X Marks Start of SuperSonics’ Hopes for 1990-91 Season

This was just a few nights ago, in practice, with his own teammates suffering the consequences.

Xavier McDaniel locked arms with Dale Ellis, threatening to throw him to the ground if he didn’t back off. They jawed for a while before Ellis relented.

Moments later, he wrestled Nate McMillan to the floor with the ball. The verbal exchange went something like this:

“Bleep you,” McDaniel said.

“Bleep you,” McMillan said.

“Oh yeah, well bleep you,” McDaniel concluded.

And finally, standing at the free-throw line about to shoot a couple of freebies, Sedale Threatt walked in front of him with some ill-advised chatter. McDaniel swatted at him with a backhand to the head.

This was during a 15-minute span in training camp.

“He just wanted everybody to know this is serious business,” Sonics coach K.C. Jones said. “X is the kind of guy you love to have in practice. He sets the tone for the games every day.”

And Friday night at 7:30 against the Golden State Warriors it will come to pass during the Sonics first exhibition game -- in the Spokane Coliseum -- that McDaniel finally will get to pound on somebody else besides his teammates.

“We have to play physical and aggressive if we’re going to win games in this conference,” McDaniel said. “It’s my style to be serious about basketball the minute I walk out on the floor or I may as well not be out there.”

Jones loves it. His teammates love it too, as long as he’s into it with guys from another team.

“That’s just the way he is and it helps the rest of us,” Sonics forward Shawn Kemp said. “We have to be competitors. At least that’s the way I am.”

This year in particular the Sonics will have to be more aggressive on defense. Last season, the first without shot-blocker Alton Lister, they also lightened up their pressure defense. It was a bad combination that resulted in too many easy paths to the basket for opposing players.

“We’re not going to let that happen this year,” McDaniel said. “We’re going to trap more and just play tougher. We’ve got a deep bench and everybody will be able to go all-out while they’re in there.”

The lead role in this all-out attack on the opposition will begin with McDaniel. Although not the most efficient one-on-one defender, he is a relentless trapper in the Sonics full-court presses, and the first to show up on help defense. This attitude is reflective of what the 27-year-old forward has been to the Sonics since he was the fourth player taken in the 1985 draft.

That’s why even now it’s hard for him to swallow how frequently his name came up in trade rumors. The most recent was McDaniel and Nate McMillan to Cleveland for John “Hot Rod” Williams. That deal was completed but vetoed by Williams, who utilized his option as a restricted free-agent signee.

“It’s still sitting in the back of my mind regardless of what has happened or anybody else has said,” McDaniel said. “From now until February is a long time. The trade deadline. That’s when I can relax. That’s just the way it has become.”

His perspective is one that is easy to look at it. Then there’s the complimentary side.

“If he weren’t such an outstanding, aggressive player, his name wouldn’t keep coming up,” Jones said. “Everybody keeps hearing his name because he’s the guy everybody is interested in.”

But anyone who knows McDaniel realizes nothing distracts him on the floor once the ball is tossed up anyway. No, he can’t accept being a sixth man at this point of his career on the heels of that unsuccessful attempt two years ago. But he may eventually accept that status to extend a career with knees that no longer allow him to spring like he did in his first three years in the league.

“I’m not ready to do that yet,” McDaniel said. “But if you put me on the basketball floor, I play hard. That’s the way I have to play. It’s the way the team has to play.”

And who’s going to argue?

Notes

Fourth-year forward Derrick McKey celebrated his birthday Wednesday night. Believe it or not, he’s still only 24, and still growing. McKey now is nearly 6-foot-11 and has increased his weight from 215 to 230 ... Look for the first cuts from the 17-man roster tonight after the game ... The Sonics travel to Oakland Monday night for their second game with the Warriors before heading to St. Petersburg, Fla., to play the Chicago Bulls next Thursday. They play the Bulls in the Kingdome Oct. 23, and the regular season opens Nov. 3 in the Coliseum against the Houston Rockets.