In the middle of an interview with Vladimir Radmanovic, Earl Watson walked up and told his teammate: "Your name is still Vlade."

Radmanovic responded: "Yeah, I'm Vlade."

These days the rookie forward, who's taken several knocks to the head recently, needs to make sure.

Radmanovic was instructed by team doctors to limit practices to non-contact drills as a precaution after landing on his head following a dunk last Saturday.

But Radmanovic was accidentally hit on the noggin the next practice.

Then yesterday, the rookie forward sneaked into a contact scrimmage. And the Sonics didn't notice until Radmanovic was hit in the face by a teammate, yet again.

"That's when we realized that he shouldn't be out here anyway," Coach Nate McMillan said. "We took him out. We'll look at him (today)."

The first time Radmanovic was hit by a teammate at practice, the Sonics forward became slightly dizzy. But yesterday's hit to his nose wasn't as bad, and Radmanovic expects to play tonight.

"I think I'm ready," he said. "I don't have any problems."

Against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, Radmanovic momentarily lost his memory after crash landing. He regained it about 10 minutes later, by the time the game ended.

So why was Radmanovic smiling after the accident?

"Probably because I was glad I was alive," Radmanovic responded, laughing.

McMillan hasn't watched a replay of the fall because it was so scary. "I don't want to see it," McMillan said. "Once was enough to see that during the game."

Radmanovic watched it twice on a television highlight, which made him feel lucky.

Call him hard-headed but Radmanovic intends to play with his usual aggression.

"That's part of the game," Radmanovic said. "I won't think about that. That's past. I'm going to play like always."


Olajuwon on injured list

The Sonics won't have to face Toronto center Hakeem Olajuwon, who was put on the injured list yesterday with an infected toe. Olajuwon, 38, was replaced on the active list by center Michael Stewart.

Olajuwon, playing in his first season away from Houston, was averaging 8.5 points and 7.7 rebounds.

Wilkens donates to clinic

When Wilkens isn't coaching, he spends the offseason in the Seattle area and remains active in the community. Thursday, Wilkens donated $50,000 through his foundation to the Odessa Brown Clinic in Seattle. The money was raised in August during Wilkens' golf tournament and auction in Echo Falls.