Veteran Thomas a leader for younger Sonics

HOUSTON — Teammates say it only takes one look.

Watch Kurt Thomas take a step or swig Gatorade or utter a word and you'll see.

"He's real old," Sonics guard Kevin Durant said. "You can just look at him for two, three minutes and tell. His knees crack and he sits down and gets up real slow. He's the last person [to leave] the floor when we're shooting. He's just got to do everything to prepare for the game."

On the other side of the visitor locker room at the Toyota Center in Houston, Thomas is busy proving Durant's point. You hear the "POP! POP!" of his surgically repaired ankles and knees as he does dips in the chair to begin his warm-up.

Only Wally Szczerbiak's intricate pregame routine is lengthier than that of Thomas, a 13-year NBA veteran. The oldest players on the roster, Thomas (35) and Szczerbiak (30) use every minute of the session while the remainder of the players, excluding 28-year-old Earl Watson, bop around sharing jokes and waiting for tip-off.

"He's an old guy," said rookie forward Jeff Green of Thomas. "Look at him, he's real old."

But the jabs don't bother Thomas. In fact, he welcomes it, finding meaning in being the player teammates mock like a beloved grandfather at a family reunion.

"I used to mess with Kevin Willis when I first came in my rookie year, talking about how old he was," said Thomas, who played with a then 33-year-old Willis in Miami. "He told me, 'Young fella, if you get to this point that means you had a good career.' Now, for these guys to be calling me old man, I look at it as I must be doing something right."

What Thomas does right is easy to spot. An undersized 6-foot-9 center, Thomas positions himself beneath the basket and plucks rebounds like apples from a tree.

Even with the 7-6 Yao Ming forming a wall in front of him on Monday, Thomas grabbed 11 rebounds in a loss to Houston. The Sonics (9-32) play the Rockets again tonight, and Thomas wants to cut down on the fouls. He fouled out Monday.

Thomas has reached double figures in rebounding 14 times this season.

"He's our best interior defender by far," Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "He's the guy who can play the big, stronger, physical people because he can use his strength. There aren't too many people that can use their strength. Yao is just so strong with his lower body, it's difficult, but Kurt is giving us a defensive presence against the bigs in the league."

Yet, this wasn't the plan for Thomas. He was originally seen as a reserve. Carlesimo wanted to start fourth-year center Robert Swift, who was expected to return from right knee surgery. But Swift still isn't healthy enough to play.

Actually, the Sonics had plans for three other players to line up at center. Former general manager Rick Sund used three first-round draft picks to select 7-foot post players — Swift (12th overall pick in 2004), Johan Petro (25th overall in 2005) and Mouhamed Sene (10th overall in 2006).

But Swift is injured, Petro — while playing well of late — is more of a finesse power forward, and Sene is learning the game in the NBA's Development League. That leaves Thomas as the best option.

"It's definitely a good situation for us," forward Chris Wilcox said. "Since I've been here, we haven't really had a true center. It's always been me or Nick [Collison] at the center, and we're undersized. Kurt, he's no bigger than us, but he's got experience and that's what helps us out. He knows the rotation and he knows where to get guys off the block because he's been in this league long enough to know where guys are comfortable."

Thomas was acquired from Phoenix for a $9 million trade exception and a future conditional second-round choice. Seattle also received unconditional first-round picks in 2008 and 2010.

It took work for Thomas to reach this point in his career. He can no longer play year-round, needing to rest his body. In the offseason, he swims, or rides his bike about 40 miles a day to stay in shape.

That doesn't mean he's soft. Thomas readily shows teammates the pinkie he had surgically repaired in 2004 — after playing the entire season for the New York Knicks.

"I had surgery and had three pins just to correct it," Thomas said with pride. "One for the tendon and two for where it was dislocated. I tell them when I injured mine, I still played the whole season with a ruptured tendon. I didn't get it fixed until the end of the year. That just shows you I'm a lot tougher than these young guys. They would probably ... hang them up for the year. Me being the old guy, I like to sweat it out."

Another value of Thomas is his leadership with the younger players, especially Green and Durant. He teases the former for not wearing suits, and helps direct the latter on the court on pick-and-pop plays to get the Sonics more offense.

"He's the pops on the team," Wilcox said. "Everybody kind of looks to him to make decisions and stuff like that. He's just a great teammate, and it's good that he's still in the league because he's a great player, a good person, and he definitely helps out with a lot of these young guys."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com