Say goodbye to the Seattle Supersonics and portland Jailblazers?

one problem..the players aren't gonna agree to that!

 

Louisville and Pittsburgh seem the most likely destinations for the Sonics and the Blazers.

I'm too lazy to check, but I think Louisville is right across the state line from Cincinnati (?) so that's a pretty decent-sized market. And Louisville stepped up to the plate pretty well when we nearly lost the Rockets.

Of course, if the Sonics and Blazers moved East, you'd have more realignment. Those teams might gut themselves of large, long-term contracts and rebuild, so you'd have two more suckwad Eastern Conference teams. Hell, half the East's playoff-bound teams are at or below .500 as it is.

 

So bascially the owner wants the residents of Seattle to pay for a new arena or he'll leave.

I know Vegas and Kansas City have been wanting a team for quite a while now.

 

Pittsburgh? No way. A declining industrial city that can't even support a hockey team? Not going to happen.

Louisville - I guess it's viable but that's about it. I don't think anybody really WANTS to be there, but it's a nice "build us a stadium or else we'll move to louisville" bargaining chip.

I think Vegas is the prime spot if the league wil allow it.

 

Just get rid of them both, have a dispersal draft of the players, and realign the divisions back to 4 divisions with 7 teams each. There are too many teams, anyways...

 

i could not have said it any better. both pitt and louisville are a joke compared to seattle.

i agree on vegas. we'll see.

 

I just don't realistically see either team splitting from those cities. There aren't enough alternative good markets. Just like the Rockets would be unwise to have moved the franchise 5 years back.

 

some of you must have forgot Vancouver, which hosts an NBA team before
also werent the NBA try to go international?
Ciudad de Mexico seems like a good choice LoL

 

how about vancouver?

 

I think Louisville is about a two hour drive from Cincinnati. That's not that big of a drive, either. I would think that Cinci would be a more viable city, though. While both cities are VERY nice, Cinci is a little bigger, and has a very nice, very large airport.

 

Yeah, I just looked it up....106 miles. So, depending who you are, anywhere between one and two hours. Not too far at all.

 

Uhh, Milwaukee already has the Bucks...

 

We're forgetting San Francisco...

I know the Warriors play right across the Bay in Oakland, but the Bay Area is a HUGE market...I think they could support two teams easily.

 

They don't count.


They might as well be forgotten.

 

they would be called the rainbows i think

 

Not just saying this because it's the nearest city to me, but I think Buffalo is actually a good darkhorse candidate. Sure, Buffalo isn't the best city, economically around, but the people in Western New York love their teams. When a team goes to Buffalo, they don't just grab the fans from the city, but from all the suburbs, from the Rochester area, Niagara Falls area, all the way down western New York into Nothern Penn. Put that together with the fact that they already have a NICE arena (HSBC Arena), and I think they're a viable candidate.

I think it was Ric Bucher, but someone from ESPN actually wrote an article a while back talking about how Buffalo is a good NBA market that should have a team.

 

Hmm, seems like another Utah Jazz type of market to me, and we all know that we don't need another one of those around...

 

I can't believe you guys are forgetting the obvious: OKC. I doubt the NBA goes anywhere before OKC gets a team. OKC has an relatively new arena and investors in place, and averages 19,000 per game.

IIRC Key Arena is not a new arena. It is the remodeled Seattle Center Coliseum.

 

St. Louis (Hawks)