It truly is sad. In some ways the litigation news is now the thing that I follow closely looking at every little nuance. 2 years ago I would have had my lottery board all figured out for every variation of the potential lottery outcomes. Now I’m excited that Schultz case has preliminary dates set:

I agree with Percy Allen who states: The timing of the dates are interesting because the city of Seattle’s case against the Sonics owners begins June 16 and is scheduled to end June 26.

Why would the Judge set these dates in a manner that virtually ensures that the case be entertwined with the city case unless she felt that there was some potential linkage between the two? Read the rest of this entry »

Hornets vs Spurs tonight … discuss amongst yerselves.

I cannot imagine any other scenario where we would have the second bet odds in the lottery and I would feel so little excitement. I’m just going to go out on a limb here…Memphis wins the lottery. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry this thread got buried; just wanted to keep this one on top for reminder’s sake. -Speed

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We are holding a Save Our Sonics volunteer committee meeting as follows:

Location:
Mercer Island Library
4400 88th Ave SE
Mercer Island, WA 98040
(206) 236-3537

Date & Time: Thursday May 22 from 7PM to 9PM.

All are invited but we expect anyone who attends to get involved as a volunteer. We had some good progress at the last meeting in setting up committees to address the various initiatives/events/projects that we want to pursue.

If you want to be more involved in SOS, please email saveoursonics[at]gmail.com and Griff will send you information on how you can join a committee to be part of the effort.

Stay posted here for more information. I or someone else will likely be updating this post to include more information or requests for assistance.

Utah gave it a good shot but were just completely outclassed … as I’ve said before the addition of Gasol to LA has made them an insanely complete team … even made Radmanovic look good!

Cavs taking Boston to Game 7 … I must admit that I am becoming intrigued by the notion of an LA-Cavs final. LBJ vs Kobe, Radman/Szerb, Zydrunas/Gasol … some interesting matchups there.

Some bad calls down the stretch against Boston but I don’t think Celtics fans can complain too much. Boston may have the big 3 but they are a middling defensive team IMO and are still having some difficulty working Ray Allen into their offense … that’s a lot of money for a 3 pt shooter who’s fluctuating between the 3rd and 4th option on offense.

As a fan I’d like to see the Hornets advance; for my money they remain the most exciting team to watch in these playoffs. One side of me is saying “die Spurs die” as I’m sure many of you are, on the other hand I find myself thinking that another low-rated Finals leaves more opportunity for the media to talk about the Sonics case. An odd position to be in, certainly.

I thought it would be interesting to list out a chart of the legal terrain that the Boomer Schooner has to transverse (and give you all a new thread for comments ). It is easy to see that losses in the hundreds of millions is likely and after all that he may never get to move the team and will risk having it taken from him. When you are a businessman you chart “risk v reward” and it doesn’t have to get very deep into this to see that the risk far outstrips the potential reward: Read the rest of this entry »

Here we sit today one month away from what we at SOS intend to make the most publicized trial in the history of Sports. Read the rest of this entry »

Clay Bennett owes $150 Million in damages if the team fails to move.

The legal battles in Seattle over the future of the SuperSonics are quickly becoming more complicated, more expensive and more unpredictable. Hard on the heels of a fight over an arena lease in Seattle and an attempt by former owner Howard Schultz to undo his sale to an Oklahoma City group in July 2006 comes the assertion late last week from Oklahoma City officials that they will expect more than $150 million in damages if the team does not move into their upgraded arena.

The Oklahoma City demands arrived in a nine-page, powerfully worded letter from an attorney for Oklahoma City’s mayor and city council. According to the letter from city attorney Wiley L. Williams, current Sonics owner Clay Bennett has signed a series of interlocking contracts and leases with Oklahoma City that are legally binding and would result in enormous penalties if the team does not move.

Simply hilarious! Who needs TV dramas? We’ve got carpetbagger Clay and the good ole’ boys club right here!

Is this the OKC version of the Rabbit Punch?

If it’s worth $150M to OKC to have the Sonics not play a single season there, what is Clay thinking offering Seattle $30M to buy out of two years worth of the lease? I have to think this helps the city’s argument, having another city put a price on this franchise not playing in their city. Of course the water is further muddled by the idea that OKC will come after anyone else who owns the team after Clay Clay to force them to move as well, but I don’t know if that will stand up if it is found via Howard’s lawsuit that Clay never took proper ownership of the team due to his violation of the original contract.

Read all about it

Rounding it out was Al Horford, Luis Scola and Al Thornton.

In a bit of a surprise, Durant, the overwhelming rookie-of-the-year winner, finished second to Horford in the voting process.

Horford was the only player unanimously chosen to the first team while Durant received 28 first-team votes and one second-team vote.

The voting panel consisted of the NBA’s 30 head coaches. Two points are given for first-team votes and one point for second-team picks. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players.

Balloting is confidential and it’s unclear which NBA coach placed Durant, who led all rookies with a 20.3 scoring average, on the second team.

Second team was Rodney Stuckey, Jamario Moon, Juan Carlos Navarro, Thaddeus Young and onetime Sonic draft choice Carl Landry.

No there is no sarcasm here. Hard words have flown back and forth between Seattle and OKC of late. I hope they all recover from the recent tornados and that the state survives relatively unscathed. Best wishes to the people I have spoken to from Oklahoma. Despite the rhetoric I like to think both cities have been pretty decent to each other.

Shawn Marion OUT, Shaq OLD, D’Antoni STUPID

Sorry but I can’t understand why he would want to be with the Knicks where he is a terrible fit. The draft choice we got for taking Kurt Thomas just got a lot better. It seems like they kind of had the perfect storm of talent matching coaching in Phoenix and now the whole puzzle is falling apart. I don’t know that Raja Bell is going to seem so impressive with a different coach and if Steve Nash loses a step and Shack yet one more.

We can celebrate our new building opening up when the Suns #3 overall pick joins the rest of our team.

Am I actually talking about basketball? Must be time to talk playoffs in this thread.

You’ve all read this:

Good lord. I try to break this bad boy down and it is almost impossible. It is just laughable. I am going to lead off with the fact that I simply don’t understand how this document cannot undermine Clay Bennetts entire argument in the Seattle court. Read the rest of this entry »