THE
CHARGER
The current Charlotte Hornets have never won a playoff series in the its history, and even worse no other NBA franchise has accomplished this dubious feat. While the Hornets aren’t as bad as they were in the past, they still aren’t good enough to consistently make the playoffs, and are mired in mediocrity. In the NBA, a mediocre season would be winning around half of the 82 games, so around 41 wins. In the past 4 years the Hornets have averaged 39 wins, a thoroughly average amount, which has usually resulted in them receiving around the ninth or tenth draft pick.
The Hornets' mediocrity is a significant problem to both the team's fan support and future success. In the NBA, teams typically want to be good, winning at least 45-50 games. If they aren’t, they would prefer to be very bad, winning at most 15-20 games. This is because if a team is good they have a shot at a title, the ultimate goal of every franchise. On the other hand, if a team has a poor record, they typically receive one of the top picks in the next draft.
To increase the likelihood of obtaining these high draft picks, where the next potential superstars of the NBA are typically selected, teams use a strategy called tanking. Tanking is when a team intentionally makes their team worse, either by benching or trading good players, in an effort to lose more games. An example of this is the Philadelphia 76ers. Starting in 2014, the 76ers traded their best players for draft picks, and started their young inexperienced players. By weakening itself in this way, the team won fewer than 20 games for three consecutive years. This poor record earned the organization two third overall picks in the 2014 and 15 draft and two first overall picks in the 2016 and 2017 drafts. These resulted in NBA stars Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and rookie Markelle Fultz, and now four years after the 76ers started tanking, they’re the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Instead for the Hornets, they’re stuck in a perpetual cycle of being a run-of-the mill franchise, they aren’t good enough to contend for a title and aren’t bad enough to have the chance to select a potential superstar.
The Charlotte Hornets are in a precarious place. They face a lot of problems: the current roster has underperformed, fans are losing interest, the team selects terrible draft picks, doesn’t have a history of success, and worst of all are somewhat of a joke to a majority of NBA fans. These problems bring up a serious question: will the Hornet's future be in Charlotte or elsewhere?
Because of the team's long history of ineptitude, the Hornets are considered a joke by NBA fans. There are countless NBA memes about the Hornets, mocking the team and its owner, Michael Jordan. These memes only make local fans feel less positive about their team, and result in them often taking the Hornets less seriously. This negativity carries over to fan attendance, where the Hornets ranked 25th in the NBA last year. At many homes games, there are more fans for the opposing team than for the Hornets. Hornets' fans painfully notice this; for example, in an interview with a local Hornets fan, Alex Sandoval, said: “It’s annoying going to games and seeing the other team have more fans.” Alex’s experience is an example of the negativity Hornets fans experience, even at their teams home games fans can be demoralized.
Besides having a terrible history in regards to winning, the Hornets also have a terrible history in regards to scouting and drafting talented players. If you include the 2004 expansion draft, when the Bobcats, now Hornets, started drafting, they’ve drafted only two all-star players,Gerald Wallace in 2004 and Kemba Walker in 2011. However, the franchise has drafted many NBA washouts, such as Sean May in 2005 and Adam Morrison in 2006. Both of those players are no longer even in the NBA.
This historically poor drafting performance makes fans skeptical about any players the Hornets select in the draft. Even when Kemba Walker, by far the Hornets best player, was drafted in 2011 many Hornets fans were skeptical about if he was a good draft pick. A far more extreme example is in 2013, when the Hornets selected Cody Zeller 4th overall. Fans watching the draft at Hornets arena booed loudly, believing drafting Zeller was a colossal mistake. Sadly, the fans may have been right, as Zeller, a role player, was picked before NBA stars Giannis Antetokounmpo, C.J Mccollum, and Rudy Gobert. Fairly or unfairly, fans of the Hornets are skeptical of the team, not believing in the team sustaining any consistent success, on and off the court.
The Hornets are still loved by many in Charlotte; the Hornets have seen incremental increases in ticket and merchandise sales. However, with many areas throughout the country without a basketball that could potentially offer much greater support, such as Seattle, Washington, there is a very real chance the Hornets will leave. This isn’t just something fans in Charlotte are aware of, various NBA writers have written about the possibility of a relocation. Dime Magazine, an extremely popular site for NBA fans, concluded, “Staying the course in Charlotte, while not entirely popular nationally, makes the most sense for everyone involved. The truth is, if the Hornets decided to tank, by the time the fans came back around to see the fruits of the tanking, they’ll be watching it on cable — because the franchise will be in Seattle.” Ultimately, the Hornets success in the next two to three years and the impact of the All-star Game will determine if the Hornets will continue to reside in Charlotte. If the Hornets decide to tank, in 5-10 years they may be competing for a title, but it likely wouldn’t be in Charlotte.
While the Hornets' future looks bleak, the team has one thing that could revitalize the local fanbase; the All-Star Game. An All-Star Game could bring around 45 million dollars of revenue to the state, a figure based on the estimated amount of revenue the 2018 Game brought to New Orleans. While beneficial, the prep for the all-star game is challenging, expensive, and will strain Charlotte’s infrastructure and hotels. However, this may be worth it as the game could introduce more Charlotteans to the game of basketball. For example, when asked about the All-Star Game, Malachi Daniel replied, “ It’d be cool. I don’t watch much basketball but it’d be hype, and I’d try and go watch with some friends.” The all-star game is potentially the Hornet's last chance to gain more local support, but if it fails, it’d leave the franchise in a position where they may have to leave.
Does the Hornets’ Future Involve Charlotte?
by Ayodele Cole
Charlotte Hornets 1. 23 December, 2013 Image Courtesy of Tipton, Michael. CC BY-SA 2.0
Hornets owner Michael Jordan is mocked in this popular meme. Image courtesy of Hawk, T.J. CC BY-SA 2.0. 11 February, 2016
The result of these picks are NBA stars Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz, and now four years after the 76ers started tanking, they’re the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Joel Embiid (L) and Ben Simmons (R) are two recent draft picks that have had a huge influence in turning the 76ers into a playoff team. Image courtesy of Keith, Allison. CC BY-SA 2.0. Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons. 25 February, 2018
These memes only make local fans feel less positive about their team, and result in them often taking the Hornets less seriously Hornets less seriously.