Happy Birthday to The Glove

Happy belated birthday to one of our all-time favorite Seattle Supersonics, Gary Payton.

Happy Birthday Tommy Gun

Happy birthday to former Seattle Supersonics forward and 1987 NBA All-Star MVP Tom Chambers.

Terence Stansbury is not impressed

Clyde "The Glide" Drexler soars to the hoop during the 1987 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest in the arena formally known as the Seattle Center Coliseum, while Terence "The Statue of Liberty is the Best Dunk Ever" Stansbury looks on.  (Picture courtesy of Old School NBA Players.)

Sonics Arena Update

This is either an early design for the new Sonics Arena or the world's largest Jello mold.

The latest release from the Seattle Supersonics Department of Vague Messaging:

Back to work.
— Sonics Arena (@sonicsarena) June 13, 2013

KOOL MOE DEE CONCURS.

Hansen, NBA in "productive" talks for Seattle expansion team?

Why yes, this is the 80th time I've posted this photo. TRY AND STOP ME!

According to self-professed "plant based whole food" dieter Tim Montemayor, Chris Hansen and the NBA have been in talks to bring the Sonics back to Seattle via an expansion team, and things are starting to heat up.

Several #NBA sources in the know tell me there have been productive talks on expansion in #Seattle As the league preps for a new TV ...
— Tim Montemayor (@TheMontyShow) June 12, 2013

Okay, so this guy isn't exactly Bill Simmons, but hey, it's a slow news day! It's either this or Derrick McKey eBay listings.

The Post George Karl Blues

Artwork by Rafael Calonzo, Jr. /  Tie by Cody Karl. 

George Karl had just coached his team to the most wins in franchise history. They were young, exciting and packed in the crowds at home. But after consecutive first round exits in the playoffs, many were calling for Karl to pack his bags and move on, as he'd done so many times before.  After the final, painful playoff loss, Karl almost sounded like he welcomed the ax, if only to end his suffering:

"I'll be O.K., guys," said Karl. "I'm fine. I am fine. I'm the same as I've ever been. What have I done wrong? Why do I have to be ashamed? I didn't make a good decision? Good. Fire me. I've given all I have to give. I care. I like these guys. I like coaching these guys. Go mess with someone who doesn't care. Go mess with some of the frauds out there, man."

This may sound like the Denver Nuggets, who just let Karl go on Thursday, but the quote is from a different time and place. 1995. Seattle.

But almost an identical situation.

The early 90s Sonics were a hot mess. "Trader Bob" Whitsitt, the young, hot-shot GM of the Seattle Supersonics, had hornswoggled some of the best young talent in the league, yet couldn't quite figure out how all the pieces went together as the team floundered under the near comatose style of coaching from old-schooler K.C. Jones. Enter George Karl.

This day in Seattle Supersonics history: We Were The Champions

On June 1st 1979, I got to stay up past my bedtime to watch basketball on TV as the Seattle Supersonics won the city's first and only major men's sports championship. 

Like so much of their history, the Sonics were victims of terrible timing. With Bird and Magic still in college, 1979 was the last year that no one cared about the NBA. CBS thought so little of pro basketball that it didn't even televise the game live. Seattle had to suffer the indignity of having their coronation relegated to tape delay, one of many slaps to face the franchise would endear throughout their abbreviated history that would end abruptly less than 30 years later.  

No matter what happens with the future of the NBA in Seattle, nothing can take away Jack, DJ, The Wizard, Downtown Freddie Brown and getting to stay up late to watch the Habegger Hop. 

Seattle Sonics Video: Complete Chris Hansen Interview

Euphemism of the Year Award

This one comes courtesy of the real estate broker Aubrey McClendon designated to sell his estate on the shores of Lake Michigan.

“What we’re selling is the house and a little over six acres with 500 feet of frontage on Lake Michigan and 700 feet on the Kalamazoo River,” said Dick Waskin, a broker with the ReMax Realty of Saugatuck. “It’s a house that’s built in a location that could never be duplicated.

“It was bought pretty much as an investment,” Waskin said of the lakefront mansion. “He’s come to a point, where it’s time to start reaping back some of that investment.”

He's come to a point where it's time to start reaping back some of that investment. Gosh, when did that point come about? I wish we knew.

(Details courtesy of Michigan Live).

The Loudest NBA Crowd of All Time? It wasn't Sacramento (or Seattle!)

Whenever one of the inevitable Seattle vs. Sacramento flame wars heat up, one of the things Kings fans like to bring up is the alleged Guinness record held by their old Arco arena as the loudest NBA crowd of all time.

Now, having had my ears drums nearly melted at several Seattle sporting events over the years, I had a hard time believing this. I mean, even with all those goddamned cowbells, how could roughly 17,000 people at Arco be louder than a sold-out Coliseum booing Charles Barkey and the refs in the 1993 Western Finals against the Phoenix Suns? Or the grunged out Key Arena maniacs cheering on the Sonics as they blew out the greatest team of all time in game four of the 1996 NBA Finals? Or the (then) record 40,172 screaming Supersonics fans at the Kingdome in 1980? 

Well, it turns out the Guinness Record for loudest NBA crowd of all-time is not held by the Sacramento Kings. Nor is it held by our beloved Seattle Supersonics. Well then, who the hell does hold the record? 

(click below to find out)

Flashback: Stern pressured Maloofs to sell Sacramento Kings to Seattle?

Twitter user RW34MVP (wasn't that one of the bounty hunters in Empire Strikes Back? ) posted an article from six months ago by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports stating that the NBA was pressuring the Maloofs to sell the Sacramento Kings to Chris Hansen because Stern was "determined to get a franchise back into Seattle" before his reign as ruthless dictator NBA commissioner ended:

Between now and his departure, Stern is determined to get a franchise back into Seattle, league sources said, and 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. 

As one source involved in the process 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.”

Yikes. Have times really changed this quickly or was this whole Seattle vs. Sacramento deal a diabolically Stern-esque set-up from the start?

Ultimate poison pill in Seattle Supersonics, Sacramento Kings battle? Keeping Maloofs in NBA

When I mentioned a few weeks ago that Team Hanson was about to go into Scorched Earth Mode in their efforts to build Seattle Supersonics 2.0, I was thinking Ballmer might let his rabid pack of Microsoft lawyers off the leash. I don't think anyone dreamed they would truly use the nuclear option. The very last of last resorts. The unthinkable horror of . . . THE MALOOF SOLUTION!

Two sources told ESPN.com the Maloofs have informed their fellow owners that if their deal to sell and relocate the Kings to Seattle is not approved by league owners next week, they will not sell the team to a Sacramento-based group that promises to keep the Kings in Sacramento. 

Instead, the cash-strapped Maloofs have made a "backup" agreement with the Hansen-Ballmer group to sell it 20 percent of the team for $125 million to allow the Maloofs to continue to operate the franchise. 

From ESPN

Oh sweet lordy. PLEASE let this just be more crafty posturing to leverage an expansion team out of the NBA. Seattle does not want these guys owning the Sonics. I think this town has had enough sleazy,  awful owners, thank you.