ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230119
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.
SOURCE: Associated Press
CHARLOTTE FAILED to make the playoffs with a roster of aging veterans and expensive free agents.
It took nearly six months for the Charlotte Hornets to confirm what many people suspected on Nov. 3.
That was the opening day of the NBA season, and it also was the day the team traded Alonzo Mourning after the All-Star center rejected a proposed $11.2 million salary as inadequate.
The six-player deal that sent Mourning to Miami prompted many Charlotte fans to question whether their 7-year-old franchise could continue its ascent without him. The Hornets were coming off a club-record 50 victories last season, and there was talk this could be the year Charlotte joined the league's elite.
But without Mourning, the Hornets discovered it's impossible to battle for NBA supremacy if you can't even qualify for the postseason.
``We went from a top team in the East to a team that's out of the playoffs,'' said former Virginia Tech star Dell Curry, one of only two original Hornets still on the team's roster. ``I think that started the breakup right there - Alonzo Mourning. Where it goes from here, who knows?''
The Hornets dropped four of their last six games and were overtaken by the Mourning-led Heat for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Charlotte's 41-41 record and wildly inconsistent play down the stretch spawned talk of potential changes, beginning with Allan Bristow, another former Tech player and the Hornets' coach the past five years. Bristow, who has one year remaining on his contract, was to be the subject of discussions this week between team owner George Shinn and Bob Bass, the Hornets' head of basketball operations.
The roster, which underwent substantial changes throughout the season, could see several more in the coming months.
For starters, point guard Kenny Anderson, acquired in a four-player deal with New Jersey in January, is a free agent.
``I really love it here,'' Anderson said, ``but I'm keeping my options open. I'm going to sit down with my agent and see what's best for me.''
Center Robert Parish, who will turn 43 in August, is considering coming back for a 21st NBA season, but it may not be with the Hornets. The club has to decide by July 1 whether it will pick up the option on Parish's contract for 1996-97, which calls for him to be paid $3 million.
Charlotte, which has two first-round selections in the June 26 draft, also must decide if it wants to be actively involved in the free-agent market, where one likely target would be Denver center Dikembe Mutombo.
Then there's the matter of third-year forward Scott Burrell, Charlotte's best defender; ninth-year point guard Muggsy Bogues, who joins Curry as the only remaining original Hornets; and point guard Michael Adams, who recently turned 33. Injuries limited the three to a combined 47 games this year.
Burrell, who missed all but 20 games with shoulder and leg problems, has been hampered by various injuries since he joined the league, sidelining him for 110 of a possible 246 games.
Bogues, who will turn 32 next year, never recovered from off-season knee surgery that limited him to six games in 1995-96.
Adams, bothered by various groin and hamstring injuries for several years, played in 21 games.
How much difference would it have made if the trio had been healthy all season?
``It would have helped a lot,'' Curry said, ``but they're not centers, they're not shot-blockers, they're not rebounders. They're not big, physical low-post players, and that's what we missed this year.''
Center Matt Geiger, acquired in the Mourning deal, had the best numbers of his career, but he also fouled out a league-high 11 times.
Add it all up, and you get a Charlotte team that handed the Bulls their only home loss of the season - then followed it up two nights later with one of the worst home losses in the Hornets' history.
Bristow called the inconsistency a natural result of the team's lack of depth.
``This team couldn't win ugly,'' he said. ``We had to play good even against the bad teams. Hey, we just didn't quite have enough parts in there, whether it was for injuries or whatever. We had to have all our parts working for us to be effective.''
The Hornets did not name a most valuable player this season. Last season, that honor went to Mourning.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Bristow KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB