1984-85: A New Star

by Dennis Keefe

It was Lenny Wilkens' last year as head coach of the Sonics. No one knew this at the beginning of the season, but by the end he would be "bumped up" to management. Wilkens didn't want to manage. He wanted to coach. But all through the 1984-85 season it looked like he wanted to coach somewhere else- anywhere else.

For the first time in many years, the Sonics had a losing record at home (20-21). Attendance was down to 7,400 per game--the lowest in many years. Point production was way down, and the Sonics' short experiment with the running game was completely gone. Hardly anyone was left to run.

In the offseason they had traded Gus Williams, their main spark on offense, to the Washington Bullets, getting aging veteran Ricky Sobers in return. Gerald Henderson, Tim McCormick, and Frank "Brick" Brickowski also became Sonics. Fred Brown and David Thompson had retired before the season began. Everyone knew the Sonics wouldn't be as good. I had hope for Henderson, but I couldn't imagine Boston would let him go if he were great.

The lineup:

Jack "Banger" Sikma was still around at center, but more than ever he was grimacing and shuffling down the court like an old man in pain. Years of inside banging (why do you think his teammates called him Banger?) had taken their toll. He missed 14 games to injury, but when he played he did reasonably well--18.2 pts, 10.6 rebounds, 4.2 steals, 1.2 steals, plus 49% from the field and 85% from the free throw line.

Tom Chambers was the power forward. The 6-10 offensive machine scored a then-career high 21.5 pts, plus 7.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists (almost double his previous year average), shot 83% from the line and 48% from the field. Again, he was also a foul machine, averaging 3.8 fouls per game (he was DQ'd only four times though, half of his previous year's total). Again, his defense was woefully inconsistent.

Danny Vranes played great defense -- he was named to the NBA All-Defense second team. But his other totals were pathetic (5.8 pts, 5.7 rebounds, 2 assists, 53% free throws.)

Al Wood, the natural small forward, was still starting at guard, and averaged 15 pts, 3.5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Gerald Henderson, a 6-2 point guard who had been the hero of the 1984 finals for the Celtics, started at point guard. Henderson had stolen the ball with seconds left and made a layup that won the series for Boston. But the Celtics didn't need him around, since Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson had shown they could handle the ball well. Gerald averaged 13.4 pts his first year with the Sonics, along with 7.1 assists, 1.8 steals, and a mediocre 5:2 assist to turnover ratio. The guy was not bad, but he could not penetrate like Gus Williams. (Gus had wanted a lot of money to renew his contract; he was getting old, though, and was never as spectacular with subsequent teams as he had been as a Sonic.)

The Sonics had an option on Cleveland's first round pick because of the Lonnie Shelton deal. So they took 6-10 Tim McCormick, who backed up at both center and power forward. He had limited moves, but like most centers he was labelled "promising" and "with potential." He played 20 minutes a game and averaged a respectable 9.3 pts and 5.1 rebounds, plus shot 56% from the field.

Frank Brickowski, a 6-9 rough and tumble player full of fire and grit -- and with very few actual skills at the time--made the team. Lenny (and Jack Sikma) liked his no-holds-barred approach to the game, and the coach decided it was worth taking a chance on him as a tough-guy sub (maybe to win Chamber's fights for him?).

Ricky Sobers contributed off the bench, playing 20 minutes per contest and contributing 10 pts and 3.5 assists, not much different than Fred Brown had the past few years.

Jon Sundvold saw 16 minutes, scoring less than 6 per game, but contributed nearly 3 assists per game and shot a semi-decent 32% from 3-point range.

With either Sikma, McCormick, or Brickowski always on the floor, the Sonics were not going to run much. They didn't. Like the Cavaliers of the 90's, the 1984-85 Sonics played a slow-down style in an attempt to stay in the game. Their 102.1 points per game was more than three points lower than the next lowest team (the Knicks) and they were near bottom (21st of 23) with a 47.4% field goal percentage. While they were third best in pts allowed (105.8), they were in the middle in terms of field goal percentage allowed and 16th in turnovers generated. In other words, their defense was average, their offense horrible. They had a small forward who couldn't score, another small forward masquerading as a shooting guard, and backup frontline players who were too raw and mistake-prone to replace Sikma while he was out.

The Sonics found themselves late in the season at 30-39. The team actually had a chance to make the playoffs, competing with Phoenix for the #8 playoff spot. But something happened--it looked as if the team simply gave up. They went 1-12 in their remaining games to finish 31-51 and five games behind the Suns. No playoffs -- as if everyone had decided to take an early vacation.

One bright spot on the team was Tom Chambers. Even more than the previous season he looked unstoppable, with moves to rival old Sonics like Spencer Haywood and even the legendary Sun, Connie Hawkins. In fact, with his beak-like nose, Chambers sort of resembled a hawk ....

Also, the Sonics had the joy of winning the regular season series against the Lakers for the first time in quite a while, 4-3. Somehow the Sonics managed to limit the Lakers' fast break, and were tough inside against aging and thin Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers, at 62-20, ended up winning the NBA championship. But if the Sonics hadn't folded, if they had won the #8 spot to meet the Lakers in a best of five in the first round, who knows what would have happened ....

Maybe it would have been #2 seed Denver facing Boston in the finals!