Sonics Continue Four-Year Search for Backup Point Guard

By Kevin Pelton, SonicsCentral.com Staff Reporter

Guards Earl Watson (left) and Shammond Williams backed up Gary Payton last season but have left Seattle this summer.

Virtually every franchise in professional sports can point to one position that it perennially struggles to fill. There’s the infamous hot corner for the Chicago Cubs or left field for the Seattle Mariners or even quarterback for the Seahawks. For Seattle’s other male major-league team, the natural position to point to as a revolving door is center, where the Sonics have started a different player every opening night since 1994 (granting that in 1997 Jim McIlvaine would have started two straight years if not for a minor injury that kept him out of the opener).

Center, however, does seem to be stabilizing for the Sonics. While odds are that Jerome James will be the ninth consecutive different opening night starter, between him and Calvin Booth the Sonics seem to have center set for the foreseeable future.

Even as the Sonics have built a deep young roster, they still have yet to address long-term their need for a backup to All-Star point guard Gary Payton. For most of Payton’s career, the Sonics had an excellent backup in current head coach Nate McMillan. During McMillan’s final season as a player, they were arguably the deepest NBA team at the point with not only Payton and McMillan but also Greg Anthony, who was the regular backup while McMillan spent the first three and a half months of the season on the injured list, and Eric Snow, who was traded to Philadelphia in late January.

At the time, the Sonics could sacrifice Snow, who would go on to become a starter in Philadelphia by the beginning of the next season and has teamed with Sixers star Allen Iverson in the backcourt ever since, because of their apparent depth. After the Sonics were eliminated from the 1998 playoffs, that depth quickly dissipated. McMillan, as was expected, retired to end his 12-year career in Seattle and moved to the bench. Anthony, seeking a larger role, moved down I-5 after the league’s lockout ended, signing with the Portland Trail Blazers.

That left the Sonics scrambling to find a player to fill the key 8-10 minutes per game Payton sits out each night without costing the team momentum, and they’ve been trying to fill the role ever since.

For the lockout-shortened 1999 season, the Sonics brought in a handful of point guards on non-guaranteed training camp invites. Eventually, they settled on Moochie Norris, a high second-round pick in the 1996 NBA Draft out of West Florida who failed to catch on with the Milwaukee Bucks and came to Seattle having played only eight NBA games in his two years pro.

Norris opened the season with a bang; in the Sonics’ second home game against Portland, he made four fourth-quarter three-pointers and scored 12 points as the Sonics beat the Blazers. However, his season quickly turned amid a flurry of turnovers and 32.5% shooting. Also hurting Norris’ case was his struggle with insomnia that left him sleeping only a couple of hours a night. After only 12 games as Payton’s backup, Norris was placed on the injured list with insomnia.

After Norris, the Sonics turned to Drew Barry. The Sonics’ 57th pick of the 1996 Draft, Barry also made the team with limited experience -- 27 games with the Atlanta Hawks during the 1997-98 season. Known for his outside shooting, Barry was expected to solidify the position by avoiding turnovers and getting the ball in the hands of teammates.

Barry lasted less than three weeks at the position, making just 31% from the field, before he was replaced by journeyman John Crotty. A six-year veteran, Crotty spent the beginning of the 1999 season with Portland stuck behind, of all people, Anthony. The Blazers released him in mid-March and the Sonics pounced once Crotty cleared waivers, bringing him in on March 23. Crotty played more regularly and proved an improvement over his predecessors, but still not the answer the Sonics were looking for.

During the summer of 1999, Seattle general manager Wally Walker found himself with an aging roster that was unable to make the playoffs during the previous season. His answer was to rebuild for the most part with young, cheap, and lesser-known free agents. This plan carried over to the point, where the Sonics signed a pair of players for the minimum.

Shammond Williams was a top prospect out of North Carolina and was, like Norris, a high second-round pick in 1998. A draft-day trade to Atlanta left Williams on the bench, and he asked for and received his release, finishing out the season overseas. The Sonics’ other acquisition, Emanual Davis, had played regularly for the Rockets during the 1997-98 season before sitting out 1999. The expectation was that Williams would take the backup job, with Davis the insurance plan.

During the first month of the season, neither player established himself as the regular backup, with both Davis and Williams playing at times. Slowly but surely, Davis won the job despite his mediocre 36% shooting thanks to his defensive ability. Late in the season, he was forced to relinquish the job because of a facial nerve condition that left the right side of his face numb.

The injury opened the door for Williams, who finished the season with a flourish. After scoring a career-high 28 points on April 10 as the Sonics almost overcame a seemingly insurmountable deficit to upset the Los Angeles Lakers, Williams moved into the starting lineup for the season’s final five games and the first two games in the first round against the Utah Jazz. Williams averaged 10.2 points and 3.6 assists per game against Utah, ensuring he would enter training camp the next fall as Payton’s backup.

During the off-season, Davis was traded to the Lakers as part of the deal that brought Seattle Patrick Ewing, seemingly removing Williams’ only competition. But Davis was not gone long; after Los Angeles released him in late October 2000, the Sonics claimed him on waivers. Williams opened the season as Seattle’s primary backup point, but when Paul Westphal was fired and McMillan promoted to head coach in late November, he elevated Davis to the starting lineup and the resulting rotation left Williams on the outside looking in many nights.

Williams had his best chance to contribute when Barry was knocked out by injury in late February, scoring a season-best 21 points against the Boston Celtics. When the team returned to health, Williams found sporadic playing time depending on the matchup and how he played.

Davis’ and Williams’ two-year deals both expired during the summer of 2001, with the expectation from fans that Davis would be brought back and Williams would leave in an attempt to find more regular playing time. However, upset the Sonics had paid little attention to him, Davis bolted for Atlanta in late July, leaving Williams and rookie Earl Watson, who the Sonics had taken in the second round of the Draft. After lengthy negotiations that saw Williams unable to find another suitor to force the Sonics to up their offer, he finally re-signed for two years on the first day of practices, October 1.

With Watson expected to sit and learn during his rookie season -- if he even made the team -- Williams entered training camp the backup point guard by default. Things were going well until Williams broke a finger on his left hand during a pre-season game, forcing him onto the injured list for the start of the season. Watson was forced into the role of backup and thrived, demonstrating surprising offense to go along with his high-energy defense. When Williams returned, he split time with Watson at first but the superior player was obvious and Watson played regularly through December.

Midway through January, Williams returned to the rotation with Watson heading to the bench. The official explanation was that Watson had hit the proverbial ‘rookie wall’, though speculation was that the real reason for the change was an attempt to showcase Williams for a possible trade. Whatever the rationale, Watson had returned to the rotation when he separated his left shoulder on May 5 against Minnesota.

The Sonics elevated Williams to backup point guard and signed free agent Randy Livingston, who had previously been in Seattle during 2000 training camp, for depth. Williams started out strong, keying an overtime victory against Charlotte the next game with his late-game heroics, but soon showed the same weaknesses that had previously kept him on the bench. Williams’ poor perimeter defense helped Dallas and Houston go berserk from three-point range in consecutive losses.

Two games later, Livingston replaced Williams in the rotation against the Los Angeles Clippers. Though he struggled with his shot, making just 28% of his tries with the Sonics, Livingston made himself valuable by turning the ball over just twice in 176 minutes played and playing strong defense. Livingston continued to play until the Sonics essentially clinched a playoff spot, at which point they decided to give the rookie Watson experience.

Watson finished out the regular season as the backup, setting up a difficult decision for McMillan on who to put on his playoff roster, with room for only two of Watson, Williams, and Livingston. Though Williams had proved the least effective, McMillan elected to keep him for his shooting ability and, cynics would note, because of his contract. Livingston also got the nod because of his experience, leaving Watson the odd player out.

Livingston ended up having a strong playoff series and was critical in game two when he scored six point playing heavily in place of the ineffective Barry. Williams, however, did not get off the bench before any of the games were already long decided.

Finally, the Sonics appeared to have settled on a backup point who they could count on for several years in Watson. As for Williams, he was clearly on his way out, probably packaged in a trade with forward Vin Baker. It soon became clear that in return for Williams and Baker the Sonics would probably get a highly-paid veteran point guard who might unseat Watson for at least one season. Knowing this and still upset he was left off the playoff roster, Watson began negotiating with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The day after the rumor that the Sonics would send Baker and Williams to Boston for a package headlined by point guard Kenny Anderson first hit the media, Watson signed a three-year, $4 million deal with Memphis that the Sonics could not match because of the way the Grizzlies structured the deal. Three days later, the Baker to Boston deal became official and the Sonics had another new reserve point guard.

Without question Anderson, an All-Star during his previous incarnation as a high-scoring point, is the best player the Sonics have had behind Payton since McMillan. However, he too will not be long for Seattle. Though Anderson’s ability and experience were important to the deal, more critical was his $9 million salary in the final year of his deal which will come off the books next season, giving the Sonics the salary cap room to sign a star-caliber free agent.

That will leave the Sonics looking for another backup point guard next summer. Perhaps that player will be second-year guard Joseph Forte, who was also brought over in the Baker deal, and whom the Celtics were attempting to convert to the point. Perhaps it will be a free agent or a draft pick. Eventually the Sonics may be able to close the revolving door behind Payton for good.

SonicsCentral.com is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Seattle SuperSonics or the NBA. Visit the Sonics' official website at Supersonics.com. All uncredited articles by Kevin Pelton. Photos by Kevin Pelton and Khalid Bellinger. All work copyright SonicsCentral.com 2001-2002. For concerns or comments please e-mail us at admin@sonicscentral.com