30 Greatest Sonics of All Time--HafPoints Edition
Introduction and Methodology
21st-30th
16th-20th
11th-15th
6th-19th
1st-5th

20. Tom Chambers (1983-1988)
HafPoints: 300
Peak Value Rank: 22nd
Aggregate Value Rank: 17th
Playoffs Value Rank: 23rd
Sonics Significance Rank: 16th (tied)

When I was young, Tom Chambers was the man. He was one of the very first of what would prove to be a new breed of versatile and virtually unstoppable NBA power forwards, with a silky outside shot and ridiculous quickness and athleticism that allowed him to get to the rack and finish emphatically. He was one of the Sonics' late-1980s big three along with Dale Ellis and Xavier McDaniel, scored more than 20 PPG three times in Seattle, peaking at 23.3 PPG in 1986-1987, and was an all-star (and a hometown All-Star Game MVP in Seattle after scoring 34 points).

Since I've always thought of Tom Chambers as immensely gifted and a bona fide star for the Sonics, it was really surprising to see him come in at 20th overall.

The problem is that PER doesn't like Chambers as much as I did. Chambers' peak PER as a Sonic was 17.1, solidly above the league average 15.0 but nowhere near the ~20 PER level that he hit in Phoenix later in his career. Perhaps PER didn't like his indifferent defense and rebounding or his high turnovers, but the upshot is that one of the most explosive and exciting Sonics scorers of my lifetime somehow ranked only 22nd in peak value.

Chambers was in town for five seasons, which helped his aggregate value despite his comparatively low ratings in PER and win shares, and his all-star appearance and All Star MVP helped him in the Sonics Significance department. But in the end, the complete package was just enough to nudge Chambers into the top 20.

This highlight is from Chambers' days in Phoenix, where he truly hit his peak. It's unfortunate that this clip is Phoenix-oriented and Kevin Johnson is involved, but this dunk is just so downright filthy that it has to be shared.

19. Derrick McKey (1987-1993)
HafPoints: 301
Peak Value Rank: 30th
Aggregate Value Rank: 13th
Playoffs Value Rank: 14th
Sonics Significance Rank: 24th

It’s interesting that Derrick McKey rated only one point higher than Tom Chambers, given that the two were polar opposites as players. Chambers was an explosive scorer and an indifferent defender; McKey was one of the best defenders in the league but tentative on the offensive end of the floor despite his obvious talents.

While the two players were very different in style, the common thread is that PER was not impressed with either. McKey’s peak PER season was 15.7, which just barely edges out the league average of 15.0. As a result, McKey's peak value score of 30th was not particularly impressive.

Since win shares explicitly takes defense and team wins into consideration, and since McKey had six seasons in a Sonics uniform in which to accumulate value, his aggregate value rank of 13th is very solid in this group. McKey's teams also made the playoffs five times, the last of which was the playoff run which ended against the Phoenix Suns in 1993, boosting his playoffs value to 14th overall.

One of McKey's most defining characteristics was his seemingly complete disinclination to use his considerable offensive talent. I told this story in Steve Stearn's Detlef Schrempf write-up, but I'll reiterate it here for the record:

"There was one game with McKey that summed it up for me--this game against the Heat. The Heat just couldn't stop him--he was too quick, too long, and too athletic to be kept from the rim, and he looked like a latter-day Dr. J. in terms of getting to the rack and finishing. He finished with 25 points and 7 rebounds on only 15 shots. Well, the game was tied late, and the ball went in to McKey, who was down on the baseline, ready to abuse the defense again with a quick move to the basket, when he … dribbled off his foot out of bounds. The Sonics wound up losing. The next game he scored 11 points and basically disappeared again. That was him in a nutshell--wildly talented, but all too rarely asserted himself and tended to fade into the background."

18. Xavier McDaniel (1985-1990)
HafPoints: 343
Peak Value Rank: 16th
Aggregate Value Rank: 16th
Playoffs Value Rank: 21st
Sonics Significance Rank: 16th (tied)

Xavier McDaniel is one of the most definable and recognizable Sonics of all time, and he was a hero to Sonics fans of my age. He was tough, he could shoot, he was a great dunker, and he was intimidating as all hell.

While 18th might seem like a low rank for a Sonics icon like McDaniel, it’s worth noting that the X-Man has a staggering 42-HafPoint lead over 19th-ranked Derrick McKey, similar to the gap McKey has over 28th-ranked Eddie Johnson. The jump from McKey to McDaniel is a profound one.

Drafted by the Sonics out of Wichita State University with the fourth pick in the 1985 NBA draft, McDaniel was immediately a star. In his rookie season he put up 17.1 PPG and 8.0 RPG, and in his second season he scored 23.0 PPG and pulled in 8.6 RPG while shooting .509 from the floor. While his scoring, rebounding, and shooting tapered off a bit after that glorious sophomore season, he was still a 20+ PPG scorer for the rest of his 5 1/2 –year Sonic career, during which he won the adulation of Sonics fans and even a memorable cameo during a sex scene in the Seattle-centric hit movie Singles.

Given all that, I was a little lost as to why McDaniel ranked only 18th in the HafPoints ranking. I had expected McDaniel to contend for a top-10 spot, but he was either 16th or tied for 16th in three of the four measures. Most mystifying for me is his 16th rank in peak value. Given the X-Man's offensive strengths, I expected PER to like him a bit more than it did.

Ultimately, though, McDaniel's career-high PER was only 18.7, which typically indicates a player who was a solid second banana but not quite an all-star performer. Given that McDaniel was fighting for shots with Tom Chambers and Dale Ellis, that might be fair.

I think there are two factors in demystifying McDaniel's PER issues. One, I think PER is penalizing McDaniel a bit for his turnover problem (more than 2.5 per game as a Sonic, and nearly 3.0 early in his career). And second, since PER accounts for pace, I think PER is downplaying McDaniel’s numbers a bit due to the fast pace and relative lack of defense in the late-1980s NBA. Essentially, what PER is saying is that McDaniel’s stats were inflated over what you’d expect if he played today.

Warning - the Ice Cube soundtrack to this highlight video is both completely awesome and features many, many words that are NSFW.

17. Ricky Pierce (1990-1994)
HafPoints: 345
Peak Value Rank: 12th
Aggregate Value Rank: 23rd
Playoffs Value Rank: 16th
Sonics Significance Rank: N/A

Ricky Pierce is one of my favorite players and, in my opinion, one of the great forgotten Sonics of the modern era, so I'm excited to see him at 17th in the HafPoints ranking, with a 12th peak value rank.

The Sonics acquired Pierce from the Milwaukee Bucks in early 1991 in exchange for Dale Ellis, in a swap of high-scoring shooting guards. Pierce immediately emerged as the Sonics' most polished and reliable scorer.

Both Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp were still raw and developing as offensive threats early in their careers, and they were primarily surrounded by complementary and defensive players like Nate McMillan, Michael Cage, Benoit Benjamin, and Derrick McKey. That meant that the Sonics frequently struggled to score unless Ricky Pierce’s jumper was on.

The good news is that it was frequently on. Pierce was a master at the catch-and-shoot, popping off screens, and draining off-balance jumpers. When both Pierce and Eddie Johnson were hitting their shots, the Sonics were nearly unstoppable. Pierce put up 21.7 PPG in his first full season in Seattle while shooting an eye-popping .916 from the free-throw line. Despite his reputation as a pure gunner, Pierce also pulled in 3.0 RPG and handed out 3.1 APG that season. He went on to put up an all-star-caliber PER of 20.8 in limited minutes in 1993-1994.

Unfortunately, that 1993-1994 season culminated in the devastating first-round playoff loss to Denver, during which Pierce and Payton reportedly squabbled. Unfortunately, Pierce was subsequently traded for a crap sandwich not particularly impressive trade package from Golden State--Byron Houston and Sarunas Marciulionis.

Kevin Calabro thought Pierce was so money that he gave No. 22 one of his all-time great nicknames--Big Paper Daddy. I still honor Pierce to this day by naming network printers Big Paper Daddy.

This is a 10-minute highlight video from a 1992 game against Utah, coming during that early period immediately following George Karl's hiring, in which the Sonics were beginning to figure out that they could be a great team. This clip starts off Utah-centric, but as it goes on there are some great shots from Ricky Pierce (as well as some fun stuff from Eddie Johnson, Shawn Kemp, and others).

A few unrelated notes from this video:

• Man, I miss the 1992 Sonics. That team was incredibly inconsistent, but so much fun to watch when they were on.
• I had forgotten just how unstoppable Jeff Malone's jumper was when he was off-balance. I'm not completely sure Jeff Malone ever took (or made) a standstill shot; he was always drifting one way or another, and the more he moved the more accurate he was.
• It's awfully nice to hear the pairing of Kevin Calabro on play-by-play with Bob Blackburn on color. I wish this video had more from Bob.

16. Hersey Hawkins (1995-1999)
HafPoints: 351
Peak Value Rank: 18th
Aggregate Value Rank: 18th
Playoffs Value Rank: 12th
Sonics Significance Rank: 17th

When I look back at the 1996 NBA Finals team, I'm struck by the quality of the players with which the Sonics were able to surround Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. Just think; Hersey Hawkins was the fourth or fifth option on that team. Former NBA All-Star Hersey Hawkins, still in the prime of his career, and one of the great shooters in the league, was a fourth or fifth option.

Hawkins had scored more than 20 PPG twice and made an all-star game with the Charles Barkley-era Philadelphia 76ers. After a brief stop in Chicago Hawkins rolled into Seattle clearly behind Payton, Kemp, Detlef Schrempf and, often, Sam Perkins in the offensive pecking order. He had been used to 14-16 shots per game in Philadelphia but despite calls from fans to "Feed the Hawk" he had to adjust to fewer than 10 shots per game during most of his time in Seattle. As a result, Hawkins' scoring dropped from a high of 22.1 PPG in Philadelphia to a low in Seattle of 10.3 PPG.

To his credit, Hawkins didn't pout or cause problems in the locker room. He was one of the great gentlemen of the game and a consummate teammate who concentrated on filling in where he was needed as a complementary player. He handled the ball, improved as a passer, kept defenses honest with the occasional dagger three-pointer, and emerged as a great defensive two-guard. Hawkins didn't have the defensive reputation of, say, Joe Dumars, but he put up surprisingly strong defensive win shares during his time in Seattle. He peaked at 4.2 defensive win shares--for reference, better than all but one of Nate McMillan's DWS seasons.

This highlight clip is from Hawkins' time in Philadelphia, during a game in which he scored 39 points. This video makes me surprisingly emotional, since I was a big fan of Hawkins' personality and game and always wished he'd get more shots. It's a lot of fun to see what the Hawk could do when he was properly fed.

Next: Greatest Sonics of All time, Nos. 11-15