Seattle Supersonics

Years from now, when Seattle sports fans look back at January 2013, I like to believe they will see it as a critical point when all three major sports franchises finally turned a corner following years of darkness and disappointment. 

A time when the Seahawks first showed their ability to make a serious run at a Super Bowl with Russell Wilson at quarterback, a time when the Mariners avoided making the mistake of trading their future ace Taijuan Walker and a time when the Sonics' new ownership finally made strides in securing a team from Sacramento.  

Of course, this is all wishful thinking today, but we can hope, right?

Looking back, the month of January was nothing short of a wild rollercoaster ride for Seattle sports fans when you consider all of the things that did and didn't happen. 

Between the Seahawks, Mariners and Sonics, it's been an exciting but bumpy ride. 

When my wife told me that a deal was in place for the Kings to move to Seattle, I couldn't tell if she was joking or simply trying to console me following the Seahawks' loss in Atlanta the week prior and Justin Upton's rejection of his deal with the Mariners just days before that.  

Turns out, the deal with the Maloofs was indeed true, yet we still have a long way to go before anything becomes finalized.   

At the same time, I'm genuinely torn. 

My heart goes out to the fans in Sacramento—fans who, a little less than a year ago, I urged to continue their fight to keep their team when rumors surfaced about a potential move. Deep down, I believe they should continue to fight, and I wish them the best. If only the city of Seattle had leadership half as decent and well-intended as Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson back in 2007-08.

Is it wrong that, at the same time, I kind of want a t-shirt?

While I'm afraid to jinx things, you have to imagine the folks at Media Fly Creative, especially after being featured on seattlepi.com a few days ago, certainly have customers. Besides serving as a fitting complement to my well worn "Robbed" shirt purchased a few years ago, I'd be supporting the cause to bring the Sonics back without putting money in David Stern's pocket.

Meanwhile, if we're going to talk about merchandising, Nick Eaton at seattlepi.com added more fuel to the fire by asking us what look the team should adopt if it returns.   

At this point, I'm tempted to stop, but one other point keeps nagging me. 

Do we really want this team?

Beyond the ethics and awkwardness, will fans really be excited to see the Kings in the Sonics' pajamas once they actually get down to playing basketball? 

Initially, I'm sure fans will simply be thrilled to see professional basketball again. But unlike the team that left town in 2008, which had Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant and top pick Russell Westbrook, the potential incoming roster from Sacramento looks like a train wreck. 

While I'm sure there are a number of fans who will be thrilled to see former University of Washington star Isaiah Thomas return to Seattle, the fact is that the rest of this roster looks dreadful. 

Yes, there is some talent, but even the most promising players on the roster—Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins—both come with serious baggage. Granted, beggars can't be choosers, but if the Sonics are reborn, they may want to gut this roster.

Once again we must fight the temptation of getting too far ahead of ourselves. Nothing has been finalized, and I expect the good folks in Sacramento to put up one final fight.  

But with the Seahawks done until summer and the Mariners' season still a short way from getting started, it's hard to put the idea of having the Sonics back to rest .   

January may have been a wild ride, but February, at the moment, looks to be a real snooze.  With all three teams, we will have to wait and see, but I remain hopeful. 

Hopeful that we have only begun to bear witness to the greatness of Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. Hopeful that the young Mariners take the guidance of their elders and begin to awaken following a decade of false starts. And hopeful that professional basketball returns to Seattle.     

If even one of the three can happen, I will take it as a small win.  Anything else after that, I like to think, will make Seattle a great place to enjoy pro sports for the better part of the next decade.  

Fingers crossed. 

Before we get ahead of ourselves, the reality is that the Sacramento Kings have not officially become the Seattle SuperSonics just yet. While all signs point to a deal getting done, Sacramento mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson is not going to give up the team without a fight.

Great mtg today w regional leaders we fighting for our Kings. We win as a region, We win as a state! #playingtowin twitter.com/KJ_MayorJohnso…

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) January 25, 2013

Still, the general consensus seems to be that the team will find their way to Seattle in time for the 2013-14. Obviously, the fans in Seattle are excited about getting a team back in the Emerald City.

Beyond the name, uniform and logo, will the new owners be getting a lot of pieces on which to build if the deal gets done? Or, is this a squad that needs to be rebuilt from scratch?

It is probably fair to suggest that the fans in Seattle have not been paying a great deal of attention to the roster in Sacramento. Gone are the days when Chris Webber and Mike Bibby led an exciting team that challenged the Los Angeles Lakers.

Today, the Kings are a 16-29 team that is struggling for an identity. 

Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe sums up the bleak picture with this team when he writes,

For years they have tried to stockpile lottery picks and allow them to grow, taking a page from the Oklahoma City playbook, but it has failed miserably. Tyreke Evans has regressed, [DeMarcus] Cousins is a disciplinary case, Thomas Robinson hasn’t cracked the playing rotation, and Jimmer Fredette has no true position.

There won't be good times ahead for this team unless some personnel changes are made. Cousins has the talent to be an impact player in the NBA, but there seem to be some personality challenges between DeMarcus and management.

A change of scenery may help the situation.

Evans also has talent, but the team is currently being led in assists by 33-year-old journeyman John Salmons. Perhaps Isaiah Thomas can return to Seattle and develop into the point guard of the future, which would bode well for rising stars like Thomas Robinson who has yet to find a consistent role in the offense. 

Are there other bright spots of potential in this lineup? Not many.

The challenge with this team is that while there is youth, there isn't a clear core of talent that has a definite future together. 

There might be a few pieces that can potentially be assembled, but the tough reality is that the team may need to be taken apart in order to be rebuilt into a winner.

If the Kings end up in Seattle, the new owners will have some challenging decisions to make regarding the future of this roster. As noted by Rotoworld, the team has a few team options that will come up in 2013-14 in addition to some free agents.

Decisions, decisions.

At this point, Seattle fans may not be terribly worried about the roster. Until the deal is finalized and approved by the NBA, any discussion of future players is moot.

However, the day may soon come when the loyal fans in the Pacific Northwest can start thinking about the future of this team. That day may come soon.   

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The possible return of the Seattle Supersonics—which is the only logical name for a new team—is great news for the Pacific Northwest. It's even better for NBA fans, because now we can see the return of some of the league's best rivalries.

The Supersonics were never the NBA's most successful team, but that didn't stop them from making plenty of enemies.

With plenty of years for fans to stew in their own contempt, here are some exciting rivalries sure to emerge with a return of the NBA to Seattle.

Los Angeles Lakers

No one in the Pacific Northwest has ever liked the Lakers. Not the Trail Blazers, and certainly not the Supersonics.

Seattle and LA used to have a great rivalry. No matter what regular attendance was like, when the Lakers were in town you could be sure that the Key Arena would be packed.

The Lakers have attempted to push the rivalry onto the Thunder, but it's fallen short of the what was once there with Seattle.

Even more interesting is the dynamic introduced by the Sacramento Kings.

LA and Sacramento have never been huge fans of one another. Now that the Kings are moving to Seattle it would make the rivalry all the more heated heated.

Someone get Gary Payton on the phone, it's time for some trash talking.

Portland Trail Blazers

The 1-5 rivalry used to be one of the Pacific Northwest's best, with Portland and Seattle throwing civility out the window when these two teams would meet.

When the original Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City, Portland continued the rivalry. But no doubt the return of a team to Seattle would reignite the long standing tradition.

Go to any college or MLS game and you can see how these two states love to root against one another in the battle for Pacific Northwest supremacy.

With both cities adopting hipster trends, one can only imagine how weird fans will get to try and top one another.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Perhaps the most interesting emerging rivalry of them all would be between Seattle and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While the Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City, fans from Seattle have never welcomed the team with open arms.

Whenever the Thunder comes to play in Portland, there's sure to be fans in Sonics gear rooting against OKC.

There's plenty of hate for the city that stole away the Supersonics from Seattle.

If a team were to return, no doubt they would play in the Northwest division. Meaning these two teams would play each other often.

With loathing hearts, there's no doubt Supersonic fans would love the opportunity to show the Thunder what kind of fans they're missing out on.

The Seattle SuperSonics may make their triumphant return to the Emerald City as early as the 2013-14 season.

As reported by Adrian Wojnarowski, a deal appears to finally be done after reports of an impending sale broke in early January. Wojnarowski tweets:

With sale finalized, NBA's Relocation Committee will approve Kings move to Seattle for next season, sources tell Y! "Formality," source says

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 21, 2013

Is Seattle excited about this news? I can’t speak for the whole city, but I have to imagine that plenty of fans are thrilled at the prospect of getting the team back.

After all, the team left under, shall we say, frustrating circumstances.

Still, is there a little bit of guilt associated with this transaction? After all, the dedicated fans of Sacramento are about to lose their only professional sports franchise.

That kind of loss cannot feel good. Seattle fans can feel some of Sacramento’s pain.

I think Sherman Alexie said it very well in his recent tweet:

Dear Seattle, don't celebrate the NBA for giving us the Kings in the same way they took the Sonics.

— Sherman Alexie (@Sherman_Alexie) January 10, 2013

For many fans, a sports team is more than a form of entertainment. A beloved team is part of the community framework, and fans have been fiercely loyal to their franchises for as long as there have been sports.

I grew up in the Seattle area, idolizing players such as Jack Sikma, Gus Williams and “Downtown Freddie” Brown. These stars gave way to players like Tom Chambers and Xavier McDaniel. In the 1990s, I had a great time watching Gary Payton throw lobs to Shawn Kemp for eye-popping dunks.

Needless to say, the 1978-79 NBA Championship is still one of the highlights of my life as a sports fan.

As longtime Seattle fans can imagine, the first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets in 1994 was definitively a low point.

When the Sonics went east, I ceased to be a fan of the team. It has been bittersweet to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder succeed since players like Kevin Durant and Nick Collison played for Seattle. 

However, my loyalties will always lie with the green and gold.

Fans of other teams have suggested that I should transfer my loyalties to the blue, orange and yellow.

Nope. Won’t do it. Can’t do it.

As Charles Barkley said, you can't take the stats from another city. Nor will I try to be a part of another franchise's future. If the Kings come to Seattle, the history of that club should stay in Sacramento. Or Kansas City. Cincinnati? Rochester? 

The departure of the Sonics will always be a dark chapter in Seattle sports history. Obviously Clay Bennett is not the first owner to take a team away from a loyal fanbase. Nor will he likely be the last.

Still, I suspect that Bennett will always be on the villain list in Seattle.

There were certainly a lot of elements to the team’s relocation, and they do not need to be rehashed at this point. Again, I cannot speak for all of Seattle, but I think it is safe to suggest that the fans felt “robbed."

The locals know that shirts with that exact word (via The Seattle P-I) are still on sale in Seattle-area stores.

Is all forgiven now that there are strong signs pointing to a SuperSonics return? I wouldn’t say that.

As a fan, I will always feel like Bennett did not act in good faith.

But, that is in the past and it appears that the sale will get approved. Good news does help some of the bad times fade away. I have to assume that Seattle can now start to move on and begin enjoying basketball again if the Kings do end up heading north.

As mentioned, I do feel bad for the fans of Sacramento. When Chris Hansen originally came forward and started working on plans for a new arena, I had a feeling that this type of situation might happen.

There were few franchises at the time that were in a position to move.

The economic situation of the NBA was such that expansion seemed unlikely, and that does not seem to have changed very much. Hansen and his group were unlikely to get a franchise without obtaining one from another city.

Granted, the circumstances will be different if the Kings move to Seattle. There are fans in Seattle who will always see elements of theft in the Clay Bennett situation. This business deal fits the model of a standard relocation, which has happened many times before.

There has been some interesting reaction to the story, including this recent tweet from Arash Markazi of ESPN:

Sacramento was never going to win with broke owners looking for the biggest payday and a commissioner looking to right a wrong in Seattle.

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 9, 2013

I expect the fans in Sacramento to be frustrated, and they have every right to be. However, they shouldn’t be upset with Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer.

If fans are mad at anyone, it should be the city of Sacramento or the Maloof family. In theory, the Maloofs had an opportunity to work out a deal on a new arena in Sactown. That opportunity appears to have passed.

Still, as noted by Yahoo! Sports, Sacramento will fight on. Former NBA star and current mayor Kevin Johnson has been trying to find a local owner that will keep the team in town. At this point, his efforts may be a little too late.

Now that the deal appears finished, there is already speculation on potential leadership.

Y! Sources: To overhaul Kings organization, new Seattle group has discussed targeting Spurs' R.C. Buford, Larry Bird. tinyurl.com/alaqrqr

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 21, 2013

Larry Bird? I never thought I would hear his name associated with the Sonics.

Before the new ownership can start hiring executives, they need to get the deal approved. Seattle fans will obviously stay tuned. The Sonics are (or appear to be) one step closer to a Key Arena return.

Exciting...assuming you are a fan of the Seattle SuperSonics. A sad day for the city of Sacramento.

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Late last week, news came that NBA commissioner David Stern would be stepping down from his post after exactly 30 years on the job on February 1, 2014.

Now, before you mark your calendars and stick an extra pin in your Stern voodoo doll, it seems that just maybe the old man has had a change of heart when discussing the city of Seattle in context to professional basketball.

According to Yahoo!Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, league sources have offered up the following:

Between now and his departure, Stern is determined to get a franchise back into Seattle, league sources said. He has become a strong ally of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's group to bring back the NBA there. Ballmer's group has been trying to get the Maloof family to sell the Sacramento Kings, so that the franchise can eventually play in a new arena in Seattle.

From the league office, pressure on the Maloofs to sell has been growing, sources said – just as hopes for a new Sacramento arena have been fading. Seattle Sonics fans will never forgive Stern for his complicit role in Clay Bennett's deception to move that franchise to Oklahoma City, but make no mistake: Stern desperately wants to return the NBA to one of its great markets and wants it for his own measure of vindication before he leaves office.

Meanwhile when asked about Seattle's chances last week, Stern really didn't sound like a man determined to get the city a franchise based on what seattlepi.com's Nick Eaton posted the day before Wojnarowski:

“I don’t have any current view on where such a team comes from,” Stern said at a news conference Thursday, according to the ESPN-affiliated Sacramento Kings blog Cowbell Kingdom. “We deal with a lot of cities. Seattle happens to be another great city.

“We’ve dealt with everything from Kansas City to Virginia Beach to Pittsburgh, Columbus, Louisville — all cities of the certain type who would very much like to be considered for an NBA franchise. Anaheim, Vancouver, Las Vegas. So Seattle is very much in the mix.”

Who should we believe, the emperor or his minions?

What's sad is that as fans we're left having to decipher some form of truth through all of the hearsay and conjecture we've been fed in morsels over the past year or so. 

What surprised me is that the Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer actually offered up a rather even-handed response to the recent whispers with his piece published on Monday:

Can you trust that Stern is sincere in his unstated desire to restore Seattle's Sonics tradition? Of course not. But you can nod his way and look on with skepticism as he attempts to finish his 30-year run in dramatic fashion. The next 15 months will mean much to Seattle's chances of resurrecting the Sonics.

This is a refreshing change from the usual rhetoric the Seattle Times has published on the potential Sonics revival the past year in that it actually boils down the situation to the hard truth.

The next 15 months are critical, but we should remain skeptical.  

Any scenario that involves David Stern, the Maloof brothers and Clay Bennett as head of the relocation committee should give Seattle fans pause. And that's assuming Chris Hansen can continue to make magic happen in getting an arena built in Sodo.

The other thing to consider is that, beyond what Wojnarowski heard, there hasn't been anyone else to step forward and report something similar in regards to Seattle, but with so many sources referencing it, it just seems likely.

Perhaps it will help the situation, but at the same time, just because a lot of people say the same thing doesn't necessarily make it true.  

Time will tell, but I have a feeling that fans in both Seattle and Sacramento are going to find themselves at the mercy of Stern until the bitter end.  

After all, as one of Adrian Wojnarowski's sources said, "Stern has enough time to get a team back to Seattle, but he'll let Silver deal with the crowd [booing] on opening night."

Wouldn't that, in a way, be fitting?

Once again, I'm not sure how to interpret that, given the satisfaction it would give Seattle fans to have one final chance to "serenade" Stern as he stands at mid-court to soak it all in. 

At the same time, I'd imagine he'd rather enjoy it knowing deep down that he won this final chess match by moving all of the pawns according to his every whim while wiping the slate clean of arguably his biggest mistake; thus proving his complete and undeniable mastery of the game. 

On a recent trip to Seattle, I came face to face with an NBA relic. There was Key Arena, former home of the Seattle Supersonics, standing no more than a block from our hotel in an unassuming area of downtown.

Arena staff were preparing the concourse for a WNBA game that night between the hometown Storm and the Phoenix Mercury. Posters of Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson lined the windows and walls of the pro shop. A few young girls loitered the area, donning Seattle Storm jerseys that featured the ridiculous Bing logo across the chest.

If it weren't for the faded paint on the wall where the Seattle Supersonics logo was once perched, you'd never know that this was a building steeped in NBA history.

That Supersonics logo—and the history that comes with it—is currently the property of Clay Bennett and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Seattle is a city stuck in basketball purgatory.

As I walked around Key Arena towards the Space Needle, it became depressingly obvious why the NBA had to move on. The building was charming and quaint, designed with a nod to the culture of the Pacific Northwest, but it was noticeably small.

It was set right on the edge of a beautiful entertainment complex lined with trees, an art gallery, a science center, large parks and the aforementioned Space Needle. The path led to a monorail station that looked and felt every bit of the 50 years old that it was. The train was something straight out of The Jetsons, complete with a futuristic hiss from the doors as they opened and closed. It was fun, but honestly it felt like I was walking through a museum.

Seattle seems intent on preserving this antiquated part of the city exactly as it was conceived, but the fiscal landscape of the NBA has evolved past the limitations of Key Arena. And so I came to understand why the NBA had to move on. The value of history and nostalgia have no weight in David Stern's grand global scheme. The hipsters will tell you that basketball is an intimate game that is best viewed in an intimate setting, but the NBA needs to appeal to the one percent just as much as it does the 99.

When Seattle erected two behemoth-sized stadiums for baseball and football and completely neglected basketball, the NBA took note. It is a jealous league, and it would not sit idly by as a city so brazenly slighted it. Seattle took its NBA team for granted, and now it is paying the ultimate penance for sins committed.

But life goes on at Key Arena. The area is still alive and bustling with people, even on an average weekday. While any physical trace of the Sonics' legacy has been removed for the exterior of the building (that I could see), the spirit lives on through its people.

Everywhere, there are reminders of the former NBA franchise. We spoke to a couple of local sports merchants, and they were eager to plead their case. They were spitefully gracious to the people of Oklahoma City and admitted that they have attended many rallies for the 'Save Our Sonics' movement. As I listened to these two locals rant about the arena upgrade clause in the CBA and cursed the name of Bennett, I realized that, sooner or later, a team would have to come back to this city. They care too much.

Former Sonics guard Gary Payton predicts that Seattle will have an NBA team as early as next season in an interview with SLAM:

The NBA has already given us an OK to go look for a team. So the pieces are in place to make moves now, and we’re working on having a team for next season. In 2015, the new arena is gonna be ready. So if everything goes as planned, we’re going to revamp Key Arena and play there for one year, while the new arena is being finished.

So when news of plans for a downtown Seattle arena officially broke, I was excited. I was excited because I understand that these people want their damn team back. They understand the error of their ways, and they intend to make amends. And this new deal is Seattle's way of standing on Stern's front lawn with a boombox over its head, seeking forgiveness.

Now entering the twilight of his tenure as commissioner, there are reports that David Stern intends his swan song to be the reuniting of Seattle with its beloved Sonics.

Even Bennett and the Thunder have declared that they intend to return the history, the banners, the records, the colors, the name and everything Sonics when (and if) Seattle has a team again.

All of the pieces are in place for a happy ending.

Perhaps what Seattle needed to truly appreciate what it had was to lose it for a moment. You can bet that the city will never take it for granted again.

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I grew up watching the Seattle SuperSonics. 

I cheered when Jack Sikma, Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson led the team to a championship in 1979.  The original pennant still hangs in my garage.

My friends openly mocked me when the Sonics lost in 1994 to the Nuggets.  Granted, I spent that whole year talking about the greatness of the team, so I probably deserved the scorn.

When Clay Bennett moved the team to Oklahoma City, it was a bitter pill to swallow.  What kind of person takes your team?

Since then, people have assumed that I will root for the Thunder. 

Uh, no.

Now, Chris Hansen is doing his best to bring a team back to Seattle.  The arena appears to be a reality, and all we need now is a team. 

Of course, that is easier said than done.

How do we get a team back?

The NBA has stated that they do not intend to expand anytime soon, and given the diluted talent in the league, that is probably a wise business decision.   

If the NBA does not expand to include more cities, the only way to get a team in Seattle is to get one from another city.  As much as I would like to see the Sonics return, I don’t necessarily want another city to get robbed the way fans have in the Emerald City.

Still, that may be exactly how Seattle gets a team to play in the new arena. 

Of course, David Stern has suggested that there are not really any teams available at the moment.  Why do I have the feeling that the same guy who stood by and let Seattle lose their team will not put much effort into putting a franchise back in the Pacific Northwest?

I still haven’t figured out why he let them leave for Oklahoma City.  Then again, plenty of people are confused by Stern’s decisions these days. 

Perhaps the city of Seattle will get a hockey team before they get a basketball team.  That remains a possibility, as the NBA situation may not produce a franchise anytime soon. 

In the meantime, the basketball fans in Seattle will have to be patient.  The team colors, records and franchise name are waiting to be awoken by a new group of players.

Give the city a team, Mr. Stern.  You owe the fans that much. 

This won't be a popular opinion in my hometown of Seattle, but I stick by it. Seattle having any part in relocating the Sacramento Kings to replace the Supersonics is exactly the same as siding with  ownership in the Sonics' move to Oklahoma City. All of the rabid Sonic fans who cried foul when their team was hijacked to OKC have no leg to stand on if they now are eager to help rob Sacramento of their team.

I moved to Seattle in early 1977, a golden time for local sports. The town had a strong NBA team, the NASL Seattle Sounders, the Mariners and Seahawks were new, and even the Huskies were going to Rose Bowls under Don James. The sports honeymoon was not going to last though.

Historically, Seattle is not a city of takers. Instead we are the city who either gets taken or acquiesces to corporate blackmail, committing more and more taxpayer dollars for newer and newer stadiums.

The Mariners almost become the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1992. The M's were at it again three years later in 1995, needing a miracle and getting it in the form of their first playoff appearance to keep Major League Baseball in Seattle. A year later, more threats to leave the city came from Mariners CEO John Ellis. The Seahawks took their turn in 1996, packing up and literally moving to Los Angeles before the league told them they had to go back north.

Even our original MLB team, the Seattle Pilots, moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers after only one year. Seattle had to sue MLB to become one of the expansion cities in 1977 to get the Mariners.

It's always been a struggle here.

So it wasn't a surprise when less than 10 years after renovating Key Arena, the city was presented with new ransom demands. "Build a new stadium, or else." The surprise was that they actually took their forty-one year history and left.

After the initial shock, Seattle fans were justifiably upset. Cries of foul play and robbery rang out across the city. I'm pretty sure Howard Schultz, Clay Bennett and David Stern still wear disguises whenever they come here to visit.

Yet these same hardcore Sonic fans have no problem taking Sacramento's NBA team, slapping a new paint job on them and calling them the Supersonics. It's as if your house got robbed and you use that as an excuse to break into your neighbors house.

Seattle should hold out for an expansion team, or none at all. I'd prefer it if the NBA never allowed another sale of a team ever again. Dissolve franchises that need to vanish and run expansion drafts for every new team. No more moving teams period.

Seattle, we are not takers, why start now?