The news of the offseason was that fan favorite -- and the owner's favorite player too -- Walt Hazzard, was traded to the St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks (they were in the midst of moving when they made the trade!) for some old guy named Lenny Wilkens. That was hardly the way to build a franchise, some said -- instead, the way to improve your team was you lost, got high draft picks and developed their talent. You didn't need somebody who was near the end of his career. But, Sonics coach Al Bianchi and GM Dick Vertlieb wanted the trade. The league was full of recent expansion teams - there would be lots of teams with lousy records. Two more teams -- Milwaukee and Phoenix -- joined the league that year; more expansion franchises were in the works. A lousy record wouldn't mean a top pick. A team would have to be SUPER lousy to get a superstar.

It was lucky for the Sonics that Sam Schulman, the Sonics owner, listened to his GM instead of to his own heart. Hazzard would prove be a serviceable guard for a few different teams in future years, but for a while, Lenny became the Sonics' franchise player.

Number 1 on the Sonics' list of priorities for their second season of existence was to learn how to play defense. Coach Bianchi focused on teaching the fundamentals of D and a hundred other things to his young group.

Two young but valuable bench players, hot-shot Bob Weiss and big man George Wilson, were lost in the expansion draft. But the team looked better -- a promising young shooter, Art Harris had been nabbed in the second round, while forward Bob Kauffman was taken in the 1st round, the third pick overall, right after Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld. Big things were expected from Bob -- some expected him to become a superstar. Others proclaimed he was too raw and too risky to take so high in the draft (he had played at a lesser-known college, Guilford.)

I figured that with Kauffman, the Sonics' super front line of the future was set -- Bob Rule at center, Kauffman at power forward, and last year's 1st-rounder Al Tucker at small forward. In a few years, they would become a dominant force, I dreamed. (Hey, what did I know? I was only 6 years old!)

Now back to reality. The fact was that this "super" front line was nowhere near ready to compete in the NBA. Kauffman WAS too raw to start, and the other two couldn't play defense. It was a good thing Al Bianchi was a patient man.

Overall, Bianchi's approach worked. The Sonics improved their record by 7 games, going 30-52, with a respectable 18-18 at home, 6-5 on neutral courts, but only 6-29 on the road. Their defense improved to become only the second most porous in the league, allowing 116.9 pts per game, 8.2 better than the previous year, but they continued to foul a lot. Their scoring output (112.1) was average.

The Lineup:

Bob Rule, the 6-9 center, had bulked up over the summer, and though his new bulk wasn't all muscle (there was a bit of blubber too) it meant that at least he was harder to push around. In fact, he did plenty of pushing himself that season, while maintaining his mobility and improving his game all around. He averaged 24 points (4th in the league), 11.5 rebounds, and a consistent 4 fouls per game in 38 minutes per contest. The fans loved him, even if his defense was still not quite where it should be for a center.

Veteran Tom Meschery continued to have fun at forward. The energetic 6-6 forward managed 14 pts, 10 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and only 3.7 fouls per game (a bit fewer than last year.)

Second-year player Al Tucker, at 6-7 and 215 pounds, started at the other forward spot and averaged 10 pts, 5.7 rebounds and 1 assist in 22 minutes per game. He shared time with rookie Bob Kauffman. Tucker was not developing like the Sonics had hoped. Attendance was down too, from a pathetic 6500 in the first year to an unbelievable 5800 per game. The Sonics were a better team than last year, but nobody cared.

56 games into the season, the Sonics traded Al Tucker for John Tresvant, a 6-7 former Seattle University star and a friend of Lenny Wilkens. The Sonics apparently hoped that having a former home town hero on the team would boost attendance. That year, Tresvant averaged 13.6 pts, 10.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 31 minutes as a Sonic -- a significant improvement in rebounding and passing over Tucker. His presence didn't help attendance.

At guard, 6-4 rookie Art Harris started, since former starter Rod Thorn was beset with injuries (Thorn played in only 29 games that season.) Harris proved to be a solid replacement, averaging 12.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, but only about 40% shooting -- he rarely drove to the basket, preferring to stay on the perimeter and shoot or find the open man. Harris made the all-rookie team. Because injuries would hamper his development, it turned out to be Art's best year.

Ball handling duties were in the capable hands of 6-1, 185 pound 8-year veteran Lenny Wilkens. Playing 40 minutes a game, Lenny had a superb year, averaging 22.4 pts (9th in the league), 6.2 rebounds, 8.2 assists (2nd in the league), and a Sonic-like 3.6 fouls per contest. He was a quiet leader on and off the floor, with a great work ethic and a keen knowledge of the game. In fact, when he had first come to the Sonics, GM Dick Vertlieb had asked him to coach as well as play. Lenny was shocked and flattered, and after thinking about it decided he could do it -- he had seen other former players become coaches, and he knew he could do what they did, in some cases, better. But Lenny had to fit into the team first. Al Bianchi continued as coach in Lenny's first year as a Sonic.

The main backups included 3rd-year man Tommy "Krash" Kron, who hustled for 15 minutes a game at guard and forward, ready for anything. He averaged 5 pts, 3 rebounds, and 2.5 asssists per game. Joe Kennedy was a 6-6, 210 pound rookie who came off the bench as a forward, saw 17 minutes per game and averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds. The main player off the bench, however, was Bob Kauffman, a 6-8, 240 pound banger who filled in at forward and center. The Times had written an article about him -- someone told me about it (I was not a big Times reader at 6 years old, I had to be told) -- so I thought big things were coming from him. Indeed, rumor had it that Bob thought he was too good for the team and didn't want to come. When he did come, I wondered why he didn't get more playing time. He must have been frustrated as well -- he saw only 20 minutes of action per game. He averaged 8 pts, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and a whopping 3 fouls per game (the high fouling thus made him an official Sonic.)

So things didn't quite pan out that season with Kauffman. But Rule and Wilkens had superb seasons. And even better, the Sonics met the almost perrenial world-champion Boston Celtics 6 times and beat them in 3 games. We're talking about Lenny, Bob Rule, Tom Meschery, Art Harris, and Al Tucker outplaying Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, and Bailey Howell for crying out loud! Sure, Russell and Jones were old, but they were still good. The Celtics had no excuses for the 3 hard-fought Sonic wins, each by a margin of 2 points (though Boston did blow out the Sonics 139-92 to avenge a Seattle win in Boston Garden.) Boston went on to win the NBA championship that year against the Lakers.

The Sonics had gathered a few pieces now towards their goal of becoming a good NBA team. Lenny Wilkens and Bob Rule had become famous names in the Pacific Northwest. But if attendance didn't perk up, the Sonics' days would be numbered. Sam Schulman and gang worked hard in the offseason to attract people's interest in the fledgling Sonics.

Some Sonics trivia:

The Sonics' first overtime game was a double overtime contest against Phoenix on November 15, 1968, at Seattle. The Sonics won 128-124.

The Sonics started out the season 0-4. Their first win came against Elvin Hayes and the San Diego Rockets, and the next game the Sonics beat Lenny Wilkens' old club, the Hawks. However, Atlanta would get revenge later in the season with a couple of blowout wins, including a 142-113 thumping on November 13 and a 126-96 blizzard on December 26.

The Sonics' biggest margin of victory was a 144-118 win over Dave Bing and the Detroit Pistons on January 3, 1969.