Friday, June 6

Decision Day

Eric Williams has the anticipatory look at what Judge Marsha Pechman will and will not allow in the upcoming Sonics vs Seattle trial, set to begin June 16 in this fair city.

That debate about whether Sherman Alexie and Mitch Levy will be allowed to testify? Decided today.

The argument of whether the city was in bed with Steve Ballmer and orchestrated the entire situation to force Bennett to sell? Decided today.

Should the survey which showed Seattle cares little about the NBA be included? Decided today.

Are Nick Licata's comments about the lack of cultural value of the Sonics important? Decided today.

And so on. As you can see, it's an important day for the future of the franchise in this city, especially in one regard: How the judge rules will be the first solid indication of how she feels about the case. If later today it is revealed that Levy and Alexie will be forbidden to testify, it will be an indication she may be leaning towards the Sonics' side of things, and, contrarily, if a whack of the Sonics' evidence is denied entry, then it could be supposed the judge is leaning towards Seattle's side of things.

Should make for an interesting day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please stop calling Clay Bennetts ownership "the Sonics". Please call them the PBC. I always get confused for a second or two when I'm reading an article because I'm use to cheering for "the Sonics" but in articles about the litigation process I have to remember "the Sonics" equals the evil ownership from OKC

Online ZenDoc said...

Technically, the court case is the City of Seattle vs. the Seattle SuperSonics, but I totally understand what you're saying. I don't like calling PBC the "Seattle Sonics" for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they NEVER had any interest in Seattle and actually had none in the Sonics, either. The Sonics were simply a vehicle to obtain an OKC NBA franchise by theft - the quickest and easiest way they knew how to do it.

They needed something that came naturally for them: Fraud, Theft, and Lying were a piece of cake. And even easier for David Stern, who not only condoned the whole thing, but probably suggested it to Clay in the first place. I certainly don't associate the "Sonics" with a bunch of lying, thieving OKC businessmen, even though technically they own our team. Hopefully, not for long.
- ZenDoc

Anonymous said...

From the onset, I correctly explained that "there are two options here."

The first option would be that "the Washington State Legislature completely funds the building of a $500,000,000 state-of-the-art multi-purpose facility (i.e., the King County Events Center) somewhere in the Puget Sound, which would thereby allow the Professional Basketball Club, LLC to flip the Seattle Supersonics for a huge profit to a local buyer (e.g., Steve Ballmer, Kemper Freeman, Jr., et al.)."

The second option would be that "the Professional Basketball Club, LLC relocates the Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; consequently, Clayton Bennett becomes a renowned civic leader -- as well as somewhat of a philanthropist -- within his hometown community."

http://sonicscentral.com/blog/?p=1357

Although I personally believe that the City of Seattle is right in attempting to legally enforce its lease with the Seattle SuperSonics -- and, in consequence, the current ownership group (i.e., the Professional Basketball Club, LLC) -- through its completion (i.e., the 2009-2010 season), the pending lawsuit between Howard Schultz and the Professional Basketball Club, LLC is inherently flawed in my book.

The premise of rescinding the sale of the Seattle SuperSonics by the Basketball Club of Seattle, LLC to the Professional Basketball Club, LLC based solely on a flimsy good-faith clause seemingly lacks enough substance -- which is partly due to the apparently immense difficulty of proving fraud in a court of law -- nonetheless, I'm admittedly ignorant regarding the intricate nature of leaglese and its judicial interpretation—especially in this case.

I guess that, well, I'm in the same boat as many folks at SonicsCentral -- such as Dick Tate, Myk, DK, and even Brian Robinson this time -- since settling for an expansion team that begins play to start the 2010-2011 season is fine by me. Under that scenario, however, there'd also need to be another expansion team; that'd thereby even out the amount of ballclubs in the NBA. A city like Kansas City, Missouri -- which could use a primary tenant for the recently constructed Sprint Center -- would be a great location.

Throughout the two years that there isn't a ballclub in Seattle, the Seattle City Council and Washington State Legislature can allot funding to renovate the dilapidated Key Arena -- while a new ownership group is formed and headed by Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer -- which, à la the rising of the Phoenix, will signify a fresh new beginning for a once proud franchise in the Sonics. All in all, no matter some folks' aversion to that theoretical conclusion, I think that it's a satisfactory outcome for most of us.