1999–2000 Seattle SuperSonics season

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1999–2000 Seattle SuperSonics season
Head coach Paul Westphal
General manager Wally Walker
Arena KeyArena
Results
Record 45–37 (.549)
Place Division: 4th (Pacific)
Conference: 7th (Western)
Playoff finish West First Round
(eliminated 2–3)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
< 1998–99 2000–01 >

The 1999–2000 Seattle SuperSonics season was the Seattle SuperSonics' 32nd season in the National Basketball Association.[1] Two years removed from the George Karl-era, the Sonics once again managed to make the playoffs finishing fourth in the Pacific Division with a 45-37 record.[2] They took the second-seeded Utah Jazz to a fifth and decisive game in the Western Conference first round before being eliminated on Utah's home floor.[3] 9th-year point guard Gary Payton earned high individual honors for the season, including All-NBA First Team and NBA All-Defensive First Team selections.[4][5]

For the season, the Sonics added maroon alternate uniforms which lasted until 2001.

Offseason

Draft picks

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Main article: 1999 NBA Draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College
1 13 Corey Maggette [6] SG/SF  United States Duke

The 1999 NBA Draft saw the Seattle SuperSonics with the 13th and 41st overall picks, the latter of which was acquired by the Denver Nuggets.[7] With the remaining pick, the Sonics selected Duke University's Corey Maggette,[8] regarded by some as the "best pure athlete in the entire draft."[9]

On draft night, the Sonics traded Maggette to the Orlando Magic, along with veteran players Billy Owens, Don McLean, and Dale Ellis. In return, the Sonics received veteran forward Horace Grant, a three-time NBA champion with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls (1991-1993).[10] They also received two future second-round draft picks (No. 42 in 2000 and No. 42 in 2001) in the deal.

Roster

Seattle SuperSonics roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From
F/C 42 Baker, Vin 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 232 lb (105 kg) November 23, 1971 University of Hartford
G/F 31 Barry, Brent 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) December 31, 1971 Oregon State
F 11 Borrell, Lazaro 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) September 20, 1972 N/A
G 15 Davis, Emanual 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) August 27, 1968 Delaware State
F 44 Foster, Greg 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 240 lb (109 kg) October 8, 1968 University of Texas at El Paso
F/C 54 Grant, Horace 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) July 4, 1965 Clemson
F 7 Lewis, Rashard 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) August 8, 1979 N/A
G 3 Maxwell, Vernon 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) September 12, 1965 Florida
C 34 McCoy, Jelani 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) December 6, 1977 UCLA
G/F 21 Patterson, Ruben 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 224 lb (102 kg) July 31, 1975 University of Cincinnati
G 20 Payton, Gary 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) July 23, 1968 Oregon State
F 45 Person, Chuck 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) June 27, 1964 Auburn
C 5 Stepania, Vladimir 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 236 lb (107 kg) May 8, 1976 N/A
G 24 Vinson, Fred 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) January 28, 1971 Georgia Institute of Technology
G 1 Williams, Shammond 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 201 lb (91 kg) April 5, 1975 North Carolina
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Nate McMillan

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

Roster • Transactions
Last transaction: February 4, 2013

[11]

Regular season

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Main article: 1999–2000 NBA season

Seattle began the season by winning 9 out of their first 11 games, capping off the run with a win over the Houston Rockets on November 20, 1999. Their strong play continued through the month of January, where a 7-game win streak put them at a season-high 14 games over .500 (27-13). Though the Sonics only managed to win 18 of their final 42 games, their early-season success offset their late-season losses, keeping them safely within the playoff picture.[12]

With two games left in the season, the Sonics overcame the Sacramento Kings in overtime to secure the 7th seed in the Western Conference.[13] This assured that the team would avoid the 1st-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, who finished the season with an NBA-best 67-15, in the first round of the playoffs. Particularly, the seeding eliminated the possibility of unfavorable match-ups with a young Kobe Bryant and season MVP Shaquille O'Neal.[14][15]

The Sonics would lose their final game of the regular season and finish with a 45-37 record.[16]

Season standings

Pacific Division
W L PCT GB Home Road Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers 67 15 .817 – 36–5 31–10 20–4
x-Portland Trail Blazers 59 23 .720 8 30–11 29–12 21–3
x-Phoenix Suns 53 29 .646 14 32–9 21–20 15–9
x-Seattle SuperSonics 45 37 .549 22 24–17 21–20 12–12
x-Sacramento Kings 44 38 .537 23 30–11 14–27 9–15
Golden State Warriors 19 63 .232 48 12–29 7–34 2–22
Los Angeles Clippers 15 67 .183 52 10–31 5–36 5–19
# Western Conference
Team W L PCT GB
1 z-Los Angeles Lakers 67 15 .817 –
2 y-Utah Jazz 55 27 .671 12
3 x-Portland Trail Blazers 59 23 .720 8
4 x-San Antonio Spurs 53 29 .646 14
5 x-Phoenix Suns 53 29 .646 14
6 x-Minnesota Timberwolves 50 32 .610 17
7 x-Seattle SuperSonics 45 37 .549 22
8 x-Sacramento Kings 44 38 .537 23
9 Dallas Mavericks 40 42 .488 27
10 Denver Nuggets 35 47 .427 32
11 Houston Rockets 34 48 .415 33
12 Vancouver Grizzlies 22 60 .268 45
13 Golden State Warriors 19 63 .232 48
14 Los Angeles Clippers 15 67 .183 52


z - clinched division title
y - clinched division title
x - clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

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Main article: 2000 NBA Playoffs

Western First Round

(2) Utah Jazz vs. (7) Seattle SuperSonics Last Playoff Meeting: 1996 Western Conference Finals (Seattle won 4-3)

Game 1

April 22
Seattle SuperSonics 93, Utah Jazz 104
Scoring by quarter: 25–22, 24–30, 19–31, 25–21
Pts: Gary Payton 24
Rebs: Gary Payton 11
Asts: Gary Payton 6		 Pts: Karl Malone 50
Rebs: Karl Malone 12
Asts: Jeff Hornacek 11
Utah leads the series, 1–0
Delta Center, Salt Lake City
Attendance: 19,991
Referees:
  • Bennett Salvatore
  • Ronnie Nunn
  • Greg Willard

Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round series between the Sonics and the Utah Jazz ended in a 104-93 victory for Utah. The game remained relatively close throughout the first half, with the Sonics leading 25-22 after the first quarter and Utah leading 52-49 after two. However, the third quarter proved to be costly for Seattle. Led by forward Karl Malone, the reigning MVP of the league,[17] the Jazz would go on a 22-8 run to start the period, giving them a 74-57 lead with 4:15 left. Despite a small rally to begin the fourth quarter, the Sonics would never get closer than seven the rest of the game.[18]

Malone went on to score a playoff career-high 50 points in the victory. At the time, it was the 26th-highest playoff point total in the history of the NBA, inserting Malone into the ranks of players like Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Jordan in single-game playoff totals. All-Star guard Gary Payton scored a team-high 24 points for the Sonics, but was limited to 11-29 shooting. Seattle's Vin Baker also shot the ball poorly, making only 4 of his 18 shots while struggling to guard Malone all night.[19]

Game 2

April 24
Seattle SuperSonics 87, Utah Jazz 101
Scoring by quarter: 19–25, 21–32, 19–29, 28–15
Pts: Gary Payton 20
Rebs: Vin Baker 7
Asts: Shammond Williams 10		 Pts: Karl Malone 23
Rebs: Greg Ostertag 12
Asts: John Stockton 11
Utah leads the series, 2–0
Delta Center, Salt Lake City
Attendance: 19,991
Referees:
  • Steve Javie
  • Ed F Rush
  • Mike Callahan

The Sonics would not fare much better in Game 2, losing 101-87 in a blowout. The Jazz opened the game on a 10-2 run, only to see their lead cut by an identical run from the Sonics. However, the Sonics trailed the rest of the game, falling down by 17 at halftime and 27 after three quarters. After a 7-0 run to start the 4th quarter put them up 94-59, the Jazz decided to rest their starters for the rest of the period. Though Malone scored less than half his first-game total (23), teammate John Stockton compensated with 21 points and 11 assists of his own. The duo shot a combined 19-24 from the field.[20]

Payton was much more accurate from the field in Game 2, scoring 20 points on 8-12 shooting. However, he only recorded 1 assist in 36 minutes of playing time, compared to 7 turnovers. Baker also followed up his poor Game 1 performance by scoring 10 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. However, guard Shammond Williams scored 15 points and registered 10 assists, and second-year forward Rashard Lewis, who was limited to 4 points in the series opener, scored 19 points on 5-11 shooting.[21]

Game 3

April 29
Utah Jazz 78, Seattle SuperSonics 89
Scoring by quarter: 16–20, 18–20, 18–24, 26–25
Pts: Gary Payton 23
Rebs: Vin Baker 11
Asts: Gary Payton 10		 Pts: Karl Malone 30
Rebs: Karl Malone 6
Asts: John Stockton 13
Utah leads the series, 2–1
KeyArena, Seattle
Attendance: 16,731
Referees:
  • Dick Bavetta
  • Bernie Fryer
  • Joe Derosa

Seattle would pick up its first victory of the series at home, taking Game 3 by a score of 89-78 and avoiding a series sweep in doing so. This ended a 6-game playoff losing streak for the Sonics, earning them their first victory since May 1998. Utah kept the game close until halftime, trailing by only 4 after the first quarter and by 6 after the second. However, Seattle would take control in the third, using a buzzer-beating jumper by Ruben Patterson to put them ahead by 12 going into the fourth. Though the Jazz eventually pulled to 66-59, the Sonics subsequently outscored them 19-5 to go ahead by 21 with 3:06 left in the game. This would seal the victory.[22]

Seattle came out much more aggressive in Game 3, out-rebounding the Jazz 46-38 and shooting 36 free throws to Utah's 18. Payton paced his team throughout, narrowly missing a triple-double with 23 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds. Baker broke out of what many viewed as a slump to post 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Lewis made 3 of 5 3-point attempts on his way to 14 points and 10 rebounds.[23]

For the game, Utah arguably had only one bright spot in Malone, who scored 30 points on 12-19 shooting. However, he was called for a technical foul late in the second quarter, giving him two in his last three games. Head coach Jerry Sloan and teammate Armen Gilliam also picked up technicals. Stockton could not repeat his Game 2 performance, making only one field goal (in eight attempts) the entire game. He did, however, record a game-high 13 assists.[24]

Game 4

May 3
Utah Jazz 93, Seattle SuperSonics 104
Scoring by quarter: 29–26, 7–24, 35–28, 22–26
Pts: Gary Payton 35
Rebs: Gary Payton 10
Asts: Gary Payton 11		 Pts: Byron Russell 26
Rebs: Karl Malone 14
Asts: John Stockton 12
Series tied, 2–2
KeyArena, Seattle
Attendance: 16, 631
Referees:
  • Ron Garretson
  • Jim Clark
  • Mark Wunderlich

Again facing elimination, the Sonics pulled off a chippy victory in Game 4. This evened the series at 2 games apiece and forced a fifth-and-final game in Utah. Seattle played a historic second quarter in the contest, holding the Jazz to 7 points and outscoring the team by 17. The 7 points were not only a franchise-playoff-low in a quarter for Utah, but also an opponent-playoff-low in a quarter for Seattle. The Jazz failed to score from the 5:59 mark to 37 seconds left in the quarter. Utah still managed to pull within 2 in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer by Jeff Hornacek made the score 82-80. However, Seattle promptly went on a 9-1 run to put the game away for good.[25]

The game turned testy in the second half, during which time 7 technical fouls were called, 6 of them on Utah. Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek, and Greg Ostertag all received technicals, as well as head coach Jerry Sloan. In the fourth quarter alone, 5 technicals were called, resulting in the ejections of both Malone and Sloan. Payton and Malone exchanged words in the waning seconds of the fourth, which subsequently led to a double-technical and Malone's ejection. However, Payton refused to comment on the details of the exchange.[26]

Payton recorded his first career playoff triple-double in the game, registering a career-playoff-high 35 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. He added a career-playoff-high six steals to round off his impressive performance. Vin Baker scored 18 points to go with 9 rebounds, and Rashard Lewis added 20 points in the victory. Malone had 23 points and a game-high 14 rebounds in the loss, but also had 6 turnovers.[27]

Game 5

May 5
Seattle SuperSonics 93, Utah Jazz 96
Scoring by quarter: 18–23, 31–30, 21–26, 23–17
Pts: Gary Payton 27
Rebs: Rashard Lewis 7
Asts: Gary Payton 9		 Pts: Karl Malone 27
Rebs: Karl Malone 8
Asts: John Stockton 15
Utah wins series, 3-2
Delta Center, Salt Lake City
Attendance: 19,991
Referees:
  • Hugh Evans
  • Don Vaden
  • Hue Hollins

Despite an impressive playoff run, Seattle's season came to an end in Salt Lake City with a 93-96 loss in Game 5. Seattle trailed 79-70 going into the fourth quarter, but a 9-1 Sonics run pulled them within 1 with 8:12 left in the game. The score was 92-89 with 2:06 to play before Jeff Hornacek tipped in a Karl Malone miss to make it 94-89. After Olden Polynice missed two free throws late to keep the score at 94-91, Gary Payton scored a basket with 25 seconds left to bring the Sonics within one. John Stockton subsequently hit two free throws, giving the Sonics a final possession to tie the game. However, Chuck Person missed a three pointer at the buzzer, ending the series and, as a result, Seattle's season.[28]

This marked the only game of the series in which a team won by less than double digits. Malone scored 27 points on 13-24 shooting, capping off a series in which he averaged 30.6 points per game. Stockton added 17 points and a series-high 15 assists in the victory. Payton had a strong game once again, recording 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists. Rashard Lewis added 20 points on 8-15 shooting. This gave Lewis a 15.4 ppg average for the series, nearly doubling his 8.2 ppg average for the regular season.[29]

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 GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Vin Baker 79 75 36.1 .455 .250 .682 7.7 1.9 0.6 0.8 16.6
Brent Barry 80 74 34.1 .463 .411 .809 4.7 3.6 1.3 0.4 11.8
Lazaro Borrell 17 6 9.8 .444 .000 .545 2.4 0.6 0.4 0.2 3.6
Emanual Davis 54 2 13.0 .364 .301 .684 1.9 1.3 0.7 0.1 4.0
Greg Foster 60 5 12.0 .406 .200 .643 1.8 0.7 0.2 0.3 3.4
Horace Grant 76 76 35.4 .444 .000 .721 7.8 2.5 0.7 0.8 8.1
Rashard Lewis 82 8 19.2 .486 .333 .683 4.1 0.9 0.8 0.4 8.2
Vernon Maxwell 47 0 21.0 .345 .300 .730 1.7 1.6 0.8 0.2 10.9
Jelani McCoy 58 2 12.9 .576 .495 3.1 0.4 0.3 0.8 4.3
Ruben Patterson 81 74 25.9 .536 .444 .692 5.4 1.6 1.2 0.5 11.6
Gary Payton 82 82 41.8 .448 .340 .735 6.5 8.9 1.9 0.2 24.2
Chuck Person 37 0 9.2 .301 .253 .500 1.4 0.6 0.1 0.1 2.8
Vladimir Stepania 30 1 6.7 .367 .000 .472 1.6 0.1 0.3 0.4 2.5
Fred Vinson 8 0 5.0 .294 .286 .500 0.1 0.0 0.4 0.0 1.6
Shammond Williams 43 5 12.0 .373 .296 .647 1.2 1.8 0.4 0.0 5.2

[30]

Playoffs

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Vin Baker 5 4 35.4 .400 .000 .588 7.6 2.0 1.0 0.4 14.0
Brent Barry 5 3 31.0 .364 .400 .714 2.6 3.0 0.6 0.6 8.4
Lazaro Borrell 2 1 13.0 .571 .500 5.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 5.0
Greg Foster 5 0 13.6 .368 .400 1.000 2.2 0.2 0.0 0.2 3.6
Horace Grant 5 5 37.0 .407 .500 6.2 2.0 1.6 1.0 4.8
Rashard Lewis 5 5 31.4 .441 .474 .800 6.2 0.6 1.0 0.6 15.4
Jelani McCoy 3 0 8.7 .400 .000 2.0 0.7 0.0 0.0 1.3
Ruben Patterson 5 0 16.8 .538 .000 .867 3.0 0.4 0.6 0.4 8.2
Gary Payton 5 5 44.2 .442 .391 .769 7.6 7.4 1.8 0.2 25.8
Chuck Person 2 0 1.0 .000 .000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Shammond Williams 5 2 19.8 .545 .636 .727 2.2 3.6 1.6 0.0 10.2

[31]

Awards and records

References

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  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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