Brown congratulates Payton on breaking his record for most games played with the Sonics. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty

No player has ever spent longer with the Sonics without playing for another team than Brown's 13 seasons in the Green and Gold. And two decades after his retirement, Brown continues to own the Sonics record books. He is second in franchise history in games played and points scored, both to Payton, and the two guards rank in the same order in field goals made and attempted. Brown is third in minutes, assists and steals, fourth in free-throw percentage, sixth in free throws and even tenth in rebounds.

Brown's Sonics career spanned virtually all the ups and downs of the first two decades of Sonics history. To wit: During his rookie season, Brown teamed with point guard Lenny Wilkens - the same Wilkens who ended up coaching Brown for half of his career.

Brown was there when the Sonics posted their first winning record, in 1971-72, and still there when the team slipped by 21 wins the following season. He was there for Bill Russell, and there when Wilkens replaced Bob Hopkins as coach and led the Sonics to the 1978 NBA Finals. And, of course, Brown was there for the franchise's only NBA Championship the following season.

All that was a lot more than the Sonics could have reasonably expected when they took Brown with the sixth pick of the 1971 Draft out of the University of Iowa, after which Brown said he was "delighted to be picked by Seattle."

Even then, Brown was known mostly for his shooting ability, and after the Sonics selected him, Brown tried to explain he could do more than just shoot. "I'm not just a shooter," he said. "At Iowa, we strictly played man-to-man defense. That should help me in the NBA."

Why deny the extraordinary ability? While it was helpful that "Downtown" happened to rhyme with his last name, the real meaning was that Brown was more than happy to go downtown at any point of the game. Playing for a franchise that has had more than its share of great shooters, Brown remains inarguably the finest.

It is practically criminal that the NBA did not adopt the three-point line until Brown was in his 30s. As it was, Brown still became one of the league's first great three-point shooters, leading the league in three-point percentage during the three's first year by hitting 44.3% from beyond the arc. Brown's 37.3% career three-point percentage may not sound so impressive in this era of three-point specialists, but it was phenomenal for the time, and Brown never got the opportunity to shoot threes until he was past his prime.

At the same time, Brown certainly was more than a shooter. After seeing only limited action as a rookie, when his 32.8% shooting and 4.2 points per game gave no indication of what was in store, Brown first broke into the starting lineup during the 1972-73 season as a point guard. With Dick Snyder entrenched at off guard and Wilkens dealt to Cleveland, it was a flawed opportunity, but the one Brown needed. He averaged 5.5 and 5.0 assists per game the next two seasons and was third on the Sonics in scoring both years, establishing him as a key piece in the Sonics rebuilding effort.

Brown hardly was a shoot-first point, and it was in that role that he set the Sonics franchise record by scoring 58 points against the Golden State Warriors in a 139-137 victory on March 23, 1974. Still, it was only after Snyder was traded (also to Cleveland) and Slick Watts took over at the point that Brown would reach his full scoring potential.

Brown possessed a sweet jumper that earned him the nickname "Downtown". Sonics Photos

Forming a potent scoring duo with forward Spencer Haywood, Brown averaged 21.0 points during the 1974-75 season to rank 15th in the NBA. More importantly, the Sonics found the right formula as a team and made their first playoffs appearance with a 43-39 record. As the Sonics repeated that performance the following season despite trading Haywood, Brown stepped up his game even more, averaging a career-best 23.1 points per game to rank fifth in the NBA. That season, Brown made his only All-Star appearance, but despite his average of 28.5 points during the playoffs, the Sonics fell again in six games.

Brown was also a team player, which was why he never complained when, two years after being an All-Star, he found himself a reserve so that Wilkens could team youngsters Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson in the backcourt. Brown hardly found himself unneeded, as Wilkens liked having his prolific scoring punch in reserve. Brown still ranked second on the team in scoring behind Williams during the 1977-78 season, averaging 16.6 points per game.

The payoff, on a team level, was tremendous. Behind the talented young starting five and a veteran bench that featured Paul Silas as well as Brown, the Sonics went to the NBA Finals in 1978 and got back the following season to claim the championship. After the deciding fifth game, Brown, to some infamy, declared on national television, "This is better than the first time in your life."

Brown's last great individual hurrah came during the 1980-81 season. With shooting guard Paul Westphal sidelined much of the season and Williams holding out, Brown saw heavy action, averaging 15.5 points per game, the last of the six seasons in his career he would top the 15-point mark.

Like many of the great shooters, Brown's touch never deserted him. He shot better than 50% from the field for the only two times in his career during his last two years, at the ages of 34 and 35. The rest of his game, however, was in decline, and Brown saw his minutes and scoring average fall. Looking to get younger, the Sonics chose not to bring him back after the 1983-84 campaign, and Brown chose to retire rather than look for another team.

At the time of his retirement, Brown was the Sonics all-time leader in games, minutes, points, assists, steals and field goals. Inevitably, he was heavily honored following his career. Seattle Mayor Charles Royer declared Feb. 11, 1985 "Fred Brown Day". A year and a half later, on Nov. 6, 1986, Brown's #32 jersey was hoisted to the rafters of the Seattle Center Coliseum, as he became the second player in franchise history to have his number retired.

Brown still resides in Seattle, where he works for Bank of America. He raised two sons who played Pac-10 basketball (Bryan, UW; Terik, Oregon) and both, along with Fred, Jr., are coaching locally.