The life of Kristopher Brannon, aka “Sonics Guy,” was celebrated Saturday, July 17, 2021, at OURChurch in University Place. Brannon was known throughout the Puget Sound for his quest to see the Seattle SuperSonics return to the Northwest. By Drew Perine
Many Sonics fans are upset with Adam Silver’s latest comments at All-Star Weekend because the NBA commissioner once again put off any concrete decisions about league expansion.
He basically said nothing of note would happen at the league’s Board of Governors meeting in late March, only mentioning something about being “ready to take the next steps.”
An expansion vote would presumably be taken in July at the owners’ meetings. If owners approve expansion, the two cities that get new teams are presumably Seattle and Las Vegas.
I’m probably misusing the word “presumably” because when it comes to the NBA, presumably means “this is what most of us think will happen, but with Silver and his league, you’re presumably going to be disappointed.”
I’m guessing there’s a better chance that come July, the owners will table a vote until God knows when OR vote against expansion because they’re greedy human beings, not wanting to split annual revenues of $11 billion among 32 teams instead of 30.
I don’t quite understand that line of thinking because NBA expansion fees are likely to be between $5 billion and $7 billion, giving the owners a quick fast-cash pot of as much as $14 billion to split 30 ways.
And yet I heard on Bill Simmons’ podcast, some owners are against expansion so it’s not a given that it’s going to happen.
It’s going to take more than a simple majority of 16 owners voting for expansion. From what I gather, it will take a “super majority” of three-quarters of the owners, or 23 of them to vote yes.
So if eight vote no, you can put off the Sonics’ return for another 10 years or more likely never.
After the Sonics left for Oklahoma City following the 2007-08 season, once fans got through the grieving process that included rage and bitterness, they largely were on board with bringing the green and gold back to Seattle someday.
Surely that would happen once a state of the art arena like Climate Pledge was built. But Climate Pledge has been open for five years now, and still all we’ve basically gotten from the NBA is nada much.
Regardless of all the B.S. going on in the league office, some fans still want the Sonics back, but others who felt that way have changed their minds and are telling the NBA to pound sand.
Part of this also has to do with a perception that the league isn’t what it used to be. Too many threes and dunks and not enough defense and effort from the players.
“Load management” is also an issue, and that’s a fancy term for “so and so doesn’t want to play tonight even though he’s making $25 million this season.”
Can you imagine Gary Payton taking a night off? No chance in hell.
All-Star Weekend didn’t do much to attract on-the-fence casual fans. The Slam Dunk Competition was roundly ripped for not having star power, though I thought some of the dunks were terrific.
The All-Star Game itself was actually a round-robin tournament with two teams of U.S. players and a team from everywhere else in the world playing a series of 12-minute games against each other.
Since it’s the first time they’ve used this format, I’ll give the NBA credit for attempting to make it more intriguing than what the All-Star Game had turned into: basketball’s version of the NFL’s Pro Bowl with no one trying.
Years ago I always looked forward to the NBA All-Star Game and still remember how excited I was when Lenny Wilkens was the MVP of the game in San Diego in 1971.
I covered the 1992 All-Star Game in Orlando, which was significant because it was Magic Johnson’s first one back from his HIV diagnosis. He was unbelievably sensational as the MVP. I don’t remember anyone who wasn’t playing hard that afternoon.
My dream as a kid growing up in Redmond was to be the Sonics’ beat writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. That all came true in the ‘90s when I covered the Sonics during some of their best years as a franchise.
I felt so darn fortunate. When the Sonics came to town in 1967, I was a 10-year-old who sat in his bedroom listening to Bob Blackburn’s call of the games while keeping score.
Loved Walt Hazzard and Tom Meschery and that talented lefty center Bob Rule. Heck I loved ‘em all, even an end of the bench guy like Plummer Lott, who played at Seattle U. Had 5-by-7 black-and-white photos of all the players and coach Al Bianchi.
But now? I don’t pay attention to the NBA anymore. I’m just not interested. At all. I’m not sure when I went from fanatic to not giving a damn about the NBA. Or why exactly.
It’s probably a combination of things that stem from my old school ways. I don’t want the NBA to go back to the years when teams struggled to get to 100 points, but I’d like to see more defense than what we’re seeing now if that’s OK.
And just as much as I like to see baseball players run out ground balls, I have an expectation for players to play hard 100 percent of the time. When some of them don’t, I wonder why they don’t and it turns me off.
I like threes, really like threes, I used to love to shoot ‘em myself, but Good Lord, they chuck ‘em up nonstop now. Nobody cares about a high percentage shot from mid-range anymore because the analytics guys are probably telling everyone they’re useless.
Along those lines, tanking is a huge issue. At All-Star weekend, Adam Silver spent more time discussing tanking than expansion. Some teams are trying to lose on purpose to get in the lottery and obtain a higher draft choice. It’s so bad that the Jazz were fined $500,000 recently because it was so blatantly obvious they were trying to lose by resting their best players.
I don’t blame the coach or the players necessarily for tanking - they’re just following orders from the top - but it’s another bad look for the league.
Don’t expect the Sonics you knew to return if they ever return at all. They’ll be initially terrible for sure. And it will take some time until they’re actually decent.
Here’s how badly some really rich people want to own a team in Seattle - they’ll go into it knowing they’ll have to pay $5 billion to $7 billion for the franchise.
Then they’ll face severe salary cap restrictions in the first two years. The Sonics’ salary cap will be 66.7 percent of the existing teams’ cap in their first year and 80 percent of the cap in the second year.
This is designed to prevent expansion teams from freely spending in free agency to instantly improve. That’s another way of saying, “hey, man, we’ll gladly take your billions, thank you very much, but we’re gonna screw you even more than we already have by not allowing you to be worth a damn until the 2030’s.”
I don’t know what you were paying for tickets when the Sonics were around, but expect to pay even more if they start play in the 2027-28 season. Average ticket prices vary across the league, but you’ll be lucky to get in for $100 a seat at a Sonics game. If you want to take your wife and kids to a game, make sure you have at least $500 handy and remind Johnny and Addison that their favorite player might not play that night.
As much as I’m done with the NBA and don’t personally care if the Sonics return, I still want them to in the worst way for those who desperately miss them.
And on their first night back after a 20-year absence, I’d like to be there to see all the former Sonics and outpouring of emotions from fans on such a meaningful night in Seattle sports history.
But beyond that, it will take a lot for the NBA to win many of us back after what they’ve done to us in the past and what they’ve turned into as a product now.
Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. He writes a Substack blog at jimmoorethego2guy.substack.com. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.