--He'd rather be playing, but Seattle power forward Chris Wilcox said after getting a second opinion, the two doctors talked, along with Seattle trainer Mike Shimensky, Sonics management and Wilcox's agent Jeff Schwartz, and decided it was best if Wilcox sat out the rest of the season.
Wilcox originally suffered the injury in the first quarter of the game at Phoenix on Jan. 3. He re-injured the finger in the first half of the Phoenix game a little over a week ago. Wilcox appeared in 62 games this season for the Sonics, averaging 13.4 points and 7.0. Wilcox said it will take six to eight weeks for the finger to heal. Then he'll begin preparation for next season this summer, with the hope of signing with Seattle at the end of the 2008-09 year.
Wilcox will be in the last year of his contract next season, making $6.75 million.
"It's definitely a situation where I fit," Wilcox said. "I'm getting playing time and I'm helping this team, so whatever comes at the end of the season, that's what I'm with."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "The week before we came home we hadn't been playing hard. We've been getting blown out and stuff like that. So the next step is to learn how to play hard, and then the wins will come. And that's the most important thing. The last two games we've played hard, and games that we should (have) won. But the main thing is we played hard." -- Seattle's Donyell Marshall, commenting on his team's recent play.
