Out In The Cold Sonics Must Augment Kemp And Payton Or Face Further Decline

They seemed to have it all - enough youth to be frisky and enough experience to know how far friskiness alone would get them. They had depth, athleticism and a mission.

They had the inside might of Shawn Kemp and Michael Cage and the outside fright of Dana Barros and Eddie Johnson. They had the swerve of Vincent Askew and Derrick McKey and the verve of Gary Payton and Ricky Pierce. They had the consummate, complementary pros in Nate McMillan and Sam Perkins.

They had the previously misplaced, resuscitated genius of George Karl, all full of ideas and derringdo.

And maybe they had their best shot at an NBA championship.

It’s difficult to fathom how far the Seattle SuperSonics have climbed, only to tumble, not once but twice since their visit to the seventh game of the 1993 Western Conference finals. That team, like the one that took postseason free falls from grace against the Los Angeles Lakers this year and the Denver Nuggets last, had Kemp and Payton as its centerpieces.

But it was much different, and the dynamics of the team have changed in such a way that Kemp and Payton have been stymied.

The third wheel on that 1993 Sonic team was the nearly egoless McKey, a phantom of a player who materialized almost only when needed and then disappeared again, the better to keep the spotlight focused on Kemp and Payton, just the way they liked it.

That position on the team now belongs to Detlef Schrempf, an equally team-oriented player, who is equally willing to step aside but one whose talents grant him All-Star status and therefore make him an obstacle to the blossoming of Kemp and Payton.

These are fundamental differences between the two players that symbolize the fundamental differences between the two teams. McKey may coast until there are 2 minutes to play, but has a dozen ways he can make a difference in those final 2 minutes. Schrempf makes a palpable difference until the final 2 minutes, then gets the chance to finish off the deed but can’t.

Even more crucial, McKey is young enough to understand the generational idiosyncrasies of Kemp and Payton. Schrempf tends to view theirs as an alien culture, something to shake a head at and for which he can barely conceal his contempt.

Schrempf isn’t alone. Half the team is like him; the other half isn’t. That’s a major problem.

If Kemp and Payton were the only two like them on the team, they’d stand out and be genuine disruptions. But that isn’t the case. That the team is about equally divided in generational terms is a nightmare scenario because there is no plurality on what the standards should be.

On the other hand, if the team were full of players who lived and played as fast and loose as Kemp and Payton, there’d be acceptance and no one standing in judgment as there is now.

Game 4 in Los Angeles on Thursday night, the 114-110 Laker victory that eliminated the Sonics from the playoffs in the first round, was the definitive example of how Kemp and Payton have been stunted. They stepped up when their team needed them to, and they delivered performances that had the Sonics on the brink of resurrection. But then, there at the brink, they had control of the game pulled from them.

Both were asked repeatedly this season why they never just yanked control back, as Magic, Michael and Isiah had before them. They’d reply that not only would they be castigated by the coach, but they also would be castigated by the team’s veterans. So they deferred.

This is a major point that many miss. While focusing on how many dollars Kemp and Payton make or how many minutes they are late to a game, people overlook the professionalism those two bring to the game the instant they step on the floor. Measuring commitment with an attendance chart is an outmoded, out-of-touch suburban America point of view.

Fact is, Kemp had a marvelous series despite constant double- and triple-teaming, his lack of inside support and the lack of confidence exhibited by his team down the stretch of three straight tight games. Payton probably started tripping at the wrong time, in May instead of August. But when it counted, he put everything aside and came out smoking despite a broken left ring finger.

Yet, instead of supporting his young stars, Sonics coach George Karl railed constantly at the new breed of NBA player and just as constantly resorted to the old North Carolina seniority system that shifted his team’s focus from Kemp and Payton to the likes of Schrempf and Sam Perkins. Worse, instead of promoting Kendall Gill as the third wheel who could grow with Kemp and Payton and help facilitate their success, Karl engaged in a meanspirited campaign to break the 26-year-old guard.

Karl’s success in doing so serves as lead evidence of how he managed once more to self-destruct, albeit more subtly than during his previous two tours as NBA coach. Not only did he rob himself of an essential ingredient to success, but Karl was so transparent in what he was doing he alienated his team. In the end, he spent more time stirring the pot than watching it.

What happened to Gill may be irreparable, but what happened to the team may not be.

But it will require action by team president Wally Walker and his staff. The Sonics cannot endure another summer like last summer, when the franchise spiraled into chaos during the power struggle between team owner Barry Ackerley and then-general manager Bob Whitsitt, from which it never recovered.

The Sonics allowed the trigger-happy Karl to use the only lottery pick they should have in a decade to fetch Sarunas Marciulionis and Byron Houston, two players he never really used. They also underestimated Cage, lost him via free agency, then waited too long and settled for Bill Cartwright to replace him. And so they exited the offseason without having adequately addressed their most pressing needs - the addition of one inside player and one outside player.

Especially because they are moving to a new arena and supposedly beginning a new era, the Sonics must be resolute and daring, and they will have to finish building a team that will foster the success of Kemp and Payton, not inhibit it.

First, to prove they mean business, the Sonics should find a way to acquire disgruntled Latrell Sprewell from the Golden State Warriors. He would amplify the athleticism and attitude, as well as commitment to defense, of the Kemp-and-Payton Sonics. His addition would make it clear that Seattle is truly a team of the 1990s - fast, loose and cocksure.

And the free agent who should be fixed in the Sonics’ cross hairs is Anthony Mason, big and nasty enough to flip-flop roles with Kemp, mobile enough to run the court with Payton and wacky enough to fit in.

The chemistry of the starting five would be solid with defense coming from every position, points coming from Kemp, Payton and Sprewell, and support coming from two players, Mason and Ervin Johnson, who don’t need to see the ball often to be happy. The Sonics would have the makings of a team with Eastern Conference muscle and chutzpah, but with the added dimension of Western-style transition pop.

They also would be the kind of naughty-by-nature, hiphop-hooray crew that could capture the hearts of the new generation.

They also need a new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players that would relax salary cap restrictions on player transactions.

A major order of business, regardless of whether the Sonics consider the alternatives offered here, will be the renegotiation of Payton’s contract. His agent, Aaron Goodwin, has made it clear his priority is not getting as much or more money than Kemp or Schrempf, but to ensure his client an opportunity to play on a title team.

The implication is that Payton, with just one year left on his contract, will use his leverage to steer the future of the Sonics franchise more to his liking. This could be the Sonics’ salvation.