First off I want to apologize for my absence on the blog the past week. I’ve been juggling between Sonics stuff and my former position as preps coordinator until we bring in a replacement so I spent most of my time helping to put together our prep football tab last week.

Now that obligation has been fulfilled, there will not be any more lapses on the blog during the season or leading up to training camp.

A couple links to check out include this column by Berry Tramel from the Oklahoman, who basically says Oklahoma City should not get involved in paying relocation fees or other costs involved in bringing the Sonics here. Tramel refers to the story we had on Bennett’s conversation with Sonics employees two weeks ago in which an employee said that Bennett told them Oklahoma City was willing to foot the bill to bring the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

At the Wages of Wins Journal, David Berri has an interesting analysis

of this year’s Sonics that predicts they could be a playoff team this season.

And Seattle native and Rainier Beach grad Doug Christie said he’s in the best shape of his life, and ready for a comeback this season. Christie said that two teams are interested in his services — one team in the Eastern Conference and one in the Western Conference. He also says he would be interested if the hometown Sonics come calling.

As I would have done last week if I had the time, I’ll have a breakdown of each position heading into training camp starting with a look at point guards today. Thanks again for the questions. I took the time to answer a few of them here.

RJ99: I think there’s a possibility the Sonics will carry 15 players on the roster if there’s an issue with depth starting the season. In particular, if a potential starter gets hurt during training camp there’s more of a possibility of keeping an extra body around. We should hear about training camp invitees in the next few weeks, but I would expect Summer League participants Kenny Adeleke, Brandon Heath and Olu Famutimi to be invited.

The captain issue is an interesting one because Kevin Durant is the best player on the team, but he’s still only 18 years old. Normally you would want your point guard to take on a leadership role, but there’s still some uncertainty as to who will start at point guard. So I would think someone like Nick Collison or Kurt Thomas would take on a leadership role, and perhaps Wally Szczerbiak. From there you would have to wait and see what leaders emerge from camp. I don’t see Durant as a captain. I think he has too much to worry about as it is, as far as adjusting to the league in his first year.

If the Sonics are going to be a defensive team this season, to me that means less possessions and working for better shots. So I would suspect they will take less 3-pointers and work the ball inside. However, if you look at their roster they have several guys that like to shoot the 3 (Durant, Wally, Luke, Watson, Wilkins, West), and they still don’t have a great low-post presence. So you probably still will see some shots from behind the arc go up.

TTOWNPORT: I think Durant will start at shooting guard and Jeff Green will either start or come off the bench as a small forward. I believe Durant can guard other shooting guards because of his length, and I don’t think he’s strong enough yet to play inside effectively. And I believe Green would be great at the small forward position because of his passing ability and defensive skills. Green would give Seattle another playmaker on the floor. And because of his size Green also can play some four.

As far as Thomas helping the other big guys develop, I think any time young players can play against talented, experienced veterans their games will grow. So the addition of Thomas, along with having a polished player like Collison, working with the bigs can only help players like Robert Swift, Johan Petro and Mouhamed Sene get better.