Whenever I talk to folks from the Browns, Indians and Cavs, and do research for this blog, there's always a refrain of “winning cures all,” meaning if a team wins, fans will come and money will be made.

As The New York Times a reports, the NBA's Golden State Warriors still — despite a miserable year — are drawing 17,890 per game. That's plenty different from the 14,000 or so the four-games-better Sacramento Kings are doing.

Yet look closer: The Warriors are down 5.6% in attendance over last year, the fifth-biggest drop in the NBA.

I thought it'd be interesting to compare NBA record changes to attendance changes, from 2008-09 to this season. Here we go:

Attendance declines (winning percentage change)

Detroit: -16.9% (.349 this season; .476 last)

New Jersey: -13.3% (.111 this season; .415 last)

New Orleans: -12.2% (.500 this season; .598 last)

Philadelphia: -10.7% (.371 this season; .500 last)

Golden State: -5.6% (.270 this season; .354 last)

Houston: -5.5% (.500 this season; .646 last)

Phoenix: -5.3% (.615 this season; .561 last)

Toronto: -5.2% (.525 this season; .402 last)

Atlanta: -4.3% (.635 this season; .573 last)

Oklahoma City: -4.2% (.613 this season; .280 last)

Miami: -4.1% (.508 this season; .524 last)

Boston: -3.5% (.656 this season; .756 last)

Utah: -3% (.645 this season; .585 last)

Milwaukee: -2.8% (.532 this season; .415 last)

Chicago: -2.4% (.500 this season; .500 last)

San Antonio: -1.7% (.590 this season; .659 last)

Indiana: -0.9% (.317 this season; .439 last)

Dallas: -0.5% (.677 this season; .610 last)

Washington: -0.4% (.350 this season; .232 last)

Los Angeles Clippers: -0.3% (.397 this season; .232 last)

Portland: -0.3% (.569 this season; .659 last)




Attendance gains (winning percentage change)

Charlotte: 6.7% (.492 this season; .427 last)

Sacramento: 6.2% (.333 this season; .207 last)

Memphis: 4.4% (.516 this season; .293 last)

Denver: 3% (.667 this season; .659 last)

Cleveland: 2.8% (.769 this season; .805 last)

Orlando: 2.5% (.688 this season; .720 last)

Minnesota: 1.6% (.219 this season; .293 last)

New York Knicks: 1.2% (.349 this season; .390 last)

To sum up: Eleven teams whose attendance has dropped also experienced a drop in win percentage, while 10 whose attendance has fallen are better this season — including some marked on-court improves, such as Phoenix, Toronto, Atlanta and Oklahoma City.

Meanwhile, the attendance gainers are split right down the middle; four have improved in the standings, too, while four have gotten worse.

In other words: Winning doesn't seem to be a cure-all, and losing doesn't seem to be a death knell.

Coming tomorrow: A look at Major League Baseball's attendance/wins ratio.

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