Horntes player talking trash about charlotte

Shinnridge was solely responsible for killing the fanbase here over the arena issue . . . Folks voted down the referendum on the assumption that the league would force the team to stay here, but Stern allowed them to leave. Now, we are about to spend $250+ million on an arena which on terms dictated by the NBA and not the city . . . While folks have a right to be pissed over how many players left here (LJ, Zo, etc.) we still had a competitive product on the court with what we got back (Rice, Divac, etc.). It wasn't like in Montreal where Expos owner Claude Brochu purposely got rid of his talented players (Alou, Walker, etc.) just to save the team some money. Montreal fans have had the right over the last few years to stop supporting MLB ( a real commissioner would've squshed the first salary dump the team got away with . . .)

 

every good player we had we trade or not resign Rice, Divac Rice Trade to LACKERS for Ej and Divac sign with the Kings if you want the fan to sopurt the team you need to sign player and stop makeing bad trade

 

EJ- i was of your point of view until relocation became a gripping reality. Yes, the hornets (all glory to Bob Bass) stayed competitive and were a top 8-10 team in the last 2 years or so. However, a message was sent even when george shinn was selling out 364 consecutive games that shinn wasnt going to pony up to take this team to every fans dream- an nba title. he wasnt willing to do that- it showed by his continous restructuring of the teams roster every 2-3 seasons- or whenever a free agent contract was approaching. That does not win fans- in any sport. Still, the city supported the team. (we averaged just under 20,000 fans after the lockout/shinn sexual assault/coleman signing). Then, here comes ray wooldridge- his main goal was to get a deal for the arena, because shinn felt he couldnt negotiate with the city council and uptown crew (shinn had walked away from an uptown arena deal in 1995 for a paltry $31 million- thats all he had to pay.) So in comes Wooldridge- the first thing he does is tell the city of Charlotte and its fans in late 1999 was tha moving the team out of charlotte was not an option, and there will be no talks with any other city until the Hornets have exhausted all their options.

Okay, so the city council gets a meeting scheduled for that spring in which the Hornets will make their proposal to the city for a new arena- meeting day is here and everything is great- but where are the Hornets?? Oops, Ray had a vacation planned in France so he couldnt make it and George is in Florida. So the city discusses the plan with a team spokesman who is obviously uninformed. Okay, meeting number 2 approaches and same old shit. Ray couldnt make it- had prior obligations in the business field. Okay, says the council, lets go for a 3rd- Ray shows up, and his proposal: City builds an arena for the Hornets to operate and recieve all revenue streams- okay, that is basically what he have right now with the nba, but, that is not a way to NEGOTIATE with a city after missing 2 meetings. He then goes on to say- if we dont get this deal- we're prepared to move. HOLD THE HORSES- is this a threat?? Yes, it sure is. Okay, city decides that Ray is a raving lunatic and decides to formulate their own arena plan- and after a year of deliberating, the city comes with the arena plan to the hornets. The hornets review the document in march of '01, and they push for a JUNE referendum- knowing full well that their year of threats has damaged their viability as a franchise. Add on to that the notion of a publicly funded stadium, plus an ownership group that is growing more disliked by the day, plus trouble amongst the teams players (mason, coleman, wesley-phills, trading jones) and the city is ripe for voting this down. Wooldridge blindly pushes the referendum, and the rest is history.

The final year of hornets basketball starts in charlotte, with NO being mentioned as a possible candidate- it comes to be known that dating back to 1999- the hornets had been in contact with the city of NO in pursuing a franchise move: this is negotiating on bad faith. Wooldridge and the city's rederick get downright nasty, the ownership group fudges ticket numbers to misrepresent the attendance (and garner sympathy)- there were even rumblings that peoples tickets wouldnt be scanned and fans would be ushered in the side doors so they wouldnt be counted. Then, the pimping tour begins- louisville, norfolk, hampton roads, anaheim, oklahoma city, st. louis, the list goes on. Not one attempt is made by the ownership group to try and work something out with the city- and the city is pissed off. The fans get tired of the 2and ahalf year old story- so they stop coming in droves. (attendance- 1997-98: 22500, 98-99:19500, 99-00:17500, 00-01: 15300, 01-02: 12k. Notice a pattern, basically since ray wooldridge showed up in 1999, the teams attendance dropped nearly 50%.

Fans want to see loyalty, committment to a city before they openly support it- and thats what the city did for 11 years. When it became doubtful that the loyalty was there, the city's support began to wane. Despite what the players bitched about, I still dont feel sorry for them- the fans that were there were always loud and were always passionate, what else could the hornets ask for- knowing that their bosses were whores.

 

that assumption was started by no-other-than the packman. i almost got it all over myself after he reported that. I never bought that theory Sds, I thought it was totally misplaced priorities by a sports station to allow packman to actually push for people to vote against the referendum. sds, have you noticed how much pack bashes the nba- for its "garbage" plays, and "thug" players, and out of control salaries- yet he praises baseball up the ass?? Pack pisses me off and i dont listen to his show anymore- he is one of the reasons (his attitude) that the buggs are in NO.

Although the city is being semi-coerced into this new arena deal- i think this plan is far better than any arena deal we've seen. The proximity to the square (2 blocks), the location next to the trolley line, bus center, future multi-modal transit center, entertainment district, bars and restaurants, worker proximity, parking and accesibility, plus potential economic development all make this first ward site look to be downright critical for uptown to take that next step.

 

Hell Shinn and Wolldridge played Charlotte like a cheap violin. They knew they could slide out of Chjarlotte and find a dumb ass city to give them the world. Piss off enough people by stunts like passing out mardi gras beads in February and people stay away. Then Shinn just goes and says "the city isn't supporting us" so what is Stern to do, stop him? Charlotte can sit back and say they don't like Shinn but we lost a great team. If/when we get a team back you think they will sniff the playoffs anytime soon? Think people will come back in droves? David Stern better make Charlotte a sweet deal otherwise it's a crap team for a minimum of 5 years. If Charlotte gets anything like what Vancouver got (no number 1 pick for 3 years) then they are f&cked. As much as I would like Bird in the owners mix, having Robert Johnsons billions and race would be a nice draw for both the team and league. Maybe Bird and Johnson could co-exist, rightttttttt

 

I can understand were the players are coming from to an extent....Fans have always been the 6th man. Last year the team was already gone....Charlotte knew it, and Shinridge new it. Your not gonna get any support and your leaving......I noticed not one player mention the year before when they swept the Favored Heat, and took the Bucks to 7 games. I think the the first home playoff game that year drew a crowd of 22k, and the average home playoff game that year was like 15K, well above there average for the year (regular season). It was just a bad situation, Shinn was stuburn, Woolridge wanted to move anyway, Shinn didn't want to sell (I still can't figure that out....MJ come on!) The City Concil made it worse with spilling the nogotiations out to the public...The arena is in the 2010 plan, which means you were gonna build it anyway.....build it now, and it would be alot cheaper. Regaurdless of what the fans think, Charlotte lost a good team, they contantly made the playoffs....And if you ask me that's want you want on the floor...Hey, Chicago HATES Jerry Krause, and current ownership, but they still drew a larger crowd than the Hornets.....and Chicago has SUCKED the last 4 years!

I just think the fans are not gonna flock into the new staduim when the new team starts......Althought they have some great canidates for owners.

 

Remember also, Packman's sole NBA source (an owner he never identified) said that the team wasn't going anywhere . . . . Oh well . . . Pack [adlib]: 'The league can't force Shinnridge to sell the team, but they can make them stay' . . . Oh well again . .

I think deep down, Pack could care less about the NBA. You never heard of him going out to games (even if he didn't want to pay for front row seats, he could've taken the family out by getting one of those Hornets family packs which was a good deal). Only game he was there in the final year was the night for the late WHINER LINE caller, INDIANA JONES JR. (Jeff Gray's family was honored). Instead of pimping one game, he could've said 'Hey folks, lets show the NBA we still care about the Hornets . . I wan't you to go to as many games as possible this season . . . sign petitions, bring signs to the game, write/e-mail David Stern, etc.' But no, we were teazed by Bruton Smith's bogus quest to bring the Magic to town and continally told that the Hornets were going to stay in CLT (notice he hasn't stepped up to the plate to be a potential owner of an Expansion team here . . . why doesn't Packman bust Bruton's balls about this . . . ).

 

I see it like this:

Shinn pretty much said what it would take to keep him here and the city tried to strong arm him. they figured he wouldn't be allowed to move or wouldn't find another city that'd do what he wanted. it backfired and he found one.

The memphis thing two years ago, I think, was a move to show that he was serious. He applied to move to memphis after the grizz did the same thing. Obviously he wasn't gonna be able to actually move, but he was able to show his intent.

We'll see how a new team fares. I'm sure it'll be standard expansion rules -- no top 3 draft pick for like 3 years. Good luck.

 

not totally true in a perspective standpoint- shinn applied for relocation in april of 2001, just 2 months before the referendum- that was the final nail in the coffin for the referendum.. tell me, who in their right minds would play that card before the vote?? shinnridge seemed to not give a fuck about staying in charlotte b/c they knew NOLA was willing to give 'em the house. it was all a smokescreen, ej.

the 2001 playoffs we averaged 20,000 fans (drew 22,386, 17,300, 18,500 and 24,000 respectively)- thats pretty damn good fan support considering the relocation saga- plus, those were damn loud crowds.

paul- i agree with what your saying about the expansion team advantages that MUST be provided to ensure the viability of the team being a hot commodity in the area. Just remember, steve belkin/larry bird have already openly stated that in today's NBA and today's market, the initial success and "hope" that an expansion team has is ABSOLUTELY crucial for success- otherwise, their is no point. Belkin has been boisterous about this issue, stating that he expects to get many more concessions in a FA/expansion draft/draft pick sense- otherwise, he thinks that the expansion team will fail. So, i have a strong feeling that the NBA will agree to some concessions for us- otherwise, belkin wont be involved.