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Originally published Wednesday, November 9, 2005 at 12:00 AM

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Notebook: Sonics may ship Swift to NBDL

The Sonics are taking a wait-and-see approach to the National Basketball Development League, which began training camps over the weekend...

By Percy Allen

Seattle Times staff reporter

The Sonics are taking a wait-and-see approach to the National Basketball Development League, which began training camps over the weekend and starts play on Thanksgiving weekend.

Seattle will not immediately send any players to the NBA's minor-league system, but coaches and management are going to have discussions about sending second-year center Robert Swift, who has been inactive in the first three games.

"I think having him work with us is much more beneficial," coach Bob Weiss said. "If it stays like this for a while and there's a long trip where we're not going to have many practices, that might be a good time to let him go down there and play, but we really haven't discussed it at all.

"You look at the amount of development he's gotten already compared to what he would have gotten in college. He would have gotten to play, but he's playing against much better competition. I think, developmental-wise, he's gotten a lot."

Swift, selected 12th overall in last year's draft, played in just 16 games last season and was expected to compete for the backup center position. He lost the spot to rookie Johan Petro, and it doesn't appear as if he'll be able to crack the rotation in the foreseeable future.

Player of the game: Shane Battier was nearly perfect as he connected on nine of 10 shots for 20 points. The Memphis forward also had five rebounds and three assists.

Play of the game: Midway through the third quarter, Shane Battier corralled an alley-oop pass from Eddie Jones and maneuvered it into the rim on an off-balance layup. The play gave Memphis a 52-42 lead with 8:53 remaining.

Turning point: The Grizzlies outscored Seattle 27-14 in the third quarter. Memphis converted 12 of 21 shots for 57.1 percent, while Seattle drained just five of 18 for 27.8 percent..

Digits: Seattle's 69 points were its third-lowest scoring output in franchise history.

"We'd only send him down if it was an opportunity for him to get better, we wouldn't consider it as a punishment," Weiss said. "I would think that maybe he'd even look forward to it."

At the moment, only Minnesota and Denver have plans to send players to the D-League, while everyone else remains cautious.

Along with Sacramento, Phoenix and Utah, Seattle is affiliated with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, who are coached by Michael Cooper, who spent a short stint in Denver after coaching the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.

Sonics reserve center Mikki Moore is living proof that the old D-League system is beneficial. He was the first pick in the 2002 D-League draft, played two seasons for the Roanoke Dazzle and earned D-League Defensive Player of the Year honors during the 2002-03 season.

Note

• Rookie C Johan Petro collected three fouls in just 2:01 in the first quarter and did not play again in the first half.

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