Paul Mott Quotations

We're going to take our resources and spread them across a wider reach. We'll repay the citizens of Oklahoma City and provide them with their best NBA experience, because this might be their only one. But we'll try not to lose step with what we were doing in the New Orleans marketplace. We don't want people (in New Orleans) to ask, 'Where were you?' These are our fans. And our fellow citizens.

We want our season ticket holders to know that we appreciate their continued support and offering tickets to our preseason game against the Heat is a small token of that appreciation. We hope to see everyone not only at that game, but at all six regular-season games in Baton Rouge throughout the season.

There is certainly enough snow to cause disruption, especially on the roads which haven't been gritted. Driving conditions will remain difficult all week. It will remain bitterly cold until Thursday or Friday with further snow showers expected. Milder weather should take over from then on.

We're looking at what makes the most sense.

Of course, if there are people who need to get that money refunded, then we will work to get that done. For those in Louisiana, especially in Baton Rouge, we're going to offer a presale opportunity for the Baton Rouge games. In our communication with them, we will explain what we are proposing.

I'd like to sell the building out every game.

I find it easy to get over any disappointments because of the bigger issues facing everybody's lives,

I think the games in Baton Rouge will start in mid-December based on the parameters we got from the people at LSU. We're still in negotiations.

I reported to the Senior Bowl healthy and sprained my ankle in practice, ... I reported to the Rowdies right away. I was young and naive, and I was hell-bent on making sure I could get on the field and make the team. I played hurt the whole time. My ankle is permanently destroyed.

Our first concern is Allan's health, but we have the utmost confidence that having Jeff in place will enable us to move on without missing a beat, ... His experience has made him knowledgeable about every facet of basketball operations and I look forward to having him use that insight to put the best possible team on the floor.

We're doing this because I think it's the right thing to do.

We will then reach out to our ticket holders as soon as we can and ask them if they'd like us to hold their money on account as a deposit on tickets for our 2006-07 return to New Orleans,

We'd hope those people would do that. That would be best for us as a company. If it doesn't work for them, and they need that money back, and many people may, we'd refund their money in some fashion.

At the end of my second indoor season, my doctor told me, 'You're a bright guy, and you have an ankle that will keep deteriorating over time. We'll take away a lot of bone. My honest recommendation is that you move on,' ... At 23, that's a blow. He made the point, if you try to play on this ankle over time, we're going to keep taking away bone, and you're going to be a prime candidate for a replacement ankle at the age of 40.

That's how I got back into the game, ... It was really exhilarating to me. I've always loved the game of soccer. I found myself wanting to do more. Because I'd be wherever the U.S. National Team was playing, I'd have time on my hands, and I volunteered with the U.S. Soccer Association. They asked me to do odd jobs.

They didn't really have a job in mind, but they knew I was knowledgeable about the game and passionate about the game, ... Paul Phipps is one of the great pro sports executives around, and I went to work with him for club services. It was a great learning experience for me, and we had some real success.

They reached out to us and made it clear they'd be willing to work with us.

It's one of those things that I think it's impossible to put into words.

It's going to be challenging, but you do the best you can. You work closely with and support emotionally those that are trying to hang in and do it with you. But this is a tremendous challenge, no question about it.

It's pretty sensational, ... The interesting thing is he always loved soccer, and now he's the big cheese in basketball. I'm really pleased for him, and I think he's really good at it. The best part is that the team has not done well recently, so he can only go up. He has every reason to be successful.

That led me here, ... That's when I decided I wanted to do what I could to help the World Cup be successful.

I wanted young kids to have the opportunity to idolize pro players the way I idolized the North American Soccer League players, ... I volunteered with the committee in Dallas, and when the committee resigned itself that they couldn't get a team and closed up shop, we went to work and negotiated the contract for the Cotton Bowl. I got the North Texas State Soccer Association to give its support.

I'm looking forward to seeing New Orleans rebuilt. This is not a city that is going to vanish. ... I think this is a city that is going to come back better and stronger.

I'm committed to having a presence in Louisiana this season. What form that takes, I'm not sure,

George Shinn is the major reason why I'm here, ... I really like the man and respect him. He is a modest, unassuming man who cares about the right things. The NBA is filled with generous owners, and there's no owner that's more sincerely generous. His view on the people that are in the arena and in the community and in his staff ? he's a visionary, he's a leader. He needed a manager, and I think we've formed a very formidable duo. I believe in his vision, he believes in my ability to execute, and together I think we're doing something pretty special in New Orleans.

The Hornets (and the NBA), since our temporary relocation, maintained that one of our biggest goals was to play games in the New Orleans Arena this season.