Homecoming Didn’t Happen, but Cotton Is Ready for NBA

His homecoming wasn’t as heartwarming as James Cotton had hoped, because a sore hamstring can ruin the best-laid plans of agents and NBA executives.

Cotton aggravated his pesky left hamstring shortly before the Fila Summer Pro League opened July 12, meaning the Seattle SuperSonic rookie guard and former Long Beach State standout would miss all the fun. The league operates at Long Beach’s Pyramid, so Cotton was back on his home turf, but only as a cheerleader.

On Sunday, Cotton returned to his familiar role. He scored nine points in his first game with the SuperSonic summer team, now playing in the Rocky Mountain Review League at Salt Lake City. Finally, he is feeling good again.

“I hated sitting around because that’s not something I’m very good at,” said Cotton, who signed a one-year contract with Seattle on Monday. “I’m not happy if I’m not playing, and not being able to practice makes it even worse. I wanted to show everybody why Seattle drafted me, and then that happens.”

What happened is no mystery to Cotton. Four days before the summer league opened, Cotton felt a twinge in his left leg while training with the SuperSonics. He immediately realized it was his hamstring injury again, a problem throughout his career at Long Beach.

The prescription was the same too: rest.

Cotton, whose younger brother Schea will be a freshman swingman at UCLA, knew that meant he probably wouldn’t play at Long Beach. The SuperSonics were scheduled to play only six games there before moving on to Salt Lake City. Knowing Cotton’s work ethic, SuperSonic officials strongly urged him to take it easy.

“James is a very focused young man who doesn’t like to be idle,” said Billy McKinney, vice president of basketball operations. “That’s one of the things we really like about him, but we felt that part of his [hamstring] problem in college might have been caused by coming back too fast.”

Cotton heeded the advice, albeit reluctantly.

“To be back home, in front of all of your friends and family, and to have to just sit there . . . you can’t imagine how hard that is,” Cotton said. “Everybody was coming to the Pyramid to see me play and I couldn’t. I almost didn’t want to come back home.”

Seattle saw a lot it liked in Cotton, 21, during his individual workout in June. Cotton, 6 feet 5 and 220 pounds, shot well and impressed McKinney, General Manager Wally Walker and Coach George Karl during interviews.

“We watched him several times during the year and we saw him at the [Chicago] pre-draft camp, but sitting down and talking to him is what really had a big impact on us,” McKinney said. “We could tell right away that James fit into the way we think and work around here.

“Now don’t get me wrong, though. James is a quality person and that’s always a nice bonus, but we went after him because he’s a guy who can shoot the ball coming off the bench. That’s something we need.”

Cotton, the only Big West Conference player drafted, averaged 23.5 points last season and 18.2 in his three-year career at Long Beach. The two-time all-conference selection is fifth on the 49er scoring list with 1,452 points.

After his workout, Cotton’s name jumped to the top of the SuperSonic draft board. Cotton also excelled in his workout with the New York Knicks. The SuperSonics had the 23rd pick and the Knicks had the 25th.

But the SuperSonics had salary-cap issues. If they drafted Cotton in the first round, he would have been guaranteed a three-year contract at $1.8 to $2 million. That would have seriously affected the team’s cap flexibility, a top priority in the NBA these days.

Seattle also had two second-round selections, Nos. 40 and 54. There are no built-in guarantees with second-rounders. Drafting Cotton in the second round would have saved the team money, but waiting that long was a big risk.

Walker came within seconds of picking Cotton in the first round when the Denver Nuggets called with a deal too good to pass up. The Nuggets offered to draft Cotton with their second-round pick, No. 33, and give Seattle a 1998 second-round pick if the SuperSonics took Minnesota point guard Bobby Jackson with their 23rd pick.

Seattle agreed and the players were swapped hours later. So the SuperSonics had the guy they wanted and on their terms.

“When we made the trade from 23 to 33, I wasn’t so sure he would still be available,” McKinney said. “We kind of rolled the dice and it worked.”

The gamble also paid off for Cotton, who had just been through the toughest year of his life. Long Beach was 13-14 last season under first-year Coach Wayne Morgan. Cotton left Long Beach with a season of eligibility remaining partly because of his poor relationship with Morgan, several team sources said.

But Cotton is looking ahead.

“I’m in the NBA right now, and that’s all I’m thinking about,” Cotton said. “This is what I’ve always wanted, and Seattle is giving me the chance to live my dream.”