Effort to keep Sonics ramping up

The folks over at Save Our Sonics have taken another big step forward in their effort to keep the Sonics in town.

They've stepped up and formed the "A Deal Is A Deal" PAC, which plans to introduce an initiative that would block Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels from negotiating any kind of a buyout to the Sonics' lease with KeyArena which runs through 2010.

From the news release:

“We are confident that this initiative is legally viable and – more importantly – that it will send a clear message to the Mayor’s office that engaging in conversations regarding a lease buyout are against the wishes of his constituency.

“This issue is about more than basketball and we expect it to appeal even to those who are not sports fans. When cities make significant investments in any type of public/private partnership there must be an understanding that both parties, as well as their successors, adhere to the terms of the contract. In the case of the Seattle SuperSonics, that means they should remain in the KeyArena until the completion of the lease in 2010."

And when they say they expect it to appeal to even non-sports fans, they aren't kidding. Chris Van Dyk -- driving force behind "Citizens for More Important Things" and frequent target of sports fans' ire -- is behind the initiative effort.

"We're endorsing it because the principle behind it seems to be that major league sports owners have to stop kicking their fans around and acting like they own the bloody world and can do whatever they want," Van Dyk said. "The Sonics committed to play at KeyArena through 2010, and a lot of businesses made decisions based on that. The Sonics need to pay in full for all the possible impacts they have on the local economy. It seems imminently reasonable and fair to us."

Perhaps in the whole lifetime of the saying "politics makes for strange bedfellows" has it never been more outrageously true.

At any rate, this is a GREAT sign for those of us that want to see the Sonics stay in Seattle. The KeyArena lease appears to be ironclad, except that the mayor has said that a buyout could, technically fulfill the lease. An initiative such as this -- if it can stand up in court -- would give the region some more time to figure out a solution to keep the team here.

Perhaps more importantly, such a mandate could persuade Clay Bennett to sell the team, rather than continue to lose money under the current agreement for an additional three years.

If you want to get more involved, you can find out more about how to do that over at SonicsCentral.com.

Happy 4th!

I hope you're outside enjoying some sun instead of reading this.

But if you are reading this, perhaps you'd like to ponder how this guy:



Is going to coach this guy.

No, P.J., you will never out live this. Sorry.

We'll be checking in tomorrow. Hopefully the M's will have figured out how to beat the Royals by then.

P.J. Carlesimo will be Sonics' next head coach

The San Antonio Express-News is reporting tonight what we all widely assumed would happen when Clay Bennett hired Sam Presti as GM: That P.J. Carlesimo will be the next head coach of the SuperSonics.

You know what? I like the move.

While the city (rightly) has sentimental ties to Dwayne Casey, if the organization was looking for a guy to implement the San Antonio philosophy up here, who better to get than a guy who has been an assistant coach in San Antonio for five seasons? Besides, what did Casey do in Minnesota that has inspired you to believe he'd do anything much different as the head man up here?

And I don't view this as the typical retread situation. This guy was a heck of a coach at Seton Hall, and didn't do a half bad job in his three seasons in Portland, where he averaged 45.6 wins and was chased out of town mostly because the Blazers never could get out of the first round of the playoffs. It was that debacle in Golden State that did him in, but, really -- name a coach not named Don Nelson who has had success in the Bay Area in the last 30 years. Better yet, name a coach that didn't have a problem with Latrell Sprewell.

I think Carlesimo, who has been saddled with a bit of unfair criticism, could end up being a great hire. He's going to bring a defense-first mentality and also is a creative offensive mind. He's learned under one of the best in Gregg Popovich, and rather than hanging our hats on some unproven assistant who might or might not be able to handle an NBA team, we get a guy who was a coach for six years and has had some time to reflect on what might not have gone right the first time around and hopefully learn from it.

Then again, isn't that kind of what we all said about Bob Hill? Let's hope coming from a winning organization makes the difference for Carlesimo.

Just how bad have the last 10 years been for the Sonics?

Seth over at Enjoy the Enjoyment reminds us.

Holy crap. We should be a lot more pissed about where this franchise is than we really are. What an unbelievable string of ineptitude.

Hollinger: Sonics unlikely to net much in sign-and-trade for Lewis

ESPN.com's John Hollinger has (by far) this morning's best take on Rashard Lewis' agreement to sign a max contract with the Orlando Magic.

First off, he thinks this is a classic case of a guy being worth more at a certain price to one franchise than he is to another. In this case, it made sense for the Magic -- who believe they can contend quickly in the mediocre East -- to sign Lewis to a max deal, but not the rebuilding Sonics.

(B)y not maxing out Lewis right now, the Sonics are better poised to add players later. Removing Lewis' cap hold puts Seattle $3.8 million under the salary cap right now, if we assume a $56 million cap for this season (again, the final number won't be known until July 11).

But the big splash is two years down the road. At that point, the expiring deals of Wally Szczerbiak and Chris Wilcox will take roughly $20 million off the Sonics' books. While extensions to Robert Swift and Delonte West are likely to eat up a portion of that, it still leaves Seattle with more than enough dough to chase a superstar in the summer of 2009.

Of course, what's unstated there is that the Sonics will be able to spend that $20 million at a time when Durant and Green have two years under their belts, putting Seattle in a position to make the kind of "over-the-top" move that potentially puts them in position to contend for championships.

And as for the possibility of getting something in return for Lewis in a sign-and-trade? Unlikely.

The problem is making it work. Although Seattle and Orlando have eight days to work out a deal, there isn't a great chance of this happening. Seattle reportedly isn't enamored of anyone on the Orlando roster (well, except Howard), so at best it would need to be a three-way deal. Those types of swaps are notoriously complex and difficult to pull off, especially because other teams covet few of Orlando's assets.

He does pose one interesting theory, however.

What Seattle might find more alluring is the prospect of a trade like Indiana made a year ago with the Hornets when Peja Stojakovic left. That swap gave the Pacers a $7.5 million trade exception that they turned around to acquire Al Harrington. In this case, the Sonics would get a $9.35 million trade exception (again, assuming a final cap number of $56 million) if they took nothing back from Orlando.

But this works only if Seattle can offer Orlando a little something for the trouble -- a draft pick being the most likely bait. And the trade exception might not mean as much to the Sonics as a draft choice at this point in their rebuilding process -- especially because trade exceptions can be difficult to use and expire in 12 months.

Let's hope GM Sam Presti can figure out a way to make this happen. Letting Rashard walk doesn't net the Sonics the $15 million or so he would have been making here -- remember, they would have been using their Bird rights to sign him, so it would only leave them $3 million or so under the cap. It's a number unlikely to result in the Sonics landing much help for this upcoming year.

And as for other rumors surrounding the Sonics?

An interesting one being reported by FoxSports.com: Richard Hamilton and Nazr Mohammed for Earl Watson, Chris Wilcox and Damien Wilkins. It's a deal the Sonics should do in a heartbeat, but you probably won't see much come from it until the negotiating window with Lewis has expired on July 11. But who knows? Maybe the Pistons become the third team in the sign-and-trade ...

ESPN.com says Rashard Lewis is off to Orlando

ESPN.com's Marc Stein is reporting tonight that Rashard Lewis has agreed to a max contract with Orlando and will sign the deal on July 11, the first day free agents can sign new deals.

This doesn't exactly break my heart. I would have liked to keep Lewis, but I'm not convinced he's a max player -- he's got one All-Star selection under his belt, and even that was tenuous, brought about mostly because the team was having success.

He's a nice player, but not a superstar. I don't want to see the Sonics handcuffed by a bad contract, the way the Wolves were when they gave Wally Szczerbiak his fat deal. A max deal to Lewis probably would have done that.

Now, we'll see how good Presti is. The one thing the Sonics had going for them was that they could offer him a six-year contract; the most Orlando can offer is five. Let's see if Presti can really earn his money by negotiating a sign-and-trade with the Magic, where Lewis gets his six-year deal and the Sonics get some kind of return on him. That also would be best for the Magic, who still have designs on signing Darko Milicic. A sign-and-trade would give them enough cap space to still sign him, which they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

I don't know exactly what the Sonics might get in return, but I know there are other people out there way smarter than me who break that stuff down. When I run across it, I'll pass it along.

TNT's Hughes gets it with column

My buddy Mike, who works for the Sonics, commented on this post that Seattle was the only place where the Ray Allen trade wasn't being hailed as a success -- that it was roundly being praised around the country.

In my response, I tried to make the argument that it's just not that simple. That people "around the country" aren't worried about losing this team the way we are, and that colors how we see everything. Frank Hughes at The News Tribune gets it.

"(S)adly, nothing can be taken in the context of 'purely basketball' with this organization, not now and probably not for the next nine months to a year.

"There is an overarching fog of uncertainty about the team’s future that never seems to dissipate, infusing itself into any discussion about the team and choking the excitement and optimism out of even the smallest scintilla of hope."

He goes on to tell of why he believes the Allen trade was a smart basketball deal -- a stance I'm beginning to agree with -- and explains that the consensus among NBA writers was that the Sonics got the best of that one.

But that doesn't mean we get the freedom to look at the move independent of the larger issues of the arena and the team potentially leaving town.

"It’s a good start to the reshaping of a roster that doesn’t need to be completely razed to achieve success. ... But how can an increasingly apathetic and alienated fan base generate the type of fervor that usually accompanies such dramatic decisions with the sneaking suspicion that it is intended for the benefit of another community? ...

"It’s a shame, really. These should be the best of times for this organization. New GM. Fresh perspectives. Innovative ideas.

"But there is one idea that never can be forgotten: In its current state, nothing with this franchise is purely basketball."

The day after: Reviews mixed on Sonics draft

Just thought I'd pass along some of the other reaction to last night's draft. Nationally, the Sonics' trade of Ray Allen and drafting of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green is being hailed as a success. Locally, many are left scratching their heads, the way I was last night.

And, by the way: Carl Landry (the second round pick that didn't make any sense whatsoever) was traded to Houston for a future second rounder and cash. So now that makes a lot more sense.

• The News Tribune's John McGrath agrees with me.
• Fans at the draft party felt like I did.
• The Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer thinks sending Allen away was the right move.
• The Times' other columnist, Steve Kelley, concurs -- he thinks the Sonics actually got better last night.
• The Seattle P-I's Art Thiel says this better not be it.
• Pete Nussbaum at SupersonicSoul says faith is the best course of action after last night's initial outrage.
• SonicsCentral.com also believes this was the right time to trade Allen.
• Seth over at Enjoy the Enjoyment likes the moves.
  
• ESPN.com's Chad Ford gives the Sonics an A- for their two draft picks and the trade.
• So does Sportsline.com's Tony Mejia.
• ESPN.com's David Thorpe gives them an A+, via True Hoop.
  
• Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix disagrees, labeling the Sonics as one of his losers.

Happy reading.

Sonics demonstrate uncanny ability to wiz on fans' excitement

This night was supposed to be the night the franchise turned around -- the night we celebrated the next great Seattle superstar's arrival in our town.

It was supposed to be a night of unbridled joy.

Instead, I'm left thinking that if Clay Bennett could send the Mariners on a 10-game losing streak or take a lead pipe to Matt Hasselbeck's kneecap, he would. He's that good at ruining pretty much anything that makes us smile.

On a night that was supposed to be all about Kevin Durant -- the night we dreamed that maybe, with just a little bit of roster tweaking, the Sonics were on their way to being relevant again by building around a new young superstar who would learn from the aging superstar -- we ended up talking all about Ray Allen becoming a Boston Celtic.

It really is amazing that anything could ruin this night, but Bennett and his guys figured out a way to do it.

I had hope that this team might become an instant contender. But it now is abundantly obvious that Bennett is intent on blowing the thing up and starting over, building around Durant. As I wrote earlier, the cynicist in me believes Bennett might just be trying to tank the team for just long enough to get it out of town. Even the most optimistic person would have to agree that losing 50 games again next year is not the way to get an arena deal done, and history tells us this isn't the best way to build to a championship.

Now, it's clear GM Sam Presti isn't done with this roster. He's got a sign-and-trade deal for Rashard Lewis to complete. They're still saying publicly they want Rashard back -- presumably to try and retain some leverage -- but let's get real. There are now three small forwards under contract in Durant, Jeff Green and Wally Szczerbiak, and as Allen said, Rashard is not likely to want to join a youth movement. He's got no scoring punch from the two-guard spot -- unless they're counting on Szczerbiak (who played in 32 games last year) -- and still has huge issues at point guard.

He's obviously got some substantial dealing left to do, so I'll reserve total judgment until I see how this all shakes out. But tonight could hardly have gone worse, from a fan perspective.

I'm not saying I don't totally understand parting with Allen; after all, he plays a position where the drop off in play is generally precipitous at his age. But I don't understand the pick of Jeff Green, a guy I think is really overrated. He's a nice player, but not the kind of guy who's going to pair with Durant to dominate the West for years to come. (And I don't just say that because he traveled against Vandy and ruined my bracket.) And to only get Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West thrown into the deal, while -- oh, by the way -- giving up your No. 35 pick in this draft (which turned out to be Big Baby Davis)? It just doesn't make sense.

And I really don't understand the pick of Carl Landry, rated the 63rd-best prospect by Chad Ford at ESPN.com yet picked by the Sonics at 31. Even if he is your guy, in such a deep draft, the Sonics could have easily traded down and picked up a pick next year or something and still gotten him.

I would much rather have seen the Sonics pick Corey Brewer -- a lockdown perimeter defender and solid shooter -- to play the point at No. 5, then seen them pick up Arizona's Marcus Williams -- a pure scorer at the two-guard -- at No. 31. Both are long and versatile, and fit the mold that apparently Presti is looking for. That would have gotten me excited, as I would have seen how the pieces were fitting together.

Instead, we got a 3/4 tweener without any discernable strengths other than athleticism and yet another undersized power forward, with only the promise that there is more work to be done.

Yippee.

Thanks, Clay, for sucking the life out of Seattle once again.

Sonics make a trade, only not the one we all wanted

The Sonics are blowing it up, and I don't like it. In fact, I smell a rat.

Ray Allen has been shipped to the Boston Celtics, and Rashard Lewis is as good as gone in what likely will have to be a sign-and-trade deal. In return, we get a team that features Kevin Durant (unbelievably awesome), Jeff Green (underwhelming), Wally Szczerbiak (terrifically bad and under contract at $12 million per for the next two seasons) and Delonte West (a crappier version of Earl Watson).

I know we're probably only getting part of the picture right now -- I'm sure GM Sam Presti will be making other moves to remake the roster -- but it sure seems like this is part of a plan to get the team to suck just long enough to get out of town, then blossom into a winner somewhere else.

I hope I'm wrong, but the original talk was that adding Durant to the original cast of characters would catapult the Sonics into playoff relevance.

Now, it's looking like they're following the Portland plan, which sounds nice, until you consider this: How many of the championship teams from the last 20 years built their squad by blowing it up and starting over at some point? None. San Antonio came closest, but their pick of Tim Duncan came after a 60-loss season in which David Robinson and Sean Elliott were hurt.

Yes, Portland has a nice nucleus of players, but there's no guarantee that team is going to become championship caliber. Keeping Ray Allen around -- a guy who's far and away better than anyone on Portland's roster -- would have made a lot of sense to help this team not stay in the 50-loss range. Now, it will be awful difficult to keep that from happening.

And once you start losing, it's awful tough to stop. The NBA is littered with franchises that started losing and are still losing.

Anyway, I'm rambling, so I'll check in later after we see how the rest of the night shapes up.

Latest on Sonic trade rumors

I'll be posting periodically throughout the day on NBA Draft stuff that I come across, but I won't have the time to necessarily be scouring the Internet for the latest on all the trade rumors.

That's why you should visit this thread at SonicsCentral.com. They are doing that dirty work for all of us.

Among the interesting things they've picked up:

• The News Tribune's Frank Hughes thinks Ray Allen will be traded before next season.
• The Oregonian's Jason Quick thinks Greg Oden going No. 1 still isn't necessarily a done deal.

In less than 24 hours, Kevin Durant will be a Sonic

Before we turn in for the night, some developments on the NBA Draft.

• Greg Oden apparently has been promised by the Trail Blazers that he will be the No. 1 overall pick, according to ESPN.com.
• No one really knows if the Sonics' on-again-off-again trade with Atlanta, in which Luke Ridnour would be sent to the Hawks in exchange for their No. 11 pick, is on or off at the moment. The News Tribune and the P-I are essentially reporting that the deal is done as long as the Hawks don't get involved in that much-rumored three-way deal that would send Kevin Garnett to Phoenix. ESPN.com is reporting, however, that the Hawks are having second thoughts about Ridnour. That's a bummer, because I can't wait to get Ridnour out of town. It's not personal -- it's just that he's not very good. (Don't tell the Hawks.)
• If Ridnour is shipped off, expect the Sonics to take Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey, says Gary Washburn of the P-I.

We'll have plenty of draft day/night coverage and analysis here tomorrow.

Sonics land Oden with No. 2 pick!

OK, so actually that's only according to ESPN.com's mock draft unveiled today. Usually, I think mock drafts are stupid, if only because they almost always seem to play it safe with conventional wisdom.

Well, conventional wisdom goes out the door when Bill Simmons is involved.

This mock draft is a tag-team effort between Simmons and NBA reporter Chad Ford, and it involves some pretty funny -- and insightful -- running commentary. Simmons was the guy to pick first, and had Portland take Kevin Durant. His reasoning?

(Durant's) a cold-blooded killer. I hate pre-draft workouts, but didn't you find
it interesting that Oden was nervous, awkward and apologetic during his workout
in Portland, but a confident Durant strolled in there two days later and blew
everyone away? You know what's funny about that? I knew that was going to
happen. One guy plays basketball because he was created to play basketball; the
other plays because he was bigger than everyone else and it seemed like the
logical thing to do. If there was a pickup game and Oden was on one side, Durant
was on the other, and your life depended on the game, you'd pick Durant. You
would.

Ergo, the Sonics land Greg Oden with the No. 2 pick. To which Ford says:

Bill, on behalf of the citizens of Seattle, Sam Presti, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis
and all eight remaining Sonics season ticket holders, I want to thank you. Not
only did you pass on the best big man to come in the draft since Tim Duncan in
1997 ... you handed him on a silver platter to your biggest rivals.

It's pretty good stuff. And, if you're curious, Simmons took Texas A&M's Acie Law in that No. 11 spot the Sonics would acquire if they ship Luke Ridnour's sorry butt to Atlanta (more on that later) -- Mike Conley Jr. and Corey Brewer already were off the board. And if you're still curious, Simmons selected Spencer Hawes at No. 13 for the New Orleans Hornets.

On the eve of the draft, a reminder of what once was

With the NBA draft tomorrow night -- and with us reminiscing about the stars of yesteryear -- here's just a little flash back of what once was in Seattle when it came to our SuperSonics.

I had a similar sensation watching the highlight reels of Junior this weekend as I marveled at his bat speed as a young player. Sometimes I forget just how good Shawn Kemp was. Thank goodness we have YouTube to remind us.



Special thanks to Seth over at Enjoy the Enjoyment for digging this up.

Check out my brother's new blog; and other quick thoughts

I don't have a lot of time to write today, so I want to pass along a few things.

Apparently, in some roundabout way, I had a hand in my brother entering blogdome. He's launched a new site called I Got The Broken Cookie, and though it only has one post so far, it explains just how I was able to influence my impressionable younger sibling to join the rest of us who spend far too much time in front of our computers, writing.

He's an excellent writer with fabulous voice, and while I doubt he'll write much about sports, if you're into politics and humanitarian interests, I Got The Broken Cookie will be a place you'll want to stop.

Some other quick thoughts, since I won't be able to write any more tonight:

• I wonder if Lenny Wilkins' tenure as president of a franchise is the shortest in history. I also wonder if the guy is operating with a full deck anymore. From the way he botched the announcement of his imminent hiring as president -- I was listening to KJR when he sort of let it slip out of the bag, and it was rather feeble and pathetic -- to the way he botched the hiring of the GM, I'm glad the guy is no longer in charge of the franchise. Frank Hughes at The (Tacoma) News Tribune details all that went wrong here. The "put out to pasture" quote seems especially apt.
• I love the hire of Sam Presti as GM for the Sonics, as I think he'll bring a much needed breath of fresh air and a fresh approach to the franchise. I can't see this guy stockpiling the roster with 7-foot projects the way Rick Sund did. I'm a little troubled, though, that we have an owner who once owned part of the Spurs, and a GM who was a VP with the Spurs ... can Spurs assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo be far behind? (Although I have to admit, I think Carlesimo got a bit of a raw deal the first time around, and might have learned something from his years in San Antonio.)
• Here are some thoughts on the M's other first-day picks from Dave Cameron over at USS Mariner: "After the first round, the M’s selected five more players - college 3B Matt Mangini, HS outfielders Denny Almonte, Daniel Carroll, and Joe Dunigan, and college RHP Nolan Gallagher. Don’t read anything into the fact that they loaded up on toolsy young outfielders and any hidden meanings about their intentions regarding Ichiro - the decisions are completely disconnected from one another, and they were simply taking the players they thought were the best available at the time of the pick." Sounds like he really liked the draft, and since he really liked last year's draft, too, we can only hope that more sustained success lies ahead.
• Speaking of Phillippe Aumont, here's an interesting look at him from Geoff Baker, a fellow Canadian from the same area as Aumont. It's a very unique perspective that you won't get anywhere else.
• Is LeBron James going to get any help in this series? That's the only way the Cavs have a chance. Somebody else besides Drew Gooden is going to have to show up tomorrow night. I haven't seen that much standing around since noon hoops at the YMCA.

Hope for keeping the Sonics ... at least through 2009-10

The folks over at Save Our Sonics and Storm apparently have reviewed the KeyArena lease agreement between the Sonics and the city of Seattle and have come to this shocking conclusion: A signed lease actually is a binding agreement.

After careful review of the lease agreement between supersonics and the City of Seattle , there is a clear and unambiguous provision providing either party may specifically enforce the obligations of the other party.

PAGE 59 PARAGRAPH L OF THE LEASE STATES:

ENFORCEMENT OF THIS AGREEMENT: THE OBLIGATIONS OF PARTIES TO THIS AGREEMENT ARE UNIQUE IN NATURE; THIS AGREEMENT MAY BE SPECIFICALLY ENFORCED BY EITHER PARTY.

The release goes on to stipulate that it's up to the mayor's office to enforce the lease agreement.

While it's not ideal to have a ticked off owner for a tenant -- inevitably what would happen if the city chose to enforce the lease agreement -- what it could definitely do is buy the city/county/state some time to get their crap together and figure out a workable solution to keep the team longterm.

The city better think long and hard, though, about whether it wants to get in that kind of a pissing match with Clay Bennett. The man strikes me as the kind of guy just stubborn enough to slash payroll and put out a terrible product to sabotage attendance so nobody in Seattle makes any money off this team before running to the NBA and saying, "See, I told you I couldn't make any money in Seattle -- let me move the franchise." Then moves it to another city, resurrecting the franchise's value and making a tidy profit whenever he decides to sell it.

No matter how this press release appears, Bennett still holds all the leverage.

Here's some advice: Watch a player PLAY to evaluate him!

So, The Seattle Times is reporting this morning that Kevin Durant had a less-than-stellar workout at an NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., this past week.

So bad, in fact that he ranked 78th out of the 80 prospects who worked out for scouts in terms of the "measurables" they took at the camp.

To which I humbly reply ...

WHO CARES? Have you seen the guy play?!?!

Seriously, after watching this video -- and remembering that the guy is 19 years old and just won every major college basketball player of the year award -- ask me whether I care if he can't bench press 185 pounds even once.



The headline on the story says "Durant far from finished product." Well, if that's the case, sign me up for about five championships between now and the end of his Sonics career.

Why is it that everyone is worried the lottery is rigged and needs to be changed now?

To complete the roundup, how about some thoughts on the Sonics?

So, apparently people still think the NBA lottery is rigged. And there's a lot of clamoring for the NBA to change its lottery.

It cracks me up that this conversation comes only after Portland and Seattle secure the top two picks in the draft. Had Boston or New York done what the Blazers or Sonics did, there would be no clamoring, only talk of how great it is that a great talent would be going to one of the NBA's great franchises. (Although talk of it being rigged might not go away.)

The funny thing is, as Henry Abbott of True Hoop notes, talk of rigging seems a little silly at first blush, what with the two superstars heading to what is apparently widely regarded as the end of the earth.

The NBA is a business, and if they were going to rig their league, you'd think they'd rig it in a way that would make them more money. And keeping the best players from one of the world's most popular teams, the Boston Celtics, would be a bad move. Sending those players away from the populous, wealthy, and timezone-advantaged Eastern seaboard would make little sense, unless you were going to send them to a major center like Los Angeles.

However, others aren't so sure. Team execs seem to think that NBA commish David Stern rigged the lottery to punish teams who were tanking at the end of the season to try and get one of those top two picks.

I think that's awesome.

Once upon a time , the NBA had a straight lottery to prevent this sort of tanking from happening at all. Now, with a weighted lottery, the temptation to try and play the odds is just too great. Whether Stern actually did rig it or didn't rig it is completely beside the point. The fact that execs in his own league actually believe that he might do something like that says more than anything. If that dissuades them from tanking next season, well, let perception and reality become as blurred as possible.

In case you missed it ...

... Kobe Bryant asked to be traded from the LA Lakers. Yes, the salaries work out to trade Ray Allen for Kobe straight up. No, it's never going to happen, because Kobe has a full no-trade clause, and if he is unhappy in LA, no way does he want to come here. Plus, he has a $13 million escalator clause in his contract, to be paid by the team that acquires him. Think Clay Bennett wants to pony up that kind of money?

... Jeff Weaver is returning to the M's rotation next week. I am not making this up. (You'll have to scroll down a little to find it. You'll also find a nice little shout out by Baker for HWTN -- pretty cool!)

... The NCAA actually did something right, granting the Duke lacrosse players an extra year of eligibility. I'll have more thoughts on that in the morning.

Until then, get your rally caps on -- M's trail by two in the top of the eighth. UPDATE: M's lose, 8-6. Disappointing end to the ninth -- really, is it that tough to lay off a breaking ball that bounces 12 inches in front of the plate? -- but I actually feel pretty good about the M's right now. I'll explain why in a full post in the morning.

Why sometimes it's not all about the money

The debate over whether it's worth it to keep the Sonics so often centers around the economic benefit a professional sports franchise provides to a community -- something that pretty much has been proven to be negligible.

Seth Kolloen over at Enjoy the Enjoyment eloquently shows us that's not the point.

"Even if the Sonics are a drain on the economy, that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep them.

"Economic benefit analyses can't show everything. ... It's an intangible quality-of-life thing -- like playgrounds and opera houses and dog parks. What would be more 'economically beneficial' -- selling Magnuson Park to a developer and turning it into a giant corporate campus, or keeping it as a place to hold surplus library book sales and roller derbies?

"And what's a more compelling argument? Whether you'll be taking your kid to watch Kevin Durant play for the next 15 years or not, or whether we'll have a 4.2% (or whatever) increase in hotel revenue or not? Man, I'm asking lots of rhetorical questions here, but the point is that the debate about the Sonics' arena shouldn't be about economics alone."

Here, here. Couldn't have said it better myself.