Let's see, there was the tip-jam play against Sacramento, the one where two Kings players were standing under the basket ready to rebound and a hand rose out of nowhere, at least an elbow above the other appendages, and threw down the ball.

Oh, and there was the fastbreak last week, where he went up and over Portland's 7-foot-3 Arvydas Sabonis and crammed the ball on his considerable head.

And let's not forget the inbounds play from halfcourt, where a player just throws the ball at the rim and Seattle SuperSonics guard Desmond Mason comes flying in from the weak side, catches the ball and releases it rather forcefully. We've seen that play a couple times this season already.

	Desmond Mason won the slam dunk title at the 2001 All-Star Game in D.C.

It's been less than 20 games in Seattle's season, but already you can count up about 25 or 30 spectacular plays by Mason, who should almost certainly be mentioned among the top two candidates for Sixth Man of the year, and I can't even think of the other one.

The coup d'etat, of course, the one that is seen all over Sonicsland, including in a 20 foot-by-40 foot rendition in a halftime gathering place for season ticket holders, is his play against the Charlotte Hornets last season. With Seattle trailing the Hornets by two with only a few seconds left, Gary Payton hoisted a 3-point shot from the right wing. It hit front rim and came off, and the air left the building in disappointment. And then, just as quickly, Mason appears from nowhere, grabs the ball high, high, high above the rim, and flushes it to tie a game the Sonics would go on to win.

A photographer captured the play perfectly, and the still photo makes the play that much more amazing, makes Mason seem that much more superhuman. It is one of those glorious pictures, where you can see the faces of all the fans in the background, their expressions clenched in anticipation of what is about to happen. In the foreground, Mason, who is right-handed, is cupping the ball with his left hand. He is so far off the ground that Jamal Mashburn's hand is in Mason's arm pit. Stacey Augmon hasn't even gotten off the ground and he has to crane his neck to look up at Mason. It is the essence of athletic beauty and creativity, the reason people pay significant money to go to games.

"All I saw was this flash of light," said Rashard Lewis, the other Sonics player in the photo. "It was like Superman."

That one play is enough to define a career for most, but this seems to be just the opening act for Mason, a hard-driven talent with the intelligence and charm to carry him a long way.

I realize that the NBA draft is very often a crap shoot, and it is difficult at times to project what a player will become when he goes from college to the best league in the world.

I also realize that hindsight is 20-20, but a player like Desmond Mason sometimes makes me think NBA personnel folks are clueless. Guys like Joel Przybilla and Mateen Cleaves and Marcus Fizer and Jerome Moiso and DerMarr Johnson went before Mason, who was chosen 17th, and those players' careers have about as much substance as celebrity Jeopardy.

I wonder what decision-makers are thinking when they are in those intense interview sessions with players and they say, "So, Mateen, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

"Play video games."

"What's your favorite?"

""NBA 2K, with me playing the point."

Or, "So, Marcus, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

"You mean besides tote guns?"

"Yes, besides that."

"Play video games."

"OK, we'll draft you."

You ask Mason the question, here's what he'll tell you: He was an art major at Oklahoma State, and just because he is a professional basketball player, he does not want to forget about his passion.

So he paints pictures. He draws in charcoal. He brings his stuff on the road and works on it in his down time. Fleer has contracted him to draw the likeness of his fellow NBA stars. I've seen the Kobe drawing, and it's great. David Stern bought one of Mason's pictures and placed it in the lobby of the NBA offices. His work was displayed in the NBA Store in Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

	“	We got a lot of guys and if you want to keep all those guys together, you are going to have to share the money, you can't just give it all to one person. So I understand that. ”
		— Desmond Mason

Talk to Sonics owner Howard Schultz about the future of the team, and his eyes light bright and wide when he speaks about Mason. Schultz is great at recognizing talent and potential, and in Mason he knows he has both.

Rashard Lewis may have gotten a $60 million contract this past summer and the public tag as the future of the franchise, but Schultz really thinks Mason is the face of the organization.

Schultz will go so far as to say Mason is the future face of the NBA, he thinks that highly of him. Normally you hear that a player is a great guy, and then it turns out he is sued by his mistress, or he got arrested for beating his wife or he has this closet drug problem.

Mason is truly a good guy. Married in the offseason to Andrea Larson in Hawaii, Mason invited the entire team. No, not just his teammates. The entire team. The owner, the president, the GM, the coach, the equipment manager, the play-by-play announcer, the media relations staff, the community relations staff.

He is smart, good looking and well-grounded, part of the reason he did more community appearances than any other NBA player last season.

His contract can be extended next season, and rather than throwing out the usual rhetoric about max contracts, Mason said he has taken a look at the economic landscape of the NBA and realizes his value.

"You got to look at reality, what you are providing for the team and what kind of numbers you are putting up," Mason said. "It's what you can do for the team. Say you look at a guy like (Kevin) Garnett, he is a franchise player. You look at guys like (Steve) Francis, Allan Houston, all these guys that are getting big money are franchise players.

"With us, we have a lot of really good guys. We don't have franchise players. Right now we have Gary (Payton), he is our big man. But after Gary is done playing with the Sonics, I don't really see one big standout. We got a lot of guys and if you want to keep all those guys together, you are going to have to share the money, you can't just give it all to one person. So I understand that."

Oh yeah, and the guy can play. He won the dunk contest his rookie season, which vaulted him into the spotlight. But this is no Harold Miner.

On any other team he probably would start, but Sonics coach Nate McMillan likes the energy Mason brings off the bench. The other night against the Memphis Grizzlies, Mason tipped away a ball, chased it down in the backcourt, dove across the court to save the ball and then, from the floor, tossed it to a teammate for a dunk.

It's those types of plays that have Mason averaging 15.6 points and 6.9 rebounds a game.

Well, those types of plays, and the dunks, of course.

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