THE DAILY continues its look at the attendance impact of NBA rookies Cavaliers G LeBron James and Nuggets F Carmelo Anthony, as well as second-year Rockets C Yao Ming. The Cavaliers and Nuggets average home and road attendances through March 10 are compared to the teams' home and road average attendances for the full '02-03 season. The Rockets average road attendance is compared to the club's road attendance during the full '02-03 and '01-02 seasons.
LEBRON: The Cavaliers are averaging 18,578 on the road, the second-highest average in the league behind the Lakers, up 15.5% from their total at the end of last year when they finished 27th in road average. The club is averaging 17,709 at 20,562-seat Gund Arena, up 54% from the team's '02-03 final home average of 11,497.
CARMELO: The Nuggets are averaging 16,742 on the road, up 2.7% from their '02-03 total, and 17,331 at 19,099-seat Pepsi Center, up 16.9% from the club's '02-03 home average of 14,825. The Nuggets rank 15th in road average this year, up from 20th last year.
YAO: The Rockets are averaging 17,367 on the road, down 3.1% from '02-03, but up 4.9% from '01-02, the season before Yao's arrival. The Rockets are eighth in road average this year, down from fifth last season. The club experienced an 8.3% increase in average road attendance last season, Yao's first. The Rockets' '03-04 home attendance was not tracked as the team is playing its first season in 18,500-seat Toyota Center. The average NBA attendance through March 10 is 16,841 (THE DAILY).
