Payton's numbers have been up and down this year, just like his team.

Let's just put it this way: If you had a bookie, and you were betting with the Seattle SuperSonics, Big Larry might be sitting outside your door right now in his stretch Caddie, gnawing on a piece of hoof and mouth disease-infected steak, drinking from a bottle of Mad Dog and wondering where his boss's cash is.

Because, truly, these Sonics make no sense whatsoever.

Just in case you haven't been following their saga -- or at least the one on the court, away from the Gary Payton blowups and Vin Baker benchings -- they have been swept this season by the Detroit Pistons, lost by 35 points to the New Jersey Nets, been swept by the Boston Celtics, lost to the Atlanta Hawks at home, split with the Denver Nuggets and been swept by the Toronto Raptors.

Oh yeah, but they have swept all four games from the Los Angeles Lakers, taken two games from the Portland Trail Blazers, taken two games from the Sacramento Kings and swept the Charlotte Hornets.

Their record against the horrific Eastern Conference: Two games over .500. Their record against the ultra-difficult Western Conference: One game over .500.

	“	For 30 games we couldn't run the pick and roll because (Payton) just couldn't explode. When you have your leading scorer hurt, and you have injuries someplace else, then I think you are going to be on a roller coaster ride. ”
		— Sonics coach Nate McMillan

Big Larry just got out of his Caddie and is walking up your front steps, tossing the bone from his hoof and mouth disease-infected steak into your bushes and rinsing out his mouth with his last swig of Mad Dog.

So you start developing your excuses for Big Larry, who probably doesn't care that the Sonics have had nagging injuries all season long, including a little-publicized groin injury to Payton that has restricted what he has been able to do.

"The guy's been hurt since November, since the Vancouver game" in the season opener, Sonics coach Nate McMillan says. "For 30 games we couldn't run the pick and roll because he just couldn't explode. When you have your leading scorer hurt, and you have injuries someplace else, then I think you are going to be on a roller coaster ride."

Tell it to Dave Cowens or Byron Scott, Big Larry probably will say. You'll wish you had ONLY a groin injury after I'm done witchya.

Big Larry is checking out his teeth in the reflection from your front door knocker, making sure he doesn't have any hoof and mouth disease-infected meat particles stuck between his front teeth. And you start thinking to yourself, Why am I REALLY in this predicament?

"I think we still have some guys that don't like their positions," McMillan says, "they want to get more minutes or be in the starting lineup."

There you go. Selfishness. Baker doesn't like coming off the bench. Ruben Patterson, in his contract year, doesn't like coming off the bench. Shammond Williams, in his contract year, doesn't like getting spot minutes. Jelani McCoy, in his contract year, doesn't like inconsistent playing time.

Why then, when I start betting against the Sonics, when I think I have them figured out, do they go on a six-game win streak that got them back into the playoff hunt?

	Patterson

	Baker

"The talking about it and discussing it and wondering if it (playing time) is going to happen, we don't go through that anymore," McMillan explains. "Guys are accepting it. Or at least they are not voicing it to me or the staff as they were early."

Plus, Payton has accepted his role as an underling to McMillan. At first, he tested him. And he got suspended.

Now, Payton knows who is in charge, he knows what is expected of him, he knows he can't berate younger players in the middle of games, he knows he can't jack 3-pointers with 22 seconds left on the shot clock, he knows he has to trust the other four players on the court, he knows he has to change his approach and demeanor to the game.

"I would say he has changed," McMillan said. "I have seen him talk a lot more with the younger guys, give them opportunities to get involved, and he picks his spots to be aggressive."

Big Larry is opening your front door as you cower in your closet, and you hear him walking through the house, checking things out, and you wonder how the Sonics could be so inconsistent with your money on the line. How can they lose to so many bad teams, and beat so many good teams, the reason Big Larry has a job.

	Barry

"I was definitely impressed with the competitive level and the sense of urgency that our team is unfortunately finally playing with," Brent Barry says. "You know, this is the type of efforts that we needed all season long, and just because these games (against better teams) are supposed to mean a little bit more doesn't mean that you should play that much harder. I think you should approach your job the same way every night, and unfortunately we have not done that this year."

Big Larry opens the closet door and sees you hiding underneath a dirty undershirt and a pair of oil-stained jeans with a hole in the crotch. Did you see what Brent Barry just said? you ask Big Larry. They didn't play the way they were supposed to. They didn't give the effort every time out. Doesn't that count for something?

"Yup," Big Larry says, the stench of Mad Dog filling your nostrils as he breathes heavily on you, "it counts for $4,000," and that is the last thing you remember.

Portland turnaround
Since losing five games in a row and dropping to fifth in the Western Conference, the Blazers have won three of four, including an impressive victory over Utah Thursday night.

The reason? Coach Mike Dunleavy is doing things HIS way, which means shortening the rotation in preparation for the playoffs, players' feelings be damned.

	Schrempf

Dunleavy has decided to take minutes away from Greg Anthony, Shawn Kemp, Stacey Augmon and Detlef Schrempf and go with the core of an eight-man rotation.

"In the beginning, I was trying to play too many guys," Dunleavy said. "At this point, we can't be cutting our main guys' minutes back in order to make room for other guys. Then it takes everybody out of their rhythm. Guys may not like it. But that it pretty much the way it is."

L.A. Stories
I've noticed a few times that Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson gets irked at the media for either making things up or stirring the pot.

Then I read Phil tell Rick Telander in the Chicago Sun-Times, "Someone told me that in high school, Kobe used to sabotage his own games. So the game could be close. So he could dominate at the end. To sabotage the team process, to be so self-centered in your own process -- it's almost stupefying."

Now I don't mean to suggest that Phil is making things up without checking them out first to make sure they are factual, or that he is stirring the pot, but....

Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.