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The New Orleans/Oklahoma City
Hornets are a National
Basketball Association team based in New
Orleans, Louisiana. The team temporarily relocated
to Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma, for 2005-2006
and 2006-2007
seasons due to damage caused by Hurricane
Katrina. The current head coach is Byron
Scott.
Home arenas
- Charlotte
Coliseum (1988-2001)
- New
Orleans Arena (2002-2005)
- Ford
Center (2005-present)
Franchise history
The franchise played its first game
as the Charlotte Hornets in October 1988.
The name "Hornets" was chosen because of its traditional
use by Charlotte's
professional sports teams. Charlotte Hornets
was used by the city's minor
league baseball franchises from 1901 to 1972,
and also by its entry in the short-lived World
Football League in 1974 and 1975. The name derived
from the city's fierce resistance to British occupation
during the Revolutionary
War, leading Lord
General Cornwallis to refer to it as the "Hornets'
Nest".
The 1988 team was led by guard Kelly
Tripucka, who provided instant offense. Tripucka
was Charlotte's top scorer for the franchise's first
two seasons. The team also had sharpshooting rookie
Rex
Chapman, who was also a long-distance scoring
threat. For the 1990-91 season, the team picked
up guard Kendall
Gill in the NBA
Draft, and got slightly better, but still managed
to win the draft lottery and the rights to the number
one overall pick in the following year's draft.
For the 1991-92 season, the Hornets
drafted power
forward Larry
Johnson from UNLV
with the number one overall pick. Johnson had an
impact season, finishing among league leaders in
points and rebounds, and winning the 1992 NBA
Rookie of the Year Award. Kendall Gill led the
club in scoring, with over 20 points per game.
In 1992-93, the team won the second
pick in the draft, using it to select Georgetown
center Alonzo
Mourning. The Hornets now had two 20-10 threats
in Johnson and Mourning, who with Gill formed perhaps
the league's top young trio. It was good enough
for fifth in the Eastern
Conference and a playoff spot, where they upset
the Boston
Celtics with Mourning's famous series-winning
shot. However, they lacked the experience and depth
to defeat the New
York Knicks.
The next few years were marked by
injuries to Johnson and Mourning, though they did
get back to the playoffs in 1994-95, only to be
beaten by the Chicago
Bulls.
In the offseason the team dealt
Mourning to the Miami
Heat for guard Glen
Rice and center Matt
Geiger. Geiger and Johnson tied for the team
lead in rebounds, while Johnson and Rice provided
balanced but high-powered scoring, with all-star
guard Kenny
Anderson running the point for the injured Muggsy
Bogues.
The offseason was again marked by
vast changes: Anderson declined to re-sign, Johnson
was shipped to the Knicks for power forward Anthony
Mason, and lottery draft pick guard Kobe
Bryant was traded to the Los
Angeles Lakers for center Vlade
Divac. The new-look Hornets were apparently
even better, however, with Divac and Geiger providing
the best center combo in the league, Mason averaging
a double-double and all-NBA third team honors, Bogues
back at the point, and Rice having the finest season
of his career, finishing third in the league in
scoring and earning all-NBA second team honors.
Rice was also the All-Star game MVP, setting several
scoring records. The team also spotted the best
season of their history, making it back to the playoffs.
1997-98 was also successful. The
team picked up a new free-agent backcourt in point
guard David
Wesley and shooting guard Bobby
Phills. With Wesley, Phills, Rice, Mason and
Divac, the Hornets romped through the regular season,
with Rice finishing sixth in scoring and earning
all-NBA third team honors and the team making it
all the way to the second round of the playoffs
for the second time in franchise history, again
being stopped the Bulls. 1998-1999 would also turbulent,
with Rice being traded to the Lakers for Eddie
Jones
1999-2000 was a return to prominence,
with the addition of free agent Derrick
Coleman and third overall draft pick, point
guard Baron
Davis. The lineup of Wesley, Jones, Mason, Coleman
and Campbell tore through much of the season, but
on January
12, 2000
Bobby
Phills was killed in an automobile accident.
His number was retired on February
9. The team returned to the playoffs, where
they succumbed to the Philadelphia
76ers. Jones led the league in steals, but in
the offseason he and Mason were shipped to the Heat
in exchange for Jamal
Mashburn and P.J.
Brown.
The Hornets, with the lineup of
Davis, Wesley, Mashburn, Brown and Campbell made
it back to the playoffs, where they upset the third-seeded
Heat and made it to the conference semifinals for
the third time in franchise history. They returned
the following season by beating the Orlando
Magic, but were upended by the New
Jersey Nets. Many thought this was because of
Jamal Mashburns missing the playoffs.
In May of 2002 the Hornets were
given permission to relocate to New Orleans. Shortly
after that, Charlotte would be awarded a new NBA
franchise, the Charlotte
Bobcats. The Bobcats began play in November
of 2004.
The move to New Orleans was precipitated
by several mis-cues on the part of team ownership:
George
Shinn was accused of sexual misconduct; many
years of trading future superstars like Kobe
Bryant and Alonzo
Mourning because of an inability to pay market
value; and finally culminating in a demand from
the Hornets that the city of Charlotte agree to
build a new arena at no cost to team ownership.
The city turned the offer down, forcing the move
to New Orleans. A deal was quickly made to play
at the New
Orleans Arena, next door to the Louisiana
Superdome.
October 30, 2002: The New Orleans
Hornets opened their inaugural season in New Orleans
against the Utah
Jazz, who, coincidentally, were originally called
the New Orleans Jazz; "Pistol"
Pete Maravich had his number retired during
halftime. It was the first NBA game played in New
Orleans in 23 years. They qualified for the playoffs
for the fourth straight year in 2002-03, but were
beaten by Philadelphia again. Jamal Masburn also
missed most of these playoffs.
After the season, the team decided
to move in a different direction and allowed the
contract of head coach Paul
Silas to expire. He was replaced by Tim
Floyd, and the Hornets got off to a 17-7 start,
but the team reverted to form and finished 41-41,
narrowly missing out on home court advantage in
the first round of the Eastern
Conference playoffs. They drew the Miami Heat,
but Dwyane
Wade's last second shot sunk the Hornets in
Game One of the series. The teams ended up winning
all their respective home games after that, but
Wade's shot was the difference, even though the
series went to seven games, the Heat winning 4-3.
After the season, Floyd was fired
and the team hired Byron
Scott to be their head coach. With a move into
the Southwestern Division of the Western
Conference which included four playoff teams
in the San
Antonio Spurs, Dallas
Mavericks, Houston
Rockets, and Memphis
Grizzlies, the team was not expected to compete
for a playoff spot. In a season marred by injury
to the team's three all-stars (Baron
Davis, Jamaal
Magloire, and Jamal
Mashburn) an 0-8 start quickly became a 2-29
record, which started a watch of how bad their record
could get, threatening the Philadelphia 76ers' record
of a 9-73 season. The team performed better in January
and February with the emerging play of fan favorite
Dan
Dickau, but the season was essentially over
before it started with the horrendous start. As
a result of the lack of success, the team's roster
was reshaped, with older veterans Baron
Davis and Jamal
Mashburn traded to facilitate a rebuilding process.
The team found stronger support for their younger,
scrappier players than they did the previous year.
They also acquired Jimmy
Jackson from the Houston
Rockets, but Jackson never reported to the team
(which surprisingly was supported by leading NBA
analysts on radio shows and TV networks) and was
traded again, this time to the Phoenix
Suns for Maciej
Lampe, Casey
Jacobson, and Jackson
Vroman, none of which played much, much less
made an impact.
The attendance, on a steady decline
since the team's arrival in the Big Easy, soon reached
all-time lows for the franchise in New Orleans.
However, the team did enjoy a brief resurgence in
local support as a result of the popularity of Coach
Byron Scott and draft-pick Chris
Paul, before the devastation of Hurricane
Katrina brought about yet another relocation,
to Oklahoma
City. While attendance sagged during an abysmal
2004-05 season on the court, Hornets' season ticket
sales were on the upswing thanks to reduced prices;
Hornets' chief marketing officer Tim McDougall reported
that the team surpassed 2004's total for first-time
season-ticket buyers and had approached $1 million
in new season-ticket sales revenue for the 2005-06
season in New Orleans [1],
though it's worth noting that the Hornets declined
to release specific new season ticket sales figures
or the number of renewals among its season-ticket
holders.
Recent Events
Due to the catastrophic devastation
wrought by Hurricane
Katrina upon the community of southern Louisiana,
the New
Orleans Hornets decided to move their base of
operations from the Crescent City to Oklahoma
City, playing most home games for the 2005-2006
and 2006-2007 seasons at the Ford
Center in Oklahoma
City, with the remaining six to be played at
the Pete
Maravich Assembly Center at LSU
in Baton
Rouge [2].
The team will be referred to as the New Orleans/Oklahoma
City Hornets (abbreviated to NOK) for
the 2005-06
NBA season, although sometimes the media still
refers to it as just the New Orleans Hornets.
Cox
Sports Television will broadcast a majority
of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets' games
in the 2005-06 season, serving Cox
Television subscribers in the gulf states as
well as new fans in Oklahoma that did not have access
to CST in the past.
Support for the team in Oklahoma
City has been very strong with its corporate community
as well as the city itself. The overwhelming support
from the state of Oklahoma proved to be a pleasant
surprise for the Hornets, especially after a dismal
attendance record (to go along with their poor win/loss
record) for the 2004-05 season both at home and
on the road (ranking last among all NBA teams [3]).
Attendance at the Ford Center has improved significantly
from the attendance at New Orleans Arena. The Hornets
have gone from the last in the NBA in home attendance
to 11th, with an average of nearly 18,000 fans attending
each home game [4].
Originally, six Hornets games were
scheduled at LSU's Pete Maravich Assembly Center
in Baton Rouge. The first game was held on December
16 against the Phoenix Suns, however a less-than-stellar
crowd brought the team's future in Baton Rouge into
serious question. As a result, the NBA announced
on January
5, 2006
that the Hornets will relocate the games scheduled
for Baton Rouge. January's Baton Rouge games were
moved to Oklahoma City, while the remaining three
are currently set to be played in New Orleans, which
would be the first professional sports event held
in the city since Hurricane Katrina hit. [5]
The NBA
Board of Governors has decided that 35 games
will be played in Oklahoma City with the remaining
6 to be played in New Orleans for the 2006-2007
season, with the league hoping to return the team
in 2007-2008 if all things go according to plan.
The NBA has also announced that the city of New
Orleans will most likely host the 2008 NBA All-Star
game in an effort to show a measure of commitment
to the New Orleans market.
New Orleans' long-term viability
as a sports market cannot be determined at this
time, though much speculation abounds. If it turns
out that the city simply can no longer support the
NBA the team would most likely return to Oklahoma
City. Even if the team stays in New Orleans, it
is likely given the current successes that Oklahoma
City may indeed get an NBA team of its own some
day.
Recent Player Movements
Before the 05-06 season, Jamaal
Magloire, arguably the best player on the New
Orleans squad, did not want to be on the squad anymore.
Thus, he was traded to the Milwaukee
Bucks in exchange for Desmond
Mason, and the Bucks first round draft pick
this year. It was speculated, although not officially
stated, that Mason was acquired in part to spark
local interest, since he played for Oklahoma
State in college. Official reasons for the move
given by the front office and coaches were to add
quickness and experience with an solid veteran swingman
in Mason.
In January
2006,
Hornets forward Chris
Andersen was dismissed from the team and the
league for violations of the NBA's drug policy.
He is unable to apply for reinstatement for a minimum
of two years. To replace him in the lineup, the
Hornets traded two second-round draft picks to the
Toronto
Raptors for forward Aaron
Williams and two more second-round picks to
the Philadelphia
76ers for center Steven
Hunter. However, the trade for Hunter was nullified
after Hunter failed the physical exam. They also
dropped forward Sean
Banks, probably due to a combination of him
being deep in the depth chart (he never played in
a game for them) and the Hornets now having more
forwards and centers. Continuing on the Trend of
All Star Break Trades, on February 14th, the Hornets
traded Forward Maciej
Lampe for Point Guard Moochie
Norris from the Rockets. He will mainly be used
when Chris
Paul or Speedy
Claxton is injured. Subsequently the Hornets
traded forward Bostjan
Nachbar to the New
Jersey Nets for center Marc
Jackson and forward Linton
Johnson III; Jackson will back up P.J.
Brown and/or Aaron
Williams, while Johnson will back up Desmond
Mason and Rasual
Butler. Rumors circulated that J.R.
Smith might be traded before the February deadline,
but no transaction occurred.
Players of note
None as of the 2004-05 season.
Not to be forgotten:
Retired numbers:
Note: The Hornets retired "Pistol"
Pete Maravich's number during their first game in
New Orleans in honor of his basketball contributions
to the area at LSU and with New Orleans' previous
NBA team, the Jazz.
Coaches
External links
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