The powers that be -- a collection of NBA owners and league personnel -- have been touring Oklahoma City to assess the city's readiness to receive an NBA team.
The visit will inform next month's relocation vote.
And all the bigwigs are raving.
But there is a new piece of news: now those same bigwigs are also saying that Seattle should have a team in the long-term too. That's a sea change in public discourse.
This is from the Associated Press:
"I think Seattle is actually a terrific market. It just doesn't have an NBA-ready arena of the future that's been agreed to by all parties for many years," [David] Stern said. "It's a very strong market that has in fact supported NBA basketball well over the years."
... [Nets' owner Lewis] Katz said he was impressed that 62 percent of city voters favored taxing themselves to fund the Ford Center improvements and by the coalition of support among leadership including representatives of Tulsa that the NBA considered a part of Oklahoma City's broader market. "This is wonderful for the league, wonderful for basketball, a strong wonderful ownership group that you have out here that can lead this thing," Katz said.
"My hope is that we'll find a settlement with Seattle that will give them the opportunity to have a replacement team. Seattle should have an NBA team, and I think David expressed that in the meetings. We all feel that way. My guess is you haven't heard the end of the Seattle story."
Katz, Simon and Buss will meet with the remaining four members of the relocation committee -- San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, Chris Cohan of the Golden State Warriors and Ed Snider of the Philadelphia 76ers -- likely by telephone and make a formal recommendation to the rest of the league's owners.
All 30 owners will vote on the SuperSonics' relocation request during an April 18 meeting, with a majority needed for approval. The Sonics also have a federal court case scheduled for June to determine whether they can break their lease with Seattle that runs through 2010.
The same article also includes lots of quotes from David Stern saying that KeyArena will likely never be suitable to house an NBA team in the future. (The "footprint," he says, is inadequate.) If proven true, that means Seattle's options to have an NBA team just got more expensive, as an entirely new arena will apparently be required.
But to me, (despite this headline) that bit of bad news for Seattle fans hardly outshines the notion that NBA owners -- for whom David Stern works -- want to have a team in Seattle. Coupled with Clay Bennett's willingness to leave the team name and logo behind ... change is in the air. Not the kind of change that is good for fans who want to keep this team. But good, I'm thinking, for fans who want to have a team.
UPDATE: Brian Robinson, co-founder of Save Our Sonics, writing on his blog SonicsCentral:
The league is extremely concerned about the pending litigation. That is becoming more and more obvious by the minute. The fact that they are right now, today talking about settlements that keep us as an NBA city is a HUGE move from where they were. Just put in perspective that a month ago there was no owner to reference, no building option, and the league was saying "Seattle will never get another team."
... I have never believed that it was the financial toll of 2 more years that Clay and the league cannot withstand, it is the collective emotional, professional and spiritual drain that this process will take out of their entire business operation and inflict personally on them. We don't think Clay has thick enough skin. Sadly, if we're going to step up to the table and dare them to do it we have to be collectively prepared to handle the drain ourselves. It will be a brutal situation for EVERYONE involved and the toughest will outlast the competition. These comments indicate to me that the NBA is becoming more aware of this reality. The mayor is not accepting a buyout that does not ensure us NBA basketball. I really believe that. He's too far down the road in standing his ground. I wish I could guarantee that it would be Kevin Durant and honestly I think that is both the goal and the most likely scenario. However I think right now he'd probably look at options that give us any team. Strategically I agree with him on this issue.
UPDATE: Paul Merrill of SuperSonicSoul is not satisfied:
This isn't a horrible fate. Brooklyn never got a second chance at the Dodgers. After all the bad blood between the uppity city council and the ego maniacal commissioner of the NBA, it's somewhat of a miracle that the possibility still exists.
And yet, I'm still not eager to embrace this offer. We're still being robbed. If someone steals your beloved family dog, but gives you a new puppy two years later, does that excuse the crime?
I want Bennett and Stern to come out and admit collusion. I want Stern to tell the world that there was never any real opportunity to keep the Sonics in Seattle -- that this was a back room deal of the sleaziest variety to get his pal Bennett a team by any means necessary and to scare other cities into giving owners whatever they want in the future. I want Stern to step down from the office which he has disgraced.
I want justice.
