What now?

[PaulGaston]

So where does it go from here? I haven't been following as much as I should. Which teams are the main contenders to be snatched up? Are the Kings still in play? Purely from a basketball standpoint, New Orleans has the most attractive team (Anthony Davis and all), but didn't they just sell that team? Is it two strikes you're out for Charlotte? Stealing Memphis would probably ruffle the least feathers since they stole them from the Pacific Northwest to begin with... and it's not like it's a huge fanbase... but I've heard their arena deal is iron clad and can't be broken.

What's the absolute soonest we could be seeing the Sonics? 2013-14? Can they play in Key Arena while the new arena is being built? May we be waiting several years for this to come to fruition? Someone fill me in.

[bennith13]

I highly doubt the Hornets are on the move again with a local owner buying the team.

The Grizz, I thought, were just sold to a young tech guy from California. But I had also heard that shortly after he agreed to terms to buy the team he lost half his fortune with a down turn on the market a month ago or so. Maybe that has been resolved?... either way I doubt the Grizzlies are moving soon.

My thoughts are that probably Sacramento is the most likely, but I have heard that Milwaukee might be in play too. Who knows. There are probably more teams that we don't even know about. I would prefer a team like the King's that is not native to Sacramento and seem destined to move somewhere even if they do not move here.

I thought the plan was for the team to play in Key Arena for a year or so until the new arena is done. We will see how things play out, but I would not put it past Chris Hansen to have a team here by 2013.

[jenn_gp]

What now? I say baby steps...starting with the SEPA and EIS reviews. We need them to come back saying SODO is a viable site for the arena.

Chris has been given the "go ahead" to shop for a team by the city council, but is he willing to seriously shop knowing we're waiting for the results to those two studies?

[bennith13]

Those reviews can be so subjective. It might just come down to paying off some group or appeasing someone with some concessions on something. I think agreeing to put in money for transportation issues is a big part of that.

[Det the Threat]

I think all we can do is wait and see what happens, while we keep supporting Chris Hanson and the rest of his group.

Currently the team most likely being mentioned are the Kings, as they're on a year to year lease and couldn't come to an agreement on a new arena. The Maloofs(who're treating the Kings fans like crap) are also trying to get out of Sacramento ASAP(judging by their actions) and there's already been some talk about them turning down a $400 mil offer by Hansons group.
Hanson denied that and I believe him.
Anyways, they're probably in play, if the league can convince the Maloofs to sell.

The other team that might be available are the Bucks, who'd be pretty much just like us pre 2008, as they've won a championship, play their games in an outdated arena and won't get a new one anytime soon.
They're also on a year to year lease, which would mean less $ are needed to move them.
Though, I wouldn't be to happy about that.

The Hornets won't move as the league did everything they could to keep the team there and finally sold it to Tom Benson, who also owns the Saints.
The Grizzlies seem to be sold to a young Californian but there've been consistant rumors that he doesn't have the $ to make it happen, which is why it's still not official.
They might be a possibility but their lease is pretty long and expensive to break.

Looking at all that, I think what we really can do is not doing one thing that really pi$$ed me off when the Sonics left.
That's telling other teams fans(that might lose their team to us) that we deserve a team over them and that they aren't supporting it enough to be allowed to keep it.
I think thats bull and couldn't be farther from the truth, like we've experienced before.
Brian Robinson wrote that on Sonicscentral and I couldn't agree more with him.

[jenn_gp]

^People may call us hypocrites for talking about other teams, but it doesn't really matter to me at this point. Would I love for thre league to expand? Yes, that would make it a lot easier and save us from causing heartbreak on another group of fans. The likely of the league expanding is very slim. What else are we supposed to do? Are we expected to sit here and wait until expansion is a possibility? I've already been called a hypocrite numerous times. It's not our fault the league allowed Clay Bennett to walk off with our team that we supported for 41 years. They set that precedent. We're ready to go now, if a team becomes available, we should, hell we DESERVE every right to bring the Sonics back home.

What has really been pissing me off is over on the General Board, people are posting that we never were loyal to our old team, that we didn't support them enough the first time, so why should we get a new team. That we're not deserving enough. That has really been making my blood boil! They have no idea what they're talking about.

[OzSonic]

What has really been pissing me off is over on the General Board, people are posting that we never were loyal to our old team, that we didn't support them enough the first time, so why should we get a new team. That we're not deserving enough. That has really been making my blood boil! They have no idea what they're talking about.

The thing about the General board Jen is there are a heap of idiots who post there. Don't take anything that is said in there to heart as they're just keyboard warriors with nothing better to do.

[Det the Threat]

What has really been pissing me off is over on the General Board, people are posting that we never were loyal to our old team, that we didn't support them enough the first time, so why should we get a new team. That we're not deserving enough. That has really been making my blood boil! They have no idea what they're talking about.

The thing about the General board Jen is there are a heap of idiots who post there. Don't take anything that is said in there to heart as they're just keyboard warriors with nothing better to do.

You're absolutely right on this one.

I mean, there's even a guy supporting the Bobcats who's making arguments that we don't deserve a team because we didn't support it in the first place.

I mean, some Bobcat guy who should know that this is absolutely not true, as seen in Charlotte before as well...

[jenn_gp]

^I told him what he said was easily the dumbest thing I've ever read on realgm. I wasn't the only one to say that either

He basically said we deserved to lose the team because we didn't support the Sonics like OKC supports the Thunder now.

Call me in five years when Clay Bennett is demanding a new arena and KD decides to leave town for bigger and greener (Emerald City green perhaps?) pastures. Let's see...a city who supported a team for 41 years, even in the bleakest of times when they had one foot out the door or a city that is four years into it's franchise (that's a winning team non the less). We suffered for years watching horrible basketball and it paid off over there, how lucky. Total even and fair comparison.

[Det the Threat]

^I told him what he said was easily the dumbest thing I've ever read on realgm. I wasn't the only one to say that either

He basically said we deserved to lose the team because we didn't support the Sonics like OKC supports the Thunder now.

Call me in five years when Clay Bennett is demanding a new arena and KD decides to leave town for bigger and greener (Emerald City green perhaps?) pastures. Let's see...a city who supported a team for 41 years, even in the bleakest of times when they had one foot out the door or a city that is four years into it's franchise (that's a winning team non the less). We suffered for years watching horrible basketball and it paid off over there, how lucky. Total even and fair comparison.

Well, that logic would also mean that about five other teams would've deserved to go elsewhere that season cause they even had a lower attendance then Seattle did.
One of those were the playoff bound Philadelphia 76ers, who no one in their right mind would have in such a discussion.