There's little question that Bruton Smith was grandstanding last week when he said that George Shinn had a "moral obligation" to keep the Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte.

It was easy to hear the delight in Smith's voice as he poked Shinn with innuendoes and inside jokes during an interview with WFNZz Radio's Mark Packer, all the while urging Shinn to sell his 65 percent share of the team to local businessmen.

But in doing so, Smith, the billionaire CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., opened a new act in this long-running soap opera.

His call for Shinn to sell to local interests shifts the focus back to ways to keep the team in Charlotte, after months in which Shinn and co-owner Ray Wooldridge have frantically searched for somewhere else to move the franchise.

And his introduction of the moral issue gives Shinn the out he desperately needs to justify selling the team - and in a surreal way, it sets the stage for Shinn to salvage part of his tainted image and leave a positive legacy in the city.

Any plan designed to make Shinn come out looking like the good guy is probably doomed to fail, but it's an interesting concept nonetheless.

Heretofore, Shinn and Wooldridge have steadfastly maintained that the Hornets are not for sale and have expressed their desire to move the team at the end of this season.

Wooldridge, the front man on the moving issue, hasn't negotiated with city officials since a referendum on a new arena was soundly defeated last June. He has spent much of his time recently in Louisville, Norfolk and St. Louis trying to barter deals, and he continues to say that Louisville is the leading candidate to land the team.