End of an Era: From Charlotte Bobcats to Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets have recently announced a name change to their arena, effectively ending an era in the franchise’s history.

Laieke Abebe wrote on the Charlotte Hornets’ recent name change to their home. Time Warner Cable Arena will now be known as Spectrum Center. All remnants of Time Warner Cable arena will be replaced when the home opener happens on October 29th. The changing of the name reflects a changing of the times. We are now all witnesses to the transition started by the Bring Back the Buzz Crowd.

The name and jerseys are not the only things that have been replaced. Most notably, the shift began with the trading of Gerald Henderson for Nicolas Batum last year. That marked culture change around the Hornets franchise. Henderson was a consummate professional, and perhaps one of my favorite Charlotte Bobcats draft picks.

He was a team captain for his last two years on the team. He averaged 12.0 pts, 2.1 ast, and 3.4 rebounds during his six-year tenure with the Charlotte Bobcats. Unfortunately, Gerald Henderson never became the 20 ppg scorer that many fans wanted but he remained consistent for most of his time in Charlotte.

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The one area where he was hurting the Charlotte Hornets franchise was with his three-point percentages. He only shot 30.9% from three in the same time span. The Charlotte Hornets were an abysmal three-point shooting team up until last year (thanks Lance). They decided to not only change the uniforms but also the reputation of the franchise. The three-point percentage ranking jumped from 30th (2014-2015) to 7th (2015-16). The internal growth from Kemba and Marvin led to some of the increase as well as the switch from Henderson to Batum.

Al Jefferson is perhaps my favorite player during the past three years of transition. First I would like to say thank you to him for his years spent as a Horncat. He was the first “marquee” free agent we have signed in a long time. Many analyst and pundits were critical of Cho on the signing (myself included) .

They felt that we abandoned our rebuild for a win now approach. We could not have been more incorrect. Determined to prove critics wrong, Al Jefferson came into Charlotte and battled the Miami Heat three-headed monster while hobbling on one leg during the playoff run in the 2013-2014 season.

Fans enjoyed seeing him putting on a clinic in the paint, and yelling at the ball to “get yo @## in there” when an opposing player fouled him. The Hornets decided it was time to move on from him, much like Henderson.

Jefferson leaves behind a hoopmixtape amount of highlights featuring his baby hook, spin move and the occasional dunk. It will be up to Cody Zeller to fill his spot, but we will not know until the season starts. Both Zeller and Hibbert show a culture shift regardless of who starts.

Zeller is known for his quickness and fluidity in transition, while Hibbert is known as a defensive stopgap. Hopefully we will see better interior defense in the playoffs next season. The Miami Heat exploited that weakness in the playoffs but they team hopes to have turned that weakness into a strength this season. The Charlotte Hornets will now be able to defend the pick and roll better with more mobile defenders.

Next: The Ongoing Facelift of Buzz City

Kemba is the only remaining captain from the 2013-2014 season. The culture shift is almost complete. Many names have come and gone including Ben Gordon, Gary Neal, Biyombo, Jeff Adrian…and the list goes on. We have witnessed several shaqtin a fool moments from, Byron Mullins, Henderson hitting fans with balls and even the infamous seven win season. We can free ourselves from the last remnants of the Bobcats moniker with the changing of the arena name. Good bye Time Warner Cable Arena, and hello “Spectrum Center”.

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