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New Orleans Pelicans (official thread)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5887687

Archive Chris Paul and the rest of the New Orleans Hornets will soon be playing for the first franchise in league history owned by the NBA.
Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com on Sunday that the league's fast-moving plans to take temporary control of the Hornets are going ahead "100 percent" and will be publicly confirmed within the next few days, mirroring what Major League Baseball did with the Montreal Expos before that franchise was sold and moved to the nation's capital as the Washington Nationals.

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Paul
This unprecedented twist in the Hornets' roller-coaster history, beyond what it means for the franchise and its fans in New Orleans, is likely to revive leaguewide curiosity about Paul's future.
The All-Star guard can become a free agent in the summer of 2012 and has been targeted for months by rival teams believing they could capitalize on New Orleans' unsettled ownership situation to pry him away, but the Hornets' surprising 11-1 start had just begun to hush the frenzy of speculation about their ability to keep him long-term.
Yet sources with knowledge of the arrangement's specifics insisted Sunday that Paul will not be dealt this season unless the Hornets' current management team wants to move him -- and it clearly does not. One source close to the situation added that the NBA's priority is ensuring that the Hornets remain as attractive as possible to potential buyers, which presumably means keeping Paul as its face of the franchise.
After the long-stalled sale of the Hornets from longtime owner George Shinn to minority partner Gary Chouest collapsed for good in recent days, NBA officials moved forward with their proposal to purchase operational control of the team. The reason that the NBA felt the need to take this Expos-style step for the first time, sources said, is that the cash-strapped Shinn can no longer afford running the team but also can't find a buyer.
A formal announcement from the league, sources said, will come no later than Wednesday.
Sources say that the league's intention remains trying to find an owner who can be persuaded to keep the team in New Orleans, as part of NBA commissioner David Stern's longstanding determination to sustain pro basketball in the region in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it inflicted.
...

But the NBA is expected to make the strength of prospective ownership bids its highest priority -- and there are no guarantees that an incoming buyer would want to stay in one of the league's smallest markets. Stern is generally averse to franchise moves, but sources say Seattle, Kansas City and Anaheim are among the available markets of greatest interest to various league officials; Las Vegas has apparently slipped in the pecking order largely as a result of the recent economic downturn.
...

might as well start a thread since no nola hornets thread exists. this should be interesting to watch play out. kc and seattle (with a new arena) seem logical to me. i wonder what other alternative their are?
 
BUCKYLE;2272660; said:
I don't get the laughter. The pelican is the state bird. I know L.A. is known for it's many lakes and of course Salt Lake is the Jazz capital of the world. Also Cleveland was a prominent city for pirates.


i'm ok with the name change.
just glad they didn't change the colors to match fucking Toolame with their ridiculous looking Pelican mascot.
 
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