Gee, Wally, Inking Payton May Be Tricky

A letter to Seattle Sonics president Wally Walker.

Dear Wally:

Remember the good old days of the NBA? The years you played?

Basketball was seasonal back then. There wasn’t much for a team president to do in the summer. He could vacation in Europe, write his memoirs, shrink his golf handicap.

The president was all-powerful - The Man. Free agents weren’t really free. Teams had the right of first refusal. Nobody moved from team to team unless the president said so.

A player who was unhappy with his coach, his playing time or his salary had to resort to drastic measures to force a trade.

I’m sure you recall Gus Williams’ holdout with the Sonics and the colorful acrimony that was traded in the newspapers between Gus’ agent, Howard Slusher, and then-Sonics owner Sam Schulman.

Most teams in that era stayed together. Julius Erving stayed in Philadelphia. Walt Frazier and Willis Reed stayed in New York. Elgin Baylor and Jerry West were forever Lakers.

It was easier being a team president. In the summertime, the living was easy.

Sure, you still dealt with the agents and listened to all their threats. And the newspaper guys were always ready to second-guess a trade.

Paul Westphal for Dennis Johnson?

But in the old days, you could enjoy the successes of the previous season. You could indulge the handshakes of the sychophants who thanked you for all the good times. You could bask in the glory that came with making it to the NBA Finals.

We all know those days are gone. This is the era of salary insanity. And this is the summer of the free agent free-for-all.

It starts today.

Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Dikembe Mutombo, Juwan Howard, Gary Payton. Let the spending begin.

Instead of working on your tan, you’ve got to rework your team.

Geez, Wally, all you have to do this summer is placate your head coach, satisfy your free-agent superstar guard, and re-sign the heart of last eason’s Western Conference champion.

You’re going to feel like you’ve got a phone growing out of the side of your head, aren’t you? Baseball pitchers injure their rotator cuffs. Basketball presidents get cauliflower ears.

I imagine you were as surprised as everybody last week when your free-agent point guard, Payton, took a break from his Dream Team hijinks to muse about joining a dreamy Houston Rockets team that could include Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and Clyde Drexler.

I bet you thought signing Gary would be the easiest thing you did this summer. My guess is, you thought it was pretty much a done deal.

Now here he is acting like a junior Barkley, asking for more money, saying outlandish things to the national media.

But you have to remember, Wally, that a lot of people say outrageous things to the national media. Just listen to Bob Dole’s defenses of the tobacco industry.

Nicotine isn’t addictive?

And I’m sure you find Payton’s sudden infatuation with coach George Karl amusing. Wasn’t it just a year ago Payton was hinting he wanted to go if Karl stayed?

This Dream Team thing could become your worst nightmare. Payton is going to Impress upon Payton that as much fun as next year in Houston might seem, Barkley is 33 and has a bad back; Drexler is 34 with bad knees. And Olajuwon is, well, just don’t mention Hakeem.

The point is, in the long run, Payton is better off in Seattle. Payton and Shawn Kemp, surrounded by the right players, will keep the Sonics in the playoff race into the next century.

Of course you know you’ve got to sign Payton. The Sonics without G are like the San Francisco 49ers without Steve Young, or the Pittsburgh Penguins without Mario Lemieux.

But you know all that. That’s why your summer must feel like winter. All these things on your To-Do List at the time of year when you should have nothing to do.

And we haven’t even discussed the re-signing of Sam Perkins and Hersey Hawkins and Frank Brickowski, and finding a replacement for Ervin Johnson. Where’s he going to end up anyway? Atlanta?

Anyway, I just wanted to wish you a productive summer. As someone once said in the national media, I feel your pain.

Sincerely, Steve.