CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Michael Jordan wants to "bring the buzz back" to Charlotte. The Bobcats owner said at a press conference Tuesday evening hes changing his teams name to the Charlotte Hornets beginning in 2014-15. Jordan said he submitted an application to the NBA board of governors earlier Tuesday informing them of his decision and is optimistic the board will approve the name change when they convene in July. "Lets bring the buzz back, and bring that energy back on the basketball court and make this city proud again," Jordan said. Charlotte will remain the Bobcats next season, but if all goes as planned Jordan anticipates his team will become the Hornets the following season. Jordan said his organization is giving the fans what they want. "We spoke to our season ticket holders and fans, and overwhelmingly you guys wanted the Hornets name back," Jordan said. "And we went out and brought the name back." NBA deputy commissioner and COO Adam Silver previously said it would take about 18 months for the Bobcats to change their name, but pointed out the fact that the league owns the rights to the name Hornets could help speed up the transition process. Silver said in the April interview the name change would be "an enormously complex process and a very expensive process for the team. From everything to the uniforms, to the building, to the letterhead to the signs on the offices -- "all of that has to be taken into account." Pete Guelli, Charlottes executive vice-president and chief sales marketing officer, estimated the cost of changing the name to the Hornets at about $4 million. He added, however, that the decision wasnt based on money and that "nothing was going to keep us from going down this road because this is what the fans wanted." Jordan knows that it will take more than just changing the name of the front of the jersey to turn his struggling franchise around -- it will take talent. The Bobcats are 28-120 over the past two seasons, the worst record in the league. "Ultimately we still have to play the game at a high level, which is what the Hornets did for a long period of time," Jordan said. "Changing the name does not guarantee that were going to be a playoff-contending team. We still have a lot of work to do to build that. Im not walking away from that. It is what it is." He said its too early in the process to know if the team will keep the Hornets teal and purple colours. The NBAs Hornets resided in Charlotte from 1988-2002 before then-owner George Shinn moved the team to New Orleans following a financial dispute with city officials over replacing the Charlotte Coliseum. Shinn wanted a new arena with additional luxury suites. The New Orleans Hornets, now owned by Tom Benson, recently changed their name to the Pelicans. Charlotte was awarded an expansion team in 2003 and then-owner Bob Johnson named the team the Bobcats. The venture was a financial disaster for Johnson, who lost millions before selling majority ownership to Jordan in 2010. Even with Jordan at the helm, the Bobcats have never come close to matching the popularity of the Hornets, a team which sold out 364 straight home games, a streak that stretched nearly nine full seasons. Since 2010 three Charlotte area residents have been leading a grass roots movement to persuade Jordan to bring back the popular Hornets nickname. John Morgan, an elementary art teacher in Monroe, N.C., started a campaign on Facebook three years ago called "We Beelieve" after watching the Bobcats lose to the Orlando Magic in the franchises only post-season appearance. Disappointed over the lack of energy in the arena, Morgan began longing for the days of Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning and Muggsy Bogues. He wanted the Hornets name back and began gathering signatures to support his cause. Shortly thereafter, brothers Scotty and Evan Kent took the effort a step further and created a website called "Bring Back the Buzz." Eventually the three men pooled their resources for one common goal. "Its amazing," Morgan said earlier Tuesday after reading reports of the pending name change. "It feels like Im walking on a cloud." While the Hornets name had no meaning for the city of New Orleans, it does have significance to native Charlotteans. According to the Mecklenburg Historical Association, British general Lord Charles Cornwallis called Charlotte "a hornets nest of rebellion" after city residents drove the British out of the area in 1780. The tenacious moniker has become a source of pride for the city for more than two centuries. 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The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. NEW ORLEANS -- One car rear-ends another on a Saturday night. People argue. It escalates.Ten or so gunshots later, one driver is dead and the other waits nervously to give his side of the story to police.Conflicts settled by gunfire are tragically common in New Orleans but there was nothing routine about this one: the dead man was retired football player Will Smith, a star on the 2006 Saints team that help lift the stricken citys spirits with a winning season after Hurricane Katrina, and on the team that won the franchises only Super Bowl three seasons later.The accused is a 29-year-old former semiprofessional football player named Cardell Hayes. The owner of a tow-truck company and the father of a 5-year-old son, Hayes is described by friends as soft-spoken, even-tempered -- hardly the type to erupt into a lethal road rage. His attorney has been laying the groundwork for a self-defense argument ahead of a trial that opens Monday, but he may face an added burden in Smiths local popularity and national renown.Will Smith obviously was a beloved member of the New Orleans community, Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino said in a recent interview. And thats going to make the defense of this case all the more difficult.Smiths shooting death is strangely similar to that of Joe McKnight, another former NFL player who was shot and killed just last Thursday in a New Orleans suburb after a road rage incident on a nearby bridge spiraled out of control. The man authorities identified as the shooter in that case -- Ronald Gasser -- has been released from custody with no charges as the investigation continues.Hayes has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Smiths death. Conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. Hes also charged with attempted second-degree murder in the wounding of Smiths wife, who was shot in the legs. Hes been jailed since the April shooting, unable to make the $1.75 million bond.Snippets of surveillance video from near the scene, police statements plus testimony from pre-trial hearings paint this picture of what happened on April 9:Smith, his wife and two friends left a restaurant in New Orleans Lower Garden District and were heading downtown on Magazine Street. At one point Smiths SUV appeared to bump the rear of a Hummer that had come to a stop on the street.Rather than stop, Smith swerved his SUV around the Hummer and continued downtown. Moments later, the Hummer hit Smiths SUV from behind, shatterinng the rear window and pushing it into the rear of another car -- in which more friends of Smith were riding.ddddddddddddho the aggressors were in the ensuing conflict will be at issue in the trial. Hayes acknowledged to at least one police officer that he was armed when he got out of his vehicle. He said he was accosted by an unarmed Smith and others, and that Smith struck him, although police said there were no obvious signs of injury.The first officer to approach the scene after the crash was an off-duty rookie who had been at a nearby bar. Christopher McGaw has testified that he approached the scene as the argument grew more heated, ducked for cover when gunshots rang out, then approached again, finding Smith slumped across the front seat of his car, one hand extended toward the glove box.What was I supposed to do? Hayes is heard asking McGaw, on a recording of a 911 call McGaw had placed at the scene.Why Smith drove away from the scene of the first, apparently minor accident; whether Hayes intentionally rammed Smiths vehicle moments later; whether Smith was reaching for a gun when he was shot to death -- all are issues that will likely be addressed at trial.On the side of the defense is a toxicology report showing that Smith was legally drunk at the time of his death. Other factors Ciolino cited: The fact that Will Smith was, by some reports, so loud and belligerent; the fact that the forensic evidence, arguably could support that Will Smith was reaching for a gun.Smith had returned to his SUV when he was shot and police said there was a loaded gun in the vehicle. That might help the defense argument that Hayes shot in self-defense, Ciolino said. But its an argument that could be blunted by the fact that Smith was shot eight times -- seven in the back, one in the side -- Ciolino added.Prosecutors also have made much of the fact that Hayess Hummer had hit Smiths SUV from behind so hard that the rear window shattered.Another odd twist in the case: A friend of Smiths who wound up at the scene the night of the shooting is William Ceravolo, a retired New Orleans police officer who had dined with the Smiths before the accident. Ceravolo was among six officers sued by Hayes after police killed his father, Anthony Hayes, in December 2005. Police settled the lawsuit in 2011, and terms were confidential. ' ' '