The sidelines are the way to go when sitting on the upper level. I bought seats in row 5 via Stubhub; $60 for two tickets. Tough to beat that in a day and age when NBA players are making more money than our President and ticket prices are sky high.

We were on the same side of the arena as both the Hornets and 76ers benches and were overlooking the 76ers bench. You can't really see the player's faces all that well but you can definitely read the numbers on their jerseys. Not once did I get the fear of height feeling like I could fall out of my seat even though the seats are placed on a moderately steep incline.

The jumbo scoreboard in upper center court definitely makes it easy to follow the game but you don't have that trouble at all even without looking at it.
Compared to some of the other NBA arenas I've been to, New Orleans Arena has more of a variety when it comes to stadium fare. You can definitely get the Cajun feel but there are so many bars and restaurants in the surrounding area that you have no reason to spend money on those overpriced concessions.

Keep in mind that if you want to smoke, there are only a few designated areas in the entire arena that you can do so and they're on the Capital One Club patio and outside of sections 101 and 102. So plan your smoke breaks accordingly because it's quiet the trek back to section 317 even with the escalators.