Charlotte, N.C. ? Charlotte’s last NBA team won 20 games its first season, and the city celebrated that achievement with a parade.

Charlotte’s newest NBA team will be lucky if either happens.

The Charlotte Bobcats are an unusual expansion team, trying to make a fresh start in a city stuck with the lingering bad taste the Hornets left behind.

The novelty of professional sports is long gone in the Queen City, which fell in love with its Hornets in 1988 because of the big-time feel it gave the Southern city.

Tickets sold out in one day, and a capacity crowd gave the Hornets a standing ovation after a 40-point loss in their first game. The fans kept coming, setting an NBA record with 364 straight sellouts from 1989 to ’97.

But the good times eventually went bad because of lousy teams, off-the-court problems, tightfisted management and an ownership scandal. The fans in Charlotte tuned out the NBA. When the Hornets left for New Orleans in 2002, many rejoiced.

So why would Bob Johnson want to bring a team back to Charlotte, where it’s unclear whether fans will be willing to support another team?

“I’ve never felt that the Hornets leaving was going to be a drag on the Bobcats,” Johnson said. “The Bobcats are a brand-new organization with a new owner and new players. The city was committed to having the NBA here as much as the NBA wanted to be here and as much as I wanted to own the team.”

The city is committed, partly financing a $265 million arena that will be ready for the start of the 2005-06 season. The Hornets never could get that support, a large reason why they ultimately fled the antiquated Charlotte Coliseum for a new arena in New Orleans.

Charlotte Bobcats guard Jason Hart, left, goes up for a shot over teammate Melvil Ely, lower right, and Washington Wizards forward Michael Ruffin. Hart, shown Sunday in Washington, and the Bobcats will face a tough road in their inaugural season.

So the Bobcats are stuck with the Hornets’ old building for now, minus all the purple and teal accessories that went south to New Orleans.

It’s been tough to wipe the slate clean. Sure, there’s a fresh coat of orange paint all over the building, but the seats still are teal — and not even close to being filled to capacity — and the scoreboard still malfunctions in the middle of games.

Hey, there’s only so much a new tenant can do.

But unlike the Hornets and controversial owner George Shinn, the Bobcats and Johnson are trying.

Johnson, the first black majority owner in professional sports, has taken Charlotte by storm. He’s donated millions to local charities and causes, created jobs through his new cable network that will broadcast Bobcats games, and placed an emphasis on helping minorities succeed.

He’s also pledged to rejuvenate the downtown area, which has long been run on 9-to-5 banking hours. Through his new arena, Johnson envisions surrounding shops, restaurants and clubs that will create a vibrant nightlife.

So when Johnson looked at owning an NBA team, he didn’t see the negativity the Hornets left behind. He instead saw the possibilities his Bobcats could create.

“I did look at a number of teams before I was able to get the expansion franchise here in Charlotte, and I think everything that I hoped would happen has happened,” he said. “The Carolinas have such a rich basketball tradition, and the city’s got such a rich civic-mindedness to it that, when you put all of those things together, it’s going to be hard not to be a success in Charlotte.”

The sales pitch has been solid, but now it’s time to see just how good his product is.

For now, it’s clear the product will be bad. Very, very bad.

The wins will be hard to come by from the patchwork group of young players that coach and general manager Bernie Bickerstaff has assembled.

But desire is there — and for now, that’s good enough.

“We play hard,” said NBA journeyman Steve Smith, who at 35 is the oldest player on the roster. “The common goal for this team is to just play hard.”

The team is built around winners — granted, most of the players’ past success came in college, starting with franchise cornerstone Emeka Okafor, who won a national title at Connecticut.

He, too, has caught the optimism fever.

“Losing is just not my mindset,” Okafor said. “My mentality is, ‘We’re going to win and we’re going to make the playoffs.”‘