Michael Jordan: Bobcats changing name to Hornets (Yahoo! Sports)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Michael Jordan wants to ”bring the buzz back” to Charlotte.
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Guess who trolled the (Charlotte) Hornets?
The big announcement in the NBA today, and the worst kept secret, was that the Charlotte Bobcats would bring back the Hornets name to the city in 2014. The New Orleans Pelicans, left Charlotte after 2002 and took the name with them. Charlotte is reclaiming name with the change in New Orleans. But is it possible the original Charlotte Hornets would still be in existence had things gone differently in 1996? That’s when Kobe Bryant was drafted 13th overall by the Hornets, and subsequently traded to the Lakers for Vlade Divac. Kobe knows that things could have been way different and took to Twitter to remind the fans of Charlotte of what they could have had by giving them this photo in ‘honor of the name change’: Ouch. Damn, Kobe. That cuts deep. But Kobe didn’t just ruin it for one team. Follow me for a moment…If Kobe stays in Charlotte, they probably stay put. New Orleans never gets a team, which never gets displaced due to Hurricane Katrina, and never get to play in Oklahoma City, wh…
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Jordan: Bobcats will change name to Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets will be in the NBA once more. Charlotte Bobcat owner Michael Jordan announced on Tuesday at a press conference that he had informed the NBA of his decision to change the teams name to Hornets.
Jordan’s announcement on Tuesday was hardly news but rather confirmation of news that began spreading two days ago.
Charlotte will continue to play as the Bobcats next season but if all goes as Jordan plans his team will become the Hornets in time for the 2014-15 season.
“We spoke to our season ticket holders and fans, and overwhelmingly you guys wanted Hornets name back,” Jordan said. “And we went out and brought the name back.”
Pete Geulli, Charlotte’s executive vice president and chief sales marketing officer, estimated the cost of changing the name to the Hornets will cost about $4 million. He added, however, that the decision wasn’t based on money and that “nothing was going to keep us from going down this road because this is what the fans wanted.”
Previously the Ho…
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Michael Jordan Announces Bobcats Intend to Become Charlotte Hornets
After nine years of misery, failure and heartbreak, the Charlotte Bobcats intend to change their nickname to the Hornets.
Michael Jordan, team owner and one of the greatest winners in NBA history, made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday evening.
The switch won’t happen immediately, with Jordan revealing the franchise won’t be officially known as the Charlotte Hornets until the 2014-15 season, according to the timeline NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver outlines (via USAToday.com).
Rumbling for this change began back in January, when Charlotte conducted a Harris Interactive poll (via ESPN) to gauge local interest in reverting to the Hornets. The results were never released, but seem evident based on the pending transformation.
With the league remaining in control of the Hornets name (per ESPN), this process was easy for Jordan to start and should be easy to follow through with.
The name swap was an obvious one, as the Hornets played in Charlotte from 1988 through 2002, when the team uprooted and moved to New Orleans under then-owner George Shinn.
Tom Benson purchased the New Orleans Hornets from the league in 2012, and he immediately decided to change the franchise’s moniker to something more local. He eventually settled on the Pelicans—as the team is now officially known.
Benson even admitted that the Hornets belonged to Charlotte.
“The Hornets name came from Charlotte. That fits in with Charlotte. It doesn’t fit into New Orleans, La., or our area here. The Hornets don’t mean anything here,” Benson said.
For most of the original Charlotte Hornets’ existence, they were one of the more popular franchises in the league and sold out the majority of their games.
Players like Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Glen Rice and Muggsy Bogues helped the organization make seven playoff runs in its 14 years of existence, but the Hornets never were able to get past the conference semifinals.
It seems they’ll get another crack at that when this young squad, led by recent lottery picks Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, finally rebrands and can shed the failures of the Bobcats.
The current Charlotte franchise has an overall record of 250-472 during the regular season and 0-4 in the playoffs. The Bobcats put together arguably the worst campaign in NBA history when the 2011-12 squad went just 7-59, a .106 winning percentage.
The team has employed six head coaches and is actively searching for its seventh. Larry Brown is responsible for the lone winning season.
Hopefully for Charlotte basketball fans, that dismal reign ends when the Hornets return to town and give this downtrodden franchise some much-needed hope.
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Michael Jordan changing Bobcats’ name to Hornets
Charlotte’s NBA team to revert to its inaugural nickname.
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A Nostalgic NBA Fan’s Guide to the Charlotte Hornets of Yesteryear
With the New Orleans Pelicans officially renouncing the Hornets name following the 2013 season, it was only a matter of time before the Charlotte Bobcats picked it up. The official announcement for Charlotte’s re-acquisition of the “Hornets” nickname is expected on Tuesday, per the Charlotte Observer.
Will that mean the return of all the fun and joy that accompanied the Charlotte Hornets in their 14 years before moving to New Orleans? It’s entirely possible.
After all, the Hornets represented a city that was completely basketball-crazy. They were gimmicky, never made it past the second round of the playoffs, and had a shifty owner, but they were a fun franchise.
Meanwhile, the team that continues to reside in Time Warner Cable Arena represents a hasty apology to a city that had their basketball team ripped away by a vindictive owner. The Bobcats remain a terrible, nondescript basketball team with barely a glimmer of success. Could a simple re-branding change the franchise for good?
Into the ’90s
When the Hornets came to be in 1988, they ushered in the roaring ’90s of the NBA.
They weren’t able to make the playoffs until their fifth year of existence, but they, along with the Orlando Magic, Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat, were able to start the surge toward the incredibly marketable days of the ’90s and beyond.
Charlotte’s original uniforms were bold and flashy. Teal and pinstripes stood out in a sea of solid greens and yellows. Their merchandise became synonymous with the early ’90s, and their mascot almost instantly became one of the league’s most recognizable.
Hugo the Hornet
If there’s one symbol that can really encapsulate the Hornets in an odd way, it’s the team’s mascot, Hugo the Hornet.
People, for whatever reason, loved Hugo. He always had a smile on his face, but he seemed somewhat mischievous as well. Essentially, he was the perfect mascot. There’s just something about a creature that’s generally tiny being blown up and turned into a furry, dancing, dunking mascot.
He, along with the team’s bold uniforms, had people gravitating toward Charlotte, almost regardless of their primary hometown team in the league.
The Merch
Once the team got its footing in the league and the fanbase started to grow, as alluded to, their merchandise started popping up everywhere.
Everything they pumped out was so deliciously ’90s. Even looking at some of the stuff the New Orleans Hornets sold in the past few years was good for an instant flashback to 1992. One of the most iconic pieces of clothing that Charlotte put out in its first decade was this two-toned starter jacket.
If you were a Hornets fan in 1995, you definitely owned this bad boy or at least some variation.
Famously Fun Faces
Charlotte’s NBA tenure started out well with the 1988 expansion draft; the team picked up Dell Curry and Muggsy Bogues, among others.
Curry and Bogues were rare grabs, both players remaining on the team well into the ’90s and making an impact all the while. Along the way, Charlotte would pick up a number of players who became fan favorites.
Larry Johnson enthralled the league with his Grandmama act, plus he was one of the players who had their talent stolen by cartoon aliens in Space Jam.
Alonzo Mourning put the team over the top after being drafted behind Shaquille O’Neal in 1992, and from there all they had to do was build. In their later days, Charlotte was taken over by Jamal Mashburn and Baron Davis as the wave of the future.
Along the way the team was joined by a ton of recognizable players, including Rex Chapman (and his spandex poking out of the bottom of his shorts), Vlade Divac, Bobby Phills, David Wesley, Anthony Mason, Glen Rice, Kenny Anderson, Matt Geiger, Hersey Hawkins and Kurt Rambis.
Good Times
Throughout much of the ’90s, the Hornets were a good team. They may never have been a legitimate title contender as they just did miss the two-year window when the league was without Michael Jordan, but the decade was good to them.
From 1993 to 1998, Charlotte won nearly 60 percent of its games, never falling below .500 and topping out with 54 wins in 1997.
The Hornets truly came into their own in 1993, their first trip to the playoffs. ‘Zo made it known in the first round, knocking off the Boston Celtics with a jumper from the top of the key in the waning seconds of Game 4.
Charlotte Turns on Shinn
So why would a city so in love with basketball fall victim to sagging attendance numbers and general apathy that can kill a franchise?
Team owner George Shinn was adamant that the Charlotte Coliseum, barely a decade old, was insufficient to house an NBA franchise. Shinn gave the city an ultimatum: Build a new arena or lose the Hornets. The city of Charlotte responded by telling the league the city would build a new arena if Shinn sold the team.
The Hornets skipped town after the 2002 season, moving to New Orleans. However, Charlotte was granted an expansion franchise almost immediately in 2004, in the form of the Bobcats. It seems that their run as the terrible, nondescript basketball team is coming to an end after a few papers are signed and the waiting period ends.
Hopefully they can go back to being the fun, entertaining Hornets from the ’90s, rather than the running joke that is the Bobcats.
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AP Source: Jordan changing team name to Hornets (Yahoo! Sports)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A person familiar with the situation says Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is changing his team’s name to the Hornets.
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What Charlotte Hornets revival really means
Jason Kidd is the NBA’s ageless wonder.
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Report: Charlotte to become Hornets
Good.
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Report: Bobcats look to change name back to Hornets
Report indicates Bobcats would look to reclaim city’s glory years.
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