Radmanovic, Mason and Watson; NBA Schick Rookie Challenge and All-Star Festivities

Well here it comes, D-Day for three of our players and all-star weekend. Tomorrow, [Wednesday] the NBA will select the nine rookies who will play in the Schick Rookie challenge. That team will face the league's top nine sophomores in the undercard game that accentuates all-star weekend. Seattle has two solid chances to place a participant in the Rookie challenge; rookie Forward Vladimir Radmanovic and sophomore guard Desmond Mason.

Radmanovic, the rookie leader in 3 point percentage at 49.7% (which happens to also place him in the top 4 in the entire league) isn't a lock to make the event despite his strong showing of late. Vlade has been a major contributor to the Sonics' winning ways the past 12 games, despite often being the 4th and 5th option on the floor. He has posted games where he had 4 blocks, 4 steals, 5 assists, 9 rebounds, and 18 points. Whatever he is asked to do, Vlade has tried his best to do it. That, at times, has even included defending all star centers like Miami's Alonzo Morning.

Desmond Mason, the defending slam dunk champ and a 6th man of the year candidate, should make a strong case for the sophomores after being snubbed his rookie season. Early in the season Mason came on very strong, at times the Sonics most consistent shooter. Since his injury, his production has curtailed but his strong performance prior to his fall will put him in a favorable position. His slam-dunk crown could also compel the voting panel to give the NBA showmen a platform to display his in-game athleticism to a national audience.

Additionally, there are at least 2 sophomores that are contenders to make the traditional NBA all-star game (Kenyon Martin and Mike Miller), possibly increasing Mason's already strong chances.

The Sonics have yet a third player who could possibly be on hand all-star weekend, Earl Watson, but it is very remote given the talent on hand in this year's crop. Things such as players refusing invitations in favor of personal plans (more common in USA tournament play, but almost unheard of with rookies) or players who gets injured from Wednesday until all-star weekend, Seattle's best hope would be for Watson to land on unofficial 'stand-by'.

Not to lose sight of the Sonics bigger picture, as there are plenty more games to be played before and after February, individual accolades always come second to team goals. Regardless of which players are recognized by the league, all three players are highly prized by the Sonics. Having said that, I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be slightly disappointed if none of the three players represented us in Philadelphia.

My heart says one thing, but my head is preparing for the possibility of a Radmanovic-snub tomorrow, quite possibly in favor of lesser talent. The selection process is likely to be heavily geared toward statistical achievement rather then scouted selections, a more precise method.

For all the rookie and sophomores for that matter, who sit home all-star weekend, for what it's worth they should find solace that the event, particularly for rookies, is skewed for those on terrible teams.

Case in point, the NBA's second worst team behind the "you can't get no worse then this" Chicago Bulls, the Memphis Grizzlies will easily post their two rookies, Pau Gasol and Shane Battier onto the Rookie squad. If both don't make the team, I'd eat my shoes.

Both play extensively for the bottom of the barrel Memphis Grizzlies. Both in turn have the favorable stats. It just so happens that both rookies are talented, along with 10-15 other rookies in the NBA, but had either of these 2 came off the bench for the Sonics their numbers wouldn't be quite so gaudy.

It is unclear whether the NBA can or will compensate for a 'team-bias'. Linear pro-rating of NBA stats to a 48-minute basis still isn't an exactly correct fix. They would need a much more complicated extrapolation to resolve team-bias that favors rookies from squads in the NBA basement.

Just to point out how much stats weigh on the collective NBA conscience, Memphis rookie Pau Gasol in my opinion is living emphatically off stats. And just to point out how linear extrapolation can produce odd comparisons, his rookie scoring average is even higher then Kevin Garnett's was. Double what Peja Stojakovic averaged his rookie season; double what Dirk Nowitzki managed his first year in the league. I've heard some actually call Gasol, "the white Garnett".

This goes to show how far stats and SportsCenter can go as most only care he is the NBA's rookie leading scorer and close the book right there. Yet when I turn on my DirecTV and watch the Grizzlies play, it leaves a lot to be desired.

I won't go into bashing Gasol, because he does deserve to be on the rookie squad, but besides the fact the kid is Spanish, he plays nothing like Garnett! He is rather slow, very frail, and certainly doesn't have the mean streak, toughness, or athleticism of Garnett -- all KG staples. In fact out of all the hyped European players to come out the past few seasons, I feel Gasol will fall somewhere south of the European gunslingers -- Predrag Stojakovic, Dirk Nowitzki, and even Vladimir Radmanovic.

If statistics end up being the major consideration, Radmanovic isn't totally dead. He does, as mentioned before, lead the rookie class in 3 point FG% (the closest contender, Shane Battier, almost 10 percentage points back). Additionally, Radmanovic's scoring average has increased since he started to get regular minutes. He also has a fair amount of rebounds and assists. But will it be enough to make all-star festivities in Philadelphia is anyone's guess.

It's worth noting that The Tacoma News-Tribune is reporting that Rick Sund has made some phone calls to NBA offices for them to include our Vlade on the rookie team, and also the 3 point contest. He also made a bid for Mason to be included on the sophomore team.

As it turns out, the 3-point contest may be the more significant of events for Radmanovic, an event and title that arguably carries more weight than being an NBA rookie game participant.

It is also an event that Radmanovic could win in spectacular fashion, especially if Peja Stojakovic decides to participate [Maybe it's just me, but I would die if these 2 were the finalists :o)].

The best case scenario for the Sonics is that both Radmanovic and Mason are selected to participate in two events each all-star weekend which will also certainly feature Gary Payton in the All-star Game.

The more likely scenario is that Radmanovic and Mason will be selected to at least one of three events (3 point shootout, slam dunk contest, Schick Rookie game). Hopefully, as Wednesday comes and goes, Seattle will have at least one participant in each of the events all-star weekend (excluding 2-ball possibly), giving us Sonics fans something to cheer for all weekend long.

Back to the Far Corner Archive

All opinions expressed in this column are solely the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of other columnists or staff of Sonicscentral.com