Goodbye Vladi, Hello Wilco

Vladimir Radmanovic was traded Tuesday night to the Clippers for Chris "Wilco" Wilcox. On behalf of everyone here at Supersonicsoul, I'd like to thank Vladi Doddi for his time in Seattle. We'll miss your rainbow threes and thunderous dunks. We will not miss your long cold stretches, creepy braids and incessant bitching.

More Stadia

I know I've been riding this horse particularly hard recently, but I thought this bit of back-and-forth from the Times' Bob Young worth reading:

"[Howard] Schultz has touted a Sonics' study, which shows the team adds more than $200 million to the local economy through spending by fans, players and the team.

"Seattle Center has hired economist Bill Beyers to check the Sonics' claim and conduct his own study. Beyers recently told the task force the Sonics' analysis overstated the team's impact and was 'not a good study.'

"Beyers is scheduled to present his report to Della's committee on Wednesday."

Count me among those curious to see what data Mr. Beyers produces. I'm guessing his figures will be slightly less than one Howard Schultz'.

Dirty Danny

The Sonics may not be racking up many wins on the court this year, but they racked up this important notice in Sports Illustrated: 2 of the 3 dirtiest players in the league this year are wearing green and gold.

Danny Fortson (#1) and Reggie Evans (#3) ranked at the top of who other players thought were the worst offenders in the league. Ray Allen's favorite player, Bruce Bowen, checked in at #2.

It got me to thinking, though, where do Fort and Mr. Glass rank in Sonic history? Obviously, Frank Brickowski has to be somewhere near the top, with Lonnie Shelton possibly thrown in the top 5, and you could even throw Maurice Lucas in for good measure.

A Rosey trade for Supes?

It's trade rumor time again! Here's one courtesy of the never reliable New York Daily News:

HOUSTON - Isiah Thomas' conversations with Seattle have centered on Reggie Evans and Danny Fortson, a sign that the Knicks are trying to surround Eddy Curry with rugged power forwards.

Malik Rose is a similar-type player, but the Knicks, according to league sources, are willing to trade Rose and perhaps Trevor Ariza to the Sonics if they can get Fortson and Evans in return.

Look at all these rumors

You know writers are desparate when they start cooking up stuff like this:

"... Some have speculated that the Seattle SuperSonics may want to move Ray Allen because of their financial issues ..." (Philly Inquirer)

Yeah, that'll happen all right. I'm sure the Sonics are really interested in trading their only legitimate star for a group of 3rd-tier players while in the midst of grabbing some dough for their new and improved stadium.

By the way, the Sonics lost again last night to the mighty Hornets. Did I mention that the Hornets' first two point guards were on the sidelines with injuries for most of the game? And that David West and PJ Brown combined for 47 points? Oh, and Kirk Snyder went for 16 points and 12 helpers?

Ugh.

Sonics Win!

"I'm trying to cram as many rich, white people as possible up there!"

The Sonics may suck on the basketball court, the court of public opinion, and most likely even the People's Court, but they won in Olympia on Tuesday.

As Margarita(ville) Prentice, chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, put it, "The ripple effect [of sports on the economy] defies our imagination." She was referring, of course, to the impact the Seahawks' making it to the Super Bowl had on the local businesses.

She's right! If the Sonics make the Super Bowl, Seattle will win big! Oh, wait, the Sonics can't play in the Super Bowl, it being for another sport and all. But, jeez, the NBA Championship Finals ratings are always through the roof, right?

In any event, the taxes previously used to fund other SafeCo/Quest Field will now be extended to fund Key Arena's transformation into the type of arena that no team will ever leave. After all, no city would ever sell an arena for $23 million 17 years after they spent $60 million to build it, right? Ah, yes, I love this game.

Brother can you spare a dime Penny?

There's been a lot of talk about Earl Watson coming to Seattle, but here's something I hadn't heard until today:

Another persistent rumor has the Knicks finally unloading Penny Hardaway 's expiring $15.75 million contract on Seattle for Reggie Evans, Flip Murray and Vitaly Potapenko .
That would help the cash-strapped Sonics for next season, but it wouldn't appear to do much to help the Knicks. Which, in my cynical opinion, is why this trade probably will go through.

from The Detroit News

So, should the Sonics being giving up on this season before it's even half done? Is Flip worth a Penny? Is a Penny worth anything? So . . . many . . . questions . . .

Sucky Sonics make Hill "puke"

After losing to the lowly Bobcats 119-106 last night, Sonics coach Bob Hill had this to say:

"You've got to sleep on it and get up in the morning. After you puke, you can start thinking about it. That's the first thing I'll do is puke."

Yeah, I think that's pretty much how we all feel right now, Bob.

Misery loves company

Conversation overheard at a QFC in Ballard this morning:

Clerk: So are you as depressed as I am about the Super Bowl?

Customer: Are you kidding? I'm a Sonics fan—I've been depressed all year!

Stadia Mania

"So this is a basketball? Fascinating! "

As this site has gone on, one area in which I am proud is our reluctance to write articles concerning the Sonics’ financial picture. I don’t know about Paul or Chunky, but I root for the Sonics’ basketball team, not for Howard Schultz, Barry Ackerley, or anyone else in the front office. I would imagine most of the people who visit this site are in the same situation. The kind of statistics we enjoy are points per game, not economic indicators.

Yet this latest hubbub concerning the Sonics and their arena woes has struck me as something worth discussing. Obviously, both sides of this argument – as in any debate – are staking out their respective territories, filling the newspaper and airwaves with ridiculous rhetoric that has as much basis in fact as W’s State of the Union.

Somewhere between Nick Licata’s nonsense about sports having “no cultural or economic value whatsoever” and Howard Schultz’s diatribe about “we are ultimately not the ones responsible for selling or moving this team” lies the truth, at least what I consider to be the truth.

The truth is the Sonics are vastly overstating their economic impact upon their hometown, a trait they learned, no doubt, from all of the other professional sports teams in North America.

Take a guess – what’s the economic impact of the Sonics on Seattle? In other words, if the Sonics left, by what percentage what this region’s economy decline? By 20? 10? 5?

Try 1/10th of one percent. Or, perhaps I should put it another way, as this author did: “In every case, independent work on the economic impact of stadiums and arenas has uniformly found that there is no statistically significant positive correlation between sports facility construction and economic development. … This stands in stark contrast to the claims of sports teams and leagues who assert that the large economic benefits of professional franchises merit considerable public expenditures on stadiums and arenas.” Or, perhaps you’d like to read this article, whose authors “haven’t uncovered a single instance in which the presence of a professional sports team has been linked to a boost in the local economy.”

And for this, Howard Schultz wants the taxpayers of King County to cough up $200 million, all the while his front office is signing people like Calvin Booth to five-year, multimillion contracts, Mikki Moore to a deal that pay him $300,000 a point, Ibo Kutluay to a two-year deal that contributed all of zero points to the Sonics, and so on. All while his front office sales staff has posted the lowest luxury suite occupancy rate in the entire NBA.

Face it, Howard, you have made your mess and now you must lie in it. I for one am not interested in subsidizing his team’s idiocy. Yes, I love the Sonics, and, yes, if they win an NBA championship it will warm my heart like few other things in my life. But how does that compare to people stuck in 2-hour traffic delays, every day, every week, every month of the year because of a lack of public transit? Will the goodwill generated by Schultz’ new building make homeless people warmer at night?

No, it won’t. I have come to a shared conclusion with two very smart people who know more about this subject than me, you, or Howard. Noll and Zimbalist’s fine book from 1997 “Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums,” explains in excrutiating detail just what its title declares. Their conclusion? “Stadium subsidies facilitate building expensive monuments to sports that benefit no one and transfer income from ordinary people to highly paid players, owners, and executives.”

Sorry, folks, but if you’re asking me to cough up $200 million so that I can continue to enjoy writing for a sports blog, Ray Allen can add another bedroom to his guest house, and Howard Schultz can add another Starbucks in Tarzana, well, you’re asking the wrong guy.

Opie

Opie all up in Miles' grill. "I'm open . . . seriously!"

In a season full of misery, one bright spot has emerged. Young Robert Swift has taken the reins as Seattle's center of the future, and his play of late has even put him in the role of center of the present.

Swift has averaged - hold onto your seats, folks - close to a double-double the past month, 9.8 ppg and 8.5 rebounds per game. In fact, he's the 16th-best center in the league at rebounds per game during that time.

Now, for most teams, having the 16th-best rebounding center wouldn't be cause for celebration. But the Sonics are not most teams. Since Jack Sikma headed for Milwaukee in exchange for Alton Lister lo, those many years ago, the Sonics have been devoid of a quality man at the 5 spot. Is Swift the answer to our prayers? Well, plenty of other guys have posted great numbers for a month's time (see Fortson, Danny for further reference), so the jury is still out on Swift. But at least he gives us something to get excited about, and isn't that what being a fan is all about?

Back from the dead?

After a kick-in-the-nuts loss to Portland Monday night, the Sonics rebounded with a hard-fought (O.K., ugly) win over the Warriors tonight, 111-107.

Supersonicsoul was in the house tonight, as Chunk took me to the game for a birthday present. As I am old and enfeebled now, it was nice to get out of the house. (Even though I had to pay five dollars for a hot-dog. FIVE DOLLARS!)

Speaking of Supersonicsoul, we are officially back online now. All the files were erased from the server because some idiot (me) thought it would be cool to upgrade to mySQL/PHP and some other web-crap I don't fully understand. Anyhue, all is fixed now and I promise not to break the website again. Probably.