You have to go through bad times to truly appreciate prosperity.
For the SuperSonics, a franchise in the midst of a battle with the city that's housed it for 40 years, and in the earliest stage of a massive rebuilding project, rock bottom didn't arrive until a seemingly ordinary Tuesday night in Orlando.
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| Jeff Green is working on his defense, and itching to crack the starting lineup. (Getty Images) |
That's what made Seattle's resiliency the next night in Miami all the sweeter. Kicking the Heat while they're down wouldn't be major cause to celebrate for many teams in this league, but considering how young the Sonics are and what they had just been through, overcoming the return of former Finals MVP Dwyane Wade was a worthy first step toward where this team wants to go.
"What is special about it is the way they did it, honestly. To me, we bottomed out (against Orlando)," Carlesimo said. "We got them up this morning and brought them in, which you don't normally do. Our guys never said boo. They bought in."
No team ever wants to lose its first eight games, but on this journey that the Sonics have embarked upon, surrendering the former faces of the franchise, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, to create an environment where they could be rebuilt from scratch, it signifies a means to an end.
Make no mistake, Seattle has been coached and has played to win every night out, even leading the Suns by nine points deep into the third quarter in its home opener. Still, as the Sonics embarked on their first lengthy road trip as one of three winless teams left in the NBA, the emphasis for the team's direction wasn't focused on when the first win would come, but rather, how players would react in the face of adversity. Who would come out and really play hard? Who would set a winning tone with their energy? Who would make sure that no opponent disrespected the Sonics with a sneer at that nasty 0-for?
The performance against Orlando supplied nothing but more questions. Less than 24 hours later, even with projected starters Luke Ridnour and Robert Swift out with injuries, there came emphatic answers.
The Sonics have players who aren't going to hang their heads for long and quit. That's who you want to go to the mattresses with, especially when you're trying to lay a foundation.
More than anything, this is all about learning for rookies Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, so you don't want any of that miseducation that befell Lauryn Hill going down. That's why Kurt Thomas is on board, a veteran acquisition that new GM Sam Presti was excited about for the simple fact that his presence would have such a positive influence on his young roster.
Thomas missed the first six games with a hamstring issue, but when healthy, will be Seattle's starting center for the foreseeable future.
"The minutes Kurt is on the floor, we're a better basketball team. That will be the case all season," Carlesimo said. "He's got a major impact on the floor late in games because he helps us in three areas. He helps us defensively because he's one of our best, if not our best interior defenders. He helps us offensively because he's a good shooter and stretches out the defense, and the rebounding is the third aspect; he's good on both boards. And he's got experience; he knows what to do at the end of a game. He's not going to panic; he's going to do the correct thing, whether it's make a good pass or take the correct shot, take a foul, do a lot of things that experienced players understand. It would be hard to overstate how important he is to have on the floor at the end."
Had Thomas been healthy to start the season, Seattle might not have wilted in the fourth quarter as was so often the case in the season's first 10 days. Then again, it wouldn't have given the team's young players opportunities to learn from their mistakes, a key tool when your main concern is evaluation, not cosmetic wins.
