Oklahoma City has caught the pro basketball bug
BY MARK EMMONS
Knight Ridder Newspapers
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Their road uniforms still are emblazoned with "New Orleans." But forgive the NBA's Hornets for being a little confused about where exactly to call home.
This vagabond franchise, just a few years removed from Charlotte, was chased out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged The Big Easy with heartbreaking fury. It found shelter from the storm, and a welcoming red carpet, in Oklahoma City.
But the Hornets don't know where they will play next year. And while their official temporary name is the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, it hasn't exactly stuck.
"No one has created a perfect moniker yet that's caught on," said Roy Williams, head of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. "Sometimes you see Oklahoma City/N.O. Other times it's New Orleans/OKC. Or it will be just New Orleans or Oklahoma City. Right now, they're still Jekyll and Hyde."
Here's another label to attach to the Hornets: surprising. In O-kla-homa, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain, the Hornets also have managed to find some victories. The team, which started last season 2-29 en route to an 18-64 year, is 6-7.
And the silver lining to this story of a team caught up in a natural disaster is that Oklahoma City - eager to make a statement about being a big-league town - has gone crazy over the Hornets. The team is averaging 18,656 spectators and has sold out three of its first six home games.
That warm reception has prompted the question of whether the Hornets will ever return to New Orleans. In many ways, the franchise is symbolic of the larger discussion about the city's future.
"From strictly a business standpoint, maybe it seems like a slam-dunk to stay here," said team spokesman Michael Thompson. "But we're from New Orleans. Our homes were under water and our friends are in dire straits. The last thing New Orleans needs to hear right now is that it's going to lose something else because of the storm."
Unlike the NFL, which has suffered a public-relations disaster with Saints owner Tom Benson seeming to posture for a move in the hurricane's wake, the NBA and the Hornets are being careful to take a wait-and-see approach about a return. Oklahoma City officials, who know all about tragedy after enduring the 1995 federal courthouse bombing, also are sensitive.
"From Day One we have acknowledged that this is New Orleans' team," Williams said. "If they go back to New Orleans, they'll return with our fondest memories and best wishes. But if circumstances arise where that can't happen, then our door is open."
In fact, it's wide open.
Oklahoma City is only the 45th-largest TV market and has about 1.25 million residents in the metro area. It also has no national standing.
When the Hornets had to relocate, Oklahoma City offered its 19,675-seat Ford Center, which was built as part of a failed attempt to lure an NHL expansion team and opened in 2002. The city also provided office space, employee housing and up to $10 million in guarantees to cover any revenue shortfalls. But the Hornets have been so popular - selling 10,000 season tickets - that the city will make money.
"What we've always suffered from here is a sort of non-image," Williams said. "But being able to support an NBA franchise conveys a message. It tells people that there's a real city there. It makes us a player."
If the Hornets do go home, Oklahoma City has proved - like other one-horse NBA cities such as Sacramento - that it has caught the pro basketball bug. Commissioner David Stern said if any other team were to move, Oklahoma would be the top destination.
The fan support has been off the charts. The Hornets traded former All-Star center Jamaal Magloire to Milwaukee for swingman Desmond Mason - a move that gave the locals more interest in the team (Mason attended Oklahoma State). But the Hornets also have played far better than expected.
Chris Paul, a candidate for rookie of the year, is averaging 16.8 points, 6.6 assists and 5.3 rebounds. Speedy Claxton, who came to the Hornets in the deal last season that brought Baron Davis to the Warriors, has been a revelation, averaging 13.2 points and 4.5 assists off the bench.
It's been a honeymoon - and one noticed by New Orleans' newspaper, the Times-Picayune. It noted Sunday that the temporary home could become a permanent one because "the NBA can't close its eyes to what's going on in a city where there's no competition for the entertainment dollar and very little to do in a city for night-time enjoyment. In that sense, New Orleans can't compete with Oklahoma City ..."
The Hornets leaving New Orleans would be much easier to take than a Saints departure because the NBA team arrived in 2002, while the NFL franchise has been part of the city's fabric for decades. Hornets owner George Shinn, who knows what it's like to be a community pariah after wearing out his welcome in Charlotte, has bought a house in Oklahoma. But with six games later this season scheduled to be played in Louisiana, Shinn says publicly that the team belongs to New Orleans.
It's still where the hearts of team employees reside. Thompson lived less than a mile from where the 17th Street Canal levee broke. He returned to his condo for the first time over the Thanksgiving weekend to find it an almost total loss. Now he, his wife and 6-week-old daughter - born just after the hurricane - are in corporate housing in Norman, Okla.
"All of us have those moments, where it's 2 a.m. in the morning and you think, `Man, how did we end up here?'" Thompson said. "Oklahoma City has been great to us, but this is not our house and it's not our stuff. You think sometimes, `I just want to go home. Can I do that please?'"
11.30.05 Knight Ridder Article
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