No slam dunks for Sonics in NBA draft

Here's the question the Sonics will be asking themselves before today's NBA draft: Is the prospect they'll select at No. 25 better than Damien Wilkins, who began last season as the last man off the bench?

Because of that question, there's growing speculation that Seattle is listening to trade offers from Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington. None has a first-round pick.

If the Sonics keep their pick, they are believed to be interested in a handful of players that includes Pittsburgh forward Chris Taft, North Carolina State guard Julius Hodge, Georgia Tech guard Jarrett Jack and Kansas forward Wayne Simien.

But the Sonics will have at least eight players hit the free-agent market Friday, and by dealing their first-round pick, they could receive a future first-round selection and as much as $3 million. They would also save money from not having to sign the pick.

That money could be used to re-sign Ray Allen, Vladimir Radmanovic, Wilkins and others.

Should the Sonics retain their pick, they're committed to a four-year deal, with the first two years guaranteed as well as a $1 million salary that counts against next season's projected $48 million to $50 million salary cap.

Take your pick


It's hard to say what a team with the 25th choice in the NBA draft might do. In fact, a quick search of 10 "experts" found 10 different picks for the Sonics. Interestingly, only four of the 10 players projected here were among the 41 players the Sonics had brought in for workouts as of Friday.

NBAdraft.net: Chris Taft, 6-10, PF, Pittsburgh

Sports Illustrated: Kennedy Winston, 6-6, SG, Alabama

ESPN The Magazine: Jarrett Jack, 6-3, PG, Georgia Tech

DIME Magazine: Julius Hodge, 6-7, SG, North Carolina State

HoopsHype.com: Ersan Ilyasova, 6-9, SF, Turkey

Fanball.com: Ike Diogu, 6-8, PF, Arizona State

Hoopsworld.com: Vladimir Veremeenko, 6-10, SF, Belarus

Sportsline, Tony Mejia: Andray Blatche, 6-11, PF, South Kent Prep (Conn.)

Sportsline, Gregg Doyel: Nate Robinson, 5-9, PG, Washington

Seattle Times: Wayne Simien, 6-8, PF, Kansas

General manager Rick Sund acknowledged that the cash-strapped Sonics, who lost $17 million last season, would be unable to keep all of their free agents and are in the process of determining who stays and who leaves.

Today's draft will provide the first clue on which Sonics will return next season.

Keeping Wilkins, a restricted free agent who earned $385,000 last season, would require a two- or three-year deal worth about $700,000 per season. In the short term, it would be more cost-efficient to deal the 25th pick and use the money on Wilkins, who worked his way into the rotation late in the season.

"Those questions will be asked, and they're being discussed," Sund said last week. "Maybe I wouldn't have always said this, but I think we could get a good player where we're at.

"Right after the season if you'd had asked me whether we needed another young guy after taking Luke [Ridnour] and Nick [Collison] and [Robert] Swift, I'd have said no. We have enough young guys that we're developing. ... If we go that route again, it depends on what we do with our free agents."

This year's draft is considered by most observers to be the deepest in recent years, with enough NBA-ready talent to supply the first 40 picks.

Historically, however, the 25th pick has produced more flops than success stories.

Since 1988, when the first round expanded to 25 picks, no one chosen at that spot has ever played in an All-Star Game. The most notable player chosen has been Al Harrington, taken in 1998 by Indiana, while the duds include John Morton (class of 1989), Alaa Abdelnaby ('90), Shaun Vandiver ('91) and Martin Muursepp ('96).

"You've got bigger numbers to deal with," Sund said last week. "Your groupings are smaller (in the lottery). When you're picking top five, it's about eight or nine guys. When you're picking eight to 10, it's a smaller grouping — 12 to 14.

"When you're picking 25, you might have 30 different teams that would have a different player at 25. There's not a consensus, so it makes it a little more difficult."

Accessing the Sonics' needs is difficult because just five players are under contract for next season, assuming Antonio Daniels opts out of his deal. At the moment, the Sonics need a starting shooting guard, a starting center, a backup point guard and depth at both forward positions.

Admittedly, the Sonics are not as focused on this year's draft as in the past because coach Nate McMillan is negotiating a contract with the team, associate coach Dwane Casey left for Minnesota and Sund re-signed a deal last week.

"We're playing catch-up with the draft. We're playing catch-up with workouts. That's what we've been focusing on," Sund said. "As soon as the draft is over, we'll go from there."

The Sonics had 41 players work out, although only two — Arizona State's Ike Diogu and Providence's Ryan Gomes — are considered first-round prospects.

More so than in past years the Sonics are concentrating on players that will likely be selected in the second round because of the new collective bargaining agreement. Under the new rules, teams must keep at least 14 players and are allowed to retain the rights of second-round picks and send them to the National Basketball Development League.

"There are times where you pass on second-round players, because you say, 'He has a chance, but we won't draft him. Let's see if he goes to the CBA or goes to Europe, let's follow his career,' " Sund said. "Now you can draft a guy like that, send him down for a couple of years, see how they develop and then they're under contract and you have them back a year from now or two years from now.

"All of that — how it plays out — is unknown, but my first instinct is that may be beneficial to the draft picks, particularly in the second round. Teams have discarded second-round picks in the past. I don't think you're going to see that now."