Is This Brandon Miller’s Breakout Year? One Thing Collin Sexton MUST Get Back to for Hornets Success

Is This Brandon Miller’s Breakout Year? One Thing Collin Sexton MUST Get Back to for Hornets Success

David Walker joins us finally. It’s been too long. He’s back to talk about his picks in the stat draft. And I think Doug is actually doing a a draft, a fantasy football draft as he does the podcast. So, you know, he’s locked in all on locked on Hornets today. [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. We’re free and available anywhere you get your podcast, and that includes YouTube. There you see Doug Branson. And every hornetsboxcore.com has a sick new locked on Hornets hoodie by the way if you want to give that a little show. Yeah, show it off baby. You look great. Every hornet sleeves on that thing. The sleeves don’t sleeves. I saw it. It’s all too much. We all saw it. Yeah, that’s too much. Hopefully you’re not watching us on YouTube. It’s the first time I’ve ever said that. Every hornetsboxcore.com. Also check that out. That is Doug. And then David Walker, the Chapel Bill apologist. Yeah, it’s it’s for us. It’s frustrating out here for Chapel Bill fans. David Walker, the OG Walker of the Pod. It’s been too long, man. How are you doing? I’m doing great. Uh, yeah, it has been too long. I’m I’m glad to be back. It’s time to talk ball, guys. We all That’s all we do is just talk ball. David is testing this out because he did not realize after watching College Game Day for the first time, as you mentioned, in years off mic, that if you talk ball and you’re all ball, that means football now. Right. It used to mean basketball, but now if you’re all ball and you talk ball, it means football, which that’s kind of like a like a It feels like a five to 10 year thing recently, but it’s wild. Yeah, you got to pay attention these days, guys. You take one day off of Twitter or uh Tik Tok and what have you and all of a sudden ball is football. So, let’s let’s talk it all. Well, I mean, Doug knows he’s doing a fantasy football draft as we speak. Like, that’s that’s a thing that’s happening. He was asking us for our advice and then not taking our advice as we were giving it to him. So, he’s that kind of friend as you might expect. What’s up now, Doug? Where are you in the draft? Who are you considering? Talk to us about what you’re doing in fantasy football. Oh, man. Yeah, it’s fantasy football draft. Everyone loves to talk about their fantasy football draft. Everyone loves to hear about other people’s fantasy football drafts. That’s right. I’m so glad I came back for this one. We are currently in round eight of 16. Uh it’s a 12 team league. Uh three keepers. Uh league’s been going for almost 15 years and it was a tough season last year for my team uh which is called is basketball on yet and uh yeah we’re just trying to recover here. I like it. Uh yeah, keep you guys update. I’ll keep you guys updated. Don’t worry. Oh, please do. Weird league by the way for those that are wondering like there’s there’s no tight end which got lobbyed for after five years. Did not get a tight end. uh is a three keeper league and uh did decided to take Brock Perie as a backup QB with valuable wide receivers left on the can’t have enough help at the QB position. I question the process. Okay, you’re doing that draft. We’re also doing a stat draft. So, we have our first two picks from all three of us. We have one more round to complete before we are over and done with the stat draft going into the 2025 2026 season. Doug, I know you’re busy, but do you have everybody’s first couple of picks to lead us off here? I’ve got like a thousand tabs open and somehow I don’t have the rundown tab open because it’s all I do have a thousand tabs, but they’re all fantasy football stats. All right, here we go. I found it. Okay. So, the way this works for the uninitiated is, and we’ve been doing this for two years now, we essentially draft stat categories and players uh and then we take the over or under based on their stats last season. So, for example, in round one, I took LaMelo Ball field goal percentage over 40.5%. So, if he gets over, I win that one. Walker took Musa Diabate minutes per game over 17 and a half. That’s a good one. David took LaMelo assists over 7.4. David also took Miles Bridg’s points under. Walker took Brandon Phil Brandon Miller field goal percentage over. I took Brandon Miller usage percentage under. And now here we sit in round three. If we just want to recap that, I think some of the more interesting ones to talk about, actually two, both from you, David. I think as I mentioned when Doug told us what your picks were, this would be the second year in a row somebody selected Miles Bridges going under his point per game total. Yeah. And that helps when you only go one point per game less than what you had scored the previous season. So that allows you to pick it a second time. But a lot of these picks are based off the talent that has been acquired around these guys for assist total. You know your pick, right? Doug just made a selection. So field. So, assists for LaMelo, uh, talent around him. Miles Bridges, less points per game, talent around him. Uh, usage percentage going down for Brandon Miller. That’s attributed to talent around him. That’s the theme, right? The the the increase here is minutes per game for Musa because we don’t have any centers. But other than that, the theme for these stat drafts or the the picks that we have in the stat draft is the fact that the Hornets actually did some pretty impressive stuff via talent acquisition. David. So tell take take us through your process on why you chose both of those uh selections. Yeah. Well, I think the Miles one um you had a similar strategy last year, right, Walker? Did you go under last year? Same thing. Same thing. Just, you know, it just bears out that if all the rest of these guys stay healthy and these new additions chip in some, they are not going to ask him to score uh 20 points a game and he’s not gonna have the ball as much. So, that one kind of makes sense to me. not that he, you know, can’t, but uh I would say that they’re they’re uh if they had their choice, they would get other people involved a little bit more and uh get some scoring for some other spots. And the LaMelo one, I mean, the assist, you know, when you look at it, I think that’s like his career averageish, but you know, as you look at it year by year, I think he dipped a little bit. Yeah. I mean, the last two years he was eight eight and over. So, like in a normal That’s right. Yeah, that’s right. Um and so and so that would be that was that was a little bit of a step back after you know the previous he he got better just about every year um up until last year. So I look for him to bounce back year be healthy and have more people to throw the ball to. Yes, exactly. So more people that can shoot and score the ball will should help Alo get some assists. By the very nature of picking these spec specific statistical categories, they’re supposed to be easy to pass one way or the other. So, it’s hard to see any of these really failing. Doug, do you see any of the picks that we have actually not going our way because again, first and second pick, we’re picking them high for a reason. We feel pretty good about it. Is there one that you feel the the least confident in from all six selections so far? Yeah, I just took Josh Downs uh from Indianapolis. I’m not sure. Oh, man. that sound. I’m back on the clock and it just actually hit my headphones in a very loud way. That’s terrifying. Um, so I’ve got a minute here to figure out this pick. Uh, yeah. I mean, the assist, the LaMelo assist, I mean, I think that’s going to be a tough one to climb over seven point. You know, maybe he does it, but I think that’s going to be the toughest one so far that I’ve seen. That that would be the one that’s the diceiest for me. I would bet that it does happen. Like I I think it does. My my biggest thing, David, was you lose a lob threat and Mark Williams and you don’t have anybody else. Yeah, that would be so driving right dunker spot come over and slam. But like the the other thing is we’ll drive kick out better shooters hopefully better playmakers you know swing the ball defense late to react one dribble home cooking scoring still award lamelo some assists you know maybe we got some of that cooking the books in there and it’s right on the nose for his career like you got it smack dab on 7.4 four. That’s what he had last season. So, it’s easy to see that he could do it. I would bet for it. I do think among the first six picks, that’s probably the diciest. Well, and and you know, second year of Charles Lee, I’m kind of hoping and banking that the Hornets can at least take a step up out of dead last in scoring in the NBA. So, maybe that’ll help them. Uh, you know, it would be nice. That would be a treat for everyone. So, if they do that, you know, that it stands to reason there’ll be some more scoring done. Um, and so, yeah, you know, plus, look, I I obviously I wanted a LaMelo pick. I want a Miles pick. I’m looking for a Brandon pick. So, I’m going with all the big hitters, uh, or trying to on my pick. So, that one is the one I like. And listen, you take away the three-pointers and the assists are the most fun, uh, part about LaMelo. And, uh, you know, he’s one of the best passers in the world. Yeah, I said that in the world. It’s okay. That’s why we’re here, man. We’re here to have fun. I’m glad that you chose something fun to select. Let’s move on after recapping the first six picks coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Oh, I’ve got my pick ready everywhere. Speaking of the worst offensive teams in the league, Doug tells you a little more about his fantasy football draft. Plus, we give you the very last pick for each of us in the stat draft. That’s still to come. LO. First, I want to tell you this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. the NFL season. I mean, it’s almost here. Like Thursday night, tomorrow, as of this recording, it’s almost here. And FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. For all you Panthers fans out there, I’d be interested in some props. Maybe T-Mac. I don’t know where the receptions line is on T-Mac. I’m looking at the over with the volume I expect him to get. Chuba Hubard, I think they want to run the football. I think the over. Smash the over, baby. Smash the over on the maybe not total scoring. Maybe you take the under, but go to FanDuel and figure it all out. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. [Music] Okay, last picks for all of us. Snake draft style. Doug was last in the second round. That means he’s first in the third round. He’s got so many drafts. Last picks. We’re doing like 17 rounds of this. We’re talking about last picks. We’re milking this segment for all it’s worth. He’s in draft mode and you cannot stop him, folks. He just wants to select things all night long. uh who wore it best also is somewhat of a draft and we have that planned at the end of the show today. We just bought a dollhouse for uh the baby and we’ll be we’ll be drafting furniture to go in the dollhouse. Yeah, we just draft everything. Lazy Boy, I choose you first overall pick. All right, what you got, Doug? So, I’ve thought a lot about this um in that I’ve researched it since we started doing the show and I’ve come to the ter determination. Eight years or as of this show? This episode? As of this episode. Yeah. nine years. Gotcha. I’ve been looking at this for a decade. Uh no, I did come into this show saying that I wanted to do something uh with Colin Ston and then I had a hunch uh right as the show began that Colin Ston known for driving the basketball. Um but I’ve seen a lot of people analyzing his year uh his last year in Utah, you know, in the leadup to him becoming a Charlotte Hornet. and I’ve seen a lot of him pulling up in the mid-range and I haven’t seen a lot of him finishing at the rim. That’s curious to me because I I just really associate that with being part of his game. And so I went to cleaning the glass. Um and again I have a thousand tabs up. So I’ll see if I can actually get the the actual stat for this. But I’m take I want I’m just going to reveal the pick and then I’ll get you the actual number. I’m taking the over on his cleaning the glass frequency at the rim, which I do remember was in the 23rd percentile last season. Um uh may actually maybe it was 23% frequency at the rim, which was below average uh for percentile. And every other year in his career, it was way above that. And I think it was just a strange you’re gonna take a lot of stats from Colin Ston because of the weird year that that he had in that, you know, in Utah where they were fined like $100,000 for so blatantly tanking all those. I mean, how could you establish a rhythm? I know he played like 60some games, but how can you establish a rhythm on the team that doesn’t care about winning at all? So, I I’m just thinking he’s going to get back to what he’s been doing his whole career. I’m taking the over on his uh percentage of his plays at the rim. Okay. Um I like it. Should be more shooting and should lead to more lanes. That’s the natural thought. I like it. I got one that I think maybe should have been the first overall selection in this draft and I overlooked it and I was reminded of it when we started talking about usage percentage. I’m going to LaMelo and I’m going with usage percentage going down considering what he did last year was not historical uh in league sense but maybe historical in franchise sense. The fact that he was in the 100th percentile on cleaning the glass. Here are the numbers to look at. If you’re going by basketball reference, he posted a 35.9% usage percentage. That’s just bonkers. And then if you’re going off of cleaning the glass, which negates garbage time, 37.1% usage percentage. Just some all-time numbers there. Like if he reaches that with this squad around him, I would be flabbergasted. I think it probably should have been the first overall selection. I’m taking it third. LaMelo Ball under on usage percentage. Uh, no, I love I love that pick. Just really quickly, I did pull these numbers. Um and the Colin Ston ri percentage of shot attempts at the rim 23%. Compare that to LA the season before 32% 39% 41% before that. Just like up and down he has been in 80th percentile or above percentage at the rim guy and it went down to below average 45. He is he was in the hundth percentile in short mid and all mid because look there was just you could pay attention to Colin. You’re not going to be able to do that because if you do that as a defense when he’s playing for the Hornets, it’s kick out to LaMelo, bang. It’s kick out to Coniple, bang. It’s kick out to Brandon Miller, bang. Like, they’re not going to be able to do that to Colin. He’s going to get to the rim next season. All right, David, you’re up. What’s the last pick? Well, I’m going Brandon Miller here, guys. And just as a reminder, you guys both went some sort of percentage, right? Field goal percentage and maybe three-point percentage. Usage. I went usage percentage, of course. Jeez, I forgot some. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That I I went overall field goal. Yep. Yep. So, I looked at free throw attempts for a long time. He was at 2.9 last year. All you needed was a just a nudge to get three. But I said, you know what? Let’s go big or go home. Okay, let’s talk ball. Let’s go over 21 points a game. Third year in the league coming into his zone. Let’s go over 21 points a game. Maybe some of those Miles Bridges points will go towards Brandon Miller and they start to feature him a little bit more in this new look offense or this new look team. I’m going Brandon Miller over points, guys. I feel great about David is providing us the most fun content to discuss. Like I I I almost want these. I can tell Doug hates it, which makes me love it. Well, you guys are in you guys are in contrast to one another to to some degree, right? like it it not necessarily, but the idea is that if Brandon’s usage goes down, then perhaps points per game would. It doesn’t mean that that’s going to happen, but perhaps it would. So Doug’s going under on usage percentage for Brandon. You’re going over on points per game. I’m going over on field goal percentage. So interesting Brandon thoughts here. Doug, you’re giving us all sorts of I don’t know about that faces. Why is that? Uh because I don’t know if I should take a tight end or not at this point in the draft. We’ve eliminated the position, but there are a lot of juicy because we eliminated the position. They’re depprioritized in this league and I am one pick away, folks. And Evan Ingram uh from the Denver Broncos is staring me right in the face. You’re you’re playing this in 2019, right? I wish you could hear the sound in my headphones. I just I’m I’m on the clock now. Um all right, so but back to back to the real business here. Um, I would actually go I would I have a strong inclination to go under on Brandon’s points and not because I think he’s I think he is going to be less in terms of usage. I think he’s going to be higher in terms of of an efficiency player. They didn’t make all of these upgrades on the wing on a wing depth because I think he’s going to get plenty of usage in his starting role. It’s when he, you know, is coming into these uh lineups in the second and third quarter, like I think he’s going to be looked at closing minutes, he’s going to be the guy taking shots with with LaMelo uh to start, you know, to get them in a rhythm offensively. He’s going to be the guy they look to early and often, but uh I do have a little bit of, you know, concern in terms of his points, but I think his efficiency is going to go up. So, I would just go under. But I understand. Fair enough. Fair enough. But here’s the thing. Two years from now, I could see it going over. I just think this year is gonna be I No, I’m telling you. I’m just I have a feeling cover your bases, guys. I know. I have a feeling that the storyline at the end of the season for Brandon is Yay, he stayed healthy. His efficiency went up, his usage went down, his points went slightly down, and then next season he goes and takes off. Yeah. So, we can finish some thoughts here on the other side of the break, but it more interesting stuff. David helping us out more so than us because we’re picking the easy ones that aren’t all that interesting to talk about after. Uh, come on, guys. Everybody talks about usage. That’s all they talk about. That’s all they do. Should I go defense here? Oh my god. Coming up next on the We actively play defense against Doug, who is trying to tank the show by doing an entirely different type of draft and picking a defense. Yeah. And picking a defense. Uh, also who wore it best. More thoughts on Stat Draft. That’s all still to come. LH. [Music] This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there’s Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you and you can link all your accounts in minutes and you can see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. Don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown NBA atmononey.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on NBA. More locked on hornets ahead. [Music] The points per game stuff with Brandon going up. Clearly you could see it. It’s not impossible. Yeah. I I wonder if there is some kind of concerted effort on the Hornets part to give him every opportunity possible to reach above what he did last year by really showcasing him as a future all-star, marketing him as such. It’s LaMelo, it’s Brandon. We’re going all all in on this duo. Everybody else, they’re just ancillary pieces. really what they’re supposed to do is help these two guys take us to the promised land. And if that’s the case, the idea of more of better, more improved players at each of those positions is LaMelo becoming more efficient. Brandon has to become more efficient. The volume doesn’t have to really go up for LaMelo. The Brandon three-point shooting volume doesn’t have to go up. He’s already got plenty of that. But you do have to figure out other stuff that he might be able to attribute to the team like taking you off the dribble, playmaking a little bit and 100% that’s where it gets talk about being a little dicey. That’s when you start to get a little scared, but but he has to figure that stuff out if you want him to reach the heights that you want him to reach. He was drafted second overall in a good draft class. And if you want to if you want to dodge the high-end Chris Middleton comparisons, which people took as an insult, that that was that was what the insult high-end comparison was. And instead, he was tabbing himself as Paul George and other people that were believers in Brandon Miller, they were tabbing him as Paul George. That’s the idea, right? So, yeah, like that it do you take a significant step towards figuring that out this year? And if you do, then maybe you run into more points per game. I I I think that’s the case. And I think maybe the team would be on your side in trying to make this happen. David, Doug, you got some thoughts real quickly before David speaks. What you got? Well, there’s a problem and that’s that his summer and most of his year last year got derailed by the wrist thing. So, I I think that’s a problem. it it means he’s not going to come in, you know, with having built up all of that experience and that knowledge and, you know, there’s obviously study, but so many of these guys will tell you there’s just no substitute for getting out there and and and and you know, playing. So, I think that’s a problem. Now, where I think I might lose this uh bet, we didn’t really make a bet, but if we did make a bet I didn’t put anything on the line. I You know what? Here we go. I will take we’ll have to figure out what David’s thing is. We’ll make a bet right now. And it’s the thing that I set up the last time we did a show. I said, “If you’re going to make a bet with me, make me take a shot of mayo cuz I hate mayo.” Oh, yes. So, so David, you think of what you would hate to No, this is not the rules of the game. This is a stat draft. You get to watching it. You get to pick. I’m giving you the opportunity to pick. No, I like like I said, I feel good about this and I do, but I but it’s it’s but just more for excitement and overall positivity of what could be right guys. I mean, 21 points a game to get over that he is going to have to find some ways. Maybe it’s free throws. Maybe it is getting to the basket a little bit more. I mean, gosh, fewer than three free throws a game last year. Sure, in limited games, you know, that’s not a lot at all. Miles is getting there. LaMelo has learned how to get there. uh maybe he pushes that up a little bit and maybe he he does uh you know ramp it up on the three-point percentage. So it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. It’s just going to be how it shakes out with these new guys. That’s the one piece as you pointed out, Walker. We don’t really know. But I do see them uh wanting to feature him. Like I think they still see it’s Brandon and LaMelo until further notice. You know, we we’ll see how Khan fits into all that. We’ll see what kind of element Colin Ston brings to the table. But look, that they have a young core. If they have a young core, Brandon Miller is certainly a piece of it. I I never got to how I would lose the bet. Here’s how I would lose the bet that we’ve made. Um, and here’s the and and I’ll tell you what you have to do. I’m gonna recently This is how these things work. Listen, listen. So, one of the best buys I’ve had on Amazon ever. I found a pair listening. I I found a pair of like Sketcher slip-on shoes. I got them for like 25 I got them for like 25 bucks. I’m wearing a pair of shoes right now. Bully for 25 bucks. Jeff Bezo 3s. They’re amazing. I’m going to make I’m going to buy you a pair and make you wear them uh to to some kind of social function. The The punishment The punishment should be to buy LaMelo’s new shoes. Oh, no. Not Not a fan, huh? That’s tough. That’s too That’s way more expensive than a shot of Mayo. All right, here’s how I lose. Here’s how I lose. It’s if they trade Colin Ston and Miles Bridges at the trade deadline, right? Like they they could easily open up more shots for Brandon Miller at the trade deadline. Bromelo or you think they’re trading? Oh, no. No, I didn’t say it. I didn’t say it, guys. I didn’t say it. I understand. Um the the other way this happens for for you, David, so you don’t have to do whatever bet Doug is trying to strongarm you into doing. Um do you expect this team to be a faster paced team and just get more possessions per game? Cuz last year they were pretty slow. They weren’t the slowest, but they were pretty damn slow. They were ranked 20th in pace per game. 97 97 and a half about possessions per 48 minutes. Just for reference, Grizzlies were about what’s that six more possessions per game on average. So, can you get three, four, that runs into, you know, that that total climbs up over the course of an 82 game season. Um, but it’s per game. Yeah. May maybe maybe that could happen for Brandon and help him out as well. Okay. Uh, final thoughts. What you got, Doug? What’s What’s something that like slightly nauseates you, David? Like, like what’s it doesn’t it’s not going to make you throw questioning. Like I if I took a shot of mayo, it it wouldn’t make me vomit. I It would make me You would get some good facial reactions. It would make me uncomfortable. It would be It would be worth a laugh. It would get a laugh on the show, but So, you got to think of something that would just make you slightly nauseated in that way. Maybe it’s me talking. I mean, that joke has been made three times now. It’s it’s this line of questioning. It’s all of this. anything David come I was sorry I wasn’t you know you know not a big pickle fan um pickle two shot oh so maybe maybe we work that in there okay uh picklebacks pickle juice now if he pushes if he pushes then we both have to cheers each other one shot of mayo and one pickle juice shot have you guys seen this pickle beer I saw there was a beer in the uh sounds pretty good well okay now we’re talking okay maybe we try one of those that sounds that sounds even How about just a How about How about just a pickle? Why does a pickle have to be in like 9,000 thing? Why don’t Why don’t we just eat a pickle? I love taking over. The The wildest thing I’ve seen so far is Sonic embracing the pickle so much that there’s a pickle slushie on top and then you can order like this pickle monstrosity of a burger with a pickle slushie. I like pickles. Okay. But anyways, that seems to be too much. All right, let’s move on. Man, we got to do who wore it best. I will not let pickles and mayo get in the way. We’re up against the time. I’m not sure. I’m not sure we’re going to get this. Are you telling me you went through a fantasy football draft and made up bets for us tonight? We’re not going to finish it. It’s not going to happen. No, we listen. We have plenty of time. Uh we’ve It’s It’s like the middle of August, right? Like, we’ve got plenty of time. So, we’re making it. Um All right, Doug, talk to us. Where are we? Number three. Who are the players? Let’s try to get through this. Oh, I’m sorry. I would, but I am on the clock right now. Uh, I’ve got some I got to I got to fill out my bench. Just tell me to end it. You just give me the word when to end it and I’ll end the show. I’ll let David, you know, get back to hanging out with people that don’t try to make him do things that gross him out. I’ve got Ray I’m looking down the barrel of Ray Davis, Will Shipley, Woody Marx, Brian Robertson Jr., not to be confused with Bejon, Miles Sanders, former You’re in handcuff territory. Ray Davis is the best handcuff. That’s the go. There you go. See what you just say. Finally listening. Appreciate it. And I chose Brian Robinson. Thank you. I appreciate the help. Um, are we doing this? Talk to me. Are we doing it or are we ending the show? You kind of want to end the show, don’t you? It feels like you don’t. And I, you know, that’s that’s I I appreciate that. Oh, man. I can’t The sound. I’m telling you, I’m in the snake draft right now. You’re killing me. I’m all right. Let me look it up. Who wore it best? This is number three. I’m actually You know what? I’m making an executive decision. The show, it’s the first time I’ve ever done it. The show is ending because you’re drafting. Number three deserves our time and love and care. It deserves all the TLC. We teased it last episode, but I I want to give it the time and we don’t have the time. That’ll do it. Doug Branson, get back to choosing whatever kicker is available. Every hornyboxcore.com. Also check him out on a new uh I will say this, we could provide this platform for you to share with the people what you’re doing now or is it still a little too early? Harrison Bucker or Jake Elliot kicker KC, right? I mean, they’re going to score. Yeah. Yeah. Philly though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they’re going to score. Okay, I’m gonna go Harrison Bucker. But Dave Dave, you’re you’re not sharing. David Walker. Uh thank you. What an episode for you to come back to. Wouldn’t I just exactly how I drew it up, guys? I wouldn’t have There was somebody There was There was a kicker named Joshua Cardi. I could have had a Cardi party, man. This This is why Doug had you on. It’s so he could draft. This is it. Like, this is the exact reason. I can’t do it that day, guys. I have a podcast I have to record. Oh, wait. Unless I ask David to come on. Sure. Let’s shoot for that date. Anyways, David was on the OG Walker. We appreciate it. I’m Walker May. Listen to me. WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3 p.m. Sports Radio 927 FM. Have a great rest of your day. Uh I guess we’ll be back with you tomorrow. Thanks again, David. Yeah, boys. Take care. [Music]

We continue our annual stat draft, making bold over/under predictions for LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Miles Bridges. The crew debates whether new team talent will lead to a scoring surge for Miller or a statistical decline for others, all while one host drafts his fantasy football team live on air.

Today we are joined by the OG Walker, David Walker, to continue one of our favorite annual traditions. We’re in the thick of our stat draft, where we select a player’s statistical category from last season and predict whether they will go over or under that mark for the upcoming 2025-2026 season. The theme this year is clear: how will the Hornets’ impressive talent acquisition affect the box score for the team’s core players?

We examine some fascinating picks, including LaMelo Ball’s assists going up while his historic usage rate comes down. The crew also presents conflicting theories on Brandon Miller, with one person taking his points to go over 21 per game and another taking his usage percentage to go under. We also look at predictions for a decline in Miles Bridges’ scoring and a return to form for new acquisition Collin Sexton at the rim. All of this happens while Doug hilariously attempts to manage his fantasy football draft during the recording, leading to a friendly wager involving pickle juice and mayonnaise that you won’t want to miss. We’ve got one more round to get through in this draft (or seven we’ll see how the rest of the offseason shapes up) and the picks are only getting more interesting

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://linktr.ee/lockedonhornets

Become an official member of the Locked On Hornets Sicko Brigade and get Hornets news, rumors and pictures of Byron Mullens sent directly to your phone via Subtext (14 Day Free Trial): https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonhornets

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

Get Doug’s gamenotes, special articles and a podcast on Hornets history at the Every Hornets Boxscore substack: everyhornetsboxscore.com

Get more Walker on Wes and Walker 12-3pm on WFNZ 92.7 FM

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

📲 Follow Locked On Hornets on Twitter
Locked On Hornets https://twitter.com/LockedOnHornets
Walker Mehl https://twitter.com/WalkerMehl
Doug Branson https://twitter.com/DougBransonLOH

For your next listen, check out the Locked On NBA podcast, where the season never ends providing national expertise with a local perspective. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

BetterHelp
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month.

eBay Motors
From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Now through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#Hornets #LaMelo #LaMeloBall #CharlotteHornets