Lonnie Shelton obit

Lonnie Shelton, a key player for the Seattle SuperSonics' championship team and NBA All-Star, dead at 62

Shelton died of complications from a heart attack

 

He was not on the list.

Lonnie Shelton, a former NBA player best known for his time on the Seattle SuperSonics, is dead at the age of 62 following complications from a heart attack. He had been in a coma for the last month and died on Sunday.

Shelton played for three NBA teams in his 10-year NBA career. He played for the Knicks, Sonics, and Cavaliers. Shelton won an NBA championship in the 1978-79 season with the Sonics. In the 1981-82 season he made his lone All-Star Game appearance. Shelton also played three years at Oregon State before entering the NBA.

One of the more interesting tidbits about his playing career has to do with how Shelton ended up in Seattle in the first place. Back in the day, teams used to receive compensation when another team signed one of their own free agents. via Seattle Times

"I know he really valued his time in Seattle," Marlon Shelton said Monday. "He thought really fondly of the city and the organization."

Shelton played his first two seasons in New York, but arrived in Seattle via an NBA rule that, at the time, allowed the league to award compensation to teams when another team signed one of their free agents. After New York signed center Marvin Webster, who helped lead Seattle on a surprising run to the NBA Finals in 1978 and whose loss initially appeared to be a potentially devastating blow to a rising Sonics team, the NBA awarded Shelton and the Knicks' 1979 first-round pick to Seattle as compensation. (The terms were later reversed somewhat, with Seattle giving its 1981 first-round pick back to the Knicks).

Shelton was mainly known as an enforcer, but the 6-foot-8 power forward still averaged 12 points and 6.1 rebounds for his career. He made the All-NBA defensive team in the 1981-82 season.

Shelton's sons include L. J., who played offensive tackle in the NFL, Tim Shelton, who played for the San Diego State Aztecs basketball team, Titus Shelton, who played for the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mustangs basketball team from 2005 to 2009, and Marlon, who played for the Washington Huskies from 1998 to 2003. He has multiple grandchildren.

Shelton led the NBA in personal fouls in his first two seasons with New York. On December 16, 1977, Shelton scored a career-high 41 points during a 152–150 triple overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. After the Knicks obtained free agent Marvin Webster from the SuperSonics in 1978, the NBA awarded Shelton and the Knicks’ 1979 first-round pick to Seattle as compensation.

In 1979, his first season with the SuperSonics, Shelton was the team's starting power forward. That season, he set a SuperSonics record by going 13 for 13 from the field in a game (17 total consecutive field goals), and helped the SuperSonics win the NBA Finals. Shelton was one of three SuperSonics represented in the 1982 NBA All-Star Game (along with Jack Sikma and Gus Williams) and was named to the NBA's 1982 2nd All-Defense Team. Shelton played five seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics and finishing his career playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers for three seasons

 

Career history

1976–1978            New York Knicks

1978–1983            Seattle SuperSonics

1983–1986            Cleveland Cavaliers

Career highlights and awards

NBA champion (1979)

NBA All-Star (1982)

NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1982)

First-team All-Pac-8 (1975)

Career statistics

Points   8,049 (12.0 ppg)

Rebounds            4,136 (6.1 rpg)

Assists  1,459 (2.2 apg)