Hornets’ BIGGEST Offseason Gambles! Collin Sexton: All Attitude, NO Defense?

Hornets’ BIGGEST Offseason Gambles! Collin Sexton: All Attitude, NO Defense?

Coming up today on the Lockdown Hornets podcast, what were the biggest gamles Jeff Peterson and the Hornets organization took this off season? We’ll discuss who wore it best. And it’s another season of stat draft. Will I come out on top again? I dropped it again cuz I won last year. I don’t know if you remember that. That’s all to come today. LO. I won. [Music] 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. [Music] It’s Locked On Hornets, part of the Locked On podcast network. It’s your team every day. Thanks for making us your first listen. for free and available anywhere you get your podcast. And that does include YouTube. There’s a Doug Branson right there. I see him. Every hornetsboxcore.com. And you know, well, we can keep you up to date on some news going on in Doug’s life. I’m Walker Mail. Listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 300 p.m. Real quickly before we tell you about some of the news going on in Doug’s life, I want to tell you about FanDuel. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner. It’s It’s almost here. It’s It’s basically here. It’s almost here, though. It’s around the corner. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bet now. Um, okay, Doug, I did not say that you were the host of Locked On NBA like I usually do. And that’s because you got some breaking news that I’ll allow you to share. Share it with the people what you got going on. Well, listen. We like to pull back the curtain occasionally on this show, let you in behind the scenes on the who, the what, the when, the where, the why. We do the things that we do. Uh, right now, uh, we are recording. It is 900 p.m. Central time. It is 10. It’s nearly 1000 p.m. on the East Coast. Uh, this is Locked on Hornets after dark. Now, you are probably listening to this in the morning, though. I think we should probably if we’re going to do Locked on Hornets After Dark occasionally, maybe post games. We maybe try to do this live on YouTube. I’m not making any promises because it’s what we tend to do on this show. We tend to make a lot of promises and we don’t keep all of those promises. So, that’s not what I’m going to do here. But, we are taping this at night. But, but the thing is, we usually make promises and the promises we break are because we’re promising harder things. Going live is for the most part easier. So, I feel pretty good about going live. At least I think so. Anyways, well, yeah, it’s easy for you to say you do it for like three hours every day. So, it’s easy. It’s easy for you to go and you’re not little you’re not pressing all the beeps and the boops over here. You know, I’m the I’m the beep boot presser over here. It’s a little tougher for me to go live. All right. So, we’re taping at night uh because I’ve got a new opportunity and that opportunity means that I cannot do Locked on NBA anymore. hold for the cries, the nashing of teeth, the tearing of clothes because I know many of you uh were faithful to me and you went over to Lockdown NBA. You should keep doing it. You should keep watching Locked on NBA because Matt Moore and Hayes are going to keep rocking it out. Uh but after this week, I won’t be doing that anymore. I’ll have more details on what I’m doing next soon, but it means we had to change the schedule here on Lockdown Hornets, but we’re we’re still we’re we’re going to hang tough. We’re we’re going to do it. Oh, we’re we’re changing because because look, this is what happens when we all blossom and we end up doing different things. All these individual uh hosts all around the Lockdown Podcast Network. People have to adapt. If you want a show to go on for as long as it’s been going on here, we both just experienced our anniversaries. It was my seven-year anniversary with the network. Was it your ninth? Was it your eighth that they celebrated? Yeah, this is year this is year nine for me. So it’s it’s going to be a decade next year and and I celebrated by quitting one of the shows. Yeah, I was about to say that’s right. You did. So it’s a weird it’s like a weird eight nine. It’s both your eighth and your ninth year. Kind of two years you took off, right? Cuz Nada did it for two years. Yeah. Well, it was I quit this show, too. And so that’s the here’s the key takeaway, folks. The key to a long marriage is to take a break somewhere in the middle. on the record legally take a break and then get back together. It’s totally fine. It works and you can see the evidence here with Doug. No, excited because Doug is going to uh a different opportunity that I can’t wait for you to share with everybody else and we’ll talk about it then. Until then, you’re right. It is locked on Hornets after dark. I I don’t know what it means. I I think what it means for me is that Knock on Wood Less Fleg. less flem. Uh, you know, I don’t think you’ll see that very often. I really don’t. And I am so happy with that. Oh, because the morning is the worst. Watch it happen once we hit wintertime. I also think I think I think it means I’ll be sharper because the morning time for Walker Mail is not the best. And at least when I was doing morning radio, I was up enough to like get further and further away from the bed. here. I’m still not very far away from the bed. So, it just it it it just feels like in the morning I’m not nearly as sharp as I will be at night. But, who knows? That that feels like a promise that I won’t deliver on. The tough thing for me, and I promise we are going to talk hornets in just a second. Just indulge us. It’s the silly season. This is our time to to open the curtain up and show you what’s going on. The tough thing for me is going to be that I have to also wake up early in the morning. I still have to wake up early in the morning. And so I’ve got to find I have a cup of coffee in my hand right now because I want to you know I want to be on for the people. So I’ve got to find a way to quickly come down uh you know in a in a healthy way. In a healthy way. I’ve got to figure out a way. Maybe it’s meditation. I don’t know. I’ve got to figure some way. Maybe it’s uh watching uh old Bobcats games. Oh my god. Coffee at 900 p.m. Central and watching Bobcats games. H that that doesn’t sound like a good idea. All right, enough about us. That was a selfish segment. I apologize. We need to get back to you, the listener. Let’s talk Hornets. Let’s talk biggest gamles. The Hornets took this off season. Maybe give you some surface level analysis. Give you what we think are the biggest gamles and then explain it in the second segment, but I’ll let Doug explain this idea that he cooked up first. Any specific rules, any confines that were within here talking about biggest gambles? Explain it to the people, Doug. Uh, no. Yesterday, because you’re probably listening to this on Wednesday, so Tuesday was FanDuel Futures Day. There were a bunch of deals on all kinds of uh FanDuel bets that you could make. And FanDuel had been a great partner for this show for a long time. And so on Lockdown NBA, I decided to do biggest gamles of the NBA offseason. You know, what teams made the biggest gambles? And I thought, hey, that’s actually a good idea for Lockdown Hornets, too. we could talk about the biggest gambles uh in terms of the Charlotte Hornets, in terms of players, in terms of just the team in general. What are the big gamles? And I think like the first thing that you your mind goes to when you’re thinking what are the biggest gamles that are going to really determine is the season going to be a success or a failure? Well, the easy one’s LaMelo Ball, his health, but I think that’s too easy of an answer. So, I thought we’d dig a little bit deeper and talk about uh again players, schemes, offense, defense, wherever you want to go, like what are the big gamles that you see heading into this season. Yeah. And so, if if you wanted to just stay there to one, fill out the first segment with something and then two, address the easiest gamble to address, which is the LaMelo injury thing. It it it’s the easiest one. It’s also the right one, right? Like, or is it the right one? Because I I do think that there are a couple of other things that we have coming up in the second segment. But is it really a gamble just riding it out with LaMelo? And a lot of this is framing. What’s What is the gamble? Holding on to LaMelo. Is that the easy way out? Just holding on to LaMelo right now. I almost view it as the latter, Doug. But a lot of what a gamble is is framing. And I don’t want to get lost in the semantics. Sometimes I do that too much. But it does feel like it’s all framing in terms of what the gamble actually is. No, the Hornet, look, I’ve I’ve been very clear about this. I think the Hornets are taking they they made they’re making a significant gamble uh by continuing with the LaMelo project because one more significant ankle injury and that contract that they gave him, well, honestly, that Mitch Cupchack gave him, not this front office, but the front office before gave him. suddenly that fly. I mean, if it’s not already, it turns in to a negative contract if he misses significant time this season. But that isn’t really even what I’m talking about. I just mean that if you’re betting on the overunder for wins this season with FanDuel or whoever, like the biggest gamble that you’re making if you bet the over, you’re you’re making a gamble on LaMelo’s health because he, you know, for this team to exceed expectations, the only way that they could do that without LaMelo playing 50 plus games, I’ll even I’ll I’ll just I keep moving the goalpost back. I start at like 70 and then go to 60 and then work it back to 50. The only way you can do that is if Brandon Miller takes a allstar plus level leap where people are go there’s there are big features on ESPN and all these outlets on Brandon Miller’s leap. That’s the only way you do it. I agree. I agree agree with that. All right, let’s move on because we’re not going to get to Who Wore It Best and I’m desperate to finish Who Wore It Best this season. Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Thieves everywhere. Let’s get to more fun gamles because there are some more interesting things to talk about regarding that category. Then it’s the stat draft. I don’t think that’ll take very long. I I think there are a couple of easy categories with the first round of this season’s stat draft. There’s plenty more to get to on Locked on Hornets at night. [Music] This episode is brought to you by Open Foam. If you’re running a business, you know that every missed call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you had an urgent need, maybe for a plumber or a service provider. And if that first person didn’t answer, did you wait? I’m going to guess not. You probably moved on. And that’s exactly why you need Open Phone. Open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or your computer. The shared inbox feature is a gamecher. Your team can jump into any conversation instantly without missing a beat. And their AI agent handles afterhour calls, answers common questions, and captures leads so you never miss a customer. Open Phone is offering our listeners 20% off your first 6 months at openphone.com/lockonba. [Music] That’s op ho ne openphone.com/lockedonba. And if you have existing numbers with another service, Open Phone will port them over at no extra charge. Open Phone, no missed calls, no missed customers. More Locked on Hornets ahead. [Music] It’s your idea, Doug. Biggest gamles outside of LaMelo Ball gambling that he’ll be healthy this year. This is finally the year that he’ll be healthy after his sophomore campaign where he played a lot of games. What’s next on the list? Not to take us further off track, but the amount of times that we said the word gamble has made me think of Chris Gamble. I’m just I’m just getting ready for the Carolina Panthers to kick things off. And I didn’t realize I looked this up during the break. I didn’t realize that he spent his entire career in Carolina. Like I was sure that the last couple of seasons would have been with some other team, but no, from 2004 to 2012, Chris Gamble, cornerback for the Carolina Panthers. I think he’s the most common answer you get for most underrated Carolina Panther of all time. There are other answers there, but he’s probably the most common. He’s the Gerald Wallace of the Carolina Panthers organization, if you will. So, shout out to Chris Gamble, man. I didn’t know that’s where we were going after dark, but there are no rules once the sun goes down. All right. My biggest one of my biggest gambles this season outside of LaMelo Ball has to do uh with one of the bigger names that they brought onto the team for this season. Uh have only watched him play in Cleveland and Utah. I’m talking of course of Colin Ston and I’m wondering can he learn to share the basketball? Can he learn to play second in command? And this gamble specifically uh comes to me via a uh blurb from my guy Mike Shear of Basketball Poetry who was asking the same question when he did an article about like things you don’t know about role players. He did like nine role players and skills that they that you didn’t know that they had. And Colin Ston, it was sort of a reverse skill. Uh, everybody else got like a positive skill and Colin Ston got who calls for the ball too much. Like he he stands in the corner and just like claps for the ball and he wanted to prepare Hornets fans that this is something that he did in Utah. And in fact, hilariously, at one point in January, he was desperately I mean, you have to I’ll share the article in the game in the show notes and go check it out because he shares a gif of Colin Ston absolutely begging for the basketball from Isaiah Collier. Collier just waving him off, waving him off, and then Isaiah Collier takes too long to get the ball at the court, gets an 8-second call, and Colin Ston just goes nuclear. like he just loses it. He’s like, “Dude, give me the ball.” Like it’s insane. So anyway, it Yeah. Oh my god. I love that. Colin, poor Jazz fans. Here I am. Yes, I am showing pity. The Hornets fan. I’m showing pity on Jazz fans for having to see Colin Ston not get the basketball. Clearly, that’s the better option because Isaiah Collier wouldn’t give it up after 8 seconds. You know what’s great about that? It it reminds me of Kevin Durant calling for the basketball. Draymond Green deciding, “No, thank you. I got this.” And it broke up the Katy Warriors. That’s what that moment will go down in infamy as the moment that ruined the Jazz of 2024 and 2025. So, look, I think Colin Ston probably wanted the basketball because he realized that he was one of the better players on a god-awful team. And so I think he’s going to come into this situation and I would hope approach it a lot differently. But it is a gamble that he has spent so long um you know playing uh in in the depths of hell that is Utah uh that he’s not going to be able to adjust uh to getting playing time with LaMelo Ball who’s going to need the basketball a lot to Brandon Miller who is going to need the basketball a lot. Um you know they’re they are going to want Colin Ston to score the basketball. There’s no doubt about that. That’s why they’ve acquired him. they’re going to want him to get downhill. Um, and hopefully also create opportunities for others via getting downhill. U, but, you know, I ju I just don’t know how much they’re going to lean on him to create the entire offense. And so, I think that’s that’s the gamble. Does he take away from Khan Canibal’s development? Does he take is is he a distraction away from Brandon Miller’s development? It is. I’m not super worried about it, but it is a gamble. I I think the gamble comes if he starts. If he comes in on the second unit, then call for the basketball all you want to and we’ll just figure it out with you and Trey man in the back court. If he starts, that’s when you really have to worry about him standing in the corner and calling for the basketball. Unless Colin Ston is in there for Josh Green and LaMelo just doesn’t give him the basketball. And when he does, now you have somebody in the corner that can do stuff. So, I think there are ways out of it. you have escape hatches with this risk, but it really comes so if he starts with this roster and if he plays alongside Khan Canipple, it’s not as big of a risk because I think Khan Canipple is an unselfish basketball player and would be more than willing to both seed offensive opportunities to him in the short term. That wouldn’t have been the case with Ace Bailey, right? If you draft Ace Bailey and then you also acquire Colin Ston, then I might be throwing up red flags, red sirens, you know, red weddings. it would I’d be like, “Okay, this is not going to work.” I can see I can both at the same time see a universe where it works. I can also I can also admit that I see a universe in which Colin Ston suddenly becomes unhappy and then the Hornets have to work to unload him. I’d rather the Hornets unload him because he’s awesome, you know, at the trade deadline and they they he’s an expiring contract. Yeah. and they they they have some room to maneuver as opposed to okay, God, this isn’t working for anyone. Everyone’s unhappy. The season’s in the tank. Let’s move them then, you know. So, but I can see a world where that would happen. Okay. So, I’m going to fire a couple of them right back at you. Rapid fire, bang, bang. My first gamble is the Hornets going allin on offense. And for the most part, neglecting defense. It’s not entirely true, but for the most part, you neglected defense. That means you have to be really good offensively to win games. You have to be really good offensively to, I think, climb a few rungs to where you want to get to, if not this upcoming season, at least in 2026 and 2027, because you want playoff experience. You want playin experience. You want the playin to parlay into playoff experience. How do you get there? It’s not going to be because you’re a defensive juggernaut. That’s just not how you decided to build your team. So, you got to be a top 10 offense this year. You got to score a lot of points because I expect you to be a 25th or worst defense. That’s what I expect. Despite having Musa, who I think is really helpful, but he has defensive limitations, especially protecting the rim and really more so deterring guys from shooting at the rim. You have some other defensive-minded players. I I think Caul Brener does protect the rim, but I think he got manipulated in summer league. I think Josh Green is a good defensive player, but that’s also not a guy that’s going to be a top 15 defensive player in the league. Ultimately, you got to be a top 10 scoring unit this year, top 10 efficiency, just finish in the top 10 in a lot of categories cuz Doug, it’s going to get ugly on the other end of the court. So, that’s a gamble. not bringing back Josh Aogi, not going after a center that you can rely on a little bit more so in free agency, maybe not ponying up in the center in the free agent center market. Like you there are some decisions you made going all in on offense and so that would be one risk that I have going into this year. It’s certainly a risk this season. I don’t think they’ve built the team long-term not to be good defensively. That wouldn’t make any sense. That wouldn’t make any sense with Charles Lee. Although I will say and we’ve had this discussion before that look some teams they they go all right we’re going to go and get as many 3 and D wings as possible. We’re going to we’re going to go get guys with readymade defensive skills and defensive talent. And then there are other teams and I would honestly say that this was how the Boston Celtics were built were on let’s go get a bunch of tryhards like some we’re going to have good wing defenders. Yes, we’re going to both develop those players and acquire those players. But like most of the defensive depth of that team was built on just a bunch of guys that just tried hard, you know, and they weren’t necessarily defensively gifted or talented in that way. Um, and so, you know, that’s what I see if if there’s any upside on the defensive end for this team this season is that they’ve got Canipples and Sexons and guys that may not have the talent or or the necessarily like the, you know, the defensive box plus minus is not going to be kind to them. Uh, but they’ll try really hard and they might get some turnovers that would even enhance the offense via transition. Uh, Canipples and Sexton, it is locked on Hornets after dark. after D. We I I want to give you this other one before trying to give you the tease and then go into the next segment because I want to get stat draft. I want to get to who wore it best. The other one it I told you I was going to be sharper. It doesn’t mean I’m going to be smarter. Okay, there’s a difference. This is this is a galaxy brain take that I truly believe in, but I think it’s a sharp galaxy brain take. I was trying to figure out what I thought the biggest gamble was, Doug. I was writing down a bunch of options at first. I thought I was going to go with trading Mark Williams. I was like, “Okay, look, I get it. It’s Mark. You traded him once, but the reason you traded him was because the package was too good to pass up coming back.” When you did trade him, you had already traded Nerk. So, the only big guy we’re going to have was Musa and the 29th pick in your two second round picks. Good god, that is not a plan at center going into this season. All right. Well, okay. And it’s it’s a gamble keeping mark. However you want to frame it, it’s a gamble taking Khan Canipple except it’s except it’s probably the safest option you can take there. Like yeah, the gamble would have been taking Ace Bailey. Right. Right. So it’s a gamble passing up on Ace. It’s a gamble passing up on Trey Johnson, but any draft pick is a gamble. It’s the lottery for a reason because it’s saturated in gambling. So okay, that’s not really the answer. Mas Musa, more minutes for him. Uh okay. I Yeah, but it’s also I think ultimately Doug, what happens is the gamble is that you didn’t take any gamles. [Music] Yes, that’s what I was hoping for. The gamble is you traded for Colin Ston because you didn’t take any money back and it’s just a better player that you’re getting in exchange for Nerkage. So like there’s no risk like and and bringing Gamble in. I get the idea of Ston. I get what you’re saying. But in terms of making the trade, let’s say it doesn’t work out and you don’t trade him at the deadline. You get 18 million free dollars to work with the upcoming year. You you didn’t take the gamble on Ace Bailey. So now you don’t have the high star power potential. You traded Mark Williams, but you didn’t go out and get Jared Allen. Maybe you could have done something this year by going after Bam Adabio and making that risk. Like anything like that. The gamble was not making any gambles. Exactly. And Charles Lee is somebody that after maybe two years of not winning a lot of basketball games, you don’t have two good years in a row as an NBA coach, we can all understand the context. And yet at least you’re going into your third year on the hot seat. Like it the gamble, baby. Galaxy Brain all day. The gamble is not taking any gamles. Jeff Peterson, I’m giving you one more season of buying mutual funds, of playing it safe, of playing the S&P 500. I’m giving you one more season and then I want to see you take all of those winnings and put it into a crypto coin that’s based on the Care Bears. Okay? I want you to get wild. I want you to get risky. I want you to buy swamp land in Florida. I’m ready to take risk. I’m going to give you one more year of, you know, buying, I don’t know, gold or wheat or, you know, yeah, some Chicago mercantile exchange BS. I’m giving you one more season. Uh, Professor Coldart Cash. I can’t wait to invest in that currency. Coming up next on the Locked On Hornets podcast. This is not investment advice. Everywhere. That’s a Care Bear name, by the way. I looked it up. Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast, who wore it best at number five and it’s the first round of this year’s stat draft. Last segment coming up. [Music] This episode is brought to you by Game Time. Game time. College football is back. Oh my god, the the beautiful ugly farmageddon game we got in Ireland between Yes. Kansas State and Iowa State. That’s a different type of sicko, but you’re still sick nonetheless, and I love you. College football, it’s back. And honestly, there’s nothing better than the energy of tailgates, being in the stands with your fellow fans. But the only downside is trying to get tickets to those games. Endless cues, hidden fees, prices that jump at checkout. But that’s why you can use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. It’s the easiest way to score lastminute tickets at the best prices with no surprise fees. And what you see is what you pay. When you pull up gate game time, in just a couple taps, you can see amazing deals and you could talk a little bit more about your college football favorite teams with your fans with everybody else alike and going to the game together and experiencing all of that good stuff because the ticket buying experience was so easy with Game Time. Take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code Loca. Locked on NBA for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket. Go download Game Time today, baby. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. Tap tap tap tap tap tap. [Music] Stat drafts. This is your idea again. You’re the producer. A lot of these things are your ideas. So, you get to go first on this. I’ll give you the first overall selection in this year’s stat draft because that’s the kind of guy I am. Okay. Thank you. Who I am. I’m glad you I’m glad you gave it I’m glad you gave it to me because I was going to demand it. I was going to take it because you bragged at the beginning of the show about how you won it. So, Mr. Winner, why don’t you give uh you know, everybody else an advantage since uh you’re obviously smarter than all the rest of us. Go ahead. Take it. I I give to you stat draft peasant the first overall selection. All right. Well, let me explain to folks because we have a lot of new listeners, uh, some of them from LA, and I need to explain to them how this whole thing works. So, this is our stat draft, second year in a row. Uh, David Walker will be getting involved in this. Uh, he is a co-host, uh, my former co-host on the show, family member, uh, and he is going to come on next week. He can’t come on this week, uh, but we will get him involved. He will write in his selection. So, he’s going to have the third overall selection here. But the stat draft works like this. We look at last year’s stats for the Hornets that were on the team last season. I guess you could include some of the new guys if you want to look up their stats in Utah or whatever. And we say over or under those stats. So, field goal percentage over for a particular player. We draft that stat. But the rule is you can only draft a category once. You can do multiple categories for the same player, but you can only draft a category one time. So, if you take field goal percentage over for a player, you cannot do field goal percentage anymore. I’m also adding a new rule for this year. We’re not doing games played. We did games played. It turned in It made a mockery of the whole thing. It did. So, we’re not I think I think David took uh Nick Richards. No, the the bad one was Seth Curry. Seth Curry. Thank was the bad one. mocker. Well, first of all, it’s a mo it’s a mockery of the system and also it’s a little bit jinxy for my taste because if you take the over for LaMelo, you’re just going to get accused of jinxing him. So, we’re just going to eliminate games played as a category. You cannot select that. Anything else is fair game. So, with my number one overall selection, I think I’m going to take a pretty easy one here. And I’m going over on LaMelo Ball’s field goal percentage because it was three points lower than his previous season, which was like 43.9% I think maybe almost four points and then he turned in a 40% uh last season. So I’m going to go real basic and go field goal percentage. LaMelo has to shoot better than that. And and a lot of that’s going to come from health. A lot of that’s going to come hopefully from getting a little bit more space around the rim because they’ve added all these other offensive weapons. Yeah, it’s on the list. It would have been my second overall selection. The man shot 40 and a half% from the field last year. It’s the lowest mark that he’s put up. It’s not by far the lowest mark that he’s put up. Uh he shot 41.1% in year three in the NBA, but it’s still pretty bad. You can’t be an all-star player and shoot 40 and a half percent from the field. Even if it’s on really high volume, even if you’re the only guy, you just got to shoot better. I expect that he will because he’s never shot that low before with a better team with better spacing. I have to imagine that goes up. I think that was a first overall pick spent wisely. However, it was not my first overall pick. I think there is an easier one to go with. I think the easier one to go with my first overall pick is more minutes played per game for Musa Diabate. I’m gonna go Ms. Musa. Musa Diabate last year played just over 17 minutes per contest. That has to go up, right? Like if Musa Diabate is not playing 17 minutes in a rotation with Ryan Culbriner and Mason Plumbley as the only guys, then I would be surprised. I think for the most part it’s trade proof. I think if you trade for Jared Allen, okay, let’s just throw that name out there. I still think we can get up to 18 or 19 because at that point you probably aren’t tra you aren’t playing Caulbrrener nearly as much because he does the same thing as Jared Allen is supposed to except worse. So he can shoot but you’re still not playing Ryan Cochrrener because of the three-point shooting ability even if he can stretch it a little bit. So, I’m going with Musa playing over the 17. I think it’s 6. I just had it uh in my notes here real quickly. 17.5. So, I’m going to go with 17.6 or more that Musa plays this year per game. Doug, yeah, there are a couple of good minutes ones. Minutes might be on the chopping block for next year, too, because it’s kind of in line with that games played. I I was willing to move off of it if you would have said that’s a little too cheap. And I can if you want me to. No, no, no, no. Well, you only get one. So, I think we can all we can all just take our one. That’s fine. Because I mean, I think knowing now that you have done that, although we have to get David’s right in picks. Uh, but honestly, I think there are two other minutes per game. I’ll just reveal them right now because I don’t think David’s going to listen to this episode. So, I I feel safe in revealing because I think there are two minutes per game unders that that would be easy to hit and that’s Nick Smith Jr. and that’s Josh Green. I think both of those. So Nick Smith Jr. averaged almost 23 minutes per game last season. Josh Green at 27.8. I don’t think Josh’s minutes are going to go completely in the tank. I mean, I think he still holds some value, particularly on a team that doesn’t have a lot of defensive weapons. He is a defensive weapon. I think he will be utilized, but not to the tune of 28 minutes per game. I don’t think he didn’t have bodies, right? like you didn’t you didn’t have so even if he does even if he’s a part of the rotation which which he will be not enough bodies he had to play all those minutes per game. So there you go. I am I’m going to do an under here. I’m going to steal this one and it’s not because I think it’s the safest one to do here. Oh well we’re only doing one round, right? We’re only doing one round. So let’s get to who wore it best because I I think we’re in danger. I’ll tell you I’ve got my under and it’s not minutes per game and it’s locked for round two. All right. So you got it ready to go. Let’s do who wore it best. There is a debate here, Doug. So who wore it best with the number five jersey with of course the rules being that you have to decide who wore it best with the player that wore that number with the Charlotte Hornets. So that that’s the actual game that we’re playing. Who do you got for the people today? Uh yeah, we are at number five. We’re getting there, folks. I think we’re going to finish it before the season is out. And uh at number five, a number of players. How many? Oh go goodness. I’m going to have to count now. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 players have worn the number five in Charlotte franchise history beginning in 1992 with Greg Grant who I was excited because uh producer Katie went on a trip to Asheville, North Carolina and stopped in a general store of some kind and got me a pack of uh NBA hoops basketball cards and I thought I had a Greg Grants uh from the Clippers but it turned out it was my camera is not going to focus on this. Sorry folks. It’s a Gary Grant card. Uh, not a Greg Grant card. That’s okay. Was she in Asheville this weekend? I was just in Asheville this weekend. So, if she was, then was this past weekend? Yeah. Oh my god. Okay. I thought I recognized her. Bouncing chips. It’s after dark. Anthony Goldwire. Remember Goldwire from 967? Name? Donald Royal. Remember him from 9798. Another good. Where did Donald Royal play college ball? I feel like that he played college ball somewhere uh significant nickname Rock Notre Dame. Okay. Elden Campbell from 2000 to 2002. And then we go to the Bobcats. Eddie House 2005. Walter Hermon from 2007 to 2008. I believe Hermon is featured on this list for another number. I think he has a who wore it best. I’ll look it up. Joan Howard in 2009. A little Bobcats. Did you know? One of the weirder ones. I I that’s the one that always shocks me to see Howard in a Bobcats jersey. Dominic Maguire in 2011. Janiro Pargo. I mean, if my heart could give who wore it best, it would go to Janiro Pargo. We did a segment. Was this I think this was during the David Walker years, not during your years, but we did a Sarah Mlaclin in the arms of an angel sendoff to Janera Pargo when he was released from the team. one of the four Hornets point guards that I’ve seen in an airport before. Nicholas Patum from 2016 to 2020. That’s probably the most notable. James Book Knight in 2022, that’s probably the most infamous. And Mark Williams from 23 to 25. That’s one of the most argued players on this show. He gets he he gets most argumentative. That’s what he gets. All right. What do you Where do you want to start here? Like I I think so. Okay. All right. You just named all the players. I don’t know if you have any fun factoids, tidbits, what have you with some of the other guys. I’m going to look up this Walter Hermmon thing cuz I’m pretty sure because you have to. You just want to see his hair and that’s totally acceptable. It comes down between two guys, Nick Batum and Elden Campbell. And um I I think if you were to put this up on our YouTube page and you were to put up that poll, most people would go against Nick Patum because they hate him so much. It would be Elden Campbell. I I I actually agree with what I I guess I’m just assuming the people would vote for here. I do think the answer is probably Elden Campbell. I think it’s tough, but he was a starting center for three straight years on some of the most successful teams that we’ve seen here in Charlotte. And I don’t mean just starting a like, you know, half the games. I mean, he started 32 games in 1998, 1999, but those were the only games that he played because that’s when he came over in that trade. So then when he becomes a starting center the next year, he plays the full season and he starts 77 games, 78, 74. Just lock it in in cement in etch it in stone. He’s your starting center for the best Charlotte Hornets basketball teams that we’ve seen and they’re the last ones. He was also averaging double digit points per game. Field goal percentage actually pretty bad for a center. I will say that. So, the efficiency doesn’t hold up nearly as much, but still a good enough player. I think he’s like, if you were to look up the top 35 Charlotte Hornets players according to Walker Mail, Elden Campbell makes it uh and he is on Oh my god, I just had it. I just had it in my list. Okay, Elden Campbell is 20th. He’s top 20 Hornet according to me. So, I’m going to give Elden Campbell who wore it best. Uh field goal percentage doesn’t matter. who cares about offense because those teams were built on defense. 99 2000 the Hornets were eighth in defensive rating. In 20201 that improved to sixth and then in then a final season in Charlotte they were a top 10 team. They just ran into one of the best uh Nets teams of their franchise history in that 01 02 uh second round series. But they were a top 10 defense for three years straight with Elden Campbell at center. And center even more valuable. I mean, it’s still valuable to have a great center uh defensive center to to be a good defensive team in this league. I mean, look at OKC. They’ve got iHeart. They’ve they’ve got Chat. Uh so, it’s still important, but it was even more important then when the physicality was turned up to 10 and you needed a big guy because the game was played closer to the rim and they had one in Elden Campbell. This this is just I mean, I could, you know, just for argument sake do do Nick Patun so he could send it to a poll, but I’m not going to do that because I have the man’s beanie baby. Uh, well, I don’t have it. My daughter has I was about to say you don’t. Yeah, she’s stolen it. Uh, she has stolen it. She has hidden it. I do not know where it is any longer. Um, she ripped the tags off, so it has no resale value anymore. I’m not mad. I’m not mad. I’m not mad about it. It’s Elton Campbell. He wore it best. Congratulations. Number five on the list. By the way, update. We did tie on one. Uh, number seven. You went Trapuca. I went Jeremy Lynn. We did send it to the poll on YouTube. youtube.com/lockdonhornets. The people have spoken and they have given it. This will be no surprise to anyone who covered Jeremy Lynn in Charlotte. Uh he won the online poll 79% to 21% out of 300 votes. Jeremy Lynn wore number seven the best. You’re telling me Kelly Trapuca doesn’t have the YouTube market cornered? I’m I’m shocked that an original Hornet doesn’t have the YouTube comment section cornered. Yeah. Oh well, those are the rules. Jeremy Lynn, congratulations. You wore it best. And congratulations to you, Elden Campbell. You wore it best over Nick Batum, who was second in line. That’ll do it for Locked on Hornets after dark. Thanks for making us your first listen. We’re free and available anywhere you get your pods. That includes YouTube. Catch Doug Branson on his Substack every hornetsboxcore.com. That’s it. I’m done. I don’t have anything else to say. Doug Branson is not hosting Locked on NBA anymore after this week. So go over there and check it out with Doug while you still can at least for the week because he’s not going to be your host of Locked on NBA afterwards. I’m Walker Mail. Listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3 p.m. Have a great rest of your day if you’re listening to this in the morning. We’ll be back with you tomorrow. Bye-bye. [Music]

We’re examining the biggest gambles the Hornets took this offseason, from the addition of Collin Sexton to the surprising risk of playing it too safe. Then, we kick off another season of our popular Stat Draft to predict which players will overperform or underperform this year.

Article Referenced: https://www.basketballpoetry.com/p/9-nba-players-with-a-surprising-skill

What were the riskiest moves the Hornets front office made this offseason? Of course, the most obvious one is betting on the health of LaMelo Ball, but we think there are some more interesting wagers to explore.

One of the biggest gambles involves new acquisition Collin Sexton. He’s known for wanting the ball in his hands, so we question if he can learn to share the basketball and successfully play a secondary role alongside LaMelo and Brandon Miller. Walker suggests the biggest gamble the team made was not taking any major gambles at all, instead opting for a safer, more conservative offseason. We also get into the risk of building a team that is all-in on offense while potentially neglecting the defensive end of the floor. Finally, we continue our “Who Wore It Best?” series with the number five, debating between franchise mainstays Elden Campbell and Nicolas Batum. And we couldn’t finish without kicking off the second season of our Stat Draft, where we each make our first-round selections for this year’s competition.

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