New owner will mean new name, logo for Hornets soon

“Hornets” is not a name that fits with New Orleans.

It was a leftover from when George Shinn moved his team from Charlotte — a city nicknamed “the hornets’ nest” — but “Hornets” goes together with the spirit of New Orleans about as much as tacos go with gumbo.

New Hornets owner Tom Benson is a New Orleans native who gets the city. And you can put him on the list of people who wants a new name for the team. Tomorrow. Which is all that matters. Here is what Benson told the Times-Picayune:

“We need to find a name like (Jazz),” Benson said, referring to New Orleans first NBA team that relocated to Salt Lake City in 1979. “Whether we can get that or let us use that, you’ve got to know we’re working on it. We’d like to change it tomorrow. We have not gotten that approved, but we’re not letting up on it, either. Because we’ve got a good relationship with the commissioner and his people and we’re going to be on them daily to do something.”

At this point, Jazz is not going to happen, even though that name fits in Utah about as well as a crawfish boil. Look, Lakers fits a whole lot better in Minnesota than it does Los Angeles but they’re not giving it up either.

But there are a host of other potential names that can work and you can bet in a couple years Benson will have the Hornets called something appropriate.

And you know, that black and gold color scheme of the saints would look cool on an NBA uniform. Just sayin’.