What readers are saying about Sonics' draft pick

Sonics

Fire Walker

Great draft pick, Sonics! You just helped attendance even further at Huskies basketball games this year. Fire Wally Walker now!

— Tony Contini, Cincinnati

Hit the road

The Sonics may leave now! Are you kidding me? It's incredibly clear they were drinking heavily when they made their first-round pick. If the quote is correct by Bob Hill that Saer Sene is a better shot-blocker than J.J. Redick is a shooter, then it proves he is more of a puppet to management than I ever thought. What idiots, and these people want us to invest $200 million in their rebuilding effort. No thanks!

— Mike Biehn, Redmond

Draft just a sideshow

So my initial, first-10-seconds reaction was pretty close to Steve Kelley's (Seattle Times, June 29) — Huh?

But upon further review, ultimately didn't the Sonics have to ask: "Is the guy we take at this spot likely to play for us this year ... next year ... the year after?"

And in this year's draft, the consensus seems to be that nobody at No. 10 was likely to beat out anybody on our roster for playing time anytime soon. So you might as well draft based on potential.

Who was Redick going to take playing time from? Ray Allen?

Marcus Williams might some day be a better point guard than Luke? Fascinating, but for my money Earl Watson already is. We covered ourselves on Luke already.

Ronnie Brewer was attractive, but was he going to take minutes from Damien Wilkins or Rashard Lewis?

The bottom line seems to be that almost no matter who we picked, they were going to be better off playing in Europe or the Development League next year because they were going to be stapled to our bench.

Sene seems like a better candidate to accept that role than Redick.

Was our pick almost the same as Seattle saying "pass" on the No. 10 pick?

Maybe. But maybe that's the kind of draft it was this year.

So upon further review, I'm not hopping on the bash-management bandwagon on this one. Too easy. The Sonics' offseason will be defined by their success at retaining Chris Wilcox (at a reasonable price) and figuring out how to get Danny Fortson off the payroll.

The draft was a sideshow for us this year, so let's not treat it like the main event.

— Kyle Porter, Seattle

Special needs exist

Rick Sund said, "We had the luxury of not having a special need."

HELLO?! How about getting someone who can defend. Did he forget Seattle was dead last in team defense last season?

And how about getting someone who boxes out and rebounds? They must lead the league in giving up offensive rebounds. Everyone stands around and watches while the other team gets two, three and sometimes four shots at the hoop.

Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Luke Ridnour, Damien Wilkins — this team has too many guys who are "three-point happy." Bob Hill needs a more imaginative offense than just "bombs away" from beyond the three-point line.

— Wallis R. Chapin, Kirkland

Clean out front office

What the Sonics did has to go down as one of the worst draft picks in Seattle sports history! They said they needed a center. Who did they draft the last two years? Now we have two 7-footers who can play a little and one who will be the tallest towel boy in the NBA. If they were trying to gain fan support, this was not the way.

When will ownership take notice and clean out the front office before they destroy the fan base in Seattle?

— Bill McFarland, Seattle

Testing the faith

The Sonics are testing the faith of true Sonics fans after selecting a center who averaged three points and four rebounds in Belgium.

Coach Bob Hill said Sene is a better shot-blocker than J.J. Redick is a shooter. Is he serious? Sene averaged less than one block a game against stiffs in Belgium, while Redick averaged over 28 points a game against some of the nation's best competition.

How do Wally Walker and Rick Sund continue to have jobs?

When we look back five years from now, this will go down as one of the Sonics' worst picks!

— Brian Kojima, Los Angeles

Mismanagement Inc.

After years and years of watching Wally and crew, did you expect them to make an assessment of the Sonics' needs and fill the missing piece to their under-performing roster?

That would require them to acknowledge they have failed. It's much easier for them to place their heads in the sand and pretend everything is on track.

The news, or no news, for the Sonics is the continued mismanagement of the team.

I for one will not attend another Sonics game until Wally and Co. are gone. Until then, I'll sit back and watch the Sonics continue to spin out of control.

— John Bolton, Seattle

Zero excitement

I feel like the Sonics intentionally want to remain mediocre. How can they justify drafting lanky and unproven big men three years in a row? News flash: Luke Ridnour isn't the answer at point guard — we need somebody who can attack the basket, draw fouls and maybe even hit a midrange jumper. Perhaps we should have gotten somebody who might contribute before the next millennium.

Once again, we are guaranteed another year of subplayoff basketball. Great, another year with zero excitement and zero expectations.

Sonics management reminds me of the stoner kids in high school who knew that if they never tried to do anything nobody would ever expect anything from them.

If we don't resign Wilcox, I think this could be the softest team in the NBA.

— John Hieger, Seattle

Sell the team, Schultz

Does picking Sene surprise you from this front office? They single-handedly destroyed this team last season by letting coach Nate McMillan leave. Going from a team that was on the verge of the Western Conference finals to a team that was blown up like the Hindenburg in one season should tell you everything about ownership and the front office. Last season and this draft shouldn't be embarrassing to the players, it should be embarrassing to Howard Schultz. He should sell the team to someone that truly cares about creating a winning tradition once again and making this team the SuuuuperSonics.

— Jeff Cottrell, Los Angeles

College baseball

Love those Beavers

In Omaha we have supported the College World Series for more than half a century. Omahans have a reputation for adopting a team, and this year Oregon State won over everyone's heart and mind in Omaha! I can't remember a more exciting event than to follow the Beavers as they fought all the way to the championship after losing their first game. The character of this team from Oregon State infected everyone in our city, and Omaha, which is undeniably attached to the College World Series like few cities are attached to sporting events, will always be attached to the Oregon State Beavers.

Thank you for a great performance in Omaha. You convinced me, the Pacific-10 rules!

— Kevin Penrod, Omaha, Neb.

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