SEATTLE – A painful whack across the nose notwithstanding, Luke Ridnour made a successful and long-awaited return to the basketball court Thursday morning.
“It’s real exciting for me,” said Ridnour, sweaty and happy after his first full workout with the Seattle SuperSonics. “I’ve been out for so long, and this was the first time in a long time I could just play.”
Ridnour, the second of Seattle’s two first-round draft picks in 2003, underwent surgery in early August to repair a hernia-like injury in his abdomen. He was idle for one month, then began an increasingly ambitious rehabilitation schedule, as prescribed by Seattle’s team doctors.
The one thing he could not do was participate in scrimmages and full-contact drills. And, of course, games.
On Thursday, though, Ridnour had an unqualified green light, and he used the opportunity to show the offensive skills that led Seattle to draft him No. 14 overall. At one point, he came off a high pick-and-roll and made a nifty behind-the-back move. Then, with a stutter-step dribble, he faked left and passed right to teammate Vlade Radmanovic for an open look at a 3-point shot. Radmanovic missed the try, but still everyone was talking later about Ridnour’s terrific play.
“I don’t even know (what I did),” he said. “That was just instinct.”
Later, he added, “You might think you’ll forget how to play, but when you get out there it just comes back to you.”
“He looked real good,” said teammate Ray Allen. “He had a great feel for the game and good command of the point guard position out there. For the last (few) months he’s been doing conditioning and things on the side, but there’s nothing like being out there on the floor with the team. … He was trying to find his way through the plays, but once he got through them he looked like he fit right in.”
Ridnour, who shrugged off the blow to the face by an unknown teammate (“It was nothing,” he said), said he has no lingering abdominal discomfort. He figures he needs a week or so to get into top game condition, which means he expects to be “good to go” by the time the Sonics open their season in Japan vs. the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 30.
In the meantime, he will make his first preseason appearance against Portland Saturday in Spokane. He should also play Sunday in Sacramento and Wednesday in Seattle against Golden State, and in one of the latter two games he will likely be in the starting lineup.
“I think it may be important for him and our team to play him with a good group and not just with a lot of the young guys,” said Sonics coach Nate McMillan. “I think that would help his confidence.”
Collison update: Top draft pick Nick Collison, who underwent surgery on his left shoulder on Tuesday in New York, was expected to return to Seattle either Thursday night or today. It would depend, said Sonics general manager Rick Sund, on when he felt able to travel.
The operation successfully repaired a sublexation, which is essentially where the upper arm bone rolls out of the socket, as opposed to a dislocation, where the arm bone pops out. Collison will be in Seattle for a few months, then return to New York to have the same operation on his right shoulder. He will miss the entire season.
Ridnour said he called after the surgery to check on his new friend. “(Collison) was pretty out of it,” Ridnour said. “But I need to give him another call to make sure he’s doing good.”
Roster report: It seems increasingly likely that Seattle will carry an extra player on its roster to replace Collison, meaning the team would have 14 players under contract this season. A final decision has not been made and it would be influenced by salary considerations, but it seems McMillan would prefer to have another player on the squad.
Still, it would not just be an extra body for practice. If the Sonics add such a player, “he has to be able to play,” McMillan said. “Then if something happens (i.e., an injury), he can step in and play. But it’s too expensive to just bring a guy in for practice.”
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