OKC Thunder make NBA finals (Seattle, Starbuck: layoffs, taxes, live in)

[Finger Laker]

I detest the thunder and any other venture that is tied to clay bennett - I wish them nothing but miserable, abject failure

However, with that said - they, along with most of the NBA are completely irrelevant to me ..... I watch so little NBA basketball

So while it would be awful to have the thunder win the championship it's not something that I think I would really notice - it would just be another reason to keep the TV off NBA programing

[winteriscoming24]

lots of bitterness up in hurr. I personally love their young core of players, but I suppose the enmity is well-deserved.

Also, Harden's beard.

[lovingthegreen]

Me caring about the Thunder once they stopped being the Sonics would be like caring about an ex-girlfriend and who she is going out with after we've broken up. It's over, so it doesn't matter to me whether the Thunder are NBA champions or win 10 games a year.

[eddie gein]

As a native Oklahoman I watched the documentary and really didn't learn anything new about the situation other than he loss of the 30 million in the settlement.

I think the most succinct perspective came from the Donaldson guy (Seattle Center) who said that Bennett took a calculated risk that Seattle and the state of Washington wouldn't build a new building.

It is important to note that OKC built an NBA ready arena on it's own back without even having a team. I think Bennett knew after seeing the Hornets in OKC when they were there that NBA would work in OKC.

From my perspective I truly believe that Bennett would have been forced to stay in Seattle had the arena been built. In that way Bennett couldn't lose in this deal. Have a nice shiny building in a big time market, or have a team in his home town that was begging for a professional franchise.

With no arena on the horizon what should Bennett have done to suit Seattle Sonic fans?

In the end I don't understand why people in Seattle are so angry with Bennett when this whole thing could have been avoided with the funding a new arena.

Shultz might not have sold; Bennett would not have been interested or perhaps would have been forced to stay; A local buyer might have been interested so that Shultz might have not have had to sell to Bennett.

[pw72]

Shultz will forever be remembered as the man responsible for Seattle losing a major league team. Yes, there are other factors involved here, but he was, and is, rich enough to prevent it from happening. I don't think I'm alone in this sentiment.

[civic94]

after watching the video, its very sad. Even though I was born in boston and am a big celtics fan. Bennett totally screwed seattle over.

Im also a very big kevin durant fan, and now they are in the finals, durant is 23, westbrook is 23, and harden is 22. they are not even in their prime yet, and they are already in the finals. OKC has a complete team, with a hardcore defense center in perkins, shotblocker power forward in ibaka, superstar small forward in durant, a great player in harden, and a all star in westbrook, with a deep bench.

a couple years from now, kobe will be old, celtics big 3 will retire, tim duncan and Dirk will slow down. the only teams that are any good will be the heat and the bulls in the east, and for the west its all going to OKC, its completely wide open for them. harden, durant, and westbrook will hit their primes and all hell is going to break loose. Its pretty sad that durant was drafted by seattle, played for 1 season, then drafted westbrook and Ibaka and left.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

As a native Oklahoman I watched the documentary and really didn't learn anything new about the situation other than he loss of the 30 million in the settlement.

I think the most succinct perspective came from the Donaldson guy (Seattle Center) who said that Bennett took a calculated risk that Seattle and the state of Washington wouldn't build a new building.

It is important to note that OKC built an NBA ready arena on it's own back without even having a team. I think Bennett knew after seeing the Hornets in OKC when they were there that NBA would work in OKC.

From my perspective I truly believe that Bennett would have been forced to stay in Seattle had the arena been built. In that way Bennett couldn't lose in this deal. Have a nice shiny building in a big time market, or have a team in his home town that was begging for a professional franchise.

With no arena on the horizon what should Bennett have done to suit Seattle Sonic fans?

In the end I don't understand why people in Seattle are so angry with Bennett when this whole thing could have been avoided with the funding a new arena.

Shultz might not have sold; Bennett would not have been interested or perhaps would have been forced to stay; A local buyer might have been interested so that Shultz might have not have had to sell to Bennett.

Because... it's just not as easy as you're making it sound. And of course it's easy to sit there and believe that its easy when you're not already dealing with other pro teams and their stadiums.

[Harrier]

Originally Posted by pw72

Shultz will forever be remembered as the man responsible for Seattle losing a major league team.

He pretty much made everyone forget about the Soriano's and the Pilots.
HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History

[pw72]

Originally Posted by Harrier

He pretty much made everyone forget about the Soriano's and the Pilots.
HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History

Yes and Seattle gained the Mariners because of that debacle.

[casteel]

I have nothing to add to this thread except for....

Thunder Up!!