Sam Anderson didn’t just come out and say it in his three individual epilogues in Boom Town, but this was pretty much the drift he left with the reader…namely, that despite at one time having Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook–the championship window in OKC officially closed with Kevin Durant’s departure to Oakland on July 4th, 2016.
I have to say I agree with him, but got a glimmer of hope when Paul George had his magical run in January and February. But the harsh reality has set in on the 5th day of March. This Thunder team isn’t championship magical.
But that’s the thing about sports…as in there’s nothing wrong with dreaming. But for those of us in OKC who know we stole Seattle’s team from Howard Schultz…maybe it’s time we exalt ‘our’ singular NBA championship banner from the ’78-79 Seattle Super Sonics who won the world championship in five games against Dick Motta’s Washington Bullets.
Are retroactive championship parades allowed?
I wonder if Sam Presti would smile at my sense of humor?
I was a college kid of twenty. Back then in Oklahoma City we didn’t even get all the Finals’ games live on our CBS affiliate. We would get the west coast games live, but would get the games in Washington on delay so as CBS wouldn’t interfere with their regular programming. That was the stature of the NBA back then on the major league sports ratings food chain. This was before David Stern turned the league into the most smartly marketed league in all of pro sports.
The Sixers were my team, but I always admired the way Lenny Wilkens worked his youngish Sonic teams in those two seasons when the Sonics and Bullets met in back to back Finals with each winning a ring.
I was an outlier in Oklahoma City. The NBA ratings weren’t all that great here. But I loved the NBA then and now as well. OU football and the Dallas Cowboys were the rage in Oklahoma City sports television sports ratings.
Wilkens was the coach. The top eight players were Gus Williams. Dennis ‘DJ’ Johnson, rookie Jack Sikma from Illinois Wesleyan, John Johnson, Fred Brown, Wally Walker, Lonnie Shelton and big boy Paul Silas. If I remember correctly, Wally Walker played on the championship team in Portland with Bill Walton.
This was a young team. Sikma a rookie, Williams in year three, DJ in his second NBA season, Downtown in year seven and tough John Johnson year eight. Interestingly…both Brown and Johnson played their college ball at Iowa.
The strength of the team was clearly the guard play with Williams and DJ emerging as the best backcourt in the game as the season wore on. This was a team which won on smarts and guile–the exact opposites of the Thunder teams of Brooks and Donovan. This Sonics team was a high, high basketball IQ team. Lenny Wilkins was not tolerant of stupid play.
There were twenty-two teams in the league. The Sonics ranked 19th in points per game scored at 106.6 while ranking 1st in points allowed at 103.9 per game. Defense won championships then and now.
The Sonics won the West by beating the Lakers in five and the Suns in seven to advance to the NBA Finals.
This is the call from Game 5 of our championship season in Oklahoma City.