Sonics update
Published 9:00 pm Friday, December 5, 2003
Opponent: Toronto Raptors
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto
TV: None
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
After seeing a doctor in Los Angeles on Thursday, injured Sonics guard Ray Allen is not expected to join the team when it leaves today for a four-game, seven-day road trip to the East Coast and Midwest. According to Sonics coach Nate McMillan, it would be difficult for Allen to get the ongoing therapy he would need while the team is on the road.
By staying in Seattle, McMillan said, “he can get one or two treatments a day, or whatever is needed, and all the focus or attention will be on him.”
Allen’s doctor did have good news. Allen was cleared to begin practicing on Monday, so while the team’s away he’ll work out on his own. Barring any setbacks, Allen should be able to participate in team practice when the Sonics return Dec. 13.
The Sonics play Allen’s former team, the Milwaukee Bucks, at KeyArena on Dec. 14.
Allen, who had arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle on Nov. 1 to remove bone and cartilage fragments, had hoped to be activated from the injured list for this road swing, but a return later this month now seems more likely.
“He’s walking and able to do some things,” McMillan said, “but you have to take it slow. Rushing him back could be one of the worst things we could do. We have to make sure we get him as healthy as possible before he comes back because you don’t want a setback where (later) he’s having problems with the ankle.”
Allen was receiving treatment before the game and was unavailable for comment.
An explanation: Though his hometown is in the former Yugoslavia and many NBA media releases continue to list him from that country, Seattle’s Vlade Radmanovic is in fact of Serbian descent, his native language is Serbian and the country he now lives in Serbia-Montenegro.
These are important distinctions. To call Radmanovic a Yugoslavian “would be like me calling you a Canadian,” he said.
After the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, longstanding ethnic differences led to a tragically brutal war. The hatred spilled over into sports as onetime teammates on former Yugoslavian teams no longer had the same friendships. It was particularly severe between Serbs, like Sacramento’s Vlade Divac, and Croatians, like Milwaukee’s Toni Kukoc.
These days, Radmanovic said, it is much better. Though various ethnic groups still have their differences, “it’s not like it was before,” he said.
Praise for a peer: McMillan and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle struck up a friendship back in the 2000-01 season, when he spent one season as a color commentator on Sonics radio and TV broadcasts. Carlisle, who had been a longtime NBA assistant, was hired the next year as Detroit’s head coach, where he spent two successful seasons before being fired last spring so the Pistons could hire Larry Brown.
Carlisle was in Seattle, in fact, when Paul Westphal was fired as Seattle’s head coach and McMillan was given the job. “He was a guy I thought about bringing on board (as an assistant),” McMillan said, “but he was waiting for a head (coaching) position.”
Carlisle, who went 50-32 in his two Detroit season, including consecutive Central Division titles, now has the Pacers atop the same division.
“I’m impressed by what he has done,” McMillan said. “He did a good job in Detroit and was removed from a team where they had two very good seasons. He comes to a new team and his team is doing the same things. He’s done a great job. He’s a real solid coach.”
Rich Myhre
