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One of the most important players in the Pacific Division this year may also be one of the most obscure.
Calvin Booth has played just 81 games in his three-year NBA career. He missed most of last season after severely spraining his ankle at the start of the season, and as a result hasn't had a chance to live up to the gaudy free-agent contract he signed with Seattle last summer.
But don't get started with the Jim McIlvaine comparisons. The Sonics aren't ready to say they wasted their money just yet, and with good reason. Like McIlvaine, Booth is a ferocious shot-blocker. In 2000-01, he blocked two shots a game in less than 20 minutes of action a night. Project that to full-time duty and you have a monster in the middle; Ben Wallace was the only player to average three blocks a night last year, and with 30 minutes a night, Booth's 2000-01 numbers thump that.
Unlike McIlvaine, this guy isn't a spaz on offense. Despite his shot-blocking, the biggest play of Booth's career came at the offensive end -- his last-second layup to win Game 5 of Dallas' first-round series against Utah two years ago.
It was no fluke, either. Even in his hobbled state last season, when he put the ankle through 15 games before shutting it down for good, Booth averaged a point every three minutes. That makes him a double-figure scorer if he can get 30 minutes of action.
Better yet, Booth provides other benefits. He's one of the better passing big men in the game, so the Sonics can use him from the high post to set up other players. Additionally, he's a rare big man who hits more than 70 percent of his free throws.
The problem is getting him to 30 minutes a night. Booth is so obscure partly because he's hardly played. After a stellar career at Penn State, where he was the Big Ten's all-time blocked-shots leader, Booth missed 71 games his rookie year with a hamstring problem. He lingered on the end of Washington's bench the next season before being liberated in the Juwan Howard trade, which allowed him to pull his Game 5 heroics. But he was hurt again last year, setting a disturbing trend.
All this gets back to the Sonics' hopes. Seattle won 45 games a year ago, and with a young, improving cast around star guard Gary Payton, it could be in position to win quite a bit more this season. But that will come to fruition only if Booth can hold down the fort in the middle, blocking shots to ignite the Seattle break and contributing points and assists on the offensive end.
All told, Booth is the great unknown in the Great Northwest this year, making him a key player to watch in the Pacific Division.
-- By John Hollinger, CNNSI.com
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