It Is Official, The Hornets Will Become The Pelicans

In early December I wrote a post about the New Orleans Hornets possibly changing their name to New Orleans Pelicans, it turns out that the rumors proved true. Last night the New Orleans Hornets made an announcement that beginning next season they will be known as the New Orleans Pelicans. I would not be surprised if the Charlotte Bobcats try to reclaim the Hornets name now.

 

They have released images of the 5 new Pelicans logos and Tom Benson said that in the coming months they will present the new uniform. I like the main logo, it is pretty difficult to make an intimidating Pelican but the designers did a great job, plus they incorporated Louisiana and New Orleans culture in to the design.

 

The New Orleans Pelicans?

Rumor out of New Orleans is that Tom Benson intends to make the Hornets more of a Louisiana team, leaving their Charlotte history behind, and changing the name to New Orleans Pelicans. The colors will also change from teal and purple to red, gold and navy blue.

 

Louisiana is the Pelican State plus a minor league baseball team in New Orleans had the name Pelicans from 1887-1959 so Benson is looking to connect more with the city, something George Shinn would have never done. What is interesting is that last month Michael Jordan had made a comment during an interview that he had an interest of bringing the Hornets name back to Charlotte so it makes you wonder if this name change has already been given the green light by the NBA.

 

I am not sure how I feel about the name “Pelicans”; I do not dislike it I guess it will just take some time to get a feel for it. It is definitely better than “Thunder”, but Clay Bennett is an ass so I guess we got the best out of him with that name.

 

I put together a “What If?” uniform for Anthony Davis using the new color pattern and added a Pelican logo on the leg of the shorts. I didn’t alternate the pin striping like the current uniform (which alternates purple and teal) instead going with a continuous red to match the leg center stripe. The gold trim remained the same as the current uniform.