I’m raising my hand — I’m one of those folks.
I’m a firm believer in the idea that a person only has so much capacity in terms of what they can enjoy. For me, UNC sports come first and the problem is that includes a passion for UNC basketball with both the men and women’s teams, UNC football, UNC baseball, plus the Olympic sports. Then, let’s add in the NFL (because of course you watch the NFL), and then my passion for the Hurricanes in the NHL, and that’s a lot to keep up with.
So that doesn’t leave
a lot of room for things like Major League Baseball until there’s literally nothing left to watch, and it really doesn’t leave room for the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets.
It is a real shame, mind you. As a North Carolina native, the Hornets were first in terms of the pro teams. Before you had the Panthers in Charlotte or the Hurricanes in Raleigh, you had the Hornets drafting J.R. Reid to kick off professional sports in the Carolinas. The problem — as any die-hard Hornets fan will tell you — is that the team has given you zero reason to really follow them since the Panthers and Hurricanes moved into the market. Think about it, once Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning left, the team declined rapidly, moved to New Orleans, and the new squad just couldn’t ever get any momentum. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes may have had a decade of missing the playoffs, but they did win a championship in 2006 plus have an exciting playoff run to the title series in 2002 and a great win against Boston in 2009. The Panthers had a couple of Super Bowl runs between irrelevance. In short — yeah, the other pro teams haven’t been great either, but they at least had real high points culminating at the pinnacle of their sport. The Hornets haven’t ever been close.
This season may be different. The second half of the year they’ve been a team that national media has paid attention to, even drawing some of the ultimate praise in being Bill Simmons’ “League Pass team of the year.” They are young, are finally winning, and are on the verge of making the NBA Playoffs for the first time in ages —and are doing so with a team that is more than “Kemba Walker and a cast of characters.”
What really made me stand up and pay more attention, though, is when the team in Charlotte decided to link themselves with the home state and brought Coby White home.
I’ll fully admit that I still didn’t do a lot of watching of the Hornets after the move, mostly checking from afar and hearing that he was a great fit with the squad even if he was coming off the bench. Still, I’ve got a real affinity for Coby White. His story of how he came to UNC, his rise to becoming a lottery pick, and the fact he did it that specific year means that his lone season at Carolina will rank the same as many will view Caleb Wilson’s year. He just seems like a good guy. The joy he played with on the court was infectious, and I’ll never forget how happy he was in that Miami game for his teammate as if he hit the shot.
So there I was watching the Hornets game on Tuesday night and getting some real flashbacks. That three Coby hit to get the Hornets to overtime and his celebration after transported me back to 2019. It absolutely has me eager to see if he can repeat it tomorrow night as the Hornets look to win two games to earn the eight seed and face the Detroit Pistons — who they can put a scare in.
It did make me think, though, of how little attention I’ve paid to the Hornets before, and makes me curious if White had the same effect on you. Is his success in Charlotte and the fact he may actually be a huge reason they make the playoffs — going so far as being called the best trade any team pulled off at the deadline — drawing anyone else back to the NBA who may have just felt they didn’t have room? Let us know in the comments below; curious to hear your thoughts!
