Grandmama Finally Speaks On Name Change

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Link: http://blogs.charlotte.com/inside_the_nba/2013/07/larry-johnson-all-for-bobcats-name-change-to-hornets.html

 

LAS VEGAS -- Arguably the most famous Charlotte Hornet ever -- Larry "Grandmama" Johnson -- says he's all for the Bobcats' nickname change, which should become official at the NBA Board of Governors meeting here July 18.

 

"It’s been there for a long time – we started out as the Charlotte Hornets – so that would be a great idea," Johnson told the Observer. "It should be a step in the right direction for those guys."

 

"It's North Carolina – basketball heaven -- (so) they’ve got have a team and a good one. A productive basketball team fans can get behind," Johnson said.

 

"I was a little sad. We led the attendance for five years. So for those fans, I hate to see it."

[PiratePanther189]

Man I wish George Shinn wasn't such a greedy prick. Trading LJ and Zo in the same season because he didn't want to pay him was the beginning of the end for the Hornets.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Actually Shinn payed LJ the largest sports contract in history!

A 12 year 84 million dollar contract on the same day Michael Jordan retired to play baseball.

This set the market to insane proportions bc making 10 mil a year was unheard of at the time. That was how awesome LJ was for those that did not see him.

One ruptured disk and nerve damage in his back in a pick-up game later LJ lost all his powers.

[PiratePanther189]

Was it Zo, then, that he did that to? My memory is obviously deceiving me. But I know that happened

[YOLO!]

That guy is a traitor. Notice how he refers to us as those.

 

"Those guys"

"Those fans"

 

 

 

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Yeah it was Zo.. They were off by 1 million n he got traded for Glen Rice.. And Matt Geiger!

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Glen Rice wasn't a bad player though..

 

It wasn't like we traded Kobe Bryant for Vlade Divac...

 

Oh wait.... yeah... we did that too.

[Chaos]

To have the #1 and #2 picks in back to back seasons, we had one hell of a core coming together.  I don't feel Kendall Gill lived up to his hype, but I wish I could have seen what this franchise would have become with those cornerstones.  Yet we fall apart, and Orlando who had Penny and Shaq, go to the NBA finals.  Fall apart may be strong, we were still a playoff team and had good players, but LJ and Zo were the pinnacle.

 

As mentioned above, it was the ridiculous contract to LJ that was the beginning of the end. 

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Kendall Gill broke up the team bc he overvalued who he was. He thought he was MJ 2.0.

Charlotte's first malcontent who forced a trade.

And Glen Rice was incredible btw.

The Divac, Mason, Rice team was really fun to watch. Rice was the most effortless 3 point shooter I have ever seen.

[PiratePanther189]

Agreed Glen Rice was a great player very very fun to watch. But once the LJ and Vlade trades went down, he had too much of a load for even an all-star game MVP to shoulder. We were a one trick pony in the Glen Rice era. You stop him, we were stopped. Problem was, he was damn near impossible to stop that 96 season. That 1st season LJ was gone reminded me of Kobe in the early 2000's after Shaq left. Lot of games won, but too much for 1 guy in the postseason. It didn't as much show in the regular season, they won a lot of games and were a lot of fun to watch, but man losing to the Knicks in the playoffs that year was very sad for me at (I think) 12 years old I remember it like it was yesterday.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Anthony mason was horrible in the playoffs and there was this beautifl backdoor play Rice and Divac has that was shut down in those playoffs.

[Jackofalltrades]

Rice was the most effortless 3 point shooter I have ever seen.

Rice's stroke was as pretty as Ken Griffey Jr's swing. Both looked to be doing what God intended them to do.