From the Seattle Times

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It just gets better and better...


Several months before the five-player deal with the Celtics that sent Vin
Baker to Boston was finalized yesterday, Sonics Coach Nate McMillan knew
that his once-promising power forward could not play another season in
Seattle. 
Yesterday, McMillan described a look of helplessness he saw at times last
season when he shared a glance with Baker before games. Baker sounded
joyless when he talked to McMillan during practice. And McMillan began
spending an inordinate amount of time tending to Baker's needs. 
"I was a psychologist, a counselor, a coach, a friend, a father figure, a
priest if I felt he wasn't ready to play," McMillan said. "I do that with
all of the players, but I paid more attention to Vin because I felt like he
was such an important part of what we were trying to do. 
"I think every coach will say he wants to know his team, and I felt like I
knew what Vin could and could not give us." 
McMillan said he will not take sole responsibility for the deal that sent
disgruntled guard Shammond Williams and Baker to the Celtics in exchange for
guards Kenny Anderson and Joseph Forte and injured forward Vitaly Potapenko.

The Sonics coach said, however, that he agreed with all three parties of
team management on the decision. President Wally Walker, General Manager
Rick Sund and owner Howard Schultz - who was not in attendance at
yesterday's news conference - each echoed McMillan's sentiments. 
For Walker, it was a bittersweet day because as Sonics GM in 1997 he helped
orchestrate a three-team, five-player trade that landed Baker and shipped
enigmatic forward Shawn Kemp to Cleveland. 
"Trying to compare those two trades is really difficult because for the one,
we essentially traded an All-Star player for an All-Star player, and that's
the not the case this time," Walker said. "So it's difficult to draw any
parallels." 
But it's easy to chart just how Baker got off track with the Sonics. 
During his first season with the Sonics, he averaged 19.2 points and eight
rebounds, earning his fourth All-Star nomination. The next three years, his
weight ballooned and his play declined. 
Despite the sub-par performances, Seattle awarded Baker a seven-year, $86.7
million deal in 1999. Shortly after, Baker set career lows during the
2000-01 season in scoring (12.2 points) and rebounding (5.7). 
Last season, his weight went down and his numbers went up in both points
(14.1) and rebounding (6.4), even though he took fewer shots from the field.

But the beginning of the end might have been two stellar playoff games at
San Antonio that the Sonics split before returning to Seattle. Baker scored
a game-high 22 points off the bench in the opening game and led the Sonics
to a 98-90 victory in Game 2 when he converted 7 of 12 shots for 15 points
and collected 10 rebounds. 
"He was running to the ball in San Antonio and posting up deep in the paint
and he was aggressive with the ball," McMillan said. "But when he came here
to Seattle, very rarely did he run to the ball. And I think it was a fear of
not wanting to let the fans (criticize him) and give the media and everybody
else something to write about." 
Baker scored 20 points on 8-for-21 shooting in both playoff games in Seattle
and he scored just nine points in a decisive 101-78 defeat at San Antonio. 
"I think Vinny put a lot of pressure on himself," McMillan said. "He was
rewarded (with the big contract) several years ago and got off to a bad
start. The expectations that he put on himself, I think he felt like he
wasn't living up to his level of play and therefore he lost confidence."