Ding, dong the witch is dead (cont...)

Seattle is not pleased with the trade. Or, well, not clearly happy. Here are some quotes from Seattle sports columnists:

This is the cruelest and most unfair decision the Sonics' new ownership has made. From the standpoint of saving the Sonics from relocation, chairman Clay Bennett and his group have chosen the worst possible time to start over. They just yanked away the one hope, no matter how pie in the sky, optimistic Sonics fans clenched tightly — an 11th-hour franchise rescue spurred by a winning 2007-08 season.
- Jerry Large, Seattle Times

It is clearly a movement towards rebuilding. I read the Sports Guy's rant on ESPN.com, but I think Boston has less reason to cry than Seattle. I mean, what did Seattle fans really get?

At the moment, the Sonics roster is the hoops equivalent of Pam Anderson. It's going to topple over without some ballast and balance.

So any rational judgment about the biggest draft day in the Sonics' 40-year history must be reserved. More has to be coming.

Otherwise, Sonics fans would have to take owner Clay Bennett and general manager Sam Presti into the street and pummel them, and who wants to spend the impending holiday arranging for bail money?
...
Oh, yeah. Durant. He should be fun. But only the Sonics could manage to overshadow his acquisition with anxiety.
- Art Thiel, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Perhaps most damningly, there is this report from Frank Hughes, who is an excellent youngish reporter who will probably be stolen away by the NYTimes or the Washington Post in a year or two:

NEW YORK - Kevin Durant, whom the Seattle SuperSonics selected with the second pick in Thursday’s NBA draft, was walking from a television interview to a radio interview at the Madison Square Garden theater when he passed by a large flat-screen television.

He stopped, turned and watched as it was announced that his new team had just completed a trade that sent Ray Allen and the rights to the 35th pick to the Boston Celtics for the fifth pick – which was Georgetown forward Jeff Green – point guard Delonte West and shooting guard Wally Szczerbiak.

“Damn,” Durant said, shaking his head with realization that the team’s new general manager, Sam Presti, only 12 years older than Durant, was beginning to change the shape of a team that experienced its worst season in 21 years.
- Frank Hughes, Tacoma News Tribune

Eh. Allen's gone. I'm happy about that. For the same reasons that Zach Randolph should never meet Greg Oden, I don't think Allen should ever meet Durant. But, geez.

It's going to suck going out this way: For a proud franchise that dominated the NBA in the 90's, for a fan base that continued to pack the stadium throughout a miserable stretch of almost 8 straight no-playoffs seasons, for a city that loves basketball (four draft picks this year went to Seattle high schools) to watch its NBA team leave in sucktastic fashion? It's just sad.

I wanted one last playoff run. Sonics management basically killed that last dream, too.