Hornets

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This is going to be a mess. I think that was my first thought when I saw that the players union rejected the owners’ most recent offer. I’m sure you’ve been following what’s going on so I wont recap it here, but, to sum it up, it’s bad. Here are some things to mull over while we wait for the court battles. Why didn’t the union have the players vote on the deal? Were they afraid that it would get approved? Or was it due to a more tactical reason? Henry Abbot over at Truehoop digs into it a little [...]

There was some good news for Hornets fans making the rounds on Twitter today: David West received full clearance to return from his knee injury. Per Adrian Wojnarowski, Free agent David West, one of top players on market, has doctor’s full clearance to return after ACL surgery, agent Lance Young tells Y! and After 6 months of rehab, Der. ave West freedom “to push it as hard as he can,” Young said. “He could start training camp in a couple weeks.” and then he goes and says this, Once lockout ends, Hornets still have a strong chance to re-sign West, one of the franchise cornerstones. [...]

Automaker Mercedes-Benz has become the new sponsor of the Louisiana Superdome. Pretty much every other deal like this has been especially lucrative and this will be no exception. In addition to being great for the Saints and the city of New Orleans, this deal could greatly benefit the Hornets. According to Nakia Hogan of the Times-Picayune: Although financial terms weren’t available, the deal between the luxury automaker and the NFL franchise is expected to guarantee that the state will not pay the team any more direct subsidies. So now all that money the state has earmarked for the Saints is [...]

The owners and players met in New York City today, but no progress was made towards ending the NBA lockout. The NBA is expected to announce the postponement of training camps tomorrow. Before we all panic, this happened during the last lockout in 1998 and there was basketball played that season. But I’m starting to feel that we’re going to be missing a full season–and I’m usually a very optimistic person. How will this impact the Hornets? That, of course, remains to be seen, but we’ll start speculating on that in the near future. How are you handling the lockout [...]

The NBA owners and Players Association met yesterday for over five hours of talks, and both plan to meet again today. There are encouraging signs to take away from this: consecutive meetings (hadn’t happened prior), neither side taking jabs at the other through the media and, with time running out, hopefully added pressure to finally get a deal done. But still, don’t get your hopes up. At least not yet. But the fact that more meetings are being scheduled must mean that some progress is being made. Also worth noting is the players confidence in Billy Hunter, the executive director of the NBPA. [...]

I wanted to write a post about the Hornet’s current local TV deal–about how it has to be one of the worst in the league. Local revenue (tv, radio, etc.) is not shared so, for any team in a small market, it is imperative to business operations that a strong deal be negotiated. This year, nine (9) Hornet’s game will not be on local TV. This is more than just lost money for the team; it alienates and, frankly, pisses off local fans. To recap an away game, I don’t want to have to watch it on my tiny laptop; [...]

Today’s question is one that hits hard amongst local Hornets fans which is, “Can the Hornets get to 10,000 Season Ticket Holders before the season starts?” My Answer? No, they won’t. I, like many other local voices, have expressed our opinions on the likelihood of that goal being achieved, go on, check it out if you haven’t already. To quote myself, because I’m awesome: James Grayson, Swarm and Sting: 9200. Asking for 10,000, in a lockout, with no owner, five (six including Belinelli) players on their roster, a super star with one foot out the door, is a big request from [...]

Check out the full schedule here. There at two nationally televised games and six on NBA TV. Because of the team’s current TV deal, there are 9 games which will not be available locally. Instead of just rehashing everything, go read Joe Gerrity’s take over at Hornets247, but let’s hear you opinion in the comments below. Your song after the jump…

Keeping with the theme of Hornets’ ownership (let’s call this Unofficial Ownership Week), I’m going spotlight a person I want to see buy the team: Silvio Berlusconi. I know there has been no link between him and the franchise, and he has a long, long list of controversies and legal problems, but here at Swarm and Sting we like to look at new perspectives. Berlusconi is the owner of the AC Milan soccer (football) club and, I’ll be honest, I’m a huge fan of that team. So whatever, I’m biased on this one. But hear me out. This actually makes [...]