Big Mouth Strikes Again

"Only two things give me pleasure in life: Stealing NBA teams and my collection of Adolf Hitler's golf clubs."

Another day, another cover-up from the Bennett camp.

The News Tribune reported yesterday that a Sonics employee has leaked details about yet another secret meeting:

Seattle SuperSonics chairman Clay Bennett told his employees that Oklahoma City is ready to foot the bill for the team to relocate there next season, a source within the organization said.

That information was passed along to Sonics employees during a meeting with Bennett on Wednesday, an employee who attended the meeting told The News Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

And exactly how far would OKC be willing to go?

During the 40-minute meeting Wednesday, the team employee said Bennett provided the group with details of what Oklahoma City is willing to pay for to woo the Sonics:

• Any legal fees involving the team’s fight to break the KeyArena lease.

• Whatever the settlement is to the Seattle Center to buy out the lease.

• All relocation fees the NBA would force the team to pay other owners.

• Costs of physically moving the team’s staff and offices.

• Costs of upgrading the city’s current arena, the Ford Center, to make it NBA-ready.

• Costs of building a new arena, and when it’s finished, keeping the old facility running.

Read the rest here.

Of course, Bennett immediately went into red-alert denial mode:

Bennett told The News Tribune that his comments were a hypothetical response.

“The context of my response was after being asked the question how could Oklahoma City possibly be a competitive market to Seattle,” Bennett said. “And my answer is because Oklahoma City is a medium marketplace that highly values the opportunity to obtain an NBA franchise, not unlike any community or any state would value the pursuit of any other highly additive economic development opportunity, such as the value of a manufacturing plant or corporate headquarters."

Rrrrright.

Meanwhile, our pal, Henry Abbott at True Hoop has a good take on the story:

I don't know where the Sonics belong. Maybe Seattle ultimately sees this team as worth it and maybe it doesn't. But I feel Sonic fans are at least owed an honest attempt to keep the team -- not a process that has long smelled it like it might have been on rails out of town. Getting a good arena deal is a complicated process that takes multiple willing partners.

It's like building a house. If the guy who pours the foundation doesn't show up, and all your framers, roofers, electricians, plumbers, and sheetrockers etc. are all standing around doing nothing, do you really have proof that you can't get it done? Or do you have proof that you need the foundation guy to try harder or get replaced?

Read the rest here.

Goodbye, Glove?

Pat Riley confirmed what most of us expected on Friday, that Gary Payton will not be back in Miami next season for the Heat.

GP's coming off the 17th season of his career, a career that has made him 1) the greatest player in Sonic history and 2) a World Champion. Not bad for a kid from Oakland with a penchant for talking smack.

I'll save the post-mortem for Payton's career for when it happens, so allow me to ask this question of the Sonics' management: Is there any way you can make this happen? To Sam Presti, et al, does the good feeling generated by signing Payton to a one-year contract trigger anything within you?

Let's be honest, Payton isn't bringing much to the table these days, and he won't have a big impact on the team's won-loss record. But in a season where the team's interest in winning is secondary to player development, is it such a sacrifice to bring in one of the most beloved players in team history? Considering the horrific public relations job undertaken by the current ownership group, wouldn't it help to mend a few fences?

Perhaps I'm being overly sentimental and not seeing the NBA for the business which it surely is, but this is a game, after all, and the greatest reason teams make money is through making fans. I can't think of any signing this off-season that would make as many fans as signing Gary Payton would.

Sonics' Staff Grows

As reported previously by Gary Washburn at the PI, the Sonics added Mark Bryant and Scott Brooks as assistants on Thursday, and retained Ralph Lewis from last year's staff. In addition, Brian Keefe of the San Antonio Spurs was named Player Development Assistant. You can read the release from the Sonics here. Keefe was previously the video coordinator for the Spurs, which I believe is a role that Sam Presti used to hold, if I'm not mistaken.