New Orleans Hornets
2011–12 New Orleans Hornets season
New Orleans Hornets logo
Conference	Western Conference
Division	Southwest Division
Founded	1988
History	Charlotte Hornets 1988–2002 New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets 2005–2007 New Orleans Hornets 2002–2005, 2007–present
Arena	New Orleans Arena
City	New Orleans, Louisiana
Team colors	Creole Blue, Dark Purple, Mardi Gras Gold, White
Owner(s)	Tom Benson
General manager	Dell Demps
Head coach	Monty Williams
D-League affiliate	Iowa Energy
Championships	0
Conference titles	0
Division titles	1 (2008)
Official website	hornets.com
Home Away

The New Orleans Hornets are a professional basketball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They play in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association. The franchise began play during the 1988–89 NBA season as the Charlotte Hornets, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they were located for fourteen seasons. Following the 2001–02 season, the team relocated to New Orleans, becoming the New Orleans Hornets. After three seasons in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina forced the franchise to temporarily relocate to Oklahoma City, where they spent two seasons officially known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. The Hornets returned to New Orleans full-time for the 2007–08 season.

In 23 seasons of play, the Hornets have compiled an overall record of 913–941, and have qualified for the post-season twelve times. Their achievements include five playoff series victories and one division title.

Franchise history[link]

[edit] 1988–2002: Charlotte Hornets

With the NBA looking to expand in the late 1980s, George Shinn, an entrepreneur from Kannapolis, North Carolina, wanted to bring an NBA team to the Charlotte area. Shinn's ace in the hole was the Charlotte Coliseum, a state-of-the-art arena under construction in Charlotte that would seat almost 24,000 spectators. After years of work to land the franchise, on April 5, 1987, Shinn was awarded the new expansion team, which was later named "Hornets". The name was derived from the city's fierce resistance to British occupation during the Revolutionary War,^[1] which prompted the British commander to refer to it as "a veritable nest of hornets." The team received a lot of attention when they chose teal and purple as their primary colors, setting off a fashion craze in sports in the 1990s, with many other pro and amateur clubs soon following with similar colors. The Hornets also popularized the use of pinstripes on uniforms, inspiring similar designs by various other NBA franchises.

The Hornets first began play during the 1988–89 NBA season, along with the Miami Heat. Despite struggling during their first few years (typical for most expansion clubs), the Hornets led the NBA in attendance in eight of their first ten seasons. The team qualified for their first playoff berth during the 1992–93 season; led by talented players including Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, and then-rookie Alonzo Mourning, they defeated Boston in the first round, with Mourning hitting the series-winning shot in game four. In the Conference Semifinals, however, Charlotte was eliminated by New York in five games. After having mild success over the next three seasons, Glen Rice helped lead the Hornets to back-to-back Playoff appearances during the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons, but they were eliminated from the playoffs by New York and Chicago, respectively. Despite continued success on the court and the emergence of other stars such as Baron Davis, the Hornets attendance dropped dramatically during the later seasons in Charlotte, due mostly to personnel moves by owner George Shinn. Following the 2001–02 season, in which the team finished last in the league in attendance, the Hornets left Charlotte and relocated to New Orleans.

In their 14 years in Charlotte, the Hornets compiled a 522–546 (.489) win–loss record in the regular season and 20–28 (.417) in the playoffs. The franchise advanced to the postseason seven times, advancing to the Conference Semifinals on four occasions.

2002–2005: Early years in New Orleans[link]

The Hornets opened their inaugural season in New Orleans on October 30, 2002, against New Orleans' previous NBA franchise, the Utah Jazz. In the first regular season NBA game played in New Orleans in over 17 years,^[2] the Hornets defeated the Jazz 100–75, and posthumously retired #7 of "Pistol" Pete Maravich during halftime. The Hornets finished the season with a 47–35 record but were defeated by Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs. Following the season, the team unexpectedly fired head coach Paul Silas and replaced him with Tim Floyd. The Hornets began the 2003–04 season strong with a 17–7 start but sputtered at the end and finished 41–41. They lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2004 playoffs. After the season, Floyd was fired and the team hired Byron Scott as its new head coach. In a season marred by injury to the team's three all-stars, the team finished the year with a franchise-worst record of 18–64, the franchise's first losing season since the 1991–92 season.

2005–2011: Chris Paul Era[link]

In the subsequent draft, the Hornets used their first round pick to select point guard Chris Paul out of Wake Forest University.

Chris Paul was selected by the Hornets with the 4th pick of the 2005 NBA Draft.

Because of the catastrophic devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina upon the communities of southeastern Louisiana, the Hornets franchise temporarily relocated its base of operations to Oklahoma City in 2005–06 and 2006–07, posting records of 38–44 and 39–43 respectively. During this time, the franchise was known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. In these two seasons, the vast majority of home games were played at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, while a few remained at New Orleans Arena. The Hornets franchise returned to New Orleans full-time for the 2007–2008 season, with all 41 home games in the New Orleans Arena. 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. Healthier than previous seasons, the Hornets raced to a 29–12 record at the halfway mark, completing the regular season with a record of 56–26, making the season their most successful ever. The Hornets also won their first-ever division title, winning the Southwest Division. Having clinched the 2nd overall seed for the Western Conference in the 2008 playoffs, the Hornets beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round but eventually lost to the defending-champion San Antonio Spurs in seven games in the conference semifinals.

In August 2008, the Hornets unveiled a modified logo and new uniforms with the colors of Creole blue, purple, and Mardi Gras gold, and after six seasons, the pinstripes were reinstated on the uniforms. The Hornets also introduced a yellow uniform in 2010 which is used mostly in games played on Saturday at home and on the road. The Hornets finished the 2008–09 season with a 49–33 record. Paired up with the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, the Hornets were eliminated in 5 games. The Hornets started the 2009–10 season in a disappointing fashion, and head coach Byron Scott was fired after a 3-6 start to the season. General manager Jeff Bower took over the head coaching duties for the remainder of the season. The Hornets finished the season with a lowly 37–45 record, finishing last in the Southwest division they had won only two seasons before. Jeff Bower later resigned as head coach, and Monty Williams was brought in as new head coach. The team finished the 2010–11 season with a 46–36 record and qualified for the 2011 NBA Playoffs, where they lost to the Lakers 4-2.

In December 2010, the NBA purchased the Hornets from George Shinn and Gary Chouest for an estimated $300 million.^[3]

2011–present: Rebuilding[link]

On December 14, 2011, the Los Angeles Clippers traded Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Gordon and a 2012 first-round pick (previously acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves) to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Chris Paul and two future second-round picks. After the All Star Game the Hornets had the worst record in the West. ^[4].

On April 13, 2012, it was announced that Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, had purchased the franchise from the NBA for $338 million. ^[5][6]

On May 30, the Hornets were awarded the 1st overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft; they had a 13.7% chance of winning the 1st pick. They are expected to draft Anthony Davis from the University of Kentucky^[7]

Seasons[link]

Personnel[link]

Current roster[link]

Head coaches[link]

Home arenas[link]

• Charlotte Coliseum (1988–2002)
• New Orleans Arena (2002–present)

• Other temporary facilities due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina:
  • Chesapeake Energy Arena (formerly known as Ford Center) (2005–2007)
  • Pete Maravich Assembly Center (2005, one game)
  • Lloyd Noble Center (2006, one game)

Franchise records, awards and honors[link]

Individual awards[link]

Retired numbers[link]

• 7 "Pistol" Pete Maravich, G, New Orleans Jazz, 1974–79 (The Hornets retired Maravich's number during their first game in New Orleans in honor of his basketball contributions to the area at LSU and with the city's former NBA team, the New Orleans Jazz)
• 13 Bobby Phills, G, Charlotte Hornets, 1997–2000 (The Hornets retired Phills' number after he was killed in an automobile accident in Charlotte)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: New Orleans Hornets

• New Orleans Hornets official site
• At the Hive - New Orleans Hornets blog
• Hornets247.com - New Orleans Hornets blog
• New Orleans Hornets Tickets
• Hornets owner pledges full commitment to New Orleans -- December 14, 2006

City of New Orleans Ville de La Nouvelle-Orléans Orleans Parish
—  City and Parish  —
From top left: A typical New Orleans mansion off St. Charles Avenue, a streetcar passing by Loyola University and Tulane University, the skyline of the Central Business District, Jackson Square, and a view of Royal Street in the French Quarter.
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): "The Crescent City", "The Big Easy", "The City That Care Forgot", "Nawlins" and "NOLA" (acronym for New Orleans, Louisiana).
Location in the State of Louisiana
City of New Orleans Location in the United States
Coordinates: 29°57′53″N 90°4′14″W / 29.96472°N 90.07056°W / 29.96472; -90.07056
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	Orleans
Founded	1718
Government
• Mayor	Mitch Landrieu (D)
Area
• City and Parish	350.2 sq mi (907 km2)
• Land	180.6 sq mi (467.6 km2)
• Water	169.7 sq mi (439.4 km2)
• Metro	3,755.2 sq mi (9,726.6 km2)
Elevation	-6.5 to 20 ft (-2 to 6 m)
Population (2010)[1]
• City and Parish	343,829
• Density	1,965/sq mi (759/km2)
• Metro	1,167,764
Demonym	New Orleanian
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s)	504
Website	nola.gov

New Orleans ( /nuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally /nuː ˈɔrlənz/ or /ˈnɔrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city proper was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census.^[2] The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States.^[3] The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,214,932.^[4]