Over the next few weeks Sonics Rising will be running reviews of the 22 Seattle Supersonics teams that made the playoffs. Up now, the 1989 Sonics.
Edited by Tiffany Villigan
The 1989 Sonics would be the last team Bernie Bickerstaff would take to the playoffs before being fired at the end of the 1989-1990 season. The '89 Sonics won 47 games, which was good enough for a fourth seed in the Western Conference.
These Sonics brought to the table a formidable offense, ranking in the top ten of points-scored-per-game (112.1) and offensive rating.
In the 1988 draft the Sonics selected PG Gary Grant from Michigan in the first round and combo guard Corey Gaines from Loyola Marymount in the second round. Before the season started, Grant was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in a package that would bring big man Michael Cage to the Sonics. Gaines would also not play for the Sonics; after being placed on waivers, he was acquired by the New Jersey Nets and would go on to play in the NBA for five seasons. Most recently, Gaines was the head coach of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, a position he held from 2008 to 2013.
So much for that draft. The Sonics did, however, acquire guard Avery Johnson from the Palm Beach Stingrays of the United States Basketball League (USBL). Johnson went undrafted in the 1988 draft after a college career with stops at New Mexico Junior College, Cameron, and Southern. The "Little General" would play for the Sonics from 1988-1990, and went on to enjoy a successful 16-year NBA career as a pass-first, defensive point guard. He won the 1999 NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs and had his number 6 jersey retired by them as well. Johnson went into coaching afterwards and became the fastest coach to reach 150 wins while coaching the Dallas Mavericks. He led the Mavericks to the 2006 NBA Finals (where they lost to the Miami Heat) and most recently coached the Brooklyn Nets in 2012.
This 1989 Sonics team would be led by the veterans already in place, with guys like Dale Ellis, Xavier McDaniel, and newly acquired big man Michael Cage leading the charge. Ellis had arguably the best year of his career during the 1988-89 season and was the only Sonic voted to appear in the All-Star Game that season. He averaged a career-high in points-per-game that season as well, with 27.5. Ellis also made his way onto the All-NBA third team that year.
Another Sonic that had a great year was a young point guard named Nate McMillan, who averaged 9.3 assists-per-game that season, a career-high for him and good enough to rank in the top five among the league leaders in that stat.
In the playoffs, the Sonics would face the Houston Rockets in the first round and beat Hakeem Olajuwon and company 3-1 in a best-of-five series.
In the Western Conference Semi-Finals, the Sonics would once again run into the Showtime Lakers, the same team that had swept them two seasons ago in the conference finals. It was like déjà vu as the Sonics were again swept by Magic Johnson and the Lakers in four games, bringing an end to a decade of mixed success for the Sonics.
Here's how the roster and stats shaped out for this Sonics team:
ROSTER
No.
Player
Pos
Ht
Wt
Exp
College
42
Greg Ballard
SF
6-7
215
10
University of Oregon
44
Michael Cage
PF
6-9
224
4
San Diego State University
41
Mike Champion
SF
6-10
230
R
Gonzaga University
3
Dale Ellis
SG
6-7
205
5
University of Tennessee
15
Avery Johnson
PG
5-10
175
R
Southern University and A&M College
53
Alton Lister
C
7-0
240
7
Arizona State University
20
John Lucas
PG
6-3
175
12
University of Maryland
34
Xavier McDaniel
SF
6-7
205
3
Wichita State University
31
Derrick McKey
SF
6-9
205
1
University of Alabama
10
Nate McMillan
PG
6-5
195
2
North Carolina State University
23
Olden Polynice
C
6-11
220
1
University of Virginia
35
Jerry Reynolds
SG
6-8
200
3
Louisiana State University
40
Russ Schoene
PF
6-10
210
3
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
4
Sedale Threatt
PG
6-2
175
5
West Virginia University Institute of Technology
STATS
Player
G
GS
MP
FG%
3P%
FT%
TRB
AST
STL
BLK
PPG
Dale Ellis
82
82
3190
.501
.478
.816
342
164
108
22
27.5
Xavier McDaniel
82
10
2385
.489
.306
.732
433
134
84
40
20.5
Derrick McKey
82
82
2804
.502
.337
.803
464
219
105
70
15.9
Michael Cage
80
71
2536
.498
.000
.743
765
126
92
52
10.3
Alton Lister
82
82
1806
.499
.000
.646
545
54
28
180
8.0
Sedale Threatt
63
0
1220
.494
.367
.818
117
238
83
4
8.6
Nate McMillan
75
74
2341
.410
.214
.630
388
696
156
42
7.1
Jerry Reynolds
56
0
737
.417
.200
.760
100
62
53
26
7.6
Russ Schoene
69
1
774
.387
.382
.807
165
36
37
24
5.2
John Lucas
74
8
842
.398
.265
.701
79
260
60
1
4.2
Olden Polynice
80
0
835
.506
.000
.593
206
21
37
30
2.9
Avery Johnson
43
0
291
.349
.111
.563
24
73
21
3
1.6
Greg Ballard
2
0
15
.125
.000
1.000
7
0
0
0
3.0
Mike Champion
2
0
4
.000
.000
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
There are some clips of this team on YouTube, but outside of that, I never saw them play. The '89 team sounded like a fun team that scored a lot of points with guys like McMillan, X-Man, Lister, Cage, and Ellis. Did you see this team play? Share your memories, thoughts, and debate which Sonics team was the greatest of all-time in the comment section. And don't forget to vote!
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Poll
Where does this Sonics team rank in the all-time discussion?
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