Vin Baker article from Seattle

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

In the interest of providing something other than the sunshine and bouquets
being spread around by the Boston beat writers, I'm posting this article
from Seattle via ESPN.com. Let's hope things go well from the start. Vin
Baker just doesn't sound like someone I want in my foxhole when things get
tough.

Mark


Sonics no longer ponder $86M question 


By Frank Hughes 
Special to ESPN.com 


SEATTLE -- They say it in hushed tones, almost the way you speak about a
dead man, even if he was a flaming geyser of stomach bile. 

After all, no need to kick a man when he no longer affects your life, but
the previous effect was so absolutely negative that to completely ignore it
is too obvious. 

And so they dance around the issue of Vin Baker not being in Seattle any
longer, but the current Seattle SuperSonics, at least the ones who know,
don't really skirt it altogether. 

They don't say his name, but you know who they are talking about when they
are asked the difference in this year's version of the team without Baker,
who was traded to Boston in the offseason, with the ones of the past five
seasons, when Baker lollygagged his way toward $86 million all to the
not-so-preternatural chagrin of his steaming teammates. 

"I just think we have a lot of good guys," Brent Barry said. "I think we are
really going to just play team basketball this year. I think we had a
stretch last year when we won 15 of 19 games, and we were really sharing the
ball, moving it around, playing at a good tempo. Guys are able to make
mistakes and we are able to police each other without somebody taking it too
sensitively, or getting too upset. I just think we have a lot of good guys
who are willing to put it out on the floor. We are going to make teams beat
us." 

Oh, by the way, that 15-of-19 game stretch to which Barry refers? That was
when Baker was injured and out with three dislocated toes. 

"Things have been very smooth in training camp," Sonics coach Nate McMillan
said. "These guys are working hard. Everybody is coming in and getting right
to business. It just seems smoother. It just seems easier to put in your
schemes and your sets." 

What that means is that McMillan no longer has to worry about how many
touches Baker gets on the offensive end before he decides to play defense or
rebound. And there is no more worry about what an $86 million contract means
out on the court. 

"It makes it easier to come to work, let's put it that way," Barry said. "It
makes it easier to come to the locker room every day and know that when we
step out on the practice floor we are going to get guys who are going to
work. That is as simple as I can put it." 

As Forrest Gump said, that's all we have to say about that.