I had no idea the CEO of SixBucks was primarily responsible for selling the Sonics. What a fucker.

I thought Seattle had a generally favorable opinion of SB?

Well respected Lakers point guard Steve Blake (by all accounts an all around great guy & community minded sort) was the target of twittered death threats after missing an important shot in a playoff game the other night. I'm thinking tweeted death threats are going to become a common source of discourse for us dorkwad sport fans in the very near future. Yay us!

@1: have you been under a rock?

@ 1, a few years ago Starbux was the topic of some thread here on Slog, and it was funny seeing everyone defend the "local" company. They weren't too receptive to my observation that companies that big aren't really "local" to any one place anymore, except for the extra corporate HQ jobs they provide.

It reminded me of how distraught some people were when Boeing relocated their HQ, even though it only amounted to a net job loss of 500-1000, and even though the commercial aircraft division HQ remains.

Anyway, the point is that local coverage pretty much gave Schultz the benefit of the doubt, esp. after he started raising a fuss over the fact that the team was moving. It's like the article said - it was fucking obvious to everyone that the new ownership would move the team. Schultz may not have known how to be a successful NBA franchise owner, but he couldn't have been stupid enough not to see it coming.

I'm sure those same Seattle fans won't hesitate to accept a team from another city should the opportunity arise.

Good riddance!

I've never been to OKC, but I imagine it's a shithole. And if the Thunder win the NBA championship, it'll still be a shithole.

@5, and we'll be locking them into staying here with a legally binding agreement upon which we can rely all the confidence we did the one that kept the Sonics from moving away.

At least the players for whichever team leaves somewhere to come here for awhile before going elsewhere will have the usual housing arrangement to give them a feeling of continuity. Provisional housing here during the season, with their main community ties staying in the gated Florida communities where they have their primary homes.

@3, No, but thank you for asking.

Matt @4. I wasn't here when this took place, hence my ignorance and shock. Thanks for taking the time to stroll down memory lane with me. I don't think I've read a negative post (here or elsewhere) about SB. I know I've never read one referencing this situation.

I completely agree w/ you that once a company reaches a certain point, the globe is it's community much more than the area surrounding the physical location of it's headquarters.

@GlamB0t here's a great negative post about Shultz by someone who was working for the Sonics during the shit. http://deadspin.com/5907371/howard-schul…

Schultz is the biggest turkey of all in Sonicsgate, the theft of our team. And #5, pull you have no idea what you are talking about. Our team was stolen in the most heinous fashion possible. www.sonicsgate.org

We didn't make the rules; the only way we will get another team is to relocate one here. And of course it will most likely be a team that doesn't have near the history we had (41 years), and we won't be lying about our intentions to a city. There is no honor in what Clay Bennett did. He is a lying thief.

@10 That is an excellent article. (wearing black on Friday's to mourn the loss of morale is quite clever) Thank you.