in the NBA in Offensive Rebounds(44.0)
Ranks #8 in the NBA in Offensive Rebounds Per Game(3.4)
Ranks #1 in the NBA in Free Throws Per 48 Minutes(14.05)
Ranks #2 in the NBA in Free Throw Attempts Per 48 Minutes(16.0)
Ranks #1 in the NBA in Offensive Rebounds Per 48 Minutes(9.5)
Ranks #1 in the NBA in Rebounds Per 48 Minutes(18.6)
Ranks #18 in the NBA in Points Per 48 Minutes(26.6)
Ranks #4 in the NBA in Efficiency Ranking Per 48 Minutes(35.03)

He isn't playing a huge amount of minutes, but he's a big reason they are off to that kind of start.

[Solid D]

Yes, it's true that getting anyone out of a game is not a reliable tactic.
Yes, it's true that Danny Fortson is having a great year.

Fortson isn't the only reason the Sonics are doing well....

but he has been pretty dominant in the paint and he brings major effort. His influence seems to have a ripple effect on his mates, as I see it. The scoring by the guards has been stellar but Fortson knows how to get to the line and work for rebounds and second-chance points. If the refs are calling fouls, Danny's physicality can be a problem.

In the 3 games the Sonics lost, Danny was a DNP in the first, he fouled out in 13 minutes in the second one and ejected in the third. At least curious coincidence, if nothing else.

This recap, this morning, seems to agree with the notion that Fortson's departure was untimely.

http://www.nba.com/games/20041130/SEAPOR/recap.html

[tlongII]

The Sonics loss was no surprise. We are not going to lose a rivalry game at home no matter what their record is. The game Saturday should be very close as well.

[T Park]

Illl say this
I think Portland is a team to be reakoned with.

Van Exel, Abdur Rahim are tough.


If I were Portland I wouldnt do a trade for Kidd


Stoudamire, Miles, Ratiff

all these guys are playing well, I like Portland, there character guys are better and the town has a team to be oroud of.

[tlongII]

There is talk in Portland that we will get Vince Carter within the next week. I think our team will look different by mid-season.

[T Park]

Thats a stupid move.

Vince Carter wont make the team better, with his ball hog attitude and bad defense, he does ZERO to add to the team.

[violentkitten]

tpark what does "reakoned" mean?

[Jimcs50]

The Sonics loss was no surprise. We are not going to lose a rivalry game at home no matter what their record is. The game Saturday should be very close as well.


tlong, you forget, Seattle is Portland's bitch. I do not remember Seattle beating Portland in a long time.

But AHF, a 4 pt loss on the road to your rival does not mean that you are sliding. :rolleyes

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

boutons,

The fact that you think Fortson doesn't do "that much" for Seattle shows me you either don't know much about basketball or haven't watched Seattle play (maybe both).

Fortson is one of the major reasons Seattle is where they are right now.


Jim, I just wanted to be the one to call the shot if it's true :)

[baseline bum]

I hate per-48 stats. To me one of the best measures of how good a player is is how much time his coach entrusts him with on the floor. Besides, what is a per-48 stat worth? I've never seen anyone play 48 minutes every night since Michael Finley a couple of years ago.

[T Park]

I agree 100% the per 48 stats thing is pretty weak.

[boutons]

I missed the SAS@SEA game, and since Fortson only plays under 1.5 quarters/game (sorta strange for such a supposedly impact/success contributor/difference maker) ,
it's kinda hard to catch him on the court even with NBA TV unless I watch entire SEA games just to watch Forston, duh. With NBA TV, I bounce around from game to game.

But all your points pro-Fortson, the fat, dirty bastard, are noted, I'll be watching him 8 Dec closely.

While it appears, to some here, that evaluating anybody on stats is highly deceiving, I persist in my folly, so let's look at DF's PG numbers:

17 minutes (must be a "fast impact worker" given his tiny MPG)

0 blocks (not a shot blocker or shot changer, he's an obese tweener)

7 rebounds (good)

0 assists (no touches? no plays for him)

1.5 TOs. (but he does get his hands on the ball)

5 PF (Massenburg-level of klutziness, more than 1 PF/3 minutes, killing SEA possesions and/or putting the opponents on the line)

10 pts (not bad, but SEA's needs him to score??)

and these stats in 17 magical MPG make the difference in SEA's success? ok, we'll see.

[Jimcs50]

boutons,

The fact that you think Fortson doesn't do "that much" for Seattle shows me you either don't know much about basketball or haven't watched Seattle play (maybe both).

Fortson is one of the major reasons Seattle is where they are right now.


Jim, I just wanted to be the one to call the shot if it's true :)


AHF, that splains everything....good call.

That is the reason why I made thread on TPark will come out of the closet declaration.

:)

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

In Fortson's case his limited minutes are because of foul trouble, not because of lack of trust by his coach.

Give him credit though - he makes his fouls count and they don't give up layups.

[violentkitten]

tpark what does "reakoned" mean?