Wizapins History
Charlotte Observer - September 2, 2006
In 2003 the FBF brought basketball back to the Charlotte region to fill the void left in the North Carolinians hearts after ruthless owner Geroge Shinn moved the beloved Hornets to New Orleans.
Despite early success, the Charlotte fans were slow to embrace their new team. The fanbase felt uneasy about this new owner fearing that he may also leave the area for greener pastures when the opportunity presented itself.
Fearing a that history would repeat, the citizens of North Carolina banded together and were determined to create the first state owned franchise. Because of its firm religious ties the state could not raise the money needed by traditional means such as lottery and were forced to use non-traditional methods such as extortion, fraud and bake sales to raise the money to purchase the franchise. In 2004, the dream was realized when North Carolina was awarded a second FBF franchise.
In an effort not to invade the market of the Charlotte franchise, the Wizapins decided to call Central North Carolina home in hopes of duplicating the success of local college basketball powerhouses UNC and Duke.
Talent was thin in Year 1 as the team could only afford players who would play for ben-gay or other talented, but unknown prospects. The fledgling franchise won only 7 of 38 contests in the 04-05 season, but the fans flocked to the stadium due to the teams creative " 6th Man for a day" and "Bring Latrell to Work" promotions.
Following year 1 the fanbase was upbeat about their prospects for their future. Young talent like J.R. Smith, Trevor Ariza and Chris Wilcox showed flashes of potential and old timers like Latrell Sprewell and Joe Smith seemed healthy enough to not die during the off-season. To top it off the young franchise won the draft lottery and was awarded the number one overall pick in the Rookie draft.
Front office personnel were enamored with center Andrew Bogut, however the NC fans were clamoring for local product Chris Paul. Not wanting to create controversy the team decided to take the cowards way out and trade the pick. In the deal they got C/PF (Despite what Sportsline.com or realgm says) Carlos Boozer and a mid first round pick.
In a second shocking move the front office then dealt J.R. Smith and the mid-first for Allen Iverson and the #8 overall pick. It appeared that the second year franchise was determined to make a serious push to reward their fans and put a competetive product on the floor in 2005. But the excitement was short lived. In an expletive laced news conference in which AI mentioned practice 16 times Iverson made it clear that he was not the man to build a franchise around. In a hasty move the front office packaged him, Trevor Ariza, and the #8 for the unproven Shaun Livingston.
With that bold stupid move it was clear that management had absolutely no direction. To make matters worse Carlos Boozer spent the entire 2005/06 FBF season on the DL with a miriad of boo-boos and tweaks. Attendance waned and the Wizapins finished the season with just 1 victory.
The franchise in Charlotte was thriving with the addition of the one-minute-Wiz AI. Fans and State officials began questioning if it had been wise to form a second team. Rumors of contraction began to swirl and the fans couldn't have been more indifferent. But suddenly during the summer of 2006 the landscape of North Carolina Basketball changed. Just as feared Charlotte's owner was able to secure a lucrative deal to move the Charlotte franchise to Connecticut and suddenly the Wizapin were the only show in town.
Only time will tell if the Wiz will be winners, but at least they are here to stay.
In 2003 the FBF brought basketball back to the Charlotte region to fill the void left in the North Carolinians hearts after ruthless owner Geroge Shinn moved the beloved Hornets to New Orleans.
Despite early success, the Charlotte fans were slow to embrace their new team. The fanbase felt uneasy about this new owner fearing that he may also leave the area for greener pastures when the opportunity presented itself.
Fearing a that history would repeat, the citizens of North Carolina banded together and were determined to create the first state owned franchise. Because of its firm religious ties the state could not raise the money needed by traditional means such as lottery and were forced to use non-traditional methods such as extortion, fraud and bake sales to raise the money to purchase the franchise. In 2004, the dream was realized when North Carolina was awarded a second FBF franchise.
In an effort not to invade the market of the Charlotte franchise, the Wizapins decided to call Central North Carolina home in hopes of duplicating the success of local college basketball powerhouses UNC and Duke.
Talent was thin in Year 1 as the team could only afford players who would play for ben-gay or other talented, but unknown prospects. The fledgling franchise won only 7 of 38 contests in the 04-05 season, but the fans flocked to the stadium due to the teams creative " 6th Man for a day" and "Bring Latrell to Work" promotions.
Following year 1 the fanbase was upbeat about their prospects for their future. Young talent like J.R. Smith, Trevor Ariza and Chris Wilcox showed flashes of potential and old timers like Latrell Sprewell and Joe Smith seemed healthy enough to not die during the off-season. To top it off the young franchise won the draft lottery and was awarded the number one overall pick in the Rookie draft.
Front office personnel were enamored with center Andrew Bogut, however the NC fans were clamoring for local product Chris Paul. Not wanting to create controversy the team decided to take the cowards way out and trade the pick. In the deal they got C/PF (Despite what Sportsline.com or realgm says) Carlos Boozer and a mid first round pick.
In a second shocking move the front office then dealt J.R. Smith and the mid-first for Allen Iverson and the #8 overall pick. It appeared that the second year franchise was determined to make a serious push to reward their fans and put a competetive product on the floor in 2005. But the excitement was short lived. In an expletive laced news conference in which AI mentioned practice 16 times Iverson made it clear that he was not the man to build a franchise around. In a hasty move the front office packaged him, Trevor Ariza, and the #8 for the unproven Shaun Livingston.
With that bold stupid move it was clear that management had absolutely no direction. To make matters worse Carlos Boozer spent the entire 2005/06 FBF season on the DL with a miriad of boo-boos and tweaks. Attendance waned and the Wizapins finished the season with just 1 victory.
The franchise in Charlotte was thriving with the addition of the one-minute-Wiz AI. Fans and State officials began questioning if it had been wise to form a second team. Rumors of contraction began to swirl and the fans couldn't have been more indifferent. But suddenly during the summer of 2006 the landscape of North Carolina Basketball changed. Just as feared Charlotte's owner was able to secure a lucrative deal to move the Charlotte franchise to Connecticut and suddenly the Wizapin were the only show in town.
Only time will tell if the Wiz will be winners, but at least they are here to stay.
posted by pen1ney at
10:03 PM
1 Comments:
NICE!!!
By
Tweed, at 9:25 AM
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