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NBA Beat: Will Hornets say bye bye to Bayou?
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, December 24, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4
Meanwhile, in non-Denver news ...
Far from the Nuggets-New York rumble at Madison Square Garden and the Nuggets-Philadelphia trade monopolizing the spotlight the last eight days, New Orleans went back to trying to hold on to its NBA franchise. It's not just the rest of the league that seemed too preoccupied to notice.
The Hornets, among the many displaced by Hurricane Katrina, had games in their actual home Dec. 14 and 16 and drew 15,140 and 16,331 in a building that seats 18,208. Then they went back to being based in Oklahoma City as the powers insisted the permanent move to New Orleans was still on for next season.
But no one is promising anything beyond that. Commissioner David Stern, in a blunt assessment amid the optimism of being a symbol of the rebuilding in the Gulf Coast, again committed the league and the team to returning to Louisiana for 2007-08. He also admitted questions remained about the long-term viability of the NBA in the Big Easy.
Team executives privately have said the same thing all along, doubting the economic strength of the city even before Katrina turned the region into a human and financial crisis. Even as the Saints have become the darlings again, questions remain about the ability of the city's corporate base to support the team. The burdened place's ability to hold up two franchises likewise is a concern.
The NBA, doing everything possible to stoke interest in the Hornets, scheduled them for six games in New Orleans, mostly against marquee teams: Houston on Nov. 5 as the home opener, San Antonio on Dec. 14, Dallas on Dec. 16, the Kings on Jan. 26, Seattle on Feb. 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers on March 23. The league even got broadcast partner TNT to move its studio show to town for the Mavericks game.
Their final answer
Allen Iverson isn't the only potential problem. The Nuggets just made their big move, sending Andre Miller and two first-round picks to Philadelphia, plus seldom-used Joe Smith for salary cap maneuverability, and it doesn't push them into the Western Conference elite.
It's still a Phoenix-Dallas-San Antonio-Utah world, just like before. In Denver, Kenyon Martin is done for the season after knee surgery, Nene is laboring to get back from his own knee operation, and Carmelo Anthony will be serving his 15-game suspension for brawling with the Knicks until late January, or longer if the Rocky Mountains keep getting record blizzards. Until then, it's Iverson and Marcus Camby against the world.
The Nuggets aren't even scheduled to get J.R. Smith, who was suspended for 10 games in the New York fight, until Jan. 10. Anthony is due back Jan. 22, and only then will the uncertainties of an offense with two major scorers be addressed. Just in time for Denver to play 10 of its next 16 on the road.
The revenge factor
George Karl can insist all he wants that he wasn't running up the score on the Knicks last weekend, leading to the hard feelings that sparked the fight at Madison Square Garden, but no one can avoid the coincidence.
Firing Larry Brown as coach is one thing and getting away from him quite another in New York, where Isiah Thomas had two conflicts with Brown loyalists before the season was a quarter old. Thomas, the team president who sparred with Brown and replaced him, already had a shouting match with San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, one of Brown's closest friends, during a Nov. 11 game. Karl, a member of Dean Smith's North Carolina family with Brown, came next.
Brown, meanwhile, has moved from Connecticut back to the Philadelphia area and appears on the verge of rejoining the 76ers, this time in the front office. He had been an unofficial adviser to another confidant, Billy King, during the weeks of trying to trade Iverson, a fact that became public late in the process and somehow didn't raise the topic of why King could be a personnel boss and not trust his own instincts on deals.
Still the big Mac
For all the re-positioning that puts Yao Ming ahead of Tracy McGrady as Houston's star, understandable given Yao's development the last two seasons, Houston was 90-55 with McGrady in the lineup entering Saturday and 11-34 with him out.
The Rockets were 2-4 during the most recent void, with McGrady sidelined by back spasms, even though Yao scored at least 30 points four times.
Vinsanity
Two years after being traded by the Raptors, Vince Carter still gets booed on his returns to Toronto, though he also usually has a response.
Carter averaged 33.7 points in his first three regular-season games there as a New Jersey Net, before missing 13 of 17 shots and scoring a season-low 12 points Dec. 15 at Air Canada Center. Every miss was cheered.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at (916) 321-1210 or showard- cooper@sacbee.com.
NBA Beat: Will Hornets say bye bye to Bayou?
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, December 24, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4
Meanwhile, in non-Denver news ...
Far from the Nuggets-New York rumble at Madison Square Garden and the Nuggets-Philadelphia trade monopolizing the spotlight the last eight days, New Orleans went back to trying to hold on to its NBA franchise. It's not just the rest of the league that seemed too preoccupied to notice.
The Hornets, among the many displaced by Hurricane Katrina, had games in their actual home Dec. 14 and 16 and drew 15,140 and 16,331 in a building that seats 18,208. Then they went back to being based in Oklahoma City as the powers insisted the permanent move to New Orleans was still on for next season.
But no one is promising anything beyond that. Commissioner David Stern, in a blunt assessment amid the optimism of being a symbol of the rebuilding in the Gulf Coast, again committed the league and the team to returning to Louisiana for 2007-08. He also admitted questions remained about the long-term viability of the NBA in the Big Easy.
Team executives privately have said the same thing all along, doubting the economic strength of the city even before Katrina turned the region into a human and financial crisis. Even as the Saints have become the darlings again, questions remain about the ability of the city's corporate base to support the team. The burdened place's ability to hold up two franchises likewise is a concern.
The NBA, doing everything possible to stoke interest in the Hornets, scheduled them for six games in New Orleans, mostly against marquee teams: Houston on Nov. 5 as the home opener, San Antonio on Dec. 14, Dallas on Dec. 16, the Kings on Jan. 26, Seattle on Feb. 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers on March 23. The league even got broadcast partner TNT to move its studio show to town for the Mavericks game.
Their final answer
Allen Iverson isn't the only potential problem. The Nuggets just made their big move, sending Andre Miller and two first-round picks to Philadelphia, plus seldom-used Joe Smith for salary cap maneuverability, and it doesn't push them into the Western Conference elite.
It's still a Phoenix-Dallas-San Antonio-Utah world, just like before. In Denver, Kenyon Martin is done for the season after knee surgery, Nene is laboring to get back from his own knee operation, and Carmelo Anthony will be serving his 15-game suspension for brawling with the Knicks until late January, or longer if the Rocky Mountains keep getting record blizzards. Until then, it's Iverson and Marcus Camby against the world.
The Nuggets aren't even scheduled to get J.R. Smith, who was suspended for 10 games in the New York fight, until Jan. 10. Anthony is due back Jan. 22, and only then will the uncertainties of an offense with two major scorers be addressed. Just in time for Denver to play 10 of its next 16 on the road.
The revenge factor
George Karl can insist all he wants that he wasn't running up the score on the Knicks last weekend, leading to the hard feelings that sparked the fight at Madison Square Garden, but no one can avoid the coincidence.
Firing Larry Brown as coach is one thing and getting away from him quite another in New York, where Isiah Thomas had two conflicts with Brown loyalists before the season was a quarter old. Thomas, the team president who sparred with Brown and replaced him, already had a shouting match with San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, one of Brown's closest friends, during a Nov. 11 game. Karl, a member of Dean Smith's North Carolina family with Brown, came next.
Brown, meanwhile, has moved from Connecticut back to the Philadelphia area and appears on the verge of rejoining the 76ers, this time in the front office. He had been an unofficial adviser to another confidant, Billy King, during the weeks of trying to trade Iverson, a fact that became public late in the process and somehow didn't raise the topic of why King could be a personnel boss and not trust his own instincts on deals.
Still the big Mac
For all the re-positioning that puts Yao Ming ahead of Tracy McGrady as Houston's star, understandable given Yao's development the last two seasons, Houston was 90-55 with McGrady in the lineup entering Saturday and 11-34 with him out.
The Rockets were 2-4 during the most recent void, with McGrady sidelined by back spasms, even though Yao scored at least 30 points four times.
Vinsanity
Two years after being traded by the Raptors, Vince Carter still gets booed on his returns to Toronto, though he also usually has a response.
Carter averaged 33.7 points in his first three regular-season games there as a New Jersey Net, before missing 13 of 17 shots and scoring a season-low 12 points Dec. 15 at Air Canada Center. Every miss was cheered.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at (916) 321-1210 or showard- cooper@sacbee.com.
