Glory Days The story of the Thunder began 2,000 miles from Oklahoma h City in Seattle Washington The Supersonics or Sonics for short joined the National Basketball Association NBA in 1967 when the league expanded from 10 to 12 teams Seattle’s first victory came over the San Diego Rockets the NBA’s other new team that year The Rockets now play in Houston Okl h f h Th d b l f The Sonics faced the challenge of building their team from unwanted and unproven players This was even more difficult because a new league formed in 1967 the American Basketball Association ABA The ABA competed for many of the same players During the first few seasons in Seattle the team starred Lenny Wilkens Bob Rule and Tom Meschery Wilkens became player coach of the Sonics in 1969 70 That same season he led the NBA in assists and was named an All-Star 6
Competition between the NBA and ABA in the early 1970s drove up salaries in pro basketball Seattle’s owner Sam Schulman thought the best solution was to merge the leagues To get the attention of NBA owners he threatened to move the Sonics to California and join the ABA Eventually the NBA agreed with Schulman the Sonics stayed put and the leagues joined forces for the 1976 77 season In the meantime Schulman made headlines by signing the ABA’s top player Spencer Haywood In 1971 72 Haywood led the Sonics to their first winning season Two years later another big name came to Seattle when Hall of Famer Bill Russell was signed to coach the club Russell had won 11 championships with the Boston Celtics He guided Seattle to a second-place finish in the Pacific Division The Sonics had two exciting guards during this era Downtown Fred Brown and Donald Slick Watts Brown was famous for his long distance shooting Watts specialized in defense LEFT This postcard shows Seattle’s first winning team ABOVE As this old guide shows high-flying Spencer Haywood was the star of the Sonics in the 1970s 7
In 1977 78 the Sonics put together one of the best young teams in the NBA They brought Wilkens back to coach the club Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson were his starting guards and Jack Sikma and Marvin Webster shared time at center With help from veterans such as Brown John Johnson and Paul Silas the Sonics reached the NBA Finals and came within one victory of defeating the Washington Bullets for the championship They finished the job the following year The Sonics lost Webster as a free agent but they added forward Lonnie Shelton Seattle faced a rematch in the 1979 NBA Finals with Washington This time the Sonics could not be stopped and won their first championship New stars led the Sonics in the 1980s including Dale Ellis Tom Chambers Nate McMillan Derrick McKey and Xavier McDaniel Seattle made it to the finals of the Western Conference in 1986 87 but the team lost to the powerhouse Los Angeles Lakers Not until the 1990s did the Sonics reach the NBA Finals again That team coached by George Karl featured two of the NBA’s most dynamic players Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton LEFT Gus Williams floats to the rim for a layup against the Bullets in the NBA Finals ABOVE Tom Chambers averaged 20 points a game in five seasons in Seattle 9
