Category: Seattle SuperSonics Blog

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Gary Washburn) reports: For months, a Boston-area woman thought she was dating a Sonics front-office employee and former NBA player named Jeff Turner, a handsome, 6-foot-8 40-something who was polite, compassionate and respectful. She thought she had scored a figurative slam-dunk in the Internet dating game. But when the man she was falling for suddenly left his Somerville, Mass., home and stayed away for three weeks, the woman became suspicious. A Google search helped her discover that this man was not Jeff Turner, but a habitual impostor who had been posing as a Sonics employee for the past several months. Just when it appeared matters couldn’t become any more bizarre for Seattle’s downtrodden basketball franchise, the Sonics have emerged as victims in a case of identity fraud perpetrated by a smooth-talking con man.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Greg Johns) reports: With less than two weeks remaining until the start of the city’s trial against the Sonics, an attorney unaffiliated with either party says this could turn into the legal equivalent of a barroom brawl if the case gets to court. The looming question now is whether the struggle over the Sonics’ lease issue at KeyArena will reach Judge Marsha Pechman’s courtroom for the opening gavel on June 16 or if the sides will come to some sort of pretrial agreement. Longtime Seattle attorney Randy Aliment said he’s surprised the situation has gone this far without resolution and notes that more than 90 percent of cases are resolved out of court. From Aliment’s perspective, both parties in this particular battle have significant motivation to find a tenable solution, as does the NBA.

Seattle SuperSonics General Manager Sam Presti announced today that Troy Weaver has been named Sonics assistant general manager.

Weaver was the Director of Player Personnel for the Utah Jazz in 2007-08. He originally joined the Jazz as head scout and served in that capacity for three seasons before his promotion to Director of Player Personnel.

Prior to joining the Jazz, Weaver spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Syracuse, one season at New Mexico and three seasons as an assistant coach with Pittsburgh. While at Syracuse, the team won the 2003 NCAA National Championship led by Weaver recruit Carmelo Anthony.

“Troy comes from a very successful organization in Utah,” Presti said. “He has a terrific array of personnel and coaching experience that will positively impact what we are trying to build here with the SuperSonics.”

Weaver will serve as assistant general manager alongside current assistant general manager Rich Cho, who is entering his 11th season with the Sonics and his eighth as assistant general manager.

Thursday morning at 11 a.m. PT the NBA will announce that Seattle Sonics swingman Kevin Durant has won the league’s Rookie of the Year award.

Atlanta forward Al Horford is expected to come in second in the final voting.

Durant showed improvement as the season progressed, and in the final month or so really looked like a star worth building around.

Had Horford been more of a scorer, along with his rebounding and solid, rugged play, he’d possibly have come away with the award.

The NBA Board of Governors today endorsed the recommendation of the NBA Relocation Committee and approved the move of the SuperSonics  from  Seattle to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season, subject to a resolution of the pending litigation between the Sonics and the city of  Seattle  that  removes any requirement for the team to play at KeyArena for the next two seasons.

“The  support  for the NBA demonstrated by the fans, government leaders and business  community  of  Oklahoma City over the last three years has been extraordinary,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern. “The Board of Governors is confident that that level of local support will result in success for the Sonics franchise in Oklahoma.”

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: After NBA owners voted 28-2 on Friday to approve the Sonics’ relocation to Oklahoma City, team chairman Clay Bennett said he’d done everything possible to make things work in Seattle and remains hopeful of a negotiated lease buyout. The city of Seattle could delay the team’s departure for two years by winning the pending federal court battle over the lease’s enforcement, but Bennett and his Oklahoma-based ownership group now have a green light from the league to move as soon as that situation is settled… Stern said the vote was 28-2, with the two owners against being Dallas’ Mark Cuban and Portland’s Paul Allen.

Seattle SuperSonics General Manager Sam Presti announced today, second-year center Mouhamed Sene had surgery this past Monday (April 14) to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. During the surgery, doctors discovered a chondral defect which required microfracture surgery.

Sene will be on crutches for six weeks and will be continually evaluated.

The injury was originally suffered during an Idaho Stampede game at Bakersfield of the NBA Development League on April 4.
 
Sene appeared in 13 games for the Sonics this season, averaging 2.3 points and 1.2 rebounds in 4.8 minutes per contest. Sene also appeared in 27 games for the Idaho Stampede this season, averaging 12.1 points and 8.9 rebounds in 27.5 minutes per game.

The 10th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Sene has appeared in 41 regular season games in his two seasons with the Sonics and holds career averages of 2.0 points and 1.2 rebounds.

The Seattle Times (Percy Allen) reports: Howard Schultz says he wants the Sonics back. Nearly two years after selling Seattle’s NBA franchise to Oklahoma City investors, the Starbucks mogul has hired a lawyer and is preparing to file a lawsuit against Sonics chairman Clay Bennett to rescind the July 2006 sale. Attorney Richard Yarmuth confirmed Monday that his Seattle-based law firm, Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo, is representing Schultz and plans to sue Bennett’s Professional Basketball Club in the next two weeks. “The damages that are being sought is to rescind, unwind the transaction,” Yarmuth said a day after the team played what could have been its final home game in Seattle.