RealGM

Something like this happens-

The team currently owned by Clay Bennet is moved and renamed something other than the Sonics and we immediately get an expansion team named the Sonics owned by the guys currently making a buy bid. This would be similar to the Cleveland Browns situation.

As for me: in all honesty, Bennet can have this bunch of losers. I like Presti and Durant and Green but I have no emotional attachment to any of these guys. If we get an expansion club in a good draft year it will be a real chance to start over. The thing that would suck is that we'd have to watch the former Sonics be a step ahead in rebuilding mode. It would be really cool to have a team to truly hate for a good reason in the NBA.

Yes. It would. That break in continuity would leave an odd, disconnected feeling for me.

If the Sonics leave, in any capacity, the NBA can stay gone as far as I'm concerned. I, for one, don't appreciate being bent over, even if I'm given a towel to wipe myself off with afterward.

Yeah I'd mind.

If the Sonics leave for any reason I will never be a fan of the NBA.

I have supported this team during the good times and during many many many bad times. If the NBA lets the Sonics leave I don't care if a new team rolled in before Clay loaded up the wagons I still will not be a fan of the NBA.

No. I don't want to lose our history.

Yes. It would bother me. The NFL tried it in Cleveland, and even must have sent out a memo to media outlets to pretend that the franchises are the same. And I haven't bought it for one nanosecond. Every time someone on TV refers to a "franchise record" or "franchise history," I keep wanting to shout that's not the same team!

Didn't Cleveland go without a team for a year or two?

I'd want to support the local owners, for sure, so I wouldn't want to take out my displeasure with Bennett and Stern on them.

But it would probably depend on the timing and the team. If it took 2 years and we ended up getting the Grizzlies, I wouldn't be all that interested.

If the change meant no interruption at all, the team was still called the Sonics, the owners were local, and we got the current Hornets...I wouldn't mind that.

30 teams is the perfect number for the NBA. If the team leaves it may be 10 years before another one is available. Even then there will be alot of competition from other cities and Seattle will need a brand new arena to even be in the competition.

It would bother the hell out of me. It wouldn't feel the same. I have a problem with throwing 41 years of history down the drain, even if we get to keep the naming rights of the team.

I'm one of those people who will be done with the NBA if they take our team away from us--even if that means we are promised a new one in the not-so-distant future. It's this team or nothing for me.

In a related note, if the Sonics move and keep their name in OKC, I'd rather die than have a Gary Payton retired jersey hanging in the rafters of the Ford Center.

jenn_gp wrote:In a related note, if the Sonics move and keep their name in OKC, I'd rather die than have a Gary Payton retired jersey hanging in the rafters of the Ford Center.

That mental imagery just sent shivers down my spine....

A Boston Celtics fan here.

Don't let this Supersonics team leave.
My brother's wife and her entire family were born and raised in Cleveland.
They live there today. Trust me when I say this.

People in Cleveland love there team now, but bring up the fact that the Ravens were once the Browns and you will feel the deep seeded pain and resentment shared by all in about three seconds.

The Sonics might be pretty bad right now but Kevin Durant is a very special player and he alone is reason enough to not want to be pondering years from now, WHAT IF!?!

Easier said than done, I know, but do anything you can within your power to keep this team in Seattle. This you won't regret.

Here's to continuity, history, and legacy.