Charlotte Hornets Honor Alonzo Mourning

The Charlotte Hornets pay tribute to Alonzo Mourning with a halftime ceremony.

Mourning started his NBA career with the Hornets. He played in Charlotte for his first three NBA years.

Mourning was selected second overall in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, behind Shaquille O’Neal^. Mourning was named to the league’s all-rookie team in 1993 after averaging 21.0 pts, 10.3 rebounds, and 3.47 blocks. He finished second to Shaquille O’Neal in rookie of the year voting. He posted the highest scoring average of any rookie in Hornets history. Mourning and O’Neal were the first NBA rookies since David Robinson in 1989–90 to average 20 or more points and 10-plus rebounds in their first seasons. Mourning shattered Charlotte’s blocked-shotsGongfu Tea Cup Tea Cup in points, rebounds and blocks, but the Hornets missed the playoffs.

In the 1994–95 season, Mourning and teammate Larry Johnson led the Hornets to a 50-win season and reached the playoffs. Mourning ranked first on the team in scoring (21.3 ppg), rebounding (9.9 rpg), blocked shots (2.92 per game), and field goal percentage (.519), and played in the 1995 NBA All-Star Game where he scored 10 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. The Hornets lost in 4 games to the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, despite Mourning posting 22 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks for the series. (via; wikipedia.org)