The Supersonics and Oklahoma City

Shadow, thatnk you for your reply.

"And here you claimed to be stating the facts. How is demanding a half billion dollar arena or nothing showing good faith? Bennett made that demand knowing full well that he would be turned down, just as he would anywhere else, even in OKC. A viable offer has been made long before the deadline but Bennett flat refused to even look into such an offer. Again, how is this showing good faith? Truth is he's lying to you just as he has to everyone else. Somehow Key Arena isn't good enough even though it is one of the best venues for basketball in the country. Ask any NBA player past or present about that one. From all appearances, Bennett wouldn't know a good arena from a barn. And how can you read those emails as anything but them planning in advance to move the team regardless of any agreements made on Bennett's part? Where else but OKC could 'here' be since it's mentioned clearly that the alternative to 'here' is "another lame-duck season in Seattle"? No, Bennett and his cronies had no idea that these emails would become public. Sorry to say this but you are jaded by your desire to have a team down there at any cost that you are far from objective as you claim. Your delay in posting doesn't change that one bit. One final thing, what about Aubrey's public claim that there was never any intention of keeping the team in Seattle? Oh the rest can claim that he didn't speak for the rest of the group. However combine the fact that he's part of the ownership group with the emails and it's pretty safe to say that there has been no good faith effort to keep the team in Seattle. Bottom line is Bennett has done nothing but lie to everyone including his buddy Stern (a little collusion there perhaps?). "

1. I never claimed that what we have been shown so far is true. Only stating that what we have been shown has not been proven wrong.

2. Half Billion Dollar Stadium: Did you or anyone else come up with anything better for a new place to watch basketball? These things were not acted upon per David Stern. We can't say anything wasn't genuinely considered, we were not involved in the conversations. But which proposal are we talking about? The muckleshoots cost 400M+ and a PI article claimed Bennett and the tribe had lunch and he was "genuinely interested" before he ended up turning them down.  The Renton proposal wasn't even voted on so how could the people have said no to something they couldn't answer?

3. I would love to see KeyArena myself, I don't doubt it is great place to watch ball and I want to move to Seattle someday. But the league is practically in agreement that "somehow" it is not a viable place for the future of the NBA.  28-2 is a pretty strong statement. Cuban would probably lose business since Dallas is the closest of the 3 teams in TX to Oklahoma City and Paul Allens heart is with Seattle (as it should be). Why would Stern send the Hornets back to a broken city and let the Sonics leave a great one? The team was not making any money with the lease that they had and will have a much better incentive in Oklahoma City.  Most of the other teams don't have a 41-year history and they are making money.

3.like I said, OKC is most likely the city that is inferred in the e-mails, but the ownership could move back home after selling the team rather than staying there to watch the sonics franchise struggle again while they owned it.  It's either get a deal done and leave, or don't get a deal done and move the team. We have no idea what was going on inside their heads.  We can only guess based on the outcome of the situation. 

4. Aubrey McClendon is an idiot.

5. He is not the controlling member of the PBC, Bennett is.  What would have happened if the building in Renton got built? I bet the Sonics would still be there.

6. Still no proof that Bennett has lied to anyone. Only assumptions

Seatown, thanks for the reply. Sorry about Alexander but it was probably time.

"you are jaded Bronchos>   you are blinded by the rhetoric you hear from Stern and Bennett.  Stern 3 years ago backed Schultz on a play to improve the Key Arena for $200 million.  So why three years later is the Key Arena out of the question?  Why is it that a brand new $500 Million arena that the public was supposed to fund $400 million of acceptable when only $125 Million in OKC is fine?  You have no answer for this because there is no logical answer other than Stern is trying to make an example of what can happen if you don't build a brand new arena when the NBA askes.  Clay Bennett is a liar, he lied on TV when he said he was a man possessed about keeping the team in Seattle.  In emails before he bought the team he said that he would either move the team if the Arena didn't get built or sell the team.  So why would he be possessed to keep the team in Seattle if he was gonna have to sell the team if they stayed?  You don't buy basketball teams to flip them, this isn't buying a house it's buying a $350 Million Franchise, thats a lot of work to sell a basketball franchise.  You sound like an intelligent person so don't play yourself out to be a fool, if you can't accept that he's talking about OKC in those emails then you have no business posting since all you are doing is blowing hot air and saying the same thing all the other jaded OKC fans keep saying."

1. Stern may have backed the bid 3 years ago, but both Bennett and Schultz said Key wouldn't work 2 years ago when the team was sold as the side letter says. So KeyArena was not out of the question 3 years later. It was in 2006.

2. I couldn't tell you why Key is out of the question, as I've stated before, I'd love to go see a ballgame up there. And I can't speculate why the 125M done on the Ford Center is going to make it so much better.  I'm willing to bet the Downtown OKC project "Core to Shore" was part of the presentation given to owners (Look this up, it's pretty sweet). I think OKC's detailed plan for expanding the city adds more value than just the 125M value to upgrade the arena.  The City is already being upgraded as well.  I'm not completely oblivious to the potential BS that Stern or Bennett may be pulling, but the "facts" of this case are not completely known on either side.

3. You are right about me not having answers, but I've never claimed to have any. But why can't the NBA leave town if Seattle refuses to build an arena? The league is so entitled. 41 years or 41 minutes, it doesn't matter.

4. "Clay Bennett is a liar, he lied on TV when he said he was a man possessed about keeping the team in Seattle. "  Prove it. The Lame Duck e-mails never mentioned Oklahoma City by name or did it explicitly say moving the Sonics.

5."In emails before he bought the team he said that he would either move the team if the Arena didn't get built or sell the team." I haven't seen those e-mails, have you? Even if, what's wrong with this? He said he'd give the city a year when he bought the team.

6. "So why would he be possessed to keep the team in Seattle if he was gonna have to sell the team if they stayed?  You don't buy basketball teams to flip them, this isn't buying a house it's buying a $350 Million Franchise, thats a lot of work to sell a basketball franchise."  Valid question, but it's possible. Doesn't mean he was going to take the Sonics out of Seattle all along. He very well might have bought the team in order to do a sweet flip.

7. And I have never denied he was talking about Oklahoma City, in fact I claim above that I "think" he did, it just hasn't been proven.

8. And until I'm not typing under the Red, White, and Blue, I'll post any flipping time I want to, hot air or not.

Thanks for your attention again Shadow.

From my first post:

"Honestly, I believe these guys were talking about Oklahoma City. But all of the ‘Oklahoma City’s’ were put in this e-mail by the media when they released these things to infer what they were sure to be true. The owners ‘could’ have been talking about just watching the games at home…on TV after the sweet flip. Since this could be a case, this e-mail does not prove that they meant to take the team out of Seattle all along."

The only thing you can show from the e-mails is that Bennett and McClendon were not on the same page. It was McClendon's admission, Bennett never said those things.

"..you can't dispute the fact that Bennett lied through his teeth."  Once again, we don't know it's fact, and it is very much disputed or it wouldn't be in court, would it?

I also don't really think the whole Geneva thing fits into the NBA's Asian initiative..

None of us know what the truth is. And if it came out tomorrow that there was a scheme inside the NBA about jacking the Sonics, believe me, I'd be on the Seattle side of the fence.  But the only thing that has been shown is that Bennett is legally exercising his rights as the owner of an NBA franchise and, unless Schultz wins the case, will be tipping off in the Ford Center between November '08 and November '10.