Kon Knueppel Goes LARRY BIRD-mode | PJ Hall DOMINATES | Hornets LOCK UP Playoff Spot!

Kon Knueppel Goes LARRY BIRD-mode | PJ Hall DOMINATES | Hornets LOCK UP Playoff Spot!

Today on Locked on Hornets, David Walker joins me not only to recap last night’s summer league game, but summer league in its entirety. But it’s not over yet because the Charlotte Hornets, they’re going to the summer league playoffs, baby. I can’t wait to talk about it all. Let’s get it. Locked on Hornets. You are Locked on Hornets, your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. In a minute, cuz we live. Playoffs. Playoffs. David, the Charlotte Hornets are going to the playoffs. I I I can’t believe it. I can’t see you. I just do want you to know that. But um uh but I I’m I’m sure that Can you feel me? Can you feel my energy? It’s We’re all We don’t We’re not This is new territory, Doug. We This is playoff territory. This is undefeated territory. Uh so we’re all feeling our way through this together. But what a ride. What a ride. This is Locked On Hornets. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I’m Doug Branson. And you can find my work on every Hornetsboxcore.com uh where you can read my recap of summer league game number four. The Charlotte Hornets win 10681 over the San Antonio Spurs. I’m joined by uh David Walker, my longtime co-host on many variations of this podcast sitting in for Walker Mail of WFNZ 12 to3 Wes and Walker. He’s on vacation uh last day of vacation. and him and I will be getting back together on Monday. You can subscribe to this podcast wherever you get podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, whatever weird app you’re using these days uh to get audio podcast, find us there. Do subscribe on YouTube, by the way. We are at we’ve eclipsed 9,000 subscribers. David, did you ever think we would get to 9,000 subscribers? That’s insane. What was our goal? What was our goal when we started? I can’t remember a thousand. I know for for our for our fam just more than our family to watch and pat us on the head and tell us we’re doing a good job outside the household. Yeah. So, I think we achieved that. Uh we’ve we’ve built a nice little fan base here. Uh and the Charlotte Hornets are helping by continuing to draft these exciting young players uh that are getting everyone’s attention including uh Khan Canipple who did play Liam McNeely, Seion James, Tan Salon, they all take a seat for various tendinopathies and sorenesses and hips and Achilles. So the Hornets being extra careful uh with their with their new health and health team uh be making sure these young guys all get to camp healthy. But Khan Canipple did play and I just want to start there because I think that’s what a lot of people are going to be talking about. He had a wonderful game, 19 points, uh, six assist, five rebounds. Uh, your your thoughts on what Khan Canipple, uh, also two steals in this game. Uh, your thoughts on Khan Canipple in this game and then overall in summer league. Yeah, I mean, obviously a little bit of uh, a little bit of uh, patience with Khan and all these guys, right? It’s summer league. It is a genuine mess out there at times, especially the further you get into, you know, what are we at? Four games now. Uh, but specifically last night, I I loved his confidence. You can see him getting more comfortable when he hit that shot in the corner that kind of bounced around the rim and went in from a corner three on a quick release. He he knew it was going in the whole time. Like, you know, he was he was in motion. He was in the flow and he felt good about it. and and and and and of course, you know, the the Kobe Jordan low post uh shoulder fake fadeaway uh in the second half of that game was was great to see because he’s taking a little bit more on himself. He’s he’s trying he didn’t have, you know, you mentioned all the guys that were out last night. There was a little bit of, you know, gosh, what’s this going to do for Khan? Are people going to be focused on him big time even more? And uh, you know, all the guys out there handled it well. But I I think you have to feel great about Khan. His feel for the game, I think, is the thing that most people are calling out right now. The behind the back pass, you know, his playmaking is coming out some more. Um, and so you’re seeing some of those things that maybe you didn’t see it do quite as much. Maybe in the AC tournament, you saw it, but some of the stuff that everyone was raving about, right, coming through the draft, like this guy just knows the game. He’s got a feel for the game. He’s got a high IQ. He’s not the most athletic. Um, but he can hold his ground. And so, obviously, the shooting for me, I was like, well, if he can’t shoot, we’re gonna have to have some different discussions, but I’m not too worried about about the shooting as we get going here. So, you like what you see just from a playmaking standpoint and just a feel for the game, right? I mean, that’s what you have to be most excited about. Hadn’t exploded or gone off. Hadn’t had a Cooper flag like 30-point game, but you feel good about how he’s mixed in with everybody else. Shot making and fuel for the game. Those two things have to be otherworldly if you’re going to be a non-athlete athlete in the NBA. And I think that’s what we’ve started to see unfold at this summer league level. And yes, caveat, it’s summer league, okay? He’s going to have to do this in training camp and then he’s going to have to do it in preeason and then he’s going to have to do it in the regular season. He’s going to have to check all of those boxes. But if you don’t check this box, that that’s when you start to get it doesn’t make you all the way concerned, but it starts to make you concerned. And he’s checked, I would say, he’s checked this box once, twice, thrice. Um, he he looks he looks like, agree or disagree, like he looks like he deserved to be the fourth pick. And honestly, I think he’s evencliped that with this game. I think he’s given me an idea that in two or three seasons, you know, they could do a reddraft on some Ringer podcast and people could talk about Keniple as, you know, they will. They they’ll talk about Coniple as maybe the third best pick, maybe the second best pick. I don’t know about the first, you know, Cooper Flag. I think it’s probably going to be flagged, but you could talk about both of those Duke kids being one two best in the draft over Dylan Harper and over VJ Edgecom. I I didn’t say that after the draft. I wouldn’t have said that right after they drafted. I wouldn’t certainly wouldn’t have said it after the first game. I’m starting to have that idea. Okay. After I see him do this, you called it a behind the back pass. That undersells it. It was a Larry Birdesque. He jumps in the He jumps midair. He’s midair. grabs the ball and tosses it, hammer tosses it behind his own head. Can’t see that PJ Hall where PJ Hall is. He just has a sense. And and I’ll go to another non-athletic guy, Nicola Joic. Joic has an otherworldly vision, an otherworldly understanding of where he is on the floor, where everyone else is on the floor. Fuel for the game. He can shoot it. That’s what you have to do if you want to be a star and be a non-athlete in the NBA. And so let’s stick on the vision piece of that real quick because to me honestly that is the most exciting element. How many times have we in the past thought about someone else playing with LaMelo Ball where he’s not the only guy that’s kind of seeing these passes before they happen, right? Like he’s getting into the paint, making people commit, kicking it out to the corner. He’s getting under the basket, kicking it out to the corner. He’s drawing people now and he’s able to find people that are wide open. summer league, but you can see the vision, you can see the feel for the game, you can see all that stuff. Like that’s something regardless of who the Hornets have drafted certain, you know, we’ve we’ve been like, can Brandon Miller develop that piece of his game? Can he be someone who’s a playmaking for himself and others like Khan looks to be that guy already? That’s like a maturity that uh you don’t often see. We saw it out of LaMelo, but like he’s he’s basically an alien when it comes to passing and being able to find people on the open floor. So, like having another guy out out there like that for the Hornets is going to be big. That’s a huge piece of Khan’s game. And that is, you know, we love stuff that doesn’t count on the stat sheet, right? Like that’s great. That contributes to winning. We do want to see some stuff on the stat sheet from the fourth pick overall. And he’s doing stuff on the stat sheet now, too. So, the one thing I think, you know, that he’s still going to have to figure out and you can see him get in a spot, uh, when he drives to the basket now, he’s not going to explode over people, right? So, like that’s going to be something he’s got to figure out how to and he’s already kind of doing it. He’s getting stuck and if they’re collapsing on him, he’s able to kick it out. That’s going to be an adjustment for him in the NBA, obviously. And that but that was a known, right? Like that was a known. He’s not going to be able he’s not going to be jumping over people, blowing by people uh once he gets uh to the rim and and underneath in the paint. But yeah, I mean the vision you see that’s what gets you kind of excited. And also Doug, like we I mentioned that corner three and these shots, they’re not super wide open, right? They’re not the easiest shots. And you have to think even though it’s summer league and even though you’re trans transitioning that into the regular season with Brandon Miller out there with LaMelo Ball out there with NBA players and shooters out there on the floor with them he’s got to be getting some better looks than he will at times in these summer league games and that’s just going to help his his shooting. All right, I want to keep talking about Khan Canipple and I want to talk about this summer league playoffs. So coming up on locked on Hornets everywhere I have an interesting exciting stat on Khan Canipple and his summer league journey so far. I’ll reveal that. We’ll talk about everybody else. PJ Hall had some amazing plays in this game. And then we’ve got a question from the Siko Satchel about the stakes of this of these playoff summer league playoff games that we are about to witness. Is it the most stakes on a game since since the play since the last time they made the playoffs? Is it on the Mount Rushmore of Hornets games since 2015 16? I can’t wait to talk about that with David Walker coming up on Locked on Hornets. Today’s episode of Locked On Hornets is brought to you by Game Time. Game time. We’ve all There it is. We’ve all been there waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale only to miss out on the show that you’ve been design dying to see. particularly if it’s Coldplay. Buying tickets shouldn’t be as stressful as being caught at a concert uh with your side piece. That’s where Game Time comes in. Game time makes getting concert tickets fast, easy, and affordable. Prices actually drop the closer it gets to Showtime, and you can save up to 60% with their last minute deals. Plus, their zone deals pick the best seats in your section for you. No more endless scrolling. You’ll even get a panoramic seat view before you v before you buy, so you know exactly what you’re getting. I love that feature. And the best part, the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden fees. Take the guesswork out of buying concert and show tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L O C K E D O NA for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. More Locked on Hornets ahead. Back here on Locked on Hornets. Thanks so much for making us your first listen every day. Let’s get back to Kanipple. And I promised an interesting stat that I saw this morning uh reading it while I drank my coffee. And this is from the great um F5 Substack uh that works with a lot of statistical analysis on the NBA. And this blog post, and I will link the work uh in the show notes if you want to check it out for yourself. Uh but the subject of the Substack post was sticky stats and unsticky stats in summer league. So which stats can you look at that translate for rookies into their rookie season and which don’t? And essentially it boiled down to like the percentages, shooting percentages. Uh, not really, but assists per 36, blocks per 36, and three-point attempt rate. So, Con Canipple, great three-point attempt rate. He has thrown them up there. So, that’s probably going to translate for him and probably in a role that you saw him knock down those corner threes, right? That’s going to be his spot when LaMelo’s driving, when Brandon’s doing his thing. He’s going to be open in the in the in the corner. Reset the feet really quick. Bango. That’s going to be money for Keniple. But what excited me was to look at Khan Caniple in relation to the other top 10 picks in his draft class. And Keniple’s assist per 36 rate is the highest among all 10 of those rookies. Higher than Cooper, higher than Dylan Harper, who’s a point guard. And by the way, minutes weren’t far off between him and VJ, him and Dylan, you know, because remember Khan missed a game, too. and some of these guys got an opportunity to play over in Utah or in the California Classic. So the it’s not, you know, a huge disparity in minutes and it’s per 36. So it sort of smooths that out anyway. But Khan’s assist rate at 5.9 almost six per 36 was higher than Dylan Harper, higher than VJ, higher than Cooper, higher than Jeremiah Fears, who’s a who is a point guard point guard uh that’s playing for New Orleans. So that so I wrote this and and I’m interested in your opinion on this, David. I wrote this in every Hornets box score. I’m like, you know, we have to see what happens in preseason, but I feel somewhat confident that Khan is going to come into his rookie season a better playmaker, maybe a better passer in general than than year two Brandon Miller. Now, we’ll see what year three Brandon Miller is, but we know the wrist injury. He’s not 100%. So, he hasn’t been in the lab in the way that a player that’s fully healthy would. I’m pretty confident like Khan’s going to be a better playmaker. That’s what I’m kind of saying with the vision piece, right? I don’t think that’s far off at all. I mean, it’s just feel it’s just especially if you’re doing that in summer league. Sure, these guys have had what, I don’t know, 10 practices maybe together or something that’s thrown together half-hazardly, but those assist numbers, you know, speak to where he’s finding guys. They’re they’re they’re getting good looks as a result of him. Obviously, they’re knocking them down, but yeah, I mean, I don’t think that’s way off. I mean, that’s what I’m saying. Like, he and LaMelo out there are going to be your two kind of creators, I think, if if it shakes out that way. Yes, we would love to see Brandon Miller uh be able to step up and kind of equal that playmaking as well. But, you know, Brandon, look, he’s been uh he’s been the go-to guy uh score, right? I mean, that’s just not the piece of his game that was as far along when he came into the league as as scoring. So, yeah. I mean, I don’t think that’s crazy to say at all. We’ll see how it continues to to develop. But, like, look, we know when he gets out there with better players, chances. It’s not likely those numbers are or those opportunities he’s finding are going to go down, right? It’s going to get better opportunities for better players who are probably going to hit more shots. I I think Khan ends up being like playmaker insurance essentially. Like if Brandon can’t develop that part of his game and sort of finds the ceiling, uh maybe he can be, you know, a a even a more talented 3 and D type of player. So it like goes beyond role player and it’s like better scorer than a just a just a you know standard 3 and D player. better score, better defender, and that can be the version of Brandon Miller that develops and your team still be able to move forward because you have a special playmaker in in Keniple. All right, let’s move to some other storylines in this game. I thought the other big story line was Damen Ball and PJ Hall going like in an allout war on the same team on an allout war to try to get this final two-way spot. So, the Hornets, they signed Drew Peterson from formerly of the Boston Celtics. They signed him to a two-way. Uh pretty sure KJ Simpson, he’s already on the two-way, going to continue to be on a two-way moving forward. He’s had an excellent summer league. And then you’ve got one more. Who does it go to? Damen Ball who had it last season or this PJ Hall kid who absolutely detonated in this summer league game. One hand hammer. It was I mean it was a baptism. I called him the Apostle Hall. They’re baptizing dudes. Crazy. You know, PJ is that football player guy that came out for basketball practice and just found out he could wreck dudes and just put him through the rim and he but he never stops, Doug. You know, you watch him like that dunk is the exclamation point on the end of a play. But you do not want to run into him, nor do you want him to run into you. Like he is a stonewall. He terrorized the ACC while he was at Clemson. There was a short time where rumor had it he was flirting with like doing a fifth year at Carolina and that would have been fantastic last year. Uh but I saw him play in the Dean Dome. He he he knocked off Carolina I think gave him their own their only home loss that year and it was a big reason because he was just non-stop workhorse and you can see him out there in summer league. He is fighting for a job. there is nothing else he could have done out there to like improve his resume or to show folks in the Hornets front office that he deserves to be there. And listen, if there’s a center rotation in the league where he has a good chance to earn that contract, I I can’t think of a much better place and and we’ll see what he does through the rest of um summer league here, but I’m on board with it. I mean, you talk about putting that guy in practice. You worry about him hurting people a little bit, but that’s just amping up the level any game he’s in. And I still think the Hornets are at that place where they can use to have as many guys like that on the floor. And look, you get to put him out in an NBA game. I mean, who knows? But I don’t think he’s going to get pushed around that much. I don’t think he’s going to get out hustled. You know, if there’s a rebound out there, I could see him diving for it. So, yeah. I mean, PJ Hall has made a name for himself in in summer league and winning those four game helps. Obviously, 11 points, four blocks, eight rebounds, five of eight from the field. Did put up a three-pointer, but it didn’t go in. Sure. I still think the idea that he’s a stretch big on this level is still a little mythic. It’s not it’s it hasn’t shown itself to me in reality yet. Um, but but people do claim that that’s the case. 19 minutes. We could be right now, you and I could be having a conversation about Ryan Culbriner, but we’re not. And he didn’t have a bad game. I thought he actually looked pretty sound fundamentally like defensively. Thought thought he, you know, made an impact for the Hornets in this game. Nine points, four of seven shooting, 21 minutes, only a few more than PJ Hall. Five rebounds, zero blocks. Uh, but PJ Hall is is the story here. And I think that’s significant for a couple of reasons. And the Hornets needed to win this game by a lot in order because of the point differential rules. They needed to win by a lot to clinch and they did. So a large part of that was Coniple 19 points, KJ Simpson 19 points. But the other large part of that was PJ Hall and then Damen Ball in the second into the second quarter just going absolutely. He went DJ he went Damen Bof on them. Uh three-pointer after three-pointer. Four of them made in this game. Seven of 10 from the field. He was plus 26. Con Canipple was plus 26. Uh, crazy. And the Hornets, they’re going to the playoffs, baby. First time ever, summer league playoffs. I mean, the summer league playoffs are not very old, but uh the Hornets getting a shot here for some postseason basketball. What have you thought? Just give me your give me your sort of 30,000 foot take on the Hornets and how they’ve approached this summer league uh and how, you know, the young guys have done. Yeah, I think you can tell they knew what they needed to do last night and kudos to ESPN for this much, you know, putting the plus 21 up uh mathematically what we needed to keep watching for. Uh but yeah, I mean they’ve put together a a crew here that really everybody out there is obviously looking for a job. uh not everyone but you know trying to get those contracts where they’re not already secured but they’ve really put together I mean remember last couple seasons ago when they just just went to summer league with no point guards and I do I do remember that and so KJ Simpson and expected the other young wings that they had drafted just to suddenly be just to suddenly play well with no point guards to deliver anything to them. Yes, I do remember that. And we’ve mentioned T John a little bit, but he had a a nice productive summer league. He’s still a little bit on skates out there at times. You know, he’s still young. He’s still learning. You can see he’s put on some muscle. #musclewatch uh 2025. But he’s also slowed down just a little bit where he’s able to kind of make some moves with the ball and get to the basket. Maybe last year wasn’t as comfortable doing that. But I mean, as a Hornets organization, how can you not feel like things are at least focused, moving in the right direction, like they have a mindset, and it’s not just the shot making. I mean, last night they were locked in on defense. A 21 to nothing run doesn’t happen with only making your shots. you know, they blitz the Spurs, uh, another 3 and 0 team by just exuding superior effort and and and getting out and and and passing lanes and and and and trapping and and doing all things that you want to see on defense. Like, you hope some of that translates to the actual regular season level, but you got to be thrilled with what the Hornets have done out there in Vegas. Uh, the rookies, you know, we didn’t see Liam McNeely. You mentioned Larry Bird before. I thought he may have chosen the the 33 because of Bird, but I know Conanipple chose seven because of Bird and the and the Team USA number. So, we may have two Larry Birds out there on a on the team, which is You can never have enough Larry Birds. Larry Birds. People are probably like, “Dude, what are you talking about, Khan Canibal? You’re comparing him to Larry Bird. You’re comparing him to Nicola Joic.” And all I would say is that we don’t do this every summer. David, you and I have been doing this for a long time. We’ve been watching summer league a long time. We’ve been watching Hornets rookies for a long time. We don’t get this excited this quickly about every rookie and every performance. In fact, it’s often the opposite. We’re we’re doing the other thing where we’re like, “Oh, it’s okay. It’s just summer. We we’ll just see what happens.” It’s even with and and this is not a critique of Brandon Miller. This is more like when we left Brandon Miller, we were like, okay, we saw the Flashes and now he has to we saw a little bit of it, but it wasn’t the same as like, wow, he is Khan looks like he’s already too good for summer league. Like, he just dominated in a way that was like, okay, if if if if he can do that on the next level now, we got to start having a conversation about how special he can be. And again, we just don’t do that very often. And I would say like Nicola Joic became Nicola Joic out of nowhere like he was a second deep second round pick and everybody was like you know young Hansen same kind of thing people’s eyes are opening suddenly if it happens for Khan it might happen in the same way even though he was a fourth overall selection because everybody had this label of oh well he’s a highlevel role player so if he starts to do those things and break out in that way then yeah it’s going to be you know, you’re you’re going to be shocked by it. And don’t you think the Hornets have put together like they brought in guys, you’re not seeing a lot of guys go out there and look completely uh disoriented or out of place or uncomfortable, right? I mean, I’m, you know, the way they put together their summer league roster, they’re clearly looking for a type and and and and roles, right? And PJ Hall is a perfect example. I mean, they’re like, let’s give this guy a shot. Um, but ball as well. So, yeah, it’s been exciting, man. I mean, I don’t know how many texts you’ve gotten around summer league, like chatter. Uh, but I’ve gotten more Hornets chatter from various threads and, you know, social media is always there than I got from the second half of last season. So, I got a text from Paul George. I got a text from Paul George and it said, “Wait a minute. I’m secondguing my take. Uh, I think I think I might have been wrong. The Hornets might be building a culture.” Let’s talk about that uh coming up on Locked on Hornets. Beast, beast everywhere. And I’m going to dip my hand into the sicko satchel once more because we got a great question about the Mount Rushmore of games with stakes uh with the Charlotte Hornets since the 2015 16 playoff series and and this these playoffs uh they they might qualify. I’ll ask David about that ahead on Lockdown Hornets. Today’s episode of Locked On Hornets is brought to you by Open Phone. If you’re running a business like I do, every missed call, it can mean a missed opportunity. Think about it. Last time that you had a service emergency and you picked up the phone, you made a call and they asked for a call back. Did you actually Did you actually wait for the call back? Probably not. You went about your day. That’s why you need Open Phone. It’s the number one business phone system that streamlines your customer communication and helps you scale all from an app on your phone or your computer. I love that I don’t need to carry two phones. With Open Phone, I can just manage all of my business calls and my text and my personal calls from one well from one phone and do the business stuff from one app, whether I’m at my desk or on the go. My favorite feature is the shared inbox. Your whole team can jump into any conversation without missing a beat. Plus, you get AI call transcripts and summaries that are absolute game changers for staying on top of those crucial follow-ups and customer interactions. And right now, Open Phone is offering our listeners 20% off your first 6 months. Just go to openphone.com/lockedonba. That’s op ho ne.com/lockedonba. And if you’re switching from another provider, they will even port your number for free. Open phone. No missed calls, no missed customers. More Locked on Hornets ahead. Last segment here of Locked on Hornets for for the week. It’s a fun Friday, David. It’s fun because the Hornets are going to summer league playoffs. There will be games with stakes. We don’t know if Coniple is going to play. I made the case that he should have played in this game. I after seeing him and what he did, I now may make the reverse case that it’s probably time even though it’s playoffs. I get it. You want to win those games. Particularly if either Liam or Seion can give it a go. Then just make some room for those guys and let Khan. All right, we’ve seen enough Khan with the Larry Bird. As soon as he did the Larry Bird pass, I was like, “All right, you’re good. You’re good. Good. Just go have a seat.” Um, so the Hornets do uh get to the playoffs. And I wanted to I wanted to jump off of something you said there because you started to mention Chris Gent, the coach of the team. You’ve mentioned the roster that they put together. And I think that’s my big takeaway is that they took this seriously, even more seriously than I think they took it last year. And and because this organization had a year with the Greensboro Swarm to develop certain guys, the Hornets played hard. They all cared. They wanted to win. And you saw that not only from the guys that are legitimately fighting for rotation spots or minutes because the Hornets don’t really have roster spots, right? Like Jaylen Sims, MJ Walker, like you’re not getting a roster spot. So what are you out there fighting for? Certainly you could be auditioning for another team. But I think also you’re seeing these guys make assist. You’re seeing these guys make plays. They’re not playing completely selfishly. And that to me is the signal of the culture of saying you’re with the Charlotte Hornets right now. This is what we’re going to do. And if you don’t want to do that, then you can go play for another summer league team. But this is what we’re going to do here. But Jaylen Sims already knows that. He played for the Greensboro Swarm. And you’re see the culture has to be the culture in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Las Vegas. The culture can’t just be the culture in Spectrum Center. It’s got to be everywhere. And I think that’s what you’re starting to see. Nothing was taken for granted. Everything mattered. And it’s it’s super it’s super exciting, David. Yeah. Basketball plays. They’re making plays within the flow of the game. They’re not forcing too much. You know, uh everything’s not perfect, but you’re right. They’re making the right plays and and finding the people and that’s, you know, that can be contagious, right? Like if Khan’s out there doing it, if KJ’s out there doing it, if the ball’s whipping around, that’s going to be something that just kind of flows uh down to whomever is out there. And and just one quick thing on PJ Hall that I didn’t um mention, I wanted to get your thoughts on. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by his um you mentioned his blocks, but like his rim protection. Like he’s not the biggest guy, but he’s athletic enough where he’s challenging a lot. I mean, he’s had some actually spectacular blocks around the rim. And like again, you know, if there’s boxes to check for these for this Hornets roster, rim protection is is is still there regardless of of Plumbley and and Cal Briner, you know, being there. So, you know, checking a lot of boxes as far as his resume goes. No, I think you’re right. He’s playing super hard. The question in my mind is, can he play disciplined enough? Because we’ve seen some high foul totals from him. And so, again, when you get to the next level, it gets even tougher because guys are even bigger and they’re even craftier and they know they know how to expose every one of your weaknesses. So, we’ll see with PJ Hall, but I think he’s he’s put himself on the dance floor and and we could have had another conversation where it’s like PJ Hall not anywhere close to the dance floor. So, he’s there. All right, let’s go to the Siko satchel to end the show. Um, and we’ve got we we got a ton. I I asked for the sickos to help me out this week because I was doing these solo shows and they responded uh tremendously. I had so many that I’m not going to be able to get to them all, but trust me, if you submitted a question, uh, Walker and I will tackle them next week and and we got a lot of great ones, but I want to finish with this one from Jay Brown, Buzz City of the 44th Kenny Gatison Garrison, the Gatman. My son Brooks of the 44th Kenny Gatison Garrison was born in 2017. And this uh let me just say, let me preface this. This was written before last night’s summer league game. So, I’m going to kind of twist this this question around a little bit to fit what we’re going to talk about here today or what we’ve been talking about. So, uh, J Brown Buzz City continues, “Does tomorrow night’s Hornets match up of two three and 0 squads battling for a spot in the summer league final four make the Mount Rushmore of biggest Hornets games of his lifetime since 2017?” It’s a low bar, which we love here on Locked on Hornets. We have the low, we own the low bar and the vaccinated of the sick will claim any regular season game is more important than summer league. But I think this is a legit question for those with the sickness. Obviously, the two playoff playin games are up there, but it’s open for debate. There’s maybe one in seasonason tournament game in the discussion, but then it gets real dark considering things like rookie debuts extending that super random win streak we had against the Pistons from 2018 to 2022, red panda halftime show, etc. Um, well, first of all, Jay Brown City, there is no vaccination. There is I wish there was. There’s not. There’s no medicine. There’s no cure. uh the hope is the sickness and and you’re also hopeless uh once you have it because there’s no getting there’s no getting away from it. Um so the question is David so I’m going to twist the question here and say are these playoff games the play the one playoff game that they have coming up does it automatically make the Mount Rushmore of most important games for the Hornets since 2017? It’s it’s insane. It’s it’s insane and depressing to think about it, but you know, when you watch these and you get down to crunch time, like last night when they started saying, “All right, 21 points, that’s their that’s their goal, or if they get seven, they’ll be in this spot or 21 points seals it.” You know, I was poo pooing this the last summer league game. I was like, “All right, I think we’ve seen it. We know it’s happening. People are starting to dip out.” But for Hornets fans, I I mean, I just think you can’t have enough good energy, enough good mojo, regardless of where it comes. If there’s a basketball game going on and the Hornets are wearing jerseys out there and their Chiron is on the, you know, scoreboard, like, you got to take and run with that, man. There hasn’t been that much. If you’re born in 2017, you certainly don’t remember anything prior to that or or have any nostalgia for anything. So, like, yes, grab this, hold this, cradle this. I’m not sure if we need to start planning parades for a potential summer league championship. Um, I wouldn’t quite go that far. What? But come on, try on. It needs a It needs a parade. I mean, check back check back with me after this semis, right? I don’t know. But yeah, man. I think uh you’re full within your rights to to celebrate this and to, you know, make certainly appointment television, right? Let’s let’s get on board here. Let’s bring this let’s bring these rings home for these guys. Yes. It’s on the Mount Rushmore and that yeah that you can look at that and be like that’s sad or depressing or you could look at it like this is the beginning of developing an actual Mount Rushmore like it has to start somewhere and that’s where summer is for feelings and I’m you feel all your feelings about these playoffs feel disappointed by the way if they lose feel disappointed because there’s always time to rein it back in and say oh yeah it was summer there are other objectives there are other goals but feel that because that’s and I I hope the players feel that if they win, I hope they feel that and I hope some of the veterans that have been visiting Las Vegas in in any small way. They don’t have to look at it and say like, “Oo, that matters.” But I hope they feel it in some way of like, yeah, like it’s cool to win stuff and and I would like to win more stuff with the Charlotte Hornets. And and how they did it, right? How they won this game against San Antonio was that everyone gave a bleep on the defensive end of the floor in particular. It was turning defense into offense and and these are this is not a stellar defensive team this summer league team. There are a lot of players that are offense first, but they said I’m offense first, but I’m going to be defense first in this game. That’s how this varsity squad is going to have to play because it’s a lot of Colin Ston’s and Pat Conetons and Coniples coming off the bench that’s saying we’ve got to give max effort on the defensive end of the floor just to be average defensively. So, I hope they absorb that, take that in. And for fans, absolutely, Mount Rushmore, feel it. And and I’m happy that so many are in the Every Hornets box score chat. So many are in the Siko satchel right now. It’s a cool, you know, again, obviously there there hopefully are better things to come, but I think it’s a cool time to be a fan of this team right now. Imagine looking back on us, you know, two, three years down the road and Khan Canipple has become a key contributor, staring mentioned. Yeah. Larry Bird and you’ll just say, you know, it all started. I was there. I was there when it started. That famous summer league season where he led the scrappy group of players who just didn’t know any better. You know, they didn’t they don’t they don’t have any of the history of the Hornets. They don’t have the Bobcats history. This is their they’re they’re forging their own way, right? And this is maybe the beginning of that. So, by by all means, you know, pull your son out of camp or daycare or whatever. Take day take days off and view these games. Whatever you got to do, enjoy it. Uh, also J Brown Bus City says um because he was adopted into the sickness. Happy first birthday to Kenny Cison also of the 44th. That’s great. Gatison Garrison Kenny Cison. I mean, well, Walker would be proud. You know, he loves to name the cross. And we’re proud of Kenny Catison. And happy birthday to Kenny Kison. That’s that’s fantastic. That’s cattastic. And this has been a cattastic episode of Locked on Hornets. thanks to David Walker. You don’t get here as often as many more as as you do previously. And that that both makes me uh a little sad, but also it makes me and and this episode has been all about flipping the narrative. Um and it also makes me thrilled when you do. It makes me even more excited when you’re here. Right back at you. It’s summertime, you know, we’re filling in, but we’ll see what happens. as they keep the streak going, you know, there may we maybe do more. Even more reason for the Charlotte Hornets to win because if they do, David’s going to stop by more often. Let him know. Let him let Liam know out there. Someone in Vegas tell him the stakes. All right. Thank you for listening to Locked on Hornets. Uh Walker will be back next week with all of he’ll have a vacation uh slideshow uh full of I think he went to the mountains where there were salamanders apparently. I don’t know. I wasn’t listening when he was telling me about where he was going. So, he he will reveal it all on uh Monday. Until then, subscribe to the show on all of the places, Apple Podcast, even if you don’t use Spotify. Just do a free account and subscribe to us there. Subscribe on YouTube uh wherever you get your podcast. And then sign up for every hornetsboxcore.com. Even if you do it for free, because all the summer league recaps that I’m doing are free on every hornetsboxcore.com. So, sign up there. Follow David on Twitter, David B. Walker. And until Monday, have a great weekend and go Hornets. Go America. Let’s swarm Charlotte.

The Charlotte Hornets are HEADED TO THE SUMMER LEAGUE PLAYOFFS for the first time ever—and Kon Knueppel’s poise and playmaking are a big reason why. Doug Branson welcomes David Walker back to recap a dominant win over the Spurs and spotlight Knueppel’s breakout performance, including a jaw-dropping behind-the-head pass that had fans wishing upon a star player. Is Knueppel already showing signs of being a special connector at the NBA level?

Substack post I mentioned on the show: https://substack.com/home/post/p-168361084

Doug dives into advanced metrics that highlight Knueppel’s elite assist rate among top-10 rookies and makes the case that his playmaking may already outpace Year 2 Brandon Miller. PJ Hall also gets his flowers after a thunderous dunk and defensive showcase that puts him squarely in the battle for the final two-way spot. The guys discuss how Hall, KJ Simpson, and even Damian Baugh are fighting like it’s the playoffs—because for them, it is.

Plus, Doug opens the Sicko Satchel to debate whether this Summer League playoff matchup actually belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Hornets games since 2017. It’s a wild conversation that veers into culture talk, defensive accountability, and whether the vibes in Vegas could be the start of something real in Charlotte. If you’re a Hornets sicko, this one’s for you.

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Top 35 Hornets Nicknames of All-Time According to Doug Branson: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-nicknames-in-hornets-franchise

Top 35 Hornets of All-Time According to Walker Mehl: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-players-in-hornets-history

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