After
securing a place among the top teams in the Western Conference
early in the season, Seattle has recently lost momentum, sinking
from super to just plain sonic. This is a team in trouble. Making
matters worse, the Sonics have dropped down to the dreaded eighth
seed in the Western Conference playoff race. What’s the point
of working all season to make the playoffs if you have to face
the Lakers at home in the first round?
This
is the wrong time of year to be slumping. Dissension is breaking
out in the ranks. A recent locker room brawl between Gary Payton
and Vernon Maxwell resulted in injuries to the impromptu peacemakers,
starting center Horace Grant and reserve Chuck Person. Perhaps
astrology can help to shed some light on how a team that started
out so right has gone so wrong.
A
Team has a Birth Chart
A
team is a corporate entity and has its own birth chart, but
what constitutes the birth of a team? In many cases, the league
votes at some point to grant a franchise to a particular city.
Until then, the franchise is more of a dream than a reality,
so that’s not a bad starting point. However, many astrologers
prefer to use a chart set for the beginning of a team’s first
regular season game. The NBA voted to grant a franchise to Seattle
on December 20, 1966, during a daytime meeting in Chicago. The
Sonics played their first regular season game on October 13,
1967, at approximately 7:30 pm in San Francisco.
In
order for an individual to succeed with a particular team, whether
as a player, coach, or otherwise, he needs to have some strong
connections between his birth chart and at least one (and preferably
both) of the team charts. Ideally, he would work with the team
during a time when the shared areas between their charts are
well supported by the current astrological conditions, such
as transits and/or progressions. Of course, this isn’t always
the case. The astrological conditions surrounding the Sonics
and their key personnel currently leave a little something to
be desired.
Paul
Westphal: No Longer a Pluto Powerhouse
The
Sonics’ Head Coach, Paul Westphal, was born November 30, 1950,
at 5:05 am PST, in Torrance, California. With his Sun in Sagittarius
and Moon in Leo, he is a natural, fiery athlete, and not just
a little lucky. He has had a distinguished career as a player
and coach in both college and professional basketball. There
is no denying his drive, leadership and commitment to the game.
He does share some close connections with the Sonics’ team charts,
at least enough to have landed the job. However, the current
transits are not helping him much.
It’s
not easy fielding a winning team in any sport. The competition
is tough, and coaches and players need all the astrological
help they can get. The planets move constantly, even going backward
(retrograde) at times, and consequently, momentum shifts within
the league throughout the season. Things can go very well for
a team when the current (transiting) Jupiter and Mars are casting
supportive aspects (angles), while slower moving planets, like
Saturn, can dog you all season.
In
Coach Westphal’s case, he began the season with a lot of support
from powerhouse Pluto in Sagittarius. The planet Pluto has an
extreme, obsessive influence that intensifies whatever it touches.
In Sagittarius, a traditionally athletic sign, Pluto’s fierce
power can drive athletes to new heights of achievement. However,
Pluto has since moved on and left Coach Westphal behind. It’s
not that Pluto is doing anything particularly bad to his chart
now, it’s just not making the same close connections that it
did earlier in the season. The result is a noticeable decrease
in power and intensity.
Gary
Payton: Stifled by Saturn
The
heart of the Sonics team is Leo Gary Payton, born July 23, 1968
at 12:52 am PDT, in Oakland, California (Source: BC). He leads
the team in points, steals and assists, but Payton earned his
nickname, “The Glove,” playing smothering defense. Payton is
in a similar astrological fix as his coach. He had more support
from transiting Pluto at the start of the season, while more
recently, he has had too much attention from transiting Saturn
in Taurus.
Saturn
tends to be restrictive and limiting, and much of the responsibility
for the team has fallen on Payton’s shoulders. No doubt his
role as the leader of this frustrated team was a factor in the
altercation with Vernon Maxwell (September 12, 1965, Gainesville,
Florida). While there is no denying Maxwell’s talent, Gary Payton
is hardly the first person in the NBA to find him annoying.
While
the Sonics are still a good team, and will advance to the playoffs,
they do make an interesting case for the power of astrological
influences. They have a good coach and good players, but they’re
not really in the right place at the right time. They are a
little thin on talent, and would probably need about three Gary
Paytons to keep up with the Lakers, Knicks, Pacers or even the
overachieving Phoenix Suns. Ah, but there’s always next year!