Looking Forward

So where do the Sonics go from here?

After Thursday’s shocking revelation (well, not so shocking really) that Clay Bennett and his partners were sending titillating e-mails to one another regarding relocating the team to Oklahoma City while denying it to everyone – including Bennett’s evil overlord, Commissioner David Stern.

Gov. Gregoire stuck her finger in the air yesterday, saw the wind was blowing in a new direction, and, being a wise politician, firmly planted herself on the anti-Bennett side. While KING-5 failed to show it on their evening news, the Governor also decried the Holocaust, rainy days, and mosquitoes.

The NBA is in full no comment mode, hiding behind the usual screen of “no comments on ongoing litigation” nonsense you usually hear from people who are forced to talk about items of which they do not wish. You’ll note, of course, that David Stern had no trouble discussing the Seattle situation – at length – plenty of times in the past, including the suit between the city and the Sonics, when it suited his interests. As they say, though, silence can be deafening, and Stern’s quietness in this instance speaks volumes about how bitter he must be.

Being shown to be a sucker in the national press can do that to a guy, you know.

But back to the main point, what happens next? A multitude of options await, but here is one hypothetical scenario:

1. Prior to the Board of Governors meeting on April 17 and 18, Bennett and Stern meet to discuss the situation. A humbled Bennett is forced to kneel before his master.

2. The BOG postpones any decision on the relocation until after the court case is decided or a concurrent settlement is reached.

3. Prior to the case, Bennett reaches out to the city again with a new offer, considerably north of the $26.5 million he previously offered. The city tells him to go e-mail himself.

4. As the court case nears, Gov. Gregoire comes up with a letter pledging support for the missing $75 million in funding for the KeyArena renovation. No special session is called, but the letter is provided to the city, which in turn talks to the Group of Four who have offered to purchase the team.

5. Stern sits Bennett down, tells him he must sell, with the promise of the Memphis Grizzlies or New Orleans Hornets in the future for Oklahoma City.

6. Bennett and the Group of Four enter into negotiations to sell the team. After prolonged debate, Bennett sells the team and hightails it back to Oklahoma City, no longer the savior he once made himself out to be. His wife reduces his allowance and Clay is forced to deliver newspapers on weekends to make up the difference.

And, somewhere, Howard Schultz breathes a great, big sigh of relief.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Two weeks ago, the Sonics demoted Mo Sene to Idaho, with PJ Carlesimo telling us pinheaded Sonic fans that the reasoning was to get a better read on the alleged “skills” of Francisco Elson and Donyell Marshall.

At the time, I went off and wrote a (in retrospect) overly critical piece about how ridiculous it was to deny time to someone who has a possible future with the franchise so that you can evaluate 30+-year-old players who have already clearly established what their skills are, when clearly those skills are speaking Dutch (Elson) and braiding hair (Marshall).

What happened in the meantime? Well, Mo Sene got hurt playing in Idaho, with an injury that will possibly cost him the opportunity to play in the summer league a couple of months for now.

Oh, and Donyell Marshall, the guy Carlesimo said he “needed to evaluate” in the final weeks of the season? Here are his minute totals per game for the past five games:

0, 10, 7, 0, 0

Marshall is suffering from “right knee soreness,” causing him to miss the past couple of games, but is that really a surprise? And what about the games before that, including the double-overtime game when he played all of seven minutes?

But wait, it gets worse. Apparently, when Francisco Elson was dealt from San Antonio to Seattle in the Kurt Thomas trade, he was told that he would not get much playing time, in that the Sonics were looking to develop their own youngsters (this info thieved from Eric Williams at the TNT). And after getting the start over Johan Petro last night (in the Sonics 103-80 loss to Houston; there’s your game re-cap, folks), this is what Elson told Williams, in regard to receiving the starting nod:

“There’s four games left. I don’t understand it. I mean I didn’t expect [to get regular playing time], but why would you want to do it now? It ain’t like we’re going anywhere.”

I’ve been watching the NBA for 25 years now, and that must be the first time I’ve ever read a player complaining about getting a starting spot. How dumb is this coaching staff, when even their own players think they don’t know what they’re doing?

Honestly, I don’t think Carlesimo is trying to tank the season, and I don’t the think the players are giving any less effort than they were earlier in the year. But this whole idea of giving time to people like Elson and Marshall at the expense of Petro and Sene is just baffling.

At this point, I give up. If anyone can shed light on why the Sonics would go down this road, I’m all ears, because I’m just about done trying to figure out PJ Carlesimo and Sam Presti.

"I am a man possessed!"

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive

—Sir Walter Scott

The Seattle Times is on top of the story, with Jim Brunner explaining how Clay Bennett, Aubrey McClendon, and Tom Ward were excitedly discussing moving the Seattle Sonics to Oklahoma City last April, six months before the October 30 deadline they had given Seattle for coming up with a new arena.

There is plenty to read in the emails (here and here), but I believe everyone would agree the most telling is a missive from Bennett dated April 17, 2007. Bennett was responding to another email from Tom Ward (you remember Ward, the guy who thought the best way to use $1 million was to spend it fighting gay marriage), wherein Ward asked if there was any way possible to relocate the team prior to the 2007 season. Sayeth Bennett:

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

Remember that phrase "do everything we can," because it gets repeated in an email to David Stern, with a slightly different connotation. Bennett's email to Stern came in August, fresh on the heels of the McClendon gaff about the new ownership group always intending to move the team to Oklahoma City. Sayeth Bennett to Stern:

"The deal for me has NEVER changed; we will do all we can in the one year time frame ... to affect the development of a successor venue to KeyArena."

In addition to lying to Seattle, Bennett lied to Stern, telling him that the ownership group had NEVER discussed moving the team to Oklahoma City, when in fact they did just that in the emails from April of that year, four months prior to Bennett telling Stern they never discussed it.

It makes you wonder, if Stern fined McClendon $250,00 for the quote in the Oklahoma City Record, what sort of fine will he impose upon Bennett for his misleading remarks?

But back to the "all we can" remarks. Remember those coaches that told you in high school that giving 100% isn't enough, that you must give 110%? I always wondered how it was physically possible to give more than all you could, it just seemed idiotic to me.

But I stand corrected, because while Clay Bennett was giving "all he could" to keeping the Sonics in Seattle, he was also doing everything he could to move the team to Oklahoma City.

For two years now, we've been searching for a proper nickname for Clay. There's been Clay-Clay, Gay-Clay, Okie, and so on. None have fit properly, but that changed today. From henceforth, only one nickname will fit for Clay Bennett:

Clay "110%" Bennett.