Hornets on the move

You thought the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was a contrived fluke of bi-municipality representation?
Get ready for the New Orleans Hornets of Oklahoma City.
Last week, the Hornets received permission from the NBA to relocate 35 home dates to the Ford Center in Oklahoma's capital city. Despite NBA commish David Stern calling the move "temporary," it might not be.
Sad as it is to say, the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina could be the out Hornets owner Geroge Shinn was looking for. The New Orleans Arena is unusable for this NBA season, and there are no guarantees it will be serviceable by the time the 2006-07 season comes around.
Indeed, there are no guarantees the arena or the neighboring Superdome might be standing by November 2006. Officials in New Orleans are still in the process of clearing out the wasted city and it might be until next year before they can decide which buildings are structurally sound and which aren't.
Shinn brought the Hornets to New Orleans in 2002 after he alienated most of Charlotte. Coached by Paul Silas and Tim Floyd, and led by Baron Davis, the Hornets made the playoffs their first two seasons in New Orleans. But then they moved to the more competitive Western Conference to make way for the expansion Charlotte Bobcats last year, and fell to a final record of 18-64. Only the pitiful Hawks had a worse record.
Attendance dwindled, Davis was dealt to Golden State, and much like iin Charlotte, the locals in New Orleans were cooling toward their basketball team and toward the team's owner.
If Katrina hadn't forced the Hornets to try on another city for size, Shinn probably would have done so without prompting sooner or later. Rumors had him eyeing Kansas City or St. Louis, two former NBA towns, and among the largest cities in the country without an NBA franchise.
Shinn is quickly gaining a reputation as the Larry Brown of owners, always looking over the fence to see where the grass might be greener.
But this isn't all on the shoulders of Shinn or all a direct result of Katrina. New Orleans has been an NBA black hole before. In the late 1970s, Louisiana State product Pete Maravich couldn't save the Jazz from flunking out of New Orleans and moving to Salt Lake City, where they were eventually greeted by John Stockton, Karl Malone and far greater success.
Oklahoma City might be this decade's Salt Lake City. Oklahoma City is a town that would like to forge a national identity apart from being known as the city where Timothy McVeigh set off a bomb and destroyed hundreds of lives. A major league sports franchise would allow other cities and the national media to take a peek inside Oklahoma City on a nightly basis.
Oklahoma City has a 19,000-seat arena suitable for NBA basketball. It is a growing city, among the largest in the U.S. without a major league sports team. That's all about to change, and don't expect Oklahomans to give the Hornets back after one season without a fight. They reportedly have already filled out thousands of season ticket applications for the Hornets.
The Hornets have agreed to play seven home dates on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, so it doesn't give the impression they are totally abandoning their New Orelans fans in their hour of need. But the NBA is a business, and Shinn will take his team where it will be welcomed with open arms, and more importantly, open pocketbooks.
If that is any forecast, the Oklahoma City Hornets will be a fixture by the start of the 2006-07 season.