Dollars & Sense: NBA Rebranding in New Orleans and Charlotte

This week marks the beginning of the conference finals in the NBA playoffs – Memphis Grizzlies against the San Antonio Spurs (Spurs lead 2-0) in the west and the Miami Heat against the Indiana Pacers (Heat lead 1-0) in the east.  However, this week has been the week for the losers.  Between the NBA Draft lottery on Tuesday and the current rebranding efforts in New Orleans and Charlotte, the losers are becoming just a little bit more lovable.  Or at least they are trying to be anyway.

New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans franchise has been marred by weak performances over the years and even weaker stability.  Making their debut in the league as the Charlotte Hornets in 1988 alongside the Miami Heat, the Hornets were constantly struggling in their first three years.  Names like Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, and Glen Rice helped build the franchise to the point where Rice led them to their first back-to-back NBA playoff appearances in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Rice, Bogues, and Mourning (Soletron.com)

However, attendance and fan base found themselves in rapid decline after the 1997-98 season.  Dropping from their peak in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons where they averaged 24,042 fans per game, the Hornets found themselves averaging only 11,286 in 2001-02.  That was the final straw for the franchise in Charlotte.

The Hornets relocated their franchise to New Orleans searching for greener pastures and greener wallets.  What they found was a relatively small increase in attendance though.  In the 2003-04 season, the Hornets ranked 28^th in the NBA in attendance. 

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the New Orleans franchise split their time in Oklahoma City due to the destruction in their home city.  Though the Hornets played in Oklahoma City to wonderful attendance success – proven success that later aided the Seattle Super Sonics in their controversial relocation to Oklahoma City in 2008 – it was not their home town.

Now settled back into their home in New Orleans with a couple of high profile talents on their roster in Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis, the franchise is beginning to feel like they have an identity again.  One problem… The Hornets name is still from their Charlotte days.  They want their own.

Enter the New Orleans Pelicans.  Currently undergoing the transformation, the Pelicans are now official and awaiting game one of the 2013-14 regular season to show it off.  After walking away with the sixth pick in this summer’s NBA Draft after Tuesday’s draft lottery, the Pelicans will look to add some more fire power to their young squad.

ESPN.com

The early stages of the transition from the menacing Hornets to the seemingly friendly Pelicans has been met with its fair share of criticism.  Is the criticism warranted?  It is tough to say because anybody can sit back and criticize when they have not been in the driver’s seat on this type of decision.   Let’s just give them their credit in that the logo designers made the most intimidating pelican possible.  And let’s be honest, the New Orleans franchise was doomed for a unfitting name when the Utah Jazz – Utah! – took the Jazz nickname.

Charlotte Hornets

After the Hornets left Charlotte for New Orleans in 2002, the city was left without an NBA franchise.  However, despite the declining attendance numbers that pushed the Hornets to New Orleans in the first place, the NBA saw potential. 

NBA.com

The city was not without an NBA franchise for long as the Bobcats were born in 2004, two years after the Hornets left.  Expansion had been on the mind of the NBA for a little while, and Charlotte had supported a franchise in the past.  Had the NBA known the potential in Oklahoma City – potential that was not realized until after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – maybe Charlotte would still be waiting for the NBA’s return. 

Problem was that bobcats are not really synonymous with the Charlotte areas, or many areas in the world, so the nickname seemed a little bit out of left field.  Sure it sounds fierce, but that is not the point.  In the NBA where there are so many classic team names - think Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, 76ers -  few people could envision the Bobcats (or the Pelicans for that matter) becoming a name of that stature.

But now, with the Hornets becoming the Pelicans in New Orleans, the window is now open for the Bobcats to return to their roots by switching back to the Hornets.  Basically, now instead of having two cities with confused nicknames, we have one wrong righted and one team still trying to figure it out and create their own identity.

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Regardless of how you feel about the Pelicans or the Hornets or the Bobcats, one thing will always ring true: winning cures everything.  Look at the opposite end of the spectrum in Major League Baseball last season with the Miami Marlins.  Known as the Florida Marlins since their first season in 1993, ownership decided to rebrand the team with new colors, a new ballpark, a new roster, and a more geographically narrowed home in Miami prior to the beginning of last season. 

Of course, we all know that the Marlins went on to completely implode last year finishing in last place in the National League East and resulting in the fire sale of players this past offseason, and now they are terrible again.  Oh, and attendance is back to its pre-Marlins Park numbers.  If the Marlins would have kept winning, then maybe they could have build on the momentum of the new park and the infusion of talent.  Now that would have been a rebranding success.

What has become a relatively quiet rebranding success is the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL.  With a rich history in the WHA and then the NHL from 1972-1996, the Jets were a relatively successful franchise before being moved to Phoenix to become the Coyotes in 1996.  Never missing the playoffs in more than two seasons in a row in their NHL days, the Jets were always in it.  In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg and brought the tradition back to life.

This past season, the Jets found themselves four points behind the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but they were certainly in it.  Also, and probably more importantly, the Jets averaged 100-percent attendance with just over 15,000 fans per game (remember that basketball attendance capacities in arenas are higher than hockey).  It is hard to ask for more from a team that just wrapped up their second season in a new city.

By now, it should be clear that the key to rebranding success for the Pelicans and the Hornets is to do exactly the opposite that the Marlins did.  Winning is a major player in building a loyal fan base, and winning is something that the Marlins are not doing but the Jets are.  Whether it is the NBA or the MLB or the NHL or any other professional sports league in the world, the formula is simple.  Just win, baby. 


Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

Stinging the Rebuilding Process

Welcome to the Route 30 Detour! US Route 30 intersects at I-95 in Philadelphia and goes from coast to coast, including passing through Pittsburgh and the home of Drexel University SMT student and blog contributor, Bryan Fyalkowski (@fyalkowski)...




The NBA Draft Lottery is always an exciting event. Not for the entertainment value, mind you, but the fact that opportunity is in the air. On May 30, 2012, just before the Miami Heat would take on the Boston Celtics in game two of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Draft Lottery was held in New York City.

As the competitive NBA teams play towards a championship, the bottom feeders look to receive a high draft pick to build their team for the future. Representatives from the 14 non-playoff NBA teams attend the event, like Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's son, Nick Gilbert, who always looks hip in his nerdy garb.

 Ugh.

One of those bottom feeders was the New Orleans Hornets who, at the time, were owned by the NBA and finished the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season with a 21-45 record, tied for the third-worst in the league. Although the Hornets had only a the fourth-best chance (13.7%) of getting the top pick, the ping pong balls came up in their favor.

Aside from conspiracy theories and other concerns about an NBA-owned team winning the Draft Lottery, it was the beginning of a very busy summer for the Hornets. On June 15, the NBA completed the sale of the Hornets to New Orleans Saints' owner Tom Benson for the price of $338 million, a sale that had been in process for two months.

During the 2012 NBA Draft on June 28, in addition to first-overall pick Anthony Davis, the Hornets drafted Austin Rivers in the tenth slot and Darius Miller in the second round. Rivers was taken with a draft pick the Hornets got in return for Chris Paul, who they traded to the Los Angeles Clippers before the season began.

 Note: That is NOT Darius Miller in the center.

In July, the Hornets completed two trades that drastically improved their front court. Putting out a lineup last season that included Emeka Okafor and Chris Kaman was not getting it done, so the Hornets went out and traded for Ryan Anderson from the Orlando Magic, and Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick from the Phoenix Suns.

These moves allowed the Hornets to dump Okafor and Kaman, while getting solid depth to take some weight off of the Davis' 19-year-old shoulders. The acquisition of Lopez will allow Davis to play his natural position of power forward when matched up with a over sized center, such as Dwight Howard or Marc Gasol. Meanwhile, Warrick has been a valuable bench player since he has come into the league.

Threes on threes on threes on threes on threes...

Anderson agreed to a four-year, $36-million sign-and-trade to the Hornets, which will allow the 24-year-old breakout star to provide some continuity in the lineup. To add even more stability in the lineup, the Hornets matched a four-year, $59-million maximum offer sheet that the Suns gave to restricted free agent Eric Gordon.

Gordon was the key piece that the Hornets got in return for Paul. He is a 23-year-old star guard, but his career effectiveness on the court has taken a hit due to his continual visits to the IR. Although Gordon said he wanted to go to Phoenix and start anew, matching the offer sheet was absolutely the right thing to do for the Hornets.

 

Unfortunately a very common sight.

With a manageable roster on paper, the Hornets now needed to lock up one of the most promising young coaches in the league. Monty Williams came from the Nate McMillan coaching tree, having served as assistant coach under him for five seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Williams was offered the head coaching job with the Hornets for the 2010-11 season and did not disappoint, leading the team to the seventh seed in the Western Conference with a 46-36 record and an eventual 4-2 loss in the first round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe absolutely torches the team that originally drafted him.

Even after a disappointing 2011-12 season, in which the Hornets went 21-45, new ownership still has confidence in Williams, and they proved it by locking him up with a four-year extension on August 19, which will run through 2015-16. This was absolutely the right thing to do as Williams has the confidence and coaching ability to lead this group of young players to become a competitive team for years to come.

As Kevin Rossi touched upon in his I-95 article last week, NBA teams who are not the Lakers or the Heat need to find ways to rebuild and become competitive again. While the Magic have just begun the rebuilding process, the Hornets endured one terrible season and come come through the other end of the tunnel.

You got traded, can you shut up now please?

With young talent such as Davis, Rivers, Anderson and Gordon locked up for the next four seasons expect the Hornets to be in the playoff hunt during that time. This team is young, but supremely talented, which is all you can ask for when building the nucleus of a roster.

Sprinkle in some solid role players, such as Miller and Warrick, and some viable bench options, such as Greivis Vasquez and Al-Farouq Aminu, and that builds a legitimate contender. Plus, Williams is only 40-years-old and is likely to emerge as a great coach and leader for many years.

YOU DA MAN!

Things like the draft and the salary cap exist so that teams have a chance to pick themselves up from the dumps and become relevant again. Franchises hurt themselves by not taking full advantage of these things while the team is not championship caliber, and that is why they struggle for many years.

It is always difficult to face the fact of rebuilding as a professional sports franchise, but the Hornets are an excellent example of what can happen if you swallow your pride and accept that things have to get worse in order for them to get better.

Enjoy your trip back to I-95 and I'll see you next week!