Bleachers' Brew #106 Requiem

Bittersweet Symphony
For a brief moment, Seattle was the center of the music world the way Liverpool was when a certain Fab Four taught the world to twist and shout. The grunge music scene that was spawned in the Emerald City is now gone like its late tragic icon Kurt Cobain.

And now the Supersonics, a fixture in Seattle for four decades, are leaving the Pacific Northwest for honky-tonk Oklahoma. In their wake, they leave behind one NBA championship, countless memorable games, and those personalities in green, gold, and white. There was Walt Hazzard, Freddie Brown, Lenny Wilkins, Jack Sikma, Marvin Webster, Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson, Dale Ellis, Tom Chambers, Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Xavier McDaniel, who aside from being one of the team’s more famous players made a just as memorable cameo in Cameron Crowe’s Singles (there’s your connection between grunge and basketball).

Linda (to Steve while having sex): What are you thinking right now?
Xavier McDaniel: I just go out and just play basketball. Good hard nosed basketball. Things happen throughout the course of the game; there’s nothing you can do. I’ll go out and look for something I’ll beat this guy up. I’ll beat that guy up
Reporter: Anything else, X?
Xavier McDaniel: Yes. Steve, don’t cum yet.

The X-Man. He formed one of the great scoring trios of the 1980’s alongside Dale Ellis and Tom Chambers who competed against the LA Express of Kareem, Magic, and Big Game James, the run and gun Dallas Mavericks of Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, and Detlef Schrempf, and the original Big Three of LarryKevinRobert.

With his bald head and piercing eyes, McDaniel was the heir to Maurice Lucas’ throne as league’s most fearsome enforcer. But X wasn’t all intimidation. He definitely got game and he didn’t lead America in scoring and rebounding (the first player to do so) while in college at Wichita State for nothing.

As McDaniel departed the northwest for the east (with a brief stopover at Phoenix), he gave way for the last two icons in a Supersonics jersey. If Stockton to Malone is the staple for the pick and roll, the Glove to the Reign Man is to the alley-oop. GP would throw it up somewhere in the stratosphere utterly confident that Shawn Kemp with his massive hands and insane hops would find the ball and let gravity do the rest.

And perhaps as one final cruel tease to Seattleites, they’ve got arguably their latest star in Kevin Durant since Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, and Desmond Mason departed for other teams.

I really thought that the NBA should have helped make the franchise stay in Seattle because they are an institution in the city. Ronnie, a friend of mine who has lived in Seattle for the last decade, says the mood of Seattleites is one anger and dismay. And his is an impassioned plea: “Every team has its ups and downs. Do you think that David Stern would allow the Knicks to leave for Connecticut? The Sonics are a part of Seattle the way Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, and Tully’s are. They are the nicknamed “the Sonics” because of Boeing. That doesn’t cut it in Oklahoma. Key Arena is a landmark the way Pike Market, the Space Needle, and Puget Sound are. This is where Microsoft and Amazon.com have their corporate headquarters. For heaven’s sake, this is the setting for Grey’s Anatomy, iCarly, and Sleepless In Seattle! And this is the fictional hometown of DC Comics’ Green Arrow!”

“This is bigger than the Celtics closing down the original Boston Garden – at least they still have a team. We’ll now be known as Sonic-less in Seattle!” Now if that last line doesn’t make current owner Clay Bennett have a change of heart nothing else will.

But the nostalgia and history aside, it really is time to renovate the decrepit Key Arena, the bone of contention for the departure. But it isn’t that simple. There have been talks about moving the new arena to the Puget Sound area or even in suburban Renton all of which will come from taxpayers’ pockets. The Sonics are also said to have no economic impact in the city and despite Durant’s Rookie of the Year play, attendance has been on the decline. Some critics of the team say that the basketball team’s pullout will hardly be felt.

It’s a confluence of things that have contributed to this and it looks like it’s an end of an era in Seattle. The rain in the end will mask any tears shed for this glorious franchise.

Setting Suns
Could life in the fast lane for the Phoenix Suns be over? It’s been four years since Steve Nash re-joined his first NBA team and in my honest opinion, I think their window of opportunity has closed. Last year was the biggest chance to make it back to the NBA Finals but they were derailed by the suspensions of Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw in Game 4 of last year’s Western Semifinals. I felt that the NBA should have shown better judgment in handling those suspensions because it affected the outcome of the series. Yes, a rule is a rule, but they should be interpreted in the interest of fairness.

But I do understand why the NBA takes a hard line stance against such fights even incidents where players get off the bench.

Stern’s former deputy, Russ Granik, who served in that capacity for 22 years before retiring in 2006, said, “Most of the rules that we have governing fights and violence grew out of the Washington-Tomjanovich incident in December of 1977. That incident made it clear of the potential dangers of letting men this size take full swings at one another. There are times when we get criticized for being too hard on those who are on the periphery of the fight, but you have to remember that Rudy (Tomjanovich) wasn’t in the fight when it broke out. The more people who get involved, the more dangerous a fight becomes. We had to take steps to keep this sort of things from happening again.”

Not long after Granik was quoted on this, a fight broke out when Shaquille O’Neal snapped from the Hack-A-Shaq strategy employed by teams when he went after the Chicago Bulls’ Brad Miller. "He lands one of those (punches – O’Neal’s most ferocious punch missed but he landed the second), and I feel sorry for the guy he connects with," said then-Bulls rookie Tyson Chandler.

But for all intents and purposes, the sun began to set on Phoenix after that game. They were clearly never the same as they would later send long-time stud Shawn Marion to Orlando and disenfranchise coach Mike D’Antoni who claimed that he felt he never had the support of the front office (General Manager Steve Kerr and owner Robert Sarver).

The Suns who have been eliminated from post-season play by the San Antonio Spurs in four of the last five years, have countered the triumvirate of Tim Duncan-Manu Ginobili-Tony Parker with Nash-Stoudemire-Marion. Aside from the obvious play in the clutch, I always thought that it was the Spurs’ bench and Bruce Bowen that made the difference. The Spurs’ Big Three could all hit the outside shot; something that Stoudemire isn’t that all proficient with and that is one huge difference. I’ve always maintained that one’s value in any professional hoops league is significantly higher if you could hit the outside shot.

The Suns will all their trades this season – Grant Hill and Shaq in particular – have gotten older. I wonder if they’ll run despite the presence of Nash, Stoudemire, and Leandro Barbosa who was a little quiet this year.

The window of opportunity for an NBA team is open for only a short time then it closes shut then it’s time once more to rebuild. And in the Valley of the Sun, the hottest topic is what’s next?