Larry Bird seeks NBA team in Charlotte

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Posted 6:47AM on Tuesday, July 2, 2002

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Larry Bird has a simple explanation for why he wants to run a team that would replace the Charlotte Hornets. ``You've got to be where the action is,'' he said. The Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics great is part of a potential ownership group led by Boston-area businessman Steve Belkin. Bird made his first public appearance in Charlotte on Monday since announcing his intent to bring an expansion team to the city. Bird, like Los Angeles Lakers great Jerry West, wants to be the architect of a championship basketball team. West is now running the Memphis Grizzlies. ``I can't tell you how long it would take to make the playoffs,'' Bird said. ``But I'll be here a long time - so close the windows and lock the doors.'' Bird, who led the Celtics to three NBA titles in the 1980s and coached Indiana to an Eastern Conference title in 2000, is joined in the group by former Celtics player and coach M.L. Carr, currently president of the WNBA's Charlotte Sting. Bird would be the team's director of basketball operations and Carr would handle community relations. Belkin's group is negotiating with the NBA for a team to replace the Hornets, who moved to New Orleans after this year's playoffs. Belkin wants local owners to buy up to 40 percent of the team. Bird spoke after leading a basketball clinic for about 200 youngsters before the Sting played the Phoenix Mercury. Earlier in the day, he and Belkin met with city business and political leaders. Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said the conversation with the Belkin group was positive. He said he has met with Belkin's group and two other people interested in owning a new Charlotte team: Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson and Bob Sturges, a minority owner of the Miami Heat. Asked if he has a preference, McCrory said: ``It's basically the NBA's decision.'' He said he expects the NBA to be ready this month to negotiate a lease for a proposed $231 million city-owned arena. A primary reason the Hornets left was their owners' inability to win approval of an arena to replace the 14-year-old Charlotte Coliseum, which lacks luxury suites and premium seating. Bird said a big challenge would be rebuilding the trust that was lost during the Hornets' final seasons. After years of leading the NBA in attendance, the Hornets' support withered amid fans disenchanted with owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge. Bird was startled by the Hornets' departure. ``I couldn't believe it,'' he said. ``I didn't understand all of it. From what I hear, there were other issues. ... I think we can get the fan support back.'' Unlike his coaching stint in Indiana, where he kept a promise to stay just three years, Bird said his commitment in Charlotte would be open-ended. He said his family would move to Charlotte from Indiana. Bird doesn't think his stature gives his group an edge, though his partners believe otherwise. When Bird was asked about his group's biggest advantage, Carr - seated just behind Bird - pointed to his former teammate. ``Larry is a huge asset, not just in who he's been to the NBA, but also in his commitment to excellence,'' Belkin said. Belkin thinks the NBA will negotiate a lease with the city, then come to potential ownership groups with a franchise fee - expected to be from $200 million to $300 million. If more than one group is willing to pay the fee, he said, he expects the league to make a ``qualitative decision'' about which group gets the team. Belkin has said he wants a decision by September and for the team to begin play in the 2003-04 season. That would mean at least one season at the Coliseum before a new arena would be ready.