To no one’s surprise, the Sonics made dual roster moves on Saturday, putting center Robert Swift and guard/forward Damien Wilkins on the injured list and activating center Vitaly Potapenko and guard Flip Murray.
Potapenko had been sidelined with a broken right hand suffered in Seattle’s last preseason game. Murray strained a quadriceps muscle in the first practice of training camp, played nine minutes of the season opener and has not played since. Both have been practicing with the team for the last week.
Their returns give the Sonics more experienced weapons, but also create a glut of players who deserve and no doubt expect playing time. Potapenko appeared in 65 games last season, starting 39 times, while Murray played in all 82 games with 18 starts.
Seattle coach Nate McMillan has been using a nine-man rotation, and now has to find a way to get minutes for 11 players. Of the 12 on the active roster, only guard Mateen Cleaves is clearly out of the regular rotation.
“I like the rotation I have going,” McMillan said. “I talked to the players who have been active all season long and I talked to Ronald and Vitaly. They both know we have been playing good basketball and they have to be patient. We know they are going to be important eventually, but they need to be patient and it will work itself out.”
Swift reportedly has a right hip strain while Wilkins is listed with knee tendinitis.
Welcome back, Gary: Also as expected, former Sonic Gary Payton was greeted warmly by the crowd at KeyArena. Introduced as the last of the Boston starters before the game, Payton received a standing ovation.
Payton, who spent 121/2 seasons in Seattle before being traded to Milwaukee in 2002-03, was earlier cheered when he came on the court with the Celtics for pregame warm-ups. Later, as his teammates continued to shoot, Payton stood by the team bench and signed autographs for young fans, including one who had a handmade “I Love the Glove” sign.
Moments before the tip-off, Payton walked to the Seattle bench to shake hands with members of the team, including former teammate and good friend McMillan.
Good, getting better: Because he was once a young Sonics point guard himself, Payton has been watching with interest the development of Seattle’s Luke Ridnour.
After a spotty rookie season, Ridnour has blossomed as an NBA sophomore and Payton thinks he knows the reason. “This year, I think he’s more comfortable with what’s going on,” Payton said. “He’s playing the game the way he knows how to.
“Everybody plays a lot different when they’re comfortable. When you’re not comfortable and you have to think about basketball and when you’re not really sure about what you’re doing, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes.”
Entering Saturday’s game, Ridnour was averaging 9.5 points and 5.9 assists a game. Those numbers, ironically, are almost identical to Payton’s averages of 9.4 and 6.3 in his second season of 1991-92.
Rich Myhre
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