Watts was a notoriously poor FT shooter, too, btw. Gus Johnson was a bonafide stud. That team was basically terrible before Wilkins took over mid-season, if I remember correctly. Then Wilkins took it to a finals...then a Championship the next year. Loved 'em. Who wouldn't love Freddy Brown.
Sikma basically invented the mid-post step away move. Lonnie Shelton showed up somewhere in there. He basically scared folks to death.
And who could forget Wally "The Who" Walker. Was a rookie for the Blazers when they won their Championship in '77, then gets swapped to the Sonics and plays in the finals (with one ring) in his next two years. Easy game, huh, Wally.
That Blazers team and then next one (until Walton wnet down when they were 40-10 (or something like that) may have been the best team I've ever seen. One of 'em, anyway.
Doc, you ever read "Loose Balls" by Terry Pluto. What a hootin' read! The sub-title is "The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association" which sums up the book perfectly. You'll love it. Take you back, it will.
There is a great story in there about John Brisker, IIRC. Brisker played for the Sonics at one time, as you will remember. In the ABA he was a great scorer but also a notorious bully-tough who intimidated players (including teammates), refs and league officials, alike. One coach offered his team a ($500, I think) payoff to whoever coldcocked Brister and took him from the game. Some benchie wanted a part of that and asked to start, then gave Brisker a right cross, knocking him out cold and of the game, when the OPENING TOSS was in the air. True story. Brisker ended up in Uganda at the invitation of Idi Amin, after he flunked, fought and snorted his way off the Sonics and out of the league.
I had a John Brisker ABA basketball card at one time. Heck, the card scared me.
Read the book. Which reminds me, I have to remember who has my copy. I hate that.
Moe