As the 2000-01 NBA season came to a close, many in Seattle found themselves deep in a pool of sorrow and depression, put there by the Seattle Supersonics who were deep in their own pool of mediocrity and confusion. The season had begun with high hopes as the arrival of Patrick Ewing signalled the first Sonics campaign in almost two decades with a bona fide NBA star at center. Rumours were flying that Vin Baker had managed to get himself in shape, Rashard Lewis and Ruben Patterson were expected to show improvement on their already-impressive attributes, and of course Gary Payton would be as amazing as ever. But all the promise the Sonics held could not amount to anything more than a disappointing finish as the tenth-place team in the Western conference, missing the playoffs and leaving bewildered supporters to shake their heads and wonder why.
Seattle fans began to scrutinize the company the team now kept in the draft lottery; the Nuggets and Warriors of the world were the deformed ugly stepchildren of the NBA, forever locked up and hidden away from prying eyes in their home -- the league’s cold damp basement prison. Sonics fans felt a shiver crawl up their spines, as the possibility of a similar fate seemed to become a little less of a nightmare and a little more of a reality, causing the faith of Sonics enthusiasts around the globe to begin to waiver. They were dark days indeed.
The dark days however did not last for long. New owner Howard Shultz and team CEO Wally Walker put on their best P.T. Barnum impressions and sold Seattle fans a little vial of snake oil called “the Future”. The future was bright, they proclaimed; the future was amazing, they decreed; but most importantly the future was coming, they advertised . . . and the people bought it.
How could you not buy it when the future the franchise pointed to was Rashard Lewis and Desmond Mason, both with seemingly unlimited potential? Rashard Lewis was a high school phenom already well ahead of the learning curve averaging 15 PPG with 7RPG a year before he would have been a college senior; not to mention his sporting a 6’10” frame with touch of a shooting guard and the athleticism of a small forward.
The second half of Seattle’s dynamic duo, Desmond Mason, was the MVP of the previous summer’s Shaw Summer League in Boston, a performance that made him a starter for a short period in the 2000-01despite his rookie status. Mason was a creator on offense and an energizer for the team off the bench. Often Desmond had to be tethered to the Key Arena floor during warm-ups to prevent his bouncing off the ceiling, a skill that won him the year’s NBA Slam Dunk championship, making him a household name for fans around the league.
These two budding superstars contained depths of talent as yet untapped, unseen, unimaginable, truly representing a future worth waiting for. That is what the Seattle Supersonics used to say; of course they won’t be saying it anymore though, because the future is now.
There have been many naysayers who have pointed to the stat line of Rashard Lewis from last season and suggested that it shows a drop off in his level of growth. It is true that Lewis’s output increase of only two points per game and the minuscule increases in virtually every other category is far from the development Sonics fans were looking for in 2001-02, particularly in light of the fact that all his shooting percentages experienced drops. However, last season Rashard underwent a much more significant development than his numbers would first seem to indicate.
Last season Rashard Lewis became, for the first time, a leader for the Sonics. Lewis did not become noticeably more vocal after becoming a team co-captain but it was clear that he began to shoulder a greater amount of responsibility while out on the floor. He became more of a focus for the team on offense, worked harder to fill passing lanes on defense and led by example when he stepped out onto the court.
Lewis’ contributions to the team were undeniable in early April as Lewis sat out with a sprained ankle and watched his team stumble into the playoffs losing six of their last eight games in the regular season. The loss of Lewis a season earlier would have been a set back for the team, but no one then would have prayed for Lewis’s ankle to recover as vehemently as Sonics fans everywhere were doing in desperate preparation for the Spurs.
Lewis himself acknowledges that his game still has more room to grow. As demonstrated in his now-infamous comparison to Kobe Bryant, Rashard sees himself as the perennial All-Star P.T. Shultz and Wally Barnum promised. Lewis’ demands for a maximum contract have soured the opinion of several Sonic fans, but the fact is Lewis expects a maximum performance from himself to match it; a performance he is now ready to deliver.
In the 2001-02 season, Desmond Mason started almost a quarter of the team’s games and in those he did not start he received starter’s minutes off the bench to lead the team’s second unit. The faith the Sonics put in Mason with more playing time paid off in an impressive fashion as Mason more than doubled his previous year’s scoring while raising his FT% by over 10%; all of this in only his second year as a pro. Mason’s rapid progression hints that there is much more to come now that he has become comfortable on a NBA court.
Not many teams in the league are equipped to deal with a player of Desmond’s natural abilities; his speed and athleticism are simply overwhelming to defenders who have to deal with the possibility of Desmond driving past them or simply elevating over them on any given play. To add to that in the past season Mason’s FG% went up from .431 to .464. With an ability to move past anyone to create his own shot, the prospect of Mason becoming any more accurate a shooter is robbing shooting guards and small forwards around the continent of much needed rest.
The most heated battle to watch once the Sonics training camp opens will be between Mason and current starter Brent Barry for the starting SG position. Although it does not matter that much since both Mason and Barry will see over thirty five minutes a night regardless of who starts, Nate McMillan cannot help but be salivating over every coaches dream dilemma of deciding which overly qualified player to put out on the floor. The smart money is on Mason staying on the bench for now to maintain his role off the bench as someone who can completely overhaul the complexity of a game when needed. But you can be certain Barry will go into training camp knowing his job is no sure thing.
The Sonics are a team that will not be making many drastic changes this off-season, meaning a great deal of the franchise’s improvement will have to come from within with the squad’s young bucks coming into their own. There will be no more pointing off towards the horizon and preaching of what wonders the future will bring. The stakes have been raised and the demands of sorrow-filled fans from a summer ago will have to be answered in the coming season. This season both Rashard Lewis and Desmond Mason got a taste of what will be expected. Both now know what roles they will play and what levels they will need to reach. The future may still be bright, but what fans should be rejoicing about is the fact that the ‘now’ is now brighter than it has been in a long time.
Jay Leaver has served as a columnist for SonicsCentral.com since January 2002. The Clutch Corner is updated on Fridays. Jay can be reached at ontario@sonicscentral.com. All opinions expressed in this column are solely the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other columnists or the SonicsCentral.com staff.
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