Can a SuperSonic come back from a Thunder storm?

During the NBA offseason you might have missed an intriguing story line because you were too distracted on Dwight Howard demanding trades, not demanding trades, wanting to go to Brooklyn, hoping everyone in the world doesn't hate him (poor guy), and then finally ending up with the Lakers. Or you might have been focused on two Olympic dream teams arguing with one another about which one is better (who cares). The story you missed is that Seattle City Council and the Chris Hansen investor group reached an agreement to move forward with a state of the art basketball and hockey stadium.

Why does this matter? This matters in large part because we can assume there will be a pursuit to put both an NHL franchise in Seattle, and restore Seattle with an NBA franchise.

To refresh your memory, the SuperSonics were taken away from a great sports city in Seattle by David Stern & Clay Bennett (owner of the Thunder) and moved to Oklahoma City where they are thriving and winning. Seattle was left to cherish the great memories of Gary Payton. But, the fact remains an extremely underrated sports city in Seattle still mourns the loss of their beloved team and they still cringe whenever they hear the name Bennett or Stern. On a side note even though I don't completely agree with the Seattle side of things, I urge everyone who hasn't seen this video to watch it and form your own opinion on what went down  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Dp20ydm1E).

Anyway, back to the present, if/when this new arena gets built there are still some road blocks to overcome to get an NBA franchise back to the city of Seattle. The first is David Stern, now I don't undervalue what David Stern has done for basketball on the global scale but this guy can really piss me off sometimes. David  Stern and Seattle are comparable to Reggie Miller versus Spike Lee, they hate each other. As we have seen David Stern get his own way on a lot of these matters, most recently the Chris Paul trade that was blocked and then the takeover of the New Orleans Hornets, why should something like this be any different. I don't think David Stern could swallow his pride and actually move an existing franchise to seattle (or start a new one, although highly unlikely). So, if that's the case Seattle would have to wait until Stern retires, which he has stated will be prior to the next CBA talks around 2022.

One of the other issues I have is that it will be hard to move a team to Seattle and have the city completely embrace it as their own. Some teams that come to mind are potentially the Charlotte Bobcats, the Detroit Pistons, or even the Memphis Grizzlies. So, if you did move a team there whenever that may be, would you call it the Seattle Bobcats? or would you change it back to the Seattle SuperSonics? If so, then it wouldn't really be like the old days because that team is now the Oklahoma City Thunder. Being a fan in Seattle could you possibly cheer for a basketball team not called the SuperSonics? These types of questions and answers will be crucial in determining if a pro basketball team can be successful in Seattle again.

I did think of one thing that may be interesting. Say you moved the Memphis Grizzlies, a good on the court team, but financially struggling to the city of Seattle, and immediately you have a rivalry with OKC, you have a team people would consistently go see right away. This all makes for some real juicy stories and NBA action doesn't it.

I'm not sure if or when an NBA team will go back to Seattle, but putting all business matters aside, I would love to see that city get another chance at it as a fan. Real and passionate sports cities are hard to come by these days, but I believe Seattle is one of them.

If a team goes back there, whether it's 2, 5, or 10 years from now, hopefully you remember where you heard it from first when you go buy that Seattle SuperSonics (hopefully team name) jersey.

Written By:

Garrett Daly
Follow me @DalyGarrett