In a strange convergence of sorts, perhaps the NBA schedule had history and poetic justice in mind for what might be the death march for the Seattle SuperSonics franchise.

As the final three weeks ticked down of the worst season in the 41-year history of the franchise (19-62 going into Wednesday's merciful regular season finale at Golden State), there was plenty of sentiment and tradition on display. All that Sunday night's 99-95 win over the Dallas Mavericks lacked was Elton John stopping by KeyArena on the way back from his concert at Washington State University to play "Funeral For a Friend" after the final buzzer.

A near sellout crowd watched what could have been the final NBA game ever in KeyArena, with plenty of people involved in the storied Sonics past on hand, although the key proponents of moving the team to Oklahoma City - owner Clay Bennett, NBA commissioner David Stern and the man who sold them down the river to Bennett, Howard Schultz - were nowhere to be found.

Even at 19, the Sonics one bright spot for the season, Kevin Durant, bemoaned the prospects, hopeful that perhaps winning the rookie of the year would be more than just the final honor for this franchise in Seattle. It would leave something for the history of the franchise and the city, something that has meant a lot to him as a rookie and a fan of the NBA growing up.

"I'd be upset about leaving Seattle, but we can't do anything about it," Durant said. "We've got to play regardless, so today, if they say we're going to Oklahoma, I guess we've got to pack up and go. I always knew what the Sonics were about. Every team I've played for I know what happened before - that kind of paved the way for guys like me to come through. Seattle is a legendary city (in the NBA) and a great city to play in, and it would be tough to leave here. If I bring back rookie of the year, that would mean a lot for our team more than myself. To bring that back would be a ray of light for the Seattle SuperSonics."

A quartet of fans decked out in striped prison garb bearing the letter, "OKC, Bennett, Stern and $chultz" was making a lot of noise in one section. The biggest cheer until the Sonics closed out the game with a 10-0 run came when future Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton was recognized midway through the second quarter with a standing ovation.

And when the clock ticked down the final seconds of the game, the scoreboard flashed the face of legendary gunner Fred Brown seated courtside - he of the recent press conference recently presenting a pie-in-the-sky $1 billion complex around a basketball/hockey arena on Puget Sound without a site or money - which is the glaring problem from Stern's perspective.

Over the last three weeks, the Sonics' wins over the Trail Blazers, Nuggets and the Mavericks have come loaded with incredulous Seattle supporters on the other side.

The Blazers are coached by the man dubbed "Mr. Sonic," Nate McMillan, who spent the first 19 years of his 22-year NBA career as a player and coach of the Sonics. The success of the Sonics averaging nearly 60 wins during a six-year span in the 1990s was built around Payton, Shawn Kemp and coached by Nuggets coach George Karl. And on this particular Sunday, there stood coach Avery Johnson, who entered the NBA in 1988 as an undrafted free agent rookie signed by the Sonics. He hasn't left the NBA since, playing 16 years and spending the past three-plus as a coach, becoming the fastest head coach in league history to win 150 games.

"This is really pretty emotional for me knowing that maybe if it had not been for Seattle maybe I wouldn't be here doing this interview because I had a chance to enter the NBA here 20 years ago," Johnson said. "And to see and hear all the things going on with the team about possibly moving doesn't really sit well with me. They have been here for (41) years, obviously had a championship here. I would sure hope that one way or another, that an NBA team one way or another would always have a home here."

Ironically, because Bennett has so stripped the team of Sonics lore, it has been the opponents better suited to be involved in the history. Karl wore his beloved hand-painted "Space Needle" tie while his Nuggets lost last week in overtime. McMillan went off on a tangent discussing all the reasons why the Sonics shouldn't leave, while lamenting the business aspect of the game.

"It's just hard to believe that you just drop a franchise and move it," McMillan said. "And (especially) one that's had as much success as Seattle has had. Since I've been involved in the NBA, and even when I started watching basketball as a young person, the SuperSonics were part of the NBA. So all my life they've been a part of the league. And now, all of a sudden, talking about this organization moving? It's still hard for me to believe that it's going to happen, even though it really sounds like it."

He knows this is all about money and power. So does Payton, who unofficially retired after last season with the Miami Heat. He came to the game Sunday to show support, and said he was willing to share his financial resources and contacts should somebody ask.

"I can't even imagine myself if they wanted to retire my jersey for me to even try to go to Oklahoma City," said Payton, franchise's all-time leader in points, assists and steals in his 12-plus seasons in Seattle. "That ain't where I played basketball at. That ain't where I made my name at. I made my name here. I had great fan support to become the kind of basketball player I was. I can't imagine that and I'm not really thinking about that. After 41 years, it's told me a lot. We've got to think about coming up with a solution to keep the team here and I'm down for whatever to help make that happen."

On and on they went Sunday night. Former Sonics player and coach Paul Westphal, shaking his head in disbelief before the game ... "What a great city Seattle is. I can't imagine the NBA without Seattle ... it is ridiculous. I can understand any owner has to maximize his profit potential in order to compete I'm sure there is a legitimate argument. But as far as the aesthetics of KeyArena for a basketball game, it's a great place and the basketball fans here are unbelievable. It just seems that a city of this caliber with the financial possibilities there are that something should be worked out."

Mavs assistant coaches Brad Davis and Mario Elie remember playing basketball here for other teams, so much of it because the fans and the building were always so raucous.  "I vividly remember the wars coming in here in the playoffs with both the Rockets and Warriors. All I can remember is when Shawn Kemp dunked - you heard thunder for the "Reign Man" in KeyArena. It isn't like there hasn't been great support for this team all the years I've been in the NBA. It's just sad."

But the man who may have some say in the matter before it's all over is Mark Cuban, the always vocal owner of the Mavericks who went on record Sunday saying he will vote against the move when the NBA Board of Governors convene at the end of this coming week. He talked about how the NBA often does things just to be doing them, chastising the obviously mistaken move of the Grizzlies from Vancouver to Memphis as a perfect example while allowing for the simple fact that since it is Bennett's team, he has the right to try. He also knows the impact having a man like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who made a pitch to help renovate KeyArena and buy the team from Bennett, would have on the NBA Board of Governors

"I'll do what I can to help keep it here... it's not over until it's over, so we'll see," Cuban said. "I just finally saw some numbers and I'll vote against it for sure. I just think it's about Seattle vs. Oklahoma for the NBA, and I don't think there's any question after seeing the numbers that it's Seattle. The only certainty that I have is (the team should be) in Seattle. Would I like to see Steve Ballmer involved in the NBA? Absolutely, positively ... he's crazier than I am, and smarter than I am and he's got more money than I do and those are all great things for the NBA.

"There's an equity value of (41) years from a team that you can't quantify when you discuss a move that has real economic value. When we look at relocation - as best as I can tell - we ask, 'Is (Oklahoma City) capable as opposed to the best choice?' I'm standing up and saying I don't think it's the best choice. I'm saddened. I'm not perplexed because I've been in the NBA eight years now and ... welcome to the NBA. That's why I get in so much trouble because we just do things just to do them sometimes. To me my job as an NBA partner and a member of the Board of Governors is to give feedback on what I think is the best for the NBA. To me what's best for the NBA looking from every variable is to keep the team in Seattle."  

 

 

We're heading into the final six days of the NBA regular season and the fog is beginning to clear.

What we know for sure is the top three seeds in the East are set, with the Celtics guaranteed the top seed through the Finals if they get there, with the Pistons locked into the second seed and the Magic at No. 3. It's the 4-5 matchup - always the best one anyway - that starts getting a bit dicey.

The Cavs have lost five of their last eight games, LeBron James is playing with a strained back, and their lead has dwindled to two games over the rapidly getting healthy and hot Wizards, who have won three of four upon the return of Gilbert Arenas - although he sat out the middle game since it was a back-to-back. The defending Eastern Conference champion Cavs have eliminated the Wizards in the first round of the past two seasons, a sweep last year and a seven-game thriller in 2006.

It won't be easy for the Wizards to gain home-court, however, considering the Cavs have a two-game lead, but Washington does have the tie-breaker by virtue of a better conference record. The Wiz play at Detroit, followed by the Sixers and Pacers coming in to town, and they finish the season at Orlando. The Cavs are at Chicago, play host to the Heat, travel to Philly, and end the season at home with the Pistons.

The other tough one is the Pacers trying to catch the Hawks for the final playoff spot with a two-game deficit as well. The Pacers did win the season series for the tie-breaker, but they play at Philadelphia, play host to Charlotte and travel to Washington before ending the season at home with the woeful Knicks.

But the West has been more interesting all along with the top and bottom of the playoff chart still not settled. Just 2.5 games separate the top six teams, and it's impossible to really dissect how much seeds matter because they all have winning records on the road except Utah. Despite having clinched the Northwest Division, the Jazz has a worse record than both the Rockets and Suns, which would cost them the home-court advantage in any meeting. And that's particularly significant in their case when you consider they have the best home record of any team at 35-4, but are 17-23 on the road, and no team with a losing road record during the regular season has ever won an NBA title.

It didn't help that they lost at Dallas Thursday night on Dirk Nowitzki's 3-pointer with less than a second left. That game clinched a playoff spot for the Mavs, who have rebounded from a horrid slump to win three in a row and four of five - three of those wins against the top tier of the West - since Nowitzki returned from a sprained ankle and strained knee. So that's seven teams, with the eighth team slowly coming into view.

It was just two weeks ago the Warriors battered the Mavs, Nowitzki was down for an undetermined period of time and they appeared to have the seventh spot sewn up. Since then, it's been straight downhill - losing four of six to and falling to ninth - the capper coming last night in Oakland. The Nuggets came from 17 down in the first quarter and pulled away late for a nine-point win behind their All-Stars Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, with explosive bench-gunner J.R. Smith the X-factor once again. The win gave the Nuggets a one-game lead for the eighth seed and the series tie-breaker over the Warriors with three to play.

The Nuggets (17-22 on the road) travel to Utah Saturday, then finish up at home with the Rockets and toothless Grizzlies.

As for the Warriors, coming just a year after making the playoffs for the first time in 13 years and pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NBA history when they knocked off the top-seeded Mavs, they are in trouble. Captain Stephen Jackson, so vital all season averaging better than 20 points, has fallen off the map during the past six games. Jackson has averaged just 11.0 points in the tailspin, shooting just .289 (22-of-76) from the field and .206 (7-of-34) from 3-point range. Besides, to go along with 4.1 assists, he's averaging 3.0 turnovers. Fortunately for the Warriors, two of the last three are at home against the Clippers and Sonics, but in between they play Phoenix.

Are they about to be the best team record in history to not qualify for the playoffs?

It may look that way, but rarely has there been an NBA season where appearances have been more deceiving - remember, it was just last week the Nuggets scored 147 points and lost to the 18-win Sonics. All we know for sure is by Wednesday night, this will all be settled.

Logic says the Celtics and the Pistons are on a collision course for the East finals, but there is no logic when it comes to the West, where all the teams - including the defending champion Spurs - are flawed to a certain extent.

And that's why just the concept of the playoffs beginning a week from Saturday is stirring ... particularly in the West, any of the five or six have a shot at winning it. As everybody knows, it's all about the matchups.

Nobody would be so bold as to say the Mavericks are back in the hunt in the Western Conference. That might even be borderline delusional considering their season. But 2

The complaints are already pouring in now that the 2008 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of seven has been named.

And because the inductions are based on the vote from a bizarre honors committee, politics and inconsistencies always abound. Nonetheless, the group that is led by Pat Riley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Adrian Dantley, Cathy Rush, Dick Vitale and Bill Davidson now conspicuously takes its place in Springfield amid the rest of basketball greats.

Of course, I've got my issues, if only because Chris Mullin, Don Nelson and Dennis Johnson are blatant omissions from this list. We'll get to that later.

It is fitting that Olajuwon and Ewing received the honor in the same year considering how they waged battle as two of the three top centers of the era (along with David Robinson) -- the highlight coming in the 1994 NBA Finals when the Olajuwon's Rockets ousted Ewing's Knicks in seven games.

Olajuwon was clearly the more pure athlete, with uncommon quickness and agility from the day he walked onto the University of Houston campus as a 17-year-old freshman from Lagos, Nigeria. He and Clyde Drexler were the cornerstones of the Phi Slama Jama team coached by Guy Lewis. They went to the Final Four three times, with Olajuwon winning the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award in 1983 when they lost in the thrilling championship game to Jim Valvano's North Carolina State Wolfpack and then again in 1984 to Ewing's Georgetown squad. From there Olajuwon became an unstoppable force with the Houston Rockets. With his "Dream Shake" spins on the baseline on the offensive end and his prowess on defense (he's the all-time NBA shot-blocking leader and steals leader among centers), the Rockets won two NBA titles. He was All

There was a meeting of the minds in San Antonio that caused plenty of stirring Monday hours before Kansas hung on in overtime to beat Memphis for the NCAA title. When NBA commissioner David Stern and NCAA president Myles Brand convened to announce a joint attempt at sand-blasting the corruption from youth basketball, the obvious buzz took on legs afterward.

Can the NBA change the rule that just went into effect with the last Collective Bargaining Agreement - that players cannot enter the draft until their class has been in college two years instead of one?

Not without the consent of players association it can't ... and considering what happened during the last CBA negotiations, it isn't likely to happen without a fight come the summer of 2011 when the present agreement ends.

Of course Brand would love to guarantee that the top drawer players would compete another year in the NCAA. But he has no say in the matter. It's all up to Stern and the NBPA.

That's not to say it doesn't make sense to do and that Stern wouldn't prefer that. Going into the last bargaining session, he did want to raise the age limit from 18 to 20 initially, but had to settle for 19 when the NBPA wouldn't bite on it. They weren't particularly thrilled with 19 either, but took it as a concession for an expanded salary cap. And why the NBPA won't agree to it isn't quite clear in the big picture if you look at what is best for the entire constituency.

Granted, giving a 19-year-old, or even an 18-year-old, the opportunity to earn a lucrative living in the NBA if he has the talent and is wanted is logical, legal and fits in with what goes on in every other professional sport except for the NFL. And because of the necessary physical development and the violence of the game, the NFL gets a free pass on this one. So the NBA players believe everyone should have the opportunity.

OK, we'll buy that angle.

Being into geometry, let's take another slant. Just consider the possibility of the six to 10 players a year who come out early and make a team are forced to play another year on the collegiate level. Not only would it give the players another year of physical and emotional development, it would create another six to 10 jobs for NBA veterans who otherwise are forced to play ball overseas, try one of the struggling U.S. minor leagues or find another means to make a living other than ballin'.

The latter seems far more logical in the big picture of the NBPA despite the overwhelming majority favoring no more than a 19-year-old limit.

Meanwhile, there are a lot reasons why so many young players entering the league had a negative impact, even dating to Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady, all of whom could have used a year or two in college. Obviously, that trio became superstars ... but what about the early birds that didn't?

It frustrated so many of the top basketball minds in the NBA. Men like Jerry West and Larry Brown continued to be distressed over how the NBA had become too much of a developmental league as opposed to getting young players who were finished products - at least with regard to the fundamentals of the game. There were too many young, super athletes coming into the league believing basketball was just about reverse dunks and chucking up 3-pointers instead of moving with the ball, moving without the ball, passing and defending.

As far-fetched as it may be, this is an admirable attempt by Stern and Brand to clean up the mess that now starts when kids are identified in middle school as special talents and showered with shoes and warmups and anything else that will help a particular ilk of salesman and booster get into the hearts of minds of kids and their parents.

It seems an impossible task for the NBA and NCAA, but nobody can fault them for trying. The problem is the same reason why the NBPA won't agree to raising the age limit, and it has nothing to do with basketball.

Money.

It's all about as many people making as much money from the game as possible. The odds of the age limit going up in the NBA are very slim at best. The probability of the NBA and NCAA eliminating the sleaze from youth basketball isn't great either. But this is a great first step toward allowing the kids to focus on the game and not the ancilliary financial gains at least until they're old enough to vote.

We can only hope it works.