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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS • Seattle SuperSonics (External Link) • Schedule (External Link) • Stats (External Link)   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008 Sonics mess likely to linger Expect more legal wrangling after judge issues her decision in KeyArena lease battle By John Sleeper Herald Columnist Three more days. Just three more days until federal Judge Marsha Pechman posts her ruling in the lawsuit between the Sonics and the city of Seattle. She's making us wait until 4 p.m. Wednesday. It'll feel like three months. But the ruling's full meaning and effect likely will string itself out for considerably longer than that. This should have been a joyous week in the area. It was in 29 other NBA cities. The draft represents change. It represents dreams. It represents hope. For 29 other NBA cities, it did. Chicago welcomed home one of its own, Derrick Rose, with the No. 1 pick. Minnesota and Memphis staged a blockbuster that sent Kevin Love to the Timberwolves and O.J. Mayo to the Grizzlies. Miami instantly got better by drafting Michael Beasley at No. 2. In Seattle, the draft couldn't overcome the trepidation. Will the Sonics stay or go? The apprehension's force was way beyond the powers of Russell Westbrook's undeniable appeal. Maybe we'll know the team's fate Wednesday. More likely, Pechman's decision will lead to even more time-consuming and staggeringly costly legal action. If Pechman rules in favor of Clay Bennett, it doesn't necessarily follow that the moving vans will roll to KeyArena at 4:15 p.m. By the same token, should Pechman favor the city, it's anything but certain that the team will remain in Seattle for the two-year duration of the KeyArena lease. But a city victory also would seem to heighten the possibility that Howard Schultz will go ahead with his lawsuit seeking to reverse the sale to Bennett's group on the grounds of Bennett's alleged failure to bargain in good faith. In turn, that may ratchet up pressure on the league to step in and settle. Commissioner David Stern, cognizant that this mess (along with the Tim Donaghy scandal) does nothing for the league's image, might be willing to swing a deal that would include a buyout by Bennett that would allow him to immediately move the team in exchange for an assurance by the league that Seattle would soon receive a new team. Turn up your nose at such an arrangement, but one likely alternative is a Sonic move to Oklahoma City in two years without a replacement at all. This is no time for greediness. A ruling in Bennett's favor, which would give the ownership group the OK to pay off the remaining two years of the lease and move eastward, would mean more legal wrangling to determine a financial settlement that would fulfill rent obligations. Then there's the possibility -- rather, the probability -- that the losing side will file an appeal, which would tie up the issue for a great deal of time. In a perfect world, we'd be assured to have a front-row seat to watch Westbrook develop into the multi-talented star his potential carries. We'd see him paired with Kevin Durant as part of what general manager Sam Presti refers to as the team's "foundation." We'd see D.J. White learn and thrive in the savagely physical part of the game. We'd see Serge Ibaka return from Spain after two years of seasoning, ready for the NBA. We would see years of future drafts and deals, orchestrated by Presti, that turn this slipshod franchise into a title contender, one that would summon memories of Payton and Kemp and Brown and Sikma. But the trial reminded us of that big elephant in the room. And Pechman's ruling, regardless of which way her scales of justice tip, doesn't figure to rid us of that elephant any time soon. Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, "Dangling Participles," go to www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.

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