1974–75 Seattle SuperSonics season

Seattle SuperSonics
1974–75 Seattle SuperSonics season
Head coach	Bill Russell
General manager	Bill Russell
Arena	Seattle Center Coliseum
Results
Record	43–39 (.524)
Place	Division: 2nd (Pacific); Conference: 4th (Western)
Playoff finish	West Semifinals; (eliminated 2–4)
	Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
< 1973–74	1975–76 >

The 1974–75 Seattle SuperSonics season was the 8th season of the Seattle SuperSonics in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In their second season with Bill Russell as head coach and with rookies comprising half the roster, the SuperSonics finished the regular season in 4th place in the Western Conference with a 43–39 record and reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. After defeating the Detroit Pistons in 3 games in the first round in a best-of-five series, the team fell to the future champions Golden State Warriors in 6 games.

Offseason

Head coach Bill Russell anticipated a roster overhaul during the offseason.^[1] After trading Dick Snyder on draft day to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange of the Cavs' first round selection, the SuperSonics selected center Tommy Burleson with the 3rd overall pick.^[2]

Draft picks

Note: only draft picks who participated in at least one game in the NBA are listed.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	3	Tommy Burleson	Center	United States	North Carolina State
2	26	Leonard Gray	Forward	United States	Long Beach State
3	44	Talvin Skinner	Guard / Forward	United States	Maryland Eastern Shore
5	80	Dean Tolson	Forward	United States	Arkansas
5	98	Wardell Jackson	Forward	United States	Ohio State
10	169	Rod Derline	Guard	United States	Seattle

Roster

1974–75 Seattle SuperSonics roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Height	Weight	DOB (YYYY–MM–DD)	From
G/F	40	Brisker, John	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1947–06–15	Toledo
G	32	Brown, Fred	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	1948–08–07	Iowa
C	16	Burleson, Tommy	7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1952–02–24	North Carolina State
G	21	Clark, Archie	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1941–07–15	Minnesota
G	25	Derline, Rod	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1952–03–11	Seattle
F/C	31	Fox, Jim	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1943–04–07	South Carolina
F	11	Gray, Leonard	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	1951–12–19	Long Beach State
F/C	24	Haywood, Spencer	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1949–04–22	Detroit
F/C	42	Hummer, John	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1948–05–04	Princeton
F	30	Jackson, Wardell	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1951–07–18	Ohio State
G/F	22	Skinner, Talvin	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1952–09–10	Maryland Eastern Shore
F	20	Tolson, Dean	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1951–11–25	Arkansas
G	13	Watts, Donald	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1951–07–22	Xavier (Louisiana)

Head coach

Bill Russell

Assistant coach(es)

Bob Hopkins

Legend

(C) Team captain
(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Regular season

Season standings

Pacific Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Golden State Warriors	48	34	.585	–	31–10	17–24	19–11
x-Seattle SuperSonics	43	39	.524	5	24–16	19–23	18–12
Portland Trail Blazers	38	44	.463	10	29–13	9–31	16–14
Phoenix Suns	32	50	.390	16	22–19	10–31	12–18
Los Angeles Lakers	30	52	.366	18	21–20	9–32	10–20

#	Western Conference v t e
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Golden State Warriors	48	34	.585	–
2	y-Chicago Bulls	47	35	.573	1
3	x-Kansas City–Omaha Kings	44	38	.537	4
4	x-Seattle SuperSonics	43	39	.524	5
5	x-Detroit Pistons	40	42	.488	8

6	Portland Trail Blazers	38	44	.463	10
6	Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	10
8	Phoenix Suns	32	50	.390	16
9	Los Angeles Lakers	30	52	.366	18

z - clinched division title

y - clinched division title

x - clinched playoff spot

Game log

1974–75 game log
Total: 43–39 (Home: 24–16; Road: 19–23; Neutral: 1–0)

October : 6–2 (Home: 4–0; Road: 2–2)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Record
1	October 17	@ Phoenix	L 97–114	Archie Clark (27)	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 7,215	0–1
2	October 18	Detroit	L 95–100	Spencer Haywood (23)	Seattle Center Coliseum 9,537	0–2
3	October 20	Cleveland	W 100–93	Fred Brown (31)	Seattle Center Coliseum 10,241	1–2
4	October 23	Portland	W 107–97	Archie Clark (19)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,283	2–2
5	October 25	Phoenix	W 106–97	Spencer Haywood (27)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,191	3–2
6	October 27	@ Portland	L 94–120	Fred Brown (32)	Memorial Coliseum 10,870	3–3
7	October 30	Los Angeles	W 117–97	Spencer Haywood (40)	Seattle Center Coliseum 8,938	4–3

November : 7–10 (Home: 3–3; Road: 4–7)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Record
8	November 1	Golden State	L 88–99	Spencer Haywood (28)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,777	4–4
9	November 3	Milwaukee	W 101–89	Fred Brown (28)	Seattle Center Coliseum 11,839	5–4
10	November 7	@ Golden State	W 104–93	Fred Brown (31)	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena 5,391	6–4
11	November 10	Philadelphia	W 109–95	Spencer Haywood (27)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,825	7–4
12	November 13	Los Angeles	W 108–103	Spencer Haywood (24)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,004	8–4
13	November 15	@ Detroit	L 103–117	Archie Clark (25)	Cobo Arena 6,789	8–5
14	November 16	@ New York	L 94–104	Spencer Haywood (34)	Madison Square Garden 18,932	8–6
15	November 19	@ Atlanta	L 113–122	Spencer Haywood (31)	Omni Coliseum 3,769	8–7
16	November 20	@ New Orleans	W 99–95	Three players (18)	Municipal Auditorium 4,318	9–7
17	November 22	Chicago	L 89–93	Spencer Haywood (32)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	9–8
18	November 23	@ Portland	W 117–110	Fred Brown (40)	Memorial Coliseum 11,825	10–8
19	November 24	Houston	L 109–124	Spencer Haywood (30)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	10–9
20	November 26	@ Cleveland	L 94–102	Spencer Haywood (29)	Coliseum at Richfield 4,537	10–10
21	November 27	@ Boston	L 99–104	Fred Brown (29)	Boston Garden 10,543	10–11
22	November 29	@ Philadelphia	W 121–119 (OT)	Fred Brown (40)	The Spectrum 8,660	11–11
23	November 30	@ Washington	L 90–122	Archie Clark (23)	Capital Centre 8,865	11–12

December : 5–7 (Home: 2–4; Road: 3–3)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Record
24	December 2	@ Kansas City-Omaha	W 110–106	Spencer Haywood (26)	Omaha Civic Auditorium 4,721	12–12
25	December 4	@ Milwaukee	W 112–103	Spencer Haywood (37)	MECCA Arena 10,497	13–12
26	December 6	New Orleans	W 121–108	james (22)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	14–12
27	December 7	@ Golden State	L 96–132	Spencer Haywood (20)	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena 12,608	14–13
28	December 8	Atlanta	L 95–102	Spencer Haywood (18)	Seattle Center Coliseum 11,575	14–14
29	December 11	Cleveland	L 95–97	Archie Clark (22)	Seattle Center Coliseum 10,033	14–15
30	December 13	@ Los Angeles	L 93–109	Fred Brown (16)	The Forum 10,296	14–16
31	December 17	@ Chicago	L 84–87	Fred Brown (23)	Chicago Stadium 5,591	14–17
32	December 18	@ Detroit	W 100–97	Fred Brown (34)	Cobo Arena 4,365	15–17
33	December 22	Detroit	W 108–90	rowe (22)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,346	16–17
34	December 27	Kansas City-Omaha	L 98–108	Fred Brown (37)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,260	16–18
35	December 29	Boston	L 101–121	Spencer Haywood (30)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	16–19

January : 7–7 (Home: 3–3; Road: 4–4)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Record
36	January 1	Washington	W 123–118 (OT)	Spencer Haywood (32)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,363	17–19
37	January 3	@ Portland	W 98–93	Fred Brown (32)	Memorial Coliseum 10,695	18–19
38	January 4	New Orleans	W 111–89	Spencer Haywood (20)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,474	19–19
39	January 8	New York	L 102–113	Spencer Haywood (38)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,203	19–20
40	January 10	Golden State	L 94–119	Fred Brown (27)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,055	19–21
41	January 12	Chicago	L 123–127 (2OT)	Fred Brown, Spencer Haywood (24)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	19–22
42	January 16	@ Houston	W 127–125 (OT)	Fred Brown (36)	Hofheinz Pavilion 2,274	20–22
43	January 17	@ New Orleans	L 109–113	Jim Fox (28)	Municipal Auditorium 3,120	20–23
44	January 19	@ Atlanta	L 109–117	Fred Brown (22)	Omni Coliseum 5,651	20–24
45	January 21	@ Buffalo	L 108–118	jackson (18)	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 10,271	20–25
46	January 24	@ Chicago	L 81–86	Fred Brown (24)	Chicago Stadium 7,107	20–26
47	January 26	@ Cleveland	W 96–93	Fred Brown, Tommy Burleson (21)	Coliseum at Richfield 4,219	21–26
48	January 29	@ Phoenix	W 99–85	Fred Brown (24)	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 4,273	22–26
49	January 31	Portland	W 106–103	John Brisker (28)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	23–26

February : 7–8 (Home: 4–4; Road: 3–4)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Record
50	February 1	@ Portland	W 93–91	Fred Brown (28)	Memorial Coliseum 11,870	24–26
51	February 2	@ Los Angeles	W 119–112	Archie Clark (22)	The Forum 11,586	25–26
52	February 5	Phoenix	L 102–107	Fred Brown (18)	Seattle Center Coliseum 10,002	25–27
53	February 6	@ Phoenix	L 105–112	Fred Brown (36)	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 5,865	25–28
54	February 7	Washington	L 76–99	Spencer Haywood (22)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,720	25–29
55	February 9	Buffalo	L 93–99 (OT)	Spencer Haywood (29)	Seattle Center Coliseum 11,082	25–30
56	February 12	Houston	W 104–103	Spencer Haywood (31)	Seattle Center Coliseum 8,595	26–30
57	February 14	@ Portland	L 88–90	Spencer Haywood (23)	Memorial Coliseum 11,885	26–31
58	February 16	Los Angeles	W 109–87	Spencer Haywood (24)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,053	27–31
59	February 19	Boston	W 121–95	Tommy Burleson (28)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,680	28–31
60	February 21	Atlanta	W 110–108	Spencer Haywood (39)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	29–31
61	February 23	Philadelphia	L 100–114	Fred Brown (25)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,871	29–32
62	February 25	@ New York	W 102–101	Spencer Haywood (37)	Madison Square Garden 17,096	30–32
63	February 26	@ Washington	L 98–104	Spencer Haywood (20)	Capital Centre 6,202	30–33
64	February 28	@ Philadelphia	L 111–112	Spencer Haywood (32)	The Spectrum 7,682	30–34

March : 9–5 (Home: 6–1; Road: 3–4)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Record
65	March 2	@ Boston	W 104–97	Spencer Haywood (30)	Hartford, CT 11,283	31–34
66	March 4	@ Buffalo	L 97–104	Leonard Gray (33)	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 12,665	31–35
67	March 6	@ Milwaukee	L 92–102	Fred Brown (25)	MECCA Arena 10,938	31–36
68	March 8	@ Kansas City-Omaha	W 103–99	Fred Brown (24)	Municipal Auditorium 12,389	32–36
69	March 11	@ Houston	W 122–117 (OT)	Leonard Gray (25)	Hofheinz Pavilion 6,153	33–36
70	March 14	Buffalo	W 125–105	Tommy Burleson, Spencer Haywood (22)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	34–36
71	March 15	@ Golden State	L 84–120	Fred Brown (23)	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena 9,594	34–37
72	March 16	New York	W 97–94	Fred Brown (37)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	35–37
73	March 19	Milwaukee	W 101–100	Leonard Gray (20)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	36–37
74	March 21	@ Los Angeles	L 109–112 (OT)	Archie Clark (29)	The Forum 10,102	36–38
75	March 23	Phoenix	L 96–102	Spencer Haywood (23)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	36–39
76	March 26	Los Angeles	W 110–89	Archie Clark (24)	Seattle Center Coliseum 12,128	37–39
77	March 28	Golden State	W 96–92	Tommy Burleson (22)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	38–39
78	March 30	Portland	W 98–88	Spencer Haywood (40)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	39–39

April : 4–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 2–0)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Record
79	April 2	Kansas City-Omaha	W 99–96	Spencer Haywood (25)	Seattle Center Coliseum 13,628	40–39
80	April 4	@ Los Angeles	W 111–102	Tommy Burleson (25)	The Forum 10,946	41–39
81	April 5	@ Golden State	W 109–108	Tommy Burleson (26)	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena 11,064	42–39
82	April 6	Phoenix	W 114–111	Archie Clark (31)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	43–39

1974–75 season schedule

Playoffs

1975 playoff game log

First round: 2–1 (Home: 2–0; Road: 0–1)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Series
1	April 8	Detroit	W 90–77	Fred Brown (23)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	1–0
2	April 8	@ Detroit	L 106–122	Fred Brown (30)	Cobo Arena 10,490	1–1
3	April 12	Detroit	W 100–93	Tommy Burleson (23)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	2–1

Conference Semifinals: 2–4 (Home: 1–2; Road: 1–2)

Game	Date Time	Team	Score	High points	Location Attendance	Series
1	April 14	@ Golden State	L 96–123	Leonard Gray (20)	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena 12,279	0–1
2	April 16	@ Golden State	W 100–99	Spencer Haywood (28)	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena 12,787	1–1
3	April 17	@ Golden State	L 96–105	Tommy Burleson (25)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	1–2
4	April 19	Golden State	W 111–94	Fred Brown (37)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	2–2
5	April 22	@ Golden State	L 100–124	Three players (15)	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena 12,787	2–3
6	April 24	Golden State	L 96–105	Slick Watts (24)	Seattle Center Coliseum 14,082	2–4

1975 playoff schedule

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Season

Player	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
John Brisker	21	13.1	.426	.857	1.6	.9	.3	.1	7.7
Fred Brown	81	33.0	.480	.831	4.2	3.5	2.3	.2	21.0
Tommy Burleson	82	23.0	.417	.687	7.0	1.4	.8	1.9	10.1
Archie Clark	77	32.2	.495	.834	3.1	5.6	1.4	.1	13.9
Rod Derline	58	11.5	.428	.768	1.0	.8	.4	.1	5.6
Jim Fox	75	23.5	.469	.802	6.5	1.8	.6	.2	9.0
Leonard Gray	75	30.4	.489	.722	6.4	2.2	.8	.3	11.5
Spencer Haywood	68	37.2	.459	.811	9.3	2.0	.8	1.6	22.4
John Hummer	43	13.2	.380	.275	2.4	.9	.2	.2	2.2
Wardell Jackson	56	16.8	.397	.718	2.4	.5	.5	.1	4.3
Kennedy McIntosh	6	16.8	.207	.667	2.5	1.2	.7	.5	3.0
Talvin Skinner	73	21.6	.409	.649	4.7	1.2	.7	.2	4.8
Dean Tolson	19	4.6	.432	.647	1.2	.3	.2	.3	2.3
Slick Watts	82	25.1	.421	.608	3.2	6.1	2.3	.1	6.8

Playoffs

Player	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Fred Brown	8	30.0	.496	.844	4.5	2.9	2.1	.1	20.6
Tommy Burleson	9	40.4	.513	.750	10.7	1.4	.8	2.0	20.7
Archie Clark	9	29.9	.436	.900	3.6	3.4	.7	.1	7.0
Rod Derline	6	10.7	.545	.857	2.2	1.2	.3	.0	7.0
Jim Fox	8	5.0	.286	.571	1.1	.3	.0	.1	1.5
Leonard Gray	9	29.2	.488	.846	5.0	2.2	1.3	.6	9.9
Spencer Haywood	9	37.4	.359	.770	9.0	2.0	.8	1.2	15.7
John Hummer	6	11.3	.000		1.5	.7	.3	.0	.0
Talvin Skinner	9	23.4	.467	.737	4.2	1.3	1.0	.2	6.2
Dean Tolson	4	5.5	.125	1.000	1.8	.3	.0	.0	1.0
Slick Watts	9	31.1	.462	.538	3.7	7.1	3.0	.4	11.1

Awards and records

Spencer Haywood was selected to the All-NBA Second Team and represented the West in the 1975 NBA All-Star Game.
Tommy Burleson was selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Transactions

Overview

Players Added

Via draft

Via trade

Archie Clark

Players Lost

Via draft
(1974 NBA Expansion Draft)

Isaac Stallworth (to New Orleans)

Via trade

Via free agency

Milt Williams

Waived

Kennedy McIntosh

Trades

May 28, 1974	To Seattle SuperSonics 1974 first round pick	To Cleveland Cavaliers Dick Snyder 1974 first round pick
August 20, 1974 ^[3]	To Seattle SuperSonics Archie Clark	To Washington Bullets Dick Gibbs 1975 third round pick

References

↑ Program may be needed to identify 'new' Sonics, Ellensburg Daily Record. May 30, 1974. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
↑ Sonics draft Burleson, Ellensburg Daily Record. May 28, 1974. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
↑ Seattle acquires Clark from Bullets, Bangor Daily News. August 20, 1974. Retrieved June 21, 2012.

[1] Program may be needed to identify 'new' Sonics, Ellensburg Daily Record. May 30, 1974. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[2] Sonics draft Burleson, Ellensburg Daily Record. May 28, 1974. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[3] Seattle acquires Clark from Bullets, Bangor Daily News. August 20, 1974. Retrieved June 21, 2012.

[1]

[2]

[3]

1974–75 Seattle SuperSonics season

Contents

Offseason

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

Playoffs

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Awards and records

Transactions

Overview

Trades

References

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