ESPN Poll on Sonics

Better check the poll numbers again. Over 70% say they should stay in Seattle. You have to wait until the west coast sees the show!

I agree there's no way Durant resigns if the team is playing in Oklahoma City. I've vacationed in Seattle several times and it's one of my favorite cities on the planet. It ranks up there with Paris, Miami, New York, New Orleans as far as culture, history, and beauty. The restaurants are to die for (and what else would you expect with such a melting pot of cultures?), the sound is as beautiful as any area in America, and the city is clean, safe, and urban. It would be very difficult to be a young 20-something NBA athlete living in a condo in Seattle to then be uprooted and forced to move to Oklahoma City. Are you kidding me? No Sonics player would be happy with that. Bennett is on crack if he thinks he'll have any chance of luring coveted free agents to OKC.

phillip my friend, here is a lil poll that you may or may not have seen. it was sent thru my shipper's alliance from freight forwarder's thru-out the U.S.. how many people think mick c. got okie city into a fight that is way over okie city's head?? 89%, with, the majority stating that didnt any U.S. cities learn anything about the cities of L.A. and Tampa Bay losing that same fight. phillip, do you know how embarressing it is to have to refund the $$ for the prepaid season-ticcket holders, ask the city of Tampa Bay!!! SEE YA'LL IN JUNE!! MIKE U.

Basketball is "big" enough to be played in both Seattle and OKC. The reason we went down this path is because Stern and Bennett both knew that the NBA would never get away with awarding an expansion franchise to OKC (over Las Vegas and others). The ONLY way to get a team to OKC is to do what those t wo did. Anyway, I have two questions for you Oklahomians........ How did it make you feel towards Clay when it went public that he lied, not only Seattle (which I'm sure you could care less about) but to Stern (his great friend) as well? And.... If Clay will lie to Stern, do you think he will lie to you?

When players say they don't want to leave Seattle, it's a diplomatic way of saying they sure as **** don't want to play in OKC.

Apparently I should have been more clear -- Durant won't play in Oklahoma City past his rookie contract.

"Durant doesn’t want to leave Seattle." What's he going to do, play for the Seattle Storm?

"I work for the team and am from Seattle, and none of the Sonics players want to move to Oklahoma City!" Looking at the current roster I hope you are right

"Durant and his agent won’t go public with this, but Durant won’t re-sign after his rookie contract expires if the team moves to OKC. Just FYI" Oh well then cancel the whole deal Won't be any tears shed over losing a Longhorn if he does

Durant doesn't want to leave Seattle. Durant and his agent won't go public with this, but Durant won't re-sign after his rookie contract expires if the team moves to OKC. Just FYI

Fellas! No One wants to move to your lame-ass red neck State and Town!! I work for the team and am from Seattle, and none of the Sonics players want to move to Oklahoma City! Oklahoma City? Are you serious? Sorry! Go find your own team and try to replicate our great history with you own team! Tell Clay and his lying thieving-ass red neck homies to sell teh team back to our Seattle guys and to buy the Grizzlies!

Wow! You folks in Oklahoma are a lot more liberal than us Washingtonians. McClendon didn’t want the Seattle Storm in OKC because, “OKC doesn’t want those types of women in their city”, but nobody seems up in arms about the Stern/ Bennett love affair. Remember OKC it’s better to be a giver than a taker.

"Stern said it's too late at this point to seek other owners who would keep the Sonics in the city where they've played the past 41 years. "I think it's fair to say that extraordinary efforts were made to seek ownership interests when Howard sold the team, including from people who became involved in the effort -- the recently unsuccessful effort -- to get the state to extend the sales tax for the purposes of retiring the arena debt," Stern said. "It happened already. There was no one who was interested in buying the team, including the very people who stepped forward at the last minute." "Despite the release of e-mails that SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett exchanged last year with partners about moving the team to Oklahoma City, NBA commissioner David Stern says he is convinced Bennett made a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle." http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3346600

I just want to pass on my appreciation to the 16,000 + fans that packed KeyArena tonight and rocked. You can argue on this forum or any other about Seattle not stepping up to save the Sonics and I will call BS on you. It was like a playoff game and the best part was at the end when the Mavs fouled and the whole arena chanted "Save Our Sonics". Gary Payton was also in the house and said it would be a "disaster" if the Sonics left and he believes it will work out. Curious to know what he was in town for although he and Durant have the same agent. Don't know where things will go from here but the NBA can't igonre the noise that Seattle is making and the hard "HONEST" work that is going on to save this team!!!

How about that game Sonics fans! Can't wait until next season. When is the draft lottery?

I guess he lied to Prentice much better than to everyone else. Either that, or she's pretty freakin gullible.

"How was he sticking to his deadline." He gave the city and state the year to come up with something and they didn't...If your politicians wouldn't have played hardball with Stern and Schultz a few years back we wouldn't be having this conversation

You can call it a publicity stunt if you like. But it's that publicity stunt that will get Bennett sued by Schultz. And just because Prentice felt like Bennett was making a good-faith effort, doesn't mean that he actually was. One's opinion of someone else will never hold up in court versus actual evidence. Not to mention that there are e-mails out there that are dated back to 10 days after Bennett purchased the Sonics where he was discussing how to get the Sonics in OKC as soon as possible. The only way that this could possibly get worked out before the trial date is if Bennett agrees to sell the team, which according to you isn't very likely. The city of Seattle would not have gone through the trouble of gathering this evidence against Bennett if they were going to eventually allow Bennett to buyout the rest of the KeyArena lease.

The emails were a publicity stunt to embarrass the owners and to undermine the BOG vote and their seriousness as been greatly exaggerated. It might swing a vote or two but I doubt it. The BOG vote is a certainty. As far as the good faith effort is concerned, the Chairwoman of the House Ways and Means would be called to testify in court. This is what she had to say about it the past December....... “I know for a fact that he wanted to stay,” Prentice said about Bennett. “He spent a lot of time and money trying to make it work here. And the real tragedy is we had the votes in both houses.” “Seattle has painted itself in a corner because it’s impossible now,” Prentice said. “They are desperate, trying to figure out a way to make it work, and it doesn’t work. “Too may people have engaged in wishful thinking, hoping that the fairy godmother is going to arrive, and there’s no such person out there.

---