Hornets at Mavs tonight
I’m going to the game tonight at American Airlines Center in Dallas to catch up with the Hornets. Check back here throughout the game for a live blog of all the action. Tip is 7:30. The game will be broadcast on FSN here in Oklahoma.
Things aren’t looking good for the Hornets right now. They’re injured again. First they lost Peja Stojakovic (strained groin) and Morris Peterson (strained back muscle), and now Melvin Ely (fractured left eye socket). Don’t know exactly what that last one is but it sounds painful. Apparently, Kenyon Martin elbowed him in the head Wednesday night in Denver.
Ely is definitely out, but Peja and Peterson reportedly have a chance to play tonight after practicing full speed Thursday. Chris Paul is healthy and so is David West and Tyson Chandler, so the Hornets should have a decent chance with that trio. The Mavs haven’t played well at all lately. They were blown out the other night by the Raptors in Toronto (92-76).
A few notes….
Hornets are 14-8. Mavs are 14-9.
Chris Paul scored 33 points with 12 assist and nine rebounds in the last meeting, a 112-108 Hornets win, their first in eight years.
Dallas is 9-2 at home. New Orleans is 8-3 on the road.
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NBA Franchise Values
Great reading material on Forbes.com regarding the value of NBA franchises. Each year Forbes ranks the value of all 30 NBA teams. Of note this year, the Hornets are worth slightly more than the Sonics. The Knicks rank first at $608 million and the Portland Trail Blazers rank last at $253 million. You can view the entire list here.
According to Forbes, the Hornets franchise ranks 27th in value at $272 million, a 10 percent increase from last year when the value was $248 million. The jump is tied for seventh with the Blazers and Phoenix Suns for highest one-year percentage increase.
Forbes lists the Sonics’ worth at $269 million, only $100,000 more than it was valued at last season. The Sonics are one of only two teams (the Minnesota Timberwolves being the other) to have zero value change over the past year.
A couple of things can change the value of the franchise, improved play, new television contracts or new arenas are a few of the ways. For example, the Orlando Magic have a 14 percent increase in value from last season because of their new arena deal. The Golden State Warriors rose 16 percent because of improved play. The Cleveland Cavaliers signed a new $25 million television contract with FSN Ohio, more than double the previous contract, and saw a 20 percent increase (although the Finals appearance and LeBron James helped as well).
A few other things Forbes used to calculate franchise value: revenue shared among all teams, host city and market size, arena and arena deal, management of the team’s brand and revenues and operating income for the 2006-07 season.
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Byron Scott On Hornets Crowd
Hornets coach Byron Scott recently weighed in on the Hornets’ poor crowd support. He had this to say to the Times-Picayune:
“I guess everybody is a little disappointed. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m not disappointed. We would like to have 18,000 every night. The players would like that, but that’s not something that’s happening at this particular point. Are we disappointed? Yes, we’re disappointed after eight games. Do we expect for it to get better? Yes we do.”
The Hornets played their ninth game at New Orleans Arena last night and drew only 10,312 for the Detroit Pistons. That dropped their league-low attendance to 11,431.
For more perspective on what the crowds are like down there, there’s this from a Times-Picayune blogger from the Pistons game…..
“To give everyone a general idea of how many people appear to be in the building, section 304 appears to have a total of 3 people in it and I think they are now leaving their seats to sneak down into the lower sections of the arena. I seriously doubt anyone is going to even saying anything to them. The odds of them taking someone else’s seats are extremely low considering how many open seats there are.”
And later he says…..
“During the timeout they had a promotion with WoW Wingery that I found hilarious because the winner was in section 311. Because he was able to make three layups faster then his opponent all seven people in section 311 won a free ice cream from WoW Wingery.”
Full post here.
Hornets back at it at home Friday against Memphis and Sunday against Seattle. The over/under for announced attendance is 18,000 — for both games!
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A Small Development With The Sonics
The relocation committee that will ultimately approve or deny the Seattle Sonics’ move to OKC has been appointed.
In the group is Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Warriors owner Chris Cohan, Nets part owner Lewis Katz, Pacers co-owner Herb Simon, Sixers chairman Ed Snider and Spurs owner Peter Holt.
Two of the more interesting members of the group are Peter Holt and Lewis Katz. Sonics owner Clay Bennett was a part of the Spurs ownership group that included Holt in the early 90s before Holt acquired majority interest. Wonder what kind of relationship they have today? Katz is an interesting addition because he and the other Nets owners are in the process of moving the team to Brooklyn, where an estimated $3.5 billion sports arena and business and residential complex is being built. I would think Bennett would have Katz’s support.
In other Sonics news, Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley wrote a piece in Sunday’s paper, crying out to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for help in keeping the Sonics in Seattle. Worthy of a look.
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