| A Modern History of Seattle |
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| Written by Joe Buckley | |
| Friday, 04 July 2008 | |
 There are a tonne of articles circulating the web about what this means for the franchise and the two cities. There is not much point me simply repeating these articles, so i will instead try to pay some kind of tribute to ‘what was’ in Emerald City at least recently Ladies and Gentlemen we are gathered here today to pay tribute to the loving memory of the Seattle Supersonics. For the first three years, we saw Gary Payton use up the last of his athleticism and significance as Seattle sort of pondered what direction to take the franchise in. Vin baker gave us his last of decent performances and Rashard Lewis developed into somewhat of an interest as a 6-10 3 point shooting small forward. Desmond Mason could keep things interesting, even winning the Dunk Contest one year, and ‘Bones’ Barry developed into a key player. Though they were interesting, they weren’t enough. In the 02-03 season, Seattle said goodbye to perhaps their biggest ever star in Gary Payton, and ushered in a new era with Jesus Shuttlesworth coming to town. The first full season with Ray Allen was an up-and-down sort. An ankle injury to the all-star hit hard and promising rookie Nick Collison missed the entire season with a horrible shoulder injury. But after this...things got interesting. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis both became all-stars in the 2005 season. The west was looking different with Phoenix leading and Seattle being in a close second for most of the season. Ridnour became the starting point guard and Vladmir Rodamaovic also became a key piece. The new-look Sonics were the talk of the season and finished at 52-30, the first time the team had won 50 games since 1998. After dismantling a crashing Sacremento team in the first round, the Sonics came up against the hardened and eventual Champion San Antonio Spurs. The Sonics fought hard but injuries again took their toll and the sonics lost game 6 on a last second shot but Timmy Duncan. The next season, though the team was mostly the same, they did not play with the same heart, and the success of the previous season was not repeated. Injuries continued to hurt for another season and in the summer of 2007 the team changed. Rashard Lewis departed for Orlando in the biggest free agent signing of the summer and Ray Allen was part of the biggest trade as he went on to success in Boston with KG and the Truth. However, Seattle were given the easiest decision ever in the 07 Draft. They were given the 2nd pick, with Greg Oden and Kevin Durant to choose from. They simply would take whoever Portland didn’t. They ended up with Durant and also Georgetown standout Jeff Green, and now started to shape their team around these future stars. The sonics season was not a success, but the team does show potential, especially with Durant at the helm. The Team could really develop into something special... But Seattle won’t be able to watch.         Set as favorite Bookmark Comments
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