Fill the Void
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SLICK WATTS: DAVID ESKENAZI COLLECTION DAVID SLICK WATTS: BY HILLEL KUTTLER FILL THE VOID 28_feature_sonics_new.indd 28 3/13/20 3:28 PM SONICS FANS HOPE THAT THE NHL’S ARRIVAL AT KEYARENA MEANS A FUTURE FOR THE NBA. BUT ARE THEIR DREAMS ON ICE? ILLUSTRATION BY NEOMI RAPOPORT 28_feature_sonics_new.indd 29 3/13/20 3:28 PM AN ENCOUNTER WITH TWO SEATTLE SUPERSONICS PLAYERS IN THE late 1970s remains embedded in Lindsey Schwartz’s mind. Schwartz was about 8 years old and hanging out at The Butcher, his family’s restaurant in Bellevue. Many Son- ics lived nearby and ate there. On this night, guard Den- nis Johnson and forward John Johnson dined together. Schwartz requested their signatures. “They said it’s not polite to askA someone for an autograph while they’re eat- ing,” Schwartz says. He laughs, then turns serious. “They were trying to teach a young kid some manners.” When the men finished their meal, Schwartz snagged the coveted autographs. Four decades later, Schwartz, who took over the family restaurant business, still relishes this memory. 30 APRIL-MAY 2020 28_feature_sonics_new.indd 30 3/13/20 3:29 PM Such snapshots in time have Johnsons – ditto. Xavier McDaniel. comforted Schwartz and other Nate McMillan. Detlef Schrempf. National Basketball Association Gerald Henderson. Clemon John- fans since the Sonics were sent son. Lonnie Shelton. Paul Silas. to Oklahoma City after the 2007- Second, the glory days: the three- “It was bittersweet to 08 season. “It broke my heart,” time NBA finalists of the late ’70s Schwartz says of the move. “I was and mid ’90s and, naturally, the see Durant return to super angry. I still am.” 1978-79 championship team. light it up at the Key, Many Sonics fans share this pain, Renton-native Daniel Shapiro even though Seattle’s profession- started his basketball career as a leaving many to wonder al sports scene is plenty dynamic ball boy for the Sonics, a job pro- what might have been.” with the Sounders, the Mariners, cured through his family friend, the Storm, and the Seahawks. And center-forward Michael Cage. He it’s getting better. In October 2021, went on to become a strength and the city’s National Hockey League conditioning coach for them, the expansion team will take the ice Sacramento Kings, and, now, the — nearly a century after the Seat- Los Angeles Clippers. “I’d love the tle Metropolitans folded in 1924. opportunity to go home to play between the Golden State Warriors return to light it up at the Key, leav- That’ll make five Seattle franchis- games,” he says. and the Kings at a sold-out KeyAre- ing many to wonder what might es in the country’s six top leagues. Shapiro remembers attending na. Warriors forward Kevin Durant have been,” D’Ambrosio says. Only one league is missing, and Sonics games with his friend Jason electrified the crowd by address- it’s one that fans ache to bring back: D’Ambrosio. Jason’s dad Jerry ing them before the game wearing the NBA. drove the boys to the Seattle Cen- Kemp’s Sonics No. 40 jersey. ter Coliseum for games, returned Durant, of course, had been to his office three blocks away, fin- drafted first overall by the Sonics in ished work, and picked them up 2007. He earned the NBA’s Rook- afterward. Shapiro recalls witness- ie of the Year award on a 20-win FEW LOCALS HAVE forgot- ing a spectacular dunk by Xavier team. With the fourth overall pick ten or forgiven those responsi- McDaniel — and isn’t that adjec- in 2008, the Sonics drafted Russell ble for the sale. One fan, David AMERICAN JEWS HAVE A tive redundant? — he and Jason Westbrook. Good times lay ahead. Eskenazi, held season tickets for long history of sports superfandom standing on their seats, crossing But before KD and Russ could take the last decade and a half of the and sports team ownership, and their arms at face level in a tribute the court together, the Sonics were Sonics’ existence. After the team Seattle’s community is no excep- to the X-Man. gone. Eleven years later, emotions bolted, it would be five years tion. Herman Sarkowsky founded Jerry D’Ambrosio watched a tele- ran high at Durant’s reappearance. before he watched another NBA the Seahawks, Jeff Smulyan pur- cast of the 2018 exhibition game “It was bittersweet to see Durant game even on television. chased the Mariners, and Adrian Hanauer is a majority owner of the Sounders and a minority owner of the coming NHL team. The numbers jump when it comes to basketball. Jewish indi- viduals own several NBA teams, and the present and immediate past commissioners are Jewish. Busi- nessman Sam Schulman founded the SuperSonics in 1966. And it was Starbucks founder and former CEO Howard Schultz (who, incidental- ly, bought pastries from Schwartz’s family bakery for his nascent coffee shop chain) who landed responsi- bility for letting the team go in 2008. Solicit Sonics superfans for their strongest associations, and they mention two things. First, the names of their favor- ite players: Spencer Haywood. Len- ny Wilkens. Downtown Freddie Brown. Jack Sikma. Gus Williams. Ray Allen. Dale Ellis. Tom Cham- bers. Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp – always stated together. The HOOP DREAMS Clockwise from top left: Lenny Wilkens driving on COURTESY DAVID ESKENAZI COLLECTION DAVID COURTESY Al Attles; Dennis Johnson with his 1979 Finals MVP trophy; a Sunbeam Bread trading card; a 1968 ticket JEWISH IN SEATTLE 31 28_feature_sonics_new.indd 31 3/13/20 3:29 PM CHAMPS Left: Shawn Kemp rookie card; right: former players and civic leaders at the Seattle Sports Star of the Year Banquet in 2019, 40 years after the 1979 championship “I was angry, really upset,” says Jewish owner of a Seattle team. He Eskenazi, who owns a financial had sought to purchase the Sonics services firm in downtown Seat- in 2008 and was part of Hanson’s the point guard for the Sonics’ tle. “I have ire directed at all parties unsuccessful 2013 group before 1995-96 finalist team, and Wally involved.” buying the Clippers in 2014. Walker, a forward for the 1978- Former Sonics point guard Slick Watts likes to prod Ballmer to 79 champions and later a Sonics Watts, who lives in Redmond, was move his team to Seattle. “Steve, I’m WHETHER EMPLOYING executive. hurt and disappointed by the Son- still waiting on the Clippers,” Watts fantasy or reason, many Sonics lov- Their efforts may be for naught, ics’ move. By allowing the Sonics says. Ballmer’s usual response, he ers express confidence in the wrong at least in the near term. Every so to uproot from a supportive mar- notes, is to let out a cackle. being righted. They look to the often, Shapiro picks up scuttlebutt ket, and then preventing the sale Wednesdays are when Watts NHL’s return — 97 years later— as that the New Orleans Pelicans or of the Sacramento Kings five years dons his old Sonics jersey, its green a potential indicator for the NBA’s the Memphis Grizzlies or others later to Seattle financier Chris and yellow and No. 13 still vibrant. rebound. are candidates to relocate to Seattle. Hanson, who would have relocat- Sometimes, Watts wears his Son- Their thought process runs like He’s cautious about the rum- ed the team here, the NBA’s then- ics warm-up suit on top; other this: The NHL team’s imminent blings. “For the last five years, I’ve commissioner David Stern times, it might be the jacket the arrival, the under-reconstruction been hearing that Seattle will get a “betrayed us,” Watts says. Sonics awarded him as one of their KeyArena, and Seattle’s boom- team five years from now. Here we In his own way, Watts is lobby- top 40 players during a 40th anni- ing economy are sure to entice an are five years later, and nothing’s ing for a correction. versary celebration in 2007. expansion team or the relocation happened,” Shapiro says. Every Wednesday, he runs into Dressing in the garb, Watts says, of an existing team. At a sports conference last Dec- retired Microsoft CEO Steve Ball- is cathartic for him and for fans. If the NHL’s success at the ember, NBA commissioner Adam mer at Bellevue’s PRO Club. Ball- “It’s to let people know to keep box office is any indication, the Silver said, regarding Seattle: mer could have been yet another hope alive,” he explains. NBA’s re-establishment in Seattle “There’s, I think, a special fondness would break the internet. Thirty- for that market, but nothing is being two thousand seat deposits were actively discussed at this time.” placed in the first 24 hours of NHL “Seattle will be sure that if they business, and 37,000 more names get a team, they won’t lose it this sit on a waiting list, says Bill Chap- time,” Shapiro says of NBA poten- in, NHL Seattle’s senior vice presi- tial. “I have strong faith in my dent of sales. hometown that they would exceed If the NHL’s success at With the WNBA’s Storm due all expectations.” the box office is any to share the arena, “we’ll be very Lindsey Schwartz is keen to do his ready for basketball,” he says. part. He and his friends are buying a indication, the NBA’s re- Seattle-based ownership season-ticket package for the NHL establishment in Seattle groups for a men’s hoops club, team, with Schwartz’s allotment including Hanson’s, continue being eight games each season.