New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets

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New Orleans Hornets
Conference	Western Conference
Division	Southwest Division
Founded	1988
History	Charlotte Hornets 1988–2002 New Orleans Hornets 2002–present New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets 2005–2007
Arena	New Orleans Arena Ford Center
City	New Orleans, Louisiana
Team Colors	Teal, Purple, and Gold
Owner	George Shinn
Head Coach	Byron Scott
Championships	0
Conference Titles	0
Division Titles	0

The New Orleans Hornets (temporarily the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets) are a professional basketball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team has temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina but will be returning to New Orleans full-time for the 2007-08 NBA season.

[edit] Home arenas

• Charlotte Coliseum (1988–2002)
• New Orleans Arena (2002–present)
• Ford Center (2005–2007) **

(** 6 games were played at New Orleans Arena during the 2006-07 season and 3 games were played at New Orleans Arena and 1 in Baton Rouge during the 2005-06 season)

[edit] Franchise history

[edit] Charlotte

In 1987, the NBA awarded an expansion franchise to four cities. Charlotte, North Carolina was one of those cities awarded a new NBA team, along with Miami, Florida for the 1988-89 season. Minneapolis, Minnesota and Orlando, Florida were awarded teams for the 1989-90 season. 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 team immediately received a lot of attention when they chose teal as their primary color. Their revolutionary jerseys set off a fashion craze in sports in the late 80s-early 90s. The San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Mighty Ducks (here as secondary color), Jacksonville Jaguars, and other pro and amateur clubs soon followed. Even the Detroit Pistons briefly switched to teal, away from their traditional blue and red, in the mid 90s.

The 1988 team was led by ex-Pistons 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 - and first-ever draft choice - Rex Chapman, who was 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.

Charlotte Hornets logo, 1989-2002. Differences from the current logo include motion lines around the hornet, Charlotte across its chest, the name around it, and the ball being a darker shade of orange.

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. Despite the changes, the Hornets failed to qualify for the playoffs during the 1995-96 season.

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 (54 victories), 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. 1998-99 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.

In 2000-01 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, before losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games. 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 Mashburn missing the playoffs. The Hornets relocated to New Orleans after disputes with the city of Charlotte over a new arena. They also considered moving to Louisville, Kentucky, and had applied to relocate to Memphis on the same day as the then-Vancouver Grizzlies. With George Shinn and the Hornets gone, the NBA returned to Charlotte by way of expansion to a 30th team: the new Charlotte Bobcats.

[edit] New Orleans

New Orleans Hornets logo, 2002-present

In May of 2002, the move to New Orleans was precipitated by several mis-cues on the part of team ownership. George Shinn narrowly escaped a rape conviction; he was accused of trading future superstars like Kobe Bryant and Alonzo Mourning due to an unwillingness to pay market value; and finally he issued an ultimatum demanding that the city of Charlotte agree to build a new arena at no cost to team ownership or else he would leave. The city turned the offer down, forcing the move to New Orleans despite the fact Charlotte led the NBA in attendance for most of the team's history. (Despite rejecting the Hornets' offer, Charlotte still managed to build the arena anyway, and it opened in 2005 as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena.) 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 were originally in New Orleans and called the New Orleans Jazz; "Pistol" Pete Maravich had his number retired during halftime. It was the first regular season NBA game played in New Orleans in 23 years (there were a few exhibition games played through the years including the then Charlotte Hornets in New Orleans Arena in 2000). They qualified for the playoffs for the fourth straight year in 2002-03, but were beaten by Philadelphia again. Jamal Mashburn 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 played the Miami Heat in the playoffs, 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 Jacobsen, and Jackson Vroman, none of whom made a significant impact. The Hornets finished 18-64, but were losers initially in the NBA draft lottery when their pick slid to fourth. Despite the bad luck, the Hornets got their man in Chris Paul, who surprisingly was available after the Atlanta Hawks, drafting ahead of the Hornets, passed on him.

[edit] New Orleans/Oklahoma City

OKC Patch worn by the Hornets 2005-2007

Due to the catastrophic devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina upon the communities of southeastern Louisiana, the New Orleans Hornets relocated their base of operations to Oklahoma City for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. During this time, a schedule of home games is being played in the two cities, with 35 games in Oklahoma City and 6 in New Orleans. (Although in the 2005-06 season, games were also played in Norman, OK and Baton Rouge, LA on the campuses of the University of Oklahoma and Louisiana State University, respectively.) Their practice site in Oklahoma City is the Sawyer Center on the campus of Southern Nazarene University. 1

New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets alternate logo, 2005-2007

The Hornets started off the 2005-06 season better than expected, but did not make the playoffs. When Chris Andersen was kicked out of the league for two years due to a drug violation, it seemed to spark the Hornets to a hot streak, vaulting the team briefly into the sixth seed in the West. Eventually, however, the Hornets went cold, losing 12 out of 13 games to drop out of the playoff race, setting an ignominious NBA record in the process when they scored 16 points in the second half of a game in Los Angeles versus the Clippers. The Hornets rebounded to make one final push at the end of the season for a playoff spot, but last second losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz sunk those hopes, and the team finished 38-44, 10th place in the Western Conference and 6 games out of a playoff spot. Despite the losing record, the season was a success. Chris Paul won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in a landslide, and several Hornets were also in the running for other individual awards. Fans in Oklahoma City sold out the Ford Center 18 out of 36 times.

On June 28, the Hornets selected Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft. They also selected Marcus Vinicius from Brazil in the 2nd round.

The Hornets have made major roster changes this offseason in hopes of advancing to the Western Conference postseason for the first time ever. They have traded J.R. Smith and P.J. Brown to the Chicago Bulls for Tyson Chandler. They let Speedy Claxton sign with the Atlanta Hawks, but filled their backup PG position with free agents Bobby Jackson and Jannero Pargo. They have also inked Peja Stojakovic from the Indiana Pacers.

[edit] March back into the Big Easy

The Hornets announced on January 31, 2007 that they would decline to renew an option to continue playing in Oklahoma City under its relocation agreement for a third season. The Hornets franchise is expected to return to New Orleans full-time for the 2007-2008 season, with all 41 home games to be played in the New Orleans Arena.

League and team officials do not want to risk the political pressure of abandoning New Orleans due to a natural disaster and have stressed from the beginning that the franchise would return to New Orleans once it proved feasible and that they would make a good-faith effort in New Orleans.

To that end, the 2008 NBA All-Star Game and its accompanying festivities were awarded to New Orleans and a serious marketing campaign was expected to start in February 2007, after the 2007 All-Star Game took place in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, various corporate agreements are being signed (under the umbrella of the Crescent City Champions), with Cadbury Schweppes and Capital One being the first of them. However, the League has also recognized Oklahoma City's enthusiastic support for the Hornets and potential for major league sports as a lucrative market and has placed the city as a top candidate for teams desiring relocation.

Beyond those agreements, the NBA is keeping a close eye on the rebuilding efforts of New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast and is making note of the overwhelming support the city's NFL franchise, the Saints, received in 2006-07, when the 69,703-seat Louisiana Superdome was sold out in its entirety before the season began for the first time in its history. While the history of the Hornets is not as long as that of the Saints, nor the roots as deep, the league and the franchise appear to be making every possible effort to keep the Hornets in New Orleans for the long term.[1]

[edit] Season-by-season records

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, % = Win-Loss %

* Season in progress; updated April 2, 2007.

[edit] Players of note

[edit] Basketball Hall of Famers

• Robert Parish

[edit] Not to be forgotten

[edit] Retired numbers

• 7 "Pistol" Pete Maravich, G, New Orleans Jazz 1974–79 (note: The Hornets retired Maravich's number during their first game in New Orleans in honor of his basketball contributions to the area at LSU and with the city's former NBA team, the New Orleans Jazz)
• 13 Bobby Phills, G, Charlotte Hornets 1998–2000

[edit] Current roster

New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets Current Roster
Head Coach: Byron Scott				Edit
PF/C	12		Hilton Armstrong	(Connecticut)
PF	33		Brandon Bass	(LSU)
PG	23		Devin Brown	(UTSA)
SF	45		Rasual Butler	(La Salle)
PF/C	6		Tyson Chandler	(Dominguez HS, Los Angeles, CA)
PG	8		Bobby Jackson	(Minnesota)
C	44		Marc Jackson	(Temple)
SF	43		Linton Johnson	(Tulane)
SF	24		Desmond Mason	(Oklahoma State)
PG	3		Chris Paul	(Wake Forest)
PG	2		Jannero Pargo	(Arkansas)
F	22		Cedric Simmons	(North Carolina State)
SF	16		Peja Stojaković*	(Serbia)
PF	30		David West	(Xavier (Ohio))
(FA) - Free Agent (*) - injured				NO/OKC Hornets

• =captain

[edit] Coaches

Charlotte Hornets

• Dick Harter (1988–1989)
• Gene Littles (1989–1991)
• Allan Bristow (1991–1996)
• Dave Cowens (1996–1998)
• Paul Silas (1998–2002)

New Orleans Hornets

• Paul Silas (2002–2003)
• Tim Floyd (2003–2004)
• Byron Scott (2004–present)

[edit] External links

• New Orleans Hornets official web site
• HornetsReport.com (New Orleans Hornets Fan Site)
• New Orleans Hornets Blog
• New Orleans Hornets Forum
• HornetsCentral (Oklahoma City Fan Site)
• Official web site of the Hornets Summer Pro League
• Hornets owner pledges full commitment to New Orleans -- December 14, 2006
• Hornets247.com (New Orleans Hornets weblog and fan site)
• Offical Practice Site