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01-26-2008, 08:32 PM
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January 27, 2008
Devalued Sonics Seek New Arena or a New City to Call Home
By GREG BISHOP,, NY Times
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/greg_bishop/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
SEATTLE — The SuperSonics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/seattlesupersonics/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’ losing streak reached 11 games last Monday with a loss to the Rockets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/houstonrockets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in Houston, then mechanical problems forced the team plane to land temporarily in Oklahoma City.
The Sonics spent two hours playing cards, watching tape and cracking jokes while they waited for another plane to come from California. If only briefly, everything hanging over this strange season — the longest single-season losing streak in team history, the dispute with the city of Seattle, the threat of relocation — faded into the background.
“That’s what we needed,” said Kevin Durant, the second pick in the last N.B.A. draft, who is the face of a franchise caught between cities.
The first is Seattle, home since the 1967-68 season to a Sonics team that won the city’s lone championship among the three major professional sports. The second is Oklahoma City, home to the team’s chairman, Clay Bennett, and the ownership group that bought the Sonics and the Seattle Storm of the W.N.B.A. for $350 million in 2006.
Should Bennett win in court, the Sonics’ next stop in Oklahoma City will be more permanent. They could move there as early as next season.
“The relocation issue is something we’re all aware of,” General Manager Sam Presti said. “We’re human beings. But they’ve done a remarkable job with staying focused.”
Durant, 19, lives with his mother and two cousins on nearby Mercer Island. Designs on his signature Nike shoe are nearly complete. He plays video games with neighborhood youngsters who knock on the door.
On Friday night, when the Sonics (9-34) lost their 13th consecutive game, 99-90 to Atlanta, Durant led the team with 17 points. The last time he lost this many games, he played offensive tackle and defensive end for a pee-wee football team that lost 36 in a row.
The Sonics won 31 games last season, then traded their best players, guard Ray Allen to Boston and forward Rashard Lewis to Orlando. Their longest-tenured player is Luke Ridnour, a point guard in his fifth season.
The task of rebuilding the Sonics falls to Presti, 31, a Rhodes scholar nominee who listens to Thelonious Monk (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/thelonious_monk/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and the hip-hop band the Roots, who reads historical books by David McCullough (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/david_mccullough/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and plays the drums.
Presti attended the N.B.A. equivalent of the Harvard Business School, working for the Spurs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/sanantoniospurs/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in San Antonio from 2000 until the Sonics hired him last June.
P. J. Carlesimo (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/p_j_carlesimo/index.html?inline=nyt-per), who joined the Spurs as an assistant coach in 2002, said he noticed the team seemed to promote Presti nearly every season. When front-office officials and coaches met for long and sometimes contentious discussions about personnel, Presti never backed down, never wavered. Beneath his boyish looks and charming demeanor was an executive committed to his convictions.
“He fools you,” said Carlesimo, whom Presti hired as the Sonics’ coach. “He’s totally different than how people who haven’t worked with him perceive him.”
The last book Presti read was “The Energy Bus.” His synopsis: a management book that shows readers how they can affect situations by how they frame them — an appropriate theme this season.
When Bennett bought the Sonics, he pledged a good-faith effort to keep them in Seattle. In November 2006, voters approved an initiative restricting tax subsidies for professional sports teams. Last April, the state Legislature rejected a proposal to build a $500 million arena in Renton.
Last August, Aubrey McClendon, a part owner, told an Oklahoma newspaper that the ownership group never intended to keep the Sonics in Seattle. The N.B.A. fined him $250,000 for the remark.
In September, the City Council voted to enforce the Sonics’ lease at Key Arena, which runs through 2010. The owners, who find their arena agreement unsuitable, filed for arbitration. The city filed to block arbitration.
“There isn’t an answer right now to resolve this,” said Tom Carr, the lawyer who represents the city in this case. “My job is to keep them here for the lease, for 15 years. So there’s two more left.”
James Donaldson, who played 14 seasons with six N.B.A. teams, said people remembered him most vividly for his three seasons with the Sonics. He said the team’s relationship with the community had dwindled in recent years, starting with the purchase of the team in 2001 led by Howard Schultz, the Starbucks chairman, and the losing seasons that followed.
“We have to keep hope alive,” Donaldson said. “To see Key Arena empty next season would leave a void, an empty feeling. A lot of people won’t realize the impact of that until it hits them and they’re gone.”
The arena is also home to the Storm and the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.
Donaldson has hope that local businesspeople will buy the Sonics from Bennett. Forcing the Sonics to fulfill their lease would allow more time for potential buyers to come forward.
In the interim, Brian Robinson and the Save Our Sonics group hold on to history. Last-minute infusions of public money helped finance new stadiums for the Seahawks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/seattleseahawks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Mariners.
“I try to look at the historical precedent,” Robinson said. “These things usually get done in the darkest day.”
Sometimes Carlesimo drives past the neighboring palaces that house Seattle’s other sports teams and shakes his head. He ranks the Mariners’ Safeco Field and the Seahawks’ Qwest Field among the best stadiums in the country.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing for us to have one of the best basketball arenas in the country either,” he said. “The Sonics are a part of this town. Part of the fabric of Seattle.”
In recent court documents, the Sonics said the opposite. They argued that if the team left, the local economy would not suffer. The Sonics promised to produce a survey that showed 66 percent of respondents said the team’s leaving would make “no difference in their lives.”
Carr, the city’s lawyer, called this “a remarkable position for a sports team to take.” Robinson, the Save Our Sonics leader, said, “The N.B.A. should be embarrassed.”
Nick Licata, a city councilman, has emerged as the most vocal opponent of publicly financing another stadium. He points to the N.B.A.’s economic model, one he said failed in New Orleans, Charlotte and Memphis. He said studies show Key Arena makes more money with a concert than a Sonics game, at the ratio of almost six to one.
“The sad part is that ultimately the fans are the ones who lose out in this whole deal,” Licata said. “I don’t see an immediate happy ending to this. It’s a national problem. It’s just going to replay itself in city after city. People here are adamant about not subsidizing another stadium.”
Carr expects a trial date to be set on Tuesday. The team wants it to start March 24, so the case can be resolved in time for it to move. The city asked for an Oct. 27 start date, requesting more time to prepare for trial.
Commissioner David Stern (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_stern/index.html?inline=nyt-per) told reporters in November that Seattle would not get another N.B.A. franchise should the Sonics leave.
The Sonics’ championship banners hung from the practice facility Thursday, the last a Northwest Division title in 2004-5.
Carlesimo raved about Durant’s ability to focus, to fight double-teams and to ignore the lawsuit and the possibility of relocation. He made jump shot after jump shot, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil swirling around him.
“Wherever we end up, we’ve got to play basketball either way,” Durant said. “Seattle’s a great place to be. I’d love to stay here. I’ve got faith they’re going to make the right decision.”
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January 27, 2008
Devalued Sonics Seek New Arena or a New City to Call Home
By GREG BISHOP,, NY Times
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/greg_bishop/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
SEATTLE — The SuperSonics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/seattlesupersonics/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’ losing streak reached 11 games last Monday with a loss to the Rockets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/houstonrockets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in Houston, then mechanical problems forced the team plane to land temporarily in Oklahoma City.
The Sonics spent two hours playing cards, watching tape and cracking jokes while they waited for another plane to come from California. If only briefly, everything hanging over this strange season — the longest single-season losing streak in team history, the dispute with the city of Seattle, the threat of relocation — faded into the background.
“That’s what we needed,” said Kevin Durant, the second pick in the last N.B.A. draft, who is the face of a franchise caught between cities.
The first is Seattle, home since the 1967-68 season to a Sonics team that won the city’s lone championship among the three major professional sports. The second is Oklahoma City, home to the team’s chairman, Clay Bennett, and the ownership group that bought the Sonics and the Seattle Storm of the W.N.B.A. for $350 million in 2006.
Should Bennett win in court, the Sonics’ next stop in Oklahoma City will be more permanent. They could move there as early as next season.
“The relocation issue is something we’re all aware of,” General Manager Sam Presti said. “We’re human beings. But they’ve done a remarkable job with staying focused.”
Durant, 19, lives with his mother and two cousins on nearby Mercer Island. Designs on his signature Nike shoe are nearly complete. He plays video games with neighborhood youngsters who knock on the door.
On Friday night, when the Sonics (9-34) lost their 13th consecutive game, 99-90 to Atlanta, Durant led the team with 17 points. The last time he lost this many games, he played offensive tackle and defensive end for a pee-wee football team that lost 36 in a row.
The Sonics won 31 games last season, then traded their best players, guard Ray Allen to Boston and forward Rashard Lewis to Orlando. Their longest-tenured player is Luke Ridnour, a point guard in his fifth season.
The task of rebuilding the Sonics falls to Presti, 31, a Rhodes scholar nominee who listens to Thelonious Monk (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/thelonious_monk/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and the hip-hop band the Roots, who reads historical books by David McCullough (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/david_mccullough/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and plays the drums.
Presti attended the N.B.A. equivalent of the Harvard Business School, working for the Spurs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/sanantoniospurs/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in San Antonio from 2000 until the Sonics hired him last June.
P. J. Carlesimo (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/p_j_carlesimo/index.html?inline=nyt-per), who joined the Spurs as an assistant coach in 2002, said he noticed the team seemed to promote Presti nearly every season. When front-office officials and coaches met for long and sometimes contentious discussions about personnel, Presti never backed down, never wavered. Beneath his boyish looks and charming demeanor was an executive committed to his convictions.
“He fools you,” said Carlesimo, whom Presti hired as the Sonics’ coach. “He’s totally different than how people who haven’t worked with him perceive him.”
The last book Presti read was “The Energy Bus.” His synopsis: a management book that shows readers how they can affect situations by how they frame them — an appropriate theme this season.
When Bennett bought the Sonics, he pledged a good-faith effort to keep them in Seattle. In November 2006, voters approved an initiative restricting tax subsidies for professional sports teams. Last April, the state Legislature rejected a proposal to build a $500 million arena in Renton.
Last August, Aubrey McClendon, a part owner, told an Oklahoma newspaper that the ownership group never intended to keep the Sonics in Seattle. The N.B.A. fined him $250,000 for the remark.
In September, the City Council voted to enforce the Sonics’ lease at Key Arena, which runs through 2010. The owners, who find their arena agreement unsuitable, filed for arbitration. The city filed to block arbitration.
“There isn’t an answer right now to resolve this,” said Tom Carr, the lawyer who represents the city in this case. “My job is to keep them here for the lease, for 15 years. So there’s two more left.”
James Donaldson, who played 14 seasons with six N.B.A. teams, said people remembered him most vividly for his three seasons with the Sonics. He said the team’s relationship with the community had dwindled in recent years, starting with the purchase of the team in 2001 led by Howard Schultz, the Starbucks chairman, and the losing seasons that followed.
“We have to keep hope alive,” Donaldson said. “To see Key Arena empty next season would leave a void, an empty feeling. A lot of people won’t realize the impact of that until it hits them and they’re gone.”
The arena is also home to the Storm and the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.
Donaldson has hope that local businesspeople will buy the Sonics from Bennett. Forcing the Sonics to fulfill their lease would allow more time for potential buyers to come forward.
In the interim, Brian Robinson and the Save Our Sonics group hold on to history. Last-minute infusions of public money helped finance new stadiums for the Seahawks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/seattleseahawks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Mariners.
“I try to look at the historical precedent,” Robinson said. “These things usually get done in the darkest day.”
Sometimes Carlesimo drives past the neighboring palaces that house Seattle’s other sports teams and shakes his head. He ranks the Mariners’ Safeco Field and the Seahawks’ Qwest Field among the best stadiums in the country.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing for us to have one of the best basketball arenas in the country either,” he said. “The Sonics are a part of this town. Part of the fabric of Seattle.”
In recent court documents, the Sonics said the opposite. They argued that if the team left, the local economy would not suffer. The Sonics promised to produce a survey that showed 66 percent of respondents said the team’s leaving would make “no difference in their lives.”
Carr, the city’s lawyer, called this “a remarkable position for a sports team to take.” Robinson, the Save Our Sonics leader, said, “The N.B.A. should be embarrassed.”
Nick Licata, a city councilman, has emerged as the most vocal opponent of publicly financing another stadium. He points to the N.B.A.’s economic model, one he said failed in New Orleans, Charlotte and Memphis. He said studies show Key Arena makes more money with a concert than a Sonics game, at the ratio of almost six to one.
“The sad part is that ultimately the fans are the ones who lose out in this whole deal,” Licata said. “I don’t see an immediate happy ending to this. It’s a national problem. It’s just going to replay itself in city after city. People here are adamant about not subsidizing another stadium.”
Carr expects a trial date to be set on Tuesday. The team wants it to start March 24, so the case can be resolved in time for it to move. The city asked for an Oct. 27 start date, requesting more time to prepare for trial.
Commissioner David Stern (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_stern/index.html?inline=nyt-per) told reporters in November that Seattle would not get another N.B.A. franchise should the Sonics leave.
The Sonics’ championship banners hung from the practice facility Thursday, the last a Northwest Division title in 2004-5.
Carlesimo raved about Durant’s ability to focus, to fight double-teams and to ignore the lawsuit and the possibility of relocation. He made jump shot after jump shot, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil swirling around him.
“Wherever we end up, we’ve got to play basketball either way,” Durant said. “Seattle’s a great place to be. I’d love to stay here. I’ve got faith they’re going to make the right decision.”