This is becoming a joke. Two games after Luke Ridnour went down with an injured ankle, Earl Watson landed on the foot of Dikembe Mutombo after taking a first-quarter jump shot and rolled his left ankle. He looked like he was in a lot of pain and rolled around on the floor before the training staff got there. He was carried off the court to the locker room just as Luke was. It seems unlikely he will return but we'll see.

Rockets forward Bonzi Wells is not at the arena, apparently text messaging the team's trainer that he felt he was being a distraction (as if failing to show up for a game is not a distraction). Not exactly what a team fighting for the fourth seed in the playoffs needs, especially one which has lost three of four, but it's not like Bonzi doesn't have a history of such things.

On Sonics ' side, Bob Hill said the team's comeback against Utah the other night was one of the best he has ever been a part of, particularly given the opponent and the circumstances.

Since Rashard said a few years back he wanted to be like Tracy McGrady at some point in his career, I went to ask McGrady before the game how close Rashard was to him. He did not want to talk, pulling the superstar BS, so I guess we'll never get his wizened opinion on the matter.

Hill said he spoke to Chris Wilcox at the team's shootaround about getting benched in Utah the other night, and said he basically told him he needs to find a way to contribute on a regular basis, even when he is fatigued. Wilcox needs to learn, Hill said, that his body is capable of doing things that his mind thinks it can't, and he has to learn that.

Hill said he thought Mickael Gelabale's 3-point shooting was progressing nicely, and that the most positive aspect of it is that he always is willing to shoot it. Now, he is getting the confidence to say he is going to make it whenever he shoots it. Hill said one of the things that Gelo needs to work on is being prepared to shoot before he even catches the ball, something that younger players have not mastered.

Earl Watson told Hill he thinks he dislocated his pinky finger in the Utah win but that it popped back in. He started the game. Hill said he was fine.

This was just released by Pacific Public Affair, the public relations firm representing the Sonics in their pursuit of an arena:

The Professional Basketball Club (PBC), which owns the Seattle Sonics and Storm, and Transwestern/Harvest Lakeshore, LLC, which is a joint venture between Transwestern Investment Company and Harvest Partners, the developer of The Landing, a mixed-use retail, entertainment, and residential complex on the shores of Lake Washington, have reached an agreement in principle to assign the rights to acquire 21.2 acres of land that could become the home of a new multipurpose events center.

Boeing currently owns the property, which is adjacent to the site already being developed by Harvest Partners as the first phase of The Landing. Harvest Partners has the first right of refusal to buy it.

“We have been involved in extensive recent discussions and expect to have a signed definitive agreement soon,” said Eliot Barnett, Managing Partner of Harvest Partners.

“We both see excellent potential for The Landing and the new events center and believe that together they would provide even greater economic, cultural and other benefits to the City of Renton, the region and the state,” said Clay Bennett, PBC Chairman.

Representatives of Harvest Partners and PBC have been discussing how the adjacent developments would complement each other and contribute to the ongoing redevelopment of Renton.

Harvest Partners is on track to see its first retail tenants open for business in October of this year and the balance of the retail following in May 2008. The first residential phase would open in 2009.

In addition to Sonics and Storm basketball, the new events center would host a variety of other sports, business, entertainment and cultural activities. PBC is working with business, labor, sports fans, community leaders and others for approval of state legislation that would enable the development of the multipurpose events center, which ideally would come on line for the 2010-11 NBA season.