Quick! Name a time when the Sonics/Thunder had NO top-flight talent. It’s pretty tough. Throughout the years, this has been one talent-laden franchise.
From Bob Rule and Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (better known as UCLA great Walt Hazzard) to Kevin Durant today, superb offensive talent and exciting play has been a hallmark of the Supersonics’ (now Thunder) franchise.
Despite missing the postseason in their first seven seasons, talent was not in short supply for the Sonics. In a rough 23-59 debut season, the 1967-68 Sonics boasted a solid man in the middle in Rule (18.1 ppg, 9.5 rpg) and a 24 ppg from Abdul-Rahman in his only season with the team.
The following season, Rule took his game to new heights as the Sonics welcomed star PG Lenny Wilkens, previously of the St. Louis Hawks. Wilkens’ outstanding play carried over to Seattle as he averaged 22.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg, and 8.2 apg in the first of his four seasons with the Sonics.
After one more excellent season, Rule’s run in Seattle came to a disappointing end, as injuries limited him to just 20 games over the next two seasons. However, Spencer Haywood was there to pick up t ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Emile Avanessian
Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder: NBA All-Time Starting Fives
August 30th, 2010 by Emile Avanessian Leave a reply »
Advertisement