Wilkins Gives Back

What do Ludacris, Kevin Durant, and Ray Allen all have in common?

They're all going to be at a free hip hop concert in Atlanta, which will benefit the community and bring a positive focus. "The Ludacris & Friends, Strength in Numbers Concert" is also being done in association with The Damien Wilkins Foundation (ahh, the reader says, now it makes sense!).

Rashard Lewis will also make an appearance, and Danny Fortson is expected to be there as well, because, you know, they've always got free grub at these things. What Da Fort doesn't know is that he's going to have to pay to get in.

The event takes place on Sunday, September 2 in Atlanta. Other performers include Chingy, Ne-Yo, and Shareefa. Kenny G was invited but was unable to attend due to a bar mitzvah conflict.

Sonics Add A Voice

The Sonics announced a replacement for David Locke on Tuesday, naming former Clipper, Maverick, and Hornet man Matt Pinto to handle the radio play-by-play duties.

In addition to his NBA experience Pinto has also broadcast University of Hawaii men’s sports, Boston College basketball, Brown University football, Hawaii Islanders and Pawtucket Red Sox AAA baseball. Which is good, because if the Sonics break out into a football scrimmage during one of the games, we'll be covered. Or, if (God forbid), Dave Neihaus and Steve Raible decide they want to finally admit that they love each and shack up in Vancouver as "life partners," well, Seattle will still be covered for radio duties on its other pro sports teams.

It's unknown if the Sonics will continue with having Kevin Calabro call radio games when there is no tv coverage, which they did last year, or if KC will get the night off when the tv is dark. It's worth noting that while working for the Clips, Pinto would step aside for Ralph Lawler when LA's game was not televised.

Team USA Selects Collison For Select Team

I've gone from being baffled to understanding this process to being utterly baffled (again) in the span of a week and half. It started out with me thinking Nick Collison was on the Select Team that will scrimmage Team USA in the run-up to the FIBA tournament in Las Vegas.

Then, I thought he was going to be a member of the Team USA because, well, it was reported at ESPN and everywhere else via an AP story.

Now, Steve Carp of the Vegas Review-Journal says that Collison will be on the Select Team after all. Here's what he wrote:

"USA Basketball still is finalizing the roster of NBA players that will scrimmage the national team. Several players already have committed to what is being called the NBA Select team, including Nick Collison, Monta Ellis, David Lee, Andre Iguodala, Al Jefferson and Jason Kapono."

It appears that LaMarcus Aldridge and Monta Ellis are off the Select Team because of injuries, which may be why Collison is headed for that club, rather than Team USA, which is the team that the Select Team plays, because they're not the Team USA, because ...

Oh, I give up.

Somebody explain to me how this means we're going to finally beat Puerto Rico?

Knight to Clips

Cross Los Angeles off your potential destinations for Luke Ridnour/Earl Watson, as the Clips inked point guard Brevin Knight on Monday. While the possibility of Watson being sent back to LA (he attended UCLA) were always hypothetical at best, I had held out hope of the Sonics landing something, anything for one of their superfluous PGs in a trade with the Clippers.

For now, at least, the list of possible locations just got one name shorter, and the likelihood of Watson and Ridnour cohabitating for another season got that much more likely. Perhaps Sam Presti is hoping for a one-season tryout to determine if either of the two is ready to be a starting point guard, and if neither fills the bill, he'll have the option of waiting for next spring's draft, when he'll have the opportunity to pick OJ Mayo with the #1 pick.

Aubrey A Fan of Sonic Blogs?

Thanks for the extra traffic, Aubrey, but we'd rather have our team back.

Call me crazy, but maybe Aubrey McClendon's statements regarding the inevitability of the Sonics' relocation was a good thing. After all, what the hell has there been to talk about for the past couple of weeks? With training camp still eons away, A-Mac's statement/retraction has given us all something to whine about for a couple of weeks. Thanks, Aubrey.

As expected, a deluge of comments about Aubrey's comments today in the papers. You've got Steve Kelley (who thanks McClendon for "exposing chairman Clay Bennett as the duplicitous salesman he is" and goes on to call Bennett & Co. "fat-cat burglars"!), Eric Williams details the backpedaling from Bennett and McClendon (Williams also appeared on the Team 1040 in Vancouver last night; I know, because me and the other Sonic fan in B.C. both were listening), Art Thiel weighs in with a well-reasoned piece on the entire situation, Ted Miller counsels patience for Sonic fans, and also terms McClendon's comments "a calculated move," Margarita Prentice bemoans the fate of the team in Clay Bennett's official voice, and Gary Washburn has a quote from the NBA about the situation in his write-up.

See, I told you McClendon was working for us. Last week, I'm watching the paint dry at this site, and now we've got a dozen stories to examine and a million opinions to scream. Gotta love, controversy, right?

All of that aside, ponder this for a moment:

How would you feel if the Sonics had gotten the 6th pick in the draft, and rather than building around Kevin Durant, they were building around Yi "Chairmaster" Jianlian?

Suddenly, I just felt a whole lot better.

Collison Practicing With Team USA

Starting Wednesday, Team USA will be practicing in Las Vegas in preparation for the FIBA tournament that kicks off on August 22. Joining the roster of 16 players is Seattle's Nick Collison.

Collison joins a team that lost Kirk Hinrich, Shane Battier, and Greg Oden on Monday, meaning the roster has been trimmed to 16, with the possible additions of Mike Miller and/or Tayshaun Prince at some time in the future. ESPN's Chris Sheridan figures Kevin Durant will be cut, leaving Collison a two in four shot of making it (he would be battling with Prince, Miller, and Michael Redd for two spots).

Bennett Attempts To Clarify

In response to Aubrey McClendon's comments to an Oklahoma paper, Clay Bennett issued the following statement today:

-----

"As the controlling owner, I admire my fellow owners and appreciate their support. While they are excited about the basketball operations and the future of the team on the court, they, like me, have been disheartened by the lack of progress we have made to secure a new arena for the Sonics and Storm. Aubrey expressed his personal thoughts and, in context of the story, was not speaking on behalf of the ownership group. It is my hope we will see a breakthrough in the next 60 days that will result in securing a new arena for the Soncis and Storm in the Greater Seattle area."

-----

So, when McClendon said that "We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come [to Oklahoma City]," he's completely on his own? He never had any conversation with Clay Bennett about that? Really?

What Can We Do?

Undoubtedly, there are many out there who look at this whole Bennett-McClendon-Carpetbagger scenario and just throw up their hands in dismay. The folks who never really liked basketball to begin with, or pro sports at all, they could care less, and this situation just confirms their pre-existing beliefs.

But for the rest of us, the obvious question is this: What do we do now? There are a number of practical answers:

1. Support A Deal is a Deal. Brian Robinson's efforts to force the Sonics/Storm ownership to honor their lease with the city is something everyone can get behind (sorry, was that too homo-erotic for you, Mr. McClendon?). Hate the Sonics' owners? Then stick it to them by forcing them to play basketball in Seattle for 3 more years. Love the Sonics? Then help ensure the team remains here for at least 3 more years. It's win-win. If you don't have any money because you spent it all on that sweet X-Man replice jersey, then volunteer your time/services.

2. Don't buy tickets. This is a tough one. On the one hand, poor attendance hurts Bennett's pocketbook, which is nice. On the other, it makes Seattle look apathetic. Perhaps an alternative is to buy tickets, and then bring your own food to the games. I suggest tomatoes, just in case Bennett makes an appearance.

3. Write to the Mayor. Let Nickels know the pressure is still on he and his associates to force Bennett to honor the lease.

Any other ideas out there? And, no, we're not interested in your plots to injure Bennett & Co. After all, they're much likely better-armed than we are.

Take a Letter, Clay

Dear Clay Bennett,

I have never met you personally, so I am hesitant to write this letter because I am making assumptions about someone whose hand I have never shook and whose eyes I have never looked into. That said, I feel confident in saying I have a fairly good impression of you.

I know, for example, that you donate heavily to Republican campaigns, that you associate yourself with people who oppose gay marriage, that you heartily endorse the Bush administration. Knowing these facts, I can deduce that you are a Christian man, and I would imagine that you try to follow the tenets of the Bible in your daily life.

Mr. Bennett, I am also trying to be a Christian man. I know that doing so is a path filled with pitfalls, that there are many missteps we make along the way that leave us ripe for picking by those who do not believe. I understand how difficult it may be to be a 1) public figure and 2) a Christian.

But what I don’t understand is how you look at yourself in the mirror, knowing that you have conned an entire region with your lies. There are many misconceptions of Christianity – people will argue until the end of time about whether Jesus was a fan of gays – but no one argues that telling lies is The Christian Way.

So I ask you: Do you feel guilty about lying to us? Do you say prayers for forgiveness every night for your deceptions? Do you have an anchor of guilt the size of an oil derrick hanging upon your neck because of the way you got the City of Renton so riled up to help you? All that time you wasted in Olympia, all that taxpayer money you frittered away on endless meetings, all those volunteers who gave so much of their time and of their pocketbooks to help your business, all on the precept that you were “committed” to keeping the Sonics in Seattle – do you feel any guilt at all about that?

Mr. Bennett, there are two stories out there right now: The one you have told us for the past year, and the one Aubrey McClendon is telling us now.

Two stories, one truth. Which is yours?

Sincerely,

A Sonic Fan

Bombshell: Sonics minority owner admits they are lying bastards

Seattle's own Axis of Evil laughs it up at our expense.

When Clay Bennett and his team of investors said last year they were going to make every effort to keep the team in Seattle, I really wanted to believe them. Really.

But something just didn't smell right. Maybe it was Bennett's crooked, shark-like "smile", or the fact that he'd been trying to bring an NBA team to Oklahoma City for years, but he just didn't seem to be telling the truth.

For once, I was right.

In a stunning display of candor, minority owner Aubrey McClendon finally admitted that Bennett and his boys never had any intension of keeping the team in Seattle:

"But we didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here," he said. "We know it's a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it's great for the community and if we could break even, we'd be thrilled."

Read the rest in today's Seattle P.I.

I guess I should be glad someone in that swarm of vultures finally came clean, but the fact that he did so in such a casual manner really shows the arrogance of this group.

They are so proud of their fleece-job, they don't even care if we're on to them anymore. It's a giant, foam middle-finger to the people of Seattle.

I'm not surprised, of course, that the head of an Enron-type energy company might lie, cheat and steal to get whatever he wanted, but it seems like the city of Seattle could have a real argument here:

Is it legal to lie about your intentions before buying a business?

If you bought the Space Needle, let's say, and told the previous owner you would do everything you could to preserve it's place in the city, but later admitted you planned on moving it to China all along, could you be sued by the previous owner?

I'm no lawyer, so I don't know the legality of all of this, but one thing is now crystal clear: these guys are real bastards.

Are you kidding me?

The Celtics are interested in Reggie Miller. Apparently Bob Cousy was unavailable.

The Celtics, who apparently believe you can never have too many old guards who can't play defense, are attempting to exhume Reggie Miller.

According to several imaginary sources, the Celtics believe the decrepit Miller would be a good mentor to youngsters Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Miller, who was old and immobile when he retired two years ago, will be wheeled out to the three-point line in late game situations.

Not to be outdone, Allan Houston now wants to get back in the game as well. Word has it, though, that the Pittsburgh Pisces have not returned his calls.

Nickels on KIRO this morning--Call in!

I received this e-mail from the Mayor's Office yesterday:

Supersonic soul fellas,

My name is Viet Shelton and I’m an aide to Mayor Nickels. I just thought I’d give you guys a heads up that the Mayor is guest hosting the Dave Ross show on KIRO 710 tomorrow morning from 9am-noon.

The topic for the 10am hour will be the Sonics and Key Arena, whether or not it’s a decent venue for an NBA team, does it need an upgrade, etc. Oh, there will also be some discussion about the latest politics of it and it’d be good to hear from folks their perspective of the situation and what people think should be done to keep the sonics.

Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know, invite any of you or your readers to call in and discuss it with the Mayor.

KIRO’s call in number is: 877-710-KIRO (5476)


Viet Shelton
Senior Advisor on External Relations
Office of Mayor Greg Nickels

Well, you heard it, Supersonicsouliacs: hit those phones and tell the Mayor what you think!