As part of the deposition for the upcoming trial between the city of Seattle and the Sonics' ownership group over the team's KeyArena lease, it has come to light that Sonics' owner Clay Bennett has little sympathy for the players who do not want to leave Seattle, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting.

In an e-mail to Oklahoma-based public relations consultant Brent Gooden after hearing some of the Sonics players were upset about the prospect of moving the franchise to Oklahoma City, Bennett responded by writing, "Boo hoo," according to a line of questioning by city of Seattle attorney Jeff Johnson.

To which Gooden replied, "Great response. I would play wherever for half of the lowest paid player on the team."

Despite Sonic co-owner Aubrey McClendon's repeated denials that relocation from Seattle to Oklahoma City was always the plan, two additional potentially damaging e-mails were revealed in a transcript of his deposition released Friday, the Seattle Times are reporting.

In early 2007, McClendon predicted that a controversy over his contributions to an anti-gay marriage group would improve the chances of the Sonics moving to Oklahoma City.

Later that year, McClendon apologized to principal Sonics' owner Clay Bennett for telling an Oklahoma newspaper he'd always intended to move the Sonics. But McClendon added, "The truth is we did buy it with the hope of moving to Oklahoma City," according to a copy of his e-mail read aloud during the deposition.

Former Sonics' owner Howard Schultz has added a third claim to a lawsuit that is aimed to void the 2006 sale of the team to new ownership, according to The Associated Press.

The new ownership is attempting to move the team to Oklahoma City.

Schultz, the chairman of Starbucks, claims that Clay Bennett and his partners breached their contract by not making a realistic effort to keep the team in Seattle by finding a new arena.

No trial date has yet been set for Schultz's lawsuit.

The Sonics dropped down to the fourth pick on Tuesday night despite having a legitimate shot at landing one of the top two picks and could be looking to deal the selection, according to The Seattle Times.

"Everybody goes into the lottery with hopes of getting the No. 1 pick, but we're excited to have the fourth pick because we feel like we can get a quality player there," General Manager Sam Presti said. "We'll get someone that can help and continue to build on the foundation that we have in place."

Presti admitted that the team is willing to discuss trades for the pick although they still feel as though they can grab a top-tier player.

Seattle has six picks in June's Draft, including two first-rounders.

"With that many selections in the draft, we're certainly going to be busy," Presti said. "The phone will probably ring a few times on draft night. We're going to use those assets as ways to try to build our team and build on the foundation that we have in place."

Representatives for former Sonic's owner Howard Schultz filed an amended claim to his lawsuit against Clay Bennett's Sonics ownership group on Tuesday with the additional charge of breach of contract, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting.

The NBA lottery will be held tonight to determine who will be selecting the first three players in the 2008 NBA Draft.  

While Miami, Seattle and Minnesota have the best chances, rarely does the lottery play out this way, so who is going to feel lucky and who is going to come away disappointed?

Most believe the two players who are fighting to become the first overall pick in 2008 are Derrick Rose from Memphis, and Michael Beasley from Kansas State.  Which team is going to put themselves in a position to decide who is going to be the first overall pick?  While we will not know officially until tonight, you can play around on the RealGM Lottery Simulator to see if you can come up with that winning combination.

The odds (chances out of 1,000 are in brackets):

Miami (250)
Seattle (199)
Minnesota (138)
Memphis (137)
New York (76)
L.A. Clippers (75)
Milwaukee (43)
Charlotte (28)
Chicago (17)
New Jersey (11)
Indiana (8)
Sacramento (7)
Portland (6)
Golden State (5)

http://www.realgm.com/src_lottosim.php

May luck be with your team.

Oklahoma City officials have told former Sonics' owner Harold Schultz that they expect the SuperSonics to relocate, regardless of who owns the team, the Seattle Times is reporting.

Schultz is currently trying to rescind the July 2006 sale to Oklahoma City-based investors led by Clay Bennett, claiming fraud.

However, Oklahoma City officials are threatening to sue former owner Schultz if he reclaims the team and does not move it to the to Oklahoma City.

The City of Seattle claimed another small legal victory on Thursday when U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman denied the team's motion aimed at exposing some documents subpoenaed from developer Matt Griffin, Greg Johns from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting.

Sonics attorneys had asked Pechman to eliminate "Attorney's Eyes Only" designations and some redactions on much of the material obtained from Griffin during the discovery process, but the judge ruled those items can remain sealed.

Seattle SuperSonics General Manager Sam Presti announced today that Troy Weaver has been named Sonics assistant general manager.
                                                       
Weaver was the Director of Player Personnel for the Utah Jazz in 2007-08. He originally joined the Jazz as head scout and served in that capacity for three seasons before his promotion to Director of Player Personnel.
           
Prior to joining the Jazz, Weaver spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Syracuse, one season at New Mexico and three seasons as an assistant coach with Pittsburgh. While at Syracuse, the team won the 2003 NCAA National Championship led by Weaver recruit Carmelo Anthony.  

?Troy comes from a very successful organization in Utah,? Presti said. ?He has a terrific array of personnel and coaching experience that will positively impact what we are trying to build here with the SuperSonics.?

The Seattle SuperSonics will name Utah Jazz head scout Troy Weaver as their assistant general manager, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting.

Weaver spent four years with the Jazz as a scout and has extensive experience working with blue-chip prospects. He spent four years as an assistant to Jim Boeheim and was responsible for recruiting Carmelo Anthony.