Schultz!

From page seven of the lawsuit filed by Howard Schultz in U.S. District Court yesterday:

In an email written by Clay Bennett just two days before the sale, Mr. Bennett confided to his co-owners that he was comfortable with the Purchase Agreement’s good faith provision because, in the event a Seattle arena deal could be negotiated, the Oklahoma City group could simply sell the team in a “sweet flip,” and leave Seattle, and the Oklahoma City group “would still be in good shape for something in OKC.

Unbelievable. Again, unbelievable.

How about we take a turn at playing “Guess David Stern’s Reaction!”.

1 – “The commissioner does not comment upon ongoing legal proceedings.”
2 – “I have not studied the emails, so I can not comment on them.”
3 – “Crap.”

Personally, I have always believed, and Stern mentioned this at one point if I am not mistaken, that the league was hopeful that an out-of-town owner would be more likely to persuade the city and/or state to cough up some money for KeyArena, inasmuch as out-of-town ownership holds a heavier sword over the neck of the local politicos than local ownership. Therefore, Bennett’s Oklahoma City ties would likely work in the league’s favor by prompting the local government to give in under threat of relocation.

But that’s where the plan went sideways. As Schultz’ lawsuit alleges, it appears that Bennett and his group had no plan at any time to keep the team here. It is entirely possible that Bennett not only defrauded Schultz, but Stern as well. As much as I despise Stern – and that’s a great, big bundle of despise – I do not believe he would be happier with a team in Oklahoma City than Seattle. While he would be willing to accept the relocation in the light of keeping the extortion threat alive for other teams in other cities, in a perfect world he would rather the team stayed in the larger city. It’s just common sense.

However, perhaps Stern was fooled by Bennett. We’ve already witnessed how owners such as Larry Miller in Utah were completely unaware of the situation in Seattle, and how their only information came from Bennett’s mouth. Well, perhaps Stern was acting similarly. We already know he’s a pompous and arrogant man who despises this city and its politicians. Is it that much of a stretch to think that he just disregarded everything coming from the Seattle media and websites such as SonicsCentral and relied on the information Bennett was providing to him?

If so, at what point does Stern cut his losses with these Okies? How many more emails need to be unveiled? How close to his deposition date, when he will be confronted on these emails? He’s not going to be able to cut off the prosecutor with the same petty reasoning he did at the press conference last Friday, he will have to answer questions he doesn’t want to answer.

I don’t know the answer to those questions, but Clay Bennett may be having some very interesting conversations with the NBA’s offices in New York in the next few weeks.

It’s about damned time.

Sonic Politics

In case you don't read enough about the Sonics, you can check out realclearpolitics today for yet another article.

It's written by some guy named Nussbaum. He sounds like a hack to me.

Fearless Predictions

Plenty of ink was spilled as the NBA playoffs approached, with prognosticators opining this way and that on who would win each series.

Most of the time, these “experts” used statistics, previous encounters, injuries, and all that “complicated” stuff that “regular” people like us have no way of understanding.

I mean, seriously, does anyone actually understand offensive efficiency? If John Hollinger says something like, “The Spurs’ Offensive Rebounding PER of 13.8 is the highest since the Lakers’ mark of 14.1 in 1987” would you have any idea what the hell he’s talking about? Sure, “math” is interesting and all, but does it measure “heart,” or “hustle,” or little thing called “desire?” I think not.

Well, I think there’s a better way of studying this, and, so far, it’s completely, 100% accurate. I call it the FSF – the Former Sonic Factor.

I first contemplated this before the playoffs started, but thought it too revolutionary for the masses. People weren’t ready for the truth, they needed to be eased into it. So, with a portion of the first round completed, and my prediction method now established with unassailable credentials, I’m ready to lay it on you. FSF is not complicated and requires very little math; certainly no math you would have learned after second grade. Herewith, the number of former Sonics per team, and how those teams are faring in the playoffs:

BOSTON (1) Ray Allen vs ATLANTA (0)
Celtics lead series 1-0

PHILLY (3) Calvin Booth, Reggie Evans, Kevin Ollie vs DETROIT (0)
Sixers lead series 1-0

ORLANDO (1) Rashard Lewis vs TORONTO (0)
Magic lead series 1-0

CLEVELAND (3) Eric Snow, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West vs WASHINGTON (1) Antonio Daniels
Cavs lead series 2-0

S.A. (2) Brent Barry, Kurt Thomas vs PHOENIX (0)
Spurs lead series 1-0

L.A. (1) Vladimir Radmanovic vs DENVER (0)
Lakers lead series 1-0

NEW ORLEANS (0) vs DALLAS (0)
Hornets lead series 1-0

UTAH (0) vs HOUSTON (0)
Jazz lead series 2-0

It’s obvious, isn’t it? Of the eight playoff series, six of them include a team with a higher FSF. In all six of those series, the team with the higher FSF leads the series!

How much does Detroit regret sending Flip Murray to the Pacers now? Do you think Steve Kerr is even more pissed that Brent Barry signed with the Spurs rather than his Suns?

Of course, the obvious question is, how does Round Two shape up? Well, things get a little hairy, since the FSF system predicts Cleveland knocking off Boston and Philly topping Orlando. In the west, you have the Lakers over Utah and San Antonio over New Orleans/Dallas.

All of which sets up Cleveland beating Philly (note: in the case of two teams having an equal FSF, the team with the best overall player is declared the winner; the rule is known as Don’t Be a Dumbass Corollary) and San Antonio topping the Lakers, giving us the Spurs against the Cavs for the NBA title. This time around, Cleveland wins the rematch from last year as ABC executives impale themselves with blunt objects.

Gorton Talking Compromise

Greg Johns has the write-up here.

Obviously, Slade Gorton is not a fool, and if he senses that David Stern would be willing to commit a future expansion team to Seattle in exchange for a new and/or remodeled arena, he feels it is worth pursuing that option.

Kudos to Gorton for having the dignity not to take Stern's ridiculous insults personally, and for looking at the big picture. Personally, I think the favored options for Sonics fans would be, in descending order:

1. The current team stays, we keep Durant, Green, et al, Bennett sells at a loss to Steve Ballmer and rides back to Oklahoma City with his tail between his legs.

2. The current team leaves for Oklahoma City, Seattle gets an expansion team.

3. The current team leaves, we steal a team from another city.

4. The current team leaves after two years in Pacific Northwest Purgatory. We get neither a replacement nor an expansion team.

It's easy to say, "this team or nothing," and a large part of me wants to say that, simply because of the disgraceful way the NBA has acted. Another part of me, a much smaller part, admits that any team is better than no team.

And, remember, if the "Sonics" move to Oklahoma City, won't that give us at least one game a year where we can boo the living heck out of a visiting team? Can you imagine a greater scenario than screaming "Oklahoma Sucks!" at the top of your lungs while the NewSonics beat the OldSonics?

Something to think about, anyway.

Stern Gets Punked

I saw this video first in the SonicsCentral comments section, and then on the Seattle Weekly Buzzer Beater. You can go there now to view it.

Basically, it involves Mitch Levy and David Stern, with Stern opining about how wonderful the brand-new KeyArena is. Funny how 13 years can change things.

[Edit: Credit should go to "camhusky," who found the video. It's rare to be able to find something which illustrates your point so effectively, and rarer still to find a blowhard such as Stern being hoisted so completely on his own petard. As camhusky writes at the YouTube link, "I post this video to show fans in Oklahoma that what David Stern and Clay Bennett are saying now, about how wonderful the Ford Center will be with a remodel, in 10-12 years' time, they'll be coming after you. Just like in Seattle, that remodel will not be good enough anymore. You're going to have to go through it all over again. And if you say, "enough!", you will probably lose your team too." Good job, cam!]

Fans No More?

One item never in short supply during this arena saga has been rhetoric. Whether from the league, the new owners, the local media, or your friendly neighborhood blogger, so many venomous words have been spewed you’d have thought Donald Trump owned the Sonics and Rosie O’Donnell was the mayor of Seattle.

Admittedly, and regrettably, yours truly has done his fair share of this. To be honest, this is an emotional issue for all of us, and emotional issues tend to produce venom from even the friendliest snakes.

But one particular aspect I’ve heard repeatedly is the one from local fans works along these lines, “If the Sonics leave, I’m done with the NBA.”

That’s a jarring statement to make, considering how important following basketball is to Sonic fans. Yes, we’re Sonic fans, but we’re also basketball fans. It’s not as though as soon as the regular season ended we gave up on watching hoops. With the staggering Western Conference matchups in the first round this season, you can’t help but watch, right?

Is this really an honest assessment, that you’d go cold turkey on the NBA if the Sonics headed off to Oklahoma City?

Having lived in three states and one province in the past 15 years, I think I have a different perspective than someone who has spent his entire life in the Northwest. While I love the Sonics, I’ve moved around enough to have spent times in my life where I couldn’t easily access information on the team. During those periods, I’ve learned to broaden my horizons a bit, and pick up information on whatever the local media was providing (except hockey; a man has to have his principles). I’m not going to say I’m better than someone who has never moved away, but it’s just a fact of life that it’s not as easy to follow the Sonics in Los Angeles or Vancouver as it is in Seattle.

So, rabid Sonic fan reading this site today: How angry are you? Are you truly willing to cast off the league that gave your memory Kareem’s skyhook, the Iceman’s finger rolls, and Dominique’s 360s? Can you really say that if the Sonics were already gone that you’d pass up the chance to watch Phoenix and San Antonio battle this spring?

Enlighten us, Sonic fans. How angry are you?

Tactics

There are two opposing views on the best path for Seattle to take in the dispute between the city and the Sonics. Both have valid arguments, but I think that, to an objective viewer, there is only one real option.

Option one is the one proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels. Essentially, it is to litigate the situation to buy time for the city to come up with an adequate (to the NBA) arena. Considering his bag already contains $150 million from Steve Ballmer & Co. and $75 million from his own city, he is 75% of the way there already. While it is difficult to find ways to come up with $75 million in a time span of one month, it is not difficult to find ways to obtain that much money in the time span of two years. Is $300 million the true cost of the arena redevelopment? Of course not, these estimates are always far short of reality, but that is not the point. The $120 million for the Ford Center redesign is a pie-in-the-sky figure as well, as is the money being trotted out for the new arena in Orlando. The key element to this option is the availability of funding, not only for the arena, but for the team itself.

Option two is the one proposed by Ron Sims, Pete von Reichbauer, and the NBA. Essentially, it entails the city engaging in settlement talks with Clay Bennett for the remaining two years of the lease. In this situation, the city would lose the team, receive somewhere in the ballpark of $50 million, and then hope that David Stern can convince another owner in another city to extort that city's taxpayers.

In other words, we would pull a Bennett.

Let's be honest, another expansion team is extremely unlikely at this point, as David Stern himself has stated on numerous occasions. If the city were to surrender the Sonics to Bennett, the only way for we as fans to obtain a new team would be to pull the same garbage on another city which Oklahoma City is currently pulling on us (and, yes, OKC, your hands are absolutely bloody in this mess; Clay Bennett may have ordered the hit, but you carried it out).

So, we have two options: first, hold our ground and wait for Bennett to cave, or, second, cave in and hope that we can screw over another city.

In the meantime, option one costs the city $75 million in exchange for a completely refurbished KeyArena. Option two nets the city something in the neighborhood of $50 million, an improvement of $125 million, but costs us $150 million in lost income from the Group of Four.

I'm sorry, but I can't see how anyone could go for option two.

Unless, of course, you happened to be a man possessed.

Press Conference Recaps

There will be much more discussion of today’s events to come, but allow me to give a few bits of my opinion, based on the pieces of the press conference I was able to watch.

1. David Stern tried very hard to play the role of Regretful Leader before the press, but his animosity towards the Northwest is very evident. His description of Slade Gorton’s efforts to keep the team in Seattle as a “scorched earth policy” was illustrative of how he views the proceedings. At another point, he described his interpretation of the way the pro-Sonic faction in Seattle acted towards himself as “We’re gonna kill you” if you try and take our team.

2. Stern also wound himself up to avoid answering Chris Daniels’ questions regarding the emails. Much has been made of Stern’s lack of analysis of these emails, especially in regard to the fact that Clay Bennett was less than forthcoming about his group’s discussions of the team relocating to Oklahoma City. In a previous press conference, Stern claimed he had not studied the emails and was therefore in no position to comment upon them. Daniels pressed Stern today to see if he had managed to find the time to study them yet, but Stern dodged the question, and when Daniels attempted to redirect him towards an answer, Stern angrily cut him off, commenting, “Live or not, I am not going to be interrupted. I did not interrupt you when you were speaking. Let us proceed to another question.” Considering the vital nature of those emails, it is disappointing that Stern would hide behind petty rules of etiquette to avoid answering the question.

3. Stern also would not rule out a return to Seattle at some future date (“I never say never”), but indicated it would be unlikely given the current situation.

4. The meatiest part of the conference was, obviously, Clay Bennett’s attempt to clear up any “misunderstanding” of the emails he exchanged with partners Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon in April of 2007. In those emails, as you all know, Bennett stated, and I quote:

"I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys, the game is getting started."

This was written in response to Ward’s email, in which he wrote:

“Is there any way to move here [Oklahoma City] for next season [2007-08] or are we doomed to have another lame duck season in Seattle?”

Incredibly, Bennett said the intent of his email was completely opposite of what the press and the public interpreted it to be. “That exchange took place after the bill died in committee,” Bennett said, referring to the failed proposal in Olympia for a new arena in Renton. “When I said I was a man possessed, I meant I was a man possessed to get this done in Seattle.”

Obviously, Bennett’s comments defy logic, especially when you consider the response Ward wrote to Clay after his “man possessed” statement. To wit:

“That’s the spirit!! I am willing to help any way I can to watch ball here next year [emphasis added].”

So, apparently, not only were the public and the press “misinformed,” but Bennett’s partners as well, as they obviously interpreted his claim of doing anything he could to mean doing anything he could to get the team in Oklahoma City.

5. Even more curious, Bennett admitted that, “Aubrey and Tom wanted a team to be in Oklahoma City all along, but that it was not to be the Sonics.” He went on to say that, “They were behind me every step of the way.”

Huh? I know, it sidesteps any pretense of logic. Why would Ward and McClendon be interested in giving their money to buy a team they could never watch? If they really wanted a team in Oklahoma City, why would they “be behind [Clay] every step of the way” as he tried to keep the team in Seattle?

There was much, much more to get from the press conference, but I honestly couldn’t watch the entire conference due to work constraints. I’ll leave it to the reporters on the scene to fill in the blanks.

It's Official

News reports here and here. Note that the approval is pending the "lease litigation" coming up this June, so, as expected, it's a "Yes, but" approval.

The final vote was 28-2, with only Mark Cuban and Paul Allen (via proxy) voting against the move.

Supersonicsoultoon: Behind the Scenes at the NBA Owners Meeting

(click picture to enlarge)

Sorry, no color this time.

-chunk

Press Conference Televised

According to Eric Williams at TNT, the league will be holding a press conference in NYC between 1 and 2 pm East Coast Time (10 to 11 here), although Percy Allen at the Times expects the conference to be later than that.

Of note, the press conference will be broadcast on both NBA TV as well as nba.com. Stay tuned; if we find a link we'll throw it up on the site.

However, being that Clay Bennett and David Stern will be giving the conference, it might be considered NSFW.

UPDATE: Press conference has been delayed until no earlier than 12 pm Seattle time. Apparently, Clay and David still had some things to do.

Decision Day

It is now just after noon in New York City, and while the owners of 30 NBA teams lunch on whatever millionaires and billionaires lunch on (caviar? $100 bills?), the fate of the Seattle SuperSonics, somewhat, hangs in the balance.

I say somewhat because, as we all know, that fate will be more concretely decided in mid-June during the court case between the team and the city.
But today’s vote will be interesting nonetheless. A number of possibilities await, among them:

-A unanimous or near-unanimous vote of YES to relocation (most likely)
-A vote of YES, with a condition attached related to the outcome of the trial (equally likely)
-A postponement of the vote (less likely)
-A NO vote (as likely as the three of us attending Karl Malone’s Hall of Fame induction)

Somewhere in between all of those options is the reality. In a numbers game, how many votes will Seattle get? Mark Cuban seems to be likely to say no, Paul Allen has been reported as leaning towards abstaining (way to take a stand, big fella), and the rest are seemingly on side with David Stern and Clay Bennett.

I’m putting the over/under on NO votes at 3. Feel free to chime in with your expectations.

UPDATE: Eric Williams at the TNT notes in his blog that the owners will be giving a press conference shortly, indicating the vote has already been held.