Seattle ? With more than two weeks until the NBA Draft, the Seattle SuperSonics already know who their top rookie will be next season.

Nick Collison, the Sonics’ first-round pick out of Kansas University last June, missed the entire 2003-04 season after undergoing surgeries on both shoulders.

It has been more than eight months since Collison last participated in live basketball, but he is close to a return to the court.

In late May, Collison was cleared to resume shooting and lifting weights. A doctor’s appointment June 28 will determine if Collison will be able to join the Sonics summer league team in Salt Lake City for the Rocky Mountain Revue.

“He’s not going to clear me unless he feels that I’m totally 100 per cent,” Collison said, “because there’s no sense in sitting out a year and then coming back too early for summer league and getting hurt.”

Collison’s daily rehab starts around 10 a.m. He usually lifts weights for an hour or more, then does a lot of shooting.

“They’re still limiting me somewhat in how many shots I can take,” he said.

Later, Collison does range-of-motion exercises in a swimming pool under the supervision of a trainer.

“I’m not where I would be if I had been playing all year, but I’m surprised at how well my shot has felt, coming back,” he said.

Meanwhile, Collison is chomping at the proverbial bit.

“I’m real anxious,” he said. “I can’t wait to play. I just can’t wait to play pickup games, things like that this summer. I definitely love to play, and I realize that so much more after missing a year.”

How Collison’s game will be affected by missing the season and undergoing surgery is impossible to project, but one of the few players to undergo a similar procedure, Chris Webber returned the following season to make his first All-Star appearance.

Collison watched as former KU teammate Kirk Hinrich made the NBA All-Rookie team in his first year with Chicago.

“I knew he’d do well,” Collison said. “I was real happy for him. I thought he did great, obviously, but it gives me a little more confidence because I know I can do a lot of the same things he did.”