They tried to trade Gary Payton.

	Payton still puts up numbers, but the Sonics want him to defer more.

They tried to trade Vin Baker.

They wanted to get something valuable in return to put around Rashard Lewis and Desmond Mason.

None of it happened.

And now, the Seattle SuperSonics are in the odd, and some say unenviable, position of trying to mix the past with the future in the combustible present. It's a tricky equation to balance because the Sonics, who have missed the playoffs twice in the past three seasons, have to be careful to extend the respect to Payton that he feels he deserves.

And they have to coddle Baker, knowing the relationship between management and their power forward already is a delicate bomb.

At the same time, they not only want to develop Lewis and Mason, but they have to make Lewis, perhaps the top free agent next summer, believe that he is the future of the franchise so he doesn't bolt town and make everybody look REALLY, REALLY bad.

It amounts to this: The Sonics have to defer to Payton, whose personality is, shall we say, volatile. They have to defer to Baker, whose psyche is fragile and whose contract is untradeable. And they have to defer to Lewis, who is going to be highly upset if he sees only four or five shots a game, as he did at times last season.

	Baker

That's a lot of deference for a team that has come under new ownership and is attempting to make a fresh start.

But Sonics coach Nate McMillan says not necessarily. He likens the team's current situation to one that happened 10 years ago, when this organization was in the beginning stages of future greatness.

"When I first came here," McMillan said, "Dale Ellis and X-man (Xavier McDaniel) were the main guys. And Gary Payton came in. And then Shawn Kemp came in. They still gave the ball to X and Dale, but they allowed Gary and Shawn to develop. And eventually it became Gary and Shawn's team. That is what we are doing."

Of course, things have changed dramatically in the NBA in 10 years, but McMillan believes a similar approach to developing Lewis and Mason will eventually pay off.

	Kemp

	Lewis

"I think you give them minutes," McMillan said. "You give them more minutes and you allow them to play, and try things and experiment with things. I don't know that that is necessarily going away from Gary or Vin, and just giving them the ball. I think you just put them out on the floor and let them learn. It's not taking the ball out of Gary's hands and giving it to Rashard and Desmond, it is just giving them minutes and allowing them to play and then involve them with some offensive opportunities."

The question is: Will Payton permit that?

McMillan has talked about moving Payton to shooting guard and allowing Shammond Williams (who still is not signed) or Brent Barry to control the ball.

But that has been tried in the past, by George Karl and then by Paul Westphal. Eventually, however, when Payton sees a game slipping away, his competitive nature takes over, and he demands the ball. Ultimately, he winds up with 20 or more shots, while his teammates wonder where their own opportunities went.

To his credit, Payton did change at the end of last season, after McMillan made the unprecedented decision to suspend him. Payton seemed more supportive of teammates, more patient with their mistakes.

McMillan said he spoke with Payton this past Friday, and he said Payton understands, and even likes, the makeup of the team.

"I think he is still optimistic about what is going to happen with him," McMillan said. "He seemed to be ready to go when I talked to him. I asked him what he thought about Calvin Booth, and he liked that move. He liked (first-round draft pick Vladimir) Radmanovic, who he saw in the summer league. He likes the young guys that we have and it is just a matter of those guys sharing the torch and learning to play together."

	Williams

Of course, Baker's situation has to be considered, as well. New owner Howard Schultz says he has been bonding with Baker, and that Baker wants to come back and display the form that made him an All-Star.

Although Baker has said that on any number of 798 occasions, so that is a prove-it proposition, as far as everybody in the Puget Sound area is concerned. What the Sonics have told Baker, though, is that they no longer will tolerate his antics that once were overlooked. On several occasions last season, he had emotional outbursts, including once in Houston, when he screamed obscenities at McMillan and walked out of practice. The Sonics have warned him against those actions, and no longer are willing to put up with childish behavior from a man making $87 million.

"I will never baby Vin," McMillan said. "I don't believe in that. He is a professional. He has a lot of talent. We will try to bring the best out. Hopefully, him being back at his natural position, not playing the center spot, will excite him and he will come back and play up to his potential, which I know he wants to and I know he is capable of doing."

While nobody is willing to take Baker's contract, which has five years and $68 million remaining, more than likely the Sonics will try to unload Payton this season.

He only has one year left on his contract after this year, and that will make him much more attractive in February than it does now because the Sonics will have picked up the majority of his $13 million salary this year, and the trade kicker in his contract decreases.

"I think (Gary) understands where we are at," McMillan said. "We were a very young team last year. We are going to be even younger this year. This is where we are at. It is not like there is anything we can do about it. We are not going to move any of the younger guys to try and win a few more games, because there is nothing out there that will work for us to try and win a title. Our plan to to grow with what we have. And in a year or two we will be competing for our goal."

Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.