Charlotte Hornets franchise has been around for 30 years, but it hasn’t experienced
any success.
Exactly 20 years ago was the last time this franchise won at least 50 regular season games
and currently the team also owns the title of the worst season in NBA history by winning
percentage with only 7 wins in 66 games in the lockout shortened 2011-2012 season.
But the history isn’t all bad.
The franchise has made the playoffs 10 times and the greatest player of all time is now
the owner of the franchise.
I know.
I’m pushing..
Hello everyone.
Hope you are doing better than my sick self and today I want to tell you the full history
of the Charlotte Hornets franchise.
It all started in 1985, when the NBA announced that it plans to expand the league by three
teams.
One of the possible expansion teams was Charlotte.
An entrepreneur George Shinn wanted to have an NBA team in Charlotte area
and one of the biggest reasons for having a team in Charlotte was the Charlotte Coliseum
which could fit 24 000 spectators.- the largest arena for an NBA team.
On April 5, 1987 David Stern called Shinn to tell that Charlotte will participate in
the upcoming 1988-89 NBA season.
The planning process started.
The team was supposed to be named Charlotte Spirit, but after a “name the team” contest
it was called the Charlotte Hornets.
The team chose teal as its primary color and had pin stripes on uniform which at that time
was something new.
One thing wasn’t right from the start though.
Instead of investing into young players, team owner decided to go the other route, by acquiring
veterans, to make the team competitive from day one.
The 1988-89 season was a failure.
Only 20 wins and 62 losses.
The best players on the team were veterans - Kelly Tripucka, Kurt Rambis and Rex Chapman.
Next season, was even worse.
Charlotte managed to win only 19 games, but nevermind the worse record, there were some
positives.
Youngsters - both 25 at the time - Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry started to play more
and produce more.
Curry was averaging cool 16 ppg as a bench player and Muggsy Bogues was averaging almost
11 assists per game as a super undersized point guard.
In 1990-1991 season , the team saw a minor improvement by winning 26 games, but the best
decision came in the 1991 NBA draft, when Charlotte Hornets drafted power forward Larry
Johnson with the 1st pick of that draft class.
For the next 5 years Johnson would become the cornerstone of the Charlotte Hornets franchise.
With Larry Johnson averaging a double-double Charlotte Hornets were better, but not quite
a playoff team yet.
31 wins on the season - best season to date, but no playoffs.
But then, they once again nailed the draft as with the second overall pick they took
Alonzo Mourning.
Charlotte now had an all-star front-court, an undersized, but very good passer in Muggsy
Bogues, a up and coming shooting guard in Kendall Gill and a 6th man of the year candidate
in Dell Curry.
The team finally looked like a good team and the most important thing was that each of
the core players was young.
1992-93 season was the first season the Charlotte Hornets franchise made the playoffs.
They had their best regular season with 44 wins and even made all the way to the conference
semifinals where they lost to the New York Knicks.
Next season, Charlotte was battling with injuries to their top stars in Mourning and Johnson.
Subsequently, they won 41 games on the season and narrowly missed the playoffs.
Charlotte Bounced back in a big way for the 1994-95 season as they won 50 games in the
regular season, but failed in the playoffs, losing in the first round to the Chicago Bulls
in 4 games.
After the season Charlotte shocked the basketball world by trading their best player and franchise
face Alonzo Mourning to the Miami Heat for Glen Rice , Matt Geiger and Khalid Reeves.
Surprises continued at the beginning of the 1995-96 season as well.
One of the most popular players Muggsy Bogues got injured just 6 games into the season.
And before the trade deadline, the recently acquired Khalid Reeves and Kendall Gill were
traded for an all-star guard Kenny Anderson.
While all acquired players made contributions, the overhauling of the team left its mark.
They won only 41 games and missed the playoffs once again.
Kenny Anderson declined the extension and Charlotte was about to start everything over
again.
They traded away their star in Larry Johnson for power forward Anthony Mason.
That worked out.
They also acquired Vlade Divac from the Los Angeles Lakers for the rights to rookie Kobe
Bryant.
That obviously didn’t work out
as Kobe went on to become one of the greatest players in NBA history while Vlade Divac was
just a solid piece.
But nevermind the Kobe fail, Charlotte did have its best season as a franchise.
They won 54 regular season games.
Anthony Mason turned out to be a great addition.
Glen Rice was scoring almost 27 points per game.
Vlade Divac was solid with 12 and 9.
Muggsy was healthy and Dell Curry still was scoring off the bench.
Once again though.
Hornets failed in the playoffs.
A first round loss in 3 games against the New York Knicks.
1997-98 season started with a bang as Hornets traded one of their original faces of the
team - Muggsy Bogues just two games into season.
In exchange they got point-guard David Wesley and Bobby Phills.
With the new starting lineup and some great play from Glen Rice and Anthony Mason Charlotte
Hornets won 51 games making back to back trips to post-season.
This time, they went as far as the second round of the playoffs where they lost to the
Chicago Bulls.
In a lockout shortened 50 games 1998-99 season Hornets traded their star Glen Rice to the
Lakers and managed to win 26 games, but failed to make the playoffs.
For the next 3 years Hornets would make the playoffs, but get eliminated in the first
or second round and because of the low attendance numbers it was decided to move the team to
New Orleans.
The part of the deal though was that Charlotte would get a new team - 2 years later.
For the next few years in New Orleans, the new team would make the playoffs, but get
eliminated rather quickly in the first or the second round
As promised, Charlotte got back their team in 2004.
The new team would be named Charlotte Bobcats and in the 2004 expansion draft, Charlotte
selected Gerald Wallace, Primoz Brezec and Jason Kapono.
With the acquired 2nd pick of the 2004 NBA draft, Charlotte selected Emeka Okafor.
The new team, was ready.
Well, at least on paper.
The season turned out to be the worst in franchise history with only 18 wins in 82 games.
All Charlotte had was some solid players, but no superstars.
Emeka Okafor however, won the rookie of the year award averaging 15 and 10.
In the 2005 draft, the Bobcats chose Raymond Felton and Sean May, the team improved just
slightly and finished the season with 26 wins.
After the season, Charlotte got some media attention when one of the greatest basketball
players ever - Michael Jordan bought a minority stake of the team.
The greatest player ever couldn’t deliver the success to the team and even acquiring
Larry Brown as the head coach didn’t help.
For the next 3 years the team would see only minor improvements, but mostly it was stagnancy
and missing the playoffs.
The best the team could achieve was 35 wins in 2008-2009 season and that was it.
During the 2009-2010 season Jordan became the first former NBA player to own the majority
of a franchise.
The move maybe somewhat encouraged Charlottes players and the team got to the playoffs again
by winning 44 games in the regular season.
It was a short trip though.
A loss in the first round.
Next 3 seasons were a wash.
After a bad start to the 2010-2011 season head coach Larry Brown was fired.
Paul Sillas didn’t do much better and the season ended with 34 wins.
Then came the worst season in NBA history, where the Charlotte Bobcats won only 7 games
and up to this day hold the worst regular season winning percentage in NBA history.
And the 2012-2013 season wasn’t much better with only 21 wins.
Once again Charlotte was changing head coaches and this time, it was Steve Clifford who got
the gig.
The move proved to be a good one as Charlotte made the playoffs with 43 wins, but the most
of the success definitely was because of the better talent.
Kemba Walker, Al Jefferson, Gerald Henderson and Michael Kidd Gilchrist.
No superstars, but definitely better than what they had before.
The playoffs were once again short.
A loss in the first round.
But, some changes were coming.
Before the 2013-2014 season Jordan submitted a request to rename the team back to Charlotte
Hornets and the move was approved.
For the next 4 years, back as the Charlotte Hornets the team would be a borderline playoff
team, but nothing more.
Only 1 playoff appearance in 4 years and no draft gems.
This year, Charlotte Hornets are actually playing good, and one of their stars is playing
great.
Yes, I’m talking about Kemba Walker who has been a fabulous player this season.
But let’s also remember that he is a free agent after this season so what happens if
he leaves?
Michael Jordan hasn’t converted his greatness as a basketball player into a great manager
and owner.
Yet.
Charlotte Hornets have some good pieces, but when will we see some real improvements?
In my opinion - Kemba has to stay.
Right now he’s the only marketable star in Charlotte.
They also need to draft better.
Besides the Kemba Walker pick in 2011 they have nothing to show for their draft success.
The Charlotte Hornets franchise currently has the fifth worst all-time record in NBA
History.
With 988 wins and 1260 losses, the Charlotte Hornets have only a 44% winning percentage.
Can it get better?
Can Michael Jordan bring success to Charlotte?
I think there are positive signs.
Bringing in an experienced basketball mind in Mitch Kupchak helps.
You have a possible superstar on your team in Kemba Walker.
All you have to do is draft better and win more.
Hah.
Sounds easy.
What do you think guys?
Can Charlotte Hornets finally be better than a middle of the pack team.
What will it take for the franchise to finally achieve something greater than first round
playoff exits?
Leave a comment below, like this video and SUBSCRIBE for future NBA content.
Thanks for watching.
This was PRPLPRNCH and I’m out!