I’m not the average Thunder fan in OKC. I’d been a fervent NBA fan for about forty-five years before hurricane Katrina caused the New Orleans Hornets to play two seasons in Oklahoma City. My two favorite teams were the Sixers in the East and the Portland Trailblazers in the West. My single favorite team of all-time was the 1977 Portland team with Jack Ramsey, Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas and a group of no names who actually beat my Sixers in six games to claim the NBA championship. To date–that team is still my favorite NBA team. My second favorite team would be the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011-12 when they reached the NBA Finals by beating the San Antonio Spurs in the West to advance.
I never wear one of the community based themed T shirts when I attend Thunder games. Never have once. Never will. I’m not there to share anything communal or biblical. I’m there to watch the best basketball players in the world display their talents as some of the most gifted athletes in the world. Call me narrow or callous if you will, but I’m there to watch basketball and maybe some dogs do a really great halftime show every now and then.
So I think what I’m about to write is fairly objective about why Seattle lost their basketball team. Seattle primarily lost their basketball team because Howard Schultz was a piece of shit professional sports owner who never should have owned a professional sports team in the first place. Even his best player and probably the most long standing face of the modern Sonics–Gary Payton- would agree with me on this. To me–Howard Schultz should be the primary focus of Sonics’ fans angst for the loss of their team.
Give me a break–how dumb can you be or more importantly how dumb do you think the rest of the world is in believing when Shultz sold his team for a nice market price he actually believed Clay Bennett and a group of Oklahoma based owners had any interest whatsoever in owning a team in Seattle. This same group had just fallen short of buying out George Shinn’s interest in the New Orleans team. So why in the world would they be looking to own in Seattle? They weren’t and never had any intention of doing so. Hopefully—if some Sonic fans somehow stumble upon my obscure blog this admission from a guy living in Deer Creek, Oklahoma will be cathartic for you. Clay Bennett and Co. had every intention of moving your team from the second Howard Schultz said yes. So there.
Add to the mix the incompetence of Seattle mayor Greg Nikkel of dealing with the Stern issues. Plus the continual objections of Washington State Speaker of the House Frank Chopp to any kind of arena deal which would have satiated David Stern and you have the perfect storm for what transpired. People like Bill Simmons and Steve Kelly can paint Bennett as a villain all they want, but in the end Clay Bennett from my perspective just happened to be the person who David Stern used to rid him of Seattle’s own indifference to the Sonics.
Not trying to be callous, but unless you’re living in Green Bay and the team is owned by the fans–this is the modern world of sports ownership we live in. It’s a big business. A very big business and as Clay Bennett and his ownership group are about to discover–their franchise could conceivably go splat if Durant and Westbrook opt out of Oklahoma City in the summers of 2016 and 2017. I can assure you this about Oklahoma sports fans–they won’t tolerate bad teams. The T shirts and the communal thing will only go so far—so Clay Bennett better do what Howard Schultz didn’t…namely keep his best players paid at what the market dictates.
Therein this bring us full circle within the economic cycle–the NBA is a big business with huge payouts attached to owners, players, and cities. I don’t think it’s completely outrageous to call it a whore business. And the simple truth is Seattle can’t hide from the fact they tried to do to the city of Sacramento the very thing they condemn Clay Bennett for doing to Seattle. Basically–taking another city’s team because of community indifference to the host city team.
It’s a big business. The world can be cruel. Bill Simmons go away and die under a rock. I’ve said my piece on this. Moving forward with the season.
The end.
Mike Jackson