SEATTLE – Since leaving Seattle, he has been to Milwaukee, Los Angeles and now Boston. A lot of time and a lot of teams since Gary Payton played his last game for the SuperSonics.
The passing months, though, have done little to alter the familiar figure – the shaved head, jaunty posture and No. 20 jersey – that was once king of KeyArena, where he returns tonight with his new Celtics teammates.
Nearly two years after the stunning trade that sent him to Milwaukee with Desmond Mason for Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie, Flip Murray and a first-round draft pick, Payton will be making his third Seattle appearance as an ex-Sonic. (He never came back as a Buck, but returned twice last season with the Lakers). Like the first two trips back, he expects this to be emotional evening.
“I’m going to get choked up for a minute and then get into the basketball game,” he said. Referring to the fans, he added, “These people, they still love me and I still love them. It will be good to come back and see them. And to go back into an arena where I accomplished a lot of things and had a lot of good times.”
Payton left Seattle in rather bitter fashion. Stunned by the Feb. 20, 2003, trade, he lashed out verbally at Sonics management, and in particular at owner Howard Schultz. He did everything but accuse Schultz of ruining the franchise – remarks that sound absurd today, given that the team is 17-3 and running roughshod over most of the NBA.
Speaking with the media on Friday, those harsh sentiments seem to have faded, if not entirely then at least from any further public airing. Some of that no doubt has to do with Seattle’s surprising turnabout, but it is also probably related to the up-and-down path of Payton’s post-Sonics career. He spent a few forgettable months in Milwaukee, a turbulent season in L.A. (though the Lakers nonetheless reached the NBA Finals), and then was traded to Boston last summer.
Payton at first balked at joining the Celtics, but later agreed. The starting point guard, his statistics through 18 games are good – 11.4 points and 6.4 assists in nearly 33 minutes a game – though nothing like the ones he compiled in his best Seattle seasons.
Yet if Payton is unhappy, it never showed in his remarks on Friday. And there was certainly no evidence in the words of Boston coach Doc Rivers, himself a former NBA point guard.
“Gary has been great this year,” Rivers said. “Obviously his endurance is probably not as strong as it was when he was younger, when he never came out of games, but I think he’s almost as quick. And in some ways he’s better because his understanding of the game is so much better. He’s a coach on the floor for me. I love it when the ball is in his hands because he makes the right decisions.”
On and off the court, Rivers went on, Payton “tells guys the right things. I don’t know how he was here or in LA, but he always says the right things for the good of the team, even if it’s unpopular to his teammates. And I think that’s an amazing thing. … If someone told me to pick the perfect person to have on this team with all these young guys, and if I knew I was going to get a veteran point guard, what he’s done is the description. He’s been awesome.”
Only four of Payton’s onetime Seattle teammates are still with the Sonics – center Jerome James and forwards Rashard Lewis, Vlade Radmanovic and Reggie Evans. The identity of the team has changed considerably since Payton left, as has the style, but Payton’s good pal Nate McMillan is still the head coach, and assistants Dwane Casey, Dean Demopoulos and Bob Weiss also remain.
Whatever residual animosity Payton has – no one, for instance, asked him about Schultz on Friday – is easily overshadowed by the good feelings he has for his friends on the ballclub and in the community.
“It’s good to see those guys in the situation they’re in right now,” he said. “They’re playing so well and they’re on top in the NBA. They have that feel like (the Sonics) did when we were rolling in the ’90s. They’re all playing together, they’re all sharing the ball, and they’re having fun.
“I think it’s Nate that’s got them like that. It’s taken a couple of years with Nate being at the helm, but I think that’s what coaches need to have. They need to have four or five years so they can get a team to jell, and right now they’re playing well.”
Wearing an opposing uniform in Seattle “feels strange,” he admitted, “but this is the way it’s got to be. This is only my third time back, so it’s still kind of brand new. It’s almost like I’ve never been away from them really.”
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