Gary Payton Enjoys La Dolce Vita Home From Venice, Seattle Star Involved In Variety Of Pursuits

The sinking city of Venice, Italy, fell before Gary Payton’s gaze last week, but it was the normally brazen SuperSonics point guard who was taken aback.

Water-filled Venice canals and bridges inspired more awe than a leaky Los Angeles Clippers defense does.

“Everything was fabulous. Churches and cathedrals. All that stuff that was handmade, and they built it up like that. That was lovely,” said Payton, who returned from a Nike-sponsored promotional tour of Italy to conduct his first kids basketball camp in suburban Renton this week and next.

His admiration of Venice aside, Payton is not just treading water this summer. The native of Oakland, Calif., has fashioned himself into a Renaissance man, pursuing ventures in acting, music and television.

He has auditioned for a role in a Whoopi Goldberg film entitled “Eddie,” in which Payton would play - of all things - a temperamental NBA star. He also is in the running to play a role in another basketball-themed movie called “Celtics Pride,” starring Damon Wayans. His Oakland-based record company, Ballin’ Records, is releasing new albums this month; in September, Payton is scheduled to appear on the MTV Music Awards as a presenter.

Payton, who turns 27 a week from Sunday, seems to be enjoying what the Italians call la dolce vita - the sweet life.

“I’m trying to stay busy, get all of my corporate business done,” he said. “I have a lot of things working so that I won’t be bored.”

Payton, who hopes to score a multiyear, $40 million contract extension with the Sonics before his current pact expires next summer, has the suite life to think about, too.

Last month “The Glove” began to play hardball with NBA management.

Payton was one of seven high-profile league players - including Chicago’s Michael Jordan and New York’s Patrick Ewing - who set into motion a bid to dissolve the NBA Players’ Association. It was a vote of no-confidence to protest the union’s tentative labor agreement with the league in June. Payton and the dissenting players say the new agreement was foisted upon them by the union without adequate explanation or player input.

The rebelling players’ grievance with the National Labor Relations Board helped halt the labor accord, and NBA owners imposed a lockout of the players on July 1. In September or October, the players will vote on the union’s existence. “I don’t see how somebody can send us something one day before they’re going to vote on it and ask us to sign it,” Payton said. “Why were we not told about all the progress?

“That is telling me that they’re not concerned about the players. We shouldn’t have a players’ association if it’s that way.”

Although each team’s salary cap would rise from $15 million to around $24 million under terms of the agreement, a luxury tax would be imposed if overall league salaries exceeded 63 percent of league revenues. That tax would dampen the climate for players seeking long-term contracts, such as Larry Johnson’s reported $80 million deal.

Payton credits Jordan for leading the fight against NBA owners.

“That’s what the players’ association is supposed to do, protect our interests,” he said. “And I don’t think they’re doing that.”

Payton understands Ewing’s recent contention that the new labor agreement would not allow players to earn a “livable” wage.

“People would have to cut their lifestyle, and they’d live like penny pinchers,” Payton said. “People have mothers and fathers they want to spoil.

“We make a lot of money. Don’t take that away. We make a lot of money, that is true. But I’m just saying that (owners) make more money. They make billions of dollars.

“We’re making money, but they don’t see the other side of the thing. We go out on the floor and make money for them. It’s the same thing.

“I mean, I could live on $1 million. … But most players think they deserve the money they bring in.”

Payton believes the NBA’s rank and file will support the uniondecertification campaign.

“I was just talking to Henry Turner. He’s from Oakland and plays for the Sacramento Kings. And he feels the same way,” Payton said. “He wants to do whatever’s going to make all of us happy.”

Just two months ago, Payton’s concerns centered upon his listing team. Despite his most statistically impressive pro season - he recorded career highs in scoring, field-goal shooting, assists and steals - the Sonics suffered a first-round playoff flameout for the second consecutive year in a four-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Sonics coach George Karl survived the tumult that followed, but Payton’s backcourt mate, Kendall Gill, was traded back to the Charlotte Hornets for Hersey Hawkins and David Wingate two weeks ago. The next day, the Sonics drafted shooting specialist Sherell Ford from Illinois-Chicago, and a possible Payton backup in Eric Snow of Michigan State.

The changes please Payton, even though he still longs for a rebounder who “can give a lot of leeway to Shawn (Kemp) and give us extra opportunities like Dennis Rodman does for San Antonio.”

He feels the Gill trade worked for all parties.

“I still feel Kendall was a great addition to us. But it didn’t work out, but now we’ve got to go on and I hope he has a great career in Charlotte,” Payton said.

“With Hersey, we get a shooter. I hope he can come in right away and be like Ricky Pierce and Eddie Johnson, when we had those two dangerous shooters.”

Some have reasoned that Wingate, the defensive-minded but sore-kneed forward, was a throw-in to make the Gill trade work. Payton disagrees.

“Wingate, I figure, is going to help us the most because he’s a defensive player and he’s athletic and can run with us. With me, him, Nate (McMillan) and Vincent (Askew) in the game, I think we’ll be a great team that could press, run and jump. He can rebound and he can guard somebody.

Payton’s scouting reports on Ford, obtained from some Bay Area buddies familiar with the Chicagoan, produce this assessment: “I heard that he’s got a nice slow game, but he can also get by you quickly and get it done. … They say he might be a steal like Scottie Pippen. I hope so.”

About this time last summer, the Bulls’ Pippen could have been Payton’s teammate if a much-debated trade of Kemp had gone through. This past season, Payton, Pippen, Rodman and David Robinson were an exclusive group: All-NBA first or second team and also on the alldefensive first team.

Payton, scheduled to make $3 million next season as part of a six-year, $16.5 million pact he signed out of Oregon State in 1990, is not on the same pay plane as the other three players.

He is confident the Sonics will mend matters soon after the NBA lockout melts the negotiating moratorium. If there is no agreement before next season ends, his horizons broaden.

“I would probably have a lot of basketball teams going after me. Then that would make my life hard because I like Seattle,” Payton said. “And if Seattle couldn’t match or give me more money than the next team, then I would probably leave.

“So, I’m trying to give Seattle the opportunity because they gave me the opportunity and stuck with me, stood beside me every which way, got me to the level where I am now. So I’m trying to give them the first shot to do what they’re going to do. I feel very confident that they’re going to take care of me.”

Sonics president Wally Walker had no comment on Payton’s situation, since NBA teams are barred from pursuing business with players during the lockout.

The summer has given Payton’s left ring finger, broken in April just two weeks before the playoffs, time to recover from surgery.

“I can’t bend it, but it’s getting better,” he said. “Nothing hurts any more. I tried to shoot with it, and I did a great job with that. … Now the test is, can I catch a hard ball?”