With Nick Collison’s jersey retirement ceremony coming up I thought maybe taking a look at some of the more prominent players for Seattle from the ’79 NBA championship team might kind of be fun. I was twenty-two years of age at the time and very much remember that NBA Finals which pitted the Sonics vs. the Washington Bullets led by Wes Unseld and Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe.
The Sonics won the series and to date it is the only world championship won by the Sonics/Thunder franchise. Brown’s Sonics appeared in another NBA Finals and lost to Washington in ’78 while the Thunder made the 2012 NBA Finals before losing to LeBron’s Miami Heat in five games. In addition, George Karl’s ’96 Sonics team made the NBA Finals and lost in six games to Michael Jordan’s Bulls.
Brown was drafted out of the University of Iowa by both the ABA’s Kentucky franchise and the Sonics in 1971. Brown was the 6th player taken in the first round. His career got off to a slow start only playing in 33 games and averaging 4.2 points a game. It would be the only season in Brown’s thirteen season career in which he didn’t average in double figures scoring the ball.
Brown was a two time NBA finalist and an NBA-All Star in 1976. He started at times earlier in his career, but as the captain of the ’79 championship Sonics team he was the Sixth Man as Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson of later Celtic fame were the starting backcourt.
Downtown Freddie Brown holds several individual franchise records of note. He shares with Russell Westbrook the record for most points scored in a regular season game at 58 points. He shares with Ray Allen the record for most points scored in a playoff game at 45 points. And he shares with Gus Williams most steals in a game at 10.
Downtown scored 14,018 points in his career and averaged just over 14 points a game. He played from 1971-1984 and like Nick Collison only played for one franchise in his entire professional career.
His No. 32 jersey was retired and he’s one of the greatest players in the history of the Sonics’ franchise which now resides in Oklahoma City.
Earl Monroe was not on the Bullets in 1979.
You are absolutely correct. Not even close. He was with the NY Knicks in 1979. I must have written this post late at night after having a couple of Lone Stars. Now I’m going to have to go back and completely refresh myself with ETP’s entire career. Thanks.