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What if? Series: 1996 Orlando Magic vs. Seattle Supersonics

By Philip Rossman-Reich

The Orlando Magic and Seattle SuperSonics were set to clash throughout the late 1990s as the two best young teams in the league. (Photo credit should read TONY RANZE/AFP via Getty Images)
The Orlando Magic and Seattle SuperSonics were set to clash throughout the late 1990s as the two best young teams in the league. (Photo credit should read TONY RANZE/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Shawn Kemp, Seattle SuperSonics, Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bulls
Shawn Kemp was a dominant cultural and basketball force for the Seattle SuperSonics. (Photo credit should read DAN LEVINE/AFP via Getty Images) /

What Really Happened — the Sonics

The Seattle SuperSonics likely can make all the same arguments the Orlando Magic made for their missed opportunity.

Seattle went 64-18 to finish first in the Western Conference. This was part of a string of really impressive seasons from the Sonics led by Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton — both drafted in the two years before Shaquille O’Neal hit the league so they were very much contemporaries of the 1995-era Magic.

The Sonics were eighth in offensive rating (110.3 points per 100 possessions) and second in defensive rating (102.1 points allowed per 100 possessions) in 1996. Gary Payton was the Defensive Player of the Year — he is the only point guard to win the award (Basketball-Reference lists Alvin Robertson as a shooting guard).

It was indeed the Sonics defense that was so devasting.

Gary Payton was a strong defender as was his backcourt mate Hersey Hawkins. Kemp was the most athletic power forward in the league. And they had size, to boot, with both Sam Perkins and Detlef Schrempf able to play forward next to Shawn Kemp or elsewhere.

The Sonics had four players score more than 15 points per game. And their relatively unique trapping style got a lot of teams in trouble. The last thing anybody wanted was Kemp in transition with a launchpad to the rim. And Payton was good enough to pass him open above the defense.

The Sonics were knocking on this door for a long time. Their playoff history was littered with years of disappointment.

Supersonics
Supersonics /

Supersonics

Seattle finished with six straight years with 50 or more wins from 1993-98. They made the Western Conference Finals just twice — in 1993 and 1996.

The biggest playoff failure came in 1994 when the top-seeded Sonics became the first team in NBA history to lose to an 8-seed. The image of Dikembe Mutombo on the floor in ecstasy after the Denver Nuggets eliminated the Seattle SuperSonics is one of the most endearing images of 1990s basketball.

Unlike the Magic, the Sonics were able to maintain their high level of play after the problem of more split them up. The team would trade Shawn Kemp before the 1998 season in a three-team trade that netted the Sonics Vin Baker after Kemp bristled at the big contract offered to Jim McIlvaine (the two made virtually the same salary in the 1997 season).

But Seattle was never able to make much noise in the postseason. This trip to the Finals was their lone shot.

And to face a historically good Bulls team was a rough reward. Especially with George Karl overthinking things and keeping the Defensive Player of the Year off Michael Jordan for three games — Jordan averaged 23.7 points per game and shot 36.7 percent in the final three games of that series.

The Sonics were yet another young team that could never figure out how to rise to the challenge Jordan presented.