Who stays a fan of whatever team this roster, coaching staff and FO become in Oklahoma next year? If the team moves and leaves behind the name, colors and history of the Seattle Sonics...how many of you follow them in their new for? I expect it is near impossible for Seattle locals, but how about for you out of towners?
I'll follow the progress of guys like Durant, Green, Ridnour, Collison etc, more as a matter of interest than anything and because they will always have Seattle ties, but I don't see how I could have any sort of an attachment to a team in Oklahoma. Even if they kept the same nickname, colours and roster, they're still not the team I've grown up supporting. I don't think you need to be a Seattle native to feel some sort of emotion about it all. I went through the same thing with my football club in Australia, North Melbourne. Lack of financial support, members etc led to a very strong possibility of the club relocating from Melbourne to the Gold Coast. Now no matter how many times someone told me "it'll still be the same team, just in a different place", I still wanted to hit them every time. My experience of being a sports fan is you grow up supporting the team who they are, and where they are is a big factor in who they are. I grew up supporting North Melbourne, just as I'm sure many of you grew up supporting Seattle.
With the Grizzlies being up for sale now, there is a lot of talk here in Seattle that I am not thrilled with. They are talking about bringing the Grizz here or buying them to do a franchise swap with Bennett so he can take the Grizz to OKC. I want the Sonics to stay in Seattle, even if we lose the players and coaches...but not at the expense of another team. Of course the Grizz have an even more iron clad lease than Seattle with injunctive clauses meaning they can't move during the first seven years of the new stadium's life...even though they are at the very bottom of the league in attendance. The owners tricked Memphis into replacing the Pyramid with FedEx Forum and now the Chicago based owner has squeezed out the local minority from 30% to 5.8% with a capital call. He has the team up for sale and has already rejected a $300 Million buyout from local ownership. The NBA model is a mess. Stern must be sweating buckets...this could all come to a head right smack in the middle of this years NBA Finals.
I couldn't support the team that moves to OKC. It's not the Sonics, it's a redneck's building blocks for a future unnamed club. I'll still support guys like Collison and follow progress like Sir Dez said. I've tried being a fan of teams from around the country and it just doesn't work for me.. i think one of the biggest aspects of fanhood is feeling a connection to the team, and what better than to be from the same place and grow up watching every game on TV and seeing them in person? That's just me though, as well as the fact that I can't support an evil billionaire. I often mull over whether I will become a Blazers fan, with my love of Brandon Roy and Martell Webster and a close proximity. Still would feel like cheating with a girl's sister, though.
This is a weird situation. The owners are leaving behind the name and history but Stern has said he doesn't expect a franchise in Seattle any time soon, just a weird place to put the Sonic fans.
Stern said that his owners seem to want a team in Seattle based on the revenue sharing model they have in place and that they would prefer a team from a failing market (where attendance numbers have been consistently low) could be relocated. He noted that he is not sold on that idea, but that his owners are moving in that direction. Again, though, I don't want to steal someone else's team.
Contrary to popular opinion I do not think that the Sonics are going to move. I think that this organization tanked purposely in hopes that the indifference towards this team would translate to the indifference towards this franchise staying in the Puget Sound Region. What I don't understand is if there are potential buyers and a lease that seems pretty clear cut that unless the city accepts a buyout the team is obligated to stay in Seattle until 2010 why would there be such an insistance that Bennett would be willing to continue to own this team past this season if he was forced into staying in a market that does not support him or his product -- and a lease that would lose him and his investors a ton of money. Why would Sam Presti or any free agent player/coach want any part of this mess? Hopefully the city continues to hold the Sonics to the Key Arena lease and Clay Bennett incurs enough financial losses that his ownership group feels compelled to convince him to sell. He believed it would be a win/win for him when he bought the Sonics because he thought that he had enough leverage to either force the city to give him a new arena or become a hero in his home state by bringing the first full time professional team to Oklahoma. At the end I believe that Clay Bennett is going to be looked at as an owner who did not understand enough about the business of the NBA to understand how to properly manipulate this situation to his own benefit. He is just too smug for his own good and his unwillingness to extend himself to the Seattle market ultimately will be why he didn't get the arena he wants and also why he will lose an excessive amount of money while he waits for the 2010 lease to end. All of this of course is contingent on the political leaders of Seattle not accepting a buyout. Everything that I have read thus far indicates that they are holding the Sonics to the lease. Then again, the bargaining has yet to really begin on that front. OKC maybe ready to house an NBA Franchise but I do believe, given their own arena issues, that they will have to wait a little longer than they expect in that regard.
If the Sonics leave I most definitely will not be a fan. Truly it is hard for me to be a fan now considering the only players that I truly pull for are Nick Collison and at times Earl Watson. All I keep imagining this year was the prospect of having a line up of Earl Watson, Ray Allen, Kevin Durant (in his natural position), Sweet Lew, and Weezy and hoping that Presti was savvy enough to use some of our accumulated draft picks to bring in a veteran point guard who was talented enough to keep Watson from playing more than 12 minutes as our primary ball handler. They didn't want that lineup because they were scared of how poor we'd be defensively -- well something tells me that the current group that we play extensive minutes with would probably still be worse that that particular group considering how much we could have tired out our opponents on offense. The more I think about how Presti simply demolished this team the more I want to break something. We traded our only significant tradeable asset for Jeff Green, Donyell Marshall, Adrian Griffin, and Ira Newble who we decided wasn't worth the roster space. Yes we do have six first round draft picks in the next 3 seasons but by the time those players develop into significant contributors in the league I do believe that Kevin Durant and Jeff Green could be in other uniforms. They can not be happy with this situation no matter how much they are told they are the cornerstones of this franchise. If they call this team the Oklahoma Tornadoes I guarantee you that whatever fans that they do garner will strictly be in the plantation states. The rate that this team is going no one outside of Bennett's supporters are going to find any reason to support basketball in Oklahoma City. That is why I am counting on that not happening.
I don't believe Bennett was ever serious about keeping the Sonics in Seattle and agree that Presti's job was to destroy fan interest in the team.
cpawfan- If all four of those boys are yours than you are a braver more patient human being than I. My two boys run me totally ragged, but only after they have reduced my wife to a barely functioning vegetable. Shiek- Good to see you around. I miss the old days...even when they were lame they were better than an empty forum. I lose more faith that they team is staying each day. The needle on the meter is swinging more and more towards back door deals that will let the Bennett, Presti, Carlisimo, Durant, Green, Collison and company go leaving behind the name, colors and history with some loose promise of a future expansion or relocation. Against the will and desire of hard core fans, the tenor of the conversation is moving away from how do we keep our team towards how do we get a team here. It is a sad state of affairs.
Yep, they are all mine and I only manage to function thanks to the wonders of caffeine. When you go past two kids, the increase in work is exponential.
