Kemba Walker On His Future

[MillionDollarCam]

It looks like he's exhausted and already half way out the door.

[KaseKlosed]

He did just play a game 

[Eazy-E]

Well a bunch of you will finally get your wish. Hornets aren’t going to win more than 20 games for the foreseeable future.

[TylerDurden]

1 hour ago, RIAnBOW said:

He was his usual awesome self tonight....they'd get down 8 and he would come down and hit a key shot.  Lamb, Bacon and Frank all had nice little stretchs but it just wasn't enough.

I was shocked at how many empty seats there were.  There were 20 FLOOR seats by the Magic bench (10 in row 1 & 10 in row 2) and only 8 of those seats were occupied, 4 in each row.

If the center section on Hornets side of court was more than half full....it was just barely.  Multiple entire consecutive rows in the corner sections of the lower bowl completely empty.

This was the most important game in at least 3 years and the place was 60% full at best. 

I just can't wrap my brain around that.  

I was thinking about that as I saw it on the broadcast...  Eric Collins said it was an announced 17k in attendance, and obviously that many didnt show up as I saw a ton of lower level seats open.  Pretty embarrassing, but honestly, the attendance is not going to be 100% until the team starts winning consistently.

We flailed around all year and then found some sort of success at the end, but still were on the outside looking in...  and those uphill odds just arent going to pull the casual fans in.  They want a sure thing.

As far as Kemba...  it's a hard read.  I'm sure his agent and other players have already passed on the word that other teams want him for big money, so it is a lot to consider.  I'm also sure he wants the FO to shed some of the dead weight if he is coming back here...  and add to that, he just got knocked out of the playoffs after pouring his heart out for 82 games on the last night of the season.  So, that's a lot to process...

That being said, FWIW, his brother on twitter told a fan they'd be back in Charlotte next year.

[TylerDurden]

8 minutes ago, RIAnBOW said:

Check these pics out.  In one pic 8 of the 20 floor seats (2 rows) by Magic bench are occupied, in the other zero are.  Also, check out the center section.  The lower bowl corner sections speak for themselves.

 

Yeah, that's how it looked to me on the broadcast.  That's embarrassing.

[Eazy-E]

I mean for what it's worth, it was an 8pm game on a Wednesday. We're a losing team that even if we were to win, we were relying on the worst team in the league to beat Detroit. For those who were at the game I saw plenty of signs showing support for Kemba and he received a standing ovation when he left the court.

The place was rocking over the weekend when we played Toronto. Watch the relay of when Lamb hit the game winning 3.

http://www.espn.com/videohub/video/clip/_/id/26451764/categoryid/0

Edit: If the game started at lets say 6 instead of 8 I bet you would have seen a much larger turnout for a Wednesday.

[Eazy-E]

3 minutes ago, RIAnBOW said:

It's effectively a playoff game AND possibly Kemba's last game -- NO EXCUSES....

....Mike Jordan should give away the tickets if that's what it takes to fill the place up. 

Money isn't the issue. People have jobs and school they have to wake up for. Plenty of sports teams have trouble filling the seats for games mid week. Like I said, The place usually fines up just fine for weekend games.

Also if it were 100% win and we got in I would expect the attendance to be a little better.

A consistent winner would help a lot as well.

[RoaringRiot]

4 hours ago, RIAnBOW said:

Check these pics out.  In one pic 8 of the 20 floor seats (2 rows) by Magic bench are occupied, in the other zero are.  Also, check out the center section.  The lower bowl corner sections speak for themselves.

 

Haha....I was in my seat in your pic. I was surprised how empty it was too

 

[TheRed]

Only a pompous jackass looking for attention would try to call out fan attendance at this point.

Charlotte fans have more than shown they will absolutely pack the house. But the Hornets have struggled and continue to struggle for the same reasons that have plagued other small market teams the last several years. Bad front office decisions have only exacerbated the problem.

[rhyslloyd]

This organization has failed him and all of the fans.

[djp14]

6 hours ago, RIAnBOW said:

....Mike Jordan should give away the tickets if that's what it takes to fill the place up. 

Can't give away tickets that have already been purchased.  Lot of no-shows last night.

[TheMostInterestingMan]

For the last two years people have hounded anyone who suggested we should trade Kenna to rebuild. Now he walks away for nothing and we don’t even have an 8 seed to show for it. 

Now we truly rebuild. Could have started this process two years ago though. I hear the logic of not trading your best player obviously, but it’s plain as day the team wasn’t going anywhere. Now our most valuable asset will walk for free. That’s poor management. Period.

[RealBitsOfPanther]

Hurricanes struggled with attendance for the last couple of years because of the product on the ice. Since the team has gotten significantly better and are now in the playoffs, attendance has gone up quite a bit. 

 

People will come if the team is winning. Period. The Hornets have been meh for a while now. Throw in its a mid-week game at 8pm with the weather being nice, and you get that. Also doesn't help that if the Hornets did somehow squeak in, they'd get destroyed by whoever the number 1 seed is (haven't really followed the NBA this year). 

 

I'd also argue that its kind of hard to get fully invested in any NBA small market team because ultimately they're going to lose. It's a 5 team league right now. 

[PanthersBigD]

6 hours ago, RoaringRiot said:

Haha....I was in my seat in your pic. I was surprised how empty it was too

 

As someone whose job is to create fan experiences, what is your take on what's wrong with the Hornets?