Sonics Anxious To Overcome Playoff Failures Of Past

The rider who falls off the horse can immediately remount.

The diver who belly-flops can climb back to the top of the tower and plunge in again.

But the talented NBA players who lose in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year must wait 357 days to face their demons.

The Seattle SuperSonics start a new season tonight against the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center, yet they can’t put their past behind them until the playoffs begin in April.

Sonics coach George Karl contends that the next 82 games are far more important than what happened in the playoffs, although he admits that the Sonics can’t rid themselves of their playoff failure until spring.

“We got this big monkey on our back that’s going to be hanging around until April,” Karl said. “Until we kill it, it’s going to be around.

“All pro teams, all players, all coaches have had monkeys on their back. This monkey’s a little bigger than we like it. And no matter what we do - we go 82-0 - that monkey’s still going to be there.”

The Sonics’ playoff collapse is a painful topic, although Karl has broached the subject.

“There’s no question we talked to every individual about the breakup and the attitude and the chaos that occurred at the end of last season,” he said.

“But to focus in on it? I think it’s a good discussion to have maybe once. You might have it one more time some time during the year when you’re angry. But I think it’s a positive to stay positive and put negatives in the rear view mirror.”

Karl believes his young stars, Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, have learned from their mistakes.

“I think they’re just going through the same process that an Isiah Thomas went through, a Michael Jordan went through, a Hakeem Olajuwon went through,” he said of the trio of all-stars who endured playoff losses for several seasons before securing their championship rings.

“There’s a lot of good stuff in Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. A lot of big-time winning. There are very few players in this game who can win. Those guys win and they would win no matter where you put ‘em.”

Karl hopes his theory won’t be tested, but it’s safe to assume he’ll be out of a job and Payton won’t be re-signed or Kemp will be traded if the Sonics lose in the first round again.

That’s why the monkey is so big.

It grew substantially when the Sonics traded for talented veteran forward Detlef Schrempf on Nov. 1, 1993.

The combination of Schrempf, Kemp and Payton boosted the Sonics’ championship hopes. Karl proclaimed a “window of opportunity,” a two- or three-year time span in which the Sonics would contend for an NBA title.

They looked the part in the regular season, combining for an NBA-best 120-44 record the past two seasons.

But in the 1994 playoffs, eighth-seeded Denver rallied from an 0-2 deficit to knock the NBA’s winningest team out of the playoffs. A year later, the Los Angeles Lakers bounced the Sonics.

With Karl and Payton both entering the final season of their contracts, Schrempf turning 33 in January, Nate McMillan celebrating his 32nd birthday in August and Sam Perkins blowing out 35 candles in June, the window is clearly closing.

Team president and general manager Wally Walker calmly kept it open over the summer, retaining Karl against a flurry of media and fan criticism.

“Coach could have been fired,” Perkins said. “Players could have changed teams. Coach stayed, that was surprising. But you never know what’s going to happen.”

The vote of confidence Karl gained from Walker also extended to the roster changes Karl deemed necessary. Walker traded Kendall Gill and Sarunas Marciulionis, whose complaints over playing time spoiled team chemistry, according to Karl.

In exchange, the Sonics acquired veterans Hersey Hawkins, David Wingate and Frank Brickowski. The unemotional trio are not only willing to place team goals ahead of playing time concerns, they have given the Sonics an influx of maturity and leadership.

Perhaps equally important, they didn’t experience the last two playoff disasters. It is easy for Hawkins to say: “It’s over. How many times can it happen?”

The weaving of Hawkins, Wingate, Brickowski and rookies Sherell Ford and Eric Snow into the fabric of the team has completely changed its personality in Vincent Askew’s view.

“To me, it’s a whole new team,” he said. “All the guys are one unit. We pull for each other on the bench. That’s rare. Even the starters are pulling for the reserves.”

Askew, one of eight players who experienced the first-round playoff losses, is slowly healing.

“You think about it,” he said. “But you gotta put it behind you and just play. And try to have fun.”

Teammate Ervin Johnson doesn’t even want to consider the opportunity to wash away his frustrations.

“You can’t worry about May now,” he said. “That’s so far down the road. When it comes, that’s when we’ll talk about last year.

“If we have a bad regular season and do real well in the playoffs, people will forget about it. If we have a great regular season, people will still say we’re going to lose in the playoffs.”

The only approach in the meantime is to seize the day, according to Johnson.

“We just have to get better each and every game,” he said.

Perkins sees that happening already because of the competitiveness of practice sessions. When Karl splits the team into squads, the one Perkins predicts as the favorite often loses to the one he perceives as the underdog.

Schrempf takes a more cautious approach to the state of the Sonics, particularly Payton and Kemp.

So far, Payton has made a point of being on time and Kemp has made a point of being physically and mentally prepared.

“It’s still early,” Schrempf said. “But it’s obvious they’re both trying to take on a leadership role. Coach can’t make them do it. They have to do it. For being all-stars, they’re trying.”

Payton is determined to help his teammates without sacrificing his fiery personality. He knows he can’t exorcise the playoff past during the regular season, but he wants to start the process.

“Basketball is my life,” he said. “This is what I care about. I’m ready to go. I’m excited because this year I have to accomplish more.”

Kemp is also shouldering a larger responsibility, in accordance with Karl’s plan to run the offense through him.

“It could be my best year yet,” he said. “But I have to be smarter and learn to control my fouls.”