Hoopfest notebook: Gary Payton makes cameo, defending champs move on and WSU's Dickert cheers on sons (2024)

There’s still a part of Gary Payton, the Basketball Hall of Famer and former Seattle SuperSonics star, that wishes players would play a little more like he did. He’ll come to Spokane’s Hoopfest, his first trip to the Lilac City in around a decade, watch and wonder how games would have unfolded if one player did this better, did that differently.

“But I can’t critique people here and tell them what to do,” Payton said on Saturday, shortly before he helped judge the dunk contest, “because that’s their style. You can give them some tips, but you can’t critique them because I played defense different. Everybody ain’t me. It’s a little different.”

Payton, whose resume also includes an NBA championship with the Miami Heat and nine All-Star appearances, has learned to dial things back since his playing career came to an end in 2007. He takes the same approach with his son, Gary II, a key cog for the Golden State Warriors. Mentally, he has to remove himself from the action, at least to some extent.

Involved or not, Payton found himself enjoying this weekend’s Hoopfest. He’s around hoops nonstop, a welcome sight for a guy whose life revolves around the game, and he was impressed with the sheer size of the event – and the way it’s expanded and flourished since the first time he ventured to the Inland Northwest.

“It’s great,” Payton said. “From the time I came here a long time ago to now, how much it builds up, to see this many people here, this many basketball players, this is great. Then to find out it’s the biggest (tournament) in the United States, that’s great to see, that it has built up that way, especially to be here in Spokane.”

A Bay Area native, Payton also made one thing clear: He wants to see the return of the Supersonics, who moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder ahead of the 2008-09 season. Payton played for four other NBA teams – the Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics – but he rose to stardom as a Sonic, playing his first 121/2 seasons with the organization that drafted him.

“We should have never lost the team,” Payton said. “We need our team back. Everybody around here, in the state of Washington loves to see basketball. Why not? Everybody wants to come back here. You have your (Kevin) Durants, your (Russell) Westbrooks, everything, even my son says he wants to come back here and play for the team they got drafted to, their home team.

“So why not? Why not bring our team back? And our team will be back.”

Payton might be on to something. The good news for the potential Sonics team, which moved in 2008 under new owner Clay Bennett, is that in May the Sports Business Journal reported that the NBA was closing in on a new broadcasting deal that would pay the league $76 billion over 11 years, three times the amount of the league’s current deal. That can only mean good things for a Seattle organization that moved in large part because of financial reasons.

Turns out, Payton shares a similarly strong sentiment about his alma mater, Oregon State, which has partnered with Washington State in an effort to rebuild the Pac-12 after the conference’s collapse last summer. The 1990 Pac-10 Player of the Year and a three-time all-conference selection, Payton looks back fondly at his time in Corvallis, regretting the way the Beavers – and the Cougars – have been left behind by conference realignment.

“To find out that Oregon State and Washington State doesn’t have nowhere to go, it’s a shame for me,” Payton said. “It’s a shame for my alma mater. It’s gonna be OK. We can’t do anything about it. I just want Oregon State to get into a conference, and I hope that we can get better at basketball to do that.”

Payton also hails from a bygone era, a time without the transfer portal, a period where players stayed at their schools for longer times than they do now. He might wish better for OSU in its current state, but he also understands that time in his life shaped him into who he became later.

“When I was there, it was experience. The experience of how to grow up,” Payton said. “That’s why I stayed for four years – to become a man. And it worked out for me.”

Defending champs move on in their respective brackets

HubNorthwest, which is seeking what would be an event elite record sixth straight title, went flawless in Saturday’s Men’s Open bracket. The club – which includes former Gonzaga player Mike Hart, former Eastern Washington players Parker Kelly and Marc Axton, and Northwest Nazarene and Northwest Christian grad Robert Lippman – went 2-0, dispatching Players Club and AGP, moving on to face Let It Fly in Sunday’s semifinals, set for 11 a.m. at Xfinity elite division court No. 2.

Meanwhile, Big Juicy – home to former Lewis and Clark player Dominick Oliveri, former Canadian pro Matt Ellis, University of Victoria player Ethan Boag and Jakob Neufield, who played for Victoria in 2022-23 before transferring to Buffalo State last year – is in the Bracket No. 3 semifinals.

On the men’s under 6-foot side, NW Warriors Elite will face Desert Horse Elite in Sunday’s semifinals. NW Warriors’ team includes two Spokane connections in Ross Nakamura, a former Whitworth star and Therone Tillett, a former Rogers High standout. That game is set for 9 a.m. Sunday at Xfinity elite division court No. 8.

BBFORLIFE AMOTKAN, which features a Spokane connection informer Wellpinit High star Preston Wynne, will face East Coast Elite at 9 a.m. Sunday.

In women’s elite action, Tomato Streetballers – which feature Gonzaga women’s assistant Stacey Clinesmith and Washington State women’s assistant Laurie Koehn – will face Empire Fitness in Sunday’s semifinals.

Finally, on the coed elite side, Juan on Juan – home to Boise State receiver Austin Bolt – will face Jordan is the Goat at 9 a.m. Sunday in the loser’s bracket.

WSU head coach Jake Dickert makes cameo at Hoopfest

Jake Dickert, WSU football’s head man, was spotted Saturday morning cheering on his sons, Jace and Jett, both of whom are competing. Jace is a member of the Pullman Cool Kids, which are in their bracket’s semifinals, and Jett plays for the Palouse Cougars Cay, also in their semifinals.