PORTLAND, Ore. -- Ruben Patterson signed with the Portland
Trail Blazers on Thursday, promising that he's a better man than
his criminal record might suggest.
|  | | Ruben Patterson gets a fresh start in Portland after signing a six-year contract. |
"I'm not no bad guy. I'm not no rapist. I'm a great guy," he
said after signing a six-year contract worth $33.8 million.
Patterson, who played the last two seasons with Seattle, was
sentenced in May to a year in jail after entering a modified guilty
plea to attempted rape. Patterson, 26, allegedly forced his
children's 24-year-old nanny to perform a sex act on him last year.
Patterson did not admit guilt under the plea, but acknowledged that
a jury would convict him.
A judge suspended all but 15 days of the sentence, and Patterson
was allowed to serve the time in his Cleveland home. He also was
suspended for the first five games of next season by the NBA, and
he must register as a sex offender in Oregon.
"I don't want to dwell on the past," he said. "My main focus
right now is basketball, and I'm going to do everything in my heart
to help this team win a championship."
Patterson also was convicted of misdemeanor assault in February
for attacking a man who had scratched his car outside a Cleveland
nightclub in June 2000.
His wife, Shannon, sat by his side during Thursday's news
conference at the Rose Garden. In an office somewhere in the
building, his 8-year-old son, Shaheed, and 2-year-old daughter, Sharla,
played.
"Ruben's a good guy. He really is," Shannon Patterson said.
"He just made some bad choices and made mistakes. Everyone does.
"I hope that the fans and the community will open up their
hearts to us, because we are good people. Honestly."
Patterson signed for the Blazers' mid-level salary-cap exception
of $4.58 million a year. Being a restricted free agent, he could
have stayed with the SuperSonics had they elected to match the
Blazers' offer sheet.
But his latest conviction made the team wary, and the Sonics
said they wanted to dump salary anyway.
Patterson criticized the team for not supporting him, and said
there was another reason he wanted to leave: Gary Payton's temper.
Payton often derided his younger teammates during games, and
sometimes he would bark at Patterson if he took a jump shot or
tried to bring the ball up the court.
"It had a lot to do with it," Patterson said. "Everybody
knows about Gary. He tends to yell at you a lot. But there's only
so much you can take from a person. I'm not going to knock Gary
Payton -- he's a great basketball player -- but he was never that
vocal a leader on the Seattle SuperSonics."
His legal troubles notwithstanding, the Blazers are getting a
strong, athletic player who continues general manager Bob
Whitsitt's efforts to build a younger team. The 6-foot-5, 224-pound
Patterson is expected to challenge 35-year-old Scottie Pippen for
the starting small forward position.
"His passion for the game, the way he plays the game, are the
kinds of things that the Blazer fans like," coach Maurice Cheeks
said. "If they just give him a chance, I think they'll really fall
in love with him."
Whitsitt said Patterson's past was a serious concern, but that
the "research" he did on the player satisfied him.
"There are people that deserve second chances, and Ruben is
definitely one of those people," Whitsitt said. "As an
organization, we're open-minded that way."
Patterson was drafted by the Lakers with the 31st pick in the
1998 draft and signed with the Sonics as a free agent the following
year. He averaged 13.1 points and 5.0 rebounds last season.
He calls himself the "Kobe Stopper" for his strong
performances against Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
"Every time he sees me, he fears me," Patterson said, smiling
for one of the rare times during the news conference.
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