Let’s be honest. This franchise has done nothing for what looks like it’s going to be 15 seasons now. We’ve had 7 coaches in the past 10 years. The fan base threw them a raft with the rebrand begging them to show life and things are beginning to feel all too familiar again. The rebrand was never meant to be the “fix”. It was meant to be a second chance to get things right. This may be shocking to some of you but this stint has been around for just about the same amount of time as the original Charlotte Hornets franchise.

Now I’m a visual guy so let’s take a look at the progress reports lined up.

Original Hornets

Take 2

1988-89	20-62	2004-05	18-64
1989-90	19-63	2005-06	26-56
1990-91	26-56	2006-07	33-49
1991-92	31-51	2007-08	32-50
1992-93	44-38  E. Conf. Semis	2008-09	35-47
1993-94	41-41	2009-10	44-38  E. Conf. 1st Rnd
1994-95	50-32  E. Conf. 1st Rnd	2010-11	34-48
1995-96	41-41	2011-12	7-59
1996-97	54-28  E. Conf. 1st Rnd.	2012-13	21-61
1997-98	51-31  E. Conf. Semis	2013-14	43-39  E. Conf. 1st Rnd.
1998-99	26-24	2014-15	33-49
1999-00	49-33  E. Conf. 1st Rnd.	2015-16	48-34  E. Conf. 1st Rnd.
2000-01	46-36  E. Conf. Semis	2016-17	36-46
2001-02	44-38  E. Conf. Semis	2017-18	36-46

Around the 6th season the Original Hornets had established themselves, besides the 1998-99 lockout season, as a consistent mid-40 win team that you could occasionally expect to break 50 on a good year. Consistent isn’t even a word I like using in the same sentence as the “Take 2”.

Now I know it’s not exactly fair to compare the 2 of them but it is more or less showing what can be done in 14 seasons and what we have done in 14 seasons.

This is the result, in our humble opinion, of complacency. As a fan base we’ve knocked the hornets nest before and forced, what felt like kicking and screaming, this organization into giving back our name. We deserve better. We should demand better. We have done our part to support this organization even when they didn’t exactly earn it and we have very little to show for it in return.

The question is what do we believe as fans we should do to make this change happen?

HAVE YOU NOTICED YET THAT I JUST COPIED AND PASTED AN ARTICLE WE WROTE FROM TWO YEARS AGO AND IT STILL APPLIES?

All I did was add some numbers and we are in the exact same position.

A couple days ago a local radio personality commented on how he was disappointed that the Hornets attendance was 23rd. I replied that with another season quickly fading away and having statistically one of the hardest remaining schedules in the league this fanbase has been outperforming this team for the ENTIRE SECOND STINT. Is this team a top 23 product in the NBA? Has it done anything to give the fans hope for in the past 15 years? We have won 3 playoff games since 2002. We are on the edge of losing the best Hornet of all-time with nothing to show for it. We are on the edge of being on a 3 to 5-year rebuild process while technically we haven’t even finished the last “rebuild”.

What exactly do you want from a fanbase? I am as diehard as they come BUT even I realize that in any market with any team there is no fanbase that is going to just keep caring. This fanbase isn’t even asking for much. They would be happy with a playoff appearance and little bit of drama every couple of years but we can’t even provide that.

Eventually, the price of season tickets, which have inexplicably risen, won’t be rational to a seasoned fan who has seen the same outcome year in and year out. And can you really blame them?