Expansion Teams Are Setting Their Sights Low

There are no giant billboards, like the ones in Dallas that ask, “Don’t You Miss Us?” because there hasn’t been anything to miss. No streaks for consecutive sellouts -- a la Sacramento, Boston or Portland -- because Game 1 has yet to be played. So while the rest of the National Basketball Association prepares to open its season this weekend amid talk of improving or repeating last season’s great performances, in Charlotte and Miami, it will be enough just to make the opening tipoff.

“It’s pretty different,” said Robert Reid, a 6-foot-8 swingman who joined the Charlotte Hornets after 10 seasons with the oft-competitive Houston Rockets. “Normally you’re talking about winning the division, winning the conference and getting to the finals. Here, we just talk about making each game better than the last one.”

Barring a miracle, Charlotte’s last game will be April 23 at Boston, with the Miami Heat finishing up the night before in Houston. Sixteen other teams will continue play and some two months later, the league’s 42nd champion will be crowned.

As has usually been the case during the 1980s, most of the title talk revolves around the Los Angeles Lakers. Winners in five of the last nine years, last season the Lakers fulfilled a bold promise by Coach Pat Riley and became the first NBA team in 19 years to repeat as champions, beating the Detroit Pistons in the seventh game of the finals.

Now for the Lakers, the challenge is emerging from what may be the most competitive season in league history. Just to get to the finals last year, Los Angeles had to survive seven-game series against Utah and Dallas. Both of those teams should be improved this season. Denver, which won the Midwest Division last year but stumbled because of injury in the playoffs, added Walter Davis to a talented cast and Seattle, conference finalists two years ago, added last season’s leading rebounder, Michael Cage, to an already rugged group.

In the East, Detroit will have to overcome its own volitile team chemistry, then deal with an aging Boston Celtics squad ready to make one last push at glory, plus the Atlanta Hawks, who traded for high-scoring guard Reggie Theus then signed free agent center Moses Malone. The expectations are that the Celtics will go on to win their fifth straight division title, perhaps pressured only by the New York Knicks, led by the 1988 rookie of the year, Mark Jackson and former Georgetown star Patrick Ewing.

At the other end of the spectrum, it may be true that clothes make the man, but for the Hornets, clad in designer uniforms of teal, purple and white, courtesy of Charlotte native Alexander Julian, clothes aren’t likely to make a winner. Judging from their publicity, the Heat’s colors should be black and blue -- an indication of their physical style in the exhibition season.

Miami’s coach is Ron Rothstein, who, while an assistant with the Detroit Pistons, coordinated a defense that catapulted the team to the championship series last season. That group evoked comparisons with the Los Angeles Raiders of the NFL -- complete with silver-and-black paraphernalia from owner Al Davis. This group may be closer to the 1962 New York Mets.

“If Charlotte wins 15 games this season, they will have had a good year. I’m not sure Miami will do that well,” said Pat Williams, president of the Orlando Magic, which will begin its maiden season in 1989.

Fifteen wins would equal the number of games won by the Dallas Mavericks eight years ago in their first season, but that’s about the only comparison between then and now. The Mavericks paid $12 million for the right to join the NBA and sold 3,900 season tickets for their first season. The cost for Charlotte and Miami was $32.5 million, and each team was required to sell 10,000 seats.

The Heat reportedly had trouble reaching that figure but now boasts a season-ticket base of 12,200 in the 15,800-seat Miami Arena, with eight games already sold out. In Charlotte, the Coliseum seats about 23,500, and the team has sold 14,500 season tickets.

The quality of play in both buildings may be reminicent of the Mavericks’ early years but it’s doubtful whether either will be able to match Dallas’ mark of an improved record in each of its first seven seasons. That Dallas has become one of the league’s elite teams in such a short period hasn’t evoked false hopes on the part of the newest entries.

For one thing, Dallas was buttressed by a number of extra first-round draft picks, acquired after some questionable deals by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Today’s clubs don’t have the luxury of making mistakes with their draft choices and, although Rex Chapman (Charlotte) and Rony Seikaly (Miami) appear to be solid initial choices, the Hornets and Heat will have to take their lumps.

“I don’t know if we can truly be thought of as competitive,” said Charlotte Coach Dick Harter, a former assistant with the Indiana Pacers. “Realistically, we have people other teams didn’t want or didn’t really think highly of.”

Both Harter and General Manager Carl Scheer have stressed that the team’s progress can’t be measured in wins and losses, but the Hornets seem to have hedged their bets somewhat. Where Miami traded many of its choices in the June dispersal draft -- Darnell Valentine went to Cleveland, Fred Roberts to Milwaukee -- for future draft picks, Charlotte has tried to form a competitive nucleus by keeping players like Reid, Dell Curry and former Washington Bullet Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues. The Hornets also traded for forward Kelly Tripucka and signed a big-money free agent, Kurt Rambis, from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tripucka, who averaged 14 points a game during the exhibition season, figures to be the focal point of the Charlotte offense. He’ll likely be joined by Rambis, Reid, Dave Hoppen and Rickey Green in the starting lineup, with Bogues and Chapman providing depth at at least one position.

“With what we’ve got now I honestly think we can win at least 25 games,” said Reid. “We’re way ahead of Miami; we’re talking about running the ball with other teams -- the only thing we lack is a big man, and everybody’s looking for that.”

Williams said: “Miami will be an underdog every night -- including when they play Charlotte. The decisions they’ve made may be costly today but could be parlayed into success later. Charlotte has moved with an eye towards winning today -- time will tell who did the right thing.”