According to an article that appeared on Crosscut.com this week, John Christison, head of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, is not in total agreement for using a portion of City of Seattle’s hotel-motel tax money to help fund a $300 million remodel of KeyA
rena.

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Well, what did you expect? The Thunder looked bad in a 98-87 loss to the Milwaukee Bukcs in the team’s Oklahoma City debut. This is the same team that lost a franchise-record 62 games in the last season as the Seattle SuperSonics.

They added Desmond Mason and Joe Smith, and got rid of Luke Ridnour and Francisco Elson. Those aren’t exactly moves that rocket you up the Western Conference standings.

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Maybe it's just a coincidence. But a faithful reader of the TNT pointed out the eerie similarities between the former Seattle SuperSonics and current Oklahoma City Thunder logo, and International Basketball League's Tacoma Thunder logo, which has changed ownership and is now the Tacoma Jazz.

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The hunted are now the hunters. We take a look at what teams might be up for relocation to Seattle in the next five to seven years as this area begins its first season in 42 years without a basketball team.

The Portland Trail Blazers are now the closest team to follow if you want to itch your NBA scratch. Take a look at some of the big games coming to Portland, along with a few story lines to follow nationally in the NBA.

With the way the football season has gone for the Seahawks, Washington and Washington State, having the Sonics around would have been a good diversion, Dave Boling writes.

Here’s an update on the City of Seattle’s proposal to revamp KeyArena. Also, Brian Robinson of Save Our Sonics has helped create a lobbying group to help push the proposal through the state Legislature. The group is called Sports and Activities for Families.

You can also find NBA preview capsules for the Western Conference here. And here’s the Eastern Conference capsules.

Looking for a primer on the professional basketball team two hours south of us? Admitted Blazers fan Henry Abbott of ESPN’s TrueHoops blog provides a lengthy and detailed analysis of why this might be the beginning of the Portland Trail Blazers era.

Looking for news on the Oklahoma City Thunder? Gary Washburn of the Seattle P-I is down there for the opener, and has this story on how the players and staff that have relocated down there are adjusting to their new surrounding.

And this New York Times article by Bruce Schoenfeld is an interesting piece on the process team chairman Clay Bennett went through to get the team there, although you might not want to relive all of the details. There are some interesting tidbits about stuff that happened behind closed doors. It’s a pretty lengthy piece.

That’s all for now

Comcast Cable and Comcast SportsNet Northwest will show to 55 Portland Trail Blazers games in the Seattle region and 60 NHL games featuring the Vancouver Canucks or the San Jose Sharks.

The network is carried on Comcast digital preferred channel 179, and is available on other local providers. Viewers with other providers can check www.csnnw.com or call 877-8-CSNNW-9 (877-827-6699) for information on Comcast SportsNet’s local availability.

“Now that we don’t have a Seattle-area NBA team, we are excited to bring the Trail Blazers to our Washington customers,” said Tom Pierce, vice president of sales and marketing for Comcast. “If you want local sports, we’ve got more than any other provider.

With the painful departure of the Seattle Sonics and this region’s 41-year history with the NBA, most local fans of the league find ourselves trying to pick up the pieces. Understandably, some have chosen to totally sever any connection with the NBA after experiencing the emotion-sapping frustration of losing a beloved franchise, while others will maintain a casual interest in the league, heading south on I-5 to get their fill of the NBA in Portland.

Still others may wish to know a little of what is happening with our departed franchise, including the budding career of future superstar Kevin Durant.

What we would like to do here is provide a little of all those things in this blog space. The main focus of this blog will be to report on the incremental steps both the City of Seattle and the private investment group headed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are making in pursuing the return of another NBA franchise to this region.

And along with that, we’ll also check in on the major stories happening around the NBA. Those updates will includes stops in Portland where we believe there is in an interest in the Trail Blazers with Seattle natives Brandon Roy and Martell Webster, along with head coach Nate McMillen. And at times we’ll also take a look at what is happening with the boys in Oklahoma City.

We also will use this space to provide semi-regular updates on former Seattle Sonics players, and players from the Seattle-area competing on NBA teams throughout the league.

Most important, this blog will provide another outlet for fans in the Puget Sound region to keep up with the game they love in Seattle’s first season in 41 years without an NBA franchise.