Category Archives: Sonics

NBA Seattle: Prospect of NBA Returning to Seattle Looks Extremely Promising

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It has been eight long year since the Seattle SuperSonics left the Pacific Northwest.

Now, it seems Seattle is closer to getting the Sonics and the NBA back in Seattle.

Back in mid-October, the fine people at SB Nation’s Sonics Rising reported that expansion was “on the table” for the NBA with a new CBA widely reported to be in the works. After seeing the Kings rescued and new arenas being built in other cities, this has been Seattle’s best shot to reenter the league.

Within the week, news came out about Chris Hansen (the driving force behind bringing back the Sonics) buying even more land in SoDo.

So things were obviously looking positive for Seattle’s efforts to restore professional men’s basketball to the Emerald City.

There was also this nugget from a David Aldridge article about the subject of basketball in the Pacific Northwest’s largest city. The writer quoted “a very high ranking executive of one of the league’s 29 teams.” Said executive was quoted as saying “Seattle is a far better market than at least 10 NBA cities.”

So hey, we’ve got that going for us.

While there was obvious caution seeing as we’ve swung and miss with the league before, things were looking up.

Then this wonderful (at least for those who want to see the National Basketball Association back in the Pacific Northwest) news broke. King 5’s Chris Daniels reported that Hansen and company are offering to privately fund the new SoDo arena, as well as helping to fund the Lander Street overpass.

Additionally, Daniels’ reports also states that the offer is “conditioned on the city agreeing to vacate a one-block stretch of Occidental Avenue and the addition of several tax credits.”

The website behind Hansen’s efforts to build a new arena also announced the news.

What’s more, according to a tweet from Daniels, Seattle Council president Bruce Harrell calls the offer to privately fund the arena a “game changer.” You can see the entire tweet below.

NEW: @SeattleCouncil President @bruceharrell on #SeattleArena private offer: “game changer”, will look to reconvene committee to discuss it.

— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) October 25, 2016

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It is extremely positive news for hoop fans in Seattle. While it by no means ensures that a team will come, it is a massive step forward in the grand scheme of things if Hansen is able to privately fund the arena and the overpass.

For more on Seattle and the NBA, click here.

Another NBA Season Sans-Seattle

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Another NBA Season Sans-Seattle

As October begins to wind down, the NBA will soon start up again. The National Basketball Association will raise the curtain on yet another season. For the seventh year, this curtain-raising will happen without Seattle.

It’s a sad fact to realize that the NBA has spent the better part of a decade without a franchise in the Pacific Northwest. Since the Sonics left, we’ve had two different presidents (and likely a third), two popes and even a Super Bowl title courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks.

As we’ve seen the NBA continue to prosper, we’ve also seen a number of other things happen while without a men’s professional basketball team.

  • We’ve seen the number of former Sonics dwindle. Kevin Durant, Nick Collison, Reggie Evans and Jeff Green are some of the few that are left. Luke Ridnour was in that discussion, but he could retire soon.  
  • We’ve also seen potential options in terms of moving to Seattle come and go. The New Orleans Pelicans (then known as the Hornets), Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks were all linked with, or close to a move.
  • The Seattle Storm have been to the playoffs five different times, including winning the WNBA title in 2010. At least the Storm are continuing to carry the torch for professional basketball in Seattle.
  • The entire Hobbit franchise came and went

By “we,” I’m referring to the people of Washington State, and Seattle. Losing the Sonics was brutal, but the fact that it’s been so long since we’ve had a team is just as brutal.

For Sonics’ fans, the NBA has become a league of players. We obviously haven’t moved on to different teams, but we become fans of players. This isn’t to say we rush out and buy the jerseys, but we more appreciate the specific players’ skill. The NBA has also become out occasionally checking the standings and making sure that team from Oklahoma isn’t doing well. We have nothing against the players, it’s just, you know…

The NBA’s return date to Seattle is TBD, but it’s bound to happen eventually (hopefully soon). The Seattle area has a few exciting propositions on the table in both SoDo and Tukwila, so there’s hope. If all goes well, Seattle will have an NBA team soon. However, that’s obviously not going to happen this season. Thus begins another NBA season without Seattle.

#NBA Seattle: There are 13 NBA Players from the State of Washington

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Here’s an interesting graphic from the good people at HoopsHype that shows the number of NBA players per state in terms of where they were born. In not-so-surprising fashion, the state of Washington is well represented with 13 NBA players. If you’re counting along at home, that’s the same as Oregon, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and Alaska combined. It’s also much more than the mere two from Oklahoma.

 

Only California produced more current NBA players in terms of the West Coast states. Just another reason why we need an NBA team in Seattle.

(RELATED: Players in the NBA Finals with Local Connections).

On this Date in 1979: The Seattle SuperSonics Won the NBA Finals

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On this day back in 1979, the Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA Finals, defeating the Washington Bullets in five games after losing to the Bullets in the previous year’s finals. It represents one of three major sport titles in Seattle history, the others being the 1917 Stanley Cup (captured by the Seattle Metropolitans, the first American team to do so) and the Seahawks’ recent Super Bowl win. Dennis Johnson won Finals MVP.

Here’s hoping Seattle gets another NBA Championship.

Bring them back indeed!

Players in the NBA Finals with Washington State/Seattle Connections

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Cleveland Cavaliers:

Joe Harris

Joe Harris was born in Chelan, Washington and attended the University of Virginia where he played for four years under former Washington State head coach Tony Bennett. The former All-ACC performer has per-game averages of 2.7 points, .8 rebounds and .5 assists in his first season in Cleveland and in the league.

The former Virginia standout has only appeared in four games for Cleveland this postseason. This mainly has to do with Harris being a rookie on a team with a loaded backcourt. Harris didn’t appear in the first-round sweep of Boston, but did get into tow tames in each series against the Bulls and Hawks. He missed his only shot against the Bulls while scoring seven points in eight minutes in two games against the Hawks. The majority of his numbers came in the Game Four clincher when he tallied all seven of his points to go along with a rebound an assist. He made both his free throws and his only three pointer.

 

Golden State Warriors:

Justin Holiday

The brother of Jrue Holiday, Justin played his collegiate ball at the University of Washington and has played for pro teams everywhere from Belgium to Hungary to Idaho. The wing has stuck on the Warriors’ roster where he’s scored 4.3 points a game and 1.2 rebounds per contest.

Similar to Harris, Holiday is buried on the bench thanks to a ridiculously talented backcourt. He’s appeared in four postseason games so far, totaling three points. He scored those points in a win over Memphis. He’s played less than ten minutes this postseason.

Three Reasons Why the Tukwila Arena is a Good Idea

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1. Location, Location, Location

While an arena in SoDo would be amazing and add to an already sporting atmosphere with Safeco Field and CenturyLink field, it can be tricky getting to the stadiums. It shouldn’t be, but coming from the south, it can be a bit of a hassle to get to Safeco from the highway. In other words, it shouldn’t take long, but it does. It also makes games more accessible geographically for fans south of Seattle.

2. Privately Funded

The arena project, spearheaded by the “Russell Group” will be privately funded. This means the public won’t be paying. This has been an issue in the past, not just in Seattle, but in other locals.

3. Hockey First?

Seattle is no doubt interested in the NHL making the Pacific Northwest a permanent home, but the NBA is likely a bigger draw given the city’s history with and yearning for professional basketball.

The hockey first would also solve the city’s Catch-22 situation with the NBA were the city (specifically the Seattle Arena project) needs a team to break ground on an arena, but the league wants an arena in place before it can send a team our way.

Having an NHL team first would also give the area time to get behind hockey in the same way the team threw their lot in with the Sounders.