The NBA needs to bring back the Seattle Supersonics

Durant sitting on the bench while a fan
in the background holds a
Save Our Sonics sign.

Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Ray Allen, Kevin Durant. Those are only a few of the biggest names to play for the Seattle Supersonics. Seattle is such an amazing basketball city and has the best fan base out of every team in the NBA. I say this because they still support and rally a team that is not in the NBA right now. Well most would ask "why don't they have a team?" Simple, they got screwed. The NBA first and foremost is a business and fans have to be reminded sometimes. So seven years ago, the Sonics were ready to kick off what would be there last season in Seattle. The fans knew what was coming because a man by the name of Clay Bennett bought the Sonics in 2006. He was a business man from Oklahoma. Fans felt they were safe from the team moving because there were four years left on the Key Arena deal. To make a long story short the Sonics would be relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.

Here's where I think it gets interesting. If the Seattle Supersonics come back into the league as an expansion team, could it lead to the Grizzlies switching conferences? Now I think that would be a smart move by the NBA because it would lead to some more balance in both conferences. That would mean one less bad team making the playoffs in the east and one more good team making the playoffs in the west.

Now I don't know if there are rules on switching conferences, but if I am correct the New Orleans Hornets played in the eastern conference for two seasons before moving west and the Charlotte Bobcats taking their place in the east. Even with all that said the NBA is looking to change the playoff format to just the top 16 teams in the NBA. So if any shuffle in conferences were to be made it might not matter.

As for the Sonics there is a lot of NBA history left behind in Seattle and it need to reemerge. The Sonics won a championship in 1979. The team was coached by the great Lenny Wilkens. The teams best player was Jack Sikma, who many believe is an under rated player. Sikma was a 6'11" center who averaged 12.4 rebounds, 15.6 points and 1 block per game. This would earn him his first all-star game appearance in just his second season. Gus Williams would lead the team in scoring averaging 19.2 points per game. And the teams other all-star Dennis Johnson averaged 15.9 points per game. And the guys were 23, 25 and 24 years old respectively. They hadn't even reached there full potential. This was the only championship the Sonics would win and the three player mentioned would only play one more season together going 56-26.

In the 90's the Sonics were trying to become a power house again. 1996 they seemed like they had the best season in there franchises history finishing with a 64-18 record. The team was coached by George Karl, who is considered one of the greatest coaches of all time. They were also lead by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. The supporting cast of Hersey Hawkins, Sam Perkins and Detlef Schrempf made for a very good starting line up. Some even consider the 90's sonics the original lob city.

The trio of Rashard Lewis, Luke
Ridnour and Ray Allen

Going forward into the mid 2000's the team had players like Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, and Luke Ridnour leading the team. The team would make some noise in the playoffs, but never seemed to have what it would take to compete with the other teams in the West, most notable the Lakers and Spurs.

The rebuilding process would begin again in 2007 when the Sonics took Kevin Durant second overall in the draft. Unfortunately fans soon realized the new face of the franchise would be on the move along with the team and the fourth overall pick Russell Westbrook and 24th pick Serge Ibaka. Both selected by the Supersonics by the way. What a low blow to such a great franchise.

Rare picture of Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka
wearing there sonics jerseys after the draft.

Luckily the Sonics kept all the rights to their team colors and logos so when the day comes that they re-enter the NBA the nostalgia will be there. Seattle has been waiting too long for this. They still hold team rallies in Seattle for the Supersonics to keep team spirit alive and continue to push for an expansion team. With new commissioner Adam Silver at the helm I don't think it will be much longer before Seattle has a basketball team again.