For `Moochie,' Stop And Go -- Well-Traveled Norris Hopes He's Not Just Passing Through

Now is the time to meet Martyn Bernard Norris, before he leaves town and gets on a plane to Fort Wayne, Ind., or France, or South America.

Just one thing. No one calls him Martyn. He's been Moochie ever since he can remember because his grandfather had a thing for an old Cab Calloway tune.

For a while, he was Irma's basketball-playing baby boy before cancer took her away in 1989. Then he was simply Mooch.

That's what Dennis Helms called him. He also described Norris as the best point guard he'd ever coached at tiny Odessa Junior College in Texas.

But few people know Norris, who had barely been a blip on the NBA radar before coming to Seattle last week. So finally, it's his time.

It's time to tell his story because Kevin Johnson is still a free agent and could sign with Seattle at any moment. And because Sonic training camp ends next week and, for now, Norris appears to be leading a group of three candidates vying to serve as Gary Payton's backup, the others being Reggie Geary and Drew Barry.

And because for once everything is going according to plan, which is reason to celebrate because with Norris few things ever go according to plan.

Had events transpired the way he dreamed, he would have led Auburn to an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1996 and the Utah Jazz would have drafted him in the first round that April.

And Irma Norris would still be alive to see it all.

But Moochie's dreams have been altered and revised so much that he hardly recognizes them anymore.

"Basketball has always been my way out," he said. "A lot of kids don't get out. They get caught up in whatever. . . . It hasn't always been smooth, but I've always had basketball so I never gave up hope."

Norris is ready for his close-up. It's time to understand why he played basketball for 10 teams in the past seven years. And why he has the names Tricia and Nia tattooed on his left biceps.

And why he paces the floor of his downtown apartment at 4 in the morning.

"I'm ready for this," he said. "I've waited a long time for this."

Meet Martyn "Moochie" Norris before he goes away.

He's a whirling, cross-over dribbling, soft-spoken, hard-charging bundle of energy. His game will remind many fans of former Sonic Avery Johnson. Both are diminutive lefties with limited shooting range and a knack for blowing past bigger defenders.

"It's a shooter's dream to have a guy who can push and find you the way he does," Sonic assistant coach Nate McMillan said. "He's capable of delivering the ball. He runs and he forces you to run.

"He has to make things happen and he has to come up with turnovers because of his size. . . . There's a lot of small guards in this league so it's a matter of him learning how to play against the bigger guards in this league."

Norris is hyperactive on and off the court. When sitting or standing still, he rocks from side to side. He speaks quickly, and often with gestures.

"Just nervous energy, I guess," he said.

At 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, he is the smallest Sonic in training camp, but Coach Paul Westphal likes him because he's crafty.

"You better be crafty at that height, or you're bagging groceries," Westphal said. "Moochie is good with the ball, and he makes good decisions."

That's a compelling reason to believe that maybe he'll stick this time. Maybe he'll stay in one place longer than a few months, and maybe when training camp ends next Thursday he won't be on a plane back to Fort Wayne, or South America or his hometown of Washington, D.C.

"I know he don't want to go back to D.C." said Helms, the man who rescued Norris from the rough neighborhoods of the nation's capital. "One time I was so fed up with him, I was going to put him back on a bus to D.C. and he nearly begged me not to."

Norris played for Helms at Odessa, where he averaged 14.7 points and 6.2 assists as a freshman and led the Wranglers to a 33-1 record. As a sophomore his stats improved (16.2 points, 8.5 assists) while guiding Odessa to a 29-3 record.

"Coach Helms was like a father, a brother, a friend and a tormentor to me," Norris said. "He was everything. . . . That's when I grew up the most. Away from home."

When Norris left Odessa, his troubles began.

He spent a year at Auburn, where he averaged 12.5 points a game before being ruled ineligible by the NCAA as a senior. He transferred to West Florida and averaged 23.6 points, but his stock in the NBA draft fell.

"When people went to draft him, he had that Randy Moss thing surrounding him," Helms said. "It was his past. Utah worked him out and were going to draft him, but didn't."

Norris fell to Milwaukee in the second round, but remained with the Bucks for just six weeks. He signed with the CBA's Florida Beachdogs that season before Vancouver gave him another shot at the NBA.

The Grizzlies needed a replacement for the injured Greg Anthony. In two weeks Anthony healed, and Norris was back with the Beachdogs.

From there the journey got bizarre. He bounced around the CBA and played twice overseas, in France and in Chile, before rejoining the Fort Wayne Fury, the CBA franchise in Indiana.

A Sonic scout spotted him in a game against the Yakima Sun Kings this season and Westphal thought he'd give him a chance.

"Every time I see Moochie Norris, I like him more and more," Westphal said. "I don't see any reason why he isn't an NBA player."

Westphal has done this before. He rescued Elliot Perry from the CBA, and the point guard made big contributions while backing up Kevin Johnson during Phoenix's Pacific Division title run in the 1994-95 season.

"I see a little of Elliot in Moochie," Westphal said. "He could help us the same sort of way."

Maybe this time Norris will stick. However, his precarious NBA fate isn't the cause of the insomnia that limits him to just two or three hours of sleep.

He passes the time reading the Bible or listening to R. Kelly and Master P. He's tried medicine and sleeping aids, but his problem isn't physical.

Norris' sleeplessness began the day his mother died. She was a single mother who raised her son with little help. Without her, Norris was lost.

He dropped out of high school for 16 months. When he resurfaced, he rediscovered basketball and found Helms.

"I used to say I played for her, but now I play the game for somebody else," Norris said, pointing to his left biceps. His 7-year-old daughter, Martyneia (nicknamed "Nia"), and 9-month-old son, Martyn, live in Washington, D.C., with his girlfriend, Tricia.

"It's about them now," he said. "So it's important that I take advantage of this chance because it may not come around again."

Notes

-- The season is only about two weeks away, and yesterday Seattle's had its most heated practice. Vladimir Stepania and Don MacLean got into a minor scuffle in which punches were thrown. Teammates broke up the fight and the two new Sonics eventually played together without drama. "They kissed and made up," Westphal said. "It's one of those things. I've never experience a training camp without one."

-- The Sonics will hold an intrasquad scrimmage at 6 p.m. tomorrow at KeyArena, free to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 5 p.m.

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HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW?

Sonic point guard Moochie Norris has crisscrossed the country, and even gone overseas, in pursuit of his basketball dreams. Here's a look at his itinerary.

Teams Dates. Odessa Junior College 1992-94.

Played two seasons. Auburn 1994-95.

Played one season. West Florida 1995-96.

Last year of college ball. Milwaukee Bucks 1996.

Drafted in April, waived in October. Florida Beachdogs 1996.

Lasted one month with CBA team. Vancouver Grizzlies 1996.

Played for NBA team in December. Florida Beachdogs 1997.

Another one-month (January) stop. Fort Wayne Fury 1997.

Played for CBA team in March. Pau Orthez, France 1997.

Played for European team from September through November. Fort Wayne Fury 1997-1998.

Second trip to Fort Wayne lasted four months. Chile 1998.

Packed bags for South America from October to December. Fort Wayne Fury 1998-99.

Third stint in Indiana from December through NBA lockout. Sonics 1999.