George Shinn City Quotations

It's absolutely great for the city. It will be one of the craziest weekends that this city has ever had. And the international exposure you get is incredible. It puts the international spotlight on this city.

You have been absolutely incredible and we are so grateful. Tonight is a celebration for Oklahoma City with what you have done for us. We will never forget this. We are so grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When we come back and what we do is a real good question. We're looking at Oklahoma City and here in Baton Rouge. Playing in the Arena has good and bad possibilities. If we could do it in a way that we'd have a full crowd, it would be ecstatic. If we have 1,500 people, it would be horrible. That might send a signal there was no hope there.

When we go back to New Orleans, this city will get a franchise, I'm convinced. Whether the NBA is smart enough to come here or the NHL or the NFL or baseball, somebody will come here. This market is going to be too good for them to pass up.

When we go back to New Orleans, this city will get a franchise, I'm convinced, ... Whether the NBA is smart enough to come here or the NHL or the NFL or baseball, somebody will come here. This market is going to be too good for them to pass up.

We are going to prove to the world that Oklahoma City is a major league city.

Fortunately, Oklahoma City is an ideal home for this season and we greatly appreciate the good will shown by Mayor Cornett and the local business community.

We need to make sure everything is ready so we can sell tickets and promote it. We don't want to embarrass the city and have only 1,500 people show up.

The thing everybody's got to remember is our goal is simple. We want to play in New Orleans. That's our home. But we can't. We can't come back even if the facility was clean because there's nobody else there. The city will come back. We don't know how long it will take, therefore we've got to find a temporary home.

I don't think there's a better city in the country to have an All-Star Game because of all the hotel rooms they have and all the restaurants. Is everything going to be open? I don't know the answer to that. The league, they're not guaranteeing they're going to have the All-Star Game.

It's been absolutely incredible. We've set standards for the entire NBA and Oklahoma City has proven it is a major league city.

Like so many businesses and families uprooted by Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets were forced to leave New Orleans while the city recovers from this tragedy,

The people in Oklahoma City ... have stepped up and proved to the whole world that they are a major-league city. We are very blessed to be here, very fortunate to be here. We're looking forward to next year with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of excitement.

Right now, I think everybody's got to accept the fact that New Orleans is not ready for this coming season. They're not ready, so we should play in Oklahoma City next year, and then start working and putting everything together to come back.

New Orleans is our home, and we are committed to rebuilding that great city and playing there again. But at the same time, we feel that it's important to acknowledge the way Oklahoma has embraced this team. Wearing an Oklahoma City jersey is the biggest way we can say thank you for a very special season.

This law is important because it allows us to continue to offer our fans in Oklahoma City the most affordable tickets in the NBA.