Supersonicsoul - The Sonics Blog!

Live, Laugh, Lister Blister

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:30:00 +0000

After this morning’s news, I’m just going to be watching Shawn Kemp GIFs all day.

We are back

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:09:00 +0000

NBA votes to explore Seattle expansion, possible Sonics return

Are we back?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:22:00 +0000

Well, we almost made it to 25 years. See you all soon, I hope—stay tuned!

A New Sonic Treasure Found

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 19:24:00 +0000

It isn’t often that I come across a piece of Sonics memorabilia that takes me by surprise. I’ve seen – if not all – then very close to all of it, so when I tell you that I found something amazing, well, take my word for it, this is something really unique.

I found this particular item from a sale held by Goldin Auctions for the estate of the late Dennis Johnson (the auction is now closed, but you can find the link to the items here). There are the standard jerseys, some signed baseballs from Pete Rose and Ted Williams among others, contracts, a piece of parquet floor from the original Boston Garden, and so on.

But what caught my eye was this particular gem, a drawing of the 1978-79 Seattle SuperSonics (click to enlarge).

It’s wonderful on many levels. You’ve got the autographs of all the players, the one-liner from Sam Schulman, and, most importantly, the utterly fantastic drawings of all the players and coaches. Just knowing that this was something given to each of the players (I would assume, anyway) makes it even more special. I have to imagine there are a handful of these still in existence, and it’s possible the team reproduced them for select season-ticket holders, advertisers, etc. That said, in the bottom left corner is a marking indicating this piece was 28 of 28, which obviously means not a large number of them were made. Still, it’s something I’d never seen before, and thought was just really exciting to come across. (Also, I was glad to see that Dennis Awtrey was captured in full beard - unlike the team photo that shows him shaven).

You may be wondering – as I was – who the creator of the piece is. If you look closely in the bottom right-hand corner, you’ll see an inscription that shows up as (indecipherable) Caplan, which has to make the artist Irwin “Cap” Caplan.

Caplan isn’t perhaps familiar to most people, but he is a native Seattlite who went on to fame as a cartoonist with the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, and Life, and many others. After a long and noted career that included art exhibits at the Seattle Art Gallery, the Metropolitan Art Gallery in New York, and the National Gallery in Washington, Caplan passed away in 2007 (you can read a nicely written piece on his life from the Seattle Times here).

It’s hard to say how Caplan came to draw this piece – it’s entirely possible that Caplan was a season-ticket holder, or perhaps just a friend of people that worked with the team. If nothing else, it just further cements just how beloved the Sonics were in Seattle in 1979.

Goodbye, Mr. Schultz

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 17:20:00 +0000

The sale of the Sonics to Clay Bennett came 10 years ago today. I tracked down the article I wrote about the event 10 years ago to see if it's prescient, irrelevant, or just plain dumb. Unfortunately, it is just as sad to read today as it was to write it then, and I don't think I'd change a word of it.

It's funny, a couple of days ago I was thinking of writing a piece about the greatest hair in Sonics history - X-Man, Sikma, Freddie Brown, and now Danny Fortson and Mickael Gelabale. I was hoping Chunky could put together some artwork to make it into a nice, funny piece about our favorite team. Now? I'm barely motivated to write two words.

Look, Howard Schultz doesn't owe anybody anything. He made a business deal to get himself out of a financially precarious position, and as the front man for a conglomerate of other businesspeople, he most likely has been feeling as much heat from them to sell as he has from all of us to not. Still, it seems a bit hypocritical to me that Schultz would on the one hand trump up the emotional relationship between the city and the team when it's convenient for his argument (i.e., Seattle must build me a new stadium because of all those future Sonic fans that love their basketball), and then turn around and completely abandon that same relationship when it's convenient for his pocketbook.

Mr. Schultz, I have never met you, and I most likely never will. Hence, I am in no position to judge your character. Further, if I have learned anything in life it's that passing judgement the motivations of others is a foolhardy and worthless endeavor.

Regardless, Howard, I think I speak for the majority of the people who read this site when I say that I am disappointed in you. You have passed yourself off as a man of the city, the man who saved the Sonics from leaving and preserved the legacy of Blackburn, McDaniel, Shawn, DJ, and Lenny, and a man who was engaged in a Quixotian struggle with the city and state to keep the Sonics in their home of 40 years.

And yet, you sold that same team to a man who even a 10-year-old can tell is obviously intent on moving it to Oklahoma, guaranteeing that the Sonics will become the Cleveland Browns or Montreal Expos of the NBA.

It’s funny. Howard Schultz, easily the worst owner in Sonics history in regard to wins and losses, will also go down as the most remembered owner in Sonics history. I wonder, Howard, was that part of your five-year plan?

Complete List of Sonic Nicknames

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 20:22:00 +0000

Updated July 29, 2016 (Jack Sikma)

PLAYER		NICKNAME
Zaid	Abdul-Aziz	The Kangaroo
Ray	Allen	Jesus Shuttlesworth	Ray Ray	Sugar Ray
Greg	Anthony	G-Money
Vincent	Askew	The Fiddler	Q
Dennis	Awtrey	Tree
James	Bailey	Jammin James
Vin	Baker	Shake and Bake	The Hartford Hangover
Dana	Barros	The Human Dynamo
Brent	Barry	Bones
Alfred	Beard	Butch
Benoit	Benjamin	Big Ben
Bob	Boozer	Bullet Bob
Frank	Brickowski	Brick
John	Brisker	Heavweight Champion of NBA
Fred	Brown	Downtown
Tom	Burleson	Newland Needle
Michael	Cage	John Shaft
Bill	Cartwright	Mr. Bill
Tom	Chambers	Tommy Gun	Ken
Archie	Clark	Shake and Bake
Martyn	Conlon	Celtic Killer
Dave	Corzine	Lumber
James	Cotton	100%
James	Donaldson	JD
Rod	Derline	The Rifle
Charles	Dudley	Grasshopper
Craig	Ehlo	Eggs
Dale	Ellis	Lamar Mundane	Silent Assassin
Reggie	Evans	The Collector	Joker
Sherrell	Ford	Shake
Danny	Fortson	Big Daddy from Cincinnati
Jim	Fox	Foxy
Mike	Green	Count
Jeff	Green	Uncle Jeff
Joe	Hassett	Sonar
Hersey	Hawkins	Hawk
Spencer	Haywood	Wood
Jerome	James	Big Snacks	Big JJ
Dennis	Johnson	DJ	Airplane
John	Johnson	JJ
Vinnie	Johnson	The Microwave
Eddie	Johnson	Fast Eddie
Avery	Johnson	The Little General	AJ	Taz
Bob	Kauffman	Ajax	Horse
Greg	Kelser	Special K
Shawn	Kemp	The Reign Man
Reggie	King	The Mule
Tommy	Kron	Krash
Rashard	Lewis	The Blade	Young Fella	Quiet Man
Art	Long	Longo
Bob	Love	Butterbean	Bean
Maurice	Lucas	Luke	Mo	The Enforcer
John	Lucas	Luke
Desmond	Mason	Mase	D-Mase	The Cowboy
Xavier	McDaniel	X-Man
Jim	McDaniels	Big Mac
Derrick	McKey	Heavy D
Nate	McMillan	Mr Sonic	Mac 10
Carlton	McRay	Scooter
Tom	Meschery	The Mad Russian
Ronald	Murray	Flip
Martyn	Norris	Moochie
Frank	Oleynick	Magic
Ruben	Patterson	Kobe Stopper	The Sky Pilot
Gary	Payton	The Glove	GP
Sam	Perkins	Big Smooth
Ricky	Pierce	Big Paper Daddy
Olden	Polynice	OP
Jerry	Reynolds	Ice
Bob	Rule	Golden
Steve	Scheffler	The Chef
Detlef	Schrempf	The Grand Teuton
Jack	Sikma	The Wichert Wonder	Banger	Big Boy
Tal	Skinner	Tab
Eric	Snow	Pookie
Dick	Snyder	The Duck
Larry	Stewart	Noise
Jon	Sundvold	Sunny
Wally	Szczerbiak	Wally World
David	Thompson	Skywalker
Sedale	Threatt	The Thief	Randy Watson
Al	Tucker	Airline Al	Twiggy	Supertwiggy
Danny	Vranes	Lou	Mr. Defense
Wally	Walker	Wally Wonder
Donald	Watts	Slick
Nick	Weatherspoon	Spoon
Marvin	Webster	The Human Eraser
Aaron	Williams	The A Train
Gus	Williams	The Wizard
George	Wilson	Jiff
Willie	Wise	Wondrous Willie
Danny	Young	Cool Breeze

Remembering Art Harris

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 17:37:00 +0000

Former Sonic Art Harris, who we briefly profiled many years ago, would have been 68 years old today. Sadly, he passed away in 2007.

Harris is largely unknown to Sonic fans who only watched the team in the 1970s or later, but he had an interesting life. In our very short biography of him, you learned that he came from a tough background in Los Angeles, matriculated to Stanford where he became a standout in the Pac-8, then made his way to Seattle, where he was named to the NBA's All-Rookie Team after averaging 12 points per game.

The remainder of his professional basketball career was brief, and, like many of his teammates of that era, it is extremely difficult to find information about him.

Since we posted that story, though, I did manage to find two contemporary articles about Harris from his time in Palo Alto. The first is from The Stanford Daily of January 12, 1968, and explores his transition from Watts to the Bay Area, as well as the difficulty he faced in guarding (then) Lew Alcindor.

The second is an even better article, also from the The Stanford Daily, from May of 1968, and is a recognition of his being named the Stanford Athlete of the Year.

Both are worth a read.

The Wheel Turns

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 16:31:00 +0000

You've no doubt read the recent news that the Milwaukee Bucks' ownership is using extortion to get what the new arena they want from their local politicians. (If not, here it is).

It's sickening, really. The Bucks - not satisfied with the way things are moving arena-wise - and not satisfied with the fact that, gasp!, Wisconsin politicians are not falling over themselves with the idea of handing them an arena gratis, are now threatening that if they don't get their arena RIGHT NOW, they are going to move to Las Vegas. Or Seattle. Or someplace.

It is, of course, that second location that gets everyone in this part of the world interested. And, personally, I would like nothing more than to see Chris Hansen or whomever is representing the city of Seattle say loudly and unequivocably, "No."

No, we don't want your team.

No, we are not interested in being used a leverage.

No, we don't want to help you, billionaire hedge funders, in your attempt to swindle Wisconsin taxpayers with your cockamamie scheme.

Just NO.

It's not going to happen, because Chris Hansen wants an NBA team and he's got to play this silly game to appease the league and in the end, appeasing the league is how you get yourself a team.

It's awful, and sickening, and the hypocrisy for Seattle being involved is about a 38 on a scale of 1 to 10, and I'm completely aware that I'm probably the only person who'd rather not have pro basketball than to swipe another city's team.

But, geez, wouldn't it be nice if we just said no?

Supersonicpedia: Henry Akin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 17:30:00 +0000

Original Seattle Sonic Henry Akin. Photo via www.nasljersey.com

Happy Birthday to original Seattle Sonic Henry Akin, who turned 70 years young July 31st. The following is our profile of Akin.

The abundance of oddball characters in the history of the Seattle Sonics often makes one wonder if the team sprung forth from Kurt Vonnegut’s brain, a nonsensical torrent of thoughts emerging after a night of Wild Turkey and perogies.

Henry Akin, in his own small way, belongs in that group.

Not because he was outspoken like Haywood or Payton. Or because of off-the-court shenanigans, a la Kemp, or poetry writing like Tom Meschery. No, Henry Akin finds his small niche in Sonic history as the only player I’ve come across who abandoned a successful basketball career to work for an elevator company.

Akin, a 6’10” center from Morehead State who spent a year in New York before coming to Seattle in the Sonics’ inaugural season, played sparingly in the green and gold before moving on to the Kentucky Colonels and the ABA. His entire professional basketball career amounted to merely 308 points, a spindly total Dale Ellis might polish off in a week.

Akin first told his story to Dan Raley of the PI back in 2004, and then in even greater detail in a wonderful story penned by Tony Dondero of The Enterprise in 2008, explaining how he left Morehead State after his junior year … and began installing elevators for a living.

And it wasn’t as if Akin was a bum, either; he was named to the All-Conference team twice, and averaged nearly 20 points and 12 boards a game. But because of love (of a woman, that is, not elevators), Akin tried to live the old-fashioned life, before realizing that playing basketball might be a more exciting path to make good money than elevators, and when the New York Knicks expressed interest, he ventured to Manhattan for a workout (complete with a limousine ride and $200 in pocket money from Red Holzman), eventually finding himself picked with the first selection of the second round of the 1966 draft. Akin spent one year in New York as a reserve behind greats like Reed, Bellamy, and Van Arsdale, even getting into two playoff games and scoring three points against the Celtics in a first-round loss to Boston.

That off-season, the Sonics decided that Akin’s potential as a big man off the bench merited their attention, and they picked him in the expansion draft, ending his New York sojourn and bringing him to the Pacific Northwest for what would turn out to be nearly the rest of his life.

Interestingly, when Akin was notified by Sonics’ President Don Richman of his selection, Richman told him he was with the “Washington” Sonics. Akin, thinking the team was in DC, thought, “Hey, that’s only a few hours away,” before Richman told him that he meant Seattle, Washington.

(All of which brings to mind two things: 1. I had never heard the team referred to as the Washington Sonics. Is this news to everyone else as well? 2. Can you even conceive of this happening today? That an NBA player would have no idea where the two new expansion teams were going to be? God bless those pre-internet and cable tv days.)

Unfortunately, on his way to Seattle Akin decided to play some pickup basketball in Detroit, wrecked his knee, and saw his career over before it ever really had a chance to begin.

He only played 36 games in Seattle that expansion year, suffering through weekly tendinitis shots, and his efforts are largely ignored in the team’s history. Aside from Frank Deford’s marvelous piece on the team in 1967, wherein we learn that Akin is 1) a tobacco chewer and 2) not as good at cards as Walt Hazzard, Akin’s most famous moment in a Sonic jersey occurred when he went up against Wilt Chamberlain at the Colisseum, the same man he faced in his very first NBA game as a Knick the previous season. As Akin told the Times’ Percy Allen in 2008:

"[Coach Al Bianchi] comes on down and he grabs ahold of me, and he said, 'Now, when you get in the game, I want you to foul Wilt [Chamberlain] every time he gets the ball," said Akin, 63, who was in his second and final year in the NBA.

Chamberlain got the ball, crouched low and made a move to the basket.

"I jump on his back and when he goes up, we both fall to the floor," Akin said. "I had known Wilt, and he said, 'Harry, what in the hell are you doing?' I looked at him and said, 'Al told me to foul you every time you got the ball.' Wilt didn't say a word. He just smiled."

Akin would foul out of the game in 11 minutes.

After his career ended in Kentucky, Akin returned to Seattle and within two weeks landed a gig as a scout for the team. He would spend more than five years in the position, with the highlight being his recommendation that the Sonics take a young man from Iowa named Fred Brown, before eventually (and ironically) settling into a position with Boeing, the same company from whom the team’s name had sprung 20 years before. When his daughter, Shannon, joined the basketball staff at Shorecrest Akin lent a hand, helping the girls out with basketball advice, naturally, but also with advice for life’s problems as well. (Unfortunately, the story about why his daughter isn’t still coaching isn’t quite as rosy).

So there you have it. Elevator installer, tobacco chewer, scout, high school girls basketball coach, life counselor, member of the first Seattle Sonics’ team … that’s Henry Akin.

Quotable:

On Howard Schultz:

The only free agent he ever signed was Danny Fortson and Danny Fortson used him like a dang old watch.

On the City of Seattle

Yeah, [Bennett] gave the city $45 million … the city probably would have settled for $35, who knows. All they wanted was money and that's what Bennett threw out in front of them.

Supersonicpedia: Bud Olsen

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:57:00 +0000

Here’s the thing about Bud Olsen – former Sonic, former Louisville Cardinal – the man had a way of finding memorable teammates.

You look at Olsen’s career and you don’t reach for superlatives; four points a night in about 450 games will do that. But the teammates, oh the teammates the man had.

Let’s start in Cincinnati, the introduction of Olsen to the NBA, where he played with Oscar Robertson (future Hall of Famer), as well as Jerry Lucas (HOF). From Cincy, Olsen was sent to San Francisco, where he was introduced to Rick Barry (HOF), as well as Nate Thurmond (who would be if he had played for Boston or LA). Then to Boston for a brief spell, where, naturally, Olsen picked up a few more HOFers, including Bill Russell, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Tom Sanders, and Don Nelson (not yet, but we know it’s coming some day).

Next came Detroit, where Olsen played with Walt Bellamy (HOF), Dave Bing (HOF), and Dave Debusschere (HOF). That gives us 11 so far. Next comes two more – Bill Sharman and Alex Hannum – both HOFers, both of whom coached Olsen at some point, making the total 13. Add in Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore from the year Olsen served as an assistant with Kentucky and we’ve got 15 Hall of Famers with whom Bud Olsen had direct contact as a player or coach. For someone who never played in the NBA Finals, averaged fewer than eight points a game, and had a career of less than a decade, it’s a remarkable feat. Who knows, maybe I missed a couple in there, but after awhile you start to lose count.

Enoch “Bud” Olsen made a name for himself in Ohio high school ball in the 1950s, where he ran into folks like Bobby Knight, John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas and Mel Nowell, before heading to Louisville, where he took the Cardinals and their new building – Freedom Hall – to the Final Four in 1959. Perhaps as important, Olsen’s presence helped lure his brother, Bill, to Louisville, where he wound up being a key figure in the revitalization of the Louisville athletic program in the 1990s and 2000s.

Anyhow, thinking he’d make a nice addition to their club, the Cincinnati Royals took the local kid in the second round of the 1962 draft, where Olsen began his rather vagabond journey through the NBA. Obviously, Olsen wasn’t expecting life in the pros to be just life in Kentucky, but just how different it would be was a revelation.

Olsen was a teammate of the great Oscar Robertson with the Royals, who recalled this humorous story to the NY Times’ Ira Berkow in 2002:

''I was told that when you go to the Garden, and a kid says he wants to carry your bag, don't let him,'' he said. ''And I didn't. A few years later, when I was playing for the Royals, Bud Olsen, a teammate of mine, gave his bag to a kid. The kid disappeared with it. Olsen couldn't play that night. No uniform.''

Olsen was an admirer of Robertson’s skills. In his book, “The Big O,” Robertson said Olsen would “sit on the bench and watch my moves and punch the guy next to him, ‘You see that? You see that?’”

Anyways, aside from getting a chance to watch Robertson up close, Olsen never got much time with the Royals, with his best season coming in 1964-65 when he averaged 17 minutes and 7.5 points a game. He was traded to San Francisco at the end of the season and spent one year in the Bay before being exposed in the expansion draft, which is how he wound up wearing a Seattle Sonics jersey in 1967.

(Which , when you think about it, was one heckuva ride for a 25-year-old. In the span of five years ol’ Bud went from Ohio to San Francisco; and not just any San Francisco, either. 1966 San Francisco.)

His time in Seattle was relatively unmemorable, and at the end of the season the Sonics let him go in another expansion draft, this time to Milwaukee.

Bizarrely, Olsen failed to latch on with the expansion Bucks, but somehow found a role as a backup to Bill Russell (in what would be Russell’s last year) with the perennial champion Boston Celtics. By December, though, Red Auerbach decided he had seen enough, and he let Olsen go so that the Celtics could grab Jim Barnes instead.

Olsen drifted to Detroit for 10 more games that season (this was 1968-69), but that ended his NBA career. Thinking they could capitalize on Olsen’s college fame, the Kentucky Colonels grabbed Olsen for the 1969-70 season. He wasn’t the only player with Kentucky ties … the Colonels used a total of nine guys who went to college in Kentucky that year.

He had a good year for the Colonels, advancing to the Eastern Division Finals while playing 18 minutes a night during the playoffs. Olsen later told a Louisville magazine, “But when they brought in Dan Issel on a no-cut contract, I decided to retire from playing and became an assistant coach. I was under Joe Mullaney and then Babe McCarthy for two years and then a new opportunity came up and I accepted a position that put me in charge of ABA officials.”

Whether Olsen retired or was traded is hard to tell. According to multiple sources, Olsen was dealt to Dallas in July along with two other players for Cincy Powell (who would play in the ABA All-Star Game that season). Olsen served as an assistant coach with the Colonels in 1973-74, but not during the 1971-1973 period. In addition, he worked as a broadcaster for Kentucky Colonels games during the 1971-72.

With his basketball playing/coaching/broadcasting/referee overseeing in the past, Olsen turned to the real world and worked in sales for Schardein Mechanical and while also acting as a director for Team Up for Kids in Louisville. Olsen never garnered as much recognition in the NBA as he had in the NCAA, and it isn’t a huge surprise that he returned to Louisville to live when his career ended. Now 69, Olsen lives less than 10 minutes from the Louisville campus, where he no doubt is still active in the area’s ongoing love affair of all things Cardinal.

Today is the 35th Anniversary of the Habegger Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 20:09:00 +0000

Today is the 35th anniversary of the first and only championship in Seattle Supersonics history. Be sure to get down like Freddie Brown and save some room for the Habegger Hop.

Steve Ballmer buys Clippers, renames them Clippys

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 29 May 2014 23:45:00 +0000

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion dollars, almost four times the record amount paid for the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this month. Ballmer, who was part of a group that tried to purchase the Sacramento Kings and move them to the Northwest last year, says he intends to keep the team in Los Angeles because, apparently, every city deserves at least two more NBA teams than Seattle.

Supersonics Talk on Short Corner Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 28 May 2014 18:08:00 +0000

Hey Supersonicsouliacs! If you'd like to hear me whine about being a basketball fan without a team and hear a story about Ervin Johnson's penis, you won't want to miss this episode of the very funny Short Corner Podcast with Paul Shirley and Just Halpern.

Championship Fallout

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 May 2014 17:24:00 +0000

Happy Birthday, former Sonic James Bailey

here is a paragraph in Lenny Wilkens’ autobiography Unguarded, where the former Seattle Sonics coach talks about what made staying at the top of the NBA mountain so difficult after the Sonics had captured the NBA title against Washington in the 1978-79 season. Allow me to quote:

Another by-product of winning is low draft choices. The more you win, the lower you draft. So we didn’t have an influx of young talent to replace the aging veterans such as Silas, John Johnson, and Fred Brown.

Just one problem with Wilkens’ theory: It’s crap.

I’m sorry, that’s too blunt. To be fair, Wilkens explains in previous pages that the main culprit is “Championship Fallout,” or what Pat Riley calls “The Disease of Me.” Put simply, many of the Sonics’ players became greedy or complacent after winning the title in 1979.

But, that’s not our issue today. No, we’re focused on Wilkens’ contention that by winning the NBA Title in 1979, the Sonics were doomed to fail simply because the team continued to win large numbers of games in subsequent years, leading to low picks.

Oddly, co-writer Terry Pluto never called Wilkens on this, but a simple glance at the draft board for June 1979 shows the Sonics with the #7 pick overall, a pick they received in compensation from the Knicks after Marvin Webster signed as a free agent with New York.

That #7 pick was Vinnie Johnson, who wound up playing in three NBA Finals … for the Detroit Pistons.

Well, you say, that’s just one player. How can you expect the Sonics to reload with just one top 10 pick in a few seasons?

Ah, yes, but you forget, Vinnie Johnson wasn’t the Sonics ONLY first round pick that year. In fact, he wasn’t even their HIGHEST first round pick that year.

That’s right, the NBA Champion Seattle Sonics not only had the #7 pick in the draft, they had the #6 pick in the draft. In the entire history of the NBA, can you point to any other NBA Champion with TWO top ten picks the month they won the title? I’m too lazy to do the research, but I’m guessing it’s not a long list.

That pick – James Bailey – turns 57 today, and is, obviously, the reason you’re reading this right now. And while Bailey never materialized as the NBA star the Sonics hoped, the fact they were even able to select him at all throws quite a bit of mud in the face of Wilkens’ excuse that a main factor for his inability to maintain a championship team was lack of access to bright, young talent.

Ironically, the Sonics found greater talent in the fourth round when they drafted James Donaldson, who, of course, went on to great success with the Dallas Mavericks, and in the second round, when they selected Johnny Moore, who went on to score 5,000 points with the (mostly) San Antonio Spurs.

In all, players drafted by the Sonics the month they won Seattle’s first major sports championship went on to score 30,000 points and grab 15,000 rebounds in the NBA, most of which came in jerseys that were not green and yellow.

In the end, it appears that contrary to Lenny Wilkens’ theory, the problem wasn’t that the Sonics didn’t have access to talent – it was that they didn’t know what to do with it when they found it.

Supersonicpedia: George Wilson

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 May 2014 16:33:00 +0000

From time to time, Supersonicsoul tries to highlight players from the beginnings of the team's history, rather than just the heroes of the last 20 years. The following is a reprint of an article on an original member of the Sonics, George Wilson, who turns 72 today.

I’ve always been curious about the “winner” label that gets affixed to athletes.

Bill Russell had it – he won with the University of San Francisco, then with the Celtics, so much winning that people started thinking he was incapable of losing.

Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird – they were all winners at multiple levels.

So much of it is nonsense – Cousy, Jabbar, Pippen, and McHale had more than a little to do with those first four gentlemen’s successes, right?

It’s funny, though, you never hear about guys who won a lot before turning pro, then failed when they got there.

You know, like George Wilson.

---

George Wilson came to the Sonics by way of the 1967 expansion draft, arriving in town after the Sonics selected him from the Bulls. A 6’8” or so center/power forward, his career in the NBA never amounted to all that much – 5.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg in 400-odd games – but before he turned pro, Wilson was a winning machine, with a record even Bill Russell himself would envy.

At Marshall High School in Chicago, Wilson led his team to two state titles and was named a national All-American in the process. From there, he went to the University of Cincinnati, where he teamed up with the great Oscar Robertson and won yet another championship.

Not satisfied, Wilson turned to the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, winning a Gold Medal after sinking two crucial baskets in the final moments of a nail-biting win over Yugoslavia – the closest the US had come to losing in Olympic history.

In the span of six years – from 1958 to 1964 – Wilson had accumulated two high school championships, an NCAA title, and an Olympic Gold Medal.

Let’s say, at this point, George Wilson, rather than John Thompson, gets selected by Boston in the 1964 draft, gets another half-dozen rings on his fingers as a reserve big man for the Celtics, how do we then view George Wilson? Isn’t it possible, just possible, that rather as a forgotten undersized center from 40 years ago, he becomes a “winner?” Isn’t it possible that the Hall of Fame starts thinking about adding him to their ranks?

But enough about that speculation, let’s look at what really happened to George Wilson, member of the 1967-68 Seattle Sonics.

---

George Wilson was born in Meridan, Mississippi back in May of 1942. Because of the racism prevalent throughout the south at the time, Wilson’s family split while he was still young, eventually winding up in Chicago with his mother and stepfather.

By the time he reached Marshall High School in Chicago, an all-black school, Wilson was already a talent, but a raw one. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons, he learned to shoot a hook shot, and his career took off. Averaging 26 points a game during the next three seasons, the 6’8” Wilson dominated games, and took the Commandos to the State Title twice, the first all-black team to do so in Illinois.

With colleges around the country coveting him, Wilson opted for Cincinnati because of his admiration for Oscar Robertson. After spending one season on the freshman team while the varsity won the NCAA tournament, Wilson became a key member of the squad his sophomore year as Cincy captured its second consecutive title.

By the time 1964 rolled around, Wilson’s skills were evident to those that put together the Olympic team, but because of an arcane rule that limited each school to no more than one member on the team, Wilson’s chances at travelling to Tokyo seemed slim as his teammate, Ron Bonham, the team’s leading scorer, had already been selected.

Luckily for Wilson, he was selected for an AAU all-star team that wound up playing against the Olympic team in a tournament. His 19 rebounds persuaded the selectors to put him on the squad, and just like that, he was headed for Tokyo.

Wilson made sure they wouldn’t regret it.

----

When George “Jiff” Wilson joined the US Olympic Team in Tokyo in 1964, he wasn’t the biggest name there. (How did he get that nickname? Oh, it’s a delicious story. Turns out that Jiff peanut butter came out with a kangaroo mascot around that time and George’s teammates thought he could jump higher than the kangaroo. Laugh if you will, but Wilson was much better off than his 6’5”, 270-pound teammate, John “Joe Camel” Franklin).

Walt Hazzard, Bill Bradley, Lucious Jackson, Larry Brown … those were some of the other names, and I’m guessing that during the pre-game show on ABC (or whoever was broadcasting it back then, although I’m willing to bet a small fortune that Jim McKay and/or Lindsay Nelson were involved), the only time you heard Wilson’s name was when they were showing one of those super-duper graphics they used to use back in the day.

Anyhow, after four games Wilson had 18 points and 12 fouls, and while they didn’t have uber-statisticians back then to tell us how to think about what we were watching, it’s not a stretch to imagine that he wasn’t up for any trophies at the end of the Olympics.

Considering they had just come up obliterating Uruguay 83-28, confidence was a bit high going into the Yugoslavia game. The Yugos, though, had other ideas, and they were within four points of the US with two minutes to go.

Wilson held the ball, all his teammates covered. With the shot clock near zero, he fired one up, hit it and heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Less than a minute later, the situation repeated itself. Again, the Yugos sloughed off Wilson, he waited, waited, waited … and hit another jumper.

US lead: 8 points.

From then on, the US cruised to victory in every game, earning Wilson and his teammates a gold medal.

"To this day, I wonder what would have happened had I not made those jump shots," Wilson told UC Magazine in an interview.

"When they put those gold medals around our necks, I don't know how I could have had a bigger smile," he says. "I think I cracked the corners of my mouth smiling so big. I was like a little kid at Christmas."

---

Passed over in the regular NBA draft, Wilson wound up being a territorial selection by the Cincinnati Royals in 1964, where he would again join Oscar Robertson and two other UC grads (Tom Thacker and Jack Twyman).

The Royals were good, but not good enough, earning playoff berths for three straight years and getting knocked out in the first round in each of them. In November 1966, the Royals decided to start unloading some of their local talent, and Wilson’s 20% FG percentage didn’t exactly endear him to the front office, so off he went to Chicago, a truly dismal team, and he ended the season with the Bulls.

Come that spring, the Bulls were about as impressed with Wilson’s skills as the Royals were, so they exposed him in the expansion draft, where the Sonics swiftly snapped him up.

“He is definitely a center,” Sonic GM Don Richman told the Seattle Times, assuaging any doubts people had about the 6’8” Wilson while also announcing he had signed the new Sonic to a two-year deal.

----

Like the rest of the newly formed Sonics, George Wilson’s expectations were mixed heading into the 1967-68 season.

On the one hand, a new team offered the opportunity for increased playing time. On the other, an expansion team meant losing – and lots of it, something Wilson hadn’t experienced much in his basketball career, although that losing would be tempered by, well, we’ll let Wilson explain:

"We had nice uniforms, I always remembered those," Wilson told the Seattle Times 40 years later. "We always at least looked nice."

So there was that.

Regardless of how they looked, Wilson could at least count on more minutes, for as late as mid-September he was ticketed to share the center duties with Dorie Murrey. Unfortunately, rookie Bob Rule proved to be better than either Wilson or Murrey (including a remarkable 31/21 performance against the Knicks in November), and wound up playing almost more minutes by himself (2,424) than the two veterans combined (2,730).

Wilson, playing only 16 minutes a night, still put up the best numbers of his career, with 6.1/6.1 in points and rebounds. Still, his low FG% (35.9) offset his strong rebounding and defense.

Still, there were bright spots, such as an early February night in Seattle when the Sonics took on Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and the rest of the mighty Lakers.

Trailing by 19 points behind pathetic 22% first-half shooting, the Sonics were dealt another blow when Bob Rule found himself ejected following a punch of LA’s Erwin Mueller (a future Sonic and a former teammate of Wilson’s from Chicago).

With Dorie Murrey in foul trouble, the Sonics had to lean on Wilson the rest of the way, and he delivered. Rallying behind Wilson’s 19 rebounds in 28 minutes, to go with 10 points and five assists, the Sonics came storming back. Seattle held a 107-104 lead late, but even then the Seattle Center faithful had to hold their breaths after a missed shot attempt fell into the hands of Baylor.

Thinking quickly, Wilson knocked the ball out of the former Seattle U’s hands, and, as the Times Gil Lyons’ described it, “while flat on his back, flipped a pass to Tom Meschery for a layin.”

Ballgame.

Seattle’s 87 rebounds set a club record (later broken), and were 23 more than the Lakers’, thanks in no small part to Wilson’s efforts.

Unfortunately, that would prove to be one of the highlights of George Wilson’s time in Seattle. By the time spring rolled around, he found himself once again picked in an expansion draft, this time by the Phoenix Suns. His time in Seattle spanned less than a calendar year.

Wilson would bounce from Phoenix to Philadelphia (via trade) and finally to Buffalo (once again, via expansion; Wilson may be the only player in NBA history to have been selected in no fewer than three expansion drafts; hey, at least somebody wanted him).

In Buffalo, Wilson got frustrated at management’s double-dealing (they told him he’d be a center, then tried to make him a forward), telling the University of Cincinnati magazine in 1984:

“I was very angry and bitter then. They had something like nine guys with no-cut contracts, then I got cut even though I’d outplayed some of the other guys in camp.”

Rather than keep banging his head against the wall, Wilson retired, and pursued a variety of other interests in his post-playing days, ranging from the restoration of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Museum in Ohio, working as a YMCA director, for 5 years with a neighborhood youth corps, taught at-risk kids in the Cincy school district for 10 years, then finally “retired” in 2002, although he continues to operate his own consulting company, worked with the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, gives speeches, and is active with the NBA Players Association. When he wasn’t busy with that, he helped raise three children with his wife, Jean, whom he separated from and later remarried, creating a blended family of six children. His son, Derek, played basketball professionally in Europe, but in reading stories about George, you can tell he’s most proud of the fact his children are all good people.

More than anything these days, Wilson serves as a goodwill ambassador for the University of Cincinnati, ready with a smile and a greeting to almost anyone he meets. A champion – on-court and off.

Al Tucker, The Alley Oop, and An Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 20:00:00 +0000

Al Tucker (photo via Gasoline Alley)

Al Tucker would have been 71 years old today, and if he's remembered for anything today, it's for being credited (with his brother, Gerald) with the invention of the alley oop.

I've long had a soft spot for Tucker, who, despite his meager career statistics, always seemed to be someone who could've been a more memorable NBA player and, at the very least, someone who I would've love to have spoken with. He loved poetry and the music of Sam and Dave, could shoot 3's and dunk with equal aplomb, dominated the NAIA, and made the all-rookie team.

But it is the alley-oop for which he is most known, and that leads me to an idea. If you're a basketball fan, you know how poorly received the NBA slam dunk competition has been the past, what, 20 years? At times it feels as though more words have been written about how to fix the darn thing than there have been to actually talk about it. So, if your eyes begin to roll back into your skull at the thought of yet another hare-brained scheme, well, your skepticism is well earned.

Next year's contest will be held in New York City, and one would hope the league would be able to parlay the notoriety of the world's biggest basketball stage into something more than yet another boring missed-dunkfest.

Yes, you ask, but what does Al Tucker have to do with that?

Well, how about a tribute to the alley-oop? What if, for one year only, the NBA required all entrants to dunk via alley-oops? What if, rather than ignoring its history, the league invited David Thompson and Gerald Tucker to be guest judges? Would that not be at least somewhat more interesting than the typical fare we get at the dunk contest?

And, to piggyback on that idea, how about inviting non-NBA players to participate? How exciting would it be to have two brackets - one for NBA players and one for New York streetball players, with the winners of each bracket meeting in the championship? Wouldn't you be more likely to watch a contest that featured a bunch of amateurs trying to knock off the NBA players?

Who knows, maybe these ideas will be as successful as Al Tucker's brief NBA career, but they're worth thinking about.

A Perfect Storm

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:48:00 +0000

With the Seahawks' Super Bowl victory parade set for today, most Sonic fans of a certain age are spending the day cheering on their new heroes while simultaneously playing back the memories of their old heroes, the 1979 Seattle Sonics.

One group left out in that reminiscence are the members of the Seattle Storm, and some of them are, well, less than enthusiastic about their neglected place in Seattle's sports history. Both Lauren Jackson and Karen Bryant took to social media to decry their removal from the city's championship pedigree. After all, they argue, the WNBA has been around for more than a decade, the Storm won two titles, and they are professionals - do they not count as much as the Sonics and the Seahawks?

It's a difficult debate to deal with, simply because both sides have persuasive arguments.

On the one hand, the WNBA checks many of the boxes that indicate that it is a "major" sport. It is televised nationally, players are paid enough money that they don't have to work in the offseason in other lines of work, and the top stars - while not celebrities like LeBron or A-Rod - are at least somewhat in the cultural sports lexicon.

On the other, the WNBA is continually surrounded by "how long will it be able to exist financially" articles, the extent to which the NBA is propping up the league is always in the background, and, quite frankly, the ratings for the WNBA are not in the same universe as the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL.

The biggest problem is that, by definition, "major" is an ambiguous term. To a WNBA fan, the WNBA is a major professional sport, and much more important than the NHL. To a non-WNBA fan, the WNBA is like pro bowling or NASCAR or anything else he or she is uninterested in.

Is it sexist? Perhaps, although it is also true that many of the same people who ignore the WNBA also ignore the MLS. And, to be honest, the MLS' TV ratings are even worse than the WNBA's, meaning that anyone who claims the MLS is a "major" sport had sure better include the WNBA on that same list.

Thankfully, the decision as to whether the WNBA and the Storm have the right to place their championship trophy alongside those of the Sonics and Seahawks won't be decided today, or even next year. It will come if and when the WNBA continues to exist for another decade. If, in 2030, Lauren Jackson is part of a trophy presentation at Starbucks Arena to the Microsoft 17.XL Storm, I don't think anyone would begrudge her argument that her former team is a member of Seattle's proud professional sporting history.

San Diego '67 and the Curse of the Green and Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 23:26:00 +0000

In 1967, the NBA welcomed two new teams to the league. They both wore green and gold, they both had aerospace industry mascots and they both no longer exist.

Whenever Seattle Supersonics fans lament the loss of their team, they should think of the poor people of San Diego, a city that lost three pro basketball franchises in just over a decade. Despite making the playoffs in only their second year behind the star power of Elvin Hayes, who won the scoring title in his rookie season, the Rockets were sold to a trio of Texans in 1971 and blasted off to Houston. Only a year after hosting the All-Star Game, San Diego was out of the NBA.

Two other teams, the Conquistadors of the ABA and the relocated Buffalo Braves (renamed the Clippers), made brief stops in San Diego but the city hasn't hosted a pro basketball team since 1984, making 41 years and a world championship seem like a pretty good run. As terrible as it was to lose the Sonics, things could always be worse: we could be San Diego.

Who likes short-shorts?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:03:00 +0000

Who likes short-shorts? Apparently Seattle Supersonics legend Lenny Wilkens did, and you can have your very own pair if you win this Ebay auction.

Merry Kemp-Mas To All!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 17:00:00 +0000

And to all a Rudy White! Happy Holidays to Seattle Supersonics fans around the world from the gang of idiots at Supersonicsoul.

We Three Kings (Sonics Edition)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 05:09:00 +0000

Merry (Almost) Christmas Supersonicsouliacs! Quick Christmas Quiz: In the 41-year history of the Seattle Supersonics (sniff-sniff) there were only three Kings. Can you name them?

(Answer after the page break)

Answer: Chris, Reggie and Rich. (Not related)

Happy Holidays folks!

-Paul, Pete & Raf

Seattle Supersonics in the Playoffs: A Tale of Two Cities

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 20:58:00 +0000

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, folks across the country turn introspective, reflecting on the things in life they are most thankful for. And if the Seattle Supersonics were still around, they might be giving thanks for the Houston Rockets.

The Sonics and the (then San Diego) Rockets entered the league together in 1967. They wouldn't meet in the playoffs until 1982, but when they did, the Sonics dominated Houston.

Between 1980 and 2000, the Sonics defeated the Rockets five straight times in the playoffs before losing in their final meeting in 1997.

Of course, during that same period they lost five straight times to the Lakers in the postseason. As with most things in Seattle basketball history, no great accomplishment went unpunished.

SONICS vs ROCKETS

1982 -- WON, 2-1, first round

1987 -- WON, 4-2, conference semifinals

1989 -- WON, 3-1, first round

1993 -- WON, 4-3, conference semifinals

1996 -- WON, 4-0, conference semifinals

SONICS vs LAKERS

1980 -- LOST, 4-1, conference finals

1987 -- LOST, 4-0, conference finals

1989 -- LOST, 4-0, conference semifinals

1995 -- LOST, 3-1, first round

1998 -- LOST, 4-1, conference semifinals

Despite the seemingly one-sided history with the Rockets in the playoffs, the games were usually nail-bitters. Three out of the five series victories were decided in overtime, including the epic double OT battle in 1987, a game Sonics fans everywhere will always be thankful for.

Da Fortson Club

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 16:47:00 +0000

Do you remember Danny Fortson and his wonderful, crazy, maddening 2004-05 season? If you’re a Sonic fan, of course you do. I think the prevailing memory for NBA fans of Fortson (for those who remember him, anyway) is that of a thug, but he was much more than that.

For that season (and much of his career, really), Fortson was a foul-drawing, foul-inducing, efficiency machine. Yes, his hate-hate relationship with officials was tough to digest and severely limited his minutes, but on the offensive end the man was a joy to watch, drawing fouls at a ridiculous rate, and converting at the foul line at an equally marvelous percentage. Check the numbers (all per 36 minutes of play):

Personal Fouls: 9.1

Free Throw Attempts: 8.9

Free Throw Percentage: 88%

It’s crazy, right? The stereotype of a guy who draws nine fouls per 36 minutes is that of an undisciplined and bruising power forward, someone incapable of making more than half of his free throws, let alone nearly 90%.

In fact, if you look it up, here’s the list of players in NBA history to have averaged eight fouls and eight free throw attempts per 36 minutes, while shooting better than 80% from the line, and playing more than 500 minutes (I call it the Rule of 8, or Da Fortson Club):

Danny Fortson, 2004-05

And that’s it. In fact, you have to slide the requirements down to seven fouls and seven free throw attempts per 36 minutes, and a 70% free throw percentage to even find two other players who qualify, and they were playing during the Eisenhower administration.

You could say many things about Danny Fortson – lovable bruiser, offensively gifted thug, efficient hacker – but he is without peer in NBA history when it comes to drawing fouls, dishing fouls out, and converting at the charity stripe.

Seattle Supersonics and the groupies who loved them

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:44:00 +0000

Deadspin reprinted a great Esquire article from 1992 by E. Jean Carroll about basketball groupies in the post-Magic NBA. There are some interesting/embarrassing stories about many old-school players, including the Seattle Supersonics' own "Big Smooth" Sam Perkins:

Miss Diana Mendoza is going to Tone Loc's record company tonight, so she has to buy a new bustier, but she has time to whip by in the Jetta Eddie Murphy bought her and meet me at the Source on Sunset Boulevard for a sandwich. Miss Mendoza is Austrian, Spanish, Native American, and Moroccan and has been an extra in a couple of movies. She has hung out at Magic's house with Miss Power and says that she "loves Earvin," but the one person she always wanted to meet was Sam Perkins. "Sam was like everything," Miss Mendoza had told me and now tells me again. "Magic had a party at the Palladium and all the ballplayers were there, and I told Robin there's only one NBA player I want to meet, and she said who, and I said Sam Perkins. And she introduced me! And I said when I met him, 'I rooted for you!' And we've been liking each other ever since. We had a date, but"—her bosom rises and falls with dejection—"we've never gotten together."

Awwww. But they are not as complimentary about another former Sonic:

Olden Polynice drives in for a stunning, almost indigestible, slam dunk.

"The ugliest player in the NBA," agree the young ladies, dipping into the jalapeños.

(cue sad trombone)Read the whole story here.

5 Year Plan (5 Years Later)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 22:38:00 +0000

The final season of the Seattle Supersonics was five years ago. Five year before that, Howard Shultz unveiled his "Five Year Plan" for the Sonics. Check out this classic Supersonicsoul column by Pete Nussbaum about that plan, which strangely enough was written five years ago. KISMET!