CCIIIs Hair wrote:Well, let's see. We know Bennett lied when he said he'd do everything in his power to keep the team in Seattle. We know he lied about the nature of his secret email correspondence with his other investors and Stern, and we know he's still lying if he's claiming anything otherwise.
I'm sure Sonics fans who were dialed in at the time can recite others, and I'm not going to start parsing through every public comment Bennett made during that time, but to suggest that the guy wasn't acting duplicitous the entire time he was in Seattle is simply naive.
Look, nobody reasonable should ask or expect Oklahoma fans to even care, let alone take some sort of moral stand for the sake of Sonics fans. That's not their responsibility. Just don't pretend you got your team on the up and up. You didn't. But you're a fan, you don't have to pretend to be concerned with how the sausage is made.
He never put it in the terms , you are using , like " everything in my power " , no he said he " fully intends " to fulfill the lease, that quote is one of the articles I linked above. That was right after i-91 was voted for.
He lied about the emails ??? No , he did not lie about them. They exist, he acknowledged it, apologized to Stern. But those emails were AFTER the fact. They were sent AFTER the legislature failed to act. Those emails are inconsequential.
Bennetts fiduciary duty was to Schultz. He had agreement to work with Seattle to get an arena. That's not what Bennett wanted to do, but that does not preclude him from working with people to get an arena built.
In fact, he had to satisfy the other NBA owners , in that regard. Stern had to have the support of the owners to move that team. And the owners had to be satisified, that everything possible was done to keep a team in Seattle.
I mean really, anybody with a lick of business sense, knows Seattle is a better market for the NBA than OKC. But only, if the team in Seattle has an arena and is in good financial condition. The owners realized this and after years and years of trying to solve that problem, they allowed the team to move.
Stern did not do that, the OWNERS voted to allow the team to move. And Bennett had to earn that vote.
And you are pretty typical, you really can not tell me where Bennett lied or made misrepresentations, you just know it happened , some how.
As to Sonicsgate, the final few minutes of that part you posted is awfully telling from my standpoint, because I know Stern had told them over and over, that the KeyArena or a remodel of the KeyArena was not acceptable to the NBA. And then in the final days, Steve Ballmer steps up with a plan to remodel the KeyArena. That's fricken show biz , that's political grandstanding, because they knew Stern would not agree to it.
But Sonicsgate does not tell you that.
Adn if Steve Ballmer had put half , just half, of what he paid for the Clippers ... .then the Sonics would still be in Seattle. He could've bought the team AND built a new arena for that money.
That's just halfass, a dollar short and a day late on their part.
