Sonics Update

I hope it's not too little, too late, but...  I would much prefer the Sonics to stay and let Bennett get another team.  

This would force Stern's hand.  Is it all about Seattle retaining the Sonics or is it all about his buddy Bennett.  I hope this is true so we can see Stern's true colors (if we haven't already).

I always watch the commercials from the Southern California FSN's and really want to eat there.  They look like they have some tasty food.

We have Popeye's though.  Man I love fried chicken.  

Seattle's favor.  Because I don't see why Bennett would agree to sell.  It might put some heat on Stern, but in the end, he and the other owners are unlikely to set a precident that limits the ability of future teams or owners from relocating.  

A better scenario involves moving another team here.  (Or trading teams, ala the Colts and the Rams from a couple decades ago.)  Supposedly Memphis is a potential relocation team and I recall talk about Hensley thinking about selling the team.  New Orleans is certainly a possibility, although I haven't seen anything to indicate Shinn wants to sell the team.  

One way out there possibility is that Shinn and Bennett agree to swap teams.  Bennett gets a Hornets team that is playoff ready and which has already established an identity in OKC.  Shinn gets a young team (read inexpensive) that's stockpiling talent, a refurbished arena in a market much larger than NO and supposedly a bunch of good will for saving the Sonics.  As a bonus, he sells a share of the team to local investors, earning a tidy sum.

Do I think this will happen?  Not really.  But it is thinking outside the box and right now, that's what it will take to keep the Sonic's in Seattle.

A more likely scenario is Stern arranging a deal with the Seattle group to buy the Grizzlies.

...is how I see this playing out. I would like it to play out better, but ultimately I think this is about demonstrating a desire to have a basketball team and putting pressure on Stern so that they can have a team brought back after Bennett moves the Sonics. Of course, if the courts decide to hold Bennett to the KeyArena lease, he may  be more interested in entertaining one of the other scenarios mentioned above.

when he got OKC to host the Hornets by promising them their own team and not an expansion team. Given that there is no way to stop it. (He admitted this in an interview at the time).

Contrast this effort with Stern's effort to keep the Kings in Sac-town. Those folks actually voted down an arena tax levy and of course the Maloofs would apparently prefer to be in Vegas but Stern has decreed that the league go to Sacramento and work on getting the arena built there anyway.