Hornets notebook: Stern reaffirms Hornets intentions


NBA commissioner David Stern attended the Cavs’ season opener against the Hornets on Wednesday night, re-affirming the league’s intentions to eventually move the Hornets back to New Orleans.
Stern would later sound pessimistic, though, adding that the city of New Orleans has considerably more to worry about than hosting the Hornets again.

“Right now, the more important issue is life,” Stern said. “I just feel a certain sense of personal discomfort with something like rebuilding a sports facility in the face of all that.”

Stern, who will attend the Hornets’ next home game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, said the team’s future home is ultimately the decision of the NBA’s Board of Governors. He’ll have “considerable input” in that decision, he said.

Stern added that the vote needs to be made “very early in the new year” because of ticket sales and renewals.

Stern went on to say that Oklahoma City has done enough to prove itself ready for a professional sports franchise.

“It demonstrated that, almost even if they never played another game there,” Stern said. “It’s been a great response. And I think it will be a beneficiary of this outcome.”

In other words, "Our intentions were to go back, and it was always our intention to go back. Unfortunately, the rebuilding effort is ongoing and there are much more important priorities for the NOLA region. Our hands are tied and we must move the team."

The league will continue to say the "right" thing and eventually raise the white flag in the direction of the desruction in New Orleans. Every league exec and Shinn have been ordered to assertively say "it's our intent, "it's our plan", so they can ultimately be viewed as a victim who acted in a reactionary way and was not aggresively trying to relocate.

I, for one, have no problem with this and never have. After all, it will be the God honest truth. We'll have a franchise in OKC, whether it be the Hornets, Raptors, Magic, Bucks, or via expansion.