<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Former Seattle SuperSonics point guard Gary Payton, who returns to KeyArena on Friday night with the Los Angeles Lakers, remains the contradictory personality he was when he was wearing a Sonics uniform. Payton told reporters last weekend he came back to the Western Conference so he could play against Seattle - and in the same sentence said Friday's game does not matter to him.</div> http://www.tribnet.com/sports/basketball/s...p-4537955c.html
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">and in the same sentence said Friday's game does not matter to him.</div> That better matter to him :mrgreen:, since he has played his whole career there basically, except for Bucks last year and LA this year. That is the greatest feeling in the world, returning to your home crowd, players who you have played with, he should have a good game. BTW: Nice work on the sig Sir Dez
All I can say is that GP better come to play against the Sonics. I predict a big game for him. (20 points, 10 assists area)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Purple N Gold:</div><div class="quote_post">That better matter to him :mrgreen:, since he has played his whole career there basically, except for Bucks last year and LA this year. That is the greatest feeling in the world, returning to your home crowd, players who you have played with, he should have a good game.</div> I agree with you GP should think more about his past team. He should also come to play hard basketball. I expect him to have at least 24 points,4 assists,and 3 steals IMO.
I really wanted to go to this game...but I'm pretty sure tickets sold out a long time ago. Bah, oh well, good thing it's televised.
Maybe with Gary's return to Seattle, he can get a ton of FG attempts and just maybe score 25-30 pts. Looks reasonable right?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ANiMuS:</div><div class="quote_post">I really wanted to go to this game...but I'm pretty sure tickets sold out a long time ago. Bah, oh well, good thing it's televised.</div> I tried to get tickets to this game as well, they were long gone.... And what does my cousin get for Christmas? Tickets to this game, in a suite! @#$%@!! Anyway, I have heard GP say that he does not look forward to returning to Seattle. He was bitter after the trade. ANiMus and I went to the first game after the trade (which ironically was against the Bucks), Desmond showed up, GP did not. They even did a video tribute for him. In the media, he acted happy after the trade and became good friends with Cassel, but he still feels hatred towards sea-town. When they cheer for him during intros, he'll stand there stone-faced, and then kill us during the game.
Glove and Happiness <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Lakers visit the Sonics on Friday, Jan. 2 (10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV), with Gary Payton making his first appearance in Seattle since his trade to Milwaukee last season. One of the early developments in the 2003-04 season that has been analyzed ad nauseum is how Gary Payton (and Karl Malone) have sacrificed their individual statistics in the interests of fitting within the Lakers' system, and the team's resulting success. But the Seattle Sonics, who have languished in the anonymity of a .500 record among the Western Conference giants, face the task of compensating for Payton's loss in their first full season sans their All-Star point guard. If its record is any indication, the team has been modestly successful: THROUGH 29 GMS RECORD PCT. 2003-04 15-14 .517 2002-03 14-15 .483 Seattle is one better than it was last year -- and that with No. 1 contributor Ray Allen out for 25 games -- so some player, or players, is picking up the slack, and it's not Ray. For the purposes of comparison, let's first take a look at what Payton gave the Sonics in scoring and assists through 29 games last year, along with his percentage of the team's total: STATS POINTS ASSISTS Payton 613 266 Sonics total 2,702 653 Payton pct. 22.7 40.7 In terms of points, career-high scoring averages from Rashard Lewis (19.6 ppg) and Vladimir Radmanovic (12.4 ppg) have been helpful, but Ronald Murray, despite his demotion to reserve status, continues to be one of the NBA's big arrivals. The Bucks' second-round pick out of Shaw University in 2002 appeared in just 14 games last year, averaging 1.9 ppg. But this year has been quite a different story: STATS POINTS Murray 504 Sonics total 2,771 Murray pct. 18.2 Murray's 17.4 ppg rank second on the team behind Lewis (discounting Allen's 22.3 ppg over four games), and when combined with the improvements of Lewis and Radmanovic, almost exactly matches Payton's offensive output of a year ago. Creating opportunities for teammates, however, has been a tougher proposition. Payton's departure left the Sonics without a true point guard or proven playmaker; shooting guard Brent Barry has stepped in to run the point, and the team drafted Luke Ridnour out of Oregon in the first round of the 2003 draft, but even combined they don't approach Payton's assist numbers. As a result, the Sonics' assists are down, and they have relied on more of a team passing game, with six players (again, not counting Allen) averaging more than two per game. PLAYER ASSISTS AVG. Barry 128 4.9 Murray 90 3.1 Ridnour 75 2.6 Radmanovic 71 2.4 Daniels 67 2.8 Lewis 61 2.2 Sonics total 585 20.2 Once more, Murray's contribution provides the biggest boost -- Barry is actually averaging fewer assists than he did the previous two seasons -- while offseason additions Ridnour and Antonio Daniels have been effective passers as well. For a team that missed the postseason last year, though, a one-game improvement through the first third of the season won't be enough to put Seattle in serious playoff contention (the Sonics are currently tied with Portland for ninth in the conference). And even with Allen's much-needed return to the rotation, Seattle still hasn't addressed its most pressing need of a reliable scorer and rebounder in the middle, a motif that has remained since the Payton years. "Every year they came back with a new group of guys you had to adjust to," Payton told the Seattle Times this week. "It was hard ... I'm happy about what I'm doing here. We're winning basketball games, while the Seattle SuperSonics are 13-14, or whatever they are, and they're going to still be the same way." Payton gets his chance to prove it on Friday night at KeyArena. </div> Link: http://www.nba.com/features/lalsea_040102.html Signs point a warm welcome for Payton in Seattle
