Seattle SuperSonics

By Darrin Beene Sonics draft picks RUSSELL WESTBROOK (First round, No. 4) For a slide show of Westbrook, click here. SERGE IBAKA (First round, No. 24) Stats: Playing in the Spanish LEB Gold League, Ibaka averaged 11.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game. He shot 53.3 from the field and 62.1 from the line.

Also, several national columnists commiserated on the Sonics moving to Oklahoma City, including ESPN's J.A. Adande, CBS.Sportline's Ray Ratto, Yahoo's Johnny Ludden,, Fox Sports Mike Kahn, and New Orleans Times-Picayune's John DeShazier.

One has Seattle trading its No. 4 overall pick and power forward Chris Wilcox, heading into the final season of a three-year deal that will pay him $6.75 million, to Miami for power forward Mark Blount and the Heat’s No. 2 overall pick, and a chance to select Kansas State power forward Michael B...

Defense attorney's for the Sonics painted a clear picture of Walker's involvement with Slade Gordon, Steve Ballmer and Mike McGavick in an orchestrated effort to keep the team in Seattle long term, which included a plan to "drive a wedge" between the NBA and the ownership group.

Seattle author Sherman Alexie brought some much-needed emotion to the trial between the City of Seattle and the Sonics over terms of the KeyArena lease. To be blunt, there’s a lot more black people in KeyArena during a basketball game than pretty much any other mainstream event in Seattle...

BY ERIC D. WILLIAMS Eric.williams@thenewstribune.com Here’s a revelation: The Seattle SuperSonics likely will continue to lose millions of dollars if the team is forced to stay in Seattle for two more seasons and honor terms of the KeyArena lease.

Sonics chairman Clay Bennett is expected to testify once Syngh is finished. Scheduled to testify today are Sonics chairman Clay Bennett, Sonics CEO Danny Barth and three expert witnesses for Andrew Zimbalist, Todd Meneberg and Lon Hatamiya.

The City of Seattle seemed to rebound in afternoon court proceedings at the federal courthouse in Seattle. Former Sonics Xavier McDaniel and Gary Payton, shown above, spoke a the rally. Listen to GP here. And a crowd of about 1,000 showed up to show their support for keeping the team in Seattl...

The Detroit Pistons, expected to get back to the NBA Finals this season, fired head coach Flip Saunders, shown here in this Associated Press photo, this morning. Read more about the move here. Aaron Goodwin, agent for Kevin Durant, discusses his philosophy on representing players and the...

I actually have some news to report, but it’s basketball related. The NBA hasn’t released it yet, but Kevin Durant has won the Western Conference rookie of the month again, this time for the month of April. That means Durant won rookie of the month every month this season accept for February,...

Probable starters for the Sonics are Earl Watson, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Nick Collison and Johan Petro. ESPN senior writer Lester Munson, a Chicago attorney and journalist, says Howard Schultz plans to file a lawsuit against Clay Bennett to get the team back is a long shot.

Seattle rookie Kevin Durant teased Sonics fans tonight, showing them what they might see next season with a career-high 42 points, and earning his first double-double of the season by grabbing 13 rebounds. That's it for now. I'm heading to New York and will provide regular updates on the me...

Listen to conversations with Nick Collison and Jeff Green after Seattle’s 99-95 win over Dallas Sunday night. Listen to other Sonic players talk about Sunday’s game at KJR’s Sonics page here. And he also discusses the Sonics tenuous situation in Seattle here.

Dallas owner Mark Cuban also made the trip with his team, and addressed the Seattle-area media, basically saying again that he will vote against the Sonics relocating at the owners meeting in New York. You can listen to the conversation with Cuban here.

By Eric Williams Starters for Seattle are the same, with Earl Watson, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Nick Collison and Johan Petro. Carlesimo and the Sonics will make their first trip to San Antonio on Friday. Carlesimo said it will be a different feeling being on the other sideline.

Mike Kahn - National NBA columnist for Foxsports.com joins Money to talk MVP race, the future of the Sonics, the Lakers chances in the playoffs.

Former Sonics coach George Karl also made what perhaps might be his last coaching appearance in KeyArena,although Karl remains positive a solution will come about that keeps the Sonics in Seattle. Karl wore a tie with the Space Needle painted on it in honor of the Sonics.

By Eric Williams Dupree played three different years for Detroit, and also has played for Minnesota and Chicago. Dupree has a good relationship with Sonics assistant general manager Scott Perry, from Perry's time in Detroit. Dupree also played for Sonics assistant Ralph Lewis when Lewis was the head coa...

Here’s my story today on the new arena proposal presented by Fred Brown and Dave Bean on Tuesday, called the Emerald City Center. Kevin Durant earned his fourth Rookie of the Month honor for March on Tuesday. Listen to Durant talk about the award here.

The Sonics fall to 40 games below .500 with a loss to Sacramento on Sunday. Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo talks about the game here. In The Oklahoman today, New Jersey Nets owner Lewis Katz talks about why Oklahoma City will succeed in its support of an NBA team.

Most of the interview was just a rehash of what has been happening the past week, but Gorton, who's firm is representing the city in its court case against the Sonics, did reiterate that he believes the city has a very good chance of winning the court case in June, and that if and when the city a...

By Eric Williams Also, the campaign for Al Horford as Rookie of the Year continues, with Atlanta Hawks players lobbying for their teammate to win the award here. I thought these comments by Atlanta rookie point guard Acie Law, who played against Kevin Durant when Durant was at Texas and Law was at Texas A &am...

Seattle signed Mike Wilks to a second 10-day contract today, which means he'll be with the team at least until March 20. Wilks has only appeared in one game for Seattle, but said he's getting more comfortable with the system and looking forward to proving himself worthy of an invite to Sonic...

Looks like Johan Petro will remain in the starting lineup, which means the Sonics will go with Earl Watson, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox and Petro. After Friday’s stinker against Philadelphia Friday Collison said it’s important for the Sonics to play better against the Raptor...

And the NBA is coming to Oklahoma City, or at least the relocation committee is on March 25 to check out the city’s Ford Center facility and review the city’s potential as an NBA city. David Stern again has harsh words for Seattle and the situation with the Sonics in a visit to Portland on Tuesd...

Carlesimo said Petro is stll making the adjustment to playing extended minutes against other team's frontline players. Further, now that Petro is in the starting linup, he's getting more attention from other teams in their scouting reports.

By Eric Williams Former Seattle SuperSonics head whistle blower, and current Denver Nuggets coach George Karl is back in town with the Nuggets taking on the Sonics tonight. Starters for Seattle tonight are Luke Ridnour, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox and Johan Petro.

I caught up with Marshall and talked about the trade that sent him from Cleveland to Seattle. He says he's obviously still adjusting, and not having his family here has been the hard part. Marshall has six kids, including a senior in high school, back in Cleveland, and said he's never been tra...

By Eric Williams Ex-Sonics Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West saw their first time for Cleveland tonight, as the Cavaliers defeated Memphis 109-89. Szczerbiak finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and two rebounds in 32 minutes.

Seattle general manager Sam Presti also met with the media today to discuss the recent trades. During the press conference Presti was asked if the Sonics ownership group had requested that he dump salary in order to help save the organization money, with the Sonics currently struggling f...

By Eric Williams The News Tribune columnist John McGrath weighs in on the 11-player, three-team deal that sent Seattle’s Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to Cleveland. ESPN’s John Hollinger rates all of the trades that happened before the February trade deadline. Here’s what he says about Seattle send...

The NBA will release its most popular individual and team jerseys in its NBA team store in New York and online on Thursday, and Seattle’s Kevin Durant is No. 11 on the individual list. Boston’s Kevin Garnett jersey is the most popular, and the Boston Celtics are the most popular team.

48 -- The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant scored a season-high 48 points, including the game winner as Seattle lost its seventh straight, this time a 123-121 overtime loss to the Lakers. 55-45 Seattle’s rebounding advantage over the Lakers, who were missing talented center Andrew Bynum (knee injur...

The Sonics scrimmaged for most of the practice today, but had only 10 players available. Chris Wilcox (dislocated right pinkie finger) and Luke Ridnour (sore left quad) both returned to practice on Sunday, and should be ready to go against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.

22 -- The number of turnovers Seattle had, as giveaways came back to haunt Seattle again in a 108-86 blowout loss to the Wizards in Washington, D.C. Sunday morning. 11-of-34 -- The combined shooting numbers from the floor of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green in the two rookie’s return home as both st...

By Eric Williams 14 -- Kurt Thomas’ rebound total, the eighth time he’s finished with double digits in rebounds. Thomas also played good defense on Boston’s Kevin Garnett. Listen to Carlesimo talk about the game here. And Ray Allen talks about being back in Seattle here.

The key for the Sonics will be containing Brandon Roy, who is averaging 23.6 points and 6.8 assists during Portland’s winning streak. Damien Wilkins will start on Roy, but expect Kevin Durant and perhaps Delonte West or Mickael Gelabale to see some time against Roy.

Seattle head coach P.J. Carlesimo said the Sonics will have to defend the pick-and-roll tonight, with Toronto running 55 to 60 of them a game. Making it harder on the Sonics is the Raptors have several players who can shoot from beyond the arc, so Seattle will have to vary who comes to help off th...

33 -- The number of assists the Sonics had, a season high, on 47 field goals as Seattle defeated Toronto 123-115. The defense wasn’t spectacular, but Seattle did have 10 blocks as a team tonight, with Kurt Thomas leading the way with three blocks.

67 -- The number of points Seattle gave up in the first half 54-32 -- The Bulls scoring advantage inside the paint over Seattle. 53.7 -- Heading into the game with Seattle the Bulls were shooting a league-worst 39.8 percent from the field. But they shot much better against the Sonics.

6-- The number of Sonics in double figures. 47-36-- The margin New York outrebounded Seattle, but the Sonics overcame the disparity. Now, can they do it again? Seattle travels to Minnesota to play the T-Wolves on Friday in another winnable game for the Sonics.

By Eric Williams 13-- Seattle’s rebound advantage (56-43), as the Sonics big men continue their strong play inside. Seattle had no time out left, so Collison and the rest of the Sonics were put in a tough situation when Jannero Pargo missed both free throws.

By Eric Williams 7-- Seattle shooting percentage from the 3-point line (1-of-14). 21 -- Seattle forced 21 turnovers, turning the miscues into 26 points. Asked how his lip is, Thomas said, “Beautiful.” They’ve all got their two cents in," Thomas said.

By Eric Williams 6 -- Seattle rookie Kevin Durant’s total points, tying a season low.. 46-34-- Utah’s scoring advantage over Seattle inside the paint. Seattle played better after that, but had no answer for the inside-out game of Carlos Boozer (21 points, 16 rebounds) and Deron Williams (18 points, 10 assi...

By Eric Williams Seattle (5-16) at Chicago (6-12) Series: Seattle lost both contests last season, a 99-84 setback in Chicago and a 107-101 defeat in Seattle. Rookie Kevin Durant also talked about playing in the United Center for the first time – the house that Michael Jordan built.

By Eric Williams Scouting the Sonics: Delonte West and Robert Swift will be inactive again today. Seattle faces a pretty big team inside in the Knicks with Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, David Lee and Randolph Morris, so rebounding will be a key for Seattle tonight, particularly on the defensive end.

P.J. Carlesimo was hired Thursday as coach of the SuperSonics, eight years after being fired from his last head coaching job and ending Seattles search.

The Suns have tried Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa, Kurt Thomas and, with Wednesdays game, James Jones in search of the answer for the teams fifth starter. The four joined Shawn Marion in giving the Suns the 10991 victory.

Sonics owner Clay Bennett tells the P-I Editorial Board that this "deal is easy to beat single-handedly without even trying." He said the question is: does King County want a world-class facility with the Sonic and Storm basketball teams as core tenants?