The 1990–91 Charlotte Hornets season was the third season for the Charlotte Hornets in the National Basketball Association. The city of Charlotte, North Carolina hosted the NBA All-Star weekend at the Charlotte Coliseum this season, which featured the 1991 NBA All-Star Game.
Season summary
Off-season The Hornets received the fifth overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Kendall Gill from the University of Illinois. During the off-season, the team signed free agent Johnny Newman. After playing in the Midwest Division in the Western Conference the previous season, the Hornets returned to the Eastern Conference, and moved into the Central Division this season.
Regular season With the addition of Newman and Gill, the Hornets started to show improvement playing around .500 in winning percentage, with an 8–7 start to the regular season in November. However, the team continued to struggle as they posted an 11-game losing streak in December afterwards. In January, the team traded Armen Gilliam to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Mike Gminski. The Hornets later on held a 14–33 record at the All-Star break. The franchise improved seven games over the previous season, finishing in last place in the Central Division with a 26–56 record; however, the team finished last place in their division for the third consecutive year.
Newman averaged 16.9 points and 1.2 steals per game, while Rex Chapman averaged 15.7 points and 3.6 assists per game, and Gminski provided the team with 11.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in 50 games after the trade. In addition, second-year forward J.R. Reid provided with 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while Gill contributed 11.0 points, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Muggsy Bogues provided with 7.0 points, 8.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Off the bench, Dell Curry contributed 10.6 points per game, while Kenny Gattison averaged 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, and Kelly Tripucka provided with 7.0 points per game.
During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, Chapman and Gill both participated in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest; it was the second consecutive appearance for Chapman in the Slam Dunk Contest. Chapman also finished tied in eighth place in Most Improved Player voting. The Hornets led the NBA in home-game attendance for the second time in three seasons, with an attendance of 978,141 at the Charlotte Coliseum during the regular season.
Aftermath Following the season, Tripucka retired, and Gene Littles resigned as head coach.
Offseason
NBA draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 5 Kendall Gill SG/SF Illinois 2 39 Steve Scheffler C/PF Purdue
Roster
Regular season
Season standings
z – clinched division title y – clinched division title x – clinched playoff spot
Game log
Player statistics
Ragular season PlayerSG82 36 1,944 263 303 104 39 906 23.7 3.2 3.7 1.3 .5 11.0SF 81 81 2,477 254 188 100 17 1,371 30.6 3.1 2.3 1.2 .2 16.9PG 81 46 2,299 216 669 137 3 568 28.4 2.7 8.3 1.7 .0 7.0C 80 80 2,467 502 89 87 47 902 30.8 6.3 1.1 1.1 .6 11.3SF 77 1 1,289 176 159 33 13 541 16.7 2.3 2.1 .4 .2 7.0SG 76 14 1,515 199 166 75 25 802 19.9 2.6 2.2 1.0 .3 10.6PF 72 6 1,552 379 44 48 67 650 21.6 5.3 .6 .7 .9 9.0PG 70 68 2,100 191 250 73 16 1,102 30.0 2.7 3.6 1.0 .2 15.7†C 50 50 1,405 381 60 24 22 572 28.1 7.6 1.2 .5 .4 11.4SF 44 0 473 100 18 22 15 140 10.8 2.3 .4 .5 .3 3.2†C 40 2 744 208 21 10 11 230 18.6 5.2 .5 .3 .3 5.8C 39 0 227 45 9 6 2 59 5.8 1.2 .2 .2 .1 1.5†PF 25 25 949 234 27 34 21 494 38.0 9.4 1.1 1.4 .8 19.8†C 19 0 112 30 3 2 1 44 5.9 1.6 .2 .1 .1 2.3PF 9 1 159 36 3 0 3 17 17.7 4.0 .3 .0 .3 1.9PG 7 0 50 4 9 3 1 17 7.1 .6 1.3 .4 .1 2.4PF 3 0 43 9 1 1 1 13 14.3 3.0 .3 .3 .3 4.3
Awards and records Kendall Gill, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team
Transactions July 28, 1990
Signed Johnny Newman as an unrestricted free agent. August 29, 1990
Signed Jim Les as a free agent. September 5, 1990
Waived Brian Rowsom. October 23, 1990
Waived Jim Les. October 24, 1990
Waived Andre Turner. October 30, 1990
Waived Richard Anderson.
Waived Mike Holton. January 4, 1991
Traded Armen Gilliam and Dave Hoppen to the Philadelphia 76ers for Mike Gminski. January 22, 1991
Signed Scott Haffner to the first of two 10-day contracts.
Signed Jeff Sanders to a 10-day contract. January 29, 1991
Traded a 1993 2nd round draft pick (Alex Holcombe was later selected) and a 1995 2nd round draft pick (Dejan Bodiroga was later selected) to the Sacramento Kings for Eric Leckner. January 31, 1991
Waived Jeff Sanders. February 11, 1991
Signed Scott Haffner to a contract for the rest of the season. April 17, 1991
Robert Reid signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Philadelphia 76ers. May 31, 1991
Waived Steve Scheffler.
Player Transactions Citation:
References