Sonic Boom!!!! A Return to Seattle?
Sonic Boom: The sound associated with the shock waves created by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound.
All signs are pointing to the Sacramento Kings being sold by the Maloof's to Seattle investors in the very near future and rebirth of the Seattle Supersonics is great news. I've missed the Sonics as they were one of my favorite teams to watch back in the 1990’s. I was a fan of Shawn Kemp and those magnificent yet hardcore flight driven dunks. Those days needs to make a comeback. Present day players like Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers do a very good job at captivating the crowd with thunderous dunks but we're still missing a lot of the 90's attitude in this current day NBA. That's is why I would love to see Seattle regain a team and also see the Charlotte Bobcats transformed back into the Charlotte Hornets. Their potential returns would not bring back the playing style I grew up on but in general it would be great for the league. If anyone remembers the early 90’s, they know how strong the Sonics were in the Western Conference.....they were the team to beat!
In the 1995-96 year the Sonics had a regular season record of 64-18, Led by Shawn Kemp and Defensive Player of the Year Gary Payton, the Super Sonics defeated the Sacramento Kings in the first round, swept the reigning champions Houston Rockets and got past the Utah Jazz in seven games in the Conference Finals to reach the championship finals were they would face the Chicago bulls. That was the first time the Super Sonics had been in the finals since 1979, But awaiting them was the Hungry Michael Jordan and his gang the Chicago Bulls who started there comeback as NBA champions and another 3-peat up their sleeves.
Despite them losing in the finals, the line up they had was still amazing to watch, you had Shawn kemp the reign man at (PF), Gary Payton was really the Glove in those years at (PG), Detlef Schrempf at (SF), Ervin Johnson at (C) , and Hersey Hawkins at (SG), and we can’t forget old Sam Perkins . Man this is giving me goose bumps and crazy flash backs. Plus those shoes, the Kamakazies, worn by Shawn Kemp; those shoes were the shit and it seems like every other kid in school had a pair, I wasn’t fortunate enough to own a pair at that time but many of my friends did have a pair, but I had my eyes set out on the Air Penny Hardaway's, that was my favorite shoe at that time.
The City of Seattle has been working hard on getting a team back in the city and they have even gotten a new arena deal approved. I hate to see a team leave a city as is the case for the Sacramento Kings and it would have been nice to see Seattle gain a team through expansion but then there would have to be another team added in the Eastern Conference to balance out the schedule. All in all it seems as if the Sonics are close to returning to a city, a league that has missed them for the last 5 NBA seasons. Upon their return it will be nice to see old Sonics greats welcome their franchise back to their city. A couple of seasons ago as the Thunder began their ascension as one of the top teams in the league, they invited Sonics great Shawn Kemp to attend a game, Kemp declined by stating simply, I am a Sonic. Kemp shared his thoughts on why he declined with KJR in Seattle back in 2011.
“It’s going to be tough but let me tell you guys this…I live out here in Seattle, I’ll carry the Sonics in my heart for the rest of my life, but I have a problem rooting for Oklahoma. I just do. I was invited to the last game when they played against in Denver to sit in the front row. I can’t do it.”
“It’s really different for me because I know they have the banners of some of the accomplishments here in this city hanging up there, and it’s very awkward for me to look at that stuff knowing that that stuff was done in Seattle, and we’re now in the middle of Timbuktu. So it would be different. I was honored for them to call me, but at the same time my heart and my loyalty remains here in the Northwest.”
“I got to tell you the funny part about it. The funny part about it is this….I didn’t get a chance to call you guys but I was like ‘man, I hope I don’t turn this game on tomorrow night and see Gary sitting in the front row’. I knew it wasn’t going to happen that way and it wasn’t. I didn’t see any guys on the front row so they probably shot that down when they realized.”
“My buddies told me ‘you should have gone down there and put on your old Sonics uniform and sat in the front row.’”
All signs are pointing to the Sacramento Kings being sold by the Maloof's to Seattle investors in the very near future and rebirth of the Seattle Supersonics is great news. I've missed the Sonics as they were one of my favorite teams to watch back in the 1990’s. I was a fan of Shawn Kemp and those magnificent yet hardcore flight driven dunks. Those days needs to make a comeback. Present day players like Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers do a very good job at captivating the crowd with thunderous dunks but we're still missing a lot of the 90's attitude in this current day NBA. That's is why I would love to see Seattle regain a team and also see the Charlotte Bobcats transformed back into the Charlotte Hornets. Their potential returns would not bring back the playing style I grew up on but in general it would be great for the league. If anyone remembers the early 90’s, they know how strong the Sonics were in the Western Conference.....they were the team to beat!
In the 1995-96 year the Sonics had a regular season record of 64-18, Led by Shawn Kemp and Defensive Player of the Year Gary Payton, the Super Sonics defeated the Sacramento Kings in the first round, swept the reigning champions Houston Rockets and got past the Utah Jazz in seven games in the Conference Finals to reach the championship finals were they would face the Chicago bulls. That was the first time the Super Sonics had been in the finals since 1979, But awaiting them was the Hungry Michael Jordan and his gang the Chicago Bulls who started there comeback as NBA champions and another 3-peat up their sleeves.
Despite them losing in the finals, the line up they had was still amazing to watch, you had Shawn kemp the reign man at (PF), Gary Payton was really the Glove in those years at (PG), Detlef Schrempf at (SF), Ervin Johnson at (C) , and Hersey Hawkins at (SG), and we can’t forget old Sam Perkins . Man this is giving me goose bumps and crazy flash backs. Plus those shoes, the Kamakazies, worn by Shawn Kemp; those shoes were the shit and it seems like every other kid in school had a pair, I wasn’t fortunate enough to own a pair at that time but many of my friends did have a pair, but I had my eyes set out on the Air Penny Hardaway's, that was my favorite shoe at that time.
The City of Seattle has been working hard on getting a team back in the city and they have even gotten a new arena deal approved. I hate to see a team leave a city as is the case for the Sacramento Kings and it would have been nice to see Seattle gain a team through expansion but then there would have to be another team added in the Eastern Conference to balance out the schedule. All in all it seems as if the Sonics are close to returning to a city, a league that has missed them for the last 5 NBA seasons. Upon their return it will be nice to see old Sonics greats welcome their franchise back to their city. A couple of seasons ago as the Thunder began their ascension as one of the top teams in the league, they invited Sonics great Shawn Kemp to attend a game, Kemp declined by stating simply, I am a Sonic. Kemp shared his thoughts on why he declined with KJR in Seattle back in 2011.
“It’s going to be tough but let me tell you guys this…I live out here in Seattle, I’ll carry the Sonics in my heart for the rest of my life, but I have a problem rooting for Oklahoma. I just do. I was invited to the last game when they played against in Denver to sit in the front row. I can’t do it.”
“It’s really different for me because I know they have the banners of some of the accomplishments here in this city hanging up there, and it’s very awkward for me to look at that stuff knowing that that stuff was done in Seattle, and we’re now in the middle of Timbuktu. So it would be different. I was honored for them to call me, but at the same time my heart and my loyalty remains here in the Northwest.”
“I got to tell you the funny part about it. The funny part about it is this….I didn’t get a chance to call you guys but I was like ‘man, I hope I don’t turn this game on tomorrow night and see Gary sitting in the front row’. I knew it wasn’t going to happen that way and it wasn’t. I didn’t see any guys on the front row so they probably shot that down when they realized.”
“My buddies told me ‘you should have gone down there and put on your old Sonics uniform and sat in the front row.’”
