Kemp made some valid points.
"They can't complain about a new arena because they're not winning enough games, period," Kemp says. "They need to put up or shut up. When I got into the NBA, the thing of it was, if you won, you got a new arena. But if you lost, you had to work to get the arena.
"You can't be a losing team and get a new arena. That's not fair. That's not fair! That's how I see it."
Kemp won't allow too many thoughts of the Oklahoma Raiders winning this case. He assumes the city will win the lawsuit, assumes Judge Marsha Pechman will do what's right on Wednesday and enforce the KeyArena lease, assumes the Sonics will be here for at least another two years.
Optimism is his shield. Kemp prefers to look at these next two years and make a demand of the current owners: Win. Or at least try.
Stop demolishing the team. Stop building for a future Seattle may never see. Stop torturing a distressed fan base.
"This is what I think, man," Kemp says. "I'm afraid that if they bring the Sonics back, what kind of team are they going to put on the court? Are they going to put the effort out?
"If they bring the team back, are they going to really put a good team out there? Or do we just want any team? You've got to at least try."
Kemp references one of the most infuriating aspects of losing the Sonics. It's like NBA basketball hasn't existed here for two years. The Sonics have a 51-113 record with Clay Bennett and Co. as the owners. They've lost nearly 70 percent of their games, traded Ray Allen, let Rashard Lewis bounce in free agency and made no significant free-agent acquisitions.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/j ... wer30.htmlI guess if this were to happen, it would be similar to the New Orleans Hornets playing in Oklahoma City for a little while and then returning to New Orleans. I'm not sure Stern would want to see this occur, though. My guess, he would prefer that the city of Seattle just get another team within a decade.
But Schultz, who sold the franchise to Bennett's group in 2006, does hold out hope of ultimately overturning the process and getting the Sonics back to Seattle by 2009-10 as he proceeds with his legal attempt to reverse the sale on the basis of fraud and breach of contract. "Our lawsuit is separate," said Schultz's attorney, Richard Yarmuth. "We are not a party to (the city's) settlement and, in fact, we chose not to participate in it."
A source close to Schultz's former ownership group said the Starbucks chief will not file an injunction seeking to prevent the immediate move of the team to Oklahoma City, which would require convincing U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman that Schultz had a legitimate chance of winning his case right now as well as posting a significant bond to cover any potential losses suffered by the PBC's inability to move. Instead, Schultz will let the team transfer to Oklahoma City and seek a trial by next spring, at which time his lawyers would have full opportunity to present their case and seek a reversal, while also giving the city and the Steve Ballmer group the opportunity to line up an arena solution.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketbal ... ial03.html
