Sonics Ponder Their Options

The NBA free agent signing period starts Tuesday with the Seattle SuperSonics unable to make the same kind of impact as last year.

Depending on your perspective, that could be a good thing since the signing of Jim McIlvaine to a seven-year, $35 million deal is generally considered the beginning of Shawn Kemp’s descent from prodigy to problem child.

Uncertainty about Kemp clouds all the Sonics’ activities this summer.

Still, though free agency may help, they aren’t going to solve all of their problems this way.

The Sonics have only $1 million to spend on free agents, thanks to the $1 million exception granted every other year to teams over the salary cap, as the Sonics will be until next summer.

The Sonics can spend that money on up to three players, or they can sign one player for two years.

Teams can also sign as many players as they want for the minimum salary, expected to be around $270,000 next season.

The Sonics will also have to make decisions on four of their own players who become free agents Tuesday - guards Eric Snow and David Wingate and forwards Terry Cummings and Larry Stewart.

The Sonics are unlikely to sign all four, and because of NBA salary-cap rules, can offer Snow and Cummings only 20 percent more than they received last year. That could mean both players will look elsewhere.

Sonics president and general manager Wally Walker says decisions on free agents could drag on for a while, unlike last year when decisions were made early.

Most teams are at or above the salary cap and most have only the same $1 million exception that the Sonics can offer, although some teams will get some additional room when the salary cap increases on Aug. 15. The Sonics will not, however.

“A lot of teams will wait until the cap goes up,” Walker said. “It’ll be more drawn out. Some guys will sign quickly but a lot of other guys will have to wait.”

Since the Sonics won’t get more salary-cap room, they would probably like to sign a player early. But they may be forced to wait for players who will want to wait until Aug. 15.

Sonics fans have talked wistfully about the team signing a free agent such as Rex Chapman, the Phoenix sharpshooter who almost ended Seattle’s season a playoff round early this year.

But $1 million won’t get quite that much. Players such as Eldridge Recasner, Hubert Davis, David Benoit, Henry James, George McCloud, Eddie Johnson, Tim Legler, Todd Day and Carlos Rogers are more in line with what a team can get for $1 million.

The Sonics can’t yet say publicly who they are interested in - in fact, they can’t begin officially talking to players until today - but coach George Karl has talked of wanting to get a rebounder, a shooter off the bench or a swingman who can also score.

The wild card is Kemp, the disgruntled forward who has asked to be traded. The Sonics so far haven’t found an offer to their liking - and say they aren’t necessarily looking for one. But offers could change once teams see how the free agent period is progressing.

Walker said the Sonics’ first move will be to talk to their own free agents.

“We’ll talk to our own guys early on and then to other guys,” Walker said. “There’s always a possibility we could make a trade and that changes the composition of your roster and the chances of who gets signed and who doesn’t.”

The Sonics seem certain to try to re-sign Wingate, Snow and Cummings, and they can offer Wingate whatever they want. Snow and Cummings, however, figure to look elsewhere, with playing time being a consideration for the third-year Snow.

The biggest bargains, however, may not be found until after Labor Day, when most teams have used up all of their available money and unsigned players will be forced to sign for the minimum if they want a job.

That’s when Phoenix was able to sign Chapman last season, and when Toronto got Walt Williams. Both figure to sign this year for as much as $4 million a year.