New Orleans Hornets: Why the NBA Needs to Keep Hornets in Their Hive
The New Orleans Hornets have been the team at the top of the list when it comes to relocation or league contraction.
The sale of the Hornets in December that fell through was one of the worst things that could have happened to the team; it gave complete control of the team to the NBA, who will seemingly do what they think is best for the league and not best for the city.
We have seen cities lose their team in hasty decisions by owners at a chance to grab a few extra million dollars and due to local governments refusing to build a new stadium, but what could end happening to the Hornets is unprecedented.
The Hornets were formed back in 1988, when North Carolina rich guy George Shinn teamed up with some local businessmen to lure an NBA franchise to Charlotte with their shiny new Charlotte Coliseum as bait.
In the late '90s, Shinn was charged with sexual assault and the team's attendance started to fall. Shinn was a pariah, but he wanted a new stadium, something that Charlotte refused to do unless Shinn sold the team.
So, in 2002, Shinn took his team to New Orleans, where they have been hunkered down ever since, except for a two-year span in which they relocated to Oklahoma City due to Hurricane Katrina.
You would think that a team that has been around since the late '80s would have shown at least a few years of outstanding play—I mean, even a blind squirrel—well, you know the saying.
However, thanks to a string of bad luck, bad trades (Kobe Bryant for Vlade Divac anyone?) and maybe some bad karma, Charlotte/New Orleans has never made it past the second round of the playoffs.
They have been such an up-and-down team that it has been difficult for fans to gauge exactly if the team is worth sticking to or not.
They haven't had that breakout year in New Orleans, in which enough people jump on the bandwagon and end up getting stuck on because of the thrill of basketball.
In the time that the Hornets have been in New Orleans, the best basketball players they have seen have been Baron Davis (notorious head case), Jamal Mashburn (oft-injured, retired early), Lee Nailon (yes, he was their second best player in '04-'05), Chris Paul (has only played two full seasons in the city) and David West (very smart, seems very nice, but no superstar personality—I mean hell, he plays the tuba).
These aren't exactly guys to get attached to, especially if your city had a two-year break from basketball in which they had to recover from one of America's worst disasters in a century.
While in New Orleans, the Hornets have won an average of 41 games a season, which means they have lost an average of 41 games a season.
As much as people like to say that they are dedicated to their team through thick and thin, it is often a bandwagon driving team that gets the majority of the people hooked to their team and New Orleans just hasn't seen this team yet.
Sure, they had the 56-win season in 2008 when they won their division for the first time in their team's history, but they got bounced in the second round of the playoffs.
If the team would have never had to leave during the Katrina Years, the fans would have grown attached to Chris Paul and David West in their formidable years. They would have seen the 38 and 39-win seasons that led up to the 56-win season that followed, and they would have appreciated it more.
People will point to their tepid attendance, as they sit at 24th in the league, averaging nearly 14,500 fans for each home game, as a reason to move the team.
They will say that the combination of their low attendance and small media market (52nd biggest market in the US) as evidence enough to move the team.
However, teams who reside in smaller markets have been able to make due, they just need the time to build up their fan base.
For instance, look at Portland, which is the 77th biggest market in the country, but the second-best team in terms of attendance.
The people fled the arena in droves in the decline of the Jail Blazers days. They were fed up with the antics and selfishness of the players, even hitting 30th in attendance in 2006.
The city readopted the team, however, when it put out a product that was both entertaining and personable, and have risen to be known as one of the best fan bases in the NBA.
New Orleans may not be showing much in terms of a fan base now, but if they can somehow get Chris Paul to return after his contract runs out next season and continue to grow as a community and a team, hand-in-hand, their attendance numbers will rise.
Besides, this basketball team could do much more for the people of New Orleans than a basketball team in Las Vegas could do for the NBA.
