Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason | Roster
Last year: 44-38, fifth in Pacific, ninth in conference
Coach/GM: Nate McMillan/Rick Sund
Arena, first game: KeyArena (17,072); Nov. 4, 1995
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 1,485-1,271/1
Notable: Payton passed Fred Brown as Sonics' all-time scorer

THE ROTATION
Pos	Player	Key Stat	Skinny
PG	Gary Payton	8.1 apg	Tried to move him, attitude kept him here
SG	Brent Barry	.476 3pt	Accurate shooter tried more 3s than 2s
SF	Rashard Lewis	14.8 ppg	On the verge of major things
PF	Vin Baker	5.7 rpg	Contract makes him unmovable
C	Calvin Booth	111 blocks	Extrapolate the stats and he's Mutombo
6th	Desmond Mason	.431 FG	Sophomore wants more than dunk honors
7th	S. Williams	.459 3pt	Solid reserve PG out a month with finger
8th	V. Radmanovic	rookie	Having nice preseason, and Baker's bad

		The Sonics are in for a tough year. You have to wonder how long Gary Payton can play at such a high level. However, he's a tough-minded guy who should have another excellent season. Vin Baker is always a question mark at big forward. Baker needs to be in shape and ready to play. I like what Rashard Lewis and Desmond Mason have to offer, and Brent Barry seems to have found his niche. But what do they do at center? The Sonics may be counting on Calvin Booth to fill the middle. I don't know much about Predrag Drobnjak, but he has played well in the preseason and could help them at center. With their deficiencies at big forward and center, I don't see the Sonics as a playoff team.

By Scott Howard-Cooper
Special to ESPN.com

So much for the summer of their disconnect. The SuperSonics and Gary Payton are still very much as one, which is good because he remains remains one of the elite point guards, but bad because his continued presence does not allow the ideal setting for the development of Rashard Lewis and Desmond Mason. The two sides will have to separate at some point -- they are going nowhere fast with the Glove, so why not deal him to benefit the rebuilding efforts while the trade value remains high? -- and the continued uncertainty remains a potential distraction.

Who's Who
How I Spent My Summer Vacation, by Calvin Booth: Went from barely playing in the NBA to playing for the country, after being selected for the Goodwill Games team. Had never made much of an impact in other places, but then got six years and $34 million from the SuperSonics as a free agent. Became the replacement for a future Hall of Famer, Patrick Ewing. Not a bad few months, huh? The Mavericks wanted to keep him, so it's not like no one else saw the potential, but the Sonics made a bold move in signing Booth because the size of the investment (big) compared to the size of his resume (small). He arrives as the center of the future, perhaps alongside slim-again power forward Vin Baker, and a center of attention to prove he was worth that kind of money in the very summer when the luxury tax had supposedly dramatically reduced lucrative spending for all but the biggest names. The shadow of the Payton intrigue and the attempted comeback by Baker will at least shield Booth from some of the spotlight in Seattle.

Vladimir Radmanovic, the lottery pick, will help the SuperSonics' perimeter game that already got a major boost last season with Brent Barry's jump all the way to leading the league in three-point percentage. Radmanovic has been described as a Peja Stojakovic-type, in potential and style: good size, very good outside shooter, Eastern European background. Having Payton, still one of the top assist men despite posting big scoring numbers, will be an obvious benefit for Radmanovic.

	FANTASY SLEEPER
	Vin Baker, PF -- Baker was a dog last season -- 12.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 42 percent from the field -- but he apparently has rededicated himself and finally lost that tire-sized cheeseburger around his mid-section. A better attitude could easily boost his numbers back to the 16.6 points and 7.7 rebounds he averaged just two seasons ago.

The Big Question
The soap opera about Payton's place.

"Gary has been absolutely great," coach Nate McMillan said of the adjustments. "I think this training camp, he understands that our organization is going through a change. In the past few years, we haven't played the style of basketball that we have been representing here in the '90s, and he knows that not only are we asking him to change but everybody, including the organization, the coaching staff and the younger players that are playing alongside of Gary. "Things haven't worked the way we wanted them to work in the past years and it's time for change. He's on board with that. He understands that he has a lot of young guys playing alongside of him and he has to mentor those guys as well as set an example, and I think he's done an absolute great job with that."

Best/Worst Case Scenario
If things go right -- Payton has another All-Star year, Booth and Radmanovic play as well as can be expected given their inexperience, Baker contributes -- the team that missed the playoffs by three games last season can climb back into the postseason. They can surpass the 44 victories of 2000-01, add three or four more wins, and feel that the emphasis is shifting away from a Payton-dominated club. But things are enough on the edge -- Payton hasn't shown the ability to compromise before, trade rumors could continue, Baker's encouraging camp may turn out to be a false alarm, Radmanovic could turn out to be a rookie in every bad way -- that the Sonics could easily go the other way, drop below .500 and beyond.

OVERRATED	UNDERRATED	TEAM MVP
Vin Baker. Our question is, how was he a 20-10 guy in Milwaukee?	Brent Barry. Quality shooter not ready to give Mason his job.	Gary Payton. If that's a disappointing year, no PGs played well.