Test: Clippings Test Run

Test: Testing out the legs on the new system.

Kings notes: Hawes roots for Seattle bid - Kings/NBA - The Sacramento Bee

Spencer Hawes doesn't mince words. He's from Seattle and wants his hometown to land an NBA franchise, even if it comes at the expense of the team that drafted him moving there. "I won't make any qualms about where I stand," Hawes said. "I want to see my hometown get a franchise. There is some confliction, but I'm not going to beat around the bush about what my stance is." Predictably, that stance earned Hawes scorn in his return to Sacramento as a Philadelphia 76er for Sunday's game at Sleep Train Arena.

Winner in Seattle-Sacramento tug of war? Stern’s NBA | NBA - The News Tribune

As the Sacramento City Council ups the ante in its high-stakes game of Franchise Hold-’em with Seattle, it’s increasingly obvious that NBA commissioner David Stern’s manipulations may be the most masterful of his career. In these parts, this comment may sound like those who footnote the oppressive history of political despots with a brief and grudging recognition for having made the trains run on schedule. Stern shared culpability with a number of others for the Seattle SuperSonics’ defection in 2008, when he displayed little more than the back of his hand to the Puget Sound-area fans who supported the NBA for 41 years. In that process as well as the current tug of war, Stern is carrying the shield for his masters – the owners of NBA franchises.

To help ward off Seattle NBA bid, Sacramento city council OKs arena deal | OregonLive.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- With the clock clicking down, the Sacramento City Council took its last shot at keeping the NBA Kings in California's capital by approving a public-private deal Tuesday to build a new 18,500-seat arena and retail center downtown. Approval of the arena was the last step in what has been a full court press by Mayor Kevin Johnson to keep the city's only major league sports team from bolting to Seattle, where a new ownership group and arena deal awaits. He now must convince NBA owners to block the Maloof family from initiating the move, a deal made public in January. Since then, the mayor, himself a former NBA All-Star, has scrambled to assemble a group to buy the team, convince Commissioner David Stern to consider a counter offer, and get approval for the financial deal that would build a $448 million arena on the site of a shopping mall -- a development many say will revitalize a problem area in its bustling city core.