By Ailene Voisin
avoisin@sacbee.com
Former Seattle SuperSonics center Jack Sikma, now an assistant with the Houston Rockets, says he's still upset about the Sonics' move to Oklahoma City in 2008. A member of the Sonics team Lenny Wilkens coached to the NBA Championship in 1978-79, he still lives in the Pacific Northwest during the offseason. For obvious reasons, he has been monitoring the Kings' potential move to the Honda Center in Anaheim.
"It's depressing, is still hard to believe Seattle doesn't have an NBA team," the seven-time All Star said before the Kings-Rockets game. "You don't think it could ever happen, especially with a good fan base, the size of the city. It came down to the arena, and in Seattle, there are two other major league sports teams (Seahawks and Mariners) who worked their way through stadium deals. That never happened with the Sonics. And it happened so fast. I don't know how long the process was here in Sacramento, but the original Sonics group of Howard Schultz started the process and it didn't go well. They put the team up for sale (after five years) and sold it to an out-of-town group (OKC's Clay Bennett) pretty quick. They made a run at it, but that was the only commitment they had - to make a run at it."
Sikma, who finished his career with the Milwaukee Bucks, said the league's departure "left a sour taste" and harmed the NBA's image in the region. "They have probably done a better job here in Sacramento, trying to work through the process, show that they are trying to keep a team here," he continued. "It seems like they're doing the same thing in New Orleans. But in Seattle ... it didn't feel right the way it went down. It was devastating to all the businesses nearby, the people who worked in Key Arena. The whole thing was just very depressing."








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