Ascendancy is a trajectory, not an identity. The New Orleans Pelicans branding team has learned that the hard way this season. If you sell fans solely on winning, and then proceed to not win, well ... you aren't left with much. Consequently, fans have started to tune out the Pelicans organization at an alarming rate.
The Problem
New Orleans is the 51st largest television market in the United States, sitting just below Memphis. The Pelicans play in the smallest television market in the league and have the lowest NBA team valuation at just 650 million dollars.