Sonics bring back center Potapenko

What began as a summer of uncertainty has developed into an offseason in which the Sonics have slowly plugged the many holes of what used to be a Swiss cheese roster.

After signing center Vitaly Potapenko yesterday, general manager Rick Sund's vision of the 2005-06 Sonics is beginning to look eerily familiar to the 2004-05 Sonics, with the exception of a few minor alterations.

Potapenko will be given every opportunity to regain the starting position he lost a year ago when he broke a bone in his right hand during an exhibition game, missed six weeks at the start of the season and was never able to unseat Jerome James.

By virtue of a fortuitous first-round playoff series, James extracted a six-year, $30 million deal from New York, and his departure paved the way for Potapenko's return at a salary cap-friendly price. His two-year contract is believed to be worth $6 million.

Should the 30-year-old Ukraine native start — and all indications suggest that he will, considering the other centers include second-year veteran Robert Swift and rookie Johan Petro — then the Sonics will begin the season with at least four players who were slated to start last year.

Ray Allen and Luke Ridnour return in the backcourt and Rashard Lewis will start at small forward, which leaves new coach Bob Weiss to discern who among his four power forwards will get the starting nod.

Nick Collison and Danny Fortson are under contract, while restricted free agents Vladimir Radmanovic and Reggie Evans have been tendered contracts. Evans is the incumbent and has started the bulk of two of the past three seasons, but Radmanovic has made demands about relinquishing his reserve status and will likely be the third highest-paid player on the team should he sign a long-term deal.

It's highly likely that Radmanovic will decline a six-year, $42 million offer and sign a one-year deal that will allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Such a maneuver would be risky and would only strengthen his desire to start, thus ensuring him more minutes and a chance to have a career-best season.

Much like Ronald "Flip" Murray, who also is a restricted free agent, neither Radmanovic nor Evans received serious attention from outside suitors, which has given Seattle considerable leverage in contract negotiations.

Only small forward Damien Wilkins has been able to induce an offer from a competing team, and he signed an offer sheet from Minnesota last week. The Sonics must match the five-year, $15 million offer by Friday or lose him to the Timberwolves.

"I'm not juggling quite as many balls now as I was when this whole thing [free agency] started," Sund said. "Something will happen with Damien within the next day or so and we've got some other decisions that we need to make, but as it's winding down, things are falling in place a little bit."

According to league sources, Wilkins has indicated that he'd prefer to play in Minnesota, believing that more playing time would be available there rather than being slated behind Lewis and Radmanovic.

The Sonics, however, appear to be leaning toward retaining the 6-6, 225-pound Wilkins, who averaged 6.3 points in 29 regular-season games as an undrafted rookie out of Georgia.

In seven games as a starter, he averaged 11.6 points and scored in double figures four times. Securing Wilkins would complement the addition of backup guard Rick Brunson and offset the loss of backup guard Antonio Daniels, who bolted for Washington, while still leaving the Sonics enough financial flexibility to re-sign Murray and Evans to similar deals.

Seattle had sought free agent Dale Davis, but he appears headed to Detroit.

Sund said the Sonics still are in the market for a center, which may suggest that the front office isn't certain either Swift or Petro are ready to handle backup duties.

"We've been pretty much a center by committee team because we don't have a [Tim] Duncan or one dominating guy, so you rely on many guys," Sund said. "We still have Nick. We still have Danny and we're going to give Robert in time.

"But that's not to say there's not somebody else out there that can help us."

Note

Coach Bob Weiss still has two vacancies on his staff. He interviewed former NBA coach Bob Hill three weeks ago and two candidates last week. Weiss could fill the positions within the next week or so.

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com