Kevin Durant and Damien Wilkins have been bending the rim in December so far. Kevin Durant has been a gun this season and that’s a problem with all of the bricks he has been shooting. In 4 games this month, Durant is averaging 33.8 minutes, 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 2.5 blocks per game. He also is only shooting 33.3% from the floor last night and that is terrible. Damien Wilkins also is having issues this month. In 4 games in December Wilkins is averaging 27.8 minutes, 7.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. The Sonics need to get both of these guys on track or they will have problems scoring points.

Reserve center Johan Petro played well last season but he has been awful so far this season. He’s starting to lose playing time to other young players and that says a lot about Petro’s future, so he must pick his play back up. In Petro’s first 13 games of this season he has averaged 12.2 minutes, 3.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He’s also only shooting 36.6% from the floor and that’s downright pathetic for a player his size.

I know it’s late in a lost season for the Supersonics, but it will be interesting to see how Mike Wilks plays when he’s given big minutes.   He’s been a longtime end of the bench player in the NBA that has never got much of a chance to show what he’s got…..until now that is.  Wilks has played in 43 games this season for the Sonics but he’s only averaged 8.6 minutes, 2.4 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.2 assists per game.  Wilks is not a pure point guard, as he likes to shoot so it will be interesting to see how well he does in the final few games for the Sonics.

The Sonics elevated Earl Watson to the starting lineup, but he needs to shoot better to keep that job.  In his last 5 games, Watson has only hit 27.5% from the floor and has averaged 8.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 10.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  If he can shoot better, the Sonics will really start to score alot of points because he’s a good passer.

Damien Wilkins has not seized his big opportunity for playing time due to the injuries to Rashard Lewis and earlier to Ray Allen.  In fact, Coach Hill is playing him less now because of his poor effort.  He has played in 39 games and is averaging 25.0 minutes, 8.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals.  Maybe the cut in minutes will light a fire under Wilkins and get him to start playing hard again.