In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, about the only thing familiar to New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets forward P.J. Brown was basketball. The rest of his life was upside down.
The hurricane and resulting flooding damaged his home and another house he was building in the New Orleans suburb of Slidell. For the first time in his 12-year NBA career, his wife, Dee, and four children will not be with him during the season. They are living in Houston. For this season, and possibly longer, the Hornets have moved to Oklahoma City.
“I pretty much lost everything, and my in-laws did, too,” said Brown, a Louisiana native. “I had damage to my property, water damage, some structural, wind damage. Myself, family, friends – everyone’s affected. (Luckily) I didn’t lose anybody. It’s tough.
“I’ve never been without family. This is new territory. I’m dealing with it the best I can.”
The Hornets and Nuggets open preseason play tonight at the Pepsi Center.
Hornets forward Chris Andersen, who lives in Harvey, a New Orleans suburb, was among the thousands of evacuees who left before the hurricane hit. The former Nugget went to his hometown of Iola, Texas, before spending time in Denver before the opening of training camp in Oklahoma City. He was one of the lucky ones. His home received minimal damage.
Seven of his friends now live in his house and are working in construction. He has yet to return to see the damage.
With no chance of playing a full season in New Orleans, the Hornets accepted an opportunity to play 35 regular-season games in Oklahoma City at the 19,674-seat Ford Center. The city provided a practice facility, office space and housing for employees. The Hornets are also scheduled to play six home games in Baton Rouge, La., but have the option of returning to New Orleans whenever it becomes logistically possible.
The Hornets might have a home-court advantage this season. They averaged an NBA-worst 14,221 fans last season, but in Oklahoma City they already have more than 7,000 season ticket-holders and are projected to sell out every game. The team has an option to play in Oklahoma City again next season.
“It will be interesting playing back in front of a packed stadium,” said Andersen, who is sidelined with a left knee injury. “The fans are fanatic about sports.”
Brown hopes the team eventually returns to New Orleans but knows the city has bigger issues to worry about.
Footnotes
The Nuggets will give tickets to about 200 Gulf Coast evacuees who are staying at the former Lowry Air Force Base in Aurora, as well as complimentary concessions. After the game, the team will host a private reception for evacuees with players from both teams. … Peggy Vandeweghe, wife of Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, is spearheading an effort to collect donations at tonight’s game for Katrina victims living in Denver through the charity RockWorks Foundation. “With the money, we can buy Thanksgiving dinner baskets,” she said. … Former Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins canceled a visit to Nuggets training camp to be with his ailing father. … Since Huggins’ recent dismissal at Cincy, Nuggets and ex-Cincinnati forward Kenyon Martin prefers that his high school, Dallas’ Bryan Adams, be mentioned when he’s introduced instead of his college. “If they don’t do that, we’ll have a problem,” he said. … Despite strong praise for Voshon Len- ard, Nuggets coach George Karl said DerMarr Johnson would start at shooting guard tonight.
Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
