Save the Sonics

Today's Save the Sonics mailbag, courtesy of Bill Simmons, is one of those links I'm posting without even reading the link. Chris, if you're wondering, couldn't think of what to write so he didn't write anything. Luckily, we've heard from him here already. Take the time to peruse what his fellow Seattlites are thinking about this whole thing.

There have been some dubious franchise moves in sports history, but I think this one will rank up there in a tie for first with the Colts leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night. It's that dirty. I don't feel like it's getting enough coverage, so far. Maybe it's still too early.

I (heart) Bill Simmons

In his mailbag last week, Simmons suggested NBA trades that are possible, and should be made. He included this one (a worse version of which Seattle eventually made with Chicago/Cleveland):

TRADE 4A: Seattle trades Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Mickael Gelabale to Cleveland for Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, my illegitimate brother Cedric Simmons and a 2008 No. 2 pick.

Why Seattle does it: Saves the Sonics nearly $5 million over the next two seasons and dumps their two unhappiest guys. Of course, they'd be acquiring three unhappy guys, but who cares? The Sonics need to keep saving Clay Bennett money so he can devote more resources to needlessly destroying basketball in the city of Seattle and ripping the heart out of a loyal fan base that's only supported the NBA for 41 years and counting. Yeah, let's pull their team from them because they don't want to help a billionaire build a new arena that doesn't need to be built. That's an awesome idea. I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how David Stern could care so little about saving basketball in Seattle. It's completely inexplicable and goes against everything he's ever been about. I don't get it. I don't get it.

Yes. Yes. I agree. I also (heart) you, Sports Guy.

Seattle Sonics

I'm furious. I'm heartbroken. I don't know where to go from here.

The Sonics signed a lease to stay in Seattle through 2010. Now, unhappy that the city won't build a new stadium, instead of playing out their lease, the team is trying to break it. Fuck that. Stern has always supported the need for a new stadium, which is one thing, but now he's supporting the broken lease. That's a whole 'nother. Fuck him. The city is suing to keep the team in Seattle for a last few years. I'm dismayed it has come to this.

The owners of the team offered city officials $26.5 million last week if the city would let the Sonics out of the lease. The city said no. Thankfully. I'm so concerned about this, though, that I personally e-mailed each and every City Council member and the mayor an e-mail that included the following two paragraphs:

As a Seattle resident and a sports fan, the Sonics issue has been difficult for me. Ultimately, I support the city's (and the region's) hesitancy to build a complex for the Sonics. I believe in the morality of such a stance. I'm not asking any of you to support any such plan.

However, there is a vast difference between building an arena and allowing a treasured sports franchise to walk away from its lease. To allow the Sonics to walk away early would be a travesty. I understand that both the team and the league believe the franchise will leave anyway. As my elected officials, however, I implore you not to enable an early and otherwise illegal exit.

Two councilmembers wrote me back saying, essentially, "we agree. But for more money, well, we might not." That's bullshit. But, OK. Whatever. That's happening.

Now, though, GM Presti has traded away every last shred of talent for a pile of late-round draft picks and expiring contracts. Everybody on the team save, like, four players is DEFINITELY going to get dumped in the next two off-seasons. Outside of those four players, do you think any of the players cares about the Sonics?

First of all: Fuck you, Sonics, for tanking like motherfuckers in your final years in Seattle. We appreciate nothing, assholes.

Secondly, don't you think that would have an effect on Kevin Durant and Jeff Green? Watching Green these days is a little painful. The rampant losing is clearly getting to him. What do even those guys have to play for? I mean, not only are they going to have to move their homes in the next two years, but they won't be playing with any of these same guys. Do you think losing 60 games a year will help their development? Ugh.

The trades have gotten us a heap of late-first round draft picks, but we're talking super late round. Phoenix Suns. San Antonio Spurs. I think we've got a Celtics pick. What good will these do Durant? Get him some crappy tall guys without any polish? Get him some flash PGs without any court discipline? Ugh.

I wish I didn't care so much, but I do. I freaking love the Sonics. Without the Glove and the Reign Man and Big Smooth, I'm never a sports fan in the first place. Without Brickowski and the Chef and George Karl, I'm never attending Syracuse University in hopes of becoming a sports reporter. It makes me ridiculously sad that if I were 20 years younger, growing up exactly where I did in exactly the same home attending exactly the same schools, my life would have been radically different. The Sonics were my number one passion. Now, they'll be gone. Ugh.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

The NBA's worst nightmare

It is clearly devastating for the NBA that one of their referees appears to be a mob-connected game fixer. Ouch.

For me, though, that wasn't the worst NBA news of today. No. The worst news was that the (Oklahoma City) Sonics traded for Kurt Thomas.

Man.

Too bad they aren't Seattle's team! Holy cow, Sam Presti is a superhero. It is almost impossible for me to imagine how good this franchise is going to be in 5 years. Kevin Durant? Jeff Green? OJ Mayo? (Because we're clearly going to have the first pick in next year's draft, too, so bad will we suck in 2007-2008). And then four first round picks in the following two drafts?

Insane. Sam Presti has been outright robbing other NBA franchises. He's already my favorite Sonic. Crazy, right? Too bad he's moving, too. Ugh. I could cry you a river.

For the sake of a quick update, Clay Bennett (Sonics owner) said yesterday that he wanted to meet with the mayor of Seattle to discuss arena options, even though a ballot initiative last fall essentially handcuffed the mayor completely. So, like, that's going nowhere. Today, Bennett came on Seattle sports radio and acted like a spoiled child. His position is that the city and the state should pursue him, and bring him stadium solutions, and let him pick the best option. That is soooooooooo not going to happen I could vomit. There are three groups trying to please the Sonics, and none of them is Seattle or Washington state: Instead, Bennett needs to be working with the cities of Renton, Bellevue, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. They are all trying to come up with stadium plans. The city of Seattle and the state of Washington are not going to help. Please. Learn that. Work with it.

"The reality is, we own the team," Bennett said this morning. "We are dependent on the community to find a way to get the building done."

Hardly. You have a building that the city built 10 years ago. You have a building. You have a lease. But, you want a new building. So, the community owes you nothing. You are holding the community hostage. It is not the other way around. At the very least you could remember that.

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.

Ding, dong the witch (Ray Allen) is dead

About three hours before the draft, we started hearing that Seattle was going to deal Ray-Ray for the fifth pick in the draft. I was thrilled.

"As long as Horford or Conley are there," I told my friend Dekay, "I'm 100 percent behind the idea."

I was operating under the assumption that if you're going to deal Ray Allen, a legitimate superstar, albeit one who never saw a loose ball worth diving for, you should get a guy with a ceiling one mile high. To watch both Durant and either of those guys mature would be worth the price of admission.

Whoops. Neither guy I wanted was there. Apparently, management didn't care.

While I'm now conflicted, I'm not 100 percent against the move either. I think Green is filthy, and I think he'll be an All-Star. His bust potential is lower than either Horford or Conley. Somehow, he seems stable. I saw something on ESPN.com that likened him to Brandon Roy. That'd probably play.

But, I mean, I hate Ray Allen (see last week's post), and even I feel like we gave up more than we got. The Sonics only have one more year in Seattle, and instead of having a ridiculous offense -- Ray, Rashard, Durant -- now we're going to have a ridiculous small forward position. In our last year, we're going to see the rookie seasons of one ultra-megastar and one very solid pro. And the team is going to suck. Maybe we'll get two more years out of the team, but we'll be so young, and the West is so good, I don't think the playoffs are likely.

And, really, that's not a very good way to go out. I think I'd prefer to see Durant's first ever playoff appearance to the formative years of an outstanding nucleus.

Oh well. At least I outlasted Ray. The bastard.

Sonics fans in pain

While this post is specifically about the Seattle Sonics, and I'm trying to stay away from those, I think it also I think it also tells a wider story. So, indulge me.

When the Oilers left Houston, only 8 people showed up to that now infamous "Keep Our Oilers" rally. As the Sonics leave, there's a sense of desperation. But that isn't to say there is apathy, or a lack of action. Here, more than 8 people care, so to speak.

Today's Seattle Times has a piece by Danny Westneat in the wake of comments by new Sonics owner Clay Bennett. Bennett has been touring Kansas City, and listening to what that city is offering the team. As part of his visit, Bennett told the Starr newspaper that nobody in Seattle is helping him build an arena.

"(There has been) no hue and cry, no letters to the editor, nothing by the media or talk on the call-in shows, or no new ideas on how to get it done. No private ideas on the table," Bennett said.

That isn't at all true. Nevermind my personal position, there are plenty of things cooking. The cities of Bellevue and Renton have separate plans. A third plan is gestating in Tukwila. The governor has signed on to at least one stadium package. Multiple state senators have put their necks on the line. Sports radio is full of keep-the-Sonics talk. Etc. To suggest that the community doesn't care is disingenous.

But there's more. The story isn't just about Seattle caring or not caring. I think it's also about Bennett actively trying to leave. Read on.

In his article, Westneat spoke to the presidents of some fan organizations -- some of them with 5,000 members. On one of the organization Web sites, a president expanded on Westneat's column, and said a few things I had never heard before or understood.

My frustration comes from the fact that ownership has taken virtually no steps to address these issues before judging our community. Despite repeated pleas they have chosen not to reach out in any meaninful way to the media nor really engage the fans whatsoever.

For all the claims of money spent on the arena quest there has been no Advertising firm hired, no significant effort whatsoever to educate the public or release information. No real effort to pass a vision onto the community. In a real nutshell they have continued to have dialogue with the government without stopping for a second to talk with their customers.

The city of Renton along with our organization actually made more of a sales pitch than the team iteself. Furthermore all public commentary is, at this point indicating that he has given up 6 months into a 1 year due dilligence and without having taking any effort to adjust to the situation. He took one shot at legistlature and now is simply sitting back waiting to see what they bring to him.

This is not acceptable.

Isn't that crazy? The Sonics haven't even hired anybody to sell their message? I think that's whack.

When the Oilers left Houston, I had the definite sense that the community did not care. Right? Did everybody feel that way? If Clay Bennett can somehow convince the world that Seattle doesn't care about the Sonics, I'm going to be furious. We might not build him an arena, but to suggest that we haven't tried is absurd. Particularly if the community is trying harder than he is.

Screw you, Sonics.

Kevin Durant, Oklahoma, etc

I'm thrilled that the (Seattle) Sonics got draft rights to Kevin Durant.

I was listening to the NBA lottery on my car radio Tuesday night, and as it became obvious that we were going to get a top three pick — the Celtics' misfortune ensured it — I started to pump my fists and honk my horn. I was ridiculously stoked. The Sonics, after all, were my first love. Without Shawn Kemp, etc, I never start to follow sports; nobody in my family ever has.

So, during the commercial break, I pull over into a grocery store parking lot. I'm wearing a massive grin, kinda creepy like, I imagine. Whatever. My phone is ringing off the hook, and so I'm picking up, shouting a few things to my friends, and hanging up again. The Sonics! Greg Oden! Kevin Durant!

I'll admit this: I was disappointed when I heard we got the second pick. Only Oden seems to guarentee a future NBA title. But that only lasted two seconds. I jumped out of my car, danced a little jig, answered some calls, shouted a ton, and then went to Jack in the Box for a congratulatory milkshake — large this time, and Oreo. Delicious.

There's no way the Sonics are staying in Seattle, by the way. I just cannot imagine how that would happen. The team pissed off the community, and the league pissed off the government. Even I — a honking and shouting and fist pumping fool — oppose a new stadium. I'm furious. There is a small chance that the Sonics could move to Renton, WA, which is about an hour south of my childhood home in Kenmore, but even that seems unlikely. Seattle is not going to happen; Renton maybe maybe maybe (maybe maybe maybe) could. Whatever.

Of course, the issue isn't going to come to a vote. That idea is 100 percent dead. The tax package which would pay for the stadium would simply extend hotel/motel taxes for about 20 years. Out-of-state visitors would pay, the team says. And, you know, screw out-of-state visitors, they imply.

Plans suggest the team needs a $500M facility. Even though we redid the stadium 10 years ago, the NBA is back for more. Even though we've nearly filled the stadium these past seven years to watch crappy, uninspired players, the NBA asks for more. I mean. What? What in the world is a city supposed to do? It's absurd. Screw the visitors? Screw the NBA.

But. Kevin Durant! Wow! Go Supes!

Seattle Supersonics

Because of a vote yesterday that blocked the city from helping to build a new basketball stadium, the Sonics are leaving Seattle, the mayor and the new owners basically said today.

Good riddance.

The ballot measure didn't explicitly block new construction, but as I understand it, it held that the city could contribute to a stadium only if its contributions were returned in full as part of the stadium revenue sharing arrangement. That's a huge "only."

But a necessary one.

Seattle, a city which has always supported the Sonics, a city which has filled 90 percent of the seats even though the team missed the playoffs a few years in a row and even though most NBA cities don't come close, a city which is the 15th largest market in the country, somehow needed to tell the NBA to go, umm, screw itself.

This ballot measure did that.

Despite Seattle's strong embrace of NBA basketball — it rebuilt a stadium for the team less than 15 years ago — the NBA has been rattling its sabers so loudly that the city is fed up. Me too. I don't live in Seattle so I was unable to vote for the giant 600,000 person middle-finger, but I would have gladly helped flip the bird.

When the city rebuilt Key Arena, it negotiated a lease agreement that gave a chunk of stadium revenues to the Sonics franchise, but which also reserved a sizable revenue stream for the city.

Unfortunately, consecutive Sonics ownership groups have complained that the lease doesn't work for the Sonics. Last spring, NBA commissioner David Stern even called the lease the worst in the NBA. I believe Stern. But, while it might be the worst lease, that does not make it a bad one.

Look at the finances. Since Starbucks' Howard Schultz (and a group of 50 others) purchased the team roughly five years ago, they said they have lost $60M. They blamed the lease.

OK. That's what Schultz says. I hear him. Unfortunately for Schultz's credibility, I also hear him when he admits that he sold the team for $150 million more than he bought it for — $350M this summer from $200M in 2001. Umm.

How does that work, Mr. Schultz?

What sort of lunatic purchases a negative $12M annual cash flow? And, what colossal idiot pays nearly double the price paid only five years earlier? Nobody. No lunatic does that. Regrettably, I am forced into the sort of radical disbelief that I never respect in others. I am forced to conclude, very simply, that Schultz must be lying.

The new ownership group, led by Clay Bennett, took over this summer. Their rhetoric isn't that a new lease must be signed, but that a new building must be built. With a new building, Bennett says, the team will stay.

Unlike most of Seattle, I believe Bennett when he says that he wants to stay in Seattle. I believe him. He purchased the Sonics, I think, with the hope that Seattle would be so afraid of losing the Sonics it would give him a sweetheart deal and he would get to stay in a sweetheart city. Again, the 15th largest market in the country. Oklahoma City, by the way, is 46th, less than a third the size of Seattle.

Bennett hoped Schultz had scared Seattle straight. Sorry, buddy. Schultz scared Seattle furious.

I'm a huge NBA fan. I loved first the Portland Blazers and Clyde Drexler. I grew up in Portland. I have 50 Drexler cards minimum. I loved second, and much more deeply, the Seattle Supersonics. Detlef. George Karl. Vinny Askew! Mac 10. Gary. The Reign Man. Without those guys, I would never be a sports fan. But, I'm fed up.

Seattle deserves to be treated better. That the NBA continues to threaten us makes me furious.

Threaten Atlanta, where nobody attends games. Or New Orleans, where nobody came. Threaten even Portland, which now plays to a third-quarters full stadium on a good day. I don't care. But, to threaten Seattle's loyal fans for a better stadium lease even while the team's financial health flourishes is an abomination.

Ugh.

I need to stop. I'm furious.

You want to allow the franchise to go, David Stern? Fine. At least I can be happy knowing that we refused you publicly before you refused us.