So, now you know.
If you are a sports fan with a pulse, you watched TNT's highly-entertaining broadcast of the 57th Annual NBA All-Star Game hosted in the Crescent City of New Orleans, Louisiana.
You've looked at the standings for the first half of this season, and at the heading "Southwest Division," you have consistently seen the New Orleans Hornets as either the first or second team listed in that column.
You wonder how on earth that is possible, and why you haven't seen more of this team.
You saw 22-year-old Chris Paul during the NBA All-Star Game. You've recently heard Sports Center anchors Scott Van Pelt and Neil Everett gush about his game during highlights, but wondered how good this guy really was.
After all, he plays for the New Orleans Hornets, a team that has had no consistent home court for the past few seasons, and recently called two different cities "home."
He was the key piece in rebuilding the team that finished 18-64 three years ago. You saw his poise as a playmaker on the basketball court, with an incredible ability to penetrate and find the open man.
- B/R Ticket Guide
He had 16 points and 14 assists last night, and put up those stats in an All-Star Game facing the best competition in the world. 14 assists. Chris Paul puts up those numbers every single night.
But you wouldn't know that because the Hornets are never shown on ESPN. You also probably saw the articulate side of Chris Paul, greeting the international audience at center court before tipoff with an eloquence and confidence not found in many 22-year-olds, much less ones who also call themselves NBA All-Stars.
You also met David West, the Hornets' power forward who plays with an incredible amount of toughness and intensity each and every game, including the one played last night. You saw the way he fought for loose balls under the basket with comparative skyscrapers named Dwight Howard and Rasheed Wallace.
Remember Peja Stojakovic? Well he's on the Hornets too. You know how good a healthy Peja Stojakovic can be. You watched him when he starred with those great Sacramento Kings teams. Well, he's healthy and has benefited from the presence of Chris Paul and David West in becoming the three-point machine we all remember him to be years ago.
Tyson Chandler? "The Mistake in Chicago" has finally grown into the NBA's premier rebounder. He's become a monster. You'll find that out soon too.
So why do the Hornets still fail to draw decent crowds to their games? Never mind the sellouts, their average attendance mark is 12,500. That just shouldn't happen, and it isn't fair to the team, the franchise, and those who work to put out an exciting product for the city each and every night.
The Hornets have a fantastic team with skilled, intriguing players who play an exciting brand of up-and-down basketball, and with an intensity that would be praised by the city it represents if that city would only come out to see them.
Who wouldn't want to see that type of team play based on hustle, desire, and determination on a nightly basis? If there's any team in pro sports that lives up to its motto, it would be the Hornets:
"Passion, Purpose, Pride."
Yeah, I'd say so.
So, why can't the Hornets draw a consistently packed house? Some of my theories are common sense, and others are more complex. Read on so you can know...and act now.
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9 months ago
cp3 didn't play on the 18-64 team
9 months ago
yeah, that came out wrong. i changed it, thanks.
9 months ago
Read the article. He was key in re-building the 18-64 team.
9 months ago
The Hornets have had attendance issues ever since they came to New Orleans. I've lived in New Orleans for 30 years -- we're a football town. Look at how we sell out Saints games and compare that to our attendance record with the Hornets: last or next to last in the league in attendance the first three years we had the team. In my opinion, we have bigger issues right now: housing, schools, hospitals and a soaring murder rate. To me, it's insulting that they are pressuring our community to buy tickets to a &%$# basketball game while people are truly suffering.
9 months ago
Thanks for your comments, Bill.
As someone who has lived here for only four years, I admit that I might not be as familiar with the sporting landscape down here as you are, but in part three I outline the fact that New Orleans had been staunchly a football area (as most of the south is), and with so many entertainment options in this city to go along with those traditional allegiances to LSU and Saints football, the Hornets have struggled during their time to draw consistent crowds during their time in the city.
What I don't understand is that the majority of people in this area would rather go see an arena league football team made up of NFL castoffs rather than a basketball team that has exciting players and WINS. It's quite honestly atrocious that the "Voodoo" sells out more games than the Hornets.
Basketball might not be your cup of tea for personal reasons, but wouldn't you rather go see a team that wins as opposed to a minor league football team?
With the exception of maybe three seasons in the past forty-plus years, the city's main team (The Saints) has been awful throughout its history. I don't understand how people in this city can't get excited about a team that's emulating the Saints' success from two years ago, and has a better chance far long-term success than its football counterparts.
But that all relies on you all. It's up to you whether or not you want to support a team that plays with a passion, purpose and pride that would be respected by everyone in this community.
9 months ago
yeah it's strange that the voodoo get supported more
but i think it has to do with new orleans identity, and playing fewer games on weekends
we'll see how well the hornets do, but the arena league puts forth a great product too and i don't blame people for supporting it
7 months ago
This article demonstrates complete idiocy. It takes quite some time to change an average and people were to look at the numbers as of late they would see attendance is great!
AS OF LATE, yeah I said that. "Now that we are winning", I'm sure you can read between the lines.
But I sat courtside the last time they were here. And so did Baron Davis, Jamal Mashburn, Jamal Majlorie, and Tim Floyd. That team and its attitudes represented everything people hate about the NBA, so one could imagine it wasn't "winning" over fans.
Skip to today. Do pepole even know that the games aren't even shown in markets where the majority of Saints tickets are sold. The majority of money in New Orleans lives right outside New Orleans in surrounding parishes. Geography and public education forced this issue. The cable networks can't conclude an agreement; hence, if junior doesn't watch the games on weekdays, he's not going to beg daddy to take him on weekends; and if daddy doesn't watch the games on weekends, he's less likely to meet the fellas after work on a Tuesday night.
Basketball fans need not comment on the Hornets situation unless they're commenting on how their club got throttled last night by Julian Wright and the Killer Bees. If you want to be a sociologists keep it out the basketball airways or get informed.
7 months ago
And those saying that it is a football town, please see: Baton Rouge
I do have to give some props
Chris Paul, you saved basketball in New Orleans.
You, David West, Peja Sto. Julian Wright, Tyson Chandler and the rest of the squad
are the guys that are awakening the Soul of New Orleans basketball.
7 months ago
Corporationsbuying tickets and giving them to pseudo-fans does not exist in New Orleans. Check out the atmosphere now that the fans are there. It could teach ya something 'bout "Love". The Hornets and The Big Easy are undopubtedly "soulmates".
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