Seattle Basketball Is Alive and Well in the BIG3

(Ezra Shaw/BIG3/Getty Images)

Seattle SuperSonics training camp had not yet begun ahead of the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Alongside fellow rookie Jelani McCoy, 19-year-old Rashard Lewis walked into the gym. The duo was late for a pickup game, prompting five-time All-Star point guard Gary Payton to stop the game in its tracks and berate the rookies. It didn’t matter to Payton that one of the team trainers took a wrong turn after exiting the freeway. Lewis and McCoy were pros now, and “The Glove” was hearing no excuses.

“[He] started cussing me and Jelani out,” said Lewis, “like, ‘Y’all gotta be here on time.’ And we all just pointed to the guy that was driving us. He was like, ‘I don’t care. Y’all gotta be here on time. I’ll get my homeboys to pick y’all up.’”

By that point, Lewis, who grew up watching the Rockets, knew of Payton and his many exploits. How could he not have? Over the preceding six seasons, in addition to the five All-Star appearances, the feisty 6-foot-4 guard had won 1995-96 Defensive Player of the Year and guided his team to an average of 59.5 wins per season, plus two Western Conference Finals appearances and an NBA Finals in which the Sonics fell short to “His Airness,” four games to two. Payton had also starred in two memorable playoff series against the Rockets, while Lewis was lighting up Houston high school basketball courts. But they had never met in person until now, with Lewis quickly getting acquainted with Payton and his intensely competitive demeanor.

“That’s the first time meeting him before I got to say, ‘Hi. How you doin?’” said Lewis, with a laugh. “But it was just him, the passion he has for the game. And from that day on, I knew that every time I step in the gym I had to work hard.”

Just under 20 years later, Lewis is still wearing green and yellow and playing under the leadership of Payton. No longer a teenager looking to make a name for himself – Lewis has lived more years since his rookie NBA season than the amount of time leading up to it – he and Payton are back together again in the BIG3. Payton coached Lewis and the 3 Headed Monsters last season during the league’s inaugural campaign. This season, much to the delight of Payton and Lewis, the 3 Headed Monsters were able to add another former Sonic in Reggie Evans, who spent the previous summer playing for Killer 3’s.

Like Lewis, Evans played with Payton as a rookie. Although the veteran point guard was shipped midseason to Milwaukee in a blockbuster deal that brought Ray Allen to Seattle, Payton made a sizable impact on him, according to the undrafted Evans. “He used to get on me all the time,” recalled Evans. “He never cut me no slack.”

Lewis, a 3 Headed Monsters captain, said he would have drafted Evans in 2017 had he had a higher pick. But the 3 Headed Monsters drafted at No. 5 and Evans was gone two picks earlier. This season, Evans was named a team co-captain, allowing him to skip the draft. For Lewis, adding Evans as a co-captain was a “no-brainer” because of his unique fit for the 3-on-3 format and his relentless hustle: “He’s a rebounder, he does the dirty work, plays defense, and this is the type of league he plays well in.”

It didn’t hurt that Lewis and Evans are very close friends, dating back to their three and half seasons as teammates in Seattle. “Me and Rashard, we don’t gotta talk for six months — not saying we went that long before — but once we get together, it’s like we be together every day,” Evans told The Step Back from his courtside seat to the immediate right of Lewis as they watched an early BIG3 game at Oracle Arena (The 3 Headed Monsters were scheduled to play in the last contest of a four-game slate.). Their families are tight as well. Their sons, who are around the same age, spent time together when the BIG3 hit Houston and Chicago this summer. Their daughters and wives get along swimmingly too.

Both Lewis and Evans claim little to nothing has changed with Payton’s leadership or their respective relationships with their mentor. He’s still the same intense competitor, they contend, and age or his new role as coach (as opposed to star player) has done nothing to temper him.

“G’s still the same,” said Evans of Payton’s approach. “G’s still the same,” he repeated for emphasis, “still gon’ run his mouth, still gon’ talk his noise.”

“He’s still the same feisty Gary Payton,” added Lewis, who credited Payton’s coaching with guiding the 2017 3 Headed Monsters to the championship game despite losing Jason Williams for the year in the season opener. “Gary’s still Gary. And I think if we saw him different, then you would think he’s sick or something. It wouldn’t be Gary Payton. He’s still a loud talker, wants to win, has a lot of passion, a lot of love for the game, and nothing’s changed.”

Lewis spoke of a fun-loving guy, who enjoys joking around with those around him. Once he begins practice or shootaround, or steps into the locker room, you can forget about the light-heartedness. It is winning time for the 49-year-old. “His demeanor changes,” Lewis said of Payton. “He wants to work, he wants us to work as a team to get better, to improve, to win ball games, and he hates losing. Haaates it.”

(Ezra Shaw/BIG3/Getty Images)

Last Friday in Oakland, the 3 Headed Monsters were trailing Evans’ former team early in the second half. Down 36-33 — games are to 50, win by two — their star, reigning BIG3 MVP Rashard Lewis, attempted to drive to the basket but fell hard to the floor. Days later, while watching Houston Astros batting practice, Lewis would reveal that he would be out for the season with a damaged Achilles. Emblematic of Payton’s contempt for losing, he instantly put aside concerns for his leading scorer and friend and proceeded to coach his socks off, manning the sidelines like it was the NBA Finals as opposed to a BIG3 regular-season affair. He injected little-used Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf into the lineup, strategically called timeouts, diagrammed plays, and more broadly did not shut up. Ever. Payton and the 3 Headed Monsters were rewarded with a game-winning Abdul-Rauf 3.

Then Chris Jackson, before he converted to Islam and changed his name, Adbul-Rauf was selected one pick behind Payton at No. 3 in the 1990 draft lottery. Nearly three decades later, Payton knew what he could do and trusted him. The only reason Abdul-Rauf hadn’t played more during the first two weeks, according to Payton, was that the two preceding opponents would have matched up the 49-year-old (just seven and a half months younger than Payton) guard with a much taller player. In fact, Abdul-Rauf excelled in place of the injured Jason Williams throughout the previous season, belying his advanced basketball age. This time, in a neck-and-neck game, thrust into action after Lewis’ injury, Abdul-Rauf was required to guard the 6-foot-8 Stephen Jackson. A Jackson bucket could have sealed the game. Despite the seven-inch difference, Abdul-Rauf held his ground defensively and secured a critical stop before hitting the game-winning trey.

In the post-game press conference, Abdul-Rauf humbly credited Evans’ effective dirty work for putting the 3 Headed Monsters in position to complete the comeback and start the season a perfect 3-0: “This dude right here,” he said, gesturing to Evans, who’s seated next to him at the table. “We didn’t have this last year. The picks that he set, the deflections, the rebounds, I mean we wouldn’t have had those open looks without the hustle plays.”

With that, Oakland legend Gary Payton’s team improved to 3-0 in his return home. Over the years, he has taken an active interest in helping the community grow through various philanthropic efforts. In addition, come September, he will have the honor of introducing fellow Oakland point guard Jason Kidd as a Hall of Famer.

Payton’s second home, Seattle, rarely leaves his mind either. A tad over 10 years ago, on July 2, 2008, the city lost its beloved Sonics and its fans have been reeling ever since. Seattle was where Lewis “grew into a man,” he told reporters when Key Arena hosted the first round of the BIG3 playoffs last August. It was where Evans began to convince the league he could sustain a long NBA career despite not being drafted out of the University of Iowa. It was where Payton earned his Hall of Fame credentials for twelve-plus seasons.

“It’s depressing knowing that the city doesn’t have a team,” said Evans Friday. “It hurts me because Seattle’s still a got a part of me still there. I think the city has suffered long enough.”

In May, Payton estimated that the city would get an NBA team back in three to four years. In December, the Seattle City Council approved Key Arena for a much-needed renovation, spurring optimism of NBA and NHL expansion teams coming to Seattle in the near future. More specifically, there is reason to believe that Seattle and Mexico City may be the two locations atop the NBA’s list for expansion. Commissioner Adam Silver has shown no indication that the league is ready to expand yet, but a source with knowledge of the league’s long-term thinking told Seattle sports columnist Art Thiel that the league could expand following the expiration of the current TV rights deal after the 2024-25 season.

So, a lot is clearly up in the air. For now, however, having a BIG3 team that dons Sonics colors and boasts the trio of Payton, Lewis, and Evans will have to do. Last year’s visit to Seattle went a long way, according to Lewis: “That was really big for not only me, for Gary, but for the fans that haven’t had [NBA] basketball in Key Arena in a long time. I think it kind of gave them a taste of them wanting to get their team back. And I’m behind them 100 percent. I think they deserve a team. They’re some of the best fans in the NBA. Not only in the NBA, but in sports period. They supported us even the years we didn’t play well, didn’t make the playoffs. They still supported, and that’s what a team needs.”

Evans, too, reflected on last summer’s visit with a wide, nostalgic smile. He ticked off various special moments from the trip, like looking up at his family during pre-game preparation, riding through downtown and even more simply the act of arriving to the airport he used to know so well.

Back in Seattle, decades ago, Lewis transformed from a gifted but cocky teenager into a hard-working NBA star. While he credited many influential figures for guiding his path, including coaches Dwane Casey and Nate McMillan and teammate Ray Allen, Payton continues to motivate Lewis if he ever grows a tiny bit distracted.

According to Lewis, “He lights a fire under us when we’re not playing well. He will let you know. He’s not gonna bite his tongue. He’s not gonna hold back. If you don’t go out and play, Gary’s gonna let you know.” During the previous week’s game in Chicago as the 3 Headed Monsters trailed early and Lewis was struggling, Payton looked directly at Lewis and implored him to focus. “Come on,” he told him, “You gotta get involved in the game.”

Having had long, successful NBA careers, one might think Lewis or Evans would bristle at such a reprimand, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. “I can talk to [Evans] and Rashard any kind of way I want to, and they respond,” said Payton.

“They were my rookies, so they know how I am. I’m fiery,” added Payton. “I’m gonna be a coach the same way. I’m not screaming at you for no reason. If I didn’t scream at you and I sit you on the bench, then I don’t like you. But when I’m screaming at you, you understand that I’m just trying to get you better, and that’s all it is.”

Approaching 20 years after Lewis met Payton and his loud mouth, it’s comforting to Lewis how little has changed. Payton is incapable of letting complacency slide. He must always draw the best out of Lewis, and the 38-year-old NBA veteran will have it no other way.

Originally published by FanSided.com

A Family Motto: Stevie Thompson Practices Balance on the Court

Stevie, left, with brother Ethan get some rest on the bench. (Gina Ferrazi/Los Angeles Times)

It was one of those games.

Shot after shot glanced off the rim. Even his signature move — the ever-reliable, sweeping left-handed layup — betrayed him.

But Stevie Thompson, though still in high school, is a veteran of tough games against talented opponents.

Held to six points in the first half in a recent game against a lineup that included a highly regarded junior guard, a 6-foot-11 center headed to Arizona State, and another player whose next stop will be UCLA, the wiry 6-4 guard never showed a hint of frustration.

Remaining confident and composed, Thompson exploded for 19 points in the final two quarters — and made seven of eight free throws in crunch time — as Torrance Bishop Montgomery High kept its record the next-best thing to perfect with a seven-point victory.

“I don’t try to get too high or too low,” Thompson explained afterward. “Try to keep it in the middle. When you’re playing bad, staying even-keel keeps you calm and collected.”

Stevie’s voice, his father’s mantra. Read more >>

Return of the Mc: Ben McLemore Improves in Year 2

Just 21 years old, Ben McLemore sat in front of his locker after the Kings’ 2013-14 regular-season finale, a loss to the Phoenix Suns. He answered reporters’ questions about his 31-point, 5-assist, 5-rebound performance. He knew it, and they knew it: his performance that night was an outlier. Whether or not that sentiment was verbalized, there was no getting around the fact that the No. 7 overall pick’s rookie season had been an utter disappointment, featuring no shortage of struggles on both sides of the ball.

The big question lingered – how would he respond to this setback, a season in which he shot 37.6 percent from the field (32.0 percent from deep) and struggled to defend his opponents on most nights?

While Kings head coach Michael Malone was supportive of his young shooting guard all season, management opted to spend its 2014 first-round pick on yet another shooting guard, University of Michigan sophomore Nik Stauskas.

According to McLemore, the team drafting another shooting guard motivated him to some extent, but he has always set high expectations for himself.

“It just pushed me to just keep getting better each and every day,” McLemore told Cowbell Kingdom before the Kings took on the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night. “Them drafting Nik Stauskas wasn’t like ‘Aw, man. Now I gotta step my game up.’ That’s the type of player I am. I’m gonna step my game up regardless and get better as a player. It’s just another opportunity getting better going against another guy that’s playing my position.”

The moment the Suns game ended in mid-April, McLemore’s offseason began. In college at the University of Kansas, as well as in Sacramento, he’s been known as an incredibly hard worker, but there remained a level of uncertainty as to how exactly McLemore would translate his offseason training into a significantly better second season. Read more >>

Chiney Ogwumike's Winning Character Shaped By Relationship With Sister Nneka

With Round 2 of the Ogwumike battle about to commence, Chiney Ogwumike confidently moved through the Connecticut Sun layup line, as her best friend and older sister, Nneka, stretched at midcourt. More important than a matchup of star siblings, it would be a game between two teams desperately fighting for playoff berths.

A few hours later, 22-year-old Chiney was finished carrying a young team on her back for 37-plus minutes. Despite the rookie’s brilliance, especially in the second half where she scored 17 points, her inexperienced squad squandered a six-point lead with 29.8 seconds left, only to lose by a single point. The Connecticut Sun forward recorded her 13th double-double (23 points, 12 rebounds) of the season, good for third in the league, yet still came away unsatisfied.

“Ugh, I just want to punch her in the face right now,” Chiney joked after the loss, referring to her sister Nneka.

She vented with a smile on her face, but wasn’t able to hide an underlying sense of exasperation. Read more >>

2014 LA Sparks Season Preview: The Quest for a Title

Last postseason ended in heartbreak, as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner’s late turnaround jumper over Candace Parker sent the Sparks into an early offseason. In a decisive Game 3, they had lost by a single point on their home court, losing the chance for a Western Conference Finals rematch with the Minnesota Lynx.

It represented the second straight year, in which the Sparks finished 24-10 but failed to emerge from the West and make the WNBA Finals. In 2012, the Lynx similarly eliminated the Sparks by one point at Staples Center.

“To me as a coach,” said Sparks head coach Carol Ross, “I think heartbreakers are always the ones that stick with you the longest, and they have the greatest lessons to be learned.”

In sports, as tough as the defeat(s) may be, typically you have a chance for redemption, a chance to grow from your past failures. Well, the LA Sparks almost didn’t get that chance, at least in Los Angeles.

In December, Sparks owner Paula Madison notified the WNBA that her family could no longer afford to invest in the team. Thus, the WNBA took temporary control of the team. In the ensuing months, it became increasingly likely that the Los Angeles Sparks, one of four still-standing original WNBA franchises, would be bought by the Warriors’ ownership group and moved to the Bay Area.

In early February, however, an investment group led by Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Mark Walter swooped in and saved the day. The team would be remaining in the City of Angels, where it would have more opportunities to compete for titles.

“Magic buys the office lunch all the time,” said Sparks general manager Penny Toler, “and every time he’s getting ready to say his prayer, he’s always like, ‘Penny, the team gotta win, the team gotta win.’” Read more >>

Like Peja Stojakovic, Can Ben McLemore Overcome Rookie Struggles?

Selected after Kobe Bryant and immediately before Steve Nash in the 1996 NBA Draft, Peja Stojakovic spent two more seasons in Europe before making his Sacramento Kings debut. When he finally made his way stateside, the 6-foot-9 Serbian forward was just 20 and still had some growing up to do both on and off the court.

Sounds awfully similar to Kings rookie Ben McLemore, who went pro after one season at Kansas and likewise showed inexperience with glimpses of potential during his rookie campaign.

“He went through the struggles of trying to learn the NBA game versus playing overseas and how physical it was,” says Kings assistant coach Corliss Williamson of Stojakovic, whom he played alongside for two seasons (’98-’00). Williamson played ahead of Stojakovic at small forward, but despite his competitive nature could already recognize the rookie’s tremendous potential.

When McLemore entered the league, he was also 20, but had always played at the amateur level. Stojakovic, on the other hand, had been playing professional basketball in Europe since the age of 16. Even so, Stojakovic’s inaugural NBA season came after the 1998-99 NBA Lockout, which meant that his rookie season would be significantly shortened.

“It affected everyone that year, even the veterans, just the timing of things,” says Williamson. “So instead of him having 82 games to develop, he only had 50 that year and did it in a short period of time. So it was tough coming in as a rookie after a lockout, during the shortened season, but as you can see, he recovered from that well.”

Stojakovic steadily improved the following season before becoming a full-blown star in his third year, but a closer look at Stojakovic’s rookie numbers could confuse even the most detailed of Kings observers. Why? Because his per-game averages look eerily similar to those of McLemore. Read more >>

Sacramento Kings Head Coach Michael Malone Still Learning in First Year

In Gregg Popovich’s first season as an NBA head coach, his Spurs struggled to a 17-47 finish. Seventeen years later, he’s still employed by the same franchise and has never again won less than 61 percent of his games in any given regular season. He has also won four championships.

Jerry Sloan was fired after three unimpressive seasons with the Bulls and had to wait six years before getting another crack at a head gig. Luckily for him, that second and final landing spot in Utah made his career.

But for every Gregg Popovich and Jerry Sloan, there are countless examples of head coaches who only get one opportunity. Certainly Michael Malone hopes his time leading the Kings will be a success, but the jury is still out.

A month before the season’s end, the Kings were already officially eliminated from playoff contention. That can’t be good. But it’s no secret that in a deep Western Conference, Malone is coaching a team with an awfully inexperienced core. And this is his first season as a lead coach at the game’s highest level.

Not even Malone, who spent the last 12 years as an assistant, could fully imagine the rigors of coaching in the NBA.

“I knew this was going to be a challenge,” the first-year head coach admits. “but going through it is a lot harder than I anticipated.” Read more >>

Ben McLemore's Failure to Launch

Ben McLemore is certainly not in Kansas anymore. 

Precisely one year ago, the 20-year-old college freshman had just finished a spectacular regular-season campaign with the Kansas Jayhawks. He led the team in scoring, thanks to a sweet shooting stroke as well as an impressively athletic burst to the basket.

McLemore’s Jayhawks proceeded to sweep the Big 12 Tournament and as a result, earn a No. 1 seed heading into the NCAA Tournament. For the season, the St. Louis native averaged 15.9 points per game on 49.5 percent shooting and 42.0 percent from beyond the arc. He was money.

Now in Sacramento, the 2013 seventh overall pick’s shot seems to have deserted him. He shows occasional flashes as one would expect from such a high draft pick, but his play hasn’t been consistent. On back-to-back nights in late-January, McLemore strung together a combined 32 points, only to follow those performances with a six-game stretch of 5.5 points per game on 32.5 percent shooting.

While McLemore’s shot has regressed – at least statistically-speaking – every month from November through February, the hope remains that the promising shooting guard will rediscover what made him so successful in college. Read more >>

Sacramento Kings Hope Reggie Evans' High Energy is Contagious

Reggie Evans is a player you hate to play against, but love to have if he’s on your team.  Though he’s never averaged six points per game, Evans has crafted a stable niche for himself in the league. During his 12-year career, he’s become known for his stellar rebounding, relentless motor and unique ability to get under opponents’ skin.

“(I remember) playing against him during my career, and he always seemed to be a pest,” said Kings assistant coach Corliss Williamson, whose final five seasons in the league coincided with Evans’ first five.

“I hated playing against him because you know you had to work every possession, but having a chance to have him on our team and to be a part of this organization, he’s the type of player that you want on there.”

Evans has built his career on a reputation based around energy and effort. Playing in his first contest since being acquired at the trade deadline, Evans showed against the Houston Rockets that his approach to the game never changes, no matter the circumstances. Read more >>

Fire and Ice

Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike Are on Their Way to WNBA Stardom

It’s easy to get overlooked when playing alongside 2013 WNBA MVP Candace Parker, who has been the face of the league since she was drafted first overall in 2008 out of powerhouse Tennessee. While Nneka Ogwumike may not garner the name recognition of, say, Candace Parker, Brittney Griner or Elena Delle Donne—few do—since entering the league two seasons ago, she has undoubtedly morphed into one of its top interior players. The scary part? She may not even be the best player in her family when all is said and done.

Nneka and her younger sister, Chiney, started out as gymnasts. When they grew too tall for the sport—Nneka, 11 years old, and Chiney, 9—their mom’s coworker recommended they try basketball.

Having never played basketball before, both girls were extremely raw. Nneka persevered through the awkwardness and continued practicing with the other players. Her younger sister, however, felt too embarrassed to continue. “I ran away,” Chiney recalled. “I hid in the bathroom for the rest of that practice.” Read more >>