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Monday, January 24
Hot Sonics being led by the best in the West

By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com

Don't look now, but the Seattle SuperSonics are the hottest team in the West, and you can make a strong case for Gary Payton as the conference's best playerat the moment.
Gary Payton dazzled in Denver with 35 points and 10 rebounds.

Payton's three-pointer with 15 seconds left beat the Lakers at Staples Center -- their first loss there since early on after 14 straight wins -- and was a statement shot in a lot of ways.

Statement one: I'm still one of the best clutch shooters in the game, one of the few players in the league capable of taking over a game from the perimeter.

The Nuggets found out about that one week ago, when Dan Issel made the tactical blunder of engaging Payton in some trash-talking midway through the third quarter. Payton hadn't scored in the second half when Issel got mad after Ron Mercer was called for a foul on Payton that sent Payton to the line, and said something to Payton about it. Payton looked right at Issel and shouted, "(Bleep) you, Dan," and both were called for technical fouls. The effect?

Payton scored 23 points in the final 17:30 of the game as the Sonics came from behind and won.

As the game neared an end, Issel called Payton over and apologized to him, getting an apology back. Issel said Payton is one of the few players in the league who can back up his trash talk, and he is right about that. One thing is certain: Issel won't ever do anything to inspire Payton again.

Statement two: If the Sonics get matched up against the Lakers in the playoffs, we're going to know we can win here.

Don't get me wrong. I would never pick a team without a legitimate center to beat the Lakers in a playoff series, and the Sonics are trying to get by with Horace Grant guarding Shaquille O'Neal. That won't work in a long series. But Payton doesn't care where the game is played. If it is close in crunch time, he can win it.

Statement three: All you All-Star voters can take a flying leap.

See, it looks like Payton is going to finish third in voting for the starting guard spots on the Western Conference All-Star team, behind Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant. Ordinarily, that might not be a big deal to The Glove, except that All-Star Weekend 2000 is in his home town of Oakland.

So the fact Payton made the game-winning triple against the Lakers Monday night and Bryant missed a shot that could have won it for the Lakers had to be sweet for Payton, who is talking the veteran talk where the All-Star snub is concerned.

"I'm not worried about this All-Star thing," Payton said last week. "I'm not worried about starting. I started before, so I'm not worried about it. Just for me to be there, have fun. I don't need to be promoted and start and all that. If it happens it happens. I've been on the Olympics team, I've been on the championship, I'm straight. I've done did everything I needed to do. All I need to do is win the championship. I'm not worried about the all-star game. That is beyond me. If they pick me, they pick me."

But Gary ... the game is in Oaktown. You must want to start in front of your fans there.

"I'm not tripping on that," Payton said. "As long as I go in there and play. I'm not worried. That's one of those things where those guys get commercials and all that. Everybody sees them. They market them. The NBA wants to promote them because that's a lot of hype. They want those kids coming up in there. So it's no big thing. All the stars in the NBA are going to be at the All-Star game. You don't have to worry about it.

"Y'all are pumping this up. Oakland is just where I grew up at. I'm still going to go to the All-Star game, I'm still going to be there, they are still promoting stuff around me, everything. They are doing stuff, Nike is doing stuff, everybody is doing stuff. Don't make no difference. That's why I turned down the three-point shooting thing. I don't have time for all that. It's no big thing. As long as I can be there and have fun, I'm happy."

So let Kobe have his moment in the starting lineup spotlight. Everyone in Oaktown will know who is the best guard in the West. Payton is the best guard in all of basketball, and that includes Kidd and Allen Iverson.

Wandering the West

The Jazz are on a roll. Not only have they wrested first place in the Midwest Division away from the Spurs, they have signed a key freeagent they wanted in Armen Gilliam, the second free agent they have gone after in recent months who agreed to play in Salt Lake City.

The significance of that: The Jazz in the past had difficulty talking free agents into playing for them, including their own player, Shandon Anderson. Others who spurned the Jazz in the last two years: LaPhonso Ellis, Detlef Schrempf, Derek Harper and Will Perdue.

"He had other opportunities," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's vice president of basketball operations. "But he felt we were a good fit for him. The nice thing is he really wanted to come."

Unlike so many others.

The Magic allowed Gilliam to become a free agent, agreeing to eat his $3.7 million guaranteed contract.

"Doc did me a favor," Gilliam said of Magic coach Doc Rivers. "With another coach, it might have been a nasty fight. But Doc has been a player; he knows what's going on.

"Their whole thing in Orlando is to get [impending free agent] Tim Duncan next summer and be a great team in a couple of years. But I'm probably going to hang it up in two or three years. I want to win now."

With the Jazz, he has that chance.

Tom Gugliotta's Suns teammates are being very cautious since his return from a serious seizure. "I can't even sleep on the plane without someone tapping me," Gugliotta said. "So I tell them to not wake me up unless they see something coming out of my mouth, or if my pants are wet. Then you need to get me up."

Top rookie Lamar Odom, proving he's a quick study, just aired his first challenge to Clips owner Donald T. Sterling: "If they show me they can make room for improvement and then keep making the right moves, it might be a long relationship between the Clippers and myself. If not, it could be very brief. I may be one of the team's youngest players, but basketball-wise, I may be one of the oldest. I want to win and I think they will have to listen to my input."

Ah, Lamar, Donald T. listens to nobody's input ...

David Robinson believes referees are picking on him. He picked up technicals in two straight games -- against Orlando and Utah -- shocking everyone. Yes, he cursed at them. "I've been getting on my knees and praying," Robinson joked of his sinning. "I'm watching film and I'm thinking these guys are making the worst calls of my career."

Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com


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