Tom Chambers and Wally Walker take you to School!

SEATTLE - The Seattle Sonics Legends Tour keeps rolling, this time to the school that my two son's attend: Daniel Bagley Elementary, Saturday, September 30, 11 am.

This Week's Sonics & Storm Legends Tour Stop:
This Saturday (Sep. 30) at 11 a.m., join the Sonics at Bagley Elementary (7821 Stone Avenue North) as the Legends Tour honors legendary forward Tom Chambers. The festivities include complimentary food and beverages, music, Sonics & Storm giveaways and a children’s basketball clinic led by Chambers. The court at Bagley Elementary was renovated by the Sonics & Storm Foundation NeighborHoops program. Click here for directions. - Supersonics.com

It's located on 80th, behind the old Chubby & Tubby.

This morning I saw the workers layin the stripes down, the posts are up but the new backboards and rims were not up, they will be by Saturday.
Come on by, thank the Sonics and Storm for supporting Seattle Parks and schools. Tom Chambers will hold a clinic for the kids.
Here's the schedule from the PTA:

Date: Saturday September 30th

Time: 11:00 am

Location: Bagley Elementary School

Agenda:

10:45 am Band/DJ/Music begins

11:00 am Program starts

Emcee (Kevin Calabro) welcome crowd

11:03 am Sonics & Storm Foundation rep address crowd

School rep: revisit of when court was first established

11:10 am Legend introduced, give plaque and addresses crowd

11:13 am Emcee, Legend, Wally and court rep cut the ribbon

11:20 am Initiate first play on the court with honoree (first basket)

11:40 am Mini-skills clinic begins with community kids

Noon Meet & Greet/autograph session with Honoree off to the side
at corner of court

Band/DJ/Music resumes

12:30 pm Close of program

Go Bagley Bees!

Summer is over, get ready for the year-long arena story

SEATTLE- On Wednesday the soon-to-be owner of the Sonics, Clay Bennett, restated his desire to keep the team in the 15th largest media market and not move it to the 54th, well, not in those exact words.

Bennett, who arrived in the Pacific Northwest this past weekend, participated in Monday's U.S. Bank Governors Cup on Monday at the Golf Club at Newcastle, teaming with Sonics guard Ray Allen in a foursome.

Wearing a white University of Oklahoma windbreaker and still smarting from the Sooners' controversial loss Saturday, Bennett expressed optimism regarding a new multiplex arena in Seattle or in a suburb such as Bellevue.

"I am ever encouraged each time I'm here and as the meetings progress and as we continue to begin to frame up our team and ideas about the future," he said. "I continue to see a successful conclusion." From Gary Washburn's story in the Seattle PI.

Bennett has also said that the 12 month exploration in the northwest for a solution to the Sonics future would actually start after he actually had approval from the league to buy the team, that is supposed to happen at the October 24th league meetings.
Bennett also says that a site will emerge soon with a proposal. I expect all that to come rolling out as soon as he can legally say something, in late October, right before the season starts.
It's going to be a strange trip this year, hang in there Sonics fans, they will play some basketball too.
Go Sonics!

BTW, Collison and Ridnour are going to wait until next summer to talk about contracts. Like I said, "just maybe, both of those guys want to become restricted free agents next year." You can't tell me this is what the Sonics wanted, no way, they wanted those two to be under contract, but, it isn't what the players wanted. They want to get paid, they want to play and maybe they don't want to go to Oklahoma.
If Luke Ridnour loses his starting spot then maybe he doesn't want to hang around. If Collison is thrown in to stop the players that Wilcox can't defend and the team management does not see value in that then maybe he doesn't want to be here. They can afford to wait and see, it can only help them get more years by having the media talk about there contractual future everywhere they go.
In both cases we are lucky to have coach Bob Hill. I think Hill is a better communicator with all of his platers than Nate McMillan ever was, better than Bob Weiss.

Guess Work: Collison and Ridnour might want to sign

Wednesday, August 30, Percy Allen of the Seattle Times speculated that the signing of Nick Collison and Luke Ridnour to contract extensions "might be extremely difficult."

Allen noted all kinds of things, Chris Wilcox and his conrtact, Ridnour's value compared to Leandro Barbosa, blah, blah, blah. Allen makes a point when observed by how these guys fit into the team. But maybe, just maybe, both of those guys want to become restricted free agents next year. Why?

#1. The Sonics do not offer long deals unless it's cheap.
#2. The Sonics do not overpay.
#3. The Sonics do not break from #1 or #2 unless they are pressed by another team.

Another team can only press the Sonics if a player is a free agent, even a restricted free agent.

It is not out of the question for some other team to offer Ridnour the full MLE next year when you look around at the league and see what is passing for a starting PG in the NBA. Looking at the MLE in terms of money paid out in a contract extension it is overpaying. When it is viewed in the context of Ridour walking and the Sonics with nothing, matching the MLE next summer looks like a more reasonable proposition.

Maybe Ridnour wants to play on a team where he knows he's the starter, whatever, he doesn't have to sign anything until next summer. I think the Sonics look at the possibility of looking for another PG like they were when they were scambling for Earl Watson and just get it done. I don't see the Sonics wanting to go down that road next summer with Ridnour.

The flip side: Collison just isn't in a position right now to not extend his contract and if he can keep the years short then he, and Ridnour, could add a longer term deal on after the rookie and extention are played out.

I don't see either of these guys wanting to sign for cheap and to play through prime years and then hope for a better deal when they are 28 or 29. Trying to find a full MLE deal when you are 29 is pretty tough. It isn't as if Ridnour and Collison are 22 and can play out a three year extension and then have a reasonable chance at a long term contract. They both have to buy short or buy long, but something in the middle is out of the question.

I don't think the Sonics want to look 3 years down the road and see both Wilcox and Collison gone, so, signing Collison to a short deal doesn't help the team.

With Danny Fortson on the slow train out of town this team will not risk losing Collison too. The team will be young and thin as it is. If the money isn't high enough, or the years not long enough, then both Ridnour and Collison might opt to become restricted free gents. It has as much to do with what the players think as any thing else.

In the end I think the Sonics see both Ridnour and Collison as good investments in sound players that will hold their value for more than the next 5 years, so extending both of them for four years beyond next season doesn't have too much risk in those guys losing trade value. It will get done.

I don't agree with Percy Allen, I don't see the resigning of both of them as "slim". Between you and me, when you look closely at what Allen wrote you see that he was just stating his opinion (filler). He didn't offer any meaningful information that you or I couldn't gleen from the internet. My opinion is that he's wrong. I'll also state that he just threw this out there and he doesn't really know. He wasn't reporting, he was speculating.