Durant on OKC
At last night’s Sonics game against the Celtics, Sonics forward Kevin Durant weighed in on Oklahoma City’s NBA future, calling OKC a “great place for basketball.” Here’s a short story on what he had to say……
By Justin Rice
Special Correspondent
BOSTON — After a game against the NBA-leading Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics star Kevin Durant said Wednesday night that Oklahoma City could easily support pro basketball.
“I was fortunate enough to play there for the Big 12 Tournament,” said Durant, the presumptive Rookie of the Year, after an 111-82 loss to Boston. “A lot of people came out, and that shows a lot; it’s a sign of how much they love sports in Oklahoma City. It was a great place to be for basketball.”
Durant is the team’s present and future star, but he is just a bit player in the drama between the Oklahoma City-based Sonics ownership and the city of Seattle, which is suing to hold the team to the last two years of its lease. The Sonics have filed for relocation to Oklahoma City.
“I love Seattle, it’s a great city,” Durant said before scoring a team-high 16 points against a Celtics team that desperately tried to draft him. “But there’s not a great deal I can do about it. You can’t pick where you go in the draft, and you can’t pick where you’re going to play as a team.
“But wherever we do end up, we’re still the same team.”
-DM-
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Comments
Durant and the other players are going to love it here, just like the Hornets did.
The state refusing to help fund the Key remodel for the Ballmer group proves Bennett never had a chance of getting an arena deal done and totally screws them on the BOG vote and court case.
This will never make it to trial. Seattle will accept a buyout soon after the BOG vote and the team will be here next year. Hopefully they will rebrand the team so there are no lingering reminders and Seattle can go back to being just another place that we rarely hear or care about.
What “screws them” as far as the BOG vote and court case is David Stern and Clay Bennett’s puppy love for each other and the collusion from the beginning to get a team AWAY from an area that won’t shell out hundreds of millions for a needless arena and INTO one where it’s the only game in town.
People like you who will belittle the loyalty of fans in Seattle and the “worthiness” we boast toward having a team are a dime a dozen.
BEING A PLACE WHERE NOBODY HEARS ABOUT OR CARES ABOUT. YOUR OWN MAYOR VACATIONS HERE, FOOLIO! YOUR 2 TOP DOGS UNDER HIM, VACATION HERE OR CATCH THIER CRUISE SHIPS HERE. WE ARE IN THE TOP 15 BEST PLACES TO LIVE ON EARTH! NOW PHILLIP, IF YOU COULD TAKE A MINUTE FROM YOUR 7-11 JOB DUTIES (SINCE YOUR GM JOB LEFT TOWN), AND, ACTUALLY DO SOME RESEARCH BEFORE OPENING UP THE TRAP WITH A SOUTHERN DROOL (SP.). THE WHOLE COUNTRY IS LAUGHING AT YOUR DIRTY LIL CITY. WE ALL KNOW IF YOU GET A TEAM, IT WILL BE A COUPLE OF YEARS AND THEY WILL MOVE. THE HORNET PLAYERS DID NOT EVER SAY THE FORD CENTER WAS COOL, ECEPT WHEN A MICROPHONE WAS IN THIER FACE. WE HAVE TALKED WITH A FEW OF THEM HERE FOR THIER GAMES. THEY SAID THE HOTELS SUCKED, THE DINING SUCKED (UNLESS YOU CALL GOLDEN CORRAL DINING), AND, VERY FEW OF THEM WANTED TO PLAY THERE PERMANENTLY. YOUR SO-CALLED SELL-OUTS WERE GREATLY HELPED BY TICKETS BEING GIVEN AWAY IN BULK. WHEN WE SEE THE FINANCIALS AT THE TRIAL IN JUNE, WE WILL SEE THE ACTUAL AMOUNT ACTUALLY SOLD TO FANS, AND, HOW MANY WERE GIVEN AWAY TO MAKE THE PLACE LOOK SOLD-OUT. YOU PHILLIP, WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET VACATION TIME FROM YOUR NEW JOB, BUT, WE WILL SEE THE REST OF YOU IN JUNE!!!
LOVE,
MIKE U.
Hey Mike,
I’m as big a Sonics fan and Seattlite as you are, but people like you make us look like raving lunatics. Unlock your Caps Lock key man.
And if an Oklahoman insults you, just ignore it. It’s not worth your time to respond, and it makes you sound just as immature as they do.
Joey, you too. You are giving us a bad rep dude.
Oklahoma is a fine place to live, and Oklahomans aren’t your enemy.
Hey DM,
You really should be moderating these comments. Mindless insults are a waste of this space.
(Pete, you would think I wouldn’t have to. If any obscenities are seen they do get deleted. Thank you for being respectful to others. I can only hope that others follow your example. -DM-)
pete, i was sticking up for my town!! and pete your taking that same lazy, ho hum,awe schucks attitude that the scum in olympia are taking! if seattlites werent so damn passive, we probably wouldnt be in this position.
and stop policing us! we seattlites need to stick together. THEY, dont need to see us arguing!!
wow, people in seattle seem harsh. maybe if they spent more of their energy really trying to save their team (over the last few years) and less of their energy being insulting on the internet, we wouldn’t be talking about this. regardless of ticket sales, voters here are approving taxes to help teams we don’t even have, and voters in seattle won’t support the team that’s there. as the sports shows like to say, “who wants it more?”
I was just wondering why Bennett won’t put any of his own money into helping make Ford Center a better place to play and why the new lease has a provision for them to opt out after 4 years?
Guys in Seattle offered up 150 million of their own money to help out the arena, why can’t Bennett chip in something?
Doesn’t he have any confidence this will work in OKC?
You Seattle guys are a strange bunch……
That’s right Mickey, guys in Seattle offered up 150 million, 2 years too late and the state still just laughed at them.
Funny how you clowns want to blame everyone but yourselves for losing your team. Seattle screwed themselves……they didn’t need any help.
This one is pretty much over. You guys have been “Chopped up”.
Phillip
You are correct. The Sonics will probably play in OKC in the next couple of years. While the politicians here are pushing expansion to cover there failures the fans are definetly against it.
There will not be another NBA team in Seattle, just like there will never be another one in Vancouver BC.
You guys are just beginning to see how it will work. Sonics get naming rights revenue instead of City even though the City could have financed the Arena upgrades from them instead of a tax.
City hopes to break even.
Average life expectancy of NBA Arena is 5 years without major rebuild. Look for that in 2015.
New Arena from taxpayers, team takes all revenue.
More money from Public.
Good Luck. Sometimes it is better to not get what you wish for.
It ain’t all gumdrops and ponies…
http://www.nbaroto.com/2008/03/its-no-fun-being-seattle-supersonics.html
joey, it should have been “okc, you’re incredibly naive!” we might be naive, but at least we can spell it. tell kevin durant i can’t wait to buy his OKC jersey!
Did you catch this quote, Darnell: “I would love to stay in Seattle,” Durant said before the Sonics took on the Celtics Wednesday. “It’s a great city to be in. But unfortunately, things might not end up that way. But like I said, wherever we end up, we’re going to be the same team, but just in a different place”?
LOVE to stay in Seattle, but UNFORTUNATELY…
That’s all you need to remember with respect to Durant’s true feelings on where he’d like to play.
- Kevin
who cares what he thinks? his opinion means nothing. a rookie player wants to play where the checks will clear. but honestly, even if they are losing in OKC, they will average more fans per game. we support sports, not just winners. i’ve read how attendance is slipping, i just hope all you hard-core fans that love the sonics are at the games, not just suporting from the internet.
[Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:48 am]
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It looks like part of what Durant had to say was left out by the Seattle press…..
Boston– After a game against the NBA-leading Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics star Kevin Durant said Wednesday night that Oklahoma City could easily support pro basketball.
“I was fortunate enough to play there for the Big 12 Tournament,” said Durant, the presumptive Rookie of the Year, after an 111-82 loss to Boston. “A lot of people came out, and that shows a lot; it’s a sign of how much they love sports in Oklahoma City. It was a great place to be for basketball.” ……….
Like I said, the Sonics are gonna love it here, just like the Hornets did. They will be the biggest thing in the state……unlike Seattle, where most people just don’t care.
donuteyes, please don’t type before thinking.
A big reason fans aren’t attending as much is because they know the ownership is gung-ho about moving the franchise and that there’s good reason to be skeptical about them gutting the team of veteran talent now in order to stock up for the future. How can you trust them that they’re committed to bringing a competitive team to the fans here when they’re clearly maneuvering to move out? It makes sense to give the fans little to root for, for their purposes, and thus even solid Sonics fans have trouble justifying paying money to see a team that’s been built to fail. No one around here wants to give money to that sleazeball.
OKC averaged under 18,000 fans per Hornets home game in the second year there. That would place them around middle of the pack nationwide. They only played two years there so who knows what the attendance trend might’ve been. Expand KeyArena like the city of Seattle is looking to do (yeah, we got no state support, but there are still some stones being unturned), and with a population base of 3.2 million it wouldn’t be hard to turn out that many regularly.
And as long as you’re taking the liberty of correcting spelling, I do believe it’s “supporting.”
i got ahead of myself and missed that second ‘p’, but good call though. it seems like the people in seattle have a great EXCUSE as to why they won’t support their team. myself, i wouldn’t mind giving money to that sleazeball, if he kept my team at home. is it the coolest way to do business? no. are the people in seattle doing everything they can? no. i would think that selling out every game would send a bigger message than being clever on an oklahoma website. whatever, next year you won’t have a team to NOT support, for whatever reason you give yourself. we in OKC knew the hornets were leaving, and still supported them, just like we’ll support the team that you’re losing. i hope you don’t have a sorry, cry-baby excuse to not go to mariners and seahawks games, or you’ll lose them too.
do you call “supporting your team”, recieving close to 5,000 free tickets a game. the attendance numbers were bloated in the first place. if your so supportive, how come most big business has left okc. why did you not support GM?? besides the ranchers, and, the mayor, who will be able to afford tickets after the first 2 years. chris paul told a reporter here that he would have raised a stink, if he had to play in okc, so, keep bringing up how all those hornets liked the ford center. we have actually talked to a few of them. your town supported a team on charity. now, when its time to actually spend some of that paycheck on a game, we will see the true story. SEE YA IN JUNE!!!
MIKE U.
Hey Mike, Did your parents have any children born without brain damage? From your comments, it’s obvious you’re from the cesspool known as the big sleazy…..So why would we see you in June? Are you coming for a visit? Better enjoy the Hornets while you can, rumor has it they’re the team moving to Seattle, once this is all worked out.
i must have struck a nerve. free tickets or not, we go to the games. (no one gave me any free tickets, but anyway…) you sonics fans are cute. full of directionless anger, but cute. i agree with philip that seattle is “just another place that WE rarely hear or care about.” maybe you think it’s cool, and i hope so, but i care as little for seattle as you do for okc. so please, talk as much crap on okc as you can, maybe someone else in seattle will see how witty you are. i hope you enjoy your team while they last. your principles and opinion for clay bennet (who does suck) have lost you your team. newsflash- a lot of pro sports owners are shady. you had to ask yourselves what meant more to you. keeping the supersonics in seattle by building a new arena, or proving a point to bennet and saying no. you have spoken.
What’s the point of this blog? Is there any place that the Sonics could potentially move to that he isn’t going to praise? He knows how to handle the media and I don’t think this has much merit being posted other than to rile up the local populace.