<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>City Rips Stern City of Seattle officials lashed out at NBA commissioner David Stern late Saturday after Stern said the Sonics' move to Oklahoma City is inevitable. "I clearly see this as a publicity stunt by Mr. Stern, nothing else," Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said. "I'm optimistic that we have a strong case in court and we'll be in front of a federal judge to argue it." Ceis and Marty McOmber, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels, both criticized Stern for using a public forum to drum up support for relocation. "It's quite clear that the NBA no longer seems to want to honor the contracts they sign with cities," Ceis said. "So we'll have to have a federal court enforce that. If Mr. Stern thinks this lease is for sale, that's not the case."</div> Seattle Post-Intelligencer
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stev...1_kelley18.html <--this is how I feel about the situation/Stern.
David Stern is a douche bag. I'm pissed the Sonics are leaving Seattle. My memories of Shawn Kemp dunking on everyone in the league, one by one, will never be the same.
It is Stern's job to make the league as profitable as he can for the owners. Stern's loyalty will always rest with the owners that is why, outside of Mark Cuban and James Dolan, you have yet to see any type of punitive action against any ownership group in his regime. Clay Bennett and his ownership partners have some of the deepest pockets in the league. They know how to pay for an endorsement and obviously it is more important for David Stern to keep Bennett happy than it is the citizens of Seattle. Kind of a chicken sh%t approach to overseeing a business but it is truly an owner's league. I am excited to see that the local officials will not take a buy out to get the Sonics out of their lease. I am interested in seeing how much weight Stern has to get the Sonics out of Seattle. From everything that I read they are obligated to stay in Key Arena until 2010 -- and if that does happen I can't envision the Sonics being able to generate enough revenue to be able to field together a competitive team. It will be Durant, Green, Collison, a couple first round picks and nothing but minimum salary free agents. This team is going to be very bad for a very long time. With all of the free agent money that they have they damn sure will not spend it on a marquee free agent considering the type of debt that they will have to overcome. Welcome to the big leagues Sam Presti. The only person that is impressed with your moves is Clay Bennett. But I guess that is the one person's whose endorsement really matters.
