Who Will START at Center for the Hornets?! | Tre Mann REVEALS his thoughts on Allen Iverson comps!

Who Will START at Center for the Hornets?! | Tre Mann REVEALS his thoughts on Allen Iverson comps!

Coming up today on the Lockdown Hornets podcast, it’s an all too familiar topic. What are the Hornets going to do at center with the starting lineup? Trey man, he’s back. He has an interesting story that took place over the off season and then we’ll rumage through the Siko satchel once again. All today locked on Hornets. You are Locked on Hornets, your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast. I do want to make it like Cats Network, your team every day. In a minute, man. You’ve come here and it’s just just [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’s Doug Branson, every hornetsbox.com. Also a producer of Yahoo Sports Daily with Jason Fitz and Caroline Finton. I’m Walker Mail. Listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3 p.m. 927 FM. We appreciate everybody hopping on with us once more for another edition of Who Starts at Center. Yeah, we’re going to be doing it about three times a week, I think, because it’s picking up again on Hornets Twitter, Doug. And I do think we have differing takes on this because you shared a little bit of it with me before we hopped on the mic. For once, for me, I think this is peak uncertainty at who gets the most minutes and who starts at center because Mason Plumbley is someone that’s always listed first when Charles Lee runs down the centers. And just by human nature, I think you go with the starter first. Maybe it’s just the seniority thing. So then you go Mason Plumbley, Musa, Diabate, Ryan Caulbrinter, because that’s the order every time. Go go go look back and listen to how he talks about centers. It’s always Mason, Musa, and then Ryan Cochr Brener. Okay, maybe it’s seniority. Maybe it’s how you have it on the depth chart. I don’t know. But that’s one way to look at the center position. How does he list him? The other way to talk about the center position is who do you think is the best? If you think Mousbate is the better player, even if he’s a little undized compared to Mason and Caulkrin, cool. That’s one way to look at it. The other way to look at it would be Zach Low says every time he talks about the Hornets that they love Caulk Brener. Hornets Real Access is out. Some practice footage is out with them practicing at the Citadel. Ryan Cochrrener is getting run with the ones. Miles Bridges is talking about Caulkrren. there seems to be more stories about him, which if people on the beat know as much as they do about the Charlotte Hornets, then maybe they’re angling at that story because he’s going to become a lot bigger story as camp goes on. I don’t know. He’s the tallest guy and he’s older and you drafted him when you did. Maybe because you could plug him in right away with how long he played in college and he was a multi-time defensive player of the year in his conference. me, Walker Male, I am at peak uncertainty with who starts at the center position. I can’t get a grip on it. What say you? No, I don’t think there really is a center battle. I think they acquired Mason Plumbley with the idea to start him at center. Now, what complicates this maybe early in the season is that he wasn’t present media day. He had an excused absence for some kind of personal reason. I I mean, correct me in the comments if I’m wrong, but I just I haven’t seen any footage of him at training camp yet. Uh so, you know, depending on when he gets into training camp, into preseason, like the first preseason start, could go to Diabate or Cochr Brener until Mason Plumbley comes in and gets in the groove. Uh he’s, you know, he used to play for the Hornets, but this is a very different Hornets team uh than when he last left it. So, uh, there there will be some get some getting used to, but I think ultimately that’s the idea, uh, is is to have Mason Plumbley start because he has the positional size and he has the experience. And if you’re really serious about winning, then I think those are the kinds of things that you want to put at center position around LaMelo B. I mean, how many times did we say last season like we would visibly see LaMelo Ball frustrated because either Ton or sometimes Musa just like people being out of position, not ready exactly for the play they were trying to run or the Jazz that they were trying to run. And so you just you you can’t have that. You want experience and you want the positional size which is why I’m not surprised that coaulbrer is running with the ones and not Musa Diabate because I think Musa Diabate as Charles Lee hinted at is truly going to be a change of pace if uh you you need a little bit more energy, you need a little bit more speed, you need a little bit more physicality. I mean, I could even see Musa Diabate starting a game, spot starting a game at some point if they’re struggling with certain things uh that that they think Musa Debbate can help with or that there’s a positional matchup, smaller center that that they think, hey, this could be a good Musa game. But I think ultimately they brought Mason Plumbley in for a reason. I really don’t think that there’s a center battle. Um obviously unless somebody gets hurt and next season or even after the trade deadline all bets are off but early I don’t think there’s a center battle. Yeah. So a couple things. We saw Ryan Cochrrener get run with the ones in that however many snack seconds of clip that we got. It doesn’t mean that Musa isn’t getting any run with the ones. I just want to caution people from thinking automatically Musa just only gets the run with the backups. Two, you mentioned physicality with Musa. If you want to be physical, then maybe that’s when you throw Musa in. I will say Jeff Peterson said they want their identity to be physic competitive and they want to have physicality. That’s what they want their identity to be. Mason fits that way better than Mason. He fits that way better than Caulk Brener. I think you really do have a pick your flavor type of center. If you go out and you get Mason Plumbley, yeah, you got him for a reason. You also got him for the vet minimum. So, it’s not like you have invested all of this money. It’s a one-year vet type of deal because you need some depth at this point. I truly think I’m with you on Mason Plumbley starting sometimes. I don’t know if it’s going to be matchup based, but that like I don’t know how many times that really happens in the NBA. I don’t think you really go with different team. Maybe I’m wrong on that, but it doesn’t really feel like, okay, now we’re playing this team. We’ll throw this center in. They want a rotation. They want guys to get in a rhythm with one another. Chemistry is a big deal in the eyes of coaches. So, I don’t think that’s necessarily going to happen. I I just you you know my Musa stuff. I I’m one that thinks the best center will play. I think Musa is the best center. I don’t think there’s that big of a difference in height with Musa measuring 69 and a quarter without shoes. So, that means he’s 610 and a quarter with shoes. It’s not Grant Williams playing small ball five. He is better at defending the rim based on the statistics. So, one other thing I will say is the culprinter of all of it. I go to this quote from Miles Bridges down at camp, Doug, and he was asked about the defensive identity this season. He said, “Protect the paint, keep your man in front of you, and be active.” We just talked about that yesterday in our forgot about D episode. We talked about keeping guys in front. I think Moose is better at that, protecting the paint. I don’t think it’s protecting the rim. There’s a difference. It’s It’s protecting the paint, like not letting guys get there as much as possible. I I And Charles even said Moose is going to play a lot more. I truly don’t know. Like, it really is 33.3% for me. I think Call Briner is probably below. If I had to divvy it up, please don’t make me do math. I would say maybe it’s Mason and Musa equal and then it’s Caulk Briner in that latter tier. But it really is hard for me to figure out. All right. So, here’s where our biases or what we think could happen, should happen influence the way we hear something. It’s what’s the it’s the is it the blue dress or is it the white dress? Is it the old lady or the ballerina? That kind of thing. Cuz you you said that quote. When I heard that, I thought he’s really talking to the wings and the guards being like, “You better stay in front cuz I’m going to start Mason and there’s not much resistance back there. I’m going to need you to stay in front. And the reason I because I don’t think the decision about center is going to come down to a question of rim protection because if that were truly the question, they would have just gone out and gotten a rim protecting center. They would have addressed it. To me, I think it’s going to come down to who can help them run the offense most effectively and in terms of screening, in terms of moving the ball when you catch it onto the basket in terms and Mason can do that. In terms of running the break, you’d like Mason to pass it more than he would actually, you know, take it by himself, although he will tend to do that sometimes. It’s going to make me mad. Well, it will make us all It will Well, it’ll make us all excited if he executes it. occasionally he will. It’s not impossible. It will make us very exciting and then it will enrage us the nine other times out of 10 where it where it goes all wrong. Um but I do think of the three and again people get into the comments and they’re like I can’t believe you said Mason Plumbley is the most talented center on the roster. I can’t believe you saying he’s the most effective. I’m tell it’s relative. It’s relative to what we have. Like it’s not like I’m not saying your accounts. Yeah. I’m not saying that relative to the rest of the league. I’m saying that relative to this team, okay? And so, uh, that’s why I think he’s going to start. I, you know, this whole center situation is not ideal. And honestly, I don’t even I don’t know how much it it truly matters. I think honestly we’re talking it’s everything’s important, but like I think it’s marginal if LaMelo is playing LaMelo ball. If Brandon takes a leap, I don’t know that this decision, it could it could mean the difference marginally on a couple of games. Although, it will be very interesting if if the first couple of games or the first few weeks. They try Mason, they bail on that. They try Caulkrin, they bail on that. They try Musa, they if they get into this situation and and that’s what’s losing them games and you’re seeing LaMelo get frustrated even though he’s playing well. you’re seeing Brandon get frustrated even though he’s playing well. Like then it’s going to be whoops, what did we do and how do we react? That’s going to be very interesting. Um, you ask how important it is. Doug Branson, we host a niche basketball podcast about a specific team five days a week. Oh, I know how I know how I’m sorry. Yeah, let me clarify. I know how important it is to us and to the sickos who listen and the sickos who watch more importantly. No, that’s not what I meant. I meant important to their win loss record, the probability of them winning a game. I think it’s going to come down to did LaMelo hit enough threes, did Brandon hit enough threes, did they get contributions uh from Sex and Canipple man combo? You know, to me, it’s like did they just outrun the opponent? Did they outscore the opponent because they were hot? I just that to me that’s where a lot of this is going to come down to more so than you know Mason lost them that game. I’m not I’m not sure that that’s the conversation that we’re going to be having more often than not. There’s plenty more to chew on with this topic. I want to get to some more of that on the other side coming up next on the Locked Hornets podcast. Bees everywhere. I want more caulk talk. See L. Listen to the L. Brener talk. Where does he fit in all of this? even more so. Maybe we we have more of a focus on him in the next segment and discuss Trey Man’s off seasonason. Still to come, LOH. [Music] This episode is brought to you by Pelaton. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Pelaton Crossraining Tread Plus powered by Pelaton IQ. It’s their most advanced equipment yet designed to give you real-time guidance and endless ways to move. Whether you’re running, lifting, or crossraining with your favorite instructors, this is training reimagined. Pelaton is built for breakthroughs with tools that help you plan, stay motivated, and reach peak performance. I love how the Pelaton IQ system offers real-time strength coaching. It actually tracks your reps, suggest the right weights, and correct your form, making it safer and smarter. The swivel screen. Swivel screen. That’s fun to say. Swivel screen. It’s a game changer. You can go from running on the tread plus to strength training without missing a beat. And the personalized class recommendations keep you engaged. You get workouts tailored to your vibe and energy level each week. So let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Pelaton Crossraining Tread Plus today at onepelon.com. That’s o ne p1pelon.com. More lockdown hornets ahead. Okay, more center conversation. I want to talk about the Ryan Cochr runner part of all of it because he was the last draft pick in four draft selections and yet he was the guy that we wanted when the Hornets made their second draft selection of the entire process. I’m glad they got him when they did. That means we get to have a couple of fun games from Liam McNeely in summer league. you get the big bruiser on the perimeter in Seion James and and you need somebody badly and Ryan Caulkrren he finally finally they ended up getting uh somebody that can protect the rim. I have a couple questions for you pertaining to Caulk Rener. Um what’s the likelihood that we can say start? What’s the likelihood that he does start a couple of times in the first 20 games of the season? we we’ll do a first 20 or gets a decent amount of run. And my second question is if Charles Lee had his brothers and everybody was on an equal playing field, does Charles Lee want Kaulk Brener to be the guy? And I guess it makes sense for you that that you want every rookie to be the guy because it just means you hit a draft pick out of the park already even though it’s not necessarily true at the center position because of Musa limitations and same with Mason Plumbley. Does Charles is Charles Lee going to be looking for every excuse in the book to put Caulkr Brener out there as the center who plays the most minutes or actually is the starter? No, I I don’t think he’s going to have any reason to do that. It was his second round pick. Um, and he’s a rookie and I know he played a lot in college, but he’s still an NBA rookie. I don’t think there’s going to be any pressure uh for Charles Lee to put him out there. But if you’re asking me percentages, I mean, I I would say if you’re factoring in injuries because I do think they would look at Caulk Briner second if Mason were to go down and so then I get rid of injuries because injuries is no fun. Get all all three of them healthy. I was going to go like 70%. That’s just No, no, no, no. Get rid of injuries. No, I would put it at a I’d put it like 30% that Mason just doesn’t have it anymore, completely collapses. Uh, and and that’s again if Mason’s ready to go day one, you know, that’s what we’re assuming. I’m assuming that uh and that cockpit doesn’t start game one because Mason wasn’t ready to go yet. So, I would put it at like 30%. And and that really is because I think they would go positional size uh at the position before they elected to go Musa Diabate. I honestly and I don’t to me I know people are going to take that as like some that I’m sliding Musa. Um I think there’s value to bringing him off the bench. Like I really do. Um I think he’s a secret weapon in that way that uh you know not playing him not playing him early against starters where again you know he might be going up against Zack Edy. you know, he might be going up against the Capella type monsters and and I know and I hear you on the, you know, he’s almost such and such height and he’s almost such and such. I hear you on that. I’m just saying when you see him next to some of these absolute monsters that people are throwing out there at the center position, it’s just no, it’s it’s not the same. Um, he’s smaller. Yeah, definitely smaller. So, so, okay. So, that’s that’s my that’s my prediction there on on the percentage chance. Um, it might not even be good for him to to start a bunch of minutes early on. I mean, I just think, you know, he’s going to really have to get used to the speed of the NBA in terms in terms of defense. Yeah. Yeah. No, Moose has got Moose is down. He can he can hang out there. There’s no problem there defensively in terms of just like positioning and knowing where to be and the speed of which things move. Uh, and and that’s really and I’m I’m not even talking about his foot speed, which I think we saw him lumber a little bit, you know, in in summer league and it’s going to only ramp up when he gets when he gets to the big leagues. And but I think just the speed at which things move defensively, it’s that’s the biggest difference with everybody guards, wings, bigs going from college to NBA. And maybe it’s a little bit different for Bigs because they’re not constantly having to move, you know, across the floor, left, right. But man, yeah, I I just I don’t know that that would be necessarily good for him to to start immediately. I I think I’ll give you a scenario. I think Ryan Cochrrener starts sooner than we expect if the Hornets are really going all in on transition and you would expect that Musa Dybate is the better transition center. That is true. But just the way you have to play defense. If Miles Bridges, this is what I hypothesized yesterday when we were talking about the defensive identity. It’s what Miles flat out said at training camp today. According to Sam Purley, if the main objective for you as a perimeter defender is to keep your guy in front of you, that means you’re borderline packlining it because you want to protect the paint badly because you know you’re quite vulnerable. But when you do that now, you can’t get out in passing lanes and force turnovers and then get started in transition. If you felt better about your back line and Ryan Caulk Brener, big 71 defensive player of the year in his conference like four times, if you felt better about where he is, then you could get a little more aggressive and then try to get out in transition off of steals where Musa allowed you to do that quite a bit last season with steels. But that that would be the way, right? it. I think Musi can still do it by turning the offense over, but if you were just so worried about, man, we can’t let anybody buy us. So now we’re gonna have to press on the brakes a little bit and just, you know, set set up the shield around the restricted area. So you can’t get here. You do not pass go. I that that would that would slow down your offense. And everything we’ve heard is speed it up, speed it up, speed it up, speed it up, speed it up. Which you which you are going to do with Musa, but like there are ways that you can speed it up even more with Caulkrren despite him being unquestionably the slowest of the three centers in question. That would be that would be the way. Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. No, I’m with you. I’m I’m I’m throwing ideas out. Like I don’t think that’s going to happen, but that that’s the way. So yeah, what they’ve done to us that we have to spitball this is this is what they’ve given us. They’ve given us this poo poo platter and now we have to figure out what to do. It’s the It’s the chopped. You have, you know, all these basket of ingredients. None of it makes sense. And now you have to go popcorn, chocolate. Ooh. Uh, sour patch kids. Oh, okay. And a wrench. Ah, damn that. What am I going to What What am I do with this wrench? I’m going to fry it down with fry it. All right. Okay. So, but that’s that’s what that’s what they’ve done to us. Um, on the cockper thing, too. I I again I’m just I think I said this in the first segment, I’ll say it again. We can’t discount also the relationship between uh screener and the the person that’s taking the screen. And so if it’s LaMelo Ball, if it’s Brandon, if it’s Kyle, like if Cochrinter can set those, if he can do that, he can he’s a good screener. I I think he’s a good screener. If he can do that effectively, then I think that’s going to go a long way. if he understands what to do off that screen, um then you know then great maybe. And so there by the way like we’re speculating on it all. Charles Lee is seeing it every day. He’s going to know what this kid is capable of and and what he’s not capable of. I’ll tell you what, what would worry me is if honestly like if if Briner didn’t get the start, if Mason wasn’t ready uh to go game one or if they bailed on Mason and went directly to Musa Dioate, I would be worried about Cockr Brener. I would say you passed on the positional size, you passed on the shot blocking that uh Miles Miles Bridges was prompted to to answer this question about Cochran, but he did bring up the shot blocking saying blocks everything out there. If you don’t take advantage of that, what does that mean in terms of what he c what he’s not ready to do yet? Uh that would that would give me a little bit of pause. Even though again, rookie season, second round pick, you know, all those caveats. I I I am um hopeful that the mistakes we saw in summer league that the foot speed that’s going to be tough, man, because you don’t just get 10 times faster in the course of three months. But he he was manipulated on defense. His size was squandered by some of the guards that got to the paint by just throwing some ball fakes and then he’d go for him and all of a sudden I don’t care how tall you are anymore. Then 7-1 is over here. The basket’s right here. So just don’t get manipulated. Okay, let’s move on and then we can get to the Trey man stuff cuz there there’s some good stuff here with Trey coming up next on the Locked On Hornets podcast. Everywhere. That’s just good oldfashioned ball talk right there. You’re welcome, buddy. Okay, Locked on Hornets bringing the heat. Uh Trey man or Trey, which one is it? Which one does he prefer? Well, he tells you which one he prefers and how he feels about the alter egos in the next segment. And if we have time, we’ll answer some sicko questions. Coming up next, LOH. [Music] This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season, it’s here. In fact, there’s an NFL game going on right now as we record. So, it’s here. I sent it. FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. 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. I love using FanDuel because it gives you all sorts of different ways to bet, it makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little something writing in on the action, too. And whether you’re a casual fan or just 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. Got a chance to interview Trey Man at Media Day with my co-host Wes on Wes and Walker. Played a couple of those sound bites two episodes ago when I went solo. I already told you how much of a fan I am of him. Already a big fan. Already I wanted him on the team just like so many others did. But interviewing him and talking about what this offseason was like for him, Doug, like I I left just thinking one, what a cool freaking dude. Like a huge huge Trey man fan. Not only just the basketball player, but the guy off the court. Sorry to use a cliche, but it’s true. The guy off the court is also awesome. Talk to him a little bit about why Charlotte works for him. And he had more comments in the second episode of Hornets Real Access. Here’s what he had to say about Charlotte embracing Trey Man and all the swagger that he brings from OKC and how they embraced him as a player maybe in a way that previous stops just didn’t. Man, you’ve come here and it’s just been like just the freedom that you’ve gotten coming to Charlotte, man. You were able to unlock Trey Man the player. Yeah. No, Trey man the player and Trey man the person really just like from the the day I came in. Um, and then we got the new coaching staff and new front office and things like that. They just allowed me to be me. Um, I came in, you know, with with my swagger and they didn’t say nothing. They actually, it was a day where I didn’t have like something on and a coach was like, “Yo, where Trey man at?” And, you know, it feel good to have that people accept you for who you are and then, you know, push you to be that and, you know, let you do it. So, it feels super good. players will talk to us and a lot of times they’ll give us coach speak, they’ll give us media day speak, they’re done, they want to move on or they’ll give you some halftruths or they’ll give you the truth, but they don’t really feel it. I felt everything Trey man was discussing in our interview about what he went through this off season and just how much he loves it here in Charlotte, how much he loves the fans in Charlotte. I thought that was a good quote to bring because I think you can hear it. I think you can feel that comment with Trey talking about the Queen City. These guys, they spend more time probably around the organization, you know, particularly in the months when you’re in season, than they do with their own families. And I think about my like the the the amount of time that I spend with my family, which is considerably more. And it feels great when your family accepts you for who you are. Like that’s just a human thing. People you want to be accepted. And I think partic my generation, Walker, your generation, and I think it’s even more so in and some of these younger guys, they’re putting more of an emphasis on like I my individuality. I want to be me more so than maybe uh you know, players would 20, 15, 20, 30 years ago. Um that’s just it’s they they want to be accepted. They want to have their own individual style. And so it is comforting to know that the Hornets have a young coach and a young general manager. And you know, I think about when when they didn’t have that and we would do shows where I would say they need youth, they need creativity. And I was really talking about just like basketball strategy or front office strategy. I wasn’t even thinking about this aspect of it. But it is very fascinating to hear that um from Trey Mann. And I think again, Trey Mann probably is not going to retire a Charlotte Hornet. If he does move on somewhere else to to some other organization, this is what you want. You want him if some other guy, if he’s playing for the Pacers and some other guys getting up to the end of the season, contract up. Hey man, I heard you were in Charlotte. You know, I’m I’m thinking about talking to them. What were your experiences like in Charlotte? Bam. Trey man saying exactly what he just said there on that interview. You know, it’s going to take years for that kind of thing to trickle down and happen. But uh yeah, I mean that’s this is what we’ve been missing for like two decades. A and so Trey man or Trey Iay reads the bullet point and I asked him about those comparisons and what he thought of him trying to become himself, trying to be himself and still embracing some of his favorite basketball some of his favorite basketball players from the 2000s and even the late 1990s. He he was a lot of fun to talk to with this specific point that uh we had during the interview. Here’s what Trey discussed with Trey Man or Trey. I do want to make it like I’m cool with it. It’s it’s great to be able to be like on the same like even though I don’t think our game is the same, but people to mention me with AI, even though they’re not saying we play alike or nothing like that, just to be in the same sentence is cool cuz he a legend, but I want to make it clear like is not trying to be AI. Like it it came from Tracy McGrady. Like I said, the picture the idea came from Tracy McGrady. Um and then, you know, I’ve been wearing the the armband since my my rookie year. Um, the headband, I didn’t have the the braids, but once I got the braids, you know, you got to wear the headband with the braids. And um, like, you know, I can see if I went the arm, like I know, a I know what he wore, but it’s not that. And and so when he was done, I didn’t put the other part in there, but I said, “So maybe we back off of it a little bit.” And he said, “No, like you can. You can. It’s fine. I’m cool with it. Just just know I’m not trying too hard.” I I I felt everything he was saying. I think he appreciates it. I don’t think he wants to offend the fan base because he truly loves the love that he’s receiving and he doesn’t want to push that away. But also, he does want to make it clear he’s not trying to do this. He’s trying to be himself and it’s all of us that is because it’s fun to say Treyey. It’s all of us that is putting all of this on him. Yeah. I I hope that you explain to him how sick we are and how desperate we are. We’ll glom on to any flash of brilliance. Um and and we’ll instead of just like appreciating it for what it is or defining it for what it is, uh we’ll just immediately go to some great basketball player, a hall of fame basketball player in the in the early odds. I do, you know, look, he is so in the weeds on all of this stuff because he does it every day and he studies fil he studies himself. He studies the game of basketball obviously and so like he’s in the weeds. So, he’ll look at AI’s game and he’ll look at his own game and he’ll say, “They’re not really the same.” But the average person looks at him uh dipping and diving and moving and grooving, particularly inside the three-point line, and they’re going to look at that and not because of the shorts and not because of the armband. They’re going to look at that and say, “It reminds me casual fan of Allen I because, you know, we don’t we’re not we’re not putting a microscope on it. You know, we’re looking at it and going that kind of looks a little bit like AI. Yeah, thought about that, too. I, you know, if if we had it’s the classic, do we have enough time? What do I want to fit in? And also just flat out mistake. Maybe I could have pressed him on that more. Wait, but I mean, clearly you guys are different, but also how are you different? Because we see the aesthetic of it all. And also, that crossover was pretty nasty. It was AI like at least. Yeah, I’m I’m with you. I was thinking the same thing that you brought up. And maybe maybe he doesn’t particularly with his role on the team even last season and and particularly how his role is going to evolve. Maybe we chat about that for a second. I don’t you know maybe he’s troubled by this idea that like I’m not trying to be AI or I’m out there trying to dominate the ball and take you know 25 30 shot. That’s not what I’m about. I you know so and and not that that that’s what that’s what that Sixers team needed AI to do. Uh, but that’s not maybe that’s where he’s saying like that’s I’m not trying to go out there and be like superstar AI. Um, and and but I don’t think fans interpret it like that. They just look at some of his moves uh inside the paint and they think it’s got a little Totally agree. And just to hit on his role before we end it today like the role we know Charles Lee went up to the table and he said we want more catch and shoot Trey. We don’t want him immediately to put the ball on the deck and start dribbling the air out of the ball and and that that insinuates ball hog. That’s not what we mean. But he just think about it, right? Catch the ball and then hold it for a second and then catch the ball and then go ahead and let it fly. And we have seen some clips of that. I Trey fly. Let Trey fly indeed. So the catch and shoot stuff, Charles Lee talked about how he wants him to do that more. And then we asked I have the clip. I didn’t send it to you, but And Trey uh did talk about his role, and he he did give us the the uh the answer of I’m here to do whatever the team needs, but he went a little more in depth rather than just boilerplate answer. He said, yeah, you know, he said it’s all in God’s timing. I’m truly I truly believe that whatever happens will happen and I’m I’m here for it. We all want to win. That’s bottom line. We all want to win and I’m here for it. And I will say, you know, the the Hornets, one thing I think we can give these players the benefit of the doubt on is that this front office has gone after a very specific type. And I don’t know if they’ve broken that mold, Doug. I don’t know if they’ve broken they they’ve gone away from going after that type. So, the fact that they bring back Trey Mann and bring him back despite having plenty of depth at guard at the time that they signed him, I think that does point to everything he preaches, he practices as far as the mindset. Last thing for me, what’s exciting about Trey Mann is that he’s willing to accept that role and he seems like a really smart guy and if they haven’t told them him this explicitly, I think he knows that like he’s one or two injuries away from that role completely changing and them needing that skill set, that particular skill set, and he he’s not it’s not like they tell you, hey, your your role is going to change. You go, okay, I’m just going to eject Trey out of my brain. I can no longer do those things um on ball that I was No, of course not. like he that’s inside of him and he’s just saying for the for the good of the team with with everyone healthy this needs to be my role because Colin Saxon because Kod can Kimple because LaMelo Ball but man I mean if one or two of those guys goes down it’s so it’s it reminds me of Cody Martin when Cody Martin was at his best he was so great because for that great for that team because he could play the role of like catch and shoot three-pointer I’m going to go and defend but then on the very occasional times s when they needed him to start or when a couple of guys were injured, he could go out and give you 25 and do some things you were like, “Oh, I didn’t know Cody, I’m sorry, I wasn’t familiar with your game.” Like people are going to be doing that with Trey Mann uh you know, midway through the season when when a couple of guys are dinged up. So that’s what excites me most about again the team invest the team could have said Colin Ston, we’re drafting Coniple done, we don’t need Trey Man. Yes, you do because those things happen. So good on the organization. Good on Trey, man. I’m telling you, these kind of things are starting to excite me. I’m getting to the point I’m getting to the point of right before the preseason when I go, do I remember what it’s like to watch Hornets basketball and I’m also being titillated by all of these things that are coming out of training camp and these ideas that we’re having. My blood is effervescent with all this Trey man propaganda, baby. This was a good ball talk episode. If you like ball talk, we did it. I also, Dude, just Trey couldn’t be a cooler dude. Just just awesome, man. Couldn’t pull for that guy anymore. That’ll do it for Lockdown Hornets. Thanks for making us your first listen. We’re free and available anywhere you get your pods, people. That includes YouTube. So, subscribe. We’re trying to get to 10,000. That would be great to get to five digits. We are what is it? 400 away. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. A little under 400. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. Call them up right now. Squash the beef and subscribe to Locked on Hornets together. Doug Branson. And every hornetsboxcore.com also produces the Yahoo Sports Daily Show with Jason Fitz and Caroline Fittton. I’m talking to talking to by the way tomorrow hopefully we’re talking to Carolina Panthers legend Jared Allen. Yeah, Hall of Famer Jared Allen. Awesome stuff. Carolina Panthers Hall of Famer. Uh I don’t know if you’re taking tips, but you have to ask him about the retirement video. the riding off literally riding off into the sunset uh video after appearing in the Super Bowl. It’s it’s one of the best retirement videos ever. Anyways, I’m Walker Male. Listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 300 p.m. Have a great rest of your day. We’ll be back with you tomorrow. [Music]

We are at peak uncertainty as we debate who will win the starting center spot between veteran Mason Plumlee, high-energy Mousa Diabaté, and rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner. Plus, we share exclusive interview clips with Tre Mann, who discusses his new role and his feelings on the “Tre-I” comparison to Allen Iverson.

On today’s show, we are at “peak uncertainty” as we try to solve the biggest question of the Hornets’ preseason: who will be the starting center? We explore the case for all three candidates in the running for the job. Is it the veteran Mason Plumlee, whose experience, positional size, and playmaking make him the safe choice? Is it the energetic Moussa Diabaté, whose physicality and speed fit the team’s new identity? Or is it the rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner, whose elite size and shot-blocking are already earning him reps with the first team in training camp? We look at why a compelling argument can be made for each player.

Then, we have an in-depth conversation about Tre Mann, featuring exclusive clips from his recent interview. Tre opens up about how the new coaching staff has embraced his personality and “swagger,” allowing him to feel more at home in Charlotte. He also addresses the popular “Tre-I” nickname, explaining his respect for Allen Iverson while making it clear he’s focused on being his own player. Finally, we examine Tre’s evolving role on the team and his willingness to adapt to a more catch-and-shoot-oriented style to help the team win.

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