George Shinn had more days like Monday during his tenure as majority owner of the New Orleans Hornets than he did any other kind of days.
He had more times when he literally or figuratively put his money where his mouth was — and Monday, the 69-year-old cancer survivor gave a $500,000 check to the Salvation Army from his foundation — than he had days when the goal or direction of his franchise appeared questionable.
So if you’re looking for a sledgehammer to be taken to his work and bile to be spewed at the mention of his name upon his return visit to New Orleans, keep looking.
As owner of the New Orleans Hornets, Shinn put in work to field a winning team, gave beyond his means to put the Hornets in position to be competitive.
I’m not sure more than that can be asked of a franchise owner.
“It’s been quite a situation,” Shinn said. “I enjoyed it. I’ve always enjoyed the Hornets and being involved. It’s been a great experience.
“I knew when I first got into this franchise — we paid $32.5 million for this franchise — and when we got to the point I made the decision to sell, the NBA bought it back for $300 million. From a financial standpoint, I knew I was going to be all right. But I knew that as you build debt you’re going to take away from money that you could (borrow), and we continued to build our debt to try to build the team.”
Reportedly, he accumulated long-term debt to the tune of $111 million.
Not all of it was player-related, of course. The Hornets never stacked max-money players like Miami and the Lakers, the payroll never threatened to top Dallas’ or Boston’s. But considering Shinn’s wealth — or lack thereof, compared to the members of the fraternity to which he belonged — New Orleans was a fairly-compensated outfit during his watch.
The Hornets have had max players past (Baron Davis) and present (Chris Paul), have paid well for other standout players years ago (Jamal Mashburn) and currently (David West, Emeka Okafor), and have spent unwisely more than a few times.
Given that Shinn never passed himself off as a Jerry Jones — he never pretended to know more about player evaluation than did the people he paid to know such matters, even though sometimes there’s no way he would’ve been more off base than them — he couldn’t be blamed for the groceries bought for the meal. Or even the meal itself.
All he did was pay for the ingredients, year in and year out.
“There were some mistakes made, sure,” he said. “Everybody makes mistakes, and we made mistakes — but I think the best decision we made was to come back to New Orleans.”
From Oklahoma City, that is, after a two-year relocation was forced by Hurricane Katrina, and it’s that episode for which there’s no pass for Shinn.
Yes, he paid players according to scale and often beyond, the latter group including Peja Stojakovic, James Posey and Morris Peterson. And, yes, he remains a colossus in terms of charitable acts and donations. He didn’t have to give away half a million bucks Monday, and the franchise always has made its presence felt.
But the flirtation with OKC wasn’t a small blip.
Rumors that the franchise wanted to relocate, while New Orleans fought to not sink in the aftermath of Katrina and everyone needed to climb aboard and help paddle, were damaging. More than rejection, the prevailing feeling was of abandonment. And whether or not the franchise economically could be viable — a legitimate deliberation for which the jury remains out — wasn’t a soothing excuse.
At that time, all New Orleans wanted was for its two franchises (the Saints were rumored to be angling to make San Antonio home) to try like hell to make it work, same as it expected of its returning citizens.
That far and away trumped the pre-Katrina mistake of hiring Tim Floyd as coach, not because Floyd wasn’t knowledgeable but because as the coach with the worst winning percentage in NBA history, he simply wasn’t the prudent choice for a veteran team that was touted as a title contender. He didn’t have the juice to command the locker room.
But if those were the two major lows under Shinn, they’re overshadowed by the rest.
The main responsibility of an owner is to spend the necessary funds to make his team relevant. Shinn did that.
Sure, it would’ve been wonderful if his personnel people more often had spent his money wisely, but at least he gave them what they needed to be successful.
“It’s been quite a traumatic experience for me,” Shinn said of selling the Hornets to the NBA.
By the way, a $350 million offer was on the table from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and was rejected by Shinn because he said the goal is to find a buyer who will keep the team in New Orleans.
“I’ve had ups and downs in my career with the Hornets, and I was just so determined not to turn it loose,” he said. “I just got back to my roots and got close to the Lord (after being diagnosed with cancer). It’s time for me to move on and do some positive things for the Lord. I really am committed to do that. The majority of the monies that I get from this transaction will go back into my foundation to do service to serve the Lord. That’s just the way I’m going to do it.
“It’s hard to describe. I tried to explain it like ... I’ve been through a divorce. When you get to a point and things split, it’s kind of hard. It takes a little time before you can get back and even speak to that person you divorced with, let alone come back and sit down and watch her cook or watch her shoot hoops, or whatever.”
Whether Shinn ever watches her, he did right by her when he was in New Orleans. What he spent, relative to his worth, said he was serious about winning.
It’s hard to hammer a guy who was willing to try.