1988–89 Charlotte Hornets season

1988–89 Charlotte Hornets season
Inaugural NBA season
Head coach	Dick Harter
Owner(s)	George Shinn
Arena	Charlotte Coliseum
Results
Record	20–62 (.244)
Place	Division: 6th (Atlantic) Conference: 12th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	WCCB
Radio	WBT

The 1988–89 Charlotte Hornets season was Charlotte's inaugural season in the National Basketball Association. The Hornets, along with the Miami Heat, began play as expansion teams during the season.^[1] Led by ex-Pistons guard Kelly Tripucka, The Hornets finished the season with a record of 20 wins and 62 losses, and led the NBA in attendance, becoming the first expansion team to do so. Charlotte also set an all-time NBA attendance record, which was broken by Minnesota the following season.

Offseason

Expansion draft

The team's roster was filled as a result of an expansion draft in 1988. In a coin flip, the Hornets earned the right to choose either the higher choice in the college draft or the first pick in the expansion draft, picking the former.^[2] Most teams use such drafts to pick young players and guarantee a future, but Charlotte chose veterans in order to get a competitive lineup right away.^[1]

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Former Team
2	Dell Curry	Guard-Forward	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers
4	Dave Hoppen	Center-Forward	United States	Golden State Warriors
6	Tyrone Bogues	Point Guard	United States	Washington Bullets
8	Mike Brown^a	Forward-Center	United States	Chicago Bulls
10	Rickey Green	Point Guard	United States	Utah Jazz
12	Michael Holton	Point Guard	United States	Portland Trail Blazers
14	Michael Brooks^b	Small Forward	United States	Denver Nuggets
16	Bernard Thompson^c	Guard-Forward	United States	Phoenix Suns
18	Ralph Lewis	Guard-Forward	United States	Detroit Pistons
20	Clinton Wheeler^d	Point Guard	United States	Indiana Pacers
22	Sedric Toney^b	Point Guard	United States	New York Knicks

• ^ Traded for Kelly Tripucka from the Utah Jazz ^[3]
• ^ Waived before the season.^[3]
• ^ Traded for Robert Reid from the Houston Rockets.^[4]
• ^ Sent to Portland Trail Blazers.^[3]

Also sent were Kurt Rambis of the Los Angeles Lakers and Earl Cureton of the Philadelphia 76ers.^[5]

NBA Draft

Subsequent to the expansion draft, Charlotte was given the eight pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. They selected Rex Chapman, a shooting guard out of University of Kentucky.^[1]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	8	Rex Chapman	Shooting Guard	United States	Kentucky
2	34	Tom Tolbert	Forward/Center	United States	Arizona
3	53	Jeff Moore	Power Forward	United States	Tennessee State

Roster

Charlotte Hornets 1988-89 roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From PG 1 Bogues, Muggsy 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) 136 lb (62 kg) Wake Forest SG 3 Chapman, Rex 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Kentucky C 25 Cureton, Earl 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Detroit SG 30 Curry, Dell 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Virginia Tech PG 14 Green, Rickey 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Michigan PG 6 Holton, Mike 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) California C 42 Hoppen, Dave 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Nebraska PF 41 Kempton, Tim 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Notre Dame C 32 Kite, Greg 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Brigham Young SG 22 Lewis, Ralph 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) La Salle PF 31 Rambis, Kurt 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 213 lb (97 kg) Santa Clara SF 50 Reid, Robert 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Saint Mary's PF 32 Rowsom, Brian 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) UNC-W SF 23 Tolbert, Tom 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Arizona SF 7 Tripucka, Kelly 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Notre Dame	Head coach Dick Harter (University of Pennsylvania) Assistant coach(es) Gene Littles Ed Badger Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Regular season

The Hornets played their first season in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division.^[6] The team's first official NBA game took place on November 4, 1988, at the Charlotte Coliseum, and was a 133–93 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.^[7] Despite the huge loss, the Hornets received a standing ovation at the end of the game. November 8, 1988, the team won their first game over the Los Angeles Clippers, 117–105.^[8] On December 23, 1988, the Hornets defeated Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 103–101 at the buzzer in Jordan's first return to North Carolina as a professional.^[9] During the season, Kelly Tripucka led the franchise with 22.6 points per game. Despite the Hornets mostly poor play (typical for an expansion franchise), the Hornets led the NBA in attendance during the season.

Season standings

Atlantic Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-New York Knicks	52	30	.634	–	35–6	17–24	18–12
x-Philadelphia 76ers	46	36	.561	6	30–11	16–25	19–11
x-Boston Celtics	42	40	.512	10	32–9	10–31	19–11
Washington Bullets	40	42	.488	12	30–11	10–31	17–13
New Jersey Nets	26	56	.317	26	17–24	9–32	9–21
Charlotte Hornets	20	62	.244	32	12–29	8–33	8–22

#	Eastern Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Detroit Pistons	63	19	.768	–
2	y-New York Knicks	52	30	.634	11
3	x-Cleveland Cavaliers	57	25	.695	6
4	x-Atlanta Hawks	52	30	.634	11
5	x-Milwaukee Bucks	49	33	.598	14
6	x-Chicago Bulls	47	35	.573	16
7	x-Philadelphia 76ers	46	36	.561	17
8	x-Boston Celtics	42	40	.512	21
9	Washington Bullets	40	42	.488	23
10	Indiana Pacers	28	54	.341	35
11	New Jersey Nets	26	56	.317	37
12	Charlotte Hornets	20	62	.244	43

z - clinched division title

y - clinched division title

x - clinched playoff spot

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Muggsy Bogues	79	21	22.2	.426	.077	.750	2.1	7.8	1.4	0.1	5.4
Rex Chapman	75	44	29.6	.414	.314	.795	2.5	2.3	0.9	0.3	16.9
Earl Cureton	82	41	25.0	.501	.000	.537	6.0	1.6	0.6	0.7	6.5
Dell Curry	48	0	16.9	.491	.345	.870	2.2	1.0	0.9	0.1	11.9
Rickey Green	33	2	11.2	.432	.200	.929	0.7	2.5	0.5	0.0	3.9
Mike Holton	67	60	25.3	.427	.214	.839	1.6	6.3	1.0	0.2	8.3
Dave Hoppen	77	36	18.4	.564	.500	.727	5.0	0.7	0.3	0.3	6.5
Tim Kempton	79	0	17.0	.510	.000	.686	3.8	1.3	0.5	0.1	6.1
Greg Kite	12	12	17.8	.533		.600	4.4	0.6	0.3	0.7	3.2
Ralph Lewis	42	0	8.0	.479	.333	.487	1.5	0.4	0.3	0.1	3.2
Sidney Lowe	14	0	17.9	.320	.000	.636	2.4	6.6	1.0	0.0	1.6
Kurt Rambis	75	75	29.8	.518	.000	.734	9.4	2.1	1.3	0.8	11.1
Robert Reid	82	54	26.2	.428	.327	.776	3.7	1.9	0.6	0.2	14.2
Brian Rowsom	34	0	15.2	.494	1.000	.802	4.0	0.7	0.3	0.4	6.6
Tom Tolbert	14	0	8.4	.459	.000	.500	1.5	0.5	0.1	0.3	2.9
Kelly Tripucka	71	65	32.4	.467	.357	.866	3.8	3.2	1.2	0.3	22.6

Awards and records

• Rex Chapman, NBA All-Rookie Team 2nd Team

Transactions

• July 1, 1988

Released Clinton Wheeler.

• July 18, 1988

Signed Earl Cureton as a free agent.

Traded Bernard Thompson to the Houston Rockets for Robert Reid and a 1990 2nd round draft pick (Steve Scheffler was later selected).

• July 28, 1988

Signed Kurt Rambis as an unrestricted free agent.

• August 17, 1988

Signed Tim Kempton as a free agent.

• October 6, 1988

Signed Brian Rowsom as a free agent.

• October 17, 1988

Released Sedric Toney.

• December 30, 1988

Waived Tom Tolbert.

• February 22, 1989

Waived Rickey Green.

• March 27, 1989

Signed Sidney Lowe to the first of two 10-day contracts.

• March 29, 1989

Signed Greg Kite to a contract for the rest of the season.

Waived Ralph Lewis.

References

1. 1988-89: Charlotte Stocks Roster With Veterans nba.com/hornets, accessed 25 April 2008.
2. Goldaper, Sam (1988-06-14). "Charlotte Is Betting On College Draft". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
3. Expansion Drafts Revisited, HoopsAnalyst
4. "Sports People; Rockets Trade Reid". The New York Times. 1988-07-19. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
5. Charlotte Buzzing Over the Hornets, The New York Times
6. 1988-89 Standings, nba.com/history, accessed 16 June 2007.
7. Cleveland Cavaliers at Charlotte Hornets, basketball-reference.com, 4 November 1988, accessed 25 April 2008.
8. Los Angeles Clippers 105, Charlotte Hornets 117
9. Jennifer Armstrong, The Times-Picayune. "1988 Charlotte Hornets started off with a bang, became wildly popular with their fans | NOLA.com". Blog.nola.com. Retrieved 2012-11-07.

External links

• Expansion Draft Details