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The goal with these pieces are going to be to give you, the reader, a review of all 22 teams of the Sonics that made the playoffs and then based off your votes (staff votes too), we'll seed the top 16 teams and then simulate the games to figure out who the greatest team in Sonics history was. The whole staff will be taking a turn or five on these.
Eventually our greatest of all time team will go head-to-head with other SB Nation best of all time teams and we'll once and for all figure out who the greatest team ever is.
In 1975 the Seattle Supersonics qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. After treading water with Tom Nissalke and Bucky Buckwalter as coaches during the '72-'73 season, then-owner Sam Schulman got serious about winning and lured the legendary Bill Russell to coach the team.
Record: 43-39, 2nd in the Pacific Division
Coach: Bill Russell
ROSTER
|
# |
Player |
Pos |
Ht |
Wt |
Exp |
College |
|
40 |
John Brisker |
SG |
6'5" |
210 |
5 |
Toledo |
|
32 |
Fred Brown |
SG |
6'3" |
182 |
3 |
Iowa |
|
16 |
Tom Burleson |
C |
7'2" |
225 |
R |
NC State |
|
21 |
Archie Clark |
PG |
6'2" |
175 |
8 |
Minnesota |
|
25 |
Rod Derline |
SG |
6'0" |
175 |
R |
Seattle |
|
31 |
Jim Fox |
C |
6'10" |
230 |
7 |
South Carolina |
|
11 |
Leonard Gray |
PF |
6'8" |
240 |
R |
Cal St. Long Beach |
|
24 |
Spencer Haywood |
PF |
6'8" |
225 |
5 |
Detroit Mercy |
|
42 |
John Hummer |
PF |
6'9" |
230 |
4 |
Princeton |
|
30 |
Wardell Jackson |
SF |
6'7" |
200 |
R |
Ohio State |
|
43 |
Kenny McIntosh |
SF |
6'7" |
225 |
3 |
Eastern Michigan |
|
22 |
Tal Skinner |
SF |
6'5" |
195 |
R |
Maryland-Eastern Shore |
|
20 |
Dean Tolson |
PF |
6'8" |
190 |
R |
Arkansas |
|
13 |
Slick Watts |
PG |
6'1" |
175 |
1 |
Xavier University of Louisiana |
Stats
|
Player |
G |
MP |
FG% |
FT% |
TRB |
AST |
STL |
PPG |
|
John Brisker |
21 |
13.1 |
.426 |
.857 |
1.6 |
0.9 |
0.3 |
7.7 |
|
Fred Brown |
81 |
33 |
.480 |
.831 |
4.2 |
3.5 |
2.3 |
21.0 |
|
Tom Burleson |
82 |
23 |
.417 |
.687 |
7.0 |
1.4 |
0.8 |
10.1 |
|
Archie Clark |
77 |
32.2 |
.495 |
.834 |
3.1 |
5.6 |
1.4 |
13.9 |
|
Rod Derline |
58 |
11.5 |
.428 |
.768 |
1.0 |
0.8 |
0.4 |
5.6 |
|
Jim Fox |
75 |
23.5 |
.469 |
.802 |
6.5 |
1.8 |
0.6 |
9.0 |
|
Leonard Gray |
75 |
30.4 |
.489 |
.722 |
6.4 |
2.2 |
0.8 |
11.5 |
|
Spencer Haywood |
68 |
37.2 |
.459 |
.811 |
9.3 |
2.0 |
0.8 |
22.4 |
|
John Hummer |
43 |
13.2 |
.380 |
.275 |
2.4 |
0.9 |
0.2 |
2.2 |
|
Wardell Jackson |
56 |
16.8 |
.397 |
.718 |
2.4 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
4.3 |
|
Kenny McIntosh |
6 |
16.8 |
.207 |
.667 |
2.5 |
1.2 |
0.7 |
3.0 |
|
Tal Skinner |
73 |
21.6 |
.409 |
.649 |
4.7 |
1.2 |
0.7 |
4.8 |
|
Dean Tolson |
19 |
4.6 |
.432 |
.647 |
1.2 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
2.3 |
|
Slick Watts |
82 |
25.1 |
.421 |
.608 |
3.2 |
6.1 |
2.3 |
6.8 |
This team was definitely led by Spencer Haywood and Fred Brown. I will not pretend to know a lot about this team, as it was six years before I was even born. I now turn it over to you readers, especially the older ones who can share some stories of Bill Russell on the sidelines.
Also, be sure to vote on where you have the team ranked!
