Payton Hasn’t Kept His Word(s)

The words flew out of angry Gary Payton’s mouth last winter like one of his jump shots last week -- flat and loud and wrong.

“I didn’t sign up for this.”

Well, neither did the Lakers.

They believed Payton when he said he would sacrifice.

They believed Payton when he said he was coming not for jollies but jewelry.

They believed Payton understood the current Laker culture, eccentric but efficient, not a triangle but a circle.

In virtually every other NBA town, spring is when the stars take over.

Here, spring is when they disappear.

Here, spring is when the Laker egos, hardened by six months of bickering, dissolve into a team.

It was in the playoffs a couple of years ago, you’ll remember, when Shaquille O’Neal first called Kobe Bryant the best player in basketball.

It was just last week when Bryant led the public cheers for Kareem Rush.

Robert Horry was alone and vulnerable while attempting nearly all of his big playoff shots, yet later would always insist on an assist for the team.

Four NBA Finals in five years and has talkative Rick Fox ever used one of them to talk about himself? Has Derek Fisher ever criticized anyone but himself?

And who can forget Ron Harper, forever stepping to the podium after tough playoff losses, answering every dumb question, taking every bullet his younger teammates could not handle.

Ron Harper, who stuttered.

The Lakers may not make much sense the rest of the year, but since Phil Jackson’s arrival, every spring they fit perfectly, like hand and ...

Oops, bad analogy.

Once again Monday, The Glove didn’t show.

While the rest of his teammates were answering questions after a Staples Center practice, explaining their Game 1 Finals mugging by the Detroit Pistons, Payton was running away.

“In a minute!” he shouted to reporters as he scurried off the floor to the closed-to-the-media locker room.

By the time you read this, it will have been at least 18 hours, and he still hasn’t come back.

Several dozen reporters crowded around his designated podium for nearly 20 minutes before a team official announced that Payton wasn’t talking, which led to a league fine, which is irrelevant.

What matters to the Lakers is that, for the first time in this core group’s four Finals trips, one of their own has refused to stand shoulder to shoulder with them in the firing line.

By not speaking for a second consecutive day about an awful Game 1 performance, Payton spoke volumes about what he feels is the most important element of this series.

Once again, it’s all about Gary Payton.

By separating himself, he’s drawing attention to himself far more than Chauncey Billups’ 22 points ever would.

By refusing to answer questions from media that serve as a link to the fans, he ensured that his teammates and coaches would have to answer them for him.

Talk about a no-look pass.

Jim Cleamons, what’s your point guard thinking?

“Maybe he knows he has to do better against Chauncey, and we have to help him,” said Cleamons.

Phil Jackson, where is Payton’s head?

“Well, I’m sure, knowing Gary, he’s so competitive, that he’s got a game he’d just would like to forget about,” said Jackson.

You, Rick Fox, what about your teammate?

“All year long, our new guys have been uneasy with our offense at times,” Fox said. “I’m sure Gary is used to affecting a game with his scoring and his assists ... but in our system, at the end of the day, you don’t evaluate yourself by stats.”

In other words, Payton is perhaps tired of not being The Man, or The Second Man, or even the Third Man, especially on a Finals stage.

Fouls limited him to 31 minutes Sunday, so he’s probably mad about that.

Unlike that Piston who was limited to 29 minutes because of fouls, who took the same small number of shots as Payton (four), but who kept his headband in the game and drew praise for his maturity.

Gary Payton, you have a role model in ... Rasheed Wallace?

“Just good attitude,” said Wallace. “I’m like, hey, if I get out there, if I’m out there for two minutes or out there for 48 minutes, just try to go all-out.”

About that other matter, well, Wallace was once fined for conducting an entire playoff podium interview by repeating, “It was a good game. Both teams played hard.”

Asked about the daily media requirements, Wallace supported Payton by saying:

“It’s crazy. What different questions will you ask from today and tomorrow morning? What’s going to be different? Nothing too much. You can only rephrase questions but so many times.”

He’s right, of course. As the postseason drags on, the questions get silly, the answers get sillier, and the attention is suffocating.

But there’s something about accountability that never gets old. The players sense it. The fans understand it. Often this time of year, the fact that a player answers a question is far more important than the answer itself.

A brief return of his trademark trash-talking during a practice late last week notwithstanding, every Laker knows that Payton has been vexed.

They know he’s upset with playing as many as 40 minutes only twice in this postseason, with taking double-digit shots only once in the last four games, with becoming a role player since the San Antonio series.

They know it. They are surely getting tired of it. And they are probably wondering whether he’ll ever understand that playing for these Lakers in the playoffs means ditching your posse, dropping your attitude, leaving your comfort zone and losing yourself.

If Mark Madsen can dance, why can’t Gary Payton say, “we”?

Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.