Sonics
Sonics notebook: Collison seeking clearance for summer play

By Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter

Nick Collison

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Forward Nick Collison will meet with Dr. Russ Warren, who performed two surgeries on his shoulders, on Monday in New York in hopes of receiving clearance to play for the Sonics' summer-league team next month.

Collison, who sat out his rookie year last season because of the injuries, said yesterday that he received encouraging news on his previous visit with Warren.

He's also preparing for the worst-case scenario, which would push back his return to the court until August.

Regardless of the decision next week, Collison expects to be fully recovered in time to participate in training camp, which opens in September.

"If it's not 100 percent, then I won't push it," he said. "That just doesn't make sense. No sense in coming this far and waiting this long just to reinjure it again. I know I'm not all the way back yet, but I'm pretty close.

"It's still a little tight. ... I'd like to play (for the summer-league team) to get as much court time as I can before the season starts. Those six games may not seem like a lot, but for me, I haven't been on the court since October. Any games I can get, I'll take them."

Collison, the Sonics' top draft pick at No. 12 overall last year, underwent surgery on his left shoulder last October to repair a separation. Four months later, Warren performed a similar procedure on Collison's right shoulder as a precaution.

The 6-foot-9 forward, who returned to the court last month, is allowed to shoot but is restricted from physical contact.

He said his strength and range of motion has returned. However, Collison will truly know that he's regained the skills that garnered him All-American honors as a Kansas senior when he plays against NBA-caliber competition.
 
"That's why it's so important for me to play this summer," he said. "If I don't, it's not the end of the world. But just for me, my teammates and this organization, I want to get back out there as soon as I can."

The Sonics will send a summer-league team to play in the Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City. The team will open a minicamp in three weeks and begin play on July 16 against Chicago.

Drafters keepers

While Portland acquired an additional first-round pick and trade talk swirled around the NBA, the Sonics gave no impression during yesterday's predraft media session that they are going to part with the No. 12 pick.

Team officials, which included general manager Rick Sund and coach Nate McMillan, were also vague about whom they plan to pick.

Seattle's needs have been identified at center, but Sund and McMillan said that the big men in the draft likely won't provide immediate help.

Perhaps David Pendergraft, the team's director of player personnel, made the most interesting observations during the hour-long session when asked which players he'd have difficulty passing on.

In order, Pendergraft listed Colorado center David Harrison, Puerto Rican center Peter John Ramos, Nevada guard Kirk Snyder and Minnesota forward Kris Humphries.

Notes

• The Sonics are not likely to have anyone selected in tonight's expansion draft, in which the Charlotte Bobcats must select at least 14 players among a list of players left unprotected by their teams.

Each team can protect eight of its players. Seattle is certain to make guard Richie Frahm and center Calvin Booth available. Other candidates include forward Reggie Evans and centers Vitaly Potapenko and Jerome James.

• In a ceremony that included members of the Sonics and Storm, majority owner Howard Schultz and president Wally Walker unveiled a refurbished outdoor basketball court at the Green Lake Community Center.

Sporting a new look and a slightly beefed-up physique, Luke Ridnour was hardly recognizable at the community outreach event. Gone is the mop-top hairdo, replaced by short, golden locks. Ridnour is also noticeably tanned, a byproduct, he said, of boating.

Ridnour attributed part of his rookie struggles to an abdominal strain that prevented him from competing in training camp. He is nearly fully recovered and plans to play on the summer-league team.