Fortson was pleased to be traded to a better situation with the Sonics. Mavericks Photos

"I was pretty excited," Fortson said. "Donnie (Nelson) Jr. was calling me all morning - I knew something was going on. He said this was going to be a great situation for me. That's all I needed to hear. As a player, you just want to be in a situation where you can go and succeed."

It's been a while since that was the case for Fortson, as he went from playing more than 28 minutes per game three of his first five years in the NBA to averaging less than 15 minutes of action a night the last two seasons in Golden State and Dallas. The Warriors went with a youth movement, featuring rookie Mike Dunleavy and one-year vet Troy Murphy at forward along with their leading scorer, Antawn Jamison. In Dallas, Fortson was again behind Jamison, as well as All-Stars Dirk Nowitzki and Antoine Walker.

So, while Fortson called being traded "tough", he also said, "I'm down for trades as many times as I need to be traded to get to where I know I'm capable of being."

That very well could be Seattle. Sonics Coach Nate McMillan made it clear that Fortson - along with rookie Nick Collison and incumbents Reggie Evans and Vladimir Radmanovic - is in contention to start at power forward. Fortson and Collison, along with Jerome James and Vitaly Potapenko, will be battling for playing time in the middle.

"Nobody's promised a starting position," McMillan explained. "He has an opportunity. There will be several guys competing at that position. I think with his ability to play the four and, some nights, slide to the five spot, it allows me the opportunity to use these guys in different situations. They will have to compete for minutes."

Fortson has played power forward for most of his NBA career, but saw heavy action at center in Dallas because of Walker and Nowitzki, as well as the Mavericks lack of depth in the middle. While saying he can play both positions, Fortson indicated his preference is to be at forward.

"I like to play power forward, because I do believe that I have some skill other than just rebounding, but rebounding is my forte, so I do like to be underneath the basket," Fortson said.

Mostly, Fortson is looking forward to the opportunity to play and help a team with his rebounding. The Sonics ranked 27th in the NBA in rebound percentage last season, something that did not escape Fortson's notice as he looked around the league at teams he could end up traded to, having surmised a move was in the cards this summer after failing to get off the bench during Dallas' first-round playoff loss to the Sacramento Kings. At the same time, Fortson also got a good look at his new team's strengths when they routed his Mavericks 119-99 on April 10, shooting a season-high 58.6% from the field.

"You guys killed us too, that one time up here, you beat us by like 25 points; Luke (Ridnour) had like 16 points, 13 assists," Fortson recalled. "You could see the potential of the team. Any time you can beat the Dallas Mavericks like that, you've got some potential. I've always thought I could come in and help a lot of teams, but this was definitely one of them."

Understandably, Fortson wasn't always happy with his role over the last two seasons, but, when asked about the situations, he indicated that he had moved on and was generally philosophical about his problems, even joking that the time off was a "blessing in disguise" because it allowed his foot, which he suffered a stress fracture in that ended his 2000-01 season, to heal completely.

"I've got a lot of energy battled up," Fortson said. "Things happen for a reason. This wasn't in my control. What can I say, you know? Life - you've got to do what you've got to do, keep moving."

Besides for the lack of minutes, Fortson said he enjoyed his time with the Mavericks, the first time in his seven-year career his team has advanced to the playoffs.

"It was great, everything was great," Fortson said. "Mark Cuban knows how to treat his players, bottom line. If you're looking for me to say something bad about them, I can't even possibly begin to even try, because everything was great."

The experience in Oakland was not quite as positive, but Fortson refuses to hold any grudges.

"I have my own personal agenda, my own personal grudges for myself," he explained. "Of course some nights I wake up in the morning and go to the gym and think, 'Damn, I wish I could have been out there.' But I don't hold grudges against nobody, those are just my own personal grudges."

Fortson characterized his initial discussions with McMillan and Sonics General Manager Rick Sund as positive, and he now looks forward to spending the two months before the start of training camp preparing to come into camp ready to battle.

"I'm a veteran, eight years in the league, and they're straight-forward people," Fortson explained. "They're not trying to sell me on anything. This is not a recruiting trip. It's business. They basically gave me what I need to do to be successful, and I'm going to take it home this month, get myself prepared, so I can come back in September, after Labor Day, and be ready to go."

When healthy and given the chance, Fortson has demonstrated that he is a consistent double-double performer. During the three seasons he's started at least half his games, he's averaged a double-double (granting that one of those seasons was ended after six games by the stress fracture), something only 12 players in the league, seven of them All-Stars, did last season.

"Not who has played in the Green and Gold," McMillan joked when a reporter pointed out not many players average double-doubles. In fact, the only Sonics player to average a double-double during the McMillan era, either when he was a player or as a coach, has been Shawn Kemp.

Expecting Fortson to have that kind of impact is unrealistic, but he's not asking to be the Sonics go-to guy like Kemp was or play 40 minutes a night.

"As long as I can get in there and be productive, be part of the team," he said, "that's my only main concern."