What notable event in Sonic history occurred on July 1, 1986? (No cheating!)

I'll hide the answer at the end of the column, so scroll down when you think you've got it.

Did you get it? I see you raising your hand, grumpyd. No surprise there! Okay, of course this had something to do with the rest of the column. You could, in the minds of some Sonics fans, phrase this question differently. "When was the last time the Sonics had a good starting center?"

Lister, who the Sonics got in return for Sikma, was a very good defensive center. He blocked shots and did a great job on the boards, but he wasn't much offensively. His first year, Lister scored a little too, 12 points per game on better than 50% shooting, but this dropped off over the next two seasons before he was traded to Golden State. (Interestingly, according to my historical ratings, not that I put too much stock in them, Lister was a better player in Milwaukee.)

Despite the fact that Lister had done a solid job in the 1986-87 season, the Sonics weren't convinced that he was their long-term answer at the center position. On draft day 1987, the Sonics had two first round picks, and they traded the first (Scottie Pippen, fifth pick) to Chicago for their lottery pick, Olden Polynice, a second round pick, and the option to swap first rounders in 1989 (just wondering, why isn't this done anymore? Probably another anal NBA rule.)

Polynice and Lister split time at the center position in 1987-88, with Lister starting and playing about 25 minutes a night and Polynice backing him up for 15 minutes a night. Together, they weren't as good offensively or defensively as Lister alone, but the tandem combined to give the Sonics better rebounding.

In 1988-89, both players improved. Lister was more productive offensively and blocked more shots, while Polynice improved his shooting and overall play while playing less. Yet Lister still couldn't convince anybody that he could play, and was traded. Polynice also hadn't sold the Sonics, and he stayed on the bench. Taking Lister's minutes was Michael Cage, who had started at power forward the previous season.

Cage was a monster on the boards, but not the defensive presence which Lister had been. Polynice continued to improve.

The next year, things got really confusing. The Sonics started the season with essentially the same lineup, although more minutes for Polynice, but they don't call then-GM Bob Whitsitt 'Trader Bob' for nothing. First, Xavier McDaniel, who had been at the power forward in a double-tweener alignment somewhat akin to what the Sonics are using now, was dealt to Phoenix for Eddie Johnson, a pure small forward who came off the bench. That allowed Polynice a chance to start and play more minutes, and he responded with better offense than ever, shooting 54.5% from the field and getting within shouting distance of double digits.

He still couldn't convince anybody that he was the man, and Whitsitt went back to work just prior to the trade deadline (actually, Dale Ellis had been traded in the interim), trading Polynice and two first-round picks acquired in the McDaniel deal to the L.A. Clippers for their talented but underachieving center, Benoit Benjamin.

There was little doubt that Benjamin was the most talented center the Sonics had had since Sikma. He had NBA size, 7-0, 260, could score in the post, rebound, and blocked shots. Attitude, however, had always been a question mark, meaning the Clippers were willing to cut bait on him.

Benjamin was the undisputed starter at center, playing 30 minutes a night the remainder of the season and scoring more points -- 13 -- per game than any other Sonic center since Sikma. The next year was more of the same, with Cage backing up both positions as Benjamin missed nearly 20 games with injury but posted impressive 15 point, nine rebound, and two block averages.

However, Benjamin's attitude reared its ugly head again, and he fueded with George Karl during the 1992-93 season. Benjamin went from starter to overpaid deep backup, playing only 450 minutes through two-thirds of the season before Whitsitt pulled the trigger again, sending Benjamin and unsigned holdout first round pick Doug Christie to the Lakers for Sam Perkins.

At 6-9, Perkins was hardly the size of a traditional center, and he had been playing power forward in Los Angeles. He also adopted a rather unorthodox offensive style for a center with the Sonics, getting the blessing of Coach Karl to sit outside the three-point line and launch up triples, eschewing the post. He may not have been the stereotype of a center, but Perkins was undoubtedly effective, drawing the opposition's center out to the arc and blocking shots on the other end. Together, he and Cage teamed to man the center position for the next two seasons as the Sonics advanced to the 1993 Western Conference Finals and posted the best regular season record in team history in 1993-94.

In the 1993 Draft, the Sonics again looked to shore up the center position. They picked the Raw (capital R) Ervin Johnson, who had spent time bagging groceries before being discovered and heading to the University of New Orleans. Johnson projected as a solid defensive center and rebounder who did nothing on offense. Not that different than many of the Sonics' post-Sikma centers.

His first year, Johnson played little, but he displayed enough promise that the Sonics allowed Cage to go to Cleveland as a free agent and planned to start Johnson and bring Perkins off the bench. Johnson's poor initial play forced the Sonics to start Perkins, but Johnson eventually won the starting job, though Perkins continued to claim the lion's share of the minutes.

This arrangement continued through the 1995-96 season, as the Sonics broke their regular season record for wins. Johnson earned more minutes as he continued to improve his game, but Perkins still played more. However, in the NBA Finals, Karl became upset with Johnson, and stopped playing him. Johnson was a free agent in the summer, and the feeling that he'd be best served moving on was mutual.

The Sonics went fishing for their next 'center of the future', and settled on Washington reserve Jim McIlviane. McIlvaine, who had two years experience, was known as an excellent shot blocker and solid rebounder who was a zero offensively. Despite this fact, a minor bidding war broke out for his services during an off-season where salaries escalated nearly exponentially. Everyone forgets it now, but the Sonics were hardly the only team who wanted to sign McIlvaine to a lucrative contract. The Sonics just 'won'.

McIlvaine failed to live up not only to expectations, but even up to the play of Johnson. Perkins' minutes increased, and the Sonics brought in Terry Cummings mid-season; he started at center in the playoffs. More of the same next year, as the Sonics used Jerome Kersey in Cummings' role as the post-season center and McIlvaine was widely considered a huge bust. The only difference was that the Sonics had now lost Shawn Kemp, who was generally considered to have been so upset by McIlvaine's contract, amongst other things, so as to demand a trade, which he received for Vin Baker.

After the season and the subsequent lockout, the Sonics finally ditched McIlvaine and his contract, dealing him to the New Jersey Nets for a similarly bad contract, Don MacLean, and . . . Michael Cage (not the only circular event that off-season). Perkins was also gone, heading to Indiana as the Sonics remade their center position. To start, they brought in . . . Olden Polynice, who had established himself a solid starter in Sacramento. Backing up were two new prospective 'centers of the future', first round pick Vladimir Stepania and second rounder Jelani McCoy.

Polynice started strong, playing Shaquille O'Neal to a standoff in a nationally-televised early-season win, but descended into oblivion amid poor free-throw shooting and struggles to get along with the coaching staff. Stepania was strong in the early part of the season, demonstrating tremendous athleticism, before giving way to McCoy, who demonstrated good shot selection and shot blocking.

Polynice was a goner the next off-season, and despite the potential displayed by McCoy and Stepania, the Sonics decided they needed a veteran center. Well, at least a veteran. The Sonics consummated a deal on draft day sending their first round pick, Dale Ellis, Billy Owens, and Don MacLean to Orlando for Horace Grant. The veteran Grant, a key cog on the Bulls' first threepeat and Orlando's trip to the 1995 NBA Finals, had not played center, but the Sonics figured his size was merely a small tradeoff for his skill.

Grant worked hard, but for at least this fan, his attitude came off as grating instead of classy, and his play dropped off severely as the season went on, to the point where he was of little use by the time the playoffs rolled around. Not trusting McCoy and Stepania even to backup, the Sonics signed free agent Greg Foster. He proved to be nearly useless even as a backup, with McCoy earning the backup role by the end of the season and continuing to display potential. Stepania regressed.

The summer of 2000 provided the Sonic organization and fans hope that their center problem was finally solved. The Sonics traded for a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, this was no hot prospect, but instead a well past-his-prime Patrick Ewing, the quintessential 1990's New York Knick. Ewing wanted out, the Sonics wanted a center, and after a false start in early August, the Sonics and Knicks (along with two other teams) finally made a deal. Ewing came to the Sonics in exchange for Grant, Lazaro Borrell, Vernon Maxwell, Foster, Stepania, Emanual Davis, a first round pick, and two second rounders. That sounds like a lot, but the Sonics wanted to dump the contracts of most of the players they traded; the trade basically boiled down to Grant and a first-round pick for Ewing.

With Ewing, Baker, and Gary Payton, the Sonics were widely considered strong contenders in the Western Conference. It was not to be; Ewing was a shell of his former self, as was Baker, and they struggled to co-exist. Moving Baker to the bench somewhat eased this trouble, but the Sonics completely underachieved and still had not found their center.

There was still one positive to the trade; the Sonics had cleared a large amount of salary cap room in the deal and now had the money to choose another 'center of the future', should they not take one with their lottery draft pick. McCoy had worn out his welcome by last summer, leaving the Sonics needing a backup as well.

The obvious moves to fill those hole were dealing for Yugoslavian Peja Drobnjak on draft night and signing Calvin Booth to a six-year contract. Lost for casual fans in the hype of Booth was the Sonics signing Jerome James for the minimum.

I knew the name Jerome James well, however. At the start of the summer, the Sonics had held an open practice for fans featuring the players who would make up their summer league teams. All 1,000 or so of us there came away talking about one player -- James, the 7-1 big men with nimble steps belying his size and phenomenal shot blocking ability. The rumor spread across the internet in some part thanks to two of our columnists -- Brian Robinson, writing at ESPN.com's message boards, and me, writing for BskBALL.com.

When James suddenly disappeared before the summer league team actually played any games, I was convinced the Sonics had hidden him away to keep another team from discovering James and signing him.

I guess we'll never really know if I was right, as I heard on today's broadcast that James had several teams interested in him before coming to play with the Sonics, but indeed the Sonics did sign him near the end of August. I'm not sure of the terms of the contract; most young Sonics get contracts with team options for the second year, but nobody knows if this is the case with James.

I'm sure pretty much everyone knows the James story by now, and I would merely be summing up the better writing of professionals, so I'll save it. Search the Times or P-I website if you don't know what he's done.

By the time training camp rolled around, Booth was the starter, leaving Drobnjak and James to fight for backup minutes. James continued impressing me in the Sonics' open practices, a strong force in the paint on both ends who displayed glimpses of brilliance.

Thanks to injuries to both Booth and Drobnjak (sprained ankles both), James spent much of the early season as the Sonics' primary center . . . and flopped spectacularly. Oh, the flashes were still there, but fewer and further between. James turned the ball over more than any other Sonic, on a per-minute basis, and shot less than 40% from the field.

Thus, it was not really all that disappointing to me when James too turned an ankle midway through the month of November and went on the injured list. He was gone for a month and a half, returning at the start of the new calendar year to find Art Long, another minimum find from training camp, starting at center and Drobnjak backing up.

On the verge of James' return, I wrote the following:

"I must completely disagree. I would be almost shocked -- and at least surprised -- if James provided any meaningful minutes the rest of the season. . . .

I think James is one of those guys who haunts NBA teams. 7-2, such great size, so much talent, but no production when the ball goes up for the regular season."

I've been wrong a lot as a basketball fan. I don't think I've ever been more wrong about a basketball player than Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who I felt would be a horrible bust when he was selected by Vancouver, but is now a legitimate All-Star. As for Sonics . . . well, James ranks right up there.

At first, James found some odd minutes here and there, but continued to fail to impress. Slowly, the minutes began to get a little more regular, the play a little better. Then Vin Baker was injured against Milwaukee, forcing the Sonics to start James against Indiana. He responded with an impressive performance, and suddenly James was the starter at center. The inconsistency continued until Baker was injured again, this time seriously, against the Lakers. The injury may have dashed any hopes of dealing Baker, but it gave James a chance to play, and he's taken advantage of it.

Here's a table of James' game-by-game numbers (and averages) since the Baker injury:

opp	min	fgm-a	reb	bl	pts
BOS	24	4-7	9	4	8
SAC	19	4-6	9	2	8
PHO	18	5-7	2	0	10
POR	21	2-5	3	3	4
ATL	22	4-6	7	1	9
TOR	30	8-12	12	3	18
tot	134	27-43	42	13	57
avg	22.3	62.8%	7.0	2.2	9.6
pro	36.0	-	11.3	3.5	15.3

In the last column, I've projected James' stats to true starters' minutes, 36 a night. Now I know this is not always a valid way to rate a basketball player, but I wanted you to see the phenomenal numbers James might be putting up if he were playing more. Is anyone going to tell me those numbers aren't characteristic of one of the top ten centers in the league, and a player better than Vin Baker?

Of course, there's something else you ought to already know about those six games -- the Sonics are now 5-1 in them. Irregardless what cruel invective Nunyo Demasio has for "statistics geeks" like myself in today's Seattle Times or what Nate McMillan has to say on the subject, it's obvious through non-statistical observation that the Sonics are a better basketball team when Jerome James takes Vin Baker's minutes. And why shouldn't they be?

Even Baker's most ardent supporters will admit he's not a very good defensive player; they like him for his offense. However, Baker's nice-looking near-50% shooting can't compare to James' 62.8% from the field over the last six games.

Don't get me wrong, James still has some issues. As someone who hasn't played very much organized basketball (his high school had no basketball team), James is prone to mental errors. He's working on the belief that he's better than he is, as evidenced by the occasional jumper.

One of the most important skills that James currently possesses (and several have already picked up on this) is his newfound ability to make nearly every shot a dunk. I think this is a fabulous (and underrated) skill for a big man. Quoting from Rick Barry's Pro Basketball Bible (1995-96 edition) on Eric Montross, "Around the basket, tried to dunk everything -- which is exactly what coaches want their big men to do."

The dunk is the ultimate high-percentage shot, and even when you miss, referees often assume that you have been fouled. Well, in James' case, that's not necessarily a good thing, as he came into yesterday's game making 36% from the line (though he did make a surprising two of three in it), but a foul on the opponent is always nice. I contend that if Baker would merely learn to dunk everything, he'd instantly add at least two to three percentage points to his field goal percentage.

On defense, James is easily the Sonics' biggest weapon. He's not their best defender -- that's Earl Watson -- but because center is a much more valuable position in the scheme of a defense, James contributes more on the defensie end than any Sonic. Given his rebounding, if James can even be an adequate offensive player, he's valuable. And lately he's been a lot better than adequate.

Is Jerome James the answer the Sonics have been looking for to give them a presence in the middle? Well, it's a little early to suggest that yet . . . but I sure can't wait to find out.

Okay, you're right, that was a lame copout and no way to end a column.

So let me put it here in stone, never to be changed: Yes, James is the answer. Now, let the second-guessing begin.

Trivia answer: The Sonics traded Jack Sikma and two second-round picks to Milwaukee for Alton Lister and two first-round picks.