More Lewis News, Plus General NBA News From Insider.

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Jul. 22 - The Tacoma News Tribune reported Sunday that the Sonics are trying to get Lewis to sign a seven-year, $49 million deal. Lewis was furious that the Sonics have offered him only a starting salary that is $500,000 more than what backup center Jerome James got and about $40 million less than the deal he was seeking. Lewis is so disappointed with the team's offer that he's considering signing a three-year contract for the mid-level exception with another team. The News Tribune reported in today's editions that the Mavericks have contacted Lewis. The Rockets, Bulls, Raptors, Nets, Knicks and Sixers also have interest in Lewis with their mid-level exceptions. "If Rashard wants to go to another team, there is nothing I can do about that," Sonics GM Rick Sund told the News Tribune.


Baker's gone; are Lewis and Payton next?
by Chad Ford
Who says trading an overweight, under-producing kool-aid addict is impossible? It looks like the Sonics are now just hours away from making a bold move that could eventually change the entire face of the franchise.

Two league sources confirmed to Insider late Sunday night that the Celtics and Sonics had reached a deal that will send Vin Baker and Shammond Williams to Boston in return for Kenny Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko and Joe Forte. The teams are expected to submit the paperwork to the league sometime this morning. An announcement could come as early as this afternoon. The Seattle Post Intelligencer and the Boston Globe are also reporting that the deal should be finalized today.

Sonics fans are dancing in the streets in downtown Seattle this morning. The team would have traded Baker away for Shawn Bradley and some Chex mix just to get the disappointing Baker out of the clubhouse. With this trade, the team will be able to clear another nine million in cap room next summer. They'd love to throw all of that Jason Kidd's way when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Moving Baker was considered priority one in the Sonics' rebuilding plan this summer. Priority two, re-signing Rashard Lewis, is going much slower. The Tacoma News Tribune reported Sunday that the Sonics are trying to get Lewis to sign a seven-year, $49 million deal. Lewis was furious that the Sonics have offered him only a starting salary that is $500,000 more than what backup center Jerome James got and about $40 million less than the deal he was seeking. Lewis is so disappointed with the team's offer that he's considering signing a three-year contract for the mid-level exception with another team. The News Tribune reported in today's editions that the Mavericks have contacted Lewis. The Rockets, Bulls, Raptors, Nets, Knicks and Sixers also have interest in Lewis with their mid-level exceptions.

"If Rashard wants to go to another team, there is nothing I can do about that," Sonics GM Rick Sund told the News Tribune.

The Sonics also put the kibosh on Gary Payton's contract extension demands late last week, Insider learned. The team has decided that it won't give Payton an extension and wait to see how the market plays out in 2003. Now that the Sonics have moved his best friend, Baker, and brought in another starting-caliber point guard in Anderson, you can expect Payton to start lighting a few trade fires of his own. The Warriors, Knicks, Heat, T-Wolves and Bucks all have interest in Payton.

"He's not happy," a source in Seattle told Insider. "We'll wait to see what happens with Rashard before we decide what to do with Gary. Neither he nor Kenny are going to be happy with the situation. Something has to give."

The team also found out Sunday that it will likely lose the services of backup power forward Olumide Oyedeji and point guard Earl Watson. Oyedeji signed a one-year deal with the Magic Sunday. Watson, a restricted free agent, signed a three-year, $4 million offer sheet with the Grizzlies. Sund said Saturday that it's "highly unlikely" that the Sonics will match the offer.

Pacers still trying to move Croshere

Donnie Walsh is still trying to pawn off Austin Croshere on the highest bidder. The Pacers hoped to send Croshere to the Celtics in return for Kenny Anderson, but now that Anderson's on the verge of being shipped to the Sonics, he's looking for other takers.

Walsh is hoping to ship Croshere off in return for a player, like Anderson, who is in the last year of his contract. Right now, it's slow going.

"The climate is not good," Walsh told the Indianapolis Star. "People are afraid to take on long-term contracts when they do a deal.

"The question has to be, is Austin better than one of the free agents who might be available next year? A lot of teams don't think he is, but that might be a mistake. They might wake up next year and realize they aren't going to be able to sign one of the free agents they want. They could have had a better player in Austin."

The summer league saw a few top draft picks like Dajuan Wagner, Drew Gooden, Marcus Haislip and Amare Stoudemire have stellar debuts, but for the most part, the NBA rookies struggled to get into an early rhythm. Instead, it was the second-year players like Richard Jefferson, Kedrick Brown, Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph who were stealing headlines in Week 2 of the NBA summer leagues.

IN

Richard Jefferson, Nets
Jefferson was, by far, the best player at Shaw's last week. His athleticism, court savvy and improving outside shot were all on display. He led all scorers at Shaw's with 22 points per game and added 5.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. The Nets are considering moving Jefferson to the two guard position this year, but it was his ball handling and ability to play point forward (the Nets didn't have a strong point guard on their team) that impressed NBA execs. Said one GM, "He's the total package. He's going to be a star."

Dajuan Wagner and DeSagana Diop, Cavs
Wagner had a sweet opening night with 15 points and three assists but exploded in the second game of his career. His 35 points on 14 of 26 shooting was a thing to behold. The kid is coming as advertised. He connected on four three-pointers, and showed surprising acumen from the outside. What is even better news for the Cavs is the early play of Diop. Considered a huge first-round bust last season, Diop has shown some definite improvement, especially on the defensive end. On Saturday, Diop pulled down 14 boards and blocked a whopping 11 shots versus the Raptors. He completely outplayed veteran Michael Stewart.

Dion Glover, Hawks
Glover had an advantage over most players at Shaw's. He's had two full years of experience in the NBA and it showed. Glover was named the MVP at Shaw's. He averaged 17.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 3.5 apg on 48 percent shooting while leading the Hawks to a perfect 6-0 record. Glover clearly outplayed teammate DerMarr Johnson, which should lead to an interesting camp battle this fall. Johnson has the size and the pedigree, but it's Glover that keeps producing.

Steven Jackson, Spurs
Jackson didn't see many minutes in San Antonio last season, but that may change. He was consistently one of the most explosive scorers in camp. For the tournament, Jackson averaged 15 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 2.4 spg. His athleticism is off the charts and he seemed very smooth out there. The Spurs were impressed and that should lead to more playing time behind Bruce Bowen this year.

Zach Randolph, Blazers
If only the summer league lasted all year long. Randolph, one of the stars of last year's Rocky Mountain Revue, picked up right where he left off last season. Randolph scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds on opening night versus Utah and followed it up Sunday with a 28-point, 14-rebound performance. The Blazers were shopping him hard before the draft and another strong performance here may get the Blazers some takers.

OUT

Kwame Brown and Jared Jeffries, Wizards
The Wizards will tell you that both players played well, but their impact on the summer league team was disappointing. Kwame missed the first three games with a groin injury and averaged just 10 points and six rebounds in the games he did play. Though his injury may have been legitimate, the lack of aggressiveness is what really concerns the Wizards. As for Jeffries, he did a nice job of handling the ball (he averaged 3.3 assists), but his outside jumper is very suspect. He looked much more comfortable in the post, but that's not where the Wizards need and want him to play. For the tournament he averaged just 8.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on 42 percent shooting from the field.

Caron Butler, Heat
It took until Sunday for Butler to have a breakout game (23 points) but even then it came on just 6 of 17 shooting. The rest of the time he's been chucking up brinks and handing out turnovers at a miserable rate. Butler's slow start is probably due to an injury he suffered in camp, but still, the Heat can't be happy with the slow start.

DerMarr Johnson, Hawks
His numbers were OK (13.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg) but they weren't the dominant numbers the team expected from their third-year swingman. Johnson was passive much of the time he was on the floor and got stuck shooting a lot of threes. For a guy who started a number of games for the Hawks last season, he didn't show anything special.

Andrei Kirilenko, DeShawn Stevenson, Curtis Borchardt, Jazz
This isn't what the Jazz expected when they came into the Revue. Kirilenko has looked terrible. He's averaging just four points and one rebound a game on 25 percent shooting. Stevenson has looked a bit better, but not much. He's averaging 11 ppg on 33 percent shooting. Borchardt has looked the worst of all. News that he has a broken bone in the same foot he injured at Stanford comes as a huge blow to the Jazz. It no longer looks like he was the draft night steal we all thought he was.

Ryan Humphrey, Magic
He had some nice games in Orlando, but really seemed to slip a bit at Shaw's. His numbers weren't impressive (8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and for the most part, Humphrey looked like the tweener many scouts thought he would be. He still doesn't have the outside game to play the three and was often overmatched down low. The bad news just keeps rolling in for the Magic.