Collin Sexton’s SURPRISING Leadership | Exorcising the Hornets’ DEMONS! | Ace Bailey regret?

Collin Sexton’s SURPRISING Leadership | Exorcising the Hornets’ DEMONS! | Ace Bailey regret?

This is a silly season style episode. Sicko satchel questions galore. We answer probably yours if you wrote it because we got a lot of time to answer some of these questions. Plus, is there any jealousy at all over the way that Ace Bailey has performed in the preseason with Utah? That’s all today. Locked on Hornets. You are Locked on Hornets, your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. In a minute, cuz we live. [Music] It’s Locked On Hornets, part of the Locked On Network. It’s your team every day. Thanks for making us your first listen. were free and available anywhere you get your podcast and that includes YouTube. Check Doug Branson out on every hornetsboxcore.com. You can check him out here on YouTube if you want to, but you can also do it on every hornetsboxcore.com. Also check him out on Yahoo Sports Daily. You can’t see him there, but but he’s there. I promise you he’s behind the cameras. Feel my presence. It it’s there. I I can feel Doug Branson’s presence every time I watch Yahoo Sports Daily. Jason Fitz, I can see him and I can see Caroline Fittton. I’m Walker Mail. Listen to me, WFNZ. Every weekday from 12 to 3 PM. Every weekday, again, 12 to 3 PM, 927 FM. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. 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 right now to get started. Sure world, Doug. Psycho satchel questions galore. You asked the people to deliver. Boy, did they. They understood the assignment. Um, where do you want to start? You can start wherever you want to. Let’s start with some good memories uh from Schumann of the 22nd Mullins Regiment. By the way, if you want to join the Siko Brigade and put your SEO satchel question in, you can do so at jointext.com. suxt.comhornets. Okay, Schumann asks this. One of the best memories I have of the preseason was being pleasantly surprised watching PJ Washington play for the first time. It wasn’t earthshattering, but it left me with a feeling like we did a thing. We did a good thing. I am now eager to replace this memory. So, what would be the best omen for our squad this preseason? Now, I’m going to stop there because Schumann wrote this a week ago on October 7th and we’ve, you know, we’ve had a few things. We’ve been trying to get to these sickos satchel questions. It’s mainly my fault for taking us on all the diversions that I take us on. So, he wrote this a week ago. So, I say that because he does suggest a few things that he might want might want to see as a good omen, but some of these things may have already happened. So, let’s see. Let’s read his list. Okay. So, these are examples of good. TJ showing us some impressive progress. Mhm. Uh-oh. That that doesn’t happen. Uh Khan Canipple being a dead eyee shooter. Uh yeah, really. That that that part hasn’t necessarily been the case with a habit of making the right play. Now that has been the case. Yeah. Five turnovers the other day. That wasn’t amazing. But two out of three ain’t bad. uh our new addition vets turning us into quote serious people. Okay. And yeah, I think we’ve had some nice vet play. So I I I don’t think these are entirely missing the mark. No. And again, these were these are essentially predictions, right? I mean, because they were a week ago before we knew before we had some of these preseason games to really dig into. So, I I just wanted to read those because I thought it was interesting, you know, to sort of go back into the past right before these preseason games really kicked off in full force. And yeah, some of these things have come true, some of them haven’t. I will say to the addition of the vets, we heard from Charles Lee uh via uh Rod Boon of the Charlotte Observer and Charles Lee was waxing poetic about how much Colin Ston has turned into a leader for this team, how quickly he’s turned into a leader for this team, how much the young guys in the locker room respect how competitive he is. And he sort of he said competitive joy, but I was sort of reading behind his eyes. And I’m starting to think that maybe competitive joy means being a bleepole sometimes, right? It means like I’m going to have joy whooping your like, you know what I’m saying? I think that’s what competitive joy might be. Yeah. He says that every time when he’s asked about Colin Staxton, and I think it’s genuine. I think he loves Colin. And so perhaps again I I was starting to ask the simple question last episode with the who starts at two conversation. I I’ll ask another simple one. Do you bench your leader? Probably probably not. You could I know that you can have those guys come off of the bench, but are you benching your leader, your emotional leader, the guy that you brought onto the team for some emotional yuspa for Keniple? Probably not. So, as as we get a little closer to the opening game, probably Colin starts. That’s where I would lean right now. Even if I flirted with the idea of Khan starting for quite a while. Uh, okay. What new memory? I I like that he wanted a new memory. It’s like, all right, I’m done thinking about the good old days of PJ Washington performing well in the preseason. I understand that sentiment all too well. I love the way that this question was phrased. I I think the one for me Doug it would have been Tan Salon coming in and looking like he belongs in the rotation right now. That would have been nice that because Khan Caniple if he comes in and he plays well one you almost expect it with just how smart of a ball player he is and how much he brings an immediate skill with his shooting to the table. If he struggles in preseason I I’m going to be less worried about that in the handful of games that he would play. I Ton was a sixth overall pick. That felt like a reach, but it was the right time to take a reach because of the guys that were there. You didn’t love any of the prospects. So, let’s just swing for the high ceiling with Tan Salon. Maybe you take a swing, you close your eyes, you swing, and who knows, the baseball’s out of the ballpark. Maybe that’s what happens with Ton, but you would also like to see some kind of floor get there. And I it feels like you just feel the wind right now off of the swing because the baseball’s in the catcher mid and you’re going back to the dugout. That’s what it feels like right now. We we can’t we can’t say that he’s his career is over and done with. I would have liked to have seen Salon make some serious progress this preseason where he looks like he belongs at least to some degree in the rotation. Well, my advice for Tan would be to open your eyes. You don’t have to close your eyes when you swing a B. You should, in fact, you should open your eyes when you’re swinging. You don’t want to hurt anyone. He’s learning. He’s young. He has it. Look, it’s it’s going to take some time before he realizes he needs to open his eyes to shoot. Like that. That would have been nice to see. I think to me that would have been a bonus because I’m already sort of reconfiguring my expectations of the probabilities of Tan Salon working out for the Charlotte Hornets. I’m just sort of I’m preparing myself for a softer landing on that and uh Khan Canipple is helping that a lot. I think helping me work through that. So, well, what Well, it’s funny like the the reason I laugh is because I I would say there are lots of times where I’ll hold on to hope for some of these guys longer than you do. I think historically, um I think you have been more so on the Ton train than I have over the but I’ve not been out on Ton. It it would be silly to ride him off, but I think you have held on to hey, give it time, but man, I can see it. I I like what I see. It’s going to be there. It feels like this is different in tone from Doug Branson than what it was summer league before summer league. And you’ve never been unrealistic about Ton at all. It’s just that you it it felt like you had a lot more hope than some people did, even myself. And it feels like that’s changing with some of the ways that you’ve talked about Ton this preseason. Well, look, I’m an analyst before I’m a fan, you know, when it comes to this show. Like if I’m sitting down in front of my television, I’m a fan. But if I we’re if we’re talking, if we’re chatting up, if we’re doing a little ball talk, then I’m gonna put my analyst hat on. And my analyst hat wants to look at the progress from year one to year two and ask myself, what’s Ton’s runway? And what I mean by that is he’s got a certain amount of time to where the Hornets have to make a decision on whether to retain him or not. And then I’m also looking at that runway and seeing like what other planes are scheduled to jump on that runway and take off before Ton, right? So, you know, I look at Khan Caniple. I look at some of the I mean, they drafted four rookies. I just look at this and then I pair that with the what I think is a a lack of noticeable progress. And I’m sure if you ask Charles Lee, he would say like, I’ve seen this in practice and I’ve seen that, but okay, but I don’t see a rotation player right now. uh maybe he’s in the rotation because of Grant Williams injury, blah blah blah blah blah, but like on a team that’s competing, I don’t see a rotation player. But what I was really saying is that that would have been nice, but that wasn’t the omen that I was really looking for because my expectations are being reconfigured. The omen that I was looking for and I think I have found is a team that seems top to bottom to be giving more effort on the defensive end and also buying in to actually playing with pace like an erratic pace. Now look, execution not there. Very sloppy. Is that preeason? Is that just them not being able to play that fast right now? I don’t know. We’ll figure all of that out. But I’m seeing a team that’s that’s really playing with an intensity of the level that matches what Charles Lee has been screaming about for a couple of or a season and a and a little bit now. So like that’s that’s the omen that I looked for and I found it. Yeah, it feels like a more memorable preseason if preseasons can be memorable at all. Uh it feels like one of the more memorable ones with seeing the vision. I can’t tell you that I saw the vision previous preseasons. I I see the vision here with Colin having a great first quarter where he goes for 12 and then it’s Trey Mann’s turn, then it’s Kenipple’s turn and we have the center rotation. Moose is going to start here. Ryan Cochrrener goes seven of seven in his start. LaMelo just looks already in rhythm before we even get to the season, which that’s a nice bonus, too. I mean, even I’d be fine with him not having the crazy shooting nights, but he’s been very efficient and he does look bigger out there, man. So, it it feels like this is a better basketball team straight up than what we’ve had in previous preeasons. And that’s where it’s kind of hard to stave off the hope. I’ll allow that. That’s where I put my fan hat on. The analyst hat when the analyst hat and the fan hat are one and the same. Things are good for the positive. Yeah, for the positive here. The fanalyst hat. It’s looking good. Coming up next on the Lockown Hornets podcast. speed everywhere. More psycho satchel questions. We’ll go rapid fire. When we promise rapid fire, we mean it and we meet those expectations. And we’ll go through our rapidfire observations in the Seiko Satchel coming up next. [Music] This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here and 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. Uh, I love using FanDuel because it gives me so many different ways to play a bell parlays, tried player props, even followed the live lines during games. It makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little something writing on the action. 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 fanul.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. This episode is also 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. 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I mean, some of them deal with the past, but they’re up to date. Casual Hindu writes in, “Would you offer up Walker’s first newborn for the entire team to be healthy and make the finals?” No championship. Would I offer my No, it’s me. This is a question for me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. I’m glad I don’t have to answer this. It just saves me from a lot of pain. I just don’t want to answer this. Would I uh would I offer up Walker’s first newborn? No, I care about you, Walker. I can’t. You know, I I answered this biased because there’s a lot of jokes that you make before you have a kid that suddenly when you have a kid are not as funny. It’s just it’s kind of a reality. You’re like, “Oh, man.” Yeah, because it’s still a funny question to me. Sorry, I was laughing probably a little bit harder. So, one day I’ll learn. Well, that’s good. Let me turn. Would you sacrifice my firstborn for a completely hell of a team? finals, no championship. I’m glad you answered first because I might have a different answer had you not answered first. Uh, no, I kid. I kid. Um, and and it’s important to say that, by the way, just so nobody gets it twisted. Uh, yeah, I I would sacrifice. I’m trying to That’s always what would you give up? What would you Right. What would you be willing to give up? You know, I’ve been addicted to ice cream a lot here lately, and I just need to give that up for my general well-being because I’ll put down a whole pint. Ben & Jerry’s. I’m not gonna eat a quarter of it or a third of it or a serving size. I’m gonna eat the whole pint. And I think just for one, my general well-being, but also for the Hornets, I would give up what is my favorite thing to eat, and that’s ice cream. And I think that’s the best answer I can come up with right now. But it’s a big sacrifice. Don’t don’t kid yourself. I like that. I like this Hornets Lent question here. Uh what would I give up? I think the toughest the thing that that I really depend on most in my entire life uh I’m sorry producer Katie it’s coffee. Coffee is it’s just like it’s number one is a big one for me too man. Yeah. Yeah. So but but see that’s the thing is I think I could get the caffeine in other ways. Uh black tea, you know. I wouldn’t give I don’t think I could give up caffeine but I could I think and this would be difficult because I love the taste of coffee. I’m a black coffee drinker. I don’t believe in all of this, you know, cream, sugar, uh, nonsense, you know, no no flavorings of any kind. Just give me black coffee all the time. And I love the smell of it. I love the taste of it. I will drink decaf uh at night sometimes with a piece of dessert or something because I just love the taste of coffee. But for a Hornets team to be fully healthy and make the finals, yeah, I’d give that up because it’s so special. I mean, I just I honestly I like get a physical reaction thinking about the ticker tape coming down on top of Giannis Takoupo hugging his coach who would then stab in the back like a year later and Mike Buler. But like but like I get but it was warm then I get an emotional reaction thinking about that moment and all those people that were that were in the deer district. I mean honestly like I get an emotional reaction thinking about the last playoff series. This is how sick I am. 1516 like that those those games uh before before Purple Shirt Guy ruined everything and Dwayne Wade to learn how to shoot threes again. Like those m even the tough parts even sitting in Midnight Diner after game six knowing that they were going to lose game seven and eating the biggest piece of chocolate cake you can imagine. Like imagine the biggest one and then double it. That’s the size of cake that I ate uh after that in just pure depression. And yet I felt something. I felt You don’t feel anything not making the playoffs. You don’t feel anything getting blown out of the playin. I didn’t feel anything when they got blown out of those playin games. You feel something just being involved in a playoff series. So I wouldn’t give up I would not give up coffee for a playoff series, but for a finals run, hell yeah. Hell yeah. Well, and that that’s the you go to Milwaukee. I go to Indiana where I do have lots of people surrounding me that are big-time Pacers fans. I mean, I grew up going to Pacers fans, maybe even more so once I went to Indianapolis where my dad and that side of the family resided. And I really did try to uh split it 50/50 between being a Pacers fan and a Hornets fan and then the Hornets just eventually would overcome all the fandom. But I still had love for the Pacers and getting to watch everything they did on that finals run. I mean, Indianapolis, who has a special relationship with the sport of basketball anyway, to see their professional franchise, get within maybe an Achilles tear of winning the championship in game seven, those are also crazy, painful moments in the end, but wow, the journey that you go on to get there. I would love to see that happen here in the Queen City. Also, uh, final thoughts and then maybe one more Seiko Satchel question before. Yeah, we we’ll get to another one here in just a second. I do want to say that this isn’t a difficult question to answer really in terms of just feeling my feelings on it because as a reformed or maybe a Panther sicko in remission, ter cured me. U I do recall the two runs to the Super Bowl and they lost and I would never like as painful as both of those experiences were, I wouldn’t give them up for anything because you also got the NFC Championship game. You also got Excl. You also got so many other memories from those two uh Super Bowl runs. Yeah, it sucks that they didn’t win it, but who cares because you got the run. Okay, here’s one more. They’re almost Well, no, you’re you’re it’s almost the conception of your fandom that you’re sacrificing and therefore you don’t have any more conceiving of younger fandom because they just don’t win anything and that’s tough. So, yeah, it matters. All those moments matter. It baffles me that we have a fan base. It baffles me to think that’s what I’m saying. No, to think that watch this. I mean, I say it a lot and I think it’s gotten numb to people. They have not won a playoff series in in in 20 It can drink. It’s like 22 years now. Like, that’s insane that this team has any fan base at all. Yeah, that child is drinking a lot, by the way. I feel bad for that kid. the the the playoff drought kid. Yeah, that that person is hanging out at the low bar. We got to kick him out during closing time quite a bit. One more psychoso satchel question. What you got? Uh this is Anita of the 24th Plumbley Division. Uh writing that I think casual Hindu who is my brother asked a sacrificelike question. So I will keep mine focused on the evil spirit. Uh, if there was an exorcism, a cleansing ceremony at the Spectrum Center before the season starts to guarantee a healthy roster, what evil spirit is still haunting the building and that is most important to ward off? It’s a great question. I love this question. You know what? I actually think this curse might be cured. I think this was, but one curse that I desperately wanted out of our existence, Doug, it was the Nick Batum curse when he guaranteed a victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. And it was when the 76ers were tanking on purpose. It was the the whole process Sixers, right? Batum got a little too big for his britches and guaranteed a victory on what he thought was the worst team in the league and they were. And then the 76ers win. Okay. And TJ McConnell afterwards in the postgame presser says, “You’re not just going to punk us. You’re not going to come in and think that you can walk all over us.” And then the Hornets, I think, would go on to lose. I think they’d win one game and then they would lose 15 straight against Philadelphia or something ridiculous like that. Anyways, I I think Nick Batum is a place I go. I I think he’s too harshly criticized at times, but also I I can’t help but go there. Um, that’s first. that that’s my surface level take off of the rip with this question. What do you go to immediately in wanting to exercise from the team? Uh, you know, I don’t think I imagined this. I I have a very distinct memory of the Hugo blimp. This is like retro retro like Charlotte Coliseum. I think they called it Air Hugo and it would drop. It would do the parachute drop, right? I I distinctly remember that thing having an accident and like coming apart. Oh, it does. No, you didn’t. There’s a gif of it. Like Yeah, there’s a that that happened. That’s a thing. Okay, great. I I just couldn’t I was I was thinking about it. I was trying to find a picture of it online and I just it kept giving me like Hindenburg disasters, which is what this franchise has been for the past 22 years. But that’s what they need to exercise. That’s been the curse, you know, like get that thing is dead and it is haunting the building. That air Hugo blimp is still haunting the building Slimer style. It’s the library scene from Ghostbusters. Books are flipping all over the place. Um, they they’ve got to exercise that demon. Do we have Little Hornets, hornets cruxes, if you will, where the hornet’s soul is actually placed in individual items all across the board. Maybe maybe one. I do have a Hornet. Yeah, go ahead and find one. I do have I do have a Kima Walker Texas Charlotte Ranger. I do have this that I could part of the Hornet soul is in that. So, there’s a Hornets crux there. I think there might be a Hornets crux in the deflated blimp. There’s also I’ll tell you where one is. Do you remember, I believe it was Jeremy Marovich, who does such a great job with Carolina Rabbit Hole, when somebody took a picture of the giant Hugo Hornets figurines that used to be on, I think this billboard or they used to advertise the Novant Health Clinic and they were tossed to the side of the highway in this junkyard. I think Hornets Kruxes reside within those big Hugo Hornets figurines. Um, I think we could go on a hunt for Hornets Kruxes and if we found all of them, put all seven together, then our playoff soul would return home to the Queen City. I like this. So, you said Krux and I I heard crucifix, which is the joke that I was making there that I now understand was not the same. We weren’t talking about this is Harry Potter. Yeah. Yeah. Probably in some ideologies. Yeah. I would I I think I think that there are several people who work in Spectrum Center now who think Spectrum Center is haunted, but they’re just hearing Mitch Cupchack down the hall. He’s going and they just think it’s a they think it’s a Is that a ghost? What What is it? No, that’s that’s Mitch watching. He’s, you know, well, there’s I keep So, the therapist is asking you, “What did you hear last night?” I keep hearing that we don’t have any Allstars on this team. For some reason, I feel I feel Oh, there there it is. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? All right. Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Beast everywhere. I love this game. Let’s look for more Hornets cruxes, shall we? and we can discuss whether we’re jealous over some of the basketball that Ace Bailey has played in the preseason over there in Utah. We’ll get to all of that coming up next. LH. [Music] This episode is brought to you by Pelaton. 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Explore the new Pelaton Crossraining Tread Plus today at oneplaton.com. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. [Music] Yeah, more Hornet. Do you think there’s a Hornets’s crux where the old Charlotte coliseum was destroyed? You think somewhere there is just the ghost of I I don’t know, maybe like Hornet, Hugo the Hornet with a butt swoosh, something like that. Like I I wonder if maybe some soul is there. I like the scavenger hunt idea. I I bet you could have some fun with that in the Siko satchel/ uh subtext where people just tell you where some of these souls are hiding. You got to find the purple shirt. Have to find the It’s got to burn the purple shirt. Do you think he I feel like he probably is. It’s almost like uh I I’m not as big of a Lord of the Rings guy, but it does feel like maybe purple shirt guy could be Gollum. And anytime he puts on the purple shirt, he he just feels angry and he feels ory. And then you take the purple shirt off and all of a sudden he’s actually a really nice guy. Medit. Better yet, here’s another question. As my brain just goes to all of these spots, do you think purple shirt guy still has the purple shirt? Oh, absolutely. Oh, absolutely. It’s a talking It’s a It’s a piece to talk about at parties. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It’s part of his idea. How often does he wear it? Yeah. Is it framed? Does he wear it? I hope not. The green bandana. I hope not. going to make it if it’s framed. If it’s framed, it’s going to make it much more difficult to break in and grab it. Burn it. How did it not become a joke, too? That’s a joke. It’s Yeah, please. We don’t want that kind of influence. Let’s move on. I I went to a whole bunch of weird spots over there. You want to talk about Ace Bailey? Yeah, he’s having a hell of a preseason. Uh he looks like he’s got some tendonitis in both of his knees that he’s working through, but he’s uh 39 minutes in his second game, scored 20 points on eight of 13 shooting. And then in his third preseason game, he had 31 minutes, 11 of 16 from the field. So that’s 69%. Nice. 25 points, six rebounds, three assists, a block, and two steals. My goodness. Ace Bailey play well. The Hornets did not draft him. Could have. did not. Do you have any regret about passing up Ace Bailey for Coniple? I want people to understand what it is like to create content. When you create content, sometimes you just got to play the game. And playing the game means you got to bring up pretty ridiculous questions like, “Are we jealous of Ace Bailey after just three preseason games, one in which he didn’t look great, and we found out about tendinitis in both of his knees?” This is an important topic. This is an engaging topic. It’s also one that logically speaking, you probably shouldn’t change your mind on any prospect after three preseason games. You can start to maybe lean one way in terms of, oh, well, he’s showing a few things I didn’t expect against real-time NBA competition. Oh, okay. I I didn’t know he had that. Cool. Like, I I really enjoy that. That’s nice. But if you change your entire opinion off of what you’ve seen the first three preseason games, then that would be wild. Here’s what I’ll say about Ace Bailey. one, I think the Hornets were dealing with a lot of stuff, just a lot of stuff off the court, and Ace Bailey was bringing a ton of baggage at that time, if you’ll remember, and it just didn’t feel like an environment that was ready for something like that here and now. So, no, I’m not jealous over not taking him because I I do remember what it was like, the discourse, what it was like surrounding Ace Bailey. I I I like what Khan is giving us. I really like what Khan has given us in summer league and what he’s given us in preseason. So that helps me not become jealous over Ace Bailey. But all that to say, man, in those first two preseason games, he did look good. Like he made nice reads, attacking closeouts and then finishing with athleticism at the cup. Um yeah, I I look all the credit in the world to what he was able to do with Utah. And he’s going to get plenty of opportunities. It’s why they dealt us Colin Ston so that they could open up the door, give him the red carpet, and say, “Here’s the offense. Do what you do.” Ace Bailey did a lot with it those first two preseason games. I think there are certain players that have undeniable talent and you you’re sort of forced as an organization to build around that talent because it is so undeniable. And yet that player will present questions about whether you could win with that player as the number one player on your team. In fact, people are asking a lot of those questions about the current Hornets number one in LaMelo Ball. So to bring Ace Bailey into this situation when you have already have a LaMelo Ball and you’ve got a Brandon Miller at the basically the same exact position you would play Ace Bailey in that and that Brandon Miller is coming off of an injury is going to need a lot of touches to kind of get back into the groove. I mean, we’ve we’ve kind of seen that in preseason. It’s been a little bit of a struggle. think about that on top of having to answer a bunch of questions about like is Ace Bailey outplaying Brandon Miller and D. So, um, none of those though are in and of itself reasons alone to not draft Ace Bailey. I think you throw in the off the court stuff and I think that you throw in a a genuine desire to add Khan Canipple as part of your team and I think you can put a package together that is a a good defense of the Hornets not taking Ace Bailey and if I ha I would be jealous I think of some of this Ace Bailey scoring and rebounding if I hadn’t seen Khan Canipple do some special things particularly with his passing, his driving, his ability ility to get to the cup. I mean, there have just been some things where I go, “Okay, that jumps off the screen.” So, that’s a big ph because you don’t want to draft a guy in the top five where nothing jumps off the screen. So, I’m I’m more confident than ever that Keniple is going to be something in this league. If I didn’t feel that way, then yeah, this conversation will be very different. All right, that’ll do it for Lockdown Hornets. Thanks for making us your first listen. We’re free and available anywhere you get your pods. That includes YouTube. Go check out Doug on his Substack every hornetsboxcore.com. And then also go check out yahoo sports daily with Jason Fitz and Caroline Fenton. I’m Walker Mail. Listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 300 p.m. Uh every weekday midday from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. on 927 FM. Have a great rest of your day. We’ll be back with you tomorrow. [Music]

Welcome to a “silly season style episode” where the Sicko Satchel is overflowing with questions from the fans. We start by considering what would be the best possible omen for the Hornets this preseason, a question that leads to an evaluation of Tidjane Salaun’s development, or lack thereof, and how Kon Knueppel is making the landing a bit softer. We also touch on the veteran presence making this team “serious people,” with a specific focus on how quickly Collin Sexton has become a respected leader with his “competitive joy”.

Then, things get interesting as we ponder what we would be willing to sacrifice for the Hornets to make a finals run, even with no championship guaranteed. That sends us down a rabbit hole to an even bigger question: what evil spirit is haunting the Spectrum Center?. We explore potential curses, from the Nick Batum guarantee against the “Process” 76ers to the long-forgotten Air Hugo blimp disaster, and even begin a hunt for the team’s scattered “Horcruxes”. Finally, we tackle the big topic of the week: is there any jealousy over the way Ace Bailey has performed for the Utah Jazz?. We look at his impressive preseason stats and consider if the Hornets made the right call for the locker room and the team’s future

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