Eight Sonics played in round of eight in NBA playoffs this week — with new teams

What's that saying about one man's trash?

In this case, the Sonics' garbage is on display almost nightly.

From Beantown to the River Walk. From Florida to California.

Ex-Sonics everywhere. They're all over these NBA playoffs.

Vladimir Radmanovic with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Rashard Lewis in Orlando.

Ray Allen in Boston.

Kurt Thomas in San Antonio.

Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West in Cleveland.

That's six former Sonics — or eight if you include Spurs reserve Brent Barry and Lakers reserve Ira Newble — playing basketball in May while their former team prepares for next week's draft lottery.

It's OK to be bitter.

The rational part of your brain says all of the wheeling and dealing the past 12 months have positioned the Sonics for a brighter future, quite possibly in Oklahoma City. And even if you're one of the true believers hoping one of the lawsuits will keep the team in town, well then you still must wonder why so many playoff teams are finding success with former Sonics in pivotal positions.

A few months ago this team had Thomas, Szczerbiak and West.

Trading Thomas, a 36-year-old center, for a 2009 first-round choice is good business. But swapping Szczerbiak and West for Donyell Marshall and Adrian Griffin is a questionable move.

For some unexplainable reason, Szczerbiak and West couldn't break the starting lineup for a team that lost 62 games. Heck, West wasn't even a second-string point guard in Seattle.

However, they found new life in Cleveland. Both are starting for the Cavaliers, who seem poised to return to the NBA Finals.

West is second in assists in Cleveland, and he has also had 21-point performances against Boston and Washington. Szczerbiak is the team's third-leading scorer in the playoffs, averaging 12.1 points.

Maybe it's backward thinking, but those are the types of role players that a young team needs.

"I thought I could make it work there [in Seattle], but I couldn't get into the mix of things," West said. "They've got talented young players, and it'll be interesting to see how they put it all together."

The deeper the former Sonics progress in the playoffs, the more they tease fans who wonder about what might have been.

You can drive yourself crazy playing the what-if game.

For instance, what if Allen, Lewis and Radmanovic had coalesced into the three-point shooting barrage that former general manager Rick Sund dreamed about?

What if Lewis, the 6-foot-10 small forward, hadn't whined about playing power forward for so many years and simply switched positions to make room in the starting lineup for Radmanovic?

Sure, the lithe one-time All-Star might have been undersized on some nights, but clearly it wasn't as daunting a task as he claimed because he's a power forward in Orlando.

After years of resistance, Lewis finally put the team needs in front of his own.

The Orlando newcomer didn't protest the move, which allowed Hedo Turkoglu to remain at small forward. With Lewis defending bigger power forwards, Turkoglu, voted the league's most improved player, had the best season of his career and the Magic improved 12 games.

And what if Radmanovic hadn't allowed a petty jealousy and a silly rivalry with Lewis to impede his development?

It's no secret that the sweet-shooting Serb wanted more minutes and shots. He felt Lewis was standing in his way and believed he should have been the one that the team built around.

But when he signed to the Los Angeles Lakers, humility set in. Paired with Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and recent addition Pau Gasol, Radmanovic embraced his role as a three-point specialist who rarely plays in the fourth quarter.

And what if Allen had been the catalyst for the Sonics like he has been for Boston?

Watching them now in their new numbers and with their new teams is bittersweet.

But at times like this it's best to remember that collectively they didn't win many games with the Sonics at this time of year.

The Allen-Lewis-Radmanovic collaboration amounted to one meaningful playoff appearance in 2005, when the Sonics pushed the San Antonio Spurs to six games in the Western Conference semifinals.

And the Thomas-Szczerbiak-West trio helped the Sonics to their worst record in franchise history.

As one NBA executive put it: "Don't get seduced by what those guys are doing now. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis are good players, but they won one playoff series together."

Of course they had to go. But knowing that doesn't make watching these playoffs any easier.

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com