The hope is Stars boost N. Orleans

Hornets attendance is low since Katrina struck the city.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Reminiscing about record crowds and the excitement of working in the NBA should be expected from someone like Bill Bertka, a longtime scouting director for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Yet the topic of discussion wasn’t all those Lakers championships. It was his stint as an executive for the New Orleans Jazz in the 1970s.

“It was terrific. I’ve never forgotten the raw enthusiasm, especially the second year when we went into the Superdome,” Bertka recalled during a phone interview this week. “Of course, we had Pete Maravich and Pete was on top of his game.”

Attendance figures contradict common assumptions that the Jazz fled New Orleans because of a lack of fan interest. During three of their five seasons in New Orleans, despite never making the playoffs, the Jazz drew at or above the NBA average (which back then ranged between 10,000 and 11,000).

When the Philadelphia 76ers visited New Orleans in November 1977, a then-NBA single-game record crowd of 35,077 turned out.

“The New Orleans basketball fan is just as passionate as fans anywhere,” Bertka said. “The critical thing is institutional support.”

Many see this weekend’s All-Star festivities as a launching point for fans in New Orleans to prove Bertka’s point.

Attendance has been low since the Hornets’ full-time return this season following a two-year, Hurricane Katrina-forced displacement to Oklahoma City. Sellouts have been rare despite the Hornets’ 36-15 record and the emergence of Chris Paul and David West as All-Stars.

It’s nothing like the euphoria that greeted the return of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, who’ve sold out all of their games during the past two seasons and having a season ticket waiting list of more than 25,000.

“New Orleans has always been a football-dominant type of city,” said basketball Hall-of-Famer Gail Goodrich, who played for the Jazz in New Orleans and is now an NBA TV analyst. “So whether basketball can survive, there’s probably still lot of questions out on table and only time will tell.”

While the Hornets’ attendance average of 12,645 remains near the bottom of the NBA, crowds have averaged more than 15,000 for the past four home games. A sellout crowd showed up last Saturday night for a victory over Memphis.

Hornets spokesman Harold Kaufman said there has been a spike in ticket sales in recent weeks, though there haven’t been any advance sellouts yet.

Good or bad, Hornets attendance figures will make news this year and next, thanks to an unusual lease in which team owner George Shinn has essentially placed the franchise’s future in the hands of New Orleans fans.

From last Dec. 1 through the end of the 2008-09 regular season, an average attendance figure of 14,735 or better will eliminate an opt-out clause that would allow Shinn to move his team before the lease expires in 2014.

The benchmark is a modest one which would still place the Hornets in the bottom third of the NBA in attendance. The Hornets can live with that because corporate support has been solid and suite sales stronger than before the storm, though they would certainly like to do better.

For the games included in the count so far, attendance has averaged 13,099.