However something strange and for the most part unexpected occurred when the 6-11, 250lb. forward left the worst rebounding team in the league . . . the team actually improved. Great for the team, great for the fans, but for Baker who began hearing whispers out of the darkness about his being expendable and a burden to the franchise, the team’s success was a double edged sword.

No one will dare deny the fact that Baker had proven something this year. He came out of the off season in the best shape he had been in since the NBA lockout and showed solid improvement over his recent campaigns. However, while the Sonics were winning without him, Baker had to realize that his hard work would be for naught if he could not get back on the court and again prove himself. Prove that he was not a burden, that he was not expendable and that he was not the cancer some people were beginning to recognize him as, holding down the Sonics. A challenge that in the past would have been too much for a mentally tired and weak Baker instead filled him with an eager anticipation and desire to get back into the game.

This past Tuesday that anticipation came to fruition with mixed results, as the clearly not yet 100% Baker rushed back into the line-up to help an extremely injury depleted squad maintain its playoff hopes. Even though every body counted for the Sonics, and the fans should have been happy just to get back six feet and eleven inches of basketball player regardless of its being Vin Baker or not, Vin received a chorus of boos as he entered the game, and again when he quickly committed a turnover.

With a stat line of 1/4 FG, 1/2 FT, 4 fouls, 2 turnovers, and the single bright spot being 7 rebounds some fans may see Baker’s return as a failure. Surely many a Sonics fan could be heard saying ‘I told you so’ as the game came to a close. But for Baker the biggest stat at the end of this game had to be the W; a tremendous weight lifted as Seattle proved that it could win with Baker in the line up. After the game Baker admitted to nervousness, a sensation of “feeling like a rookie again”, and a willingness to pay his dues on a Sonics team that has undergone a drastic overhaul since his departure.

Although it may still be yet to be seen by many Seattle fans, Bakers return will yield positive results for the team in this last leg of the season and during the first round of the playoffs. Baker has talent, athleticism and size, a powerful combination mixed with something to prove, not only to the team and fans of Seattle but also to himself.

How has the team been able to persevere with all this adversity seemingly conspiring against them? The answer has been the team’s second unit, coming up huge when it counts. A rag tag group of rookies and prospects often looked over, and in some cases discarded by other teams, led by a cowboy and always finding a way to deliver; they are the Northwestern answer to the pony express.

All season Seattle has been receiving big time contributions from the bench, but with the recent rash of injuries, now more than ever, the franchise has had to rely on those contributions.

Over the last few injury-depleted months the leader of this group has been Desmond Mason. Mason has been touted, along with Rashard Lewis, as the future of the Sonics. Along with this title comes a lot of pressure, which at times this season seemed to be smothering. Earlier in the year Mason suffered his own injury, spraining his knee. The injury kept him out for two weeks and afterward his offensive touch seemed to leave him. But in the last month, with Seattle’s line up severely affected by the injury bug, the cowboy has found his stroke again averaging over 13 points per game and shooting a .495 FG%.

Along with Desmond has been a pair of Yugoslavian hot shots; Vladimir Radmanovic and Predrag Drobnjak add impressive offensive weapons and flexibility to the team. Radmanovic is in the midst of an outstanding rookie year that has seen him go from a relative unknown, to one of the league's best three point shooters (40% from behind the arc for the season), and one of its brightest young prospects. Inserted into the starting five to replace injured Vin Baker, Radmanovic’s performance showed signs of the spectacular as he demonstrated speed, ball control, and a willingness to sacrifice his body at times attacking the glass and diving to the floor. His play has truly earned him the title of “going to be special”, now the mantra of many people on the message boards. Thus opening the floodgates of optimistic imagination in even the most cynical of Sonics fans, envisioning the possibilities of a Lewis/Radmanovic frontcourt of the future.

Fellow Yugoslavian big man Predrag Drobnjak has experienced a less acclaimed path with the Sonics, struggling early and sometimes getting lost in the struggle between himself, Jerome James, and Art Long for minutes. But with his role more defined and his minutes more assured, Predrag has been able over the last two months to begin to show the organization exactly why they brought him aboard. In February his FG% jumped drastically from .324 to .484, then again in March to .527. Drobnjak is a big body that can take a lot of physical punishment yet also has the soft touch of a pure shooter, forcing opposing big men to have to get out on him, custom made for the team's new pick and roll offensive philosophy.

With Mason, Radmanovic, and Drobnjak the offense is there, but it would be a mistake to think the pony express cannot deliver the defense when it needs to.

Jerome James has been a player for the Sonics that, like Radmanovic, has had to step up from the bench into a starting role to fill a void left by injury. In doing so James has more than doubled his averages across almost his entire stat line, and nowhere has it been appreciated more than under the Sonics basket. Seattle sits on rock bottom in the league when it comes to rebounding, but James has shown he can turn that around as his rebounds per game just keep climbing and climbing with practically every minute of experience and confidence James gets under his belt. Coupled with rebounding, his two blocks a game as a starter have been a blessing for the Sonics who could not have asked for anything better than the young 7-1prospect who gives Seattle some interior presence after a seeming eternity without a bona-fide center.

And finally rounding out the Sonics overachieving and largely unheralded second unit is Earl “the Pearl” Watson. The 40th pick overall in last summer’s NBA draft has brought the Sonics a tenacious defender who can cause all sorts of match up problems for opposing guards. Aside from being able to lock down opposing points, Watson has been able to adjust seamlessly to the team defensive scheme, and confidently been able to run the offense, both of which have helped make Watson second in the league in steals per turnover, (1.3), and first in the league in steals per 48 minutes, (3.07).

This team of bench players give the Sonics what it takes to compete in the Western Conference. They bring hard work, offensive firepower, hard-nosed defense, and, perhaps more importantly, potential for the future. These are the youth of Seattle’s youth movement, and they are the backbone of what the Sonics have been able to accomplish thus far this season. In an interview with TNT during the team’s lone nationally televised game this season on March 5th 2002 Howard Shultz bragged that GM’s around the league are envious of the Sonics youth and potential. The reason for that envy is obvious: Mason, Radmanovic, Drobnjak, James, and Watson are a future bright enough for any team to be proud of, and will be the driving force in Seattle’s bid to regain the former glory of years long past.

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