<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">BATON ROUGE - Hornets officials continued their reconnaissance missions around this city Wednesday hoping to determine whether it will be a viable place in which to play some displaced "home" games this season. Team president Paul Mott spent the day dealing with what he called "internal issues" while NBA representatives, along with Hornets front office personnel Sam Russo and Steve Martin, went about gathering information on the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on the LSU campus and the downtown River Center. Yet while conceding that, on Wednesday at least, it seemed doubtful the Hornets could play any games in New Orleans Arena in 2005-06, Mott held out hope of a return to the devastated city this season. Doug Thornton, regional vice president of SMG, the arena's management firm, said Monday that damage to the Arena from Hurricane Katrina was minor and, with luck, the building could be operational by the February NBA All-Star break. "I would say based on what I know, the answer is no, but I don't know if we'd rule it out," Mott said. "If there's no (major) structural damage to the building that changes things, so I don't know if we'd rule it out. I haven't talked to Doug personally, but I know he and his crew are working hard. Everything is changing daily. We want to stay connected. "Based on what I hope, maybe there's a way we could do that (return to the Arena sometime this season). I'd certainly love to do that. The way things are moving right now, that could be a great celebration of renewal for the city. It's very encouraging. The sense of optimism we're seeing now is lifting all of our spirits." Mott said the Hornets have gleaned enough information from Oklahoma City, which is likely to host part of the Hornets? home season this year, along with Baton Rouge. "I think we've got a good feeling about the opportunities there," Mott said. "We know about Oklahoma City. Now we've got to confirm where we are with Baton Rouge."</div> Source
