Tuesday, June 24

Sonic Drafts

Which players drafted by the Sonics had the most success, historically speaking? There are a number of ways to evaluate success, but the easiest is games played.

After all, the man who knows the best whether a player is contributing is the head coach. Well, except when that coach is PJ Carlesimo, but I digress.

So, herewith, the leader in games played at each position by Sonic-drafted players (with year drafted and total games played):

PG: Gary Payton (1990), 1335
SG: Dennis Johnson (1976), 1100
SF: Scottie Pippen (1987), 1178
PF: Shawn Kemp (1989), 1051
C: Jack Sikma (1977), 1107

And, yes, that small forward slot is still painful to look at. As a side note, that’s one hell of a team, and not in an all-star starter at every position kind of way. I mean in the sense that that group of five men would probably win a championship every season. You’ve got tenacious defense at four of the five slots, good shooters at all five spots, three great ball-handlers ... I mean, it’s almost a perfect team, right?

Best of all, how’d you like to be the point guard bringing the ball up against DJ and the Glove. How many violations for not getting the ball past the half-court line in time would those two create in a game – 5, 10, 30? Just a beautiful lineup.

Of course, you can’t have the good without the bad, so here’s a list of the worst starting lineup (and I use that term loosely) of Sonic draftees (I’m restricting this to first-round selections only):

PG: Frank Oleynick (1975), 102
SG: Bud Stallworth (1972), 313
SF: Sherell Ford (1995), 28
PF: Mo Sene (2006), 41
C: Rich King (1991), 72

Perhaps I’m being unfair to Mo Sene, inasmuch as he hasn’t been given much of a shot in the NBA thus far, and the guy is still in his early 20s. Still, if you’re headed to Las Vegas to place a bet on a player’s future, I’m guessing you’re not sinking $250 into the Mo Sene bet, now are you?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seattle could have easily won this years Title if they did not draft Robert Swift and let the Celtics take him as they wanted.

The Sonics could have drafted Jefferson, then traded him for Garnett, then kept Ray Allen but traded the Durant pick to the Celtics for Paul Pierce and won the title.

Thus, Boston owes a great amount of gratitude to the Sonics for taking their draft pick in Robert Swift.

Anonymous said...

You're kidding right? Or maybe the Celtics would have drafted Swift and he doesn't hurt his knee and surpasses expectations in Boston and the Celtics still end up with Allen and Garnett (they just throw in 18 guys instead of the 14 they really traded for him) and then sweep the Lakers and Kobe cries harder and longer. And maybe without Swift's hair and tats to laugh at and cheer them up, this year's Sonics commit mass suicide from the depression of losing every game and having to move their family to Okieville.

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