Apparently, David Stern told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he still sees the Hornets as New Orleans' team.  The AP article, which was written by someone who I think supports the team's return to New Orleans can be read without commentary here, but my rebuttals (in italics) to the article are going to be included below:

When they were losing or playing other struggling teams, the Hornets found it a struggle to sell tickets in New Orleans, where even today there are so many other renowned entertainment options, from fine dining, to music clubs to carousing on Bourbon Street.

It was not just when they were losing or playing other struggling teams.  The Hornets never finished better than 29th in league attendence in New Orleans.  Granted, the season the team made the playoffs was the one season the team did not finish at the very bottom.

 Two season ago, the Hornets even struggled to sell out first-round playoff games, although a couple of those games coincided with both a PGA tournament and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, one of the largest and most popular music festivals in the world.

What kind of excuses are those?  NBA games are typically played after dark, PGA events usually end prior to sunset.  Even so, how much of those fanbases intersect?  The Daily Oklahoman has made a huge deal about the Hornets competing with other basketball games in this state.  Even when Oklahoma State and OU are playing, the Hornets still draw.  Is this writer trying to say that NBA basketball cannot succeed against non-basketball competition...and in a tourist trap like New Orleans, should that not be a concern?

 Attendance in Oklahoma City this season is up by more than 4,000 per game from the 14,221 average the Hornets reported in New Orleans last season. However, the NBA is a novelty in Oklahoma, the Hornets are winning much more and ticket prices for a number of comparable seat locations have been lowered by around 40 percent.

That's fair in a way.  Last season, the Hornets were among the worst in the league.  The team is a novelty in Oklahoma, and the team is winning--just as they were in New Orleans during the 2003-2004 season.  They had just moved from Charlotte, they were a playoff team, and the New Orleans fanbase supported them to the tune of 14,332 fans per game.  That means an extra 111 people showed up on any given night when there was hope for a win AND it was new to them.