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The New Orleans Hornets were one of the four teams to join the NBA after the golden age of basketball had increased the professional basketball fan base by leaps and bounds. The Hornets began playing in Charlotte and immediately struggled. The struggle was to be expected. Expansion teams in every sport have a difficult time playing competitively in their first few seasons, and the Charlotte Hornets were not exception. The first four season the team struggled to even approach a winning record.
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About The New Orleans Hornets
Young players built the core of the team. Rex Chapman was a great long distance shooter with a superb vertical. He also the Hornets first draft choice. Many argue that the choice to draft him was one to pander to the fan base that watched him play at Kentucky. He and Kendall Gill became the sweet shooting wing players that drove the offense until the Hornets drafted Larry Johnson in 1991. The power forward was a little short for the position, but his athleticism and strength made him a force and he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award that season.
The arsenal of talent was complete when Alonzo Mourning was drafted the following season. With Muggsy Bogues running the offense and Mourning, Johnson, and Gill on the floor the Charlotte Hornets finished the 2002-03 season 44-38 and made their first trip to the playoffs. The Hornets defeated a Boston Celtics team with an aging and ailing Larry Brown before losing to the New York Knicks in the conference semifinals.
A promising roster should have been back to the postseason the next season, but injuries hurt Johnson and Mourning and the Hornets missed the playoffs with a 41-41 record in a loaded Central Division. The next season everyone was back and the Hornets won 50 games. Unfortunately, the Chicago Bulls beat them in the first round and the front office decided to break up the roster.
Mourning was traded to Miami for Glen Rice, Matt Geiger, and Khalid Reeves. During the 1995-96 season Kenny Anderson took advantage of Bogues injury to have an All Star year. The changes and injuries led to an even .500 record and a visit back to the lottery. The Charlotte Hornets traded the draft pick, which was used by the Lakers to get Kobe Bryant, for Vlade Divac and the team traded Johnson to the Knicks for Anthony Mason.
Fans can complain in hindsight that Bryant ended up being one of the best players in the league, but the season was a vast improvement for the Hornets. Charlotte finished 54-28 and made the playoffs before a disastrous first round found them upset by the New York Knicks in a sweep. The next season came with a change in the backcourt. Now David Wesley and Bobby Phills would take over.
Again the Hornets finished with over 50 wins and this time the Hornets were able to get past the first round, but the Chicago Bulls were too much and stopped them in the second round. The failure to succeed despite the celebrated lineup led to more roster moves. Rice was traded to the Lakers for Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell and Vlade Divac leaving for the Kings.
The Charlotte Hornets suffered through the NBA Lockout shortened season with a 26-24 record, but no playoff berth. The next season, 1999-2000, the Hornets finished with a respectable 46-36 record and a postseason run that ran into the second round, but tragedy struck the team as Bobby Phills was killed in a car accident at the fault of a drunk driver.
The new Charlotte Hornets soldiered on and Baron Davis became a dominant point guard with Wesley moving over to shooting guard. Jones and Mason were traded and replaced by Jamal Mashburn and P.J. Brown form the Miami Heat. The team again made it back to the playoffs but a civil suit against the team’s owner alleging rape and countless let downs in the playoffs led a drop in attendance that moved the club from Charlotte to New Orleans in 2002.
The New Orleans Hornets began playing the same brand of playoff basketball at New Orleans Arena. Eventually the players aged and the team was void of talent. In 2004 the team moved to the ultra-competitive Western Conference and the combination of the improved competition and the depleted roster led the first postseason miss in five seasons.
The good part of the awful 2004-05 season was a trip to the lottery that led to the selection of point guard Chris Paul with the fifth draft pick. Paul quickly became a star with his quickness and ability to finish at the rim. With a new star in place the Hornets built a team around him. Those early Chris Paul-led teams played in Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans. The team added players like athletic-shot blocking center Tyson Chandler and talented spot up shooter Peja Stojakovic.
The team began to develop a clear starting lineup when David West developed into an All Star worthy power forward. The Hornets returned to the playoffs in 2008 after their first full season back in New Orleans. The team went 56-26 and nearly made the conference finals, but was defeated by the San Antonio spurs in a series that went all seven games in the second round.
The New Orleans Hornets come into the season after a breakout performance by the entire team during the 2007-08 season. The team rallied around the immense talent of Chris Paul, who, once again, proved that he was a future Hall of Fame point guard. The eminent floor leader of his generation helped Tyson Chandler find something to do on offense, mind you it was only alley-oop dunks, but he is really good at those. He helped bring Peja Stojakovic back from a path that would have led to becoming a sixth man on a bad team. He took the team to the playoffs.
This season he should repeat. This season the Hornets also will also be found out. No longer will it be a surprise when the team from New Orleans posts a huge winning record. The front court has some depth issues. David West has developed into a power house at the four position and Chandler is a terrific defender, especially on the weak side, and rebounder. Behind them there is little to take up the ten to fifteen minutes they spend on the bench. Stojachovic has always been a defensive liability and age has not aided his situation. Stojachovic’s offensive capabilities still give him a plus on the court. James Posey is a good backup small forward though, so all hope is not lost when the bench comes in to play.
At guard, Paul is joined by Morris Peterson. Peterson was rescued from a bad situation for himself in Toronto and should see better shots with the floor spread so well. The Hornets are going to have to survive the first season in a long time when they have the target on their back. The solid should be kept up this season, but the team has a long way to go before they are the odds on favorite to win the Western Conference or the championship.
