New Orleans Hornets

The New Orleans Hornets are a professional basketball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. They play in the Southwest Division of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise began play during the 1988-89 NBA season as the Charlotte Hornets, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they were located until the end of the 2001-02 NBA season.

In 1985, the NBA announced plans to expand by four teams. George Shinn, an entrepreneur from Charlotte, North Carolina, announced plans to bring an NBA team to the Charlotte area. He assembled a group of prominent local businessmen to head the prospective franchise.

The 1988—89 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. The team's floor general was Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history. However, as is typical for most NBA expansion teams, the Hornets struggled, finishing with a 20—62 record--never winning more than two games in a row.

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 the team's first-ever winning record, at 44—38, and the first playoff berth in franchise history. They finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and upset the Boston Celtics in the first round. Mourning won the series with a 20-footer in game four. However, they lacked the experience and depth to defeat the New York Knicks.

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 opened their inaugural season in New Orleans on October 30, 2002, against the Utah Jazz, who were originally in New Orleans and called the New Orleans Jazz, with a 100-75 win; "Pistol" Pete Maravich had his number posthumously retired during halftime. It was the first regular season NBA game played in New Orleans in over 17 years(there were a few exhibition games played through the years including the then Charlotte Hornets in New Orleans 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.

In August 2008, the Hornets unveiled a modified logo and new uniforms with the colors of Creole blue, purple, and Mardi Gras gold. The script was changed as an allusion to the wrought iron architecture of New Orleans. An additional third logo was introduced, with the "NOLA" abbreviation and a trumpet.

The Hornets franchise returned to New Orleans full-time for the 2007—2008 season, with all 41 home games played in the New Orleans Arena. League officials had stressed from the beginning the desire for the franchise to return to New Orleans once it proved feasible and that they would make a good-faith effort to assist with the recovery. To that end, the 2008 NBA All-Star Game and its accompanying festivities were awarded to New Orleans and a serious marketing campaign was commenced in February 2007. Subsequently, various corporate sponsorship agreements were signed (under the umbrella of the Crescent City Champions), with Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Capital One, and Cox Communications among them.

Attendance at the New Orleans Arena, while tepid at first, picked up considerably in the months of March and April 2008 with the team registering sell-outs in 12 of its last 17 regular season home games, and the final 13 total games (including playoffs). The team has also publicly announced the sale of over 10,000 season tickets for the 2008-2009 season, a record total since the relocation from Charlotte.