Listen the full interview with Sam Presti after the draft on Thursday here, here, and here.

Presti provided some thoughts on the overall draft class.

"We got some defensive-minded guys, and we got some athletes. we also have accumulated players in this draft the come from winning backgrounds, and those are things that we emphasized in our scouting process, and he culminate in a night like this."

Presti also provided a couple thoughts on each player

On UCLA's Russell Westrbook:

"Russell Westbrook in our opinion is the best perimeter defender in the draft. We had him targeted from early in the year. He's a competitor, and he is the ultimate teammate."

=> Read more!

Sonics draft picks

RUSSELL WESTBROOK (First round, No. 4)

Position: Guard
Height/weight: 6-3/187
Born: Nov. 19, 1988
College: UCLA

Stats: Averaged 12.7 points and a team-best 4.3 assists last season. He played a school-record 1,318 minutes. Shot 46.5 from the field, 71.3 from the line last season; 46.4 from the field and 68.5 from the line in his two-year career.

The skinny: Considered a good defender – Westbrook was named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year last season – he’s also a good athlete with an upside. … Offense needs some polishing, but has good explosiveness and leaping ability.

We talked to Russell Westbrook in a conference call at the Furtado Center and you can listen to part of that conversation here.

For a slide show of Westbrook, click here.

SERGE IBAKA (First round, No. 24)

Position: Forward/center
Height/weight: 6-10/220
Born: Sept. 18, 1989
Team: C.B. L’Hospitalet (Spain)

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.

The skinny: Most accounts say Ibaka, who has yet to turn 19, is a physical specimen with tremendous leaping ability but has raw skills and needs to add bulk. He’s a native of the Congo who has played only 30 professional games.

=> Read more!

Kaun is a 6-11 center out of Kansas. He's the fifth Jayhawk to be drafted tonight. And, he's got great potential for playing off his name... Chaka Khan, Genghis Kahn, The Wrath of Kahn, etc...

Sadly (??) he won't be a Sonic. GM Sam Presti told the media Kaun has been traded to Cleveland for cash. A Kaun-spiracy maybe?

Anyway, here are the final picks of the second round (52-60).

52. (Miami) Darnell Jackson, Kansas

53. (Utah) Tadija Dragicevic, Serbia

54. (Houston) Maarty Leunen, Oregon

55. (Portland) Mike Taylor, Idaho Stampede... 1st pick ever from NBDL

56. (Seattle) Sasha Kaun, Kansas

57. (San Antonio) James Gist, Maryland

58. (Lakers) Joe Crawford, Kentucky

59. (Detroit) Deron Washington, Virgina Tech

60. (Boston) Semih Erden, Turkey

With the 50th overall pick, the Sonics used a second-round pick to draft Cal center DeVon Hardin.

Hardin is a 6-11, 250-pound center who averaged 9.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots last year as a senior for the Bears. He finished his college career as teh school's second all-time leading shot blocker (132).

More second round picks:

46. (Detroit) Trent Plaisted, BYU

47. (Washington) Bill Walker, Kansas State

48. (Phoenix) Malik Harriston, Oregon

49. (Golden State) Richard Hendrix, Alabama

50. (Seattle) DeVon Hardin, Cal

51. (Dallas) Shan Foster, Vanderbilt

FYI: Seattle still has the 56th pick in this round.

Attorneys for the City of Seattle and Sonics finished closing arguments on Thursday, and U.S. District Court judge Marsha Pechman said she plans to post her decision on Wednesday afternoon.

Read my story from the final day of the trial here.

In an interview after the close of the trial, Seattle deputy mayor Tim Ceis said he was pleased with the way lead attorney Paul Lawrence presented the city's case in closing arguments, and believes the city has a strong case.

"He clearly laid out the strength of the city’s case to the judge, the strength of our claim for specific enforcement of the lease and why that is so important to the city of Seattle," Ceis said. "And not only to the City of Seattle but the people we represent. I thought it was particularly telling that the judge asked about sentimentality, how is it that the city can represent that sentiment of its citizens and the fans of basketball."

Listen to the full interview with Ceis and Lawrence here, and here.

41. (Indiana) Nathan Jawai, Australia

42. (Sacramento) Sam Singletary, Virginia

43. (Sacramento) Pat Ewing Jr., Georgetown

44. (Utah) Ante Tornic, Croatia

45. (San Antonio) Goran Dragic, Slovenia

36. (Portland) Omir Asik, Turkey

37. (Milwaukee) Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, UCLA

38. (Charlotte) Kyle Weaver, WSU

39. (Chicago) Sonny Weems, Arkansas

40. (New Jersey) Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis

Were four picks into the second round, and with the report of the Sonics trade, we're a little behind. Let's get caught up:

No. 31 (Minnesota) Nikola Pekovic, Montenegro

No. 32 (Seattle/Detroit) Walter Sharpe, UAB

No. 33 (Portland) Joey Dorsey, Memphis

No. 34 (Minnesota) Mario Chalmers, Kansas

No. 35 (L.A. Clippers) DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M

ESPN is reporting that Seattle has traded two second round picks, No. 32 and No. 46, to Detroit for the rights to Detroit's first-round pick, D.J. White.

White was selected with the No. 29 pick. White, a 6-9, 251-pound forward, was the Big Ten's player of the year. He averaged 17.4 points and a conference-leading 10.3 rebounds for Indiana.

Personal: White turns 22 on Aug. 31. ... Was second-team All-America as a senior.... Finishes as Indiana's 16th all-time leading scorer and ninth all-time leading rebounder.

The World Champion Boston Celtics end the first round by taking J.R. Giddens from New Mexico with the 30th pick.

The Sonics have the 32, 46, 50 and 56 picks of the second round.

Next up: Minnesota (via Miami)

Forward D.J. White, who averaged a double-double last year at Indiana, is drafted by the Pistons with the next-to-last pick of the first round.

Next up: Boston (final pick of first round)

Donte' Green of Syracuse was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the No. 28 pick. Green, a 6-9 221 pound forward, is the 10th freshman taken.

Next up: Detroit

The Hornets draft Kansas's Darrell Arthur, who dropped in the drafted because of a kidney issue, with the No. 27 pick.

ESPN is reporting that Portland has traded with New Orleans for the rights to Arthur, who averaged 12.8 points for the Jayhawks last year.

Next up: Memphis (via Lakers)

The San Antonio Spurs drafted George Hill of IUPUI, a guard who is not in the draft media guide here at Sonics central.

Next up: New Orleans

Full name: Serge Jonas Ibaka Ngobila

Birthdate: Sept. 18, 1989 (18 years old)

Height: 6-10

Weight: 220

From: The Congo; played for C.B. L'Hospitalet in Spain last season, averaging 11.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.0 blocks.

Personal: Has 17 siblings. Both parents played basketball. Lived with his grandmother in the turbulent Congo in the mid-to-late '90s in a house that had no electricity or running water.

The Houston Rockets dipped into France to take 19-year-old swingman Nicolas Batum (6-8, 190 pounds) with the 25th pick.

Next up: San Antonio

Serge Ibaka, apparently, is a forward/center from the Congo.

He's listed at 6-10 and 220 pounds and is not yet 19 years old. His birthdate is Sept. 18, 1989.

This was the pick, from Phoenix, acquired in the Kurt Thomas deal.

Next up: Houston

Koufos, a big center out of Ohio State, goes one pick before the Sonics were to draft.

Next up: The Sonics for their second pick.

Lee, as you might know ... or not ... was the Sun Belt player of the year at Western Kentucky.

Next up: Utah

New Jersey grabs the Pac-10's leading scorer from last year, Cal forward Ryan Anderson. Anderson, who you might remember torched the Huskies, averaged 21.1 points per game.

Next up: Orlando

Charlotte drafts a 7-0, 220 pound center from France. Taht's Alexi Ajinca, no relation to Mohammed Sene as far as we know. He's supposed to have a 7-8 wingspan.

Next up: New Jersey (via Dallas)

At No. 19, the Cleveland Cavaliers take J.J. Hickson of North Carolina State, a 6-9, 235 pounder. He's the eighth freshman drafted so far.

Next up: Charlotte (via Denver)

Javale McGee is just drafted No. 18 by Washington, and promptly upstaged by a Portland-Philadelphia trade.

ESPN says the Blazers will get Ike Diogu and the rights to Jerryd Bayless while the 76ers get Jarrett Jack and the rights to Brandon Rush.

Next up: Cleveland.

We talked to Russell Westbrook in a conference call at the Furtado Center and you can listen to part of that conversation here.

For a slide show of Westbrook, click here.

And here's some bio information:

Russell Westbrook
Height: 6-3
Weight: 187
Birthdate: Nov. 12, 1988
High School: Leuzinger HS (Lawindale, Calif.)
College: UCLA
Career highlights: Named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the year as a sophomore. Also earn Third team All Pac-10 honors and was named to the league All-Defensive team. Holds the schools single season record for minutes played after logging 1,318 minutes as as sophomore.

Roy Hibbert of Georgetown was picked by Toronto, who is trading this pick to Indiana as part of the Jermaine O'Neal trade.

Hibbert's a big body - 7-2 to be exact, and should help fill the void left by O'Neal, at least in size if not in skill.

Next up: Washington.

Philadelphia grabs a 6-10, 250-pound forward/center to beef up their front line. He averaged 14.5 points for Florida as a sophomore last season.

Next up: Toronto

That's another Pac-10 player, another Stanford guy, and another Lopez drafted. He may be the lesser known Lopez, but he has the most hair between the two.

Next up: Philadelphia

Sorry for the delay, but the Sonics just made Russell Westbrook available via conference call. Expect that audio up on the site soon.

Anyway, here are the picks 12-14:

12. Sacramento: Jason Thompson, F, Rider

13. Portland: Brandon Rush, G, Kansas

14. Golden State: Anthony Randolph, F, LSU

FYI: That's seven freshmen, with Randolph, going in the lottery. That's the most.

Next up: Phoenix.

Bayless, from Arizona, scored 19.7 points last year. He's the fifth Pac-10 player drafted so far.

Next up: Sacramento.

Lopez, the 7-foot center from Stanford who many thought the Sonics would take, instead winds up on the East Coast.

Next up: Indiana

The Bobcats draft the tiny point guard from Texas, passing over Jerryd Bayless of Arizona, which was a surprise to many.

Next up: New Jersey Nets.

Alexander, a forward, averaged 16.9 points for West Virginia last year.

Next up: Charlotte.

The Clippers needed help at guard and grab the high scorer from Indiana. Gordon averaged 20.9 points last year to lead the Big Ten in scoring.

That announcement drew a chorus of boos from the crowd in New York. I guess Knicks fans aren't enamored by the 6-8 forward from Italy or thought their team should have drafted him this early.

A somewhat surprising pick by Sonics considering the players left on the board, but reports had Seattle general manager enamored with Russell Westbrook because of his athleticism and his on-the-ball defense.

Westbrook is certainly not ready to take over the reins at point guard, but will be allowed the learn the ropes from fellow UCLA product Earl Watson.

It's certainly an interesting start to the draft, and I'm interested to see what big man Seattle picks at 24 to help shore up the void in the middle.

Here's some clips of Westbrook in action, thanks to fellow News Tribune staffer Victor Yoshida.

Against Cal.

Against WSU:

Against Oregon:

Against Indiana.

UCLA gets back-to-back picks as the Grizzlies grab the Bruins front court player after the Sonics draft Russell Westbrook.

Next up: New York Knicks.

Here's the info on Westbrook:

Height: 6-3
Weight: 187
Birthdate: Nov. 12, 1988 (19 years old)
College: UCLA

2008 stats: 12.7 points per game, .465 field-goal percentage (.338 3-point percentage), .713 free-throw percentage.

Career highlights: Named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year last season. Earned third-team all-Pac-10 honoers. Holds the school's single season record for minutes played after logging 1,318 minutes last season.

Strengths: Quickness, ability to get by defenders on the drive. Good leaping ability and strength to finish. Considered a lock-down defender, plays unselfish, a good passer. Source: NBA draft guide.

That's right, a UCLA guard and not Brook Lopez or Kevin Love.

Next up: Memphis.

The T-Wolves grab O.J. Mayo of USC. Guess all those projections of Kevin Love were w-r-o-n-g.

Next up: Your Sonics.

There was a little anticipation before the Heat's pick, but they went with Michael Beasley from Kansas State.

Up next: Minnesota

OK, so that rated about a 2 on the surprise-o-meter. The Bulls grabbed the Memphis guard who averaged 14.9 points per game in his only college season.

Next up, Miami.

ESPN's Andy Katz is reporting the Chicago Bulls will take Derrick Rose with the No. 1 pick. Apparently, he has the quote-scoop-unqoute on this...

Call me crazy, but that's hardly a bold statement considering all the mock drafts and the speculation that Rose was the Bulls' man all along.

The Milwaukee Bucks shipped forwards Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons to the New Jersey Nets on Thursday in exchange for forward Richard Jefferson.

Click here for the full story.

The Sonics just opened their media room for today's NBA draft a few minutes ago. I will be helping Eric out today with some blogging and whatever he needs, given that he's had a busy day with the trial and all.

Right now, there's maybe five or six people here. More will be rolling in as it gets closer to the draft. TV coverage begins at 4 p.m. but the first pick is not supposed to be made until about 4:20 or so.

The Sonics pick fourth, and with five minutes between picks, are expected to make their selection around 4:40.

A spokesperson for the team has said reports that the Sonics have swapped picks with the Las Angeles Clippers at No. 7 are inaccurate.

ESPN's Ric Bucher first reported the deal, and has updated the proposal, stating that the Sonics will only swap with the Clippers if O.J. Mayo is drafted by Minnesota with the No. 3 pick.

Brad Keller, lead attorney for the Sonics, is finishing up closing arguments for the defense. I'll have a full report from today's trial happenings and then head over to the Furtado Center to begin draft coverage.

ESPN's Ric Bucher is reporting that the Sonics will swap picks with the Los Angeles Clippers, trading down and taking the Clippers No. 7 pick for a lottery-protected pick in 2009 in exchange for the Sonics giving up the No. 4 overall pick.

If the report proves accurate, Seattle could be in the market for UCLA product Russell Westbrook or Stanford big man Brook Lopez, who could fall to the No. 7 pick.

The Sonics are reportedly enamored with Westbrook's athleticism and defensive ability, but there's some question as to how soon he'll be able to run a team.

But he would have the benefit of having fellow UCLA product Earl Watson as a tutor in his first year with Seattle.

Lopez would help fill a void in the middle for the Sonics if he's available at No. 7, but there's still some question about his athletic ability and defensive presence in the post. Stay tuned.

Also, according to an ESPN report, the New Jersey Nets have agreed to send Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons.

Telling Paul Lawrence, lead attorney for the City of Seattle, that you can't use attorney-client privilege at a shield and then turnaround and use itt as a sword, U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman denied Lawrence's request to call Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis as a rebuttal witness.

The City wished to call Ceis to the stand to refute testimony provided by Wally Walker that the city may have involved in a "poisoned well" plan hatched by Walker, Slade Gorton and other involved in a private investment group to try and keep the Sonics in town.

Paul Taylor, attorney for the Sonics, argued that it would be unfair to allow Ceis to testify because the Sonics had not been allowed to pursue discovery on what Ceis would testify to, and attorneys for the city had not waived the attorney-client privilege.

Lawrence did receive a small victory, when Pechman and attorneys for the Sonics agreed to stipulations in the record allowing the submission of the engagement letter between the city and K&L Gates that stated K&L Gates attorneys Slade Gorton and Gerry Johnson were involved in an effort to keep the team in Seattle, and that Seattle deputy mayor Tim Ceis had no knowledge of the "poison well" powerpoint plan.

Paul Lawrence has no began closing arguments for the city.

With the steady steam of trial coverage I thought it would be nice to break things up and talk some basketball. So in anticipation for Thursday here's The News Tribune's annual mock draft.

Our mock draft is compiled by talking to reporters and other people involved with the NBA around the league, perusing information on player workouts for perspective teams, analyzing other mock drafts, and finally some educated guessing based on team needs.

Currently, I have Seattle taking O.J. Mayo with its No. 4 pick and European player Serge Ibaka with the team's 24th pick. But we all know from Seattle's experience with the draft last season when the Sonics traded franchise cornerstone Ray Allen that things could drastically change.

The the rumors are still flying that Miami is willing to trade the No. 2 overall pick because Heat president Pat Riley is lukewarm on Michael Beasley. Hard to believe, considering Beasley might be the best player in the draft.

Take a look at some of the other mock drafts to see what other people are saying, including NBA.com
, Draftexpress.com , hoopsworld.com , insidehoops.com and espn.com

And let me know who you think the Sonics should take in the first round. I'm sure Mayo is not the consensus pick among the Sonics faithful.

TNT's NBA Mock Draft

Team Needs
1. Chicago Bulls PG, PF

The pick: Derrick Rose, Memphis
The skinny: The Chicago native will make a major impact for his hometown team.

=> Read more!

Attorneys for the City of Seattle filed its proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law late Tuesday in anticipation of the close of the trial on Thursday. At 82 pages, just taking a quick glance it appears that the attorneys for the city have presented a pretty thorough document.

You can view that document here.

Attorneys for the Sonics also filed the defendants proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law in anticipation of Thursday's final day of court.

You can view the document here.

Seattle general manager Sam Presti addressed the media on Tuesday to discuss the team’s preparation for the upcoming NBA draft.

With six picks in this year’s draft, and 13 picks in the next three years, the team is expected to be an active participant on Thursday.

The Sonics already have been involved in a couple trade rumors with the draft approaching.

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 Beasley, a Washington D.C. native and close friend of Durant.

Another rumor has the Sonics looking to trade down with the hopes of selecting UCLA product Russell Westbrook. Seattle reportedly is enamored by Westbrook because of his on-the-ball defense and overall athletic ability, but may not consider him worthy of the No. 4 pick.

Presti (shown in these photo's by Associated Press photographer Ted Warren) addressed the rumors and other questions regarding the draft in 20-minute conversation with the media. You can listen to part of that conversation here.

And here are some answers to some of the questions heading into the draft.

Q: If the first two guys go as planned and you do pick at No. 4 is there one guy that you want?

Presti: We certainly have a direction that we’re leaning. You always have to be ready for every scenario. And that’s not without a lot of thoughtful discussion and debate and preparation that goes into it. But we feel good about where we are.

=> Read more!

The Sonics filed a motion to exclude Seattle deputy mayor Tim Ceis' testimony in the city's trial against the team.

Attorneys for the city had planned to call Ceis as a rebuttal witness on Thursday to counter Friday's testimony that suggests the city may have been involved in a "Poisoned Well" plan to make the Sonics bleed money with the hope that the Oklahoma City-based owners would sell to a private, local investment group.

The Sonics claim in Tuesday's filing that Ceis would not answer questions about members of K&L Gates, the law firm representing the city in the case, and their involvement with potential private investors interested in keeping basketball in Seattle.

Here's an excerpt from the filing:

"The city should not be allowed to now ambush the PBA on the last day of trial by impliedly waiving this same privilege in its questioning of Ceis."

Read the entire filing here.

In his daily wrap up after a day in court, Paul Lawrence, lead attorney for the city, brought a surprise guest with him -- Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis.

Both addressed reporters in the interview room set up at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Seattle. Ceis said he was pleased with how the case was going and looked forward to a good conclusion. I posted the first part of the two's interview down below, but you can listen to the full conversation here, here, and here.

Also, if you're interested in viewing an exhibit from the case, click here, to view an email from Wally Walker about the private investment group's plan to keep the team in Seattle.

Tim Ceis: From the city’s perspective we’re very pleased with how the case is going. We were hoping we would wrap up the testimony today. But we didn’t so we’ll have to come back on Thursday. So we’ll be here to wrap up things on Thursday and hear closing arguments. But we’re very, very pleased with how the case is going, and we’re looking forward to a good conclusion.

=> Read more!

There's been a little bit of an uproar over Paul Lawrence, lead attorney for the city, asking U.S. District Court judge Marsha Pechman for the opportunity to allow Wally Walker to talk about his background with the Sonics in order to have it on the record for a future appeal.

Some saw Lawrence's statement as an admission of the city conceding the case, and that they are now focusing on the appeal.

However, the comment could just have been easily construed as Lawrence's attempt to have a clean record for whichever side ends up appealing after the decision by Pechman.

Aaron Wolff, a local attorney involved with Save Our Sonics, said the comment made during a jury trial could be viewed as an admission of defeat, however judges understand the request as an effort to make sure the record is clean in case of an appeal, and did not view Lawrence's actions as an admission of defeat.

Whatever your take is on Lawrence's action, there no disputing the fact that Wally Walker's testimony will be difficult for the city to overcome.

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.

You can view the poisoned well Powerpoint here.

Walker talked briefly after his testimony, which you can listen to here.

In the cross examination, Lawrence tried to create distance between the city and this plan put together by McGavick. In the document the city is mentioned as a third party that the group needs to try and work with.

However, attorneys for the Sonics provided evidence which seems to suggest that Walker was acting as a consultant for the city at the time the poisoned well plan was in place. Also, Slade Gordon, an attorney for K & L Gates, was retained by the city during the plan's inception.

In cross examination Walker said that from July 19th through September he was meeting with Gordon to discuss plans to build a privately funded arena in Bellevue, which Ballmer ultimately decided was not a good idea.

Matt Griffin, spokesperson for the private investment group led by Ballmer, will be on the stand after the break. Seattle city council member Nick Licata is expected to follow.

Paul Taylor, attorney for the Sonics, is now presenting into evidence the "Poisoned Well Plan", a powerpoint document created by K & L Gates attorney Slade Gorton and presenting in a meeting with Wally Walker, Gorton, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer in an effort to coax Balmer to pursue ownership of the Sonics as a way of keeping the team here long term.

The main objective was to make the Oklahoma City-based ownership group sell the team by "separating the NBA from the Oklahomans while increasing the exposure of each."

Attorneys for the Sonics called former Sonics executive Wally Walker to the stand this morning.

The first line of questioning by Attorney Paul Taylor to Walker delved into the Sonics successive failures to secure funding from state lawmakers in Olympia for a $200 million proposal to remodel KeyArena.

Taylor also used documentation to shows Walker's disappointment in the city's lack of effort in helping the Sonics secure funding in their final push in Olympia in 2006.

Taylor then moved on to talk about Walker's role as a consultant in helping the city and the law firm representing the city, K & L Gates, keep the Sonics in Seattle beyond the current KeyArena lease term.

Taylor showed documentation that Walker was retained for his services in Sept. 21 of last year by the city. However, emails by Walker show he may have been acting in that capacity as early as August of last year.

Taylor also presented evidence that Walker had access to a "poison well" document that shows an elaborate plan put together by K & L Gates attorney Slade Gorton to force the current ownership group to stay in Seattle and lose money so that Sonics Chairman Clay Bennett's group would be eventually willing to sell the team to a local 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.

Animated and passionate, Alexie testified for about 45 minutes, highlighting the importance of the Sonics to the social and cultural fabric of the Seattle area.

Alexie also addressed reporters for 20 minutes after his testimony.

A season-ticket holder for 12 years, the Eastern Washington native said he became interested in the Sonics when the team drafted Gary Payton and has been an intense fan ever since.

Alexie said he likes professional basketball because of the diversity on the floor and in the stands.

"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, and especially black youth," he said.

Alexis, who is American Indian, said he felt comfortable at KeyArena because of the diversity, which was much different than the mostly white demographic found throughout the Seattle area.

"The way to feel less like a freak is to be in a room with freaks. So that’s what KeyArena is like. I’m in a room with all of these freaks from all over the world."

Alexie also went on to say the team's struggles has led to dwindling attendance at Sonics games, and that a disconnect between Sonics fans was created by trading away franchise cornerstone Ray Allen and not resigning Rashard Lewis.

But Alexie believes the Sonics could thrive financially if they were allowed to stay and grow around budding superstar Kevin Durant.

"When it comes to fans it's a pretty basic formula," he said. "You win games, you fill the arena."

Alexie talked about the generational fans that have followed the team during its 41-year history, describing a scene in the stands at the last home game where a mother held a drawing of a Sonics basketball game that her son made 30 years ago when he was 6 years old.

He had nothing but good things to say about Oklahoma City, a place he has visited three times and said he kissed a Native American woman for the first time. But he also said because of the small market that Oklahoma City would struggle to attract big-time free agents, and also would struggle to resign Kevin Durant once his rookie contract runs its course.

If the Sonics do leave, Alexie said he'll still follow team, but doesn't know for how long.

"It’s about the players," Alexie said. "It’s still about the game on the court. I still will want Earl Watson to be playing instead of Luke Ridnour. My love of the game and my love of this team is not going to change. They’re not getting my money. But that’s how much I love this team and how much I love this game.

“It’s like a divorce. It will be a divorce, but an amicable one, and we’ll share custody of Earl Watson. It will be love long distance. And love long distance fades."

A tearful Alexie finished the media interview by talking about how his love for basketball developed through his relationship with his father, and what it meant to bring his father to the game before he passed away.

"He just sat there and he didn't say much," Alexie said. "And then he looked at me and he said, 'These are great seats. And I knew what that meant. It was an acknowledgment of an incredible journey. And it was him and my mother that enabled that journey to happen.

"I sit in the arena with my father's ghost. No matter who's in the arena sitting next to me, my father is in between us."

Listen to Alexie talk here.

KJR’s Mitch Levy talked to ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack about the City of Seattle’s case against the Sonics.

The City of Seattle's expert witness on the Sonics economic impact in Seattle, Lon Hatamiya continued his testimony this morning.

Currently, attorney for the Sonics Paul Taylor, who did a good job at tearing down the city's other expert witness, Andrew Zimbalist, is hammering away at Hatamiya, but so far Hatamiya holding up OK.

With all of the stuff happening in court this week I failed to mention the players the Sonics will have for workouts at the Furtado Center this week.

The list is headed by Kansas product Brandon Rush, who put his name into the draft last year, but decided to take his name out before withdrawing his name. The move has paid dividends for Rush. We won a national title with the Jayhawks this season and has draft stock is up. Mock drafts have Rush going between 13th and 20th picks in the first round.

Rush is a 6-7 swingman who shoots well, is a good athlete and can defend. Rush could probably used some work on his ball handling skills. Others who will participate in workouts this week include James Mays of Clemson, Darnell Jackson of Kansas, Bryant Dunston of Fordham, Ohio State’s Othello Hunter, Rider’s Jason Thompson, Georgia Tech’s Jeremis Smith, Chris Douglas-Roberts of Memphis, Courtney Lee of Western Kentucky, Temple’s Mark Tyndale, Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster and Patrick Ewing Jr. of Georgetown.

Some rumors surrounding the draft include the Sonics potentially moving up in the draft and using Sonics forward Chris Wilcox in a potential deal to move up to the No. 2 overall pick to draft Michael Beasley. Read about that and other draft rumors here.

Chris Wilcox is running a camp for kids in his hometown of Whiteville, N.C. He also addresses his arrest on a concealed weapons charge two weeks ago in the local paper there.

Trial coverage from the Oklahoman.

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.

Danny Barth, CEO of the Sonics, presented that gloomy financial picture for the future while on the witness stand Wednesday.

Barth’s testimony was the focus of the afternoon session in the third day of the trial involving the Sonics and the City of Seattle. The city is suing the Sonics to force the team to honor a clause in the KeyArena contract that states the team must play all of its home games at the Seattle Center facility until the end of the contract, which runs until September 2010.

Sonics chairman Clay Bennett (shown above being questioned by the city's lead attorney, Paul Lawrence. Listen to an interview with Lawrence here and here.) also returned to the witness stand in the morning session, and again reiterated that he had hoped to get an arena deal done in Seattle. However, once efforts for his proposal for a $500 million facility in Renton failed to gain support among state lawmakers in Olympia, Bennett said he turned his effort toward plans to move the team Oklahoma City.

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Aaron Wolff, a criminal attorney in the Seattle area who does work for Save Our Sonics, has been in court following the case and was kind enough to take a few minutes with me to share his perspective.

Although several media reports have been critical of attorneys for the city's performance at this point, Wolff believes overall the city is doing well in arguing that the team should be required to honor the final two years of the lease.

"Maybe it didn't go as well as we would have liked on Monday," Wolff said. "But I think (city lead attorney Paul) Lawrence today on is cross examination did an excellent job with getting out the key points."

Wolff said even though attorneys have put forth a strong effort in defending the team's right to buy its way out of the lease, that ultimately the city needs to continue focusing on the specific clause stipulation in the lease, and the fact the ownership group agreed to honor that clause when they purchased the team.

"It's my belief that Keller is trying to bring in so many different point here," Wolff said. "But the key point here is whether or not the Sonics are obligated to stay based on the provisions in the lease."

Listen to the full interview here.

Here’s a wrap up of an eventful morning in court so far in the third day of the trial between the City of Seattle and the Sonics over terms of the KeyArena lease.

Sonics chairman Clay Bennett was back on the stand for all of the morning session, and began with Brad Keller, lead attorney for the team, continuing his questioning.

Keller again pointed out in the sales agreement between Bennett's ownership group and the former ownership group headed by Howard Schultz that it included a clause that the team would pursue a successor venue, and a plan to consider renovating KeyArena was never considered because the Key is considered a substandard NBA facility and the team could never make a profit there.

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Day 2 of the trial between the City of Seattle and the Sonics over terms of the KeyArena lease focused mainly on the testimony of Sonics chairman Clay Bennett.

For most of the day in court Bennett answered questions from the city's lead attorney, Paul Lawrence, and Sonics attorney Brad Keller. And, of course, Lawrence asked Bennett to address those infamous emails that surfaced a couple months ago during the discovery process of the case.

Bennett maintained in his testimony that when he said he was "A man possessed ..." in an email to fellow owner Tom Ward that he was referring to the fact that he was even more energized to seek a solution to the arena issue in Seattle.

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Here's the AP story on some of Sonics owner Clay Bennett's testimony:

SuperSonics owner Clayton Bennett testified that he knew when he bought the team that it was losing money at KeyArena, but thought “perhaps we could turn that around.”

Under questioning from city of Seattle lawyer Paul Lawrence, Bennett said he was a “reasonably sophisticated” investor and diligently researched the team’s finances before his Professional Basketball Club bought it for $350 million in 2006.

Bennett characterized the team’s financial losses as “significant and ever-growing, but they would not significantly alter” his family’s lifestyle. He said he understood the Sonics would likely keep losing money as long as they played at KeyArena — the NBA’s smallest venue — but said he hoped a new arena deal would revive local interest in the team.

“We thought perhaps we could turn that around in the past year if in fact we had an arena development in process,” he said.

Lawrence asked him if he understood at the time that the team might not get a deal for a new arena.

“Didn’t understand it well enough,” Bennett quipped.

The city is asking a federal judge to force the Sonics to honor the final two years on the lease at KeyArena, saying the new owners were aware of the monetary risks when they purchased the Sonics and that they should not now be able to claim financial hardship to break the lease and move the team to Bennett’s hometown of Oklahoma City.

The team says it could lose $65 million if forced to keep playing at KeyArena for the next two seasons, but could make more than $18 million if allowed to play in Oklahoma.

Sonics chairman Clay Bennett took the stand at 9:40 this morning. City attorney Paul Lawrence is asking questions about Bennett's background and how he became interested in the Sonics.

An interesting note from that line of questioning is Bennett and his ownership group sought to purchase the New Orleans Hornets before the purchased the Sonics. However, Hornets owner George Shinn would not agree to give Bennett's group a future option to buy a majority share in the team, and Bennett's group moved on.

Lawrence is trying to show that Bennett is a sophisticated investor who has the ability to sustain losses the team has suffered over the last couple of years. He's also using documentation to show that NBA ownership group make money off the team by the team's valuation going up over time, and then selling the team to another group.

Essentially, Lawrence is countering attorneys for the Sonics arguments about the team's economic hardship, and showing the team will actually make their money back and then some once they sell the team.

Bennett seems composed and cooperative on the stand.

Currently, former KeyArena manager Joy Syngh is continuing his testimony on the witness stand. Sonics attorney Paul Taylor is asking specific questions regarding financial arrangements in the KeyArena lease.

It seems like Taylor is trying (I would say unsuccessfully) to show a dysfunctional relationship between KeyArena officials and team officials regarding the Sonics occupancy of KeyArena.

Sonics chairman Clay Bennett is expected to testify once Syngh is finished.

Left over from Monday, here’s Paul Lawrence, the city’s lead attorney, talking to the media.

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.

Here's The Oklahoman’s coverage of the trial.

Who’s in and who’s out of the NBA draft after Monday’s deadline to withdraw passed? ESPN’s Chris Ford has the list.

Draft Express also weighs in.

The City of Seattle seemed to rebound in afternoon court proceedings at the federal courthouse in Seattle.

And that momentum climaxed at a rally put on by Save Our Sonics, a grass-roots team trying to keep the team here.

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 Seattle.

"I was a little skeptical about how many people would turn out," said James Stoltz, a life-long Sonics fan from Muckilteo, who counts Shawn Kemp his favorite Sonic. "But it was better than I thought it would be. I was actually pretty surprised."

The trail continued in the afternoon with more testimony from Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels for about 40 minutes after lunch.

After Nickels the city called Virginia Anderson, former director of the city center, who turned out to be the city's best witness. Anderson explained with authority on the reasons the city pursued a revenue sharing arrangement with the Sonics to remodel KeyArena in 1994.

Anderson said the city and the Sonics shared the revenue because they both shared risk in moving forward on the project, and the city took the lion's share of the revenue because it guaranteed $74 million in construction bonds to fund the project because public funds were not available to pay for the facility.

She confirmed the Sonics made money until 2000, due to an economic downturn and more competition with SAFECO and ultimately Qwest opening. But she also said she believed sports is cyclical and the Sonics could make money again with a better product on the floor.

Responding to Sonics attorney's question that the lease agreement had turned into a lose-lose proposition for both parties, Anderson said: "The deal didn't win or lose. The revenue that was coming went down. Both parties shared in the risk, which was what the deal was supposed to do."

Take a look at more pictures from the rally below.

We're at lunch at the trial, and the City of Seattle, it seems could use a break.

Specifically, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was grilled for about an hour by Brad Keller, lead attorney for the Sonics.

Nickels admitted that the current lease agreement between the city and the team is financially straining and a money loser. He also acknowledged the city had been working with Wally Walker as a go-between with a local, private investment group to try and coax Bennett's group to sell the group to a local ownership group, which included the strategy of getting the team to lose money by forcing them to honor the lease and stay another two years.

While Keller seemed confident and compelling in his opening statement and cross examination of Nickels, attorneys for the city seemed to stumble on themselves a couple times when attorneys for the Sonics objected to exhibits or statements.

As promised, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman has run a tight ship, asking a member of the public to sit down when he tried to switch to a different seat, and admonishing another member of the public for coughing while Keller spoke.

About 15 Sonics fans showed up to view the trail, a much smaller number than expected. The court is about half full, with members of the media taking up the largest section of seats.

Nickels will be on the witness stand again when the trial resumes at 1:30 p.m.

We're about to get started here. Sonics chairman Clay Bennett entered the courtroom about 20 minutes ago with his legal team, and may testify today. Also scheduled to testify today is Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Click here for more information on the case.

I took a couple shots from outside the courtroom before I went through security. Outside stood a few Sonics fans waiting for the lottery to start so they can attend the trial, and some media members waiting to get a shot of Bennett coming into the courtroom.

I also talked to Brian Robinson of Save Our Sonics about the case, and you can listen to that here.

I'll have an update after the morning break.

In a move that further shows the Seattle SuperSonics' impending departure to Oklahoma City, the NBA switched the team's NBA Development League affiliate from the Idaho Stampede to the Tulsa 66ers.

Tulsa is about 100 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

The Sonics had been affiliated with the Idaho Stampede since 2005, and shared that affiliation with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Now the Blazers and the Toronto Raptors, a team nearly 2,000 miles from Boise, will share affiliation with the Idaho Stampede, while the Sonics and Milwaukee Bucks will share affiliation with Tulsa.

The Tim Donaghy referee scandal has turned up a couple notches, with attorneys for Donaghy revealing in a federal court filing on Tuesday that Donaghy alleges the NBA fixed games in the playoffs to help alter the outcome of series in 2002 and 2005 postseasons. Read more about the story here.

In particular, the officiating in the 2002 Western Conference finals in Game 6 between the L.A. Lakers and the Sacramento Kings has come under scrutiny. The Lakers shot 26 free throws, compared to six for Sacramento in the final quarter.

Sacramento Bee columnist Ailene Voisin revisits the game. Kings fans believe that game was an opportunity to raise a championship banner at Arco Arena stolen by the league.

Arizona product Jerryd Bayless worked out in New York on Tuesday. According to Bayless, recently hired Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said the Wildcat combo guard could be the engine running the show, similar to Steve Nash in Phoenix, if New York selects the guard with the No. 6 overall draft pick. However, Bayless is not expected to slip past Seattle.

Jerry Colangelo, director of Team USA, said the group will select the final 12 for the roster headed to Beijing instead of having a tryout for the last two spots. An announcement of the final roster is expected soon after the NBA finals are completed.

With the trial in federal court pitting the City of Seattle against the Sonics over terms of the KeyArena lease scheduled to start on Monday, members of the media were invited to meeting at the federal courthouse in Seattle today.

Chief Judge Robert Lasnik headed the meeting, with the main purpose of explaining the rules and regulations for folks in the media attending the trial.

Cameras, lab tops, cell phones and other electronic devices will not be allowed in the courtroom, so members of the media cannot take photographs or record audio in the courtroom or the overflow room for media members.

About 20 to 25 spots are allocated for media members in the courtroom. And between 40 to 50 spots will be made available for the public for each session. So, a lottery will determine which members of the public will receive spots in the morning session, which takes place from 9 a.m. to Noon. A separate lottery will determine spots for the afternoon session, which runs from 1:30 to 4 p.m. The lottery will be held each morning before the trial begins.

The courthouse opens at 8 a.m.

A Web site will be up by tomorrow that will provide information on the trial throughout the week. I'll post a link when it becomes available.

At the site people interested in the trial can purchase transcripts of the day's proceedings, which will be available by 8 p.m. for that day. The site also will include a list of witnesses that are expected to testify the following day.

I'll be attending each day and providing reports from the courthouse during breaks in the trail, which will include interviews from witnesses willing to comment and other tidbits happening throughout the day.

Brian Hendrickson of The Columbian writes about the possibility of the Portland Trail Blazers becoming the Northwest’s basketball team, similar to the Seahawks and Mariners, if the Sonics move to Oklahoma City with next week’s upcoming trial.

Here’s an excerpt.

While Portland officials say they do not have a plan in place — and insist they would prefer the Sonics remain in Seattle and preserve the rivalry — serious discussions have been taking place to explore the Blazers’ options if the Seattle market is vacated.

“Our hope is that, over time, we can be to people outside of Portland and people in Seattle what the Mariners and Seahawks are to Portlanders,” said Blazers Chief Operating Officer Mike Golub. “If for some reason the Sonics are able to salvage a deal, get a new arena and stay, we would be absolutely happy that the region remains intact and the rivalry remains intact and the history that they’ve had there continues. At the same time, we’d be silly not to think what the consequences would be should they move.”

The opportunity to make inroads into a bigger market rarely comes along in sports. Imagine if the Golden State Warriors left Oakland, Calif., allowing Sacramento to pursue the Bay Area market. Or if San Antonio could expand its footprint into a vacated Houston region.

That is the rare opportunity that could be presented to the Blazers.

Read the entire story here.

Some former Sonics coaches and players are in the news today.

Affectionately called “Big Smooth”, former Sonic Sam Perkins was named vice president of player relations for the Indiana Pacers.

The Chicago Bulls pick Vinny Del Negro over former Sonics assistant Dwayne Casey for the team’s vacant coaching job. Early speculation has Del Negro looking at former Sonics head coach Bob Hill as his lead assistant.

The Sonics have several players scheduled to workout for the team this week as they continue to evaluate prospects for this year’s draft, which is a little more than two weeks away.

Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless and Indiana's Eric Gordon headline the list.
Most mock drafts have Seattle taking Bayless with the team’s No. 4 overall pick. The 6-foot-3, 19-year-old is seen as a fast, athletic guard who can shoot well from the perimeter and run the floor.

However, Indiana product Eric Gordon also is a good athlete with more of an NBA-ready body who the Sonics would like to take a closer look at, and also could select with the team’s top pick.

Seattle has six picks overall in the draft. Along with the No. 4 pick, Seattle has the No. 24 pick in the first round and four picks in the second round.

Other players headed to Seattle this week include Kansas forward Darrell Arthur, UCLA’s Lorenzo Mata, Steven Hill of Arkansas, Luc Louves of France, Rhode Island’s Will Daniels, Marcus Dove of Oklahoma State, Maryland’s James Gist, Indiana’s D.J. White, Trent Plaisted of BYU, Richard Hendrix of Alabama, Kentrell Gransberry of South Florida and California’s DeVon Hardin.

The Sonics also had five players in for workouts last Sunday, highlighted by Stanford’s Brook Lopez, who has fallen in some mock drafts. Also on hand were Tyrelle Blair of Boston College, Sasha Kaun of Kansas, Louisville’s David Pagett and Vladimir Golubovic of Serbia.

U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman ruled today on several motions to exclude evidence regarding the trail between the City of Seattle and the Sonics in the city’s lawsuit against to force the team to honor the last two years of the KeyArena lease agreement.

Pechman ruled to allow testimony from Seattle author and Sonics season ticket holder Sherman Alexie, noting that he was properly disclosed as a potential witness and his testimony is relevant to the issue being argued.

However, the Sonics motion to exclude testimony from KJR-AM radio talk show host Mitch Levy was granted, because the city disclosed Levy as a witness nearly a month after the agreed on discovery deadline of April 30.

Pechman also said that Levy’s testimony concerns media access to players, and is not directly related to the main issues surrounding the case.

Pechman ruled to reserve the city’s motion to exclude testimony from Seattle City Council members Nick Licata and Richard Conlin, stating that the Sonics did not seek to prohibit evidence contradicting the two councilmen’s previous statements.

Pechman denied the city’s remaining motions to exclude evidence presented by the Sonics regarding the team’s dysfunctional relationship with the city, a field survey showing the teams is the third most popular franchise behind the Seahawks and the Mariners, and evidence showing the team made an effort to secure a successor venue to KeyArena.

Pechman stated the city’s motions extended beyond issues of evidence into issue of law, and that city’s arguments were premature.

Check out the filing here.

Former Sonics assistant coach Dwayne Casey may have moved ahead of Doug Collins for the vacant Chicago Bulls head coaching position according to this report. Earlier reports had the Bulls already offering Collins the job.

And according to his report in The Oklahoman, Richard Yarmuth, attorney for former Sonics owner Howard Schultz, responded to a letter from Oklahoma City officials stating the Sonics would not have to move if Schultz won his suit to undo the sale of the Sonics to Clay Bennett’s ownership group.

Yarmuth contends the city’s lease agreement for the Ford Center is with Bennett’s ownership group, and that the city should wait to begin improvements on the Ford Center until all of the lawsuits in Seattle have run their course.

The Sonics began working out draft hopefuls at their practice facility, the Furtado Center, today.

Four guys worked out today and all of them are big guys. They include UCLA big man, 6-10 post Kevin Love, 6-9 forward J.J. Hickson out of N.C. State, 7-footer Kosta Koufos from Ohio State, and 6-10 Australian Nathan Jawai.

The Sonics also plan on working out four more draft hopefuls on Saturday. They include Georgetown center Roy Hibbert, George Hill of IUPUI, Shawn Pruitt out of Illinois, and UCLA product Russell Westbrook.

Of the eight players coming to Seattle this week, six are big men and two are point guards, as the Sonics look for players to help shore up the team's inside woes.

It's an interesting list of players to begin the process. Love seems repetitive because the Sonics already have Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox at power forward, but there have been rumors of Seattle wanting to move down in the draft, and Wilcox is in the final year of a 3-year deal and could command some offers from other teams.

Westbrook, with his athletic ability and willingness to defend, seems like a Sam Presti player. Hibbert and his relationship with fellow Georgetown product Jeff Green might be a good late first-round, early second-round pick.

However, the most interesting prospect is Nathan Jawai. Although a bit unpolished, Jawai moves well at 6-10, 282 pounds and with his size and explosiveness could develop into a decent inside player. He earned the moniker of "Baby Shaq" in the Australian NBL League Down Under. Watch his highlight tape here.

In a filing late Wednesday the Sonics responded to former Sonics owner Howard Schultz's lawsuit in federal court, which seeks to undo the sale of the team because of breech of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

In the eight-page filing, attorneys for the Sonics deny the ownership group led by Sonics chairman Clay Bennett group lied to Schultz when they bought the franchise in July 2006, and that the group followed through with the contract stipulation to make a "good faith best effort" to get an arena deal done in Seattle for 12 months after the sale in the group's unsuccessful attempt to secure funding for a $500 million new arena in Renton.

Attorney's for the Sonics contend the lawsuit filed by Schultz should be dismissed.

In the filing attorneys for the Sonics also argue it's impossible to unwind the sale because of several transactions that have occurred since the deal, including he sale of the Seattle Storm to a local ownership group, and the pursuit to move the team to Oklahoma City, including a public vote to secure funding to upgrade the city's Ford Center, and a binding lease for the team to begin playing at the Ford Center beginning in the 2010-11 season.

The two sides are scheduled to meet before U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman, the same judge presiding over the trial between the City of Seattle and the Sonics, on June 30.

Read the filing here.

Sonics power forward Chris Wilcox was arrested on weapons charges in Bladen County, N.C. Saturday evening, according to the Bladen Journal.

According to the report from the Bladen County Sheriff’s Department, Wilcox, 25, was charged with two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. Another man with Wilcox was arrested on the same charges.

Both were taken into custody and transported to Bladen County Jail where they were booked on a $500 secured bond each.

Both have been released.

According to the report, the arrests were the result of a routine traffic stop.

"Chris has made us aware of the situation," Sonics spokesperson Tom Savage said. "We are in the process of gathering more information and will have further comment at the appropriate time."

Several filings were made by both the city of Seattle and the Sonics regarding the upcoming June 16 trial late Tuesday.

They included a pretrial order, which outlines the arguments both sides will make in presenting their cases, including witnesses they plan on calling to the stand and evidence they will present during the trial. Check that out here.

The city’s argument is pretty straight forward: The Sonics signed a lease to play all of its games in KeyArena until Sept. 2010. The KeyArena lease contains a specific performance clause stating that fact, and the city wants the team to honor its contractual obligation.

The city does not want to let the Sonics buy their way out of the lease because the city believes they are a unique tenant that cannot be replaced, and they bring intangible benefits to the city that cannot be reasonably calculated.

The Sonics will argue that the city will not be impacted economically by the team leaving and a buyout of the lease can be reasonably calculated. They also will argue that the city has unclean hands, pointing to its relationship with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s group that tried to get Clay Bennett’s ownership group to sell the Sonics to them. The Sonics also will argue that the specific performance clause would impose undue hardship on the franchise.

The city and the Sonics also presented motions responding to previous filings by both parties designed to limit evidence presented during the six-day trial.

In its motion the city argued the importance of having nationally renowned Seattle author Sherman Alexie and KJR-AM radio talk show host Mitch Levy testify during the trial. Read that filing here.

In the filing, Michelle Jensen, an attorney representing the city, states that Levy will present testimony that shows the Sonics have limited their opportunities for free advertising for its players and franchise by limiting the opportunities players and coaches are available to KJR for on-air interviews compared to past seasons.

Jensen also argues that Alexie, a member of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe and a 10-year season ticket holder, can talk about the unique, cultural benefits the Sonics offer the city.

The Sonics also filed several motions, arguing the importance of presenting evidence that shows the dysfunctional relationship between the franchise and the city; their pursuit of a successor venue to KeyArena; a field survey that shows the Sonics behind the Seahawks and Mariners in fan popularity; and testimony from Seattle council member Nick Licata, who uttered the now famous words that the Sonics have very little cultural value and no economic value to the city.

In other news, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Michael Hunt tells Bucks fans its time to start planning for a new arena to replace the Bradley Center, or they will in end up in the same predicament Seattle finds itself in.

And in another odd story involving the Sonics, Massachusetts native Ronnie Craven has been telling anyone who will listen, including his hometown paper the Somerville News, that he’s the player personnel director for the Sonics, with close friend Sam Presti bringing him on.

Craven was exposed in this Seattle P-I article by Gary Washburn.

DraftExpress.com just posted the measurements from the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando this week, which you can check out here.

Some players of note.

Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless measured at 6-1 ¾ without shoes, and a 6-3 with shoes. He had a max vertical of 38 inches, benched 185 pounds 10 times, ran an 11.26 in lane agility drills and 3.07 in the ¾ length of floor sprint.

USC product O.J. Mayo measured at 6-3 ¼ without shoes, 6-4 ¼ with shoes. He had a max vertical of 41 inches, benched 185 pounds seven times, ran an 11.04 in lane agility and 3.14 in the floor sprint.

Indiana’s Eric Gordon measured at 6-2 without shoes, and 6-3 ¼ in shoes. Gordon had a 40-inch max vertical, benched 185 pounds 15 times, ran 10.81 in the lane agility and 3.01 in the floor sprint.

Memphis product Derrick Rose measured at 6-1 ½ without shoes, 6-2 ½ with shoes. Rose had a 40-inch max vertical, benched 185 pounds 10 times, ran an 11.69 in the lane agility and 3.05 in the floor sprint.

Kansas State’s Michael Beasley measured at 6-7 without shoes, 6-8 ¼ with shoes. Beasley had a 36-inch max vertical, bench 185 pounds 24 times, ran an 11.33 in the lane agility, and 2.99 in the floor sprint.

Stanford’s Brook Lopez measured at 6-11 ¼ without shoes, 7-0 ½ with shoes. Lopez had a max vertical of 30.5 inches, benched 185 seven times, ran a 12.77 in the lane agility, and 3.57 in the floor sprint.

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.

According to reports, Saunders did not have the full respect of his players, and his offensive-minded approach perhaps did not suit a team built on defense. Detroit assistant coach Michael Curry and former Dallas Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson are considered the front runners.

Not much happening in the city of Seattle’s suit against the Sonics over terms of the KeyArena lease as the two sides ready for a June 16 trial, but Greg Johns of the Seattle P-I has an interesting story today, with Seattle attorney Randy Aliment saying things will get ugly. It’s worth a read.

Aaron Goodwin, agent for Kevin Durant, discusses his philosophy on representing players and the idea of using runners to help recruit players. Goodwin says he prefers to work with players directly.

ESPN Chad Ford has updated his draft board, but still has Seattle taking Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless with the No. 4 overall pick. Although, according to sources, Ford says the Sonics have been shopping around the pick.

Here’s a pretty good breakdown of the talented guards expected to go in the upper half of the first round.

And Jonathan Givony and Joey Whelan of DraftExpress.com share their thoughts on the Orlando pre-draft camp in this podcast.