SuperSonics Forever
Why, after a decade and more, Seattle’s basketball team will always be important to the NBA
Most NBA fans think of either the Boston Celtics or the Miami Heat when they first see or hear sharpshooter Ray Allen’s name. Fair enough. Jesus Shuttlesworth is the owner of the iconic shot of the last decade (the 2013 Finals lifesaver against the Spurs in Game 6) and he was donning C’s green the night he became the league’s all-time leader in made three-pointers. He won rings with both franchises, and that winning stuff is what people remember the most about a successful basketball player, as they should. But to me, Ray’s name will always invoke personal memories of him dragging my favorite basketball team to semi-relevance in their final years before they were stolen from me and sent to the midwest. Allen possessed scoring averages of 24.5, 23, 23.9, 25.1, and 26.4 in his four-plus seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics, highlighted by the 2004–2005 season, in which he and Rashard Lewis spearheaded the team to the second round of the playoffs, eventually succumbing in six games to the eventual champions, the San Antonio Spurs. This was the final time the team made the playoffs, as they got continually worse until the 2008 relocation.
These teams in the middle of the 2000s were my introduction to the sport I’ve loved so much now for…
