I'm Full. Next up, the future of the Sonics

As the local heavyweights digest the story and offer well thought out reconstructions of the trail that has brought us here Frank Hughes took a trip down memory lane:

There is a scene in the movie "The Talented Mr. Ripley" in which the characters of Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow sit on a sailboat in the Mediterranean Sea and analyze why their relationships with Jude Law's character had changed so dramatically.

Paltrow explains that Law's character is the kind of person who can focus his attention solely on you, make you feel as if you are the center of the universe and nothing could be more important to him. And then he gets bored, the attention goes away and the person feels empty, vacant and confused, wondering what he or she did wrong to elicit such treatment.

That, in a nutshell, is Howard Schultz, an entrepreneur whose romantic attention was focused exclusively on his basketball team for about a year. Then things didn't quite go the way he envisioned, he got bored and discouraged, and he decided that he wanted out (regardless of the impact on people's lives). - Frank Hughes, ESPN inline.

Art Theil asks this to lead off a clean look at how seattle got to this point:
It's been a healthy vent. Now what?

Indeed, now what? I've thought about how Howard Schultz's 5 year plan ended with no defined future for the team and a new owner that doesn't have to play the Local Hero game.
I think you could read both stories by Hughes and Theil and have a pretty clear picture of where we are, how we got here, and why the new owner was treated as if he was just going to move the Sonics right away. That wasn't even part of his day one conversation. Oddly enough, it was part of his day three conversation, saying in the Seattle Times:

"I think if we get to the point where we are at an absolute standstill," Bennett said, "there is nothing on the table and both sides of the table understand that we're not going anywhere, we are absolutely hoping to bring it to Oklahoma City."
- Clay Bennet said while back in Oklahoma.

I did read that he spoke slowly, I guess he was going to get to this at the press conference in Seattle and is just now spitting it out. Honesty will get you further with people in Washington than half the story here and the rest of the story said in Oklahoma.

Mr Bennett stepped into the middle of a domestic. He is mostly upfront about going through the motions, but we all are reacting as if that's all he's doing. It's hard to act some other way after living with the bullshit coming from the political side and the team owner side over the past few years.

Let's be fair to Mr Bennett, he might not have an open arena to take the Sonics home to if the Hornets can play in New Orleans. If that's the case then here (Bellevue) is as good as any other place. So, don't leave your seat Sonics fans, the opera aint over till the fat lady sings.

And that was the gentle part, Frank was frank. Art was artfull, and Bennett has to show by action that he is willing to have the team stay in Washington State.
And Steve Kelley... he's still kissing the butt of thrice fired Bob Witsitt.