Nate McMillan on Seattle Sports, Sonics Return, Gary Payton, 1996

Mr. Sonic Nate McMillan joins Dave Softy Mahler and Hugh Millen to talk about the landscape of Seattle sports now compared to when he played, the status of the NBA returning to Seattle, playing alongside Gary Payton, and his 1996 injury in the finals.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now back to Sofie and Dick onSports Radio ninety three point three kJ RFN
Washington Huskies, Seattle Cracking, We'rehome for the Huskies, and alright,
three twenty on a Friday afternoon,Saftie, Dick Jackson, Dick out,
Hugh Millan in. And I'm tryingto figure out a little conundrum here because

(00:21):
your first year as a pro waseighty seven with the La Rams eighty six
eighty six. Okay, well,then then then you have something in common
with our next guest. By theway, you guys both became professional athletes
in the same year. Nate McMillanas a rookie nineteen eighty six eighty seven
with the Seattle SuperSonics and Hugh Millaneighty six with the La Rams. How

(00:45):
about that? MATC ten similarities inthere because he could play and I was
a hack. Nate McMillan is withus on the radio show mac ten.
How are you Palace going on?No, even though I was the first
I always tell people I was thefirst pick in the second round, but

(01:06):
I still had to come and makethe team. Uh So, how you
guys doing. We're doing good.We're doing good. Man It's great to
hear your voice. I know you'rein town for the sports Star banquet last
night. You're heading to Kirkland tohelp out our buddy Justin with his brand
new establishment out there. And whatwas last night like for you? Man?
I know you saw a lot offriends, a lot of old folks
there that you haven't run into ina long time. But what was the

(01:27):
what was last night like for you? Dude? It was awesome, man,
it was just awesome. It wasjust a reminder of how close,
uh, the sports community is herein this town. To see a lot
of old faces and you know,see some new faces and be in that

(01:49):
environment last night, it was justa beautiful thing. You know. I
was telling a lot, uh.You know, I've been telling people,
Uh, I don't know of anycommunity that is like the Seattle community far
as the sports teams and how closethey are. You know we are we
we have always been close and supportiveof each other, you know the professional

(02:15):
uh you know baseball, basketball,football, now you have soccer, Husky
football. We were always supportive ofeach other and it showed last night.
You know, I've been in anumber of different cities and that the filling
of support you just don't get asyou do here in Seattle. Yeah,

(02:37):
maybe because we're tucked up on theleft corner of the country, right,
Nate. I mean you came fromNC State and and how much of an
adjustment was it what you just commentedabout Seattle. How long did it take
you to kind of get that impressionrelative to other cities and other regions.
Well, you know, when Ifirst came here, it was all about

(02:58):
Husky football, you know, Iwas, I was telling the story last
night. My son was born here, and we were trying to find some
onesies and some bibs with Seattle SuperSonics, and you really couldn't You couldn't find
any of that around. Everything wasHusky football because they were lighting it up

(03:21):
at that time. And then inthe nineties everything just came around where the
Mariners with Gristi and Buner and Rodriguezand Randy all of those guys they were
playing you know, uh great baseballand Cortes and and those guys was killing
it with the Seahawks, and theSonics were hot, and you know,

(03:45):
so all of the sports teams uhhere was really hot and doing well and
supportive of each other and then whenI left and went to some other places
to work, you just didn't feelthat connect. It was almost like the
sports teams or the professional teams werecompeting against each other. You know,

(04:05):
if one was doing well, itwas like, uh, you know,
we we we got to pick itup, or you know, we're competing
for the fan base. But itjust didn't it didn't feel like that when
I was here playing and coaching herein Seattle, w and last night you
know it was it was, uh, you got that same filling. Uh

(04:28):
you know, we had Meghan andwe had uh uh you know all the
you know, the Huskies in therein there uh uh you know, doing
their thing, and uh you know, it just didn't feel that way and
everybody was just having a good timeand enjoying the evening. Well, it's
it's still weird for me, Nate, uh, Nate McMillan with us,

(04:48):
it's still weird for me not havingSonic basketball. I mean, you know
what this radio station was all aboutback in the day as the flagship for
the Sonics and traveling with you guysand having the games on radio and them
back and forth with Utah fans andBowl fans and Rocket fans and Blazer fans
and those days are over for now. But man, it sure feels like
the smoke is getting thicker with thereturn of the NBA. I know,

(05:12):
you talk to a lot of peoplein the league. Todd Laiwiki is going
to be on our President's Day showon Monday. Him and his brother Tim
have not been hiding at all withtheir you know, thought about the NBA
coming back sooner than later. What'syour gut tell you? Because we're sitting
here and it's been sixteen years.Man, it's unreal. Yeah, I
certainly hope so, and I'm prayingfor that. I got my fingers crossed

(05:33):
and everything, and you know,I think that I think that we will.
I'm certainly hoping. We certainly deserveto have this franchise back in Seattle.
You know, we're one of thefew teams that have a history and
a tradition. Uh. There's beena move you know, a movement since

(05:55):
losing you know, this franchise,and uh, you know, the NBA
is doing some great things and Ithink it's in a really good position.
Uh. You know, over thelast few years, I've heard a lot
of talk about expansion and uh,you know, Seattle is has always been
one of the top UH cities thatthey talked about bringing a franchise too,

(06:17):
So I'm hoping that it will happen. Uh. It's I think it's a
great It's certainly a great sports town, uh, you know, for and
we've we've shown that we can supportuh, you know, the NFL,
Major League Baseball as well as uha professional NBA team. Uh we have

(06:40):
the fan base to do. SoI think it's a great market. And
you know, people really enjoyed uhthe time when they came up here to
uh to play. So UH,I'm hopeful that uh, you know,
it will happen and and hopefully hopefullywill get that news. So Nate McMillan
mac with us and and Nate,I can attest to what you just said.

(07:01):
I was. I slept on thestreet in nineteen seventy nine to get
tickets for the NBA finals, Soyou know, I was a fan of
long and con vividly remember when youcame in and and your first three years,
if I have it right, youwere a point guard and a defensive
specialist. We'll get to that.And then somewhere in your career you made
what seemed to be to a layperson a pretty significant switch to kind of

(07:25):
more of a wing specialist. Andwhat have you walk us through that time?
Is that? Is that an adjustmentand a transition that you wanted to
make that you think that was betterfor your game? Or was there some
resistance there after having been a startingpoint guard? Just what about that trands
this transition that you made, Well, it was an adjustment that I had

(07:46):
to make. They drafted this guy, this little guard by the name of
Gary Payton, and I never heardwas like them, yeah it was you
know, I hadn't heard of him. Man. You know they brought this,
you know, lott guard and ahot head little guy that by the
name of Garritating. It said,look, this is the starting point guard.

(08:07):
What do you want to do?And this is a true statement,
what do you want to do?Because he's going to be the starting point
guard? And my thought was Ireally love where I was at, I
loved the city, and I said, look, we'll make that work.
You know, I don't want tobe traded. They kept me here and

(08:30):
I was able to certainly was ableto make that adjustment plan. But behind
Gary and backing up Hersey Hawkins andyou know the guards that we had starting
at that time, and I justfelt like I could make that work.
And it did. You know,Gary and I ended up playing a lot

(08:50):
together. He would move to thescoring position and I would play the point,
but I would defend the bigger guardsand uh, you know, he
would be out there pressure in theball. So it really became a really
good combination where you know, Gary, you know, had the skill to

(09:11):
play with the ball and play offthe ball, and he was you know,
fast as you know, quick aslightning, and uh, you know,
could finish and we could get outand transition. And then you bring
in you know, Sean Kemp andit was I mean, we was just,
uh, you know, a dominatingforce in the sense of defensively being

(09:33):
able to really scheme and take teamsout of what they want to do and
just create a fast, break fasttempo style of play. So Gary,
you know, they the hell ofa move drafting him, and you know,
he became a Hall of Famer anduh a great player that really you

(09:58):
know, things just changed. Wewas having a little bit of success,
but we needed we need it.We needed Gary to take us to that
next level. When he did well, only one of six players to have
their number retired by the Sonics.I'm not counting Nick Collison, by the
way, although he did play aminute here in Seattle. But Nate McMillan's
with us on the air in Nate. I don't know if we brought this

(10:20):
up the last time you were withme and Dick or not, but I'll
ask it anyway. If I hada dollar for every time somebody says to
me if Nate McMillan was healthy duringthe ninety six NBA Finals, they would
have won, I'd have at leastlike one hundred bucks, I think,
because I've heard that one hundred times. And you remember there was a report
Peter Vessi reported, I think onTV that you weren't playing because you were

(10:46):
pissed off about your contract when itturned out that your back was messed up
or your knee or something. Doyou remember that, Memoran, the report
from that, you do remember.I do remember that. I do remember
that, and I had, youknow, back spasms. I didn't know
where it came from. You know, we had a really a grueling series
against Utah, and of course,you know, they were really physical and

(11:11):
there was a lot of banging goingon, but I didn't recall anything,
you know, far as an injury. But you know, once we got
into the finals, my back justspasmed up and I actually took two injections,
and you weren't supposed to do that, but I took two injections to
even play in the two games thatI did play in to to try to

(11:35):
get out there and play, andwas able to play just two games and
then I just, I mean,I couldn't do anything after that. But
no, it definitely wasn't a contractissue. It was backspasms that I was
so close to having surgery that ifthis last doctor. I went to three
doctors, and the last doctor said, look, unless you absolutely can't get

(12:01):
out of bed or move, Iwould hold off on having surgery. And
I did, and uh, youknow, SYBASMI you know, the pain
eventually went away a month or twolater. But yeah, you know,
I've heard that story too, andI believe we were really a dominating for
us. You know. Of course, the Bulls were playing great basketball at

(12:22):
that time. I think that wasthe year they may have won seventy two.
Yes, and we but we webeat them. We beat them in
the regular season, and we justfelt like our defense, uh, the
way we could trap and get outof it and take the ball out of
uh, the you know, thebest player's hand. Our rotations was really

(12:45):
good. We had the depth thatwe could we could do that with Chicago.
But uh, you know, peopleall also say that Michael would have
just raised his level of play.So, uh, we're gonna with if
I would have been there, Ithink we would have won been able to
win this series. Well, NateMcMillan with us, And to that point,

(13:07):
Nate Magic Johnson was once asked whoare the toughest guys that ever defended
him? And I remember this,so I googled it, looked it up,
and here's the quote he said.Quote first of all was Nate McMillan.
He was tough. He was tough. And then he mentioned four other
guys Joe Dumars, Michael Jordan,Scottie Pippen and and Dennis Johnson. But

(13:28):
you were the first that he mentioned. So this is live radio. You're
not ready for this question, butI'm gonna challenge you. Tell tell us
a story about Magic Johnson where you'reon the court and you just go,
WHOA this dude, you know,is everything that everybody thinks he is,
and maybe where he got you,But then we'll let you barka but there

(13:50):
had to be a time, sinceMagic is listing you that way, where
you got his respect. Maybe tellus a couple of stories in those regards
about Magic. Well, I whenI was in college and was watching Magic,
he was my idol. He wasa big guard. He wasn't a

(14:13):
big time scoring guard, but hewas a big guard. And for me,
uh in college, I was considereda big guard. So when he
made that comment, of course Iloved it and appreciated it. But really
I just guarded him the way thatsmall guards guarded me and the things that

(14:39):
bothered me. I tried to doto him, and he was you know,
he was a big guard, soI could. I felt like I
could get underneath him. I wouldtry to pick him up full court and
just pressure him and make him turnas much as possible. But you know,
Magic, I mean, I thinkmy first year, we get to
the East Eastern Conference Finals and weget into this series against the Lakers,

(15:07):
and you know, they're about readyto sweep us, and I think we're
up fifteen twenty or something, likethat in the last game, and Magic
decided to that night, McMillan didn'texist on defense because the Magic just took
over the second hand, walked medown into the post and everybody else into

(15:31):
the post, and they ended upsweeping us in that series. But he
was a guy, He was myidol. I just I loved him as
a player. You know, Iwas a Sixers fan, but I loved
Magic as a player, and Ijust tried to do to him what Mutsi
Bogues was doing to me in college. I love it. Well, Nate

(15:54):
McMillan's with us. You're heading overto Moss Bay Hall, which is the
Queen Anne Beer Hall's sister spot onCentral there in Kirkland, So stop on
by and meet a sonic legend.And before you go, I got to
ask you about your foundation because Ithink it's a real cool, unique cause
that you're getting behind. Man.Yeah, well, thank you for that.

(16:15):
I just started the Nate McMillan Foundationto mentor fatherless boys ten to eighteen.
I was a fatherless child. Inever met my father, never knew
anything about him, and my motherwas a single parent that raised six kids.
And I know the difficulties in asingle parent raising, you know,

(16:41):
you young boys. But I alsoknow that it can work if they have
the right role models, if theyhave the right guidance, if they have
mentors and community support in their lives. And that's what we're going to try
to do with with these young boys. Right now. My foundation is pretty

(17:04):
much is in North Carolina, butI'm certainly going to be looking to bring
it out to back to Seattle aswell, you know, the two communities
that I call home, and uh, you know, make it a part
of this community as well. Soyou can go to Nate McMillan Foundation dot
org and take a look at it. But I just want to give reach

(17:27):
back and give some guidance and someleadership and empower uh these young guys who
are living in single parent homes andgive them some hope, because it can
work. If I didn't have thesupport of my coaches and teachers and the

(17:47):
community, and you know, thecommunity providing programs for me to get involved,
and I wouldn't be sitting here talkingto you today. So it can
happen. Those kids just need toget that support, you know, get
that encouragement, have some role modelsand the community to reach out and provide

(18:15):
some programs and some assistance for them. I love it. August third of
this summer, MAC ten will bethe Big six to oh so happy early
sixtieth birthday. Don't be a stranger. Enjoy the Moss Bay Hall tonight,
great spot. Justin Andrews is agood friend of ours and he will take
care of you, and hopefully soonerthan later, we'll see you back up

(18:36):
here and see that number ten hangingup in the Climate Pledge arena rafters where
it belongs. Pal. Great tohear your voice and we'll talk sooner,
right softy here. I appreciate youguys, man, thank you all.
R Bud you bet Nate McMillan withus on the show. I always love
talking to him. Man, we'regoing to break a little fun with audio.
Coming up next on ninety three threeKJRFF