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Sonics, Sixers, Celtics, Hornets getting humbled

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: Sonics look back to the future | Is Brown or Iverson the problem in Philly? | Celtics still looking for that third option | Peep Show

Admit it. The Nuggets aren't as bad as you thought they'd be. Neither are the Grizzlies, Warriors, Bulls, Knicks or Heat.

And while we're at it, the Lakers aren't as good as we all thought they'd be. Neither are the Clippers, Sonics, Bucks, Raptors or Hawks. Lately, parity has been ruling the day in the NBA. The have nots are quickly catching up with the haves.

Over the last 10 games, the teams with the five worst records -- the Raptors (1-9), Sixers (1-9), Celtics (2-8), Sonics (2-8) and Hornets (2-8) -- all made the playoffs last season.

Meanwhile, four teams that missed the playoffs last season -- the Warriors (6-4), Grizzlies (5-5), Suns (7-3) and Wizards (7-3) -- are playing .500 ball or better.

What's going on? The Raptors are the only team that has been truly devastated by injuries. The Hornets have taken a big hit since Baron Davis went out. But the Sixers, Celtics and Sonics are all suffering a bad hangover from trades gone wrong last summer. Can they correct their mistakes before it's too late?

Sonics look back to the future

They're losers of their last five games. Nine of their last 11. Eighteen of their last 24. Players are griping. Nate McMillan is throwing tantrums. And somewhere, Wally Walker and Vin Baker are parked in a hotel bar weeping about the good old days.

The Sonics are headed in the wrong direction. Team chemistry is getting more volatile. Some decisions have to be made soon.

Insider reported last week that there was a philosophical struggle going on in the Sonics' front office. Team officials are torn between building a team that can compete for a championship now and staying the course on the rebuilding project. At the center of the storm is Gary Payton. He's hungry. He's angry. With every move and with every loss, his future hangs in the balance. The stakes are high.

If the Sonics feel that they are one low-post player away from being a contender (McMillan and Payton do), they can trade Kenny Anderson for someone like Marcus Camby or Brian Grant and should be ready to roll. If they feel they're too far away, the team is better off leaving Anderson on the roster, letting him become a free agent this summer and using his cap space to make a run at another young, up-and-coming free agent.

Sonics GM Rick Sund and president Wally Walker finally chimed in on the controversy Monday.

"Every team, you have to have a realistic point and goal of your club," Sund told the Seattle Post Intelligencer. "Our primary goal is our future."

Sund still hasn't given up on the season, but the Sonics aren't looking to upgrade at this point. They are listening to trade offers, but it's with the future in mind.

"Our expectation is rebuilding. You do it [a trade] because it's an opportunity for the future. You don't do it to shake this club up."

With that said, Walker admitted that the club is listening to trade offers for everyone, including Payton.

Gary Payton

Point Guard

Seattle SuperSonics

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

36 21.2 4.7 9.3 .459 .693

Payton is in the final year of a seven-year deal and becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season. Payton's agents made claims before the season about their unwillingness to re-sign with Seattle after overtures for a contract extension were denied. Even though team owner Howard Schultz has reiterated that he wants Payton to retire a Sonic, the writing on the wall is becoming clear in Seattle -- the Sonics aren't ready to compete right now for a championship. That means anyone not named Rashard Lewis and Desmond Mason is expendable.

"To say that we're listening, that means that there are people out there that might have some interest in our players," Sund told the Seattle Times. "I told our players this: No one is untouchable. No one, and that's true."

So forget for a minute about a trade that will fix the Sonics' problems this year. The team is still looking long term. Most of the rumors have swirled around Anderson and Calvin Booth. But Payton's role in that future appears blurry at best. If the Sonics let both Anderson and Payton slip away in free agency this summer, the team's payroll will be a little over $33 million next season. Assuming that the salary cap stays at $40.5 million, the Sonics would have about $7.5 million to sign a free agent. That's not enough to land Jason Kidd or even Andre Miller. Signing Kidd or Miller also wouldn't address their desperate need for some low-post help.

So the Sonics may be better off trading Payton now, and getting some value in return, if they're convinced he won't be back or his contract demands will be too outrageous. Who would be interested?

The Pacers are obviously at the top of the list, but they no longer have the players to get a great deal done. Jamaal Tinsley is available, but the Sonics would have to eat the contracts of Austin Croshere and Ron Mercer to make that happen. The Sonics aren't willing to give up all of that for a guy who infuriated management close to the draft by refusing to work out for them.

Calvin Booth

Center

Seattle SuperSonics

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

27 2.4 2.3 0.2 .426 .583

Plenty of other teams are looking for a veteran point guard, but do any of them have enough talent to pull off a trade that makes sense for the Sonics? The biggest question each team will have? Will Payton re-sign with them this summer.

The Hawks are still trying to find a way to make it to the playoffs. Would the Sonics be interested in a Jason Terry or Dan Dickau and Shareef Abdur-Rahim for Payton and Vladimir Radmanovic swap? The Warriors feel they're a veteran away from being dangerous. They have a plethora of young players to offer, but most of them play the same position as Lewis and Mason. A third team would have to get involved for the Warriors to make it happen. Jerry West has some spare parts, and Payton would be a great fit on the Grizzlies. Would Stromile Swift and Lorenzen Wright get it done? The Blazers have coveted Payton forever. They'd love to pawn off Damon Stoudamire, but the Soncis aren't that desperate. It would probably take a package of Derek Anderson, Antonio Daniels and Zach Randolph to get the Sonics interested.

On second thought, maybe the Sonics are better off with the cap room.

Sonics: What's wrong?

Danny O'Neil / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sonics listen as record plunges

Percy Allen / Seattle Times

Seattle looks to trade Booth

Frank Hughes / Tacoma News Tribune

Is Brown or Iverson the problem in Philly?

"You [reporters] remember what I said: I didn't feel good about this team from Day 1," coach Larry Brown said at the opening of Sunday night's press conference. The Sixers had just lost their sixth straight game.

Keith Van Horn

Forward

Philadelphia 76ers

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

36 15.5 8.2 1.4 .467 .775

Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch have Brown pulling his hair out. Somewhere, coach Byron Scott has to be chuckling. Van Horn is back to his passive ways on offense and his defense isn't much better. MacCulloch's foot problems appear to be chronic. That's bad news for Sixer fans. But right now it should be the least of their worries.

Allen Iverson and Brown look like they're ready to explode again. Trouble is brewing, and Brown and Iverson have no one to blame but themselves.

"Three of our starters can't guard," Brown told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I think our individual defense is really poor, which has shocked me, and that's only on me. And our team concepts we just haven't gotten yet, and that's on me. When guys are reluctant to score, that's on me. I've got to put them in a position where they're not afraid to fail. Sometimes I think you've got to be realistic about what you've got. I've had us for 39 games -- or 37 games -- and I have to make do with what I have and do a better job. My job is to put them in a position where we can win a game, and that's what I have to do."

Allen Iverson

Shooting Guard

Philadelphia 76ers

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

37 27.2 4.1 4.8 .394 .758

Of course, Brown didn't stop there. After saying everything was his fault, he then moved onto his favorite target, AI.

"We've changed for six years to accommodate certain people here. We keep trying."

Iverson is the only player who has been with the team six years.

Iverson didn't disagree with his coach. He's averaging a career low in shooting percentage and three-point shooting. His scoring average, 27.2 ppg, is his lowest since the 1998-99 season.

"I think I might be playing the worst I've played in my career, and the engine starts with me," said Iverson, who has missed the last few practices -- but no games -- with a bruised muscle in his right thigh. "If I'm not doing a good job out there on the basketball court, it's hard for us to get wins. I'm not playing like an all-star. I'm just out there. I just feel like I'm a step slower, for whatever reason."

Brown is running out of patience. The Sixers have major holes to fill on the front line. No one seems to be able to work with Iverson. And the Sixers are on a death spiral right now. Could Iverson join other superstars like Vince Carter on the trading block this winter? Only Brown has the answer.

Different Team, but Van Horn Hears the Same Criticism

Steve Popper / New York Times

Sixers stumble to sixth loss in a row

Ashley McGeachy Fox / Philadelphia Inquirer

'The Answer' offers few answers for team slump

Phil Jasner / Philadelphia Daily News

Celtics still looking for that third option

The problems in Boston center around big man Vin Baker and the loss of point guard Kenny Anderson.

Without Anderson, the Celtics' offense looks haphazard. The weight of the world is on Paul Pierce's and Antoine Walker's shoulders. They aren't holding up.

Paul Pierce

Guard-Forward

Boston Celtics

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

37 25.5 7.6 4.4 .390 .810

Pierce (39 percent) and Antoine Walker (38.9 percent) are shooting career lows from the field. The team ranks 25th in the league in assists. Walker and Pierce, who are logging over 40 minutes a game, appear to be slowing down. The two are the Celtics this year. If either go down, the season is up in smoke. Why are they having to work so hard this year?

"Kenny kept them together," Washington's Jerry Stackhouse told the Glboe. "And he was a threat, too. It's a different look now with Vin Baker. Whether that's good or bad, they made the deal and it's now on them."

That's not the only issue. The man who replaced Anderson, Baker, is averaging almost 9 ppg and 2 rpg less than he did in Seattle last season. After a recent DNP this weekend, Baker actually cried.

Antoine Walker

Forward

Boston Celtics

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

37 21.2 7.5 4.3 .389 .660

He isn't the only one. While it's too early to panic, the signs are all there. The Celtics don't have the depth they did last year when Rodney Rogers, Erick Strickland and Tony Delk were making a big impact off the bench. Now it's up to Walter McCarty, Shammond Williams and Kedrick Brown to pick up the slack. So far they haven't been getting it done.

To make matters worse, the Celtics had a special karma last season that's just gone this year.

"Last year, these are the games we would have won," Pierce told the Boston Globe. "We would have found a way to win the game and get over the top. We're not doing that this year and it's been tough."

Now for the really bad news. There isn't much GM Chris Wallace can do about it. Mikki Moore isn't going to turn things around. Neither is Grant Long. A trade is almost out of the question. Pierce and Walker are untouchable. Baker is the equivalent of a salary-cap leper. Everyone else on the roster is either worthless or locked into an unattractive long-term deal. You're stuck with these Celtics, for both the good and the bad.

Trying to decipher the signs

Peter May / Boston Globe

It's a bad trifecta for the Celtics

Peter May / Boston Globe

Baker? My brain must be cooked

Bill Reynolds / Providence Journal

Peep Show

Nuggets: Is Marcus Camby unhappy in Denver? He's gone out of his way the last few days to say that he's just fine in Denver. However, close friend Latrell Sprewell told the New York Times that Camby hates Denver "intensely." Spree also implied that Camby does not see the need in playing this season if the Nuggets (9-27) are not trying to win. "I knew he wouldn't like it out there," Sprewell said.

Wizards: Kwame Brown said he is bothered by the recent wave of reports that have him mentioned in trade talks. "I get phone calls from people who say. 'You're getting traded,' " Brown told the Washington Post. "I get frustrated hearing it. To hear that, it's like 'They don't want me?' " Brown said he has been assured that he won't be dealt, something a Wizards' source confirmed to the Post. The source said that teams have been calling about Brown, only to be rebuffed because management feels he is on track to developing into a star.

Raptors: Vince Carter is furious at suggestions he's not eager to play basketball. Not only was he adamant that he will be back before the three-week period suggested by teammate Jerome (JYD) Williams, but any thought that he's somehow content to sit idly by and let his ailing knee heal 110 per cent rather than get out there and mix it up is ludicrous. "Doesn't want to play? Never in my life would I ever run away from a basketball game. Never," Carter told the Toronto Star. "There will never be a day where I would run away from a basketball game. If I could [have been] out there three weeks ago, I would have tried. I tried it last year until they pulled the plug on me. There's not a doubt in my mind that I want to play and [to suggest] I'm sitting out for whatever the case [is] is just ridiculous."

Rockets: Could Glen Rice be out for the season? An MRI on Monday reveled torn cartilage in Rice's shoulder. While his shoulder is improving, the Rockets are concerned. If things don't get better soon, Rice could be facing season-ending surgery. Rockets team physician Dr. Walter Lowe told the Houston Chronicle: "I think it's going to take a week or 10 days to get to a point where we start to play some basketball, and after that, we'll make a decision -- if he can make it through the season, or if it's going to require something else, like surgery, to repair. The worst-case scenario is that it requires repairs, [and that would likely be] the end of his season. We'll give him a chance before that. He has nothing to lose [ by rehabbing]." Expect forward James Posey to get big minutes in Rice's absence.

Hornets: Baron Davis returned to practice Monday after missing the past few weeks with a sore back. Davis said he'll probably play in Wednesday night's game against the Lakers. "I still feel I'm on the right track, and things are getting better for me," Davis told the Times Picayune. "I just have to stick to my treatment and therapy. Right now I'm not where I want to be, but I'm working toward it, and that's a positive thing. I had a pretty good day in practice, but the games are a lot different. But I'll probably play Wednesday night."

Clippers: Marko Jaric and Quentin Richardson are expected to play Wednesday against the Timberwolves. If the team can get Eric Piatkowski back from a strained abdominal muscle soon, it will be the first time all season that the entire team is healthy.

Heat: Now that the team looks destined for another trip to the lottery, Pat Riley and company are finally starting to look overseas for talent. "I've always believed there are enough players in America," Riley told the Sun Sentinel. "My whole career, I've proven that. As a matter of fact, all of the European players I have coached have left. The only one that didn't leave me or I hadn't traded is Vlade [Divac]." Now Riley acknowledges that things have changed. "I think now there's an absolute plethora of good players out there and we have to be smart enough to go out there and pick one or two of them every few years."

Bulls: Jay Williams' agent, Bill Duffy, says his client's confidence is shaky right now. "We can tell him until we're blue in the face that things will get better," Duffy told the Chicago Sun Times, "but he doesn't see, in his mind, the light at the end of the tunnel. It's not just about Jay, it's about wanting to win. Look at his background. He's not used to this. It's an adjustment, but I'm sure he'll come out on top. He always becomes an elite guy pretty quickly." Duffy said Williams "absolutely" looks over his shoulder for Jamal Crawford after making a mistake, and Crawford said he does the same thing. As long as both are on the team, that situation is going to exist, and there's nothing coach Bill Cartwright can do about it.

Bucks: A few days after owner Herb Kohl said that he'd be willing to sell the Bucks, Boston based businessman Steve Belkin said that he and Larry Bird were interested in taking a look at acquiring the Bucks. Belkin and Bird thought they had the Charlotte franchise wrapped up, but the league instead decided to go with BET founder Robert Johnson. "Larry Bird and myself will consider that as a possibility because we still want to buy an NBA team," Belkin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We will consider that. I'm not quite sure where Herb is in the process. I understood he had contacted an investment banker to represent him. We eventually will find out who the investment banker is and get in touch with that investment banker."

Chaney Can't Help but Think 'What If?'

Chris Broussard / New York Times

Stackhouse Out With Groin Injury

Steve Wyche / Washington Post

Two Raptors ride wave of emotions

Doug Smith / Toronto Star

Injury jeopardizes Rice's season

Janny Hu / Houston Chronicle

Davis back at practice

John Reid / Times Picayune

Jaric, Richardson Due Back

Elliott Teaford / Los Angeles Times

To find players, Riley finally sees need to look overseas

Ira Winderman / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Blue Jay looking for a confidence boost

Roman Modrowski / Chicago Sun-Times

A Devil of a time in the NBA

Carol Slezak / Chicago Sun-Times

Bird's group taking look at Bucks

Bob Wolfley / Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel