Hornets Media Day Takeaways: A NEW LaMelo Ball & A Plan to SHOCK THE LEAGUE?! | Full Recap 🏀

Hornets Media Day Takeaways: A NEW LaMelo Ball & A Plan to SHOCK THE LEAGUE?! | Full Recap 🏀

Hornets media day has concluded. We give you a hodgepodge. A hodgepodge if you will. All of the takes, all of the comments, all of it. It’s a hodgepodge type of show on Locked on Hornets. A Julius Hodgepod. 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, Doug Branson, every hornetsboxcore.com. Also the producer for Yahoo Sports Daily. Go check him out. And I’m Walker Mail. Listen to me. WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3:00 p.m. If you listen to us today, you found a reprieve from Carolina Panthers conversation, which I’m sure was welcomed by you, the listener. And we talked a lot about the Hornets and had interviews with Charles Lee, Brandon Miller, Khan Canipple, and Trey Man. Awesome stuff. We’ll play some of those clips all throughout the week. We’ll sprinkle them in here and there. Salt Bayet wfnz.com is where you can catch the full interviews. Real quickly want to tell you that this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Appreciate them as always. 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. Head to fanduel.com to get started. Media Day is always a whirlwind. So, I need to go through each of these comments, each of the sound bites that we’ve collected because at WFNZ, we’ve collected a lot. Remember, there’s a Panthers crisis going on in our neck of the woods. So, we have to cut Agerro Ao, Dave Canales clips also. I’m trying to go through all of them. We will have analysis on a lot of these sound bites as we go forward. But Doug, I’m interested after Jeff Peterson spoke, Charles Lee, everybody spoke at the table and then I’ll provide some of the takeaways from the interviews that we had on Wes and Walker. But what were some of the things that you noticed hearing from the EVP, hearing from the head coach, and some of the star players on this team? Well, I’m looking on FanDuel and the Hornets are still plus 100,000 to win the NBA championship. So, whatever was said today was not significant enough to move the books in their direction. But I think I thought Tan Salon’s fluidity might affect those numbers, but I guess not surprising. I missed that. There’s so much. There is a lot and I and I need I I’m going to have to do just digging throughout the week to find all of these little nuggets. I I’ve thrown a bunch in the rundown here. You know, I think we start let’s start with LaMelo because I think there were a lot of interesting LaMelo things to talk about and then maybe as we move on we can talk about just more 30,000 foot takeaways of you know any kind of themes that we were noticing. Um, but you know, I think the to me one of the bigger stories was just everyone talking about how much strength uh that ball has added over the summer equally to his upper body and to his lower body. I believe that LaMelo called it a collective effort and decision between himself and the coaching staff, which you could hear that and say, well, that’s easy to say. But I would say actually for for him to say, “Hey, I’m taking it upon myself plus I’m listen because I think in the past he’s he’s very often said, I’ll do whatever they tell me to do. They give me the money.” I’m paraphrasing here. He’s never said this quote, but the his idea is like, you know, I’m here to play ball and if they want me to do something, then I’ll do it. I I think specifically of the ankle braces, you know, well, I’m you know, if they want me to wear them, then I’ll consider it. We’ll figure it out. This is him saying, “No, look, we got together. We said, “This is what we got to do, and I did it.” And so I I just I love that Charles Lee said he saw a different commitment level from LaMelo Ball in the weight room in the off season. So, I just, you know, I’m I’m just hoping upon hope that we’re seeing a corner turn of some kind in LaMelo Ball’s seriousness level that coincides not coincidentally with all of these veterans that they brought in, Spencer Dwitty, Pat Coneton, uh, Colin Ston on down the line. Yeah, it feels like they were trying to push that story out today when asked about LaMelo that there has been a more focused commitment in the weight room. Charles Lee discussed that at Nauseium and I think Brandon Miller even talking with him today on Wesson Walker. We asked about LaMelo, some things that maybe people don’t know about him. One, by the way, I know there’s this controversy apparently going on social media with LaMelo not truly being 6’8 or 67 because of some of the pictures that he took. So, there’s LaMelo heightgate going on right now. Brandon Miller did say he’s a true 67, even a 6’8 guard. I said, “So, you’re saying he’s taller than what his listed height is?” And he said, “Yes.” Everybody’s trying to bring him down a couple of inches. No, Siri, Bob. LaMelo is indeed 6768 according to Brandon and he’s worked out quite a bit. The other thing is something that isn’t too unfamiliar with LaMelo, but Jeff Peterson and Charles Lee both spoke to just how much this team was here. And Jeff Peterson said all of the players on the roster pretty much. I mean I I I’m only using pretty much to cover my own behind. I I don’t think he singled out anybody and said they weren’t here in the Queen City. Jeff Peterson said everybody was here working out, trying to improve, getting better. And he said he’s never seen anything like it in his like 14year NBA career. Charles Lee also made a point how the entire team was in Charlotte improving, getting better. And I’ll say this, even talking with some people I know at Queens because I do color work for them during their basketball games and I know a decent amount of people over there. Talking with them, just being behind the scenes cuz the Hornets have made Queens their home with the renovations going on over at Spectrum Center. They’ve said they’ve seen a lot of people working out like just constantly for a long time. They would mention some of the players they would see. So yeah, man, they they’ve been putting in work together trying to learn one another. Miles Bridges talked about learning the games of his new teammates. I thought that was important. So hopefully there’s not this learning curve on chemistry and that they’ve done a lot of work already on that this off seasonason heading into the regular season. Uh Charlotte no stranger to exaggerating heights uh particularly with their star point guards. Uh Kim Walker definitely was not the star. Was there a thing? I don’t remember that as much but there was a thing. Yeah. Okay. Oh yes. And all of this would be solved if they would let reporters back into the locker room because then you can do a little secret like little but like so I this this No, it’s a good point. I’ve been around LaMelo. I’m 6’6. He’s tall, man. He’s taller than I am. I’m I know. Oh, we get it. I’m facts, baby. Facts. Okay, that’s a fact. Speaking of LaMelo, I’m 6’6. He’s taller than me. I I I’m guess Brandon Miller stuff because there was a picture of LaMelo next to Brandon. Guys, Brandon’s tall, like 6’9. So, anyways, I I’m not falling for the shenanigans on LaMelo’s height. Well, this actually it’s very I think it’s very serious for LaMelo because there’s a branding social media component of this because he has been attached to a uh slogan of the youths 67 because of uh his height being referenced in in in a rap song and being 67 and then kids. It doesn’t mean any 67 doesn’t apparently doesn’t mean anything. It’s just sort of a goofy thing that kids say, but it has to do with LaMelo Ball and he’s seemingly uh embraced it as well. So, wait, did I fall for an old man? Do Do I not know the reference? And I really thought that they were discussing him being 67. Am I falling at for a joke as an old man? No. Well, I think they’re discussing it because and there was a little bit of noise premedia day about him accepting the 67 moniker. Uh that has been Yeah. So this all Yeah. I can’t believe that. Well, first of all, this is the first time in show history that I knew something about hip hop that you didn’t. So I just want to 6′ 7 foot. Mr. MF Doom wearing hoodie guy. Well, what what is this? What is this hippity hop? I’ll look it up during the I’ll get you the exact uh song. I’m sure people are screaming at their uh YouTube devices right now. Okay. So, um, yeah. I I love that we’re on height watch, too, instead of muscle watch, although we’re also on muscle watch with LaMelo Ball. Did he look I Were you in the room? Did you get a chance? Did he look beefier? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, we we talked with Brandon. I do think Brandon looks This is such a hilarious conversation. Yes. I do think Brandon looks solid. I would say that about LaMelo a little bit. Maybe I’m tripping. I don’t know. I I they it they kind of look like it. They they they do. They have to they have to they have to get stronger. This is it’s important. We’re joking about it. But it is important for both of them. They’ve got to get stronger because LaMelo, particularly when Brandon Miller uh went out with his wrist injury, they were double teaming him. They were triple teaming him. Every time he went to the paint, they put a body on him and he was feeling it and it was getting into his head. And so he’s got to get stronger so that he can take more of that beating. He can move past those defenders. That was specifically uh uh mentioned uh during these media day outlets. Also something that was said by Charles Lee was he said the light bulb, this is from Rod Boon. I got this on Twitter. Lee said the light bulb is going on for LaMelo and thinks that knowledge and understanding will translate during the regular season. So I and and here’s where I’ll put a bow on this for LaMelo and I think you can really maybe extend this out to the entire team. This is the start of the expectations that I wanted to hear because when Lee says here at the beginning of the season, hey, light bulbs going on for LaMelo, different commitment level, the knowledge and understanding will translate during the regular season. What happens if it doesn’t? This is why expectations are important because now you have sticks by which to measure things and then the organization can then make decisions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I love expectations. I love sticks to use to measure. They don’t height. I’m talking about height. People get your mind out of the gutter. Yeah. No. The band, right? You like measuring other bands based on the sticks. Styx scale. How good are they in reference to sticks? I think we’re never going to get Jeff Peterson on the show. I think that inside joke. Uh, yes, that that matters. Um, yeah, I I’m totally with you on that. They they don’t like putting out the expectations in the public because then once they don’t reach them, they get ridiculed at the very end and now they have some interesting stuff to answer for. But yeah, I they were very careful to not tell us about specific wins, losses, goals that they didn’t have any goals to make the postseason outright. So Jeff Peterson just kept repeating competitiveness. And I did ask him about an identity, if you have one when building your roster during the offseason or if you’re even able to put an identity on this team before they played a game. And he did say competitiveness and physicality. And I thought physicality is interesting. I even if it’s a blank known for that. That’s right. Coaches will say we want to get faster, which boy that was something they preached a lot about. We can get more into that, but they want to get faster. And then Jeff Peterson said about their identity, they want to be competitive and they want to be more physical. I do think they practiced what they preached here by selecting Khan who loves contact. Seion James loves it as a linebacker and Liam McNeely not afraid of the smoke. So they drafted all of them and who do they go get? Colin Ston, which the Charles Lee stuff on the acquisition of Colin, I actually want to get to that a little bit too on the other side. I’ve been begging for anybody to talk to me. How in the world did they get Colin Sexton the way they did? Who started this? I I feel like we have a little bit of info from Charles in a sit down with me. So, we can get to that maybe in a little bit. Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast everywhere. We’ll give you some of the other bigger takeaways. I mean, yeah, we’ll be chewing on this for the rest of the week. So, we’ll try to spill out the main thoughts here and then get into the details as the week goes on. Plenty more to get to coming up next. [Music] This episode is brought to you by 5Hour Energy. 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I liked your idea before the break talking about everyone mentioning that they wanted to play fast, particularly Charles Lee, they want to play fast. Uh do so I guess the questions are do you think they have the personnel to play fast? Why do they want to play fast versus I don’t know not playing fast? What do you think? Yeah, I I think I don’t know if they have the personnel to not play fast. I This is what they have. They have all the guards as we’ve mentioned and I think the fiveman rotation outside of Caulk Briner it it calls for you to run the floor at a faster pace than anybody else cuz even if Mason is older Mason Plumbley can run the floor we know this is Moose’s strong suit. So a few things right I think so much of their pace not only is it dictated by the backcourt players LaMelo is a walking fast break. He himself out there on the court is transition offense unto himself. He automatically speeds you up. It was everybody else around him and it’s when he was hurt that they weren’t able to stay up in the top 10 in the rankings and fast break opportunities. So you have LaMelo check. You go out, you get Khan Canipple who’s smart. Brandon Miller hopefully is healthy. Trey man. Trey man actually likes operating in the half court more so if you check out some of his advanced stats which is interesting because he’s a quick player but he likes breaking you down off of the dribble. That’s changing a little bit. They want him to catch and shoot more. That’s something we heard from Charles. You can do that in transition, by the way. You can. You absolutely can. So, look for that. But, you know, they go out and get Colin Ston. But I do think when asking Jeff Peterson about what they wanted to accomplish this off season. Same thing with Charles. I think that that was something they discussed. And I think the market uh the market dictated itself to if we just go get these players that we do feel are the best players available, they also fit a certain style of play that I would like to play. You got to remember Charles Lee and Milwaukee, they ran up and down the floor constantly. I’m not talking about top 10. Milwaukee was top five, top one in transition offense for quite some time. Mike Boonhoer loved running and Charles Lee said he is applying some of his BUD principles, the player development principles that they had in Milwaukee and Atlanta to what they have here in Charlotte. So those that’s just me vomiting all sorts of speed talk on to you. But yes, that everybody wants to run faster. I think they have the roster for it and to sum it sum it all up and bring it right back to the beginning point. Doug, I don’t know if they can play any other way than to get up and down the floor quickly. Yeah, I think most of the teams that want to play fast uh don’t have elite ISO creators either for themselves or for others. And so the teams that often play slow are the teams that have those superstar level. They can grind you down. They can get the possession. They can get the 24 second clock down and still make an incredible play. Not sure the Hornets have those players on the roster. LaMelo comes closest with just his ability to hoist up an incredible one-legged three and knock it down. Um, but Brandon Miller’s not that yet. I don’t think has the handle yet. We’ll see if if that’s improved this season. Um, but beyond that, yeah, to score effectively, they are going to have to race down the floor and not only score in the paint, score easy buckets, but they’re going to have to kick out to guys like Trey Mann who are going to be ready to hit um catch and shoot threes. Um, I think, you know, it it it will benefit Musa Debbate, give him a little bit more uh a little bit more dynamism offensively when he’s out on the floor. Uh definitely Mason Plumbley can play that way sometimes to his own detriment. Uh but he can definitely play that way. And I thought an answer I believe it was Richie Randall from Busby who asked this question to Jeff Peterson if you know they’ve accumulated a lot of ball handlers is that going to be an issue in terms of just got there’s only one basketball you know that thing that we always say right and Jeff Peterson sort of deflected a little bit and said well you know in the modern NBA it’s not as much of an issue because the ball is moving around and he’s right you know we don’t we’re not so like heliocentric around one iso star that always is is going to get up 35 shots a game. That’s not how the game is played anymore. But particularly if you did plan to play fast and in transition, it’s all about bing bing bing bing bing. Ball’s constantly moving left to right, up and down and it’s different guys every possession and it’s all jazz. It’s all like no one’s it’s all instinct. No one’s like super thinking like oh this is my possession or now it’s got to be this guy’s possession. So, if you’re playing fast, it would benefit you to have a lot of ball handlers who can initiate that initial break and then a lot of guys that can do something when they have the ball in their hands. And that is the roster that the Hornets have accumulated. You said it’s all jazz. I’m sure Colin section was twitching. He doesn’t want to go back to Utah. Maybe it’s all Pacers. Maybe it’s all Pacers because they were asked about the NBA finals and the Indiana Pacers of it all. The incredible run they went on. How can they do it with Tyrese Hallebertton as their head of the snake and they have talent, but nobody expected Indiana to make the NBA finals? That was a ridiculous story. Let alone uh take OKC to a game seven and the only reason they lost the way they did maybe is because Hallebertton got injured. But what a fascinating story. those guys responded to that and it’s not I don’t what was interesting about their answers to some of those questions was that Doug it didn’t seem that they rolled their eyes at it or oh okay yeah here’s NBA personalities trying to present something that’s really not there. No, they they cared. Brandon Miller talked about it with us. They watched playoff basketball together. It was Miles. It was LaMelo and Brandon all together watching postseason basketball trying to pick up what some of the other teams were putting down. and Charles referenced that in his sit down at the uh podium, I guess we’ll call it, but really the table. But yeah, how they’re moving the basketball in Indiana and they want to move the basketball. They want it to pop like Gene Hackman preaches in Hoosiers. They want it to pop pop pop all over the place and they have the roster for it. I I I think they have the decision-m could be questionable because I I don’t know if Colin Ston is viewed as this master facilitator. LaMelo is, but he also has been privy to shooting a ton because I think the lack of talent around him. I think that’s the excuse. Brandon Miller, I thought his passing would translate a little better and and it still could. I still think the vision is there. It just hasn’t come along as much as I thought it would. But I think this is the opportunity for all of that to really gel. And I’m excited. It’s why the off seasonason was fun. It’s why they’re getting lauded for winning on the margins and just hitting a bunch of doubles rather than hitting a bunch of home runs. I I think this is how you win. This is the way. Uh two more quotes that I think are pertinent here uh that I that I’ll get to in in just a moment because there there are a couple of things you need to play fast and and I thought two guys hit on that. Um, but just on on the transition game as a whole, it’s it’s not just, oh, we have to run fast, we have to be focused on transition, we have to, you know, get the ball in quickly on makes. In order to play fast in order to increase your pace, you have to play defense. You have to get stops and you have to get steals. You got to get out of you have to manufacture your own transition. And I think that’s what Charles Lee is going to harp on these guys. Hey, you want to play fast, play defense. That’s how the Pacers did it. They they definitely were were uh engaged on that end of the floor. That’s how they got to the finals. But two things you need. You need conditioning and Miles Bridges said according to Sam Perley that he’s focused on conditioning this summer. U as well as learning about his new teammates and how they play. And that’s the other thing. You’ve got to have trust. You’ve got to have communication. Communication is key, particularly on the defensive end, but also in transition, but also it’s just sort of the like the communication that’s not verbal communication. It’s like, I know what you’re going to do. We’ve talked about this. We’ve run through this a lot. Ston Colin Sexton said this on Playing with LaMelo Ball. He said, quote, “We’ve been reaching out to each other, building communication, and respect away from the court. He trusts me. I trust him. So when he when we’re out there, it’s going to translate. They’re saying the right things that align with what the team says or or how the team says they want to play. And to me, that’s important. You mentioned conditioning. Brandon Miller gave us one answer talking about practice. He said practice is hell. He said it’s hell. Good. So, I guess that’s two words. Well, you know, because this is important. Uh because if you’re not well conditioned and you try to play fast, you know what happens? What happens? You get injured. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And don’t get injured. And then when you get injured, you don’t develop chemistry and then you lose trust in the players that are out there on the court, which we’ve seen all too often. And then you can’t get into a rhythm and you can’t play jazz. Let’s put a bow on. I was waiting. I was going to it. See, that’s the the communication, the trust that we have. We know what each other pass. We know what we’re thinking. Full core pass. Coming up next on the Locked on Hornets podcast. Everywhere. Final main takeaways from Hornets Media Day. There’s so much coming up next. LOH. [Music] This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app with NFL season being here and being crazy. Like, I I don’t I can’t imagine you going to FanDuel and and betting on a tie. I’m not sure many people were able to bet on that, but but the craziness, it’s fun to be in on the action, and you can be in on the action with FanDuel. makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little something uh you a little skin of the game, little something in on FanDuel. Whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. [Music] Okay, where else you want to go, Doug? you got a lot of the comments from everybody covering the Hornets at media today. What were some of the other comments you wanted to get to? Yeah, we can dig into some of the smaller stories and some of the stories that you were able to pull from your interviews at WF&Z as the the week goes on here and then boy, we are yeah, just days away from preseason action. Um, I can’t wait for that. But let’s just talk about your biggest take. Your biggest takeaway, not on on a player or on a coach or on Jeff Peterson, but just your 30,000 foot as you read all of the quotes, as you took all of the information in, what’s just your general feel, um, vibe check, if you will, on the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets players believe and they want to be here, I think, pretty badly. Talking with Trey Mann was one of my favorite interviews ever, just picking up what he was discussing, everything he went through this off season, how he wanted to be back. There was a real possibility that he wasn’t going to be here with Charlotte, but he loves the fan base and he likes his teammates. Everybody has glowing remarks about who Trey Mann is as a guy. Got to talk with Khan Canipple, too, and he said Trey’s the man. Like, just a really, really cool dude. And so, he wants to be here. I get that same thing from Brandon who was taking more of a leadership role which has been documented from lunch and notes that Charles Lee had with everybody. But Brandon is also speaking about LaMelo and just making sure that he puts praise upon every single one of the players on the roster. Um, and really taking that leadership role on even if you talk about being a leader, I think he is starting to show that. And even just subconsciously discussing basketball like a leader, I think he wants to be here too. and Charles Lee is excited about this group of guys. Um I I I think it feels real. It feels real, Doug. And yet, of course, I’m reluctant to say that because we’re sickos and this is what keeps the sickness alive, right? It’s just it is a shot of steroids to the virus that gets to flex his muscles and say, “This is why you continue to be sick. I’m only feeding you more steroids.” And yet I can’t help it because it feels real to them and it feels real to them and they have the depth and they feel more prepared for some of the injuries that might pop up along the way and they’re all buying into a strategy. You mentioned it how they all seem to be on the same page where the police officers might send everybody into a different room so they’re not all saying the same thing and their stories can’t align because they’ve all talked to one another yet the stories still all align. I I like hearing what I’m hearing, man. It’s fun stuff. Yeah. I think my my big takeaway is that you you can’t tell someone to be more serious, whether it’s LaMelo Ball or Brandon Miller or what you can’t. And I don’t even think you can tell someone to be a leader. I I think a lot of that comes from the inside. And I think if you want a serious team, you’ve got to go and get serious players. But I do think that seriousness, professionalism, culture, that thing can be built and it can become infectious. And I think speaking of the sickness and being infected, um I I think I’m starting to I I’d like to take a temperature check on a few of these guys because I think they’re they’re catching the fever. And it’s coming from Colin Ston. It’s coming from Spencer Denwitty. We should get into some of his quotes as the week goes on because I thought he was particularly insightful on some of this stuff. Um, but I think it’s it’s also coming from the rookies. I think Khan Canipple surprising I bet Khan Caniple is not only surprising LaMelo because of of his athleticism and how high he can jump, but I bet he’s surprising him just how immediately he’s come in and is is committed to winning and doing the right things. And and I think it’s like it’s not just lamela. I think it’s everybody. Everybody is feeling a sense of, oh, it’s real now. And that comes, I think, top down. I don’t think that’s supposed to be, oh, we drafted a bunch of guys and they’re just all of a sudden supposed to be like, oh, I’m a leader now. I’m serious. This is a serious thing we’re doing. You’d like that. you would love if you know if you were always drafting Kanipples, but I think that has to come from the top of the organization and I think you’re you’re finally seeing that. It’s taken a little bit as they’ve had to bring some guys in and let some guys go. You’re starting to see that happening. If they were going to surprise the league, this feels like the first chapter of that. This feels like how you would write the first chapter. And I am with you, Walker. I’m very careful because I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been studying media days for a long time. And I know that you’re you can go across all 30 media days and all 30 locked on channels and I I just bet dollars to donuts you’re not going to find Vive check. Like I mean everybody, it’s media day. Everybody’s like, “Yes, this is our year. This is our time. We’re serious.” You see how much weight this guy gained? My god. He we’ve just been shooting him introvenously with donuts. He’s so so huge. He’s huge, man. He’s huge. He’s He’s in the best shape of his life. That guy that we’ve been shooting with donuts, he’s in the best shape of his life. It’s all true. Just believe us. Yeah. But but this the the reason I would say this has a chance of being different is because it it does seem to be coming from the coach, the general manager, and ownership all being aligned on here’s the kinds of things we need to do to go out and win. Because look, they don’t have the talent. I’ll just be straight up with you. Like they do not have the talent to get to the playoffs. So they’re going to have to do it in a different way. If they’re going to surprise the league, they’re going to have to do it in a different way. If they had come into this thing and said, “This is our year. We have the talent. We have all the talent in the world. We’re good.” We heard that. We heard that for years from Mitch Cupchack. We’ve got all we need. Don’t worry. It’s fine. No, that’s not what I’m hearing from the They’re saying, “Hey, we’ve got to do it a different way.” And that’s music to my ears. We sound like the people that are trying to convince other people, no, we really are from the future. I promise. And then we get so defeated by everybody’s reaction to us telling them we’re from the future that we’re reluctantly saying it. I I promise I am like I I prom like it sounds like that. It sounds like I I promise I know I know we’ve said this before and it hasn’t worked out, but this time it’s different. Please just don’t laugh at us. That’s what we sound like. Please don’t laugh at our takes that we think are different this time. I’ll have these arguments with people who will say who will say confidently to me. No, I know I could stop Xe event if you gave me a time machine. Give me you can’t I can’t go day of but give me a couple of weeks and I can stop this event. And I said, and I will say to them as confidently as they said that to me, I will say, you will either end up in jail or you’ll end up in a nutouse. Like there’s no, we don’t because what people don’t people don’t make the the leap of what if somebody from the future visited me right now in the present and said, “Hey, this event is about to happen. Please stop it.” You of course would be like, “You’re insane. Get out of here.” Yeah. So yeah, that’s lock us up. Throw away the key, baby. We’re sick. And then you get to watch live on YouTube a robot come through the door. Despite the future man’s warnings, I didn’t listen and now I’m shot by a cyborg. Now I’m shot by another lethal injection of Charlotte Hornettopium. This is which you you shouldn’t try to stop anything. You should do the Biff Tannon and you should, you know, go go to some site and put down a wager on six man of the year, Colin Ston. That That’s what I should do. That’s what I should do. Yeah. Hey, that was the most defeated positive vibes uh segment that I think people have ever heard. And yet, it is true. We’re hoping it’s different this time. That those it and I will say this, it does feel different than other Hornets media days. I thought we felt pretty good last media day. The Miles Bridges off season vibes were vibes were like it was it was bad. I know not many people did. It was It was awful. Um, it was really bad. So, the vibes are not that. Let me just tell you, they are are not that over at Queens. And, uh, by the way, shout out to Queens, too. I I don’t want to say second home, but worlds are colliding because I do color for Queens and it was awesome to be able to talk to a lot of the people over there. And uh it some interesting stuff with them hosting the Hornets we can maybe get into later in the week, but like what the Hornets and Queens relationship is and how they were able to make that their second home. Some interesting tidbits about that. Oh wow, you sound like Pablo Tori. You about to break some news here? About to unleash conspiracy on me. No. No. I I do not think that Rick Schnull is going to be tweeting at me non-stop for the next couple of days. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Um, Mark Cuban joke. Okay, that’ll do it. Lockdown Hornets, thanks for making us your first listen. We’re free and available anywhere you get your pods and that includes YouTube. Doug Branson, go check out his Substack. Every hornetsboxcore.com. Check out his new show. He is a producer on Yahoo Sports Daily with Jason Fitz and Caroline Fenton. I’m Walker Male. Listen to me. WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3 p.m. 927 FM on Wes and Walker. We have a bunch a bunch of segments to get through with all the comments, other takeaways, the the tree, the branches, the leaves of the main topics. It’s all very strong. We’re going to get to all of it as the week goes on here. Lohing bing bing bing bing [Music]

We’re breaking down all the biggest takeaways from Hornets Media Day, where a new sense of seriousness and commitment was the major theme. From LaMelo Ball’s added strength to the team-wide focus on playing with pace and physicality, we’ll tell you why this year feels different.

Charlotte Hornets Media Day has concluded, and the overwhelming takeaway is a palpable shift in the team’s culture and commitment. On today’s hodgepodge recap, we explore all the key comments and themes from the event. The biggest story surrounds LaMelo Ball, with Coach Charles Lee and others noting a “different commitment level” from him in the weight room this offseason, resulting in added strength to both his upper and lower body. This newfound seriousness appears to be infectious. GM Jeff Peterson stated he’s never seen a team with 100% offseason participation like the Hornets had this summer, with the entire roster in Charlotte working out together.

This collective buy-in is translating to a new on-court identity. The message from the top down was clear: this team wants to play with pace, physicality, and competitiveness. Players like Miles Bridges have focused on conditioning, while Collin Sexton has been building off-court trust with LaMelo to ensure their chemistry translates to the floor. While we’ve been hopeful before, this year feels different, with a clear alignment from the front office, coaching staff, and a roster that finally seems ready to meet expectations

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