Mike Monroe's NBA Beat: Hornets have hope

Web Posted: 11/10/2007 08:19 PM CST

Mike Monroe
San Antonio Express-News

NEW ORLEANS — Gregg Popovich is a man who appreciates a great claret and a dish like duck confit with truffle oil and baby arugula, which graces the menu at Emeril Lagasse's NOLA restaurant here.
Ask him where he stands on the future of the NBA in New Orleans, and the Spurs' head coach does not mince words.

"We all hope they make it here," Popovich said after the Spurs' shootaround at New Orleans Arena on Friday morning. "It gets old having teams in cities and they move. It makes you feel a little unstable in certain ways. It's not your team, but you get used to going to cities and playing in certain places and all of a sudden it changes. You just don't like that kind of instability, especially when it's a great city like this."

All of us who travel the league with any regularity are with you, Pop.

No American city knows instability quite like post-Katrina New Orleans. Devastated by the deadly hurricane that made landfall on the Gulf coast on Aug. 29, 2005, New Orleans remains a city in recovery.

But there are signs of hope, for the city and the Hornets.

According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, the population of Orleans Parish in September had reached 70 percent of the pre-Katrina population. The data comes from the U.S. Postal Service, which counts the number of households receiving mail. The number of households in the six-parish (county) metropolitan area reached 86 percent of pre-Katrina levels in September, according to the center.

Of equal, perhaps greater, importance to the Hornets' business operations staff is the relative affluence of that 86 percent. According to a senior member of the Hornets' business staff, the per-capita household income in the New Orleans metropolitan area is up by an average of $11,000 from mid-summer 2005.

This is significant for a pro sports team, even one that has the NBA's lowest average ticket price ($24.58).

George Shinn, the Hornets' owner, relocated the team to Oklahoma City for the two seasons that followed Katrina. The Hornets played a handful of games in New Orleans those seasons and NBA commissioner David Stern made sure New Orleans was awarded the 2008 All-Star Game. That decision forced Shinn's hand when it came to where he would base the Hornets in 2007-08.

Shinn says he committed to returning to New Orleans because it was the right thing to do. A self-described man of faith, he says he and his wife prayed about the decision.

"I look at it as somewhat of a calling," he said. "The city needs us. They're down. They're struggling, and we don't want to add to the struggles."

Shinn's commitment to New Orleans required such divine guidance. On Friday night he admitted that he wasn't nearly as committed to the city in 2003 as he is now. Then his former partner, Ray Wooldridge, pushed the hard choice to go to the Big Easy.

In hindsight, Shinn acknowledges he wasn't sold on New Orleans then.

He swears he is now, up to a point.

I asked him if he feels better about the team's chances than he was in the days before Katrina struck in 2005.

"Absolutely," he said. "I had a partner that was just -bent on coming here, so we ended up here. I wasn't so sure those first years, but now I think the market is better."

Maybe so, but the Hornets have a lot to show the league and their owner before they find stability. The club has yet to sell out this season. On opening night the Hornets lured only 15,188 to an arena that seats 17,956. Shinn blamed it on Halloween. Next to Mardi Gras, he said, Halloween is always the city's biggest occasion.

Only 9,817 turned out for the second home game. Considering how well the Hornets had played in an opening-night victory, that was a major disappointment. The goblins that night, Hornets marketers whined, were prep footballers. Too many high school games competed for the sports dollar.

Worse yet, when the defending champion Spurs landed Thursday night, there were still more than 4,000 unsold seats for Friday's game. Final figure for Friday night: 15,297, still far shy of a full house.

Shinn reminds us that in the first 11 years the Hornets were in Charlotte, they led the league in attendance 10 times.

"So we know what we're doing," Shinn insisted, "and when we went to Oklahoma we were very successful. I think if anybody can make it work here, we can, and we think we're going to get it done."

It's that little qualifier — if — that is the problem.

If the Hornets win this season, Shinn's marketers will have an easier sell. If they avoid the sort of injuries that befell them last season, the playoffs are possible. If they make the postseason, the 2008-09 season ticket drive will get a kick start.

That's a lot of ifs.

Popovich has no qualification in stating his opinion of New Orleans' culinary delights, if not its viability as a pro sports town.

"You don't dine much on Bourbon Street," Popovich said, "but there are some great restaurants here. It's definitely in the top five in the league."

Sacramento losing its home-court edge

I was in Sacramento for the first game played in old Arco Arena, the building that housed the Kings for their first three seasons.

A former employer had sent me there to do a story on how unlikely it seemed that an NBA team had landed in a place like Sacramento, which never had seemed like a major league sports city to anyone before the former Kings' owners relocated there.

The most lasting impressions of that 1985 visit: the unbelievable enthusiasm of Kings fans and the fins on the 1957 Plymouth Fury driven by the Sacramento Bee's 20-something beat writer, Scott Price.

Price, now turning out elegant prose for Sports Illustrated, still has the Fury.

The Kings' fans have lost their enthusiasm.

Not only did the NBA's longest active sellout streak end Tuesday when the Kings set a home-opener low attendance at Arco, the club had the worst attendance for any of the NBA's 30 home openers this season.

Team officials told the Bee they don't expect sagging sales to improve for a while. Indeed, even the arrival of LeBron James and the Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers was not enough to attract a sellout. Attendance for that game at 17,317-seat Arco was just 15,293.

The Bee reports that some local ticket brokers have stopped dealing in Kings tickets because they can't get close to face value for them.

The announced attendance of 14,908 at the home opener ended the Kings' streak of 354-straight sellouts dating back to Nov. 26, 1999. Some of my pals in the media in Sacramento tell me the streak ended long ago. Only the fact the league allows attendance to be based on tickets sold and distributed (think freebies) kept the streak going.

Reporting on the end of the streak, the Bee quoted an original season-ticket holder who finally gave up his seats this season.

"It was too hard to get rid of tickets last year and I didn't think I could give them away this year," Bob Logan told the Bee. "It's a nice feeling not to think I have to pay $100 to sit and watch a horrible game."

The Kings have made a lot of mistakes in recent years, including the firing of Rick Adelman. The owners, brothers Gavin and Joe Maloof, replaced him with Eric Musselman, whose first move of note after getting the job was to get a DUI in downtown Sacramento.

The most cynical of critics believe the Maloofs are willing to endure some horrid results on the court that lead to poor attendance so they can rationalize skipping town. I think the Maloofs have too much pride in product to accept such a scenario, even if it were to lead them to a more lucrative market.

Ultimately, what is happening in Sacramento is a reminder to every franchise never to take market success for granted.

Power rankings

The NBA according to Mike Monroe through Friday's games with last week's ranking in parentheses.

1. Spurs (1)

Winless in Texas, undefeated in Rest of League

2. Pistons (2)

Upset! Upset! Rasheed has yet to get a technical.

3. Celtics (4)

Lone remaining undefeated team behind Tremendous Trio

4. Mavericks (5)

Revenge, even for one night, is sweet: Cubes bests Nellie.

5. Rockets (3)

Yi Ha! 250 million viewers watch Yao outduel Yi.

6. Clippers (12)

No Elton Brand? No problem. Shorn Kaman playing like All-Star

7. Magic (19)

Can Otis Smith lure C. Webb with $2.6 mil injury exception?

8. Suns (6)

Stoudemire's aching knee has to be a major worry.

9. Nets (22)

Jefferson wants to prove he's totally back from injury.

10. Jazz (11)

Surprise surprise: Sloan not happy with their defensive effort

11. Nuggets (7)

12. Cavaliers (9)

13. Hornets (10)

14. Pacers (14)

15. Lakers (18)

16. Raptors (8)

17. Hawks (20)

18. Knicks (24)

19. Bucks (29)

20. Bulls (13)

21. Trail Blazers (27)

22. Grizzlies (16)

23. 76ers (25)

24. Heat (17)

25. Wizards (15)

26. Warriors (21)

27. Bobcats (23)

28. SuperSonics (28)

29. Kings (30)

30. Timberwolves (26)

Fave Five: Shaquille O'Neal

Heat center Shaquille O'Neal insists that when his playing days are over — and some would suggest that will be sooner rather than later for a 35-year-old who has battled in the pivot for 15 seasons — he will begin a career in law enforcement.

O'Neal was a reserve police officer in Los Angeles before being traded to the Miami Heat in 2004. He went through a year of training with the Miami Beach Police Dept. after the trade. Sworn in as a reserve officer with the Miami Beach Police on Dec. 10, 2005, he receives an annual salary of $1. He is authorized to carry a gun, wear a badge and make arrests.

Naturally, O'Neal is a longtime fan of fictional cops. Here are his five favorites:

1. Harry Callahan: The San Francisco cop that became Clint Eastwood's signature film portrayal topped O'Neal's list. Every time you see a smaller center bracing to body up on O'Neal as the big center readies a move to the basket, imagine O'Neal mouthing the famous Dirty Harry line: "You've got to ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?'"

2. Dexter Morgan: The le character of a new series on the Showtime cable network, Morgan is a serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Dept. as a blood spatter analyst. Eek!

3. Jack Caine: Dolph Lundgren portrayed this Houston policeman in a future-based film en led "I Come in Peace" that has become a bit of a cult classic.

4. Lt. Marion Cobretti: You may know this Sylvester Stallone character better by his nickname, "Cobra," also the le of the film.

5. Jeff Powers: Lou Diamond Philips portrayed LAPD cop Powers in "Extreme Justice." Filmed just before the Rodney King incident, the movie is described as "a violent tale of police procedures gone bonkers."

Notebook

Tyson Tech

Could it be that Detroit's Rasheed Wallace won't lead the league in technical fouls for the first time in four seasons?

Heading into Saturday, Wallace had yet to get his first technical foul of the season.

Meanwhile, New Orleans center Tyson Chandler already had racked up three.

Hornets coach Byron Scott sounded a lot like Pistons coach Flip Saunders in his defense of Chandler's emotional play.

"I don't want to subdue the guy and put him on tranquilizers, or whatever," Scott said. "I want him to be him, but I want him to keep it a little bit under control.

"I love the way Tyson plays. I love the fact he's an emotional player, just like Rasheed Wallace. And I'm not saying he's Rasheed Wallace. He won't lead the league in techs. But I love his enthusiasm and passion for the game."

Like Larry

Ray Allen has a routine Celtics fans should find encouraging. He gets to the gym about three hours before tipoff to put up hundreds of shots in solitude.

Asked if he was aware that Larry Bird was the last person in those parts to carry out such a consistent plan, Allen told the Boston Herald: "I'm not, but that's good company. He shot the ball the way he did for a reason — to be a great shooter, to be one of the best.

"... You know, he was one of the hardest workers and he worked tirelessly. He had his own style where he worked so hard that when the games came he was only doing what he did over and over again."

Allen said he usually gets up about 250 shots.

How many does he typically make? "Probably about 247," he said. "Those three I missed were when the cheerleaders walked out."

Truckin'

Former Spurs reserve guard Jason Hart caught on with the Jazz as Deron Williams' backup. Things haven't worked out too well just yet. He made only two of his first 15 shots and his brand-new Cadillac Escalade took a shot in the player parking lot.

The same day Hart made a mental error late in the first half against the Cavs that got him benched for the rest of the game, the Escalade was rammed by a delivery truck in the EnergySolutions parking lot during the Jazz's morning shootaround. No one was injured in the accident, which occurred when the truck came down a ramp into the congested close-in parking area. The truck failed to squeeze through an opening between a cement guardrail and Hart's vehicle, which was parked at the bottom of the ramp.

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