2023 Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony.

I'm finally getting to this. Tony Parker is up first. Parker is the first European player to win Finals MVP. Parker and Popovich are the first player and coach to go in the hall of fame together. (I don't think that's true, Chris Webber and Rick Adelman went in together). He has two things to say about Tim Duncan, one obvious, one not obvious. The obvious one: Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward ever. The unobvious one: Tim Duncan has a special power with his eyes. He never talked to get the ball. He would just look at Tony Parker. The Argentina media didn't like Tony Parker at first, because he wasn't giving Manu the ball. Parker would say "blame Duncan, he's the one calling for all the shots." Ginobili has two levels of passes: The legendary ones. And the ones that go into the stands. Parker says that if you tell someone your dream, and they aren't laughing, then it's not a big enough dream. Always dream big. He wanted to be the first good European PG in the NBA. He thanks the Charlotte Hornets organization and Michael Jordan. He says "they say never meet your idols, but in Michael Jordan's case, it's the opposite". Jordan was one of his idols, and they have a greater relationship now, after his Hornets stint. He heavily recruited Michael Finley to come to the Spurs, because on the Spurs, that's what you do, win championships. Then they lost to Dallas, Finley's former team, in 2005-2006. Finley was crying afterwards. Parker felt so bad, that his entire motivation for 2006-2007 was to get Finley a ring. He had a friend whose wife was 8 months pregnant, but still went to game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals for him. Parker was scared when Chip....

Pau Gasol:

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was also supposed to present him to the HOF, but he got sick and couldn't make it.

1976 USA Womens Basketball team (silver medal, first time womens basketball was at the Olympics):

• There were more than 1,000 people at tryouts. Some of the organizers personally funded use of facilities for the tryouts.

Gregg Popovich:

• He gives a shout out to Seattle and says to Gary Payton that Seattle should have a team.

• They accidentally cue the terminating music too early and Ahmad Rashad comes on stage. Popovich has to shoo him away and tell him he's not done, and he's waited a long time for this moment.

• O's and X's are meaningless, everyone runs the same thing. Jerry Sloan ran a pick and roll for John Stockton and Karl Malone 77 times a game, and nobody could stop it.

• He tried out for the Denver Nuggets as a 26 year old. They told him he'd look better in a suit and tie.

• On coaching his four presenters:

Players have bullshit antennas, so the best thing is to be yourself.

David Robinson: As long as I didn't take the Lord's name in vain, he was ok with me.

Tim Duncan: I wish he'd nod his head and acknowledge when I said something, once in a while.

Tony Parker: If we had social media then like we do now, I would not be able to coach him the same way. I'd be in handcuffs. I wanted him to be perfect.

Manu Ginobili: After 2 years of coaching, he said to me "this is what I do". I learned then that I had to just get out of the way.

Becky Hammon:

• Most people thought she was a water girl.

• She was undrafted.

Dirk Nowitzki:

• Don Nelson used to tell him "you have zero talent on defense".

• When Mark Cuban bought the team, he wanted to play Nowitzki one on one. So Nowitzki drove left and dunked on him.

• Says he and Nash had terrible haircuts when they were drafted. Nash, with his frosted tips.

• Popovich wrote him a handwritten note, after Dallas won the 2011 championship.

Dwayne Wade:

• He brought his father up to the stage, to share the final moment of his speech with him.

I didn't know that Duncan's eyes had that much power

I knew about Parker's background although I thought i remember his Mother being Danish as opposed to Dutch

I forgot about France beating Spain in 2013 but I remember the 2014 WC's where France upset Spain. People forget but that was Rudy Gobert's breakout game. He was a huge defensive presence. Always rooted for Gobert since I had him as a surprise lottery pick to Minnesota in his draft. Ironic that he wound up with the Wolves later on

I don't feel bad for Finley. I really loved seeing Dirk and the Mavs come out of SA with that win in game 7. Seemed to me that Finley tried to cherry pick his way to a ring and I wasn't wild about Jason Terry being suspended for barely tapping Finley's shorts in one of those games. That being said, Mark Cuban should've known better than to not only waste an amnesty on Finley but see him go to SA in one fell swoop. He orchestrated it by doing the amnesty in the first place and it almost backfired on him

Didn't realize that Parker idolized Jordan. I always thought that the only reason that he went to Charlotte was to play with Batum so I guess he had another reason

Had Kobe still been alive, I'm guessing that he would've been Gasol's presenter

Agree with Pop on Seattle although he obviously isn't the only person to feel that way. I still say that the league should've just left the Hornets in OKC after Hurricane Katrina and eventually figured something out in Seattle. My thinking is that Hansen and Ballmer eventually get the team with Hanson as the majority owner since he did the arena groundwork then Ballmer would eventually buy the Clippers similar to how Lacob went from Celtic minority owner to Warriors majority owner or Vivek went from Warrior minority owner to King majority owner

It hurts me to say it since I was once the biggest proponent of the NBA being in New Orleans. When the Hornets originally moved from Charlotte to New Orleans, I was totally into it and did a cross country trip, making sure to stop in the Big Easy on my way out. That was really my start in doing these NBA trips. But reality is that New Orleans was never a great basketball market and still ranks dead last in the Forbes rankings. While they have rebounded nicely and it's not as bad as it was pre Katrina, the sad fact of the matter is that if they didn't have draft luck with CP, AD and Zion, they'd really be struggling to fill the stands

George Karl once said that players have good BS "radars" similar to Pop saying "antennas"

I had no idea that Pop tried out for the Nuggets

I disagree with X's and O's being meaningless. If you have players who listen to you and don't mind being coached, a good X's and O's coach can be very beneficiary. His own Spurs are a prime example. Not a lot of one on one but lots of passing and team play. I find it hard to believe that the players are orchestrating all the extra passes and back door cuts

I was rooting for Dallas against San Antonio in 2006 too. That 7 game series might be my favorite, because so many games were close, and you had a wild game 7 where Dallas blew a 20 point lead, the game went into OT, and Dallas won it on the final play.

In addition to the milestone win of Dallas finally beating San Antonio. That had a lot of implications.

Of course, Dallas might have beaten them in 2003, if Finley hadn't gotten hurt. Dallas couldn't win a home game in that series. They even had a 4th quarter double digit lead in the deciding game 6, but lost. San Antonio outscored Dallas 34 - 9 in the 4th.

At worst, let's say Dallas wins game 6 in 2003. Then either we have a game 7 where if Dallas wins, it's still a big deal. Or San Antonio wins, and that's a big deal too. Even if Popovich tried to still get Jason Kidd that offseason.

I wonder if they would have played Kidd and Parker together long term, and if so how that would have worked out.

I'm surprised Parker didn't mention the whole Kidd thing in his speech, lol.

Ok at 6:51, he says his mom is from the Netherlands.

I had no idea Popovich tried out for the Nuggets either. I wish we could hear some alternate sources of this, like any of the coaches that were there when he tried out. Haha.

I also disagree (with Popovich) X's and O's are meaningless.

And I think the Spurs are so smart in how they play. They would usually be one of the league leaders in 3-point %, even though they didn't take a lot. Which means when they took them, they were probably good shots. I had argued at the time that the Spurs were a good 3 point shooting team, based on how great their 3-point % was.

Also, Parker might not have had the high assist stats, but when I watched him play (at a certain point in his career), he seemed to just make the right decision. He knew who to get the ball to, or take one of his high percentage points in the paint attempts.

Good prediction on Kobe being Gasol's presenter.

I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras in 2020. I was hoping to see some enthusiasm for the Pelicans, because Zion Williamson had made his debut more than a month ago.

But most houses (when I was in the residential area) still mostly had only Saints flags, with I think only one house having both a Saints and Pelicans flag.

Also, during one of the parades, a few people dressed up as referees, with blindfolds over them. A reference to this playoffs game from the previous month:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/202001050nor.htm

Apparently there was also a bad playoffs loss the year before too, and the Saints fans expressed their outrage at Mardri Gras in 2019, also.

Which now makes me wonder, I wonder what Mardi Gras was like when the Saints won the SuperBowl.

That's funny about Hammond. I've always respected her in that she doesn't want preferential treatment. If there are 3 people interviewing for a head coaching job and the best one for the job is a male then that's who should get the job. Doesn't want to be part of some social experiment

Doesn't surprise me that Nellie said that about Dirk but something that I always remember him saying was that Dirk was the first person that he coached that was a bad rebounder at first but turned himself into a top flight rebounder

Not a big fan of Wade but bringing his Father on to the stage was a nice touch

I still think New Orleans could be a good basketball market, but that they're not doing enough marketing, or enough things to get the fans excited. They spent too many years with insufficient marketing / promotion.

I am not happy about how Anthony Davis left the Pelicans, basically quitting on the team during his last few games.

But part of his desire to leave, was because ownership cared more about the Saints, than the Pelicans.

They even used the same doctors from the Saints, for the Pelicans.

Here's another example:

I may have told this story before, but I'll re-tell it.

In 2011, I was compiling a list of the square footage for every NBA arena.

I was able to find 26 of the 29 via the internet.

I had to get email responses for the US Airways Center (Phoenix) and Verizon Center (Washington).

The hardest one was New Orleans.

I called them several times. They always answered "Louisiana Superdome". Even though both the NFL and NBA arena share the same area, and the same phone number.

And when I'd say I'm asking about the New Orleans Arena, they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about, and had never heard of that arena.

I called multiple times, over multiple months. Pretty much the same thing.

Years later, I finally found the info, for the by-then called Smoothie King Arena:

https://www.sonicsrising.com/2017/4/13/15296272/arena-wars-by-the-numbers

So I do agree that the Pelicans didn't act like they were just as important as the Saints, from the ownership level.

For other ownership groups that own multiple teams in multiple sports, like Stan Kroenke of the L.A. Rams and Denver Nuggets, or previously Paul Allen and now Jody Allen, for the Seahawks and Trail Blazers, each of those cities have a presence for that sport, from the ownership, and fans.

Dirk turned into a great rebounder, especially in the playoffs.

I hadn't heard that from Nelson. Nice.

This series has always stood out to me. Look at the stat line, especially the rebounding average, from Nowitzki and Garnett.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2002-nba-western-conference-first-round-timberwolves-vs-mavericks.html

During the hall of fame speech, Popovich also gave credit to Nelson, and said Nelson was the master of looking for mismatches.

He said he'd go as far as to have one guy isolating on someone else, with 4 other guys watching, if he thought THAT was the best matchup on the floor, at that time.

Great story about doing all that. It sort of surprises me that Superdome employees didn't know about the arena in that they were or are still under the SMG management umbrella with the arena and it's respective employees. Then again, it's amazing how many people in the region don't even realize that there is a basketball team in the city

I will say this. Gayle Benson has done a great job with the team since she took over for her deceased husband. She has made it a priority for the Pelicans to be a part of the fabric of the community. She probably does more for the Pelicans than for the Saints because she knows that they're much more behind the 8 ball when it comes to gaining fan support. Still, there's no excuse for Dome employees to not know about the arena when it's literally connected to the Dome by a pedestrian bridge

Well, I'm no fan of iso ball but Nellie was creative in other ways...

What are your other ways?

That's what surprised me about the Dome employees too. You can't miss the New Orleans Arena that's connected, when you commute to work. It's right there.

It's not like I'm asking about a secret champagne sex room in the complex.

What are some of the specifics Gayle Benson has done?

Here's another example of what I hope New Orleans can become, for the Pelicans:

2 weeks ago, I was in Tampa, Florida. While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had the largest marketing presence, and fan support, I could feel the Rays presence in some parts of the city, and among fans that I saw. There was a little bit.

That's what I think is achievable, for the New Orleans Pelicans, if they really work at it.

I wonder if there's any visible way to to measure Tampa Bay Rays support, over the years. Like maybe ratings, if they increased, from 1998 onwards.

Or also jersey sales?

There probably is some metric that can track all of this.

Whatever it is, off the top of my head, I think Tampa, FL compared to best to what New Orleans could be, for the Pelicans, living with the Saints.

Looking at other two sport cities:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_and_Canadian_cities_by_number_of_major_professional_sports_franchises

St. Louis (MLB, NHL)

Charlotte (NFL, NBA)

Cincinnati (NFL, MLB)

Kansas City (NFL, MLB)

Nashville (NFL, NHL)

Baltimore (NFL, MLB)

Las Vegas (NFL, NHL)

Indianapolis (NFL, NBA)

Milwaukee (MLB, NBA) (Milwaukee may be 117 miles away from Green Bay, but we know the Packers reach extends to Milwaukee)

New Orleans (NFL, NBA)

Buffalo (NFL, NHL)

Ok I had forgotten Tampa Bay has the Lightning. I still think my comparison is a decent one, as I think they have less in common with all of the other 3 team cities (Toronto, Houston, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Cleveland).

I didn't explicitly mention this above, but the reason I had to call the New Orleans Arena, was because there wasn't a way to email them.

I see now that there's a contact form for the Smoothie King Center.

https://venues.wufoo.com/forms/sbj2hi409j92ce

That URL looks weird, but it did come directly from their FAQ, under "General Inquiries".

https://www.smoothiekingcenter.com/contact-us/location-and-phone-directory

Intuit Dome appears to be 915, 000.

Small ball, stretching the floor and good at drafting and throwing off the media and general public with who they wanted to draft. Made everyone think that he wanted Chris Morris in the '88 draft so New Jersey took him at 4 then the Warriors got their guy, Mitch Richmond, at 5. Same with '93. Made everyone think that they wanted Shawn Bradley. Sixers then took Bradley at 2 then the Warriors pulled off the CWebb trade that ultimately backfired

I wonder if that includes the office and medical space or is it just the bowl and the immediate concourse area?

Wow I had no idea, good info.

I think the Warriors should have tried to make Nelson and Webber work together longer. They gave up too quickly.

Sometime in the 2000s, I heard a quote by Nelson that he wanted Webber to work on his post game more, but Webber would rather be a more versatile player.

I always thought Webber could have been more Malone or Pau Gasol like, with his post game. He had the rest of the skills they had, and was the better rebounder of the three. Actually I think probably a historically great rebounder for a power forward.

To me, Webber's post game was basically spinning and driving. Whereas the other two were better at backing men down with their strength.

Since Webber did end up in the Hall Of Fame, it's hard to say he could have been better, because at that point, it's being very particular.

Well I guess I usually do have something everyone could have done better. For Malone, it's FT shooting. And his rebounding just seems a little underwhelming. He got his rebounds because he played a lot of minutes, but also didn't seem to have those huge 16-19 rebound games.

More than anything. Gayle has made basketball operations a priority. It was embarrassing when George Shinn was the owner. He had absolutely no clue about basketball even after over a decade and a half of stewardship of the team. Rarely showed up to draft workouts to get to know the players but was always a sure bet to be at cheerleader tryouts. The reason that this was such a bad look was because part of the reason that he wore out his welcome in Charlotte was because of a sexual harassment lawsuit against him as well as his penchant for sleeping with the honeybee cheerleaders Back to Benson, she not only made basketball operations a priority but the team is more involved in the community. Like you said, they could do more marketing but it's a lot more than what was previous done during the Shinn regime Piggybacking off the marketing angle, I sort of see the marketing presence of various teams in a different light. The teams that aren't as well known or noticed usually have banners and what not all over the place as way of reminding people that they are there. I noticed this when Cohan was the Warriors owner. They never had to take out ads or anything like that during the Finnane/Fitzgerald regime due to always selling out games. When Cohan renovated Oracle Arena and brought the team back to Oakland from their one year stay in San Jose, I would see flags and banners all over south Oakland because the team's popularity was in the toilet and they needed to re-establish themselves Same with Charlotte. The Panthers were just a few years removed from the Super Bowl when the Bobcats came to be and Charlotte, despite being in a basketball state, was clearly more of a Panther....

For the numbers I've compiled for other arenas, it's hard to say what exactly they include.

The US Airways Arena (Phoenix) and Verizon Center (Washington) are both listed at 1,000,000+. So likely something else is included too. But I can't get that much detail.

Well to be fair, this was the question I asked the US Airways Center:

+++++++++++++

I was wondering how many square feet the US Airways Center is? That would be the facility and any surrounding area that is considered part of the property. Thanks.

So you visited Charlotte during the Bobcats period. That is cool.

Had you also been to Charlotte during the first iteration of the Hornets, which was the Shinn era? What was the marketing and community involvement like back then?

I'm glad they had decent promotions for the Bobcats, when Charlotte re-acquired a team.

From what I remember of Charlotte Bobcats playoffs games, they seemed well attended. It's just they rarely make the playoffs.

The Shinn era Hornets was better, but it appears the Bobcats have done their best to try and get as much of that back as possible.

It's a little surprising how quickly the Panthers achieved a foothold, but then again, the NFL seems to do that everywhere they go.

Also, back to the Shinn era Hornets: A sign of how popular they were, was that Hugo The Hornet was featured in both NBA Jam games.

What do you think about Michael Jordan going from majority to minority owner this offseason? Why do you think he did that?

I was actually thinking about the Webber thing the other day. It's funny how times have progressed or regressed depending on what side of the aisle you're on. Nowadays, there will be no attempt at reconciliation because of the power that the players and agents have. Nellie would be fired in a millisecond with no questions asked. The owner would call him into the office and say "you know how this works" then proceed to hand him his pink slip

Even back then, that's probably what should've happened. Cohan royally screwed up. He sided with Nellie which again, depending on what side of the aisle you're on, could be considered admirable but then he proceeded to fire Nellie 4 months later. Had we known he would fire Nellie all along, he might as well have caved to Webber's demands and bring in a player's coach

Footprint Center is attached to a parking structure. I have to think that accounts for the extra square footage because it's a basketball only facility. Those are usually smaller in square footage than their hockey counterparts

I didn't go to Charlotte during the original Hornet era. I briefly mentioned it yesterday when talking about New Orleans. I did a cross country trip to Miami by car. Nowadays, I do my twitter/x arena tours that I post here by flying from city to city because I simply don't have time to drive as I need to be back at work. However, when I used to be able to take 2 week vacations, I would drive from time to time. I had always wanted to do a cross country trip so as someone who vouched hard for NOLA to get a team and as someone who has always wanted to visit the bayou as well as South Florida, that was the perfect time to do it so year 1 in New Orleans was when I first started visiting arenas hence why I missed the Charlotte Hornets era

Jordan selling the Hornets is the best thing that could happen to that franchise. Charlotte fans have been victims to nothing but bad ownership from the get go. Shinn, then Bob Johnson then finally Jordan. All were terrible. I don't know anything about the new guys but hopefully for the sake of their fanbase, new ownership is better than any of the previous regimes

As far as why Jordan sold, I'm guessing more than anything, it's about money. He bought low so now he's selling high. He wanted to wait until the value of the team was high and then get out before doing too much damage to the product on the floor