This year’s NBA Western Conference semi-final series between Memphis and Oklahoma City is a particularly painful one for many NBA afficionados to watch. Not for the quality of the play: the Grizzlies are currently the best in the West, while Oklahoma City’s roster includes superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Oklahoma also have feel-good role players like Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins to boost their appeal.
But the Western Conference semi-final series is so difficult to watch because it showcases two NBA franchises that relocated from the Pacific Northwest to smaller Midwest markets.
In 2008, the club formerly known as the Seattle Sonics bolted town after forty-one years ingrained into Northwest folklore.
That span included twenty-two playoff campaigns, three NBA finals appearances and the 1979 NBA Championship where a three-guard rotation of Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson and “Downtown” Freddie Brown were anchored by the outstanding hair (and post game) of young centre Jack Sikma.
It rankles Seattle fans so much that many now take no interest at all in pro basketball. Nearly three years since new owner moved the franchise to Oklahoma City, there’s still enough ire for the man who sold the team, Howard Schultz, to eject fans from a book signing in upmarket Bellevue.
Many of the disenfranchised Sonic Nation now boycott his company, Starbucks, for having the nerve to sell to a man whose known aim was getting the NBA into Oklahoma City.
Even though the city of Seattle refused to relinquish the Supersonics’ name and the yellow and green which defined their jersey, Seattleites still seethe at the factors and faces involved in taking a young playoff team (comprising Westbrook and Durant) away from a staunch basketball city. even during periods of basketball droughts, the fans turned up. Key Arena, the Sonics’ home for most of their Northwest tenure, is now home only to the Seattle Storm and the Rat City Rollergirls.
Vancouver’s is a different story – the city simply wasn’t given a viable chance at NBA life. They existed in their expansion form for only six years before Michael Heisley purchased the team and moved them to basketball purgatory, Memphis, home of exactly zero other pro sports franchises.
The Grizzlies allegedly haven’t been profitable since moving to the Midwest, which led to a series of costcutting moves and Heisley’s consistent presence on “NBA’s worst owner” lists.
That their current roster is successful runs almost in spite of Heisley’s ownership as time and again he has failed to pay the right players and forked over for the wrong ones.
According to reliable hearsay, the decision to draft uberbust Hasheem Thabeet over almost every other draftee was his, overruling his personnel division. Only recently has he started to dig into his own capacious pockets, realising the only way to be profitable is to win.
Even with this new fiscal policy, his lucrative extension to Zach Randolph (while bidding against no-one else) proves he still struggles to get it right.
While it’s true that basketball has no chance to be the number one sport in Vancouver, it could well establish itself as a solid second behind a beloved Canuck team which consistently folds in the playoffs.
Rogers Arena is a beautiful, state-of-the-art complex which could easily, comfortably and profitably house an NBA franchise (The Vancouver Pacers, anyone? The Seattle Hornets?).
As someone who is a recent resident of both cities, there’s certainly demand enough for pro basketball in both cities: witness the support that both cities’ new MLS franchises have so quickly accumulated.
Seattle, however, is a basketball town. The list of key basketball players who grew up in Washington is remarkable: Brandon Roy, Jamal Crawford, John Stockton, Jason Terry, Detlef Schrempf, Doug Christie and Aaron Brooks all attended High School in the state. Shawn Kemp, Fred Brown, Slick Watts and Bill Russell, among others, all still reside on Puget Sound.
During NCAA tournament month, bars go crazy with expectation for the Universities of Washington, Washington State and Gonzaga. Now, playoff time in Seattle is met only with the green and blue of Seattle Sounders scarves.
Game One was a typical Grizzly win, as the club rode Z-Bo’s inside scoring. To even the series, Game Two saw the Zombie Sonic bench blow up behind young guards Eric Maynor and James Harden.
The Thunder, even though they won 55 games this year, lost three of their four games against the 46-win Grizzlies this season, although key post defender Kendrick Perkins did not play in any of those matches.
With the teams evenly matched, the series should be an exciting spectacle for the average NBA fans, especially in light of a pending lockout.
Here in Seattle, there’s a small, sad shrug and hope the Mariners don’t suck as bad tonight. Basketball’s dead to this city. It’s why all in Sacramento fear the Anaheim Royals. They should.
Matthew Wood writes at Balanced Sports.
Mushi
Guest
Not exactly mid west? Sorry mate no part of your argument holds weight
matthew_wood040
Roar Rookie
Mushi, As regards Tennessee's location, you're quite right - it's not exactly the Midwest as defined. Memphis is popularly acknowledged in the USA as a college sports town and a market which doesn't fully support pro basketball. The Memphis Tigers have successful football and basketball programs - partly evidenced by Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans' recent emergence under John Calipari. If you took a straw poll in Memphis about which team they supported more, the most popular answer would be the Tigers. Perhaps Pro Basketball purgatory would be a better term - especially for a team which until the past two years has had, at best, modest support. I'd also argue your calling Memphis a "basketball town", but that comes down largely to definitions. I'll admit to disappointment that the Sonics aren't in the city I currently call home. But having grown up following the NBA, there's more to it than that: it's also that the Sonics were a significant part of the NBA landscape and to see a league without them (even before moving here) feels awkard and slightly wrong. The history that went along with forty-one years of Seattle Supersonics now doesn't play much of a role in the NBA, which I find sad - as they played a significant role for most of their NW life. We're allowed to mourn changes we disagree with to a league we love.
Brycee
Guest
I thought this was a great read. I don't necessarily agree that Memphis is a basketball purgatory, but it is fact that the franschise has somewhat struggled there. Its great to see them doing well, minus the ridiculous drafting of Thabeet, they are great young team to watch. Sonics drafted more than their fair share of hacks of the years... Robert Swift anyone? However the main point I wanted to make was that: I MISS THE SONICS!! I now follow the Thunder and I love watching the likes of Durant and Westbrook develop and dominant before our eyes, but I still can't help but wish they were doing it wearing the Sonics green and yellow. The whole way it unfolded was a damn shame.
mushi
Guest
I have never ever heard of a confederate state like Tennessee being described as Midwest. It sits nestled in between Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. But I’d call it a Midwest state (despite being the battle front for the Civil war) before saying it was “basketball purgatory” compared to the hotbed of orange activity in Vancouver – which has a basketball history about as extensive as Kevin Rudd reign as PM. You point to Washington’s basketball pedigree and yet Tennessee has been the birth place of 70 NBA and ABA players whilst Washington has 45? How about lauding the support for college basketball in Washington where the players produced by the current div 1 teams stands at 56, whilst Tennessee has pushed out 110 (stats courtesy of Basketball Reference) including a certain MVP winner. I get it, your bitter about the Sonics moving on (this is one thing when we laud the IC in rugby league that everyone conveniently glosses over) but nothing supports calling Memphis, a basketball town, A Mid West town of Basketball Purgatory.
matthew_wood040
Roar Rookie
Kevin, you're right - speculation on what might have been in useless. But really, the depth of feeling here in the Pacific NW is still very strong regarding the Sonics leaving town, as are many in Vancouver. Whether the Thunder/Grizz would be competing today were they still in their original cities isn't so much of an issue rather than years on there's still enough good memories - especially the Kemp/Payton runs of the mid-90s - which are blotted out now by the bad. Vancouver, due to poor management, never stood a chance of remaining in Canada although fan numbers were quite good. Let's not be revisionist about the last decade, but it is fair to note people still hurt, ten or only three years on - and it's not made easier by seeing the franchises succeed.
MD43
Guest
Importantly though after how successful the Thunder have been both on and off the court, you can't argue that Oklahoma City didn't deserve a team. The stadium in Seattle was well behind what is expected of an NBA team, although Bennett did seem intent on taking the Sonics to Oklahoma as soon as he bought them. Not that the fans in Seattle deserved to have their team ripped away from them the way that it was. Memphis has always had the potential for success, but like you said the ownership has been god awful, and blind freddie could have seen Thabeet would be a bust. The thing is though that in Memphis they have the chance to be the main team (well... they are the only team) and capture the entire city's hearts if they can actually be successful, where as in Vancouver the Grizzlies would always be playing second fiddle to the Canucks. Plus the NBA in Vancouver couldn't have been handled much worse than it was.
TomC
Guest
Great article. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
Kevin W
Guest
This is ridiculous. Speculation on what the Sonics and Grizzlies MIGHT have accomplished had they not relocated is absurd. Especially given the overall mediocrity of Seattle sports.