Northwest passage

Post-Payton Sonics are a team in transition

John Hollinger, SI.com

Sonics at a Glance Head coach: Nate MacMillan 2002-03: 40-42 2002-03 Stats Key Additions PF Nick Collison (draft) PG Luke Ridnour (draft) SG Antonio Daniels (Blazers) Key Losses PF Peja Drobnjak (free agent) C Elden Campbell (Pistons) PG Kevin Ollie (Cavs) Projected Lineup Starters Reserves PG  B. Barry L. Ridnour SG  R. Allen A. Daniels SF  R. Lewis V. Radmanovic PF  R. Evans N. Collison C  J. James C. Booth

The Seattle SuperSonics are a team in transition. They enter the season at the tail end of an overhaul that began with last year's trade of Vin Baker and culminated in sending franchise icon Gary Payton to Milwaukee at midseason.

Fortunately, they have plenty of weapons remaining. The Payton trade brought in sharpshooting playmaker Ray Allen and a first-round pick that turned into point guard Luke Ridnour. Rashard Lewis is a rising star, although he had an off year last season, and lottery pick Nick Collison could bolster a shaky frontcourt.

Seattle filled out the roster by adding combo guard Antonio Daniels in free agency and re-signing free-agent forward Reggie Evans. Gone are Peja Drobnjak and Elden Campbell, but last year's unproductive and overpaid three-headed center combo of Calvin Booth, Jerome James and Vitaly Potapenko remains and is the Sonics' Achilles' heel.

Managing the whole affair is one of the league's most underrated coaches, Nate MacMillan. The former Sonic player masterfully uses small-ball lineups to throw opponents off guard and got the Sonics to play respectable defense last year despite a paucity of athleticism. He'll have to be on top of his game once again to navigate the Sonics back to the postseason.

Shooting. Good heavens, can this team shoot. The Sonics made 35 percent of their 3-pointers last year, which ranked 11th in the league, but that ranking is misleadingly low. Seattle was far more deadly from outside after the Allen trade in February and will be even moreso this year. Brent Barry and Allen might be the two best 3-point shooters in the league, and they're playing in the same backcourt. Barry had an "off" year and still made 40 percent of his 3-point attempts; Allen, meanwhile, is a career 40-percent marksman who led the NBA with 201 bombs a year ago.

Complementing those two are several other accomplished gunners. At small forward, Rashard Lewis habitually drains trifectas from the corner. He's backed up by Vladimir Radmanovic, who took nearly half his attempts from beyond the arc last season and like Lewis is a 38-percent career bomber.

A year ago, Barry and Allen didn't have good shooters playing behind them, but that's not the case this year. Backing them up are two new acquisitions, Daniels and Ridnour, who both have to be respected from downtown. Add it all up and the shooting alone should make Seattle a respectable offensive force.

Frontcourt. The Sonics have issues up front, and it all stems from paying maximum dollar for minimum production. On the heels of wastrels like Jim McIlvaine and Vin Baker, Seattle had a new generation of overpaid big men last year. Calvin Booth and Vitaly Potapenko virtually defined the term "stealing money"; they combined to make $12 million while scoring about once every lunar eclipse.

The Sonics' other well-paid big man is Jerome James. He is a huge 7-footer who dreams of playing point guard, a combination that periodically produces high comedy as he tries to dribble through his legs at midcourt. While James is the lone legitimate NBA center on the Sonics, he also fouls with such abandon that he rarely stays on the court for more than a few minutes at a time.

Because of the contracts of Booth and Potapenko, Seattle had to allow two other big men to depart to avoid the luxury tax. That hastened the departure of Elden Campbell to Detroit and Peja Drobnjak to the L.A. Clippers, which is a shame since both are better than the guys Seattle has left.

The one bargain up front is Reggie Evans. An undrafted free agent a year ago, he played defense and rebounded with an Oakley-esque abandon that stood in sharp contrast to his more lethargic mates down low. Evans is the favorite to start at power forward again, although MacMillan frequently plays smallball with Lewis or Radmanovic at the spot. The problem is that Evans is offensively inept, scoring just three points a game despite playing more than 20 minutes a night. That's why Seattle hopes Collison can use his quickness and boardwork to pluck the starting job.

Can this team stop anybody? Seattle is going to score. With Barry, Allen and Lewis raining bombs on opponents and several other options lurking on the bench, the Sonics could have one of the league's top 10 offenses.

That means Seattle is a playoff team if it plays decent defense, but there's the rub. Seattle's starting backcourt of Barry and Allen can light up the scoreboard, but their opponents may still score twice as many. Allen was frequently criticized for his uninspired defensive efforts in Milwaukee, while Barry lacks the lateral movement to stay in front of the league's quicker point guards. Both players also have battled sore knees in recent years, which has contributed to their defensive problems. They won't have much help off the bench, either, since Ridnour plays defense like he's at a bullfight.

Up front it's the same story. Lewis and Radmanovic are both 6-foot-10, but each is too soft to defend effectively at either forward spot. It's the main obstacle holding Lewis back from star acclaim and what prevents Radmanovic from starting. Evans is a fantastic defender, but his minutes may be limited by his offensive offense; while Jones is also above average but foul trouble keeps him off the court. Rookies normally struggle defensively, so Collison is unlikely to remedy the situation, while in the middle both Booth and Potapenko are uninspiring options.

Rebuilding nicely. The Sonics still seem a year away from regaining a playoff spot, but within a year they've rebuilt from the Payton-Baker era and installed a solid nucleus of Allen, Lewis, Ridnour and Collison. With one of the league's best young coaches to guide them, it shouldn't be long before the Sonics are back in the postseason.

John Hollinger covers basketball for SI.com and is the author of Pro Basketball Prospectus. Click here to send him a question or comment.