<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As the sale of the Sonics and Storm inches toward being official, it's a foregone conclusion that team president Wally Walker will not be retained and not part of the new ownership group, according to a source familiar with the process. The sale of the Sonics and Storm to The Professional Basketball Club (LLC), led by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett, was approved by the NBA Board of Governors on Wednesday. The transaction won't be official until Tuesday, when the $350 million is exchanged. Walker said Wednesday night during the Sonics' 103-88 preseason win over the Sacramento Kings that he will not comment until Tuesday, but according to the source, he has been notified that he will not have a role with the team. </div> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/290063_sonx26.html There you have it....Wally Walker is just about gone.
It's been a while since posting here (although I read things here a lot) but THANK THE LORD! He's finally going to be gone. I bet that alone will fill some more seats during the regular season.
This will be the first of many front office changes that will under Clay and Co. I'm just hoping that after this year Rick Sund can continue to man the ship because I don't think that there is a better GM in the league in terms of effectively spending a dollar. The question is how much is Clay willing to spend to ensure that we get back to being an elite team in this league? Given our geographic location and small market status he would have to overspend in order to acquire some of the top free agents in the league. Not a formula that I am particularly fond of. One thing is for certain--given Clay's Midwest ties I seriously doubt that he will short change Nick Collison in the negotiating process. I wouldn't be surprised if Chris Wilcox is used as trade bait if he doesn't live up to expectations this year.
