1996–97 Charlotte Hornets season

1996–97 Charlotte Hornets season
Head coach	Dave Cowens
Owner(s)	George Shinn
Arena	Charlotte Coliseum
Results
Record	54–28 (.659)
Place	Division: 4th (Central) Conference: 5th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	East First Round (eliminated 0–3)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Fox Sports South, WJZY, WFVT
Radio	WBT

The 1996–97 Charlotte Hornets season was Charlotte's ninth season in the National Basketball Association, and first under new Head Coach Dave Cowens.^[1] The Hornets finished the season with a 54–28 record, and qualified for their third Playoff appearance. They faced the New York Knicks in the first round, but were swept in the best-of-five series. The Hornets led the NBA in attendance for the eighth and final time during their history in Charlotte. They also had the best three point percentage in NBA history with 42.8%.

NBA Draft

In the 1996 NBA Draft, the Hornets selected Kobe Bryant with the 13th overall pick. Before he was chosen by the Hornets, the 17-year-old Bryant had made a lasting impression on then-Lakers general manager Jerry West, who immediately foresaw potential in Bryant's basketball ability during pre-draft workouts. West even went on to state that Bryant's workouts were some of the best he had seen. Immediately after the draft, Bryant expressed that he did not wish to play for the Hornets and wanted to play for the Lakers instead. Fifteen days later, West traded his starting center, Vlade Divac to the Hornets for the young Kobe Bryant.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School
1	13	Kobe Bryant	SG	United States	Lower Merion HS

Roster

Charlotte Hornets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From SF 7 Addison, Rafael 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Syracuse PG 1 Bogues, Muggsy 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) 136 lb (62 kg) Wake Forest SG 30 Curry, Dell 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Virginia Tech PG 00 Delk, Tony 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 189 lb (86 kg) Kentucky C 12 Divac, Vlade 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 243 lb (110 kg) Yugoslavia C 52 Geiger, Matt 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 243 lb (110 kg) Georgia Tech PF 14 Mason, Anthony 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Tennessee State SG 21 Pierce, Ricky 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Rice SF 41 Rice, Glen 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Michigan PF 31 Rose, Malik 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Drexel SF 5 Royal, Donald 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Notre Dame SG 34 Smith, Tony 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Marquette	Head coach Dave Cowens (Florida State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Regular season

The new-look Hornets played better than expected: Vlade Divac and Matt Geiger provided the best center combo in the league, Anthony Mason averaged a double-double and earned all-NBA third team honors, and Glen Rice had the finest season of his career, finishing third in the league in scoring and earning all-NBA second team honors. Rice also set several scoring records in the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, and was selected the game's MVP. The Hornets sported the best season of their history at the time (54 victories), making it back to the playoffs where they were swept in the first round by the New York Knicks.

Season standings

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Chicago Bulls	69	13	.841	–	39–2	30–11	24–4
x-Atlanta Hawks	56	26	.683	13	36–5	20–21	17–11
x-Detroit Pistons	54	28	.659	15	30–11	24–17	17–11
x-Charlotte Hornets	54	28	.659	15	30–11	24–17	14–14
Cleveland Cavaliers	42	40	.512	27	25–16	17–24	13–15
Indiana Pacers	39	43	.476	30	21–20	18–23	11–17
Milwaukee Bucks	33	49	.402	36	20–21	13–28	10–18
Toronto Raptors	30	52	.366	39	18–23	12–29	6–22

Playoffs

1997 playoff game log
First round: 0–3 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–2) Game Date Time Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 24 @ New York L 99–109 Vlade Divac (27) Anthony Mason (13) Anthony Mason (5) Madison Square Garden 19,763 0–1 2 April 26 @ New York L 93–100 Glen Rice (39) Vlade Divac, Anthony Mason (12) 4-way tie (2) Madison Square Garden 19,763 0–2 3 April 28 New York L 95–104 Glen Rice (22) Anthony Mason (11) Glen Rice (9) Charlotte Coliseum 24,042 0–3
1997 playoff schedule

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

Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Rafael Addison	41	3	8.7	.402	.400	.786	1.1	0.8	0.2	0.1	3.1
Muggsy Bogues	65	65	28.9	.460	.417	.844	2.2	7.2	1.3	0.0	8.0
Scott Burrell	28	2	17.2	.344	.345	.792	2.8	1.4	0.5	0.4	5.4
Tom Chambers	12	5	6.9	.226	.667	.750	1.2	0.3	0.1	0.0	1.6
Dell Curry	68	20	30.6	.459	.426	.803	3.1	1.7	0.9	0.2	14.8
Tony Delk	61	1	14.2	.465	.464	.824	1.6	1.6	0.6	0.1	5.4
Vlade Divac	81	80	35.1	.494	.234	.683	9.0	3.7	1.3	2.2	12.6
Jamie Feick	3	0	3.3	.500	1.000	.000	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.7
Matt Geiger	49	13	21.3	.489	.300	.701	5.3	0.8	0.4	0.6	8.9
Anthony Goldwire	33	9	17.5	.403	.439	.750	1.2	2.8	0.6	0.0	5.8
Eric Leckner	1	0	11.0	.000			1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Anthony Mason	73	73	43.1	.525	.333	.745	11.4	5.7	1.0	0.5	16.2
Ricky Pierce	27	17	24.1	.502	.536	.889	2.5	1.8	0.5	0.1	12.0
Glen Rice	79	78	42.6	.477	.470	.867	4.0	2.0	0.9	0.3	26.8
Malik Rose	54	1	9.7	.477	.000	.613	3.0	0.6	0.5	0.3	3.0
Donald Royal	25	2	12.8	.525		.800	2.3	0.4	0.5	0.1	2.8
Tony Smith	69	39	18.7	.409	.323	.644	1.4	2.2	0.7	0.3	5.0
George Zidek	36	2	8.0	.388	.000	.781	1.8	0.3	0.1	0.1	2.5

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Muggsy Bogues	2	2	29.0	.579	.857	1.000	1.5	2.5	0.5	0.0	16.0
Dell Curry	3	1	16.7	.294	.250	1.000	0.3	1.7	1.3	0.0	4.7
Tony Delk	3	1	28.3	.419	.385		3.3	2.0	0.7	0.0	10.3
Vlade Divac	3	3	38.7	.457	.000	.800	8.7	3.3	1.0	2.0	18.0
Matt Geiger	3	0	10.3	.667		1.000	2.7	0.7	0.7	0.3	2.0
Anthony Mason	3	3	43.7	.421		.538	12.0	3.0	0.3	0.3	13.0
Ricky Pierce	3	2	29.0	.458	.143		2.7	1.3	0.7	0.0	7.7
Glen Rice	3	3	45.7	.491	.375	.913	3.7	3.7	1.3	0.3	27.7
Malik Rose	2	0	6.0	.500			2.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	2.0
Donald Royal	1	0	4.0	.000			2.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Tony Smith	2	0	4.5	.000	.000	.500	0.5	1.0	0.5	0.0	0.5

Awards and records

• Glen Rice, NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award
• Bob Bass, NBA Executive of the Year Award
• Glen Rice, All-NBA Second Team
• Anthony Mason, All-NBA Third Team
• Anthony Mason, NBA All-Defensive Second Team

Transactions

• July 11, 1996

Released Michael Adams.

Traded Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac.

Released Robert Parish.

• July 14, 1996

Traded Larry Johnson to the New York Knicks for Brad Lohaus and Anthony Mason.

• October 3, 1996

Signed Bob McCann as a free agent.

October 19, 1996

Signed Tony Smith as a free agent.

• October 31, 1996

Waived Brad Lohaus.

• January 6, 1997

Signed Jamie Feick to the first of two 10-day contracts.

• January 28, 1997

Signed Eric Leckner to a 10-day contract.

• January 30, 1997

Signed Tom Chambers to a contract for the rest of the season.

• February 20, 1997

Traded Scott Burrell to the Golden State Warriors for Donald Royal.

Traded Anthony Goldwire and George Zidek to the Denver Nuggets for Ricky Pierce.

• April 8, 1997

Waived Tom Chambers.

References

1. 1996-97 Charlotte Hornets

• Hornets on Database Basketball
• Hornets on Basketball Reference