One thing I love about professional sports is how the Owners, GMs, and Coaches/Managers build their teams with the available talent. Here in Seattle, we’ve had the pleasure (as well as the head-scratching) watching Allen, Schneider and Carroll create the Seahawks we have the privilege of watching today. Their out-of-the-box thinking combined with just some outstanding surprises (Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, etc.) have brought together seemingly misfit players into an incredibly exciting football team over a three year period. They have mixed together veterans, unusual draft choices, and big moves (Percy Harvin trade) to form a team which could and should (barring injury) make it to the SuperBowl this season. The moves they made this off-season show they are going for it NOW. No rebuilding, no excuses. From Paul Allen, to the players, to the 12th Man, we are all-in on making this hopefully one of the best Seahawk seasons ever.

SuperSonics Woulda been a Contender

The excitement I felt when I heard the initial rumors of Phil Jackson being part of our team made all my wildest wishes for the return of the SuperSonics even more palpable. I knew that HBNW going for it – they were going to be all-in in creating a championship contending team in a very short period of time. These guys were going to get a team and hit the ground running. We all know how that chapter ended a few weeks ago, however we are still in the middle of the book, just starting the next chapter and still don’t know how it will end; we just know our heroes are still on path (for your sanity, I chose not to write “disappointment and clear path” in this sentence).

What is going to happen is the NBA Draft in a few weeks. Normally I pay very little attention to the NBA drafts because it seems like it takes years for most of the players to develop and all the hype and analysis seems just more filler to keep fan interest during the off-season. I did though become very interested when I thought the SuperSonics would be back this fall (thanks Kevin for all the research) which leads me to the point of this FanPost.

Draft versus Trade versus Free Agency

I didn’t get the impression HBNW were going to spend much time on the draft (this year at least). They were going use their intelligence and bring some great and creative basketball minds to Seattle to create a team that could make a championship run in year three or four (probably coinciding with the first year we would have played in the new arena). They would make great trades and spend wisely and well to get the players and coaches it takes to create a dynasty – not only for their own love of the game and for Seattle, also for the long-term profitability of competing in such an economically messed-up league.

Now that the E-word seems to be just as possible as bringing a currently existing team to Seattle, does that change how HBNW-J (the “J” stands for Phil Jackson) build a team if they had to do it as an expansion Seattle SuperSonics for the 2014 season? I think so. I think if that were the case, we would be looking at a five year “building” period as financially, it would be challenging for them to justify completely blowing salary caps. So if an expansion team, then I think drafts will be critical for our SuperSonics the first three years.

If HBNW-J are able to find a “relocation approved” existing team, then I think we have the pleasure of watching HBNW-J trade and play in the FA market to make Seattle an immediate division contender.

What do you guys think? To me it shows the importance of management and coaching the first three years of the return of the SuperSonics no matter if expansion or relocation team.

NOTE: this FanPost is based on a team returning for the 2014-2015 season with Phil Jackson as EVP/GM.