Hornets Don't Take Long To Sting Opponents
The Charlotte Hornets joined the NBA in
time for the1988-89 season, as the league
added four new teams in a two-year stretch.
The club suffered through the usual expansion-team
doldrums for a few years but then built
a solid roster thanks to productive draft
picks. Within a relatively short period
the Hornets assembled a star-quality nucleus
of forward Larry Johnson and center Alonzo
Mourning, who led the team to the playoffs
in only its fifth year. By the 1996-97
season both Johnson and Mourning had been
traded, but Charlotte still looked to
be a team on the way up, and the Hornets
responded by winning 54 games in 1996-97
and 51 this past season.
Many doubted the Charlotte community's
ability and willingness to support a professional
basketball team. For one thing, it was
a small city (although the area did have
a sizable market within a few hours' drive).
And North Carolina was college basketball
country, where the fans' ardor for the
amateur game had never translated into
a similar affection for the NBA. Buy
New Orleans Hornets Tickets.
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