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Published Monday, May 12, 2008 in Sports

The ‘boys’ at NBA marketing at it again with Hornets

For years there has been one department in a conglomerate known as a professional sports league that has gotten under my skin on more than one occasion and they are doing it again.

This year, another player and his team are the new toy for “the boys” in the marketing department for the NBA and I need for them to be eliminated from the playoffs.

They are the Charlotte/Oklahoma City/New Orleans Hornets and their star player is Chris Paul who wears the moniker “CP3” which sounds more like the hot new hip-hop act than a basketball player.

From the moment the Charlotte Hornets took the court against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the “new” old Charlotte Coliseum in November 1988 (Cavs won by 35), the NBA has tried to make the Hornets into a glamour franchise similar to the Celtics, Lakers and the like.

After years of sellouts and reasonably competitive clubs with players like Alonzo Mourning and Larry “Grandmama” Johnson” the attempt at glamour faded on the Charlotte Hornets and owner George Shinn wanted the city to build a new arena and they were not fond of that idea since the Coliseum was less than 15 years old.

So Shinn moved from his playpen on Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte to another on Poydras Street in the Central Business DIstrict of New Orleans.

Outside of Paul, Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic, I couldn’t tell you who else fills the roster but that hasn’t stopped the “boys” from going ahead with trying to have the Hornets in their marketing machine.

I will agree that Paul is a heck of a player and the Atlanta Hawks as well as the teams ahead of them in the draft still go “ugh” at the sight of him on the court .

Stojakovic is a serviceable small forward and Chandler is improving but enough is enough.

Even though Tony Parker and Eva Longoria failed to send me an invitation to their wedding last year, I like the San Antonio Spurs and scratch my balding head as to why glamour doesn’t hit the team.

They have won the title in four of the last nine years and with the exception of some bumps over the last 30 years, the Spurs have been one of the most consistent franchises in victories and they seem to do the right thing on the court.

This will last for another year or two then the Hornets will fade, owner George Shinn will want a new arena and the city and the parish will tell him to take a flying leap into a pot of gumbo or that he has had one too many hurricanes.

Shinn, who did the same song and dance in Charlotte, will threaten to move somewhere else and he could receive something more than a doubloon or cup if he said “throw me something mister”.

The native of Kannapolis, North Carolina would be more reviled than Saints owner Tom Benson who nearly did the Boogie out of the Big Easy on a couple of occasions.

That would make two cities that would use Shinn photos as piñatas or dartboards and the NBA would be angry again at the franchise since David Stern was not fond of the move.

I am not wishing to bury the Hornets while not praising them because if they get into the NBA finals and possibly win the title, they will have done what others did not.

Should they be able to get into the Western Conference finals, they could potentially face the Utah Jazz who called the Crescent City home from 1974 to 1979 until their move to Salt Lake City where they have been a successful franchise.

However, I doubt this scenario will happen because I am still picking the Spurs to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals.

That could be a project for “the Boys” until they decide to try the Hooterville Hornets again.