Saturday, March 22, 2008

   We couldn't squeeze into today's paper a companion chart for the story on C.J. Miles. I'm including it here because I think it's interesting to look at the league's youngest players and the kind of opportunities they're getting to play for their respective teams.

    Miles is the league's 14th youngest player and one of three third-year players on the list (Andrew Bynum and Amir Johnson are the others). There's only three 19-year-olds in the league (Kevin Durant, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes).

    Player/Born/Team/Years Pro/Points/Minutes

    1. Kevin Durant/Sept. 29, 1988/Seattle/R/19.5/33.5

    2. Thaddeus Young/June 21, 1988/Philadelphia/R/7.6/19.6

    3. Spencer Hawes/April 28, 1988/Sacramento/R/3.7/10.1

    4. Greg Oden/Jan. 22, 1988/Portland/R/Out for season

    5. Javaris Crittenton/Dec. 31, 1987/Memphis/R/6.4/15.9

    6. Yi Jianlian/Oct. 27, 1987/Milwaukee/R/8.8/25.2

    6. Andrew Bynum/Oct. 27, 1987/L.A. Lakers/2/13.1/28.8

    8. Mike Conley/Oct. 11, 1987/Memphis/R/8.6/25.8

    9. Brandan Wright/Oct. 5, 1987/Golden State/R/4.1/9.8

    10. Julian Wright/May 20, 1987/New Orleans/R/3.8/10.6

    11. Wilson Chandler/May 10, 1987/New York/R/4.5/14.4

    12. Amir Johnson/May 1, 1987/Detroit/2/3.4/10.8

    13. Daequan Cook/April 28, 1987/Miami/R/7.8/21.9

    14. C.J. Miles/March 18, 1987/Utah/2/4.6/11.3

    * * *

    The Sonics dropped their 10th straight and lost for the 14th time in 15 games Friday against the Lakers. They gave up 130 points on 60.7 percent shooting.

    Every Lakers player scored, including Ira Newble (signed to a 10-day contract that afternoon) and Coby Karl (twin brother of a certain Jazz beat writer).

    Seattle has given up 43 three-pointers its past three games, including 12 to the Lakers after switching to a zone defense. It's 15 games and counting since the Sonics also held a team below 100.

    "Nothing has changed," Sonics guard Earl Watson told the Seattle Times. "Defensively, we're just not there."

    --Ross Siler