When are we going to give proper discussion to this huge elephant in the room?
Who cares about Cokelahoma? Seattle is one of America's treasured cities. Why were they robbed of his greatness?
dubs for truth
>>67619922
Trips for truth
>>67619864
>Shitattle
>treasured
kek
>>67619864
because the league is retarded
>>67619864
Seattle is an irrelevant depressing shithole though to be completely honest
>>67620551
>he won't say what city he's from
>>67619864
Seattle tried to straight up steal the Sacramento KIngs and failed miserably. They did the exact same thing OKC did. Seattle can longer complain about the Thunder, you're equally sleezy.
>>67621524
>implying the residents of a city have the power to move a team in another state
I've been to Seattle and I can confirm that is sucks my balls.
>>67622188
and that's dubs of truth, Seattle confirmed for sucking my balls
>>67622188
I will overide these dubs
>>67622188
>>67622344
the fuck is this meme magic?
seattle is ok, like a bigger more refined portland with less character.
>>67622188
this lad gets it
>>67622188
>>67622344
>>67622455
THIS THREAD HAS BEEN BLESSED
CHECK EM
>America's treasured cities
canada isn't america retard
>>67621915
they pretty much do have that power if the league plays ball (they didn't). they fucking whine and whine and whine about how they NEED a team because it's a travesty that such a treasured (fucking lol) city doesn't have a basketball team and then some billionaire thinks to himself hmm i should try and buy a struggling team and move it here to profit off of all of these trannys.
op is from tennessee and is looking to pick fights
>>67622478
checked
The Sonics had the loudest crowd in the NBA back in the day with Payton and Kemp and unlike the Seahawks, the arena wasn't built for crowd noise. Durant and Westbrook's Sonics vs. these Warriors would have been one of the funnest rivalries of all time from a crowd perspective especially when you consider how recent the 49ers/Seahawks rivalry was.
>>67619864
The main reason why the Seattle Sonics became the OKC Thunder in 2008 is this: the ARENA situation between Seattle and OKC.
>>67622528
You just described OKC except for the part where the league didn't play ball, maybe swap tranny for cousin fucker and it's solid
>>67619864
do you think it's possible for the NBA to expand to 32 teams?
Seattle and Vancouver?
>>67623754
or Las Vegas
>>67623721
By that, I mean that Seattle wasn't willing to update its arena to NBA standards, while OKC already had an NBA-ready arena.
>>67623770
More likely the NBA, if it were to expand to 32 teams, would place teams in Seattle and Vancouver, and realign by putting Memphis in the East.
>>67623809
14 years. That's all it took for David Stern to proudly proclaim the (then) newly remodeled Key Arena as one of the premier facilities in the NBA, to declaring it the worst. Just 14 years.
>>67623841
Also, if that were to happen, Vancouver would have to pick a new name, because Memphis is keeping the Grizzlies name.
>>67623944
Memphis doesn't have grizzly bears
>>67623995
Utah doesn't have Jazz.
Los Angeles doesn't have Lakes.
>>67619864
OKC sold out of season tix for the thunder seattle could not sell out of sonics tickets
>>67624023
BYUs music program has a great jazz division actually
OKC taking in the Hornets after Katrina was a pretty good guy move, showed they deserved a team imo
>>67624062
those shitty Seattle teams got KD drafted. If OKC had the same shit roster that was in Seattle the arena wouldn't sell out either.
Let's not pretend the Sonics left for financial reasons. They left because a group from Oklahoma bought the team and wanted to move their shiny new toy into their own backyard.
>>67619864
let this be a lesson to all NBA franchises, if you dont support them even during the down years you WILL lose your team
>>67624166
Sonics were in the top half in attendance before Clay Bennett bought the team. Pictures like that one only happened after it became obvious what was going to happen.
>>67624166
They could've sold out every game and the team would've left. OKC-based ownership meant 0% chance of them staying, no matter what.
>>67624166
pic related only happened when the people of seattle found out that the ownership was 100% moving to OKC after the season
>>67624166
so the thunder will move in a few years after KD and westbrick leave in free agency right?
>>67624196
>>67624232
>>67624304
>>67624332
>not even fighting for your team to stay, or even wanting to see your teams final games
you made your bed, lay in it
>>67624344
>team is 100% guaranteed to move
>"fight" for them by continuing to give them money
What?
>>67624344
>original owner has more than enough funds for the team, is just a baby during games that arent total win blowouts
>sells team to an owner and investment group based in oklahoma city
>at the same time of the sale the investment group has already started to plan and build a stadium in OKC
>seattle fans freak out
>new ownership "we wont move to okc dont worry guys the arena we're building doesn't mean anything :^^)"
>they then literally say in an OKC newspaper that they plan to bring the team to OKC
yeah man fight to keep the team when the ownership doesnt plan on keeping it at all
sad thing is the original owner of the team, the creator of starbucks, later said that if he knew the new OKC owners never had any intentions of keeping the team in seattle that he would have never sold it
>>67624344
fight for what? they were already gone.
Would you have given your money at that point?
>>67624471
>sad thing is the original owner of the team, the creator of starbucks, later said that if he knew the new OKC owners never had any intentions of keeping the team in seattle that he would have never sold it
honestly though what else can he say? If he says that he knew there was a chance the team moved after the sale he becomes the biggest asshole in the city he started his corporation in. what would you have said?
>>67624344
That's like saying you should continue to shower your girlfriend with gifts even after she pointedly told you that she's been cheating for months and is now leaving you for someone else.
nobody robbed anybody, Schultz couldn't get an arena built so he sold to out-of-towners that obviously weren't going to stay unless they met that demand.
meanwhile, you guys still haven't built an arena almost a decade later.
>>67624166
It ISN'T about that. KeyArena was at 93% capacity in 2007-08 (Sonics' final season in Seattle). Watch Sonicsgate:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/748989
>>67624721
>unless they met that demand
You're still not getting it. There was no "unless". They could've built a new arena and the team would've left regardless.
Now, if an arena had been built before the sale then sure, Schultz probably wouldn't have sold the team. But the paint had barely finished drying on a $150 million renovation of Key Arena when he started whining about wanting a new arena.
>>67624166
posting this pic to make your point without understanding the actual context in which it's taken says a lot about your understanding of the situation. My guess is that you're an OKC fan.
>>67624957
>Seattle City Council President Nick Licata states in his opinion the local impact if the Sonics left would be near zero economically, and close to zero culturally. He apologizes a few months later but damage is done to the relationship between the city and Sonics ownership.
the city made every attempt to alienate Schultz and with that attitude and the forces that were colluding against Bennett to bleed him dry and force him to sell after he bought it, it wouldn't be hard to understand why. Nobody on either side was operating on good faith.
>>67619864
>Seattle is one of America's treasured cities
Senpai...
>>67624166
this is fake right?
>>67622492
WEW
E
W
> teams leaving seattle
> only a couple dozen people show up and boycott
plebeian city. you dont deserve a team
The shitty owner bought the team with the the intentions of moving it. He's a shitbag. And I hope OKC never gets a title. As soon as the Durant era is over whether it's next year or in 10 years, they will nose dive. Hopefully they move back to Seattle and restore the NBA.
>>67619864
because this is an average Seattle resident:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG-jMjvnua8
>>67625402
>being this petty and bitter
after the way they tried to bully Sacramento it will be funny when they never get an NBA team
>>67625224
its taken at a game after it was announced that the team was moving
>>67624166
As long as we're using photos out of context then the Washington Wizard fans don't deserve a team either. pic related
>taken during a massive winter storm while roads were closed
>>67625515
>mfw Seattle is and will always be more valuable as a bargaining chip to scare cities into building arenas than they are as an NBA market
>>67619864
Seattle played themselves
>>67625687
saved
>>67625687
I don't think it's fair to blame the fans, even if some of them acted like douchebags after the sale.
but the city leaders absolutely fucked it up, they were stonewalling the shit out of Schultz and handled the whole thing horribly.
>>67624344
You're such a biased piece of shit that doesn't know the nuances of this story. Stop talking.
Seattle is such a shitty city. It's super dirty and filled with liberal hippies and homeless people. The only good parts are the lake, the big museum, and the Seattle Seahawks with the cuck himself
>>67625687
but OKC is east of seattle???
>>67625687
>blaming blue collar working class for white collar corporate decisions.
you're just a loyal pawn in their game.
too naive to know the difference and a lack of curiosity to seek the truth
you can do better anon, you just need to put out the effort
>>67625785
Whoever made this is obviously a troll and aren't smart enough to understand the situation
>not building a new stadium when the league requests it
>expecting to keep your franchise
it's pretty fucking simple. you build a stadium and you get to keep your team for at least the next 20 years.
>>67625826
pretty much everybody involved admitted that the Key was a shitty tin can arena and that everybody was going to lose money if they stayed at the Key
>>67623943
>remodeled
that's the 'key'word there
the reason they moved because seattle leaders didnt want to help pay for an arena. Moment they said no Bennett moved the team to oklahoma. Simple business/politics.
Why is Seattle so mad that they don't have a basketball team?
News flash: you actually do.
You have a WNBA team that you can watch if you like basketball so much.
>>67626074
it was actually the port of seattle and the fucking shipworkers union that fucked you. their argument was literally that the new stadium would make the surrounding area too nice for the longshoremen to work in
>still mad
Lmao
>>67620612
Pittsburgh
Key arena can't be renovated due to it's unique roof, they had to dig down into the ground to fit more seats in. Sodo arena that got shut down was shut down for a reason, Traffic and the fact that you would fuck up a lot of buildings and industry. Even if we got an arena I think we would just have an empty arena, maybe until the Warriors pull in enough money. Then we can have the sonics back.
>>67624106
Yes it would. Have you been to OKC? There is nothing else to do there. At least they can watch a basketball game while foosball season is over.
FFFFFFIIIIIIGGGGHHHHTTTTTTTT
>>67626244
i've had sex in that arena
>>67625604
This time last year people were saying the same thing about the NFL and LA.
>>67626244
what a stupid-looking roof
who designed that thing anyways?
>>67626084
This. The whole city is SJW enough that not watching their WNBA team is officially hypocritical.
>>67623943
>Sonics announcer Kevin Calabro admits Key Arena is in the bottom 5 of fan experience, even after it had been redone 10 years earlier, with the smallest NBA seating capacity.
>Sonics owners Howard Schultz & Wally Walker complain that the now considered sub-NBA-standard Key Arena, as well as a non viable lease arrangement, is responsible for their 58 person ownership group not being able to keep up with player salaries and compete with other teams in the NBA.
>Mayor Nickels admits he doesn't attend Sonics games, and that he himself had said the lease was economically dysfunctional for the team admitting a team could not be successful long term under the current lease. He also admits that both the city and team are losing money under the current system. Nickels also says he wasn't actually working to make a sale to the Ballmer group happen, as he had said he was doing in his deposition. He admits by keeping the Sonics in a dysfunctional arena he hopes during those two years "something might happen" which will allow the Sonics to stay.
Key Arena might not have been a shit hole by 1994 standards but it was one but 2006 standards.
