CHARLOTTE HORNETS FRANCHISE HISTORY
Previous Franchise Names: Charlotte Bobcats
Chairman: Michael Jordan
Executive Vice President and General Manager: Rich Cho
Head Coach: Steve Clifford
Best Season: 1996-97 (54-28, .659)
Playoff Appearances: 9
NBA Championships: 0
LANDOVER,MD – JANUARY 31: Alonzo Mourning #33 and #2 Larry Johnson of the Charlotte Hornets during a NBA basketball game against the Washington Bullets on January 31, 1995 at USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
The Charlotte Hornets have an interesting NBA history, a blending together of the first iteration of the Hornets from 1988-2002 and the NBA’s most recent expansion club, the Charlotte Bobcats, who joined the league in 2004.
The original Hornets moved to New Orleans after the 2001-02 season and after they took on the Pelicans nickname in 2013, the Bobcats changed their name back to the Hornets—which has strong historical significance in Charlotte—for the 2014-15 season.
The arrival of young stars Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson in the draft launched the best era for the franchise in the early and mid-1990s, although Charlotte has never been able to get beyond the second round of the playoffs in its nine postseason appearances.
Since returning to the NBA in 2004, Charlotte has qualified for the postseason just twice and was swept out of the first round in both 2010 and 2014.
Allan Bristow, who coached the original Hornets for five seasons (1991-92 through 1995-96), is the winningest coach in team history with a record of 207-203, while his teams were just 5-8 in the playoffs.
Paul Silas, meanwhile, is the only coach to lead the team in both iterations, going 139-107 with the original Hornets from 1999-2000 through 2001-02 and posting a 32-88 record while coaching the Bobcats for 54 games in 2010-11 and the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. Charlotte set an NBA record for futility that season, going 7-59 and posting the worst single-season winning percentage (.106) ever (slightly worse than the record-setting 9-73 Philadelphia 76ers of 1972-73, who had a winning percentage of .110).
Charlotte Hornets Career Leaders (as of 3/9/2016)
- Games, Dell Curry, 701
- Points, Dell Curry, 9839
- Rebounds, Emeka Okafor, 3516
- Assists, Muggsy Bogues, 5557
- Steals, Muggsy Bogues, 1067
- Blocks, Alonzo Mourning, 684
LANDOVER, MD – JANUARY 31: Tyrone ‘Muggsy’ Bogues #1 of the Charlotte Hornets during a NBA basketball game against the Washington Bullets on January 31, 1995 at USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Charlotte Hornets Retired Numbers
- 13, Bobby Phills
Charlotte Hornets Official Links
Official Team Site: nba.com/hornets
Official Twitter Handle: @hornets
Official Facebook Page: Charlotte Hornets
Official Instagram Page: Charlotte Hornets
Official Arena Page: Time Warner Cable Arena
Charlotte Hornets Beat Writers
Rick Bonnell, Charlotte Observer
Richard Walker, Gaston Gazette
Steve Reed, Associated Press
Related Charlotte Hornets Blogs and Links
Charlotte Hornets Logo History, courtesy of Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.net
Salary Page: Charlotte Hornets Salaries at Spotrac
FanSided Charlotte Hornets: Swarm and Sting
SB Nation Charlotte Hornets: At The Hive
ESPN TrueHoop Charlotte Hornets: Queen City Hoops
HoopsHabit Charlotte Hornets Archive: Charlotte Hornets
Bleacher Report Charlotte Hornets Team Stream: Charlotte Hornets
RealGM Charlotte Hornets Page: Charlotte Hornets
Stats and retired number information courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com
