Heels should put Bobcats on better footing with fans.

• Author: Roush, Chris
• Position: Charlotte Bobcats

The excuses must stop. The Charlotte Bobcats had the second-worst attendance in the National Basketball Association last season. The team and its apologists blame it on the city's former franchise, on a poorly designed television package, on playing in an old building. They probably even blame it on Rio or the rain.

They need to face facts: This season, the team's second, will say a lot about the NBA's future in the Queen City. Elements necessary for success are in place. The franchise will play in a new arena, with two hugely popular rookies from UNC Chapel Hill's national championship team as key players. If those factors don't translate into a lot more fans in the stands, it would be hard not to conclude that Charlotte just isn't NBA material anymore.

That conclusion would have seemed ridiculous in 1989 when a second-year NBA team with the fifth pick selected a Tar Heel in an effort to connect with its fan base. The team was the Charlotte Hornets; the player was UNC All-American J.R. Reid. In 3 1/2 mostly lackluster seasons, Reid never averaged more than 11 points per game, and the Hornets never made the playoffs. They finally traded him.

Back then, Charlotte was so crazy for pro basketball that Reid's disappointing play didn't matter at the gate. The Hornets sold out every home game from 1988 to 1995--and might have even if they had drafted J.R. Ewing. As it turned out, the team built a playoff contender around its next three first-round picks: Kendall Gill, Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning.

The Bobcats have high hopes for their top two rookies, point guard Raymond Felton, the fifth pick in this year's draft, and forward Sean May, the 13th selection. While team officials admit the presence of the two Tar Heels will help sell tickets to the large UNC fan base in Charlotte, they also have gone to great lengths to maintain that Felton and May were the best players available when they were picked. But then, that's what the Hornets said when they drafted Reid.

The Bobcats can't afford Reid-like performances from Felton and May. Zeal for pro basketball isn't what it used to be in the Queen City and the Carolinas. Part of the blame lies with the hangover from the Hornets, who moved to New Orleans in 2002 after the team's romance with Charlotte soured and fans turned their backs on owner George Shinn.

It was bad enough that he couldn't re-sign the team's best players. He also couldn't stay off Court TV, which broadcast his civil trial after a...