Sonics' Shot Clock Nearly Down To Zero For Doug Christie

The shot clock is winding down. Coach George Karl is running up and down the sideline. Doug Christie is pinned in the corner, pressured by Dennis Rodman.

Christie has two unenviable choices. He can cut his losses, hold the ball and wait for the clock to expire. Or he can pivot and squirm for a small opening and launch a buzzer-beating prayer.

This metaphor is brought to you by Concerned Citizens for Sonics Rookie Holdout Doug Christie.

The exhibition games have begun. The Sonics are on their way to Sioux Falls for a game with Denver tomorrow night and Christie is AWOL. His NBA shot clock is ticking, and Christie is running out of options.

"This is a deep team," Sonics guard Nate McMillan said from his Omaha hotel room before last night's exhibition game with Milwaukee. "A lot of our talent is at the spot Doug would play. The longer he puts off coming here, the deeper in the hole he's going to be.

"When he gets here, he's going to have to learn the system. He's going to have to get in shape. George isn't going to wait for him. When Doug comes in, he's going to be a few steps behind."

Since he was the 17th overall pick in the college draft last June, Christie has made every imaginable wrong move. He turned down offers of $725,000 and $710,000. Two weeks before training camp, he fired one agent and hired Brad Marshall, who never has negotiated an NBA contract.

Christie has asked for the same kind of money paid last year's

17th pick, Golden State's Victor Alexander, approximately $1.5 million. But there is a difference between Christie and Alexander.

The Warriors were hoping Alexander would be their big man in the middle who could help them immediately. His salary was in proportion to their need.

Christie will be a bit player this season. A more realistic salary to use as a reference is the $500,000 paid to Randy Woods, the Los Angeles Clippers guard who was this season's 16th pick.

Because he has dawdled, Christie has lost his bargaining power. The NBA salary cap is squeezing him into a corner. Money that was available to him in July is gone.

The Sonics will not restructure the contracts of veteran players to accommodate Christie's demands and they shouldn't. Christie can help them this year, but he is not the missing ingredient to a championship season.

These days are the most important of a rookie's life. These exhibition games are his auditions. Minutes are available now for Christie that won't be next month.

McMillan missed last night's game with a groin pull. And Karl is limiting Gary Payton's playing time, monitoring the condition of Payton's back. But once the season starts, the auditions end.

If Christie misses the exhibition season he is condemning himself to a long season on the bench. He has threatened to sit out the season and re-enter next year's draft. Remember, however, his degenerative knee condition was part of the reason he slipped so low in the first round.

Meanwhile, swingman Gerald Paddio is making the most of Christie's minutes. Paddio, who has signed a contract worth $200,000, could be a bargain basement Doug Christie.

He can play the 10 to 12 minutes that were slotted for Christie. He will be this season's Tony Brown.

"Gerald definitely can play," McMillan said. "George is going to have to find time for him. He's just come in and fit in real well and practiced and played real aggressive. He played in the summer league for us. Gerald shoots the ball much better than I thought he did. He fits George's scheme."

Since leaving UNLV in 1988, Paddio, 27, has been a hoop vagabond, playing briefly for the Boston and Cleveland.

His career has spanned the globe from France to Grand Rapids, Rockford and Rochester. He is hungry and Karl has an affinity for persevering CBA types. He likes the way Paddio fits into his pressing, running, high-wire act.

Paddio is putting pressure on Christie, who has no choice but to swallow his pride, cut his losses, sign a contract and join his teammates. This holdout is professional suicide.

"Doug can play," said McMillan, who played pickup games with Christie this summer. "He's a good shooter from long range. He can jump out the gym. He's an unselfish player. He can run the floor.

"As a player, you want Doug to be a part of the team. But you also know this is a business. Doug has to do what he thinks is best for him."

And sitting out this season is not the best thing for Doug Christie.