1986–87 Seattle SuperSonics season

1986–87 Seattle SuperSonics season
Head coach	Bernie Bickerstaff
General manager	Bob Whitsitt
Arena	Seattle Center Coliseum
Results
Record	39–43 (.476)
Place	Division: 4th (Pacific) Conference: 7th (Western)
Playoff finish	West Finals (Eliminated 0-4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	KCTS
Radio	KIXI

The 1986–87 Seattle SuperSonics season was the 20th season of the Seattle SuperSonics in the National Basketball Association. Bernie Bickerstaff returned for his second season as head coach of the franchise and, despite little improvement over their previous season's 31–51 record, managed to clinch a spot in the playoffs and reach the Western Conference Finals, losing in four games to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Draft picks

Main article: 1986 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
2	30	Nate McMillan	SG / SF	United States	North Carolina State
2	38	Lemone Lampley		United States	DePaul
3	53	Tod Murphy	PF / C	United States	UC Irvine
4	76	Michael Graham		United States	Georgetown
5	99	Dominic Pressley		United States	Boston College
6	122	Curtis Kitchen	PF	United States	South Florida
7	145	Glen McCants		United States	Clemson

Roster

Seattle SuperSonics 1986–87 roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. DOB From F/C 24 Chambers, Tom 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1959–06–21 Utah G/F 3 Ellis, Dale 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1960–08–06 Tennessee F/C 45 Johnson, Clemon 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1956–09–12 Florida A&M G 15 Johnson, Eddie 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1955–02–24 Auburn F 42 Kitchen, Curtis 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1964–01–30 South Florida F/C 53 Lister, Alton 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1958–10–01 Arizona State F/C 20 Lucas, Maurice 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1952–02–18 Marquette F 34 McDaniel, Xavier 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1963–06–04 Wichita State G/F 10 McMillan, Nate 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1964–08–03 North Carolina State G 25 Phelps, Mike 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1961–10–03 Alcorn State F/C 40 Schoene, Russ 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1960–04–16 Chattanooga G 44 Stansbury, Terence 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1961–02–27 Temple G 30 Williams, Kevin 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1961–09–11 St. John's G 22 Young, Danny 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1962–07–26 Wake Forest	Head coach Bernie Bickerstaff (San Diego) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Regular season

Season standings

Pacific Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers	65	17	.793	–	37–4	28–13	24–6
x-Portland Trail Blazers	49	33	.598	16	34–7	15–26	17–13
x-Golden State Warriors	42	40	.512	23	25–16	17–24	17–13
x-Seattle SuperSonics	39	43	.476	26	25–16	14–27	15–15
Phoenix Suns	36	46	.439	29	26–15	10–31	14–16
Los Angeles Clippers	12	70	.146	53	9–32	3–38	3–27

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Los Angeles Lakers	65	17	.793	–
2	y-Dallas Mavericks	55	27	.671	10
3	x-Portland Trail Blazers	49	33	.598	16
4	x-Utah Jazz	44	38	.537	21
5	x-Golden State Warriors	42	40	.512	23
6	x-Houston Rockets	42	40	.512	23
7	x-Seattle SuperSonics	39	43	.476	26
8	x-Denver Nuggets	37	45	.451	28
9	Phoenix Suns	36	46	.439	29
10	Sacramento Kings	29	53	.354	36
11	San Antonio Spurs	28	54	.341	37
12	Los Angeles Clippers	12	70	.146	53

Playoffs

West First Round

(2) Dallas Mavericks vs. (7) Seattle SuperSonics: SuperSonics win series 3-1

• Game 1 @ Reunion Arena, Dallas (April 23): Dallas 151, Seattle 129
• Game 2 @ Reunion Arena, Dallas (April 25): Seattle 112, Dallas 110
• Game 3 @ Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle (April 28): Seattle 117, Dallas 107
• Game 4 @ Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle (April 30): Seattle 124, Dallas 98

Last Playoff Meeting: 1984 Western Conference First Round (Dallas won 3-2)

West Conference Semifinals

(6) Houston Rockets vs. (7) Seattle SuperSonics: SuperSonics win series 4-2

• Game 1 @ The Summit, Houston (May 2): Seattle 111, Houston 106
• Game 2 @ The Summit, Houston (May 5): Seattle 99, Houston 97
• Game 3 @ Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle (May 7): Houston 102, Seattle 84
• Game 4 @ Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle (May 9): Seattle 117, Houston 102
• Game 5 @ The Summit, Houston (May 12): Houston 112, Seattle 107
• Game 6 @ Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle (May 14): Seattle 128, Houston 125

Last Playoff Meeting: 1982 Western Conference First Round (Seattle won 2-1)

West Conference Finals

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (7) Seattle SuperSonics: Lakers win series 4-0

• Game 1 @ The Forum, Los Angeles (May 16): Los Angeles 92, Seattle 87
• Game 2 @ The Forum, Los Angeles (May 19): Los Angeles 112, Seattle 104
• Game 3 @ Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle (May 23): Los Angeles 122, Seattle 121
• Game 4 @ Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle (May 25): Los Angeles 133, Seattle 102

Last Playoff Meeting: 1980 Western Conference Finals (Los Angeles won 4-1)

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
Tom Chambers	82	82	36.8	.456	.372	.849	6.6	3.0	1.0	.6	23.3
Dale Ellis	82	76	37.5	.516	.358	.787	5.5	2.9	1.3	.4	24.9
Gerald Henderson	6	6	25.8	.500	.000	.944	1.5	5.3	1.0	.0	11.2
Clemon Johnson	78	7	13.5	.494	.000	.636	3.6	.3	.3	.5	3.2
Eddie Johnson	24	0	21.2	.457	.333	.764	1.9	4.8	.5	.0	9.0
Curtis Kitchen	6	0	5.2	.500	.000	.750	1.5	.2	.3	.5	1.5
Alton Lister	75	75	30.5	.504	.000	.675	9.4	1.5	.4	2.4	11.6
Maurice Lucas	63	0	17.8	.451	.000	.802	4.9	1.0	.5	.3	7.9
Xavier McDaniel	82	82	37.0	.509	.214	.696	8.6	2.5	1.4	.6	23.0
Nate McMillan	71	50	27.8	.475	.000	.617	4.7	8.2	1.8	.6	5.3
Mike Phelps	60	6	7.8	.426	.100	.705	.8	1.1	.4	.0	3.0
Russ Schoene	63	0	9.2	.374	.154	.630	1.9	.4	.3	.2	2.7
Terence Stansbury	44	0	8.5	.429	.379	.620	.5	1.3	.3	.0	4.0
Kevin Williams	65	0	10.8	.446	.000	.833	1.3	1.0	.7	.1	4.9
Danny Young	73	26	20.3	.458	.367	.831	1.5	4.8	1.0	.0	4.8

1.^ Statistics with the SuperSonics.

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Tom Chambers	14		35.6	.449	.353	.808	6.4	2.3	.9	.9	23.0
Dale Ellis	14		37.9	.487	.361	.815	6.4	2.6	.7	.4	25.2
Clemon Johnson	14		18.7	.453	.000	.632	3.5	.3	1.1	.2	4.3
Eddie Johnson	14		12.9	.534	.400	.867	1.0	3.2	.6	.0	6.4
Curtis Kitchen	8		12.9	.500	.000	.000	.8	.0	.0	.4	.3
Alton Lister	9		22.9	.400	.000	.700	6.2	.8	.8	1.4	6.0
Maurice Lucas	14		18.9	.389	.000	.737	4.6	1.4	.9	.4	7.0
Xavier McDaniel	14		37.7	.488	.200	.607	8.4	3.0	1.5	.6	20.3
Nate McMillan	14		25.4	.435	.000	.708	3.9	8.0	1.0	.7	5.1
Russ Schoene	14		8.8	.357	.333	.750	1.9	.2	.1	.3	2.2
Kevin Williams	14		18.2	.479	.000	.750	2.4	2.1	1.1	.1	8.6
Danny Young	14		14.9	.404	.313	1.000	1.1	3.4	1.1	.0	4.1

Awards and records

Awards

• Dale Ellis won the Most Improved Player Award at the end of the season.
• Tom Chambers participated in the 1987 NBA All-Star Game and won the game's Most Valuable Player Award. He also was named Player of the Week between December 1 and December 7.

Transactions

Overview

Players Added Via draft Nate McMillan Curtis Kitchen Dominic Pressley Via free agency Kevin Williams Maurice Lucas Eddie Johnson Curtis Kitchen Via trade Alton Lister Dale Ellis Clemon Johnson Russ Schoene Terence Stansbury Ronnie Lester John Long

Players Lost Via free agency John Schweitz Frank Brickowski Via trade Jack Sikma Al Wood Tim McCormick Danny Vranes John Long Via waiver Dominic Pressley

Trades

July 1, 1986	To Seattle SuperSonics Alton Lister Conditional 1987 and 1989 first round picks	To Milwaukee Bucks Jack Sikma Conditional 1987 and 1989 second round picks
July 23, 1986	To Seattle SuperSonics Dale Ellis	To Dallas Mavericks Al Wood
September 29, 1986	To Seattle SuperSonics Clemon Johnson Conditional 1989 first round pick	To Philadelphia 76ers Tim McCormick Danny Vranes
September 30, 1986	To Seattle SuperSonics John Long	To Detroit Pistons Conditional 1987 and 1991 second round picks
October 2, 1986	To Seattle SuperSonics Russ Schoene Terence Stansbury	To Indiana Pacers John Long Conditional 1993 second round pick
October 2, 1986	To Seattle SuperSonics Ronnie Lester	To Los Angeles Lakers Cash considerations
November 12, 1986	To Seattle SuperSonics Conditional 1987 first round and 1990 second round picks	To New York Knicks Gerald Henderson Conditional 1987 first round pick

Free Agents

Additions

Player Signed Former team Kevin Williams July 11, 1986 Cleveland Cavaliers Maurice Lucas September 30, 1986 Los Angeles Lakers Eddie Johnson March 23, 1987 Cleveland Cavaliers

Subtractions

Player	Left	New team
John Schweitz	September 5, 1986	Golden State Warriors
Frank Brickowski	October 8, 1986	Los Angeles Lakers

See also

• 1986-87 NBA season