Charlotte Hornets Aren’t Perfect but the Future is Bright

Charlotte Hornets Aren’t Perfect but the Future is Bright

What’s up and welcome. I’m Sam. With me is Balta. The Hornets season is off and running. How you feeling about it so far, man? The the two premier pro sports teams in the city of Charlotte. I hate to leave Charlotte FC out, but you know, MLS just isn’t as big as the NBA and the NFL. Hey, I love Charlotte FC. No hate, no shade. Like for the crown. poor la Corona. But um getting back to the Hornets, these two teams can’t mirror them each other any more than what they’re doing currently. I mean, you’re either winning or you’re getting blown out. Uh I mean, it’s just jackal and hide type stuff. Um but I am excited to get into kind of my uh you know, my early season, what six games in. grade. Uh, seven games. Seven. Yeah. So, as of recording, the Hornets are are three and four uh with wins over the worst teams in the NBA. That’s right. That’s right. So, I think they go I I feel pretty good about the early like offseason talking. It’s like this this team isn’t in that mix. They’re better than those teams and they proving it, which I’m here for. I like that they handle business against the worst of the worst. That’s right. And and so, look, Sam, you segueed into it. I’m just going to jump in. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I am excited about for and with this team is people I don’t know what kind of expectations. Well, I do know what kind of expectations people had because I saw it all over line. Uh I I see it on X. I see it on, you know, all the socials. People are losing their minds whenever this team loses to a good defensive team. Yeah. They’re losing their minds that we can’t play defense. They’re losing our minds that we get blown out when we don’t hit three-point shots. And I don’t really know what to tell these people. These humans are getting mad about things they should just simply know. And maybe it’s because my expectations weren’t what their expectations were. I saw a lot of playoff team health. It’s always this is a playoff team if health, you know, allows it to be and this is mi minimum playin team if health allows and my position is always when does health ever allow that? And then also two since when is this a playoff roster? I mean four rookies which we’re going to get into the rookies here in a moment. um multiple injuries to lead the season and then you have clear deficiencies on the defensive side. And so for people to just lead and get so irate and so upset and I get it to a degree. I’ve been a fan of this team my entire life. I understand we’re just sick of losing. But at the end of the day, what has me excited about this team is that the Charlotte Hornets are taking care of business against the worst of the worst. And that’s not something we’ve always been able to say in recent years. Whatsoever. I mean, you’re talking about the Washington Wizards whooping our ass. absolutely stroking us four times last season. And so far, to open up this new campaign, the Charlotte Hornets are are beating these really, really bad NBA teams by 20 on average. And it may not be to the degree that people want. It may not be the level of change that the entire fan base is is begging and groaning for. But it is a difference. There is real qualities on this team now and attributes that were missing in these prior seasons. They’re being added to. I’m sure we’ll get deeper into the rookies here in a moment, but I’m excited that this team bare minimum is beating the [ __ ] out of the likes of the Utah Jazz, the Washington Wizards, and the Brooklyn Nets. It’s It’s good. That That is growth and that is a step in the right direction. Yeah. And to your point, yeah, it was the Wizards last year. It was the Pistons before that just getting swept by the the dumpsters of the Eastern Conference and you you see that and you look at the roster and you’re like, well, like, man, these guys don’t seemingly aren’t aren’t playing with a sense of self-respect if they can’t get it up for these really shitty opponents. And that has not been the case. And in some instances, they’ve played up to more difficult opponents. Just haven’t been able to string it all together. So there are signs like but it’s very clear this isn’t a playing team and definitely not a playoff team and honestly that is fine because I think they can get to the high 20s or maybe low 30s of wins by the time this is all over with and be in a position of like real positive trajectory because the rookies are they’re doing rookie stuff now don’t get me wrong but you can see what the what they can be right you and see what they’re going to be. Um, for the most part with one maybe exception. I’m sure we’ll talk about that. Yeah. But yeah, man. Like Brandon out Brandon being out really sucks because he got robbed out of out of a sophomore season. A real um opportunity to develop himself and with LaMelo Ball. Right now it’s kind of looking like, man, you know, as we’re recording this, the news just came out. He’s gonna be re-evaluated in two weeks. Two weeks. We know this dance. Um he’s probably two weeks away from being two weeks away, right? That’s right. It’s it’s brutal. Um so early in the season is absolutely brutal. Um but let’s just What are your f first impressions seven games in of the vets? The guys had that have been here. Um well, not even say that guys that have been in the league because I want to put Colin Ston into this grouping. um instead of guys who have been on the roster for for a while cuz it’s really just like a a handful of guys. Uh what do what are your main takeaways or I guess standouts of the more veteran players and then we’ll talk about the rookies after that. I mean I think it’s pretty par for the course with the vets. I mean we’re seeing a lot of the same things with them especially the ones that have been on the team for numerous years um at this point. I do believe that LaMelo’s desire on the defensive end has increased. Absolutely. Yep. Um I think just his want to fight over screens and just stay attached to guys and going over those screens. Now, I’ve still seen him get sunk against the Timberwolves the other night. he went under a screen on Mike Connley and it may have been because Mike Connley’s not a hey I’m going to get my shot I’m looking for me and so maybe LaMelo was just like you know what if Mike wants to take this let him take it and then he drains it of course uh so I mean we’ve still seen examples of like old defensive minded LaMelo but there is a difference and so as much hate that has been out there on LaMelo’s defensive uh game. I do see an uptick in, you know, just his want to and desire on that end. Um, I still think we’re seeing a lot of the same lapses with Miles Bridges. Just he has all of the physical attributes, all of the athletic tools to be just a really good defensive player and he’s just not. Um, we’re seeing him struggle around the rim. uh you know we’ve seen in recent years Miles you know ever since you know his missing season uh where he’s kind of reverted to being more and and relying more upon his three-point shot he’s had some instances he’s a streaky shooter uh but I mean we’ve kind of seen more of that Trey man has been disappointing oh my god man it’s it’s it’s so sad I love I love some Trey man but it’s been really the passing the lack of accuracy with the the simplest stuff is so crazy to me. I get the shot like I can allow, you know, you’re early coming off a serious injury early season. I can I can get my behind a cold streak shooting wise, but the mental mistakes with him is is crazy. Yeah, it’s just Trey man’s been a really disappointing uh aspect of the early Charlotte Hornet season. Colin Ston I’ve been really impressed by. Um, I Charles Lee I don’t believe has been as much as the fans have uh or as me personally. I I just continue to see this fan base really is enjoying what they’re seeing from Colin Ston overall. I’m I’m not saying that there haven’t been moments of frustration or he hasn’t done everything right. Like obviously that’s that’s a given. Um, but the minutes fluctuation on Colin Ston has been interesting. And I’m not just talking about from a starting standpoint to coming off the bench standpoint. There have been multiple games now where he has failed to uh eclipse 20 minutes. He’s stayed in the teens. Um, and as well as his energy has been offensively just downhill getting into the paint, getting to the foul line, and then also, you know, his desire and want to defensively to fight over screens. Uh, he’s picked up some guys full court even, um, which is just good and different than what we’ve seen on this Hornets team in recent years. Um, I’ve really enjoyed and we can get to Charles Lee more here in a minute because I got some bones to pick with old Charles with old Chucky Lee. Um, but with with Colin Ston, I’ve been I’ve I’ve been impressed. I really have. Yeah. With with with him, one of my main like loves of his game and of the addition and his involvement is how he gets to the free throw line. Man, you know, we don’t have that. We haven’t had that. Exa, bro. Exactly. Exactly, man. And it’s just grown adult basketball when the shot’s not falling or you come in as a sub and you just need that spark to slow thing or to slow things down. Like he’s making he’s getting to the lane and he’s getting to the free throw line. Um he’s second in the in the on the team. Like Bridges is is 5.3 attempts per game. But and then in Sex’s 5.1, right? And Bridges plays a lot more than Sexton. So from like a much more a a a free throw attempt per um minutes played ratio like Sexton blows him out the water. Um and he hits him like he’s 83% from the line. Like that addition alone is is massive um for what for what’s good with the Hornets right now. Yeah. Can’t say enough about Colin Ston. Um, as far as any other guys, um, LaMelo, uh, but prior to I I know I’ve already kind of stated and, uh, talked a little bit about LaMelo, but just to go back because I know you didn’t, uh, really have an opportunity there because I jumped right into Miles Bridges, but as far as LaMelo goes, prior to uh, last night’s win over Utah, LaMelo was the only player on the team who had uh a plus minus of double digits or more and he’s playing tons of minutes. And so LaMelo played tons of minutes in the blowout losses as well, right? And so it’s not like he’s some uh bench player, role player who’s just adding in um you know, and and in a good rotation and the plus minus gets bumped up. He was the only player on the Charlotte Hornets team prior to last night who had a double digit plus uh in the plus minus uh category. He was plus 23 in all of his minutes. He’s playing huge minutes early on in the season uh before missing last night. Oddly enough, oddly enough, and then I’ll let you talk back to LaMelo. There were two other players who had positive plus minuses on the Charlotte Hornets prior to last night’s win against Utah. U do you want to take a stab at who those two players were? Diabate. No, he he was close. He was he was a minus one. So he was really close. Okay, great guess. Okay. Uh my g my instinct is to say one of the one of the bench guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um then let let Is it Seion James? It is Seon James. Yeah. Seion was a plus three in his minutes including the blowout uh losses and the wins the big wins against the Nets and the Wizards. And the other one was Tan Salon. Oddly enough, come on, man. Let’s go. But that but I’m gonna throw it back to you and you can uh you can say uh you talk about LaMelo, talk about Ton. Uh you know, yeah, whatever you got. So with with LaMelo, I I agree with everything you said. I I just want to say like shout out his toughness. You mentioned how hard he’s playing and it’s also been really clear he’s been playing through something with the shoulder. All right. Like going who who was it? Who we played right before Minnesota? Was it Orlando? Yeah, Orlando. He’s just working that shoulder, right? And he was still playing, right, until I think he picked up that tech and they sat him. Um, and it was it was something I was monitoring closely cuz I was going to I was and did go to the to the Timberwolves game. Um, and Charlotte’s like, damn. I know Anthony Edwards was going to be out. I was like, are we going to miss LaMelo, too? What the hell? But, you know, say what you want about his his injuries, LaMelo is a willing participant when he’s able to um to game it out. So, I I respect that cuz any chance he had, it was like kind of reminiscent of when he injured his wrist. Um, and he would always kind of work the wrist around, keep it keeping it loose every chance. Still doing it this season. Yeah. So, like the now he it’s like he added a left shoulder move uh to the to the routine um every chance he gets. So, that’s a new one. Um same with Brandon Miller. So, weird. The shoulder stuff’s weird. I don’t know what happened in the in the in the summer with the wait for We’re going from ankles to to shoulders. Yeah. Like what the hell? We switched up the routine in the offseason. I don’t know what happened there. Um hope if someone else goes down with a shoulder injury, there needs to they need to launch an investigation on uh the workout the lift regimen over there. But no, LaMelo bringing it and really seeming like a lead more of a leader now um early on. And I I don’t think he’ll ever be that rah rah type of guy, but definitely a lead by example type of guy. And that that’s what you want to see in year six from him. Um Salon shifting swiftly on to to Jean Salon. I I I know he got assigned to to the to the to the Swarm I think today or yesterday. you know that um I think he’s playing within himself um and not overdoing it like we or trying to play outside of his limits like we’ve seen other project bigs in the past, right? I think Salon as a catch and shoot, especially in the corner guy, like I love that shot for him. I do like he’s he can elevate over most anybody in the NBA and the shot looks all right, you know? Um yeah, the hustle’s always going to be there, right? and it just just needs the polishing and the development. Like I you don’t want to see him dribble, right? You you don’t want to see him posting up or anything like that. He’s just not there yet. But he sticks to what he’s good at and as a role player, that’s literally all you can expect, right? Um so salute to him, honestly. Like he’s embracing his his his station with the rotation right now. All right. to just piggy back off of Ton real quick. Um, yeah, if if he’s shooting a corner three, I feel okay. If he shoots anything above the break from the wing, it’s probably an airball. He’s either going to swish it or it’s an airball. Yeah, it’s there’s no in between. He’s not going to hit rim. There’s not going to be a clank. It’s either wet or it is just it’s a family for sure. I mean, it’s there’s no in between. Um there are times just going back to where you said uh he stays within himself. I think that there have been uh moments this season where he’s not trying to do that and then he reigns it in real quick. It’s like he gets the ball and he’s like, “Okay, I’m going to do something I’ve been working on all summer long and I’m going to drive here.” Or he gets a rebound and he leads the break. Yeah. and he’s like, “Oh, I think I’m going to put my shoulder into this guy and I’m going to try to get to the line. I’m going to try to go through him or get into that body and then fade away and try to hit that little shot around the rim.” Um, and it doesn’t work out. It’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen. And then he’s like, “Okay, I tried it. Uh, I’m not going to do that again.” And then he goes back to just playing with like that really conservative role. um and that that that style of play that fits him better at this point. Um cuz I’ve seen that a few times. The problem with Salon is his desire is there. I’ve said desire a lot and want to maybe maybe that’s something that’s what he is. I bet increased on this team, right? Because absolutely like we see it with LaMelo. Colin Ston brought it from Utah with him in that package deal and then like to Yeah. I mean, oh, can’t wait to get to Musa. We’re getting to Musa. Okay. Okay. Um but with Salon, like that’s who he is. It’s just he’s not good enough. Like he’s not good enough for it to mean net positives more so than not, right? And so like right now he’s like in the Timberwolves game he was matched up on Nas Reed and Nas Reed every time Nas Reed got the ball. He it was like he was just licking his lips he knew he was going to score because Nas Reed is an extremely skilled big man in this league um offensively and with Tan Salon guarding him it was just ugly. Uh Salon could stay with him but like he He was always going to get out finessed. He was always going to get out footworked. He was always going to be uh Nas Reed was always going to just pull those vet savvy moves that Salon just can’t really stick with and stay with. He’s just not skilled enough. Uh but I think Greensboro is good. He looked like he was out of the rotation last night. I mean, Pat Conetan was uh getting more minutes than him, and I think at this point, I’m fine with that. I I’m good with Pat Conetan getting those Tan Salon minutes. Um because I just that vet presence on the court, I think, is going to serve this team in the imminent now better than anything that Tan Salon’s going to bring. Um just from that veteran uh presence. And then also Pat’s ability to hit shots. Um, so I’m good with that. Musa, I’ve been talking a while. Sam, take Musa away. I’ll piggy back off of that and give my thoughts on Musa. So Musa Diabate, he is that guy, you know, I mean, he is he’s what we expected of him. There was not, unlike Trey, man, Diabate got his extension and lived up to and exceeded expectations and continues to do so. um just a positive force every time he’s out there. Obviously, he’s not he’s going to get he’s going to lose his matchups when he’s facing a taller and a guy a longer guy, right? But man on the glass, he’s going to contest everything and he’s going to hustle his ass off still. um truly like if he is Hornet’s DNA like that that thing that they’re looking for, he is the archetype for it, the mold for it. Um and like what everyone should be graded off of on the Musa scale. Like are you are you meeting or exceeding Moose’s level? Then you can be here. If you’re not, we’re going to trade you to Phoenix. That’s kind of how I feel about to Phoenix with you. Not to hell with you. To Phoenix with you. basically the same thing. Shouts shouts to Mark and Nick. Hope they’re enjoying themselves over there. Yeah, have fun. Um, my favorite player. Uh, I have asked for a Musa Diabate jersey for Christmas. Uh, that’s that that’s how high I am on Musa. He is going to be I don’t know how long he’s going to be in Charlotte. Hopefully, it’s a long ass time. Yeah. Uh, but if it’s not, he is forever going to be one of my favorite Hornets. especially one of if it’s if it’s short term, he’s definitely he’s probably going to be the top like here for two, three years or less like favorite player uh that I can remember in a long time. Hopefully, it’s much longer than that. I just love everything he does. Free throws even. Like you can tell his touch around the rim um that deserves a nod. Uh he’s finishing around the rim. uh even when it’s not a dunk, obviously he’s finishing dunks. Um but then even that little push hook shot that he has, uh it’s just doing wonders for this team. And he’s also been working on free throws. There was a stint I I think it ended in the Timberwolves game. Uh Eric Collins was talking about it. Mused made 11 straight free throws. when you can get that from your center who is known for being a 60% free throw shooter or worse in his career to be making it at that clip and then to come back and then I I mean uh he went he was perfect from the line last night as well. Um I he is the embodiment of Hornets’s DNA and anything that Jeff Peterson and Charles Lee speak about whenever they have a mic in front of their face, Musa Diabate is the guy. The the only negative to Musa is that we have this big ass sevenfooter now in Charlotte who can’t miss shots, who is blocking shots. He’s the second he’s second only to Wimi in the league in block shots. Um just this, you know, veteran rookie and Ryan Caulk Brener that’s stealing some of Musa’s minutes or I think we’d even be higher on Musa. Um and so love everything about Musa Diabate. My favorite Charlotte Hornet player currently. Uh just I better get that jersey for Christmas or I’m going to be I’m gonna be pissed. Valid. Totally valid. Um, one Charles Lee thing I I didn’t I don’t understand why we didn’t see it. We saw it in the previous game in Orlando, both of both the centers out there at the same time. Um, that would have been nice to see it against the big ass Timberwolves team. Um, because I watching for that very closely for certain parlay reasons. I was like, hey, no reasons. You know, I mean, I have some, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. We can’t be talking about betting in Charlotte. Sam, what you doing? Yeah, man. Listen, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m not on the table. It’s fine. The um what’s this called? Yeah. So, why was you mentioned Charles Lee? Let’s get into that a little bit and then we’ll finish with the rookies. Um I mean, it is kind of related. I don’t get I don’t get the extended McNeely minutes right now. I don’t understand it. Um, we can I don’t we could blend those conversations right now if you want to, but that is a big one. That’s a weird one for me. Um, and you mentioned the sex and stuff. Um, and of the up and down with it. I’m of the opinion Sex should be coming off the bench because the second unit That’s fine. Sure. Doesn’t have it like that and he’s the only other playmaker on the team besides LaMelo. Should he be playing 17 minutes a night though? No, he should be like 25. Yeah, at minimum. Yeah. Now, he’s not aver averaging 17 minutes. That’s not what I’m saying. But there have been games where he has received only 17 minutes. There’s another game he received 19 minutes. And but okay, I just wanted to get that clarified. I think there’s an argument that Sexton is the second best player on the team, just point blank, right? So, he needs to be part of it and fully catered to and really shift around some of the train man stuff cuz I I get the element of like you want guys to play through things like even um even Canipple like few games ago he just kept messing up like he tried to dribble. He’s been trying to dribble for some reason and it’s not working and it’s leading mistakes. They called a timeout and they ran a play for him. Uh the layup didn’t go but he made both free throws off the foul. Like I I I like the idea of the coach letting these letting the guys play through it, but also part of me is like we got to start winning some games or just being more competitive and just got to win figuring things out is like really costing costing the really hurting the scoreboard. Um but what do what are your Charles Lee impression seven games into this thing? Uh I believe Charles Lee has cost the Charlotte Hornets 1.5 games this season. Um, is Philly one of them? The the Philly one was egregious. That’s That’s been brutal. Yeah. Like I mean you’re talking up you’re up double digits with five minutes to go in the game and arguably as you stated, your second best player can’t be on the floor um and close that game out. Uh there was a bad play to Charles’s defense. Uh there was a play where Khan Canipple was wide open on the on the wing and Colin Ston took a jumper. Um I wish he had made the pass, but also uh with that I think um Colin Ston had had a pretty good game offensively and I think at that point he was just in that mindset of we need a bucket and I’m going to be the one that gets us that. And so I liked him taking that shot for that reason. Uh, but there was a better shot option on the floor, so I get that. But then we never saw him again. And so it’s almost like he got benched for not making that extra pass just for wanting to be that guy, the a dog, and win the game for your team. And so, uh, Trey man had not played well that evening. Absolutely not. Um and so to see to see that decision play out in real time was really disappointing. Um and then also the Timberwolves game got away from us. We were in that uh we were ahead at halftime. Um and then the third quarter just really went downhill. We had a we had a lineup I said this on online from Hornets lead. We had a lineup of Trey Man. Um, and then it was Seion James and Canipple and Cochr Brener and Tan Salon. No, no, no, no. It wasn’t Canipple. It was It was man, James, McNeely, Caulk, Brener, Tan Salon. real NBA rotational minutes in a game where you were winning at halftime. They were on the floor for numerous minutes and then all of a sudden you look at the end of the third quarter and we’re down 12 and we wonder why. That’s not time to experiment. There’s no way. Was LaMelo having his best game? No. Was Miles Bridges was having his best game? the our whole the whole section. I’m sure other parts of the building were doing too like asking like why isn’t Bridges in the game? Like he was playing out of his mind, out of his mind. This was another issue I had in that second quarter. We were, like I said, we went to halftime up six. No Anthony Edwards on the other team. We’re up six. Miles Bridges had 18 in the first quarter. He was feeling it that night. You need to lend into that. LaMelo wasn’t, like you stated, he was holding his shoulder. Uh, I believe he went one of nine that night. That would make sense since he was holding his shoulder, but he was still trying to play through it. All of that. Yep. Miles Bridges did not get a shot in the second quarter until a minute and 47 seconds remaining in the second quarter. That’s crazy. What are we doing? I like there are just pockets and a and some some gaps where I’m looking at Charles Lee and the coaching staff and I’m like, “Okay, guys, we’re trying to do way too much. You are really overthinking this. Who’s starting this night? Who’s coming off the bench this night? There’s rotations that make no sense where you have three rookies, uh, a struggling sophomore and a guy that played 13 games last season, um, and is still trying to find himself and has a really just has had a disappointing start to the year. Like, we’re we’re just really trying to do too much, overthinking some things, simplify. There’s no way that you can have many lineups where you don’t have that don’t have LaMelo Bridges Colin Ston in it. Colin Canipple or Keniple I say Colin Canipple Khan Canipple. um at this point of the season with Brandon Miller being out, Grant Williams still being out, like you’ve got to have some uh like you’ve got to have your best players in and you’ve got to stagger those rotations better than what we’ve been doing. And so the Timberwolves shot much better in the second half. They’re a really good defensive team. And so I’m not going to put that entire game on the coaching staff, but man, I really want to put a lot of it on the coaching staff because you can’t have an 18point swing in a quarter. Uh but you can when you throw out lineups and rotations like that. It just doesn’t make any damn sense. No, we were we were wondering it all night like what the hell? What am I watching here? It it’s got to be frustrating when especially when you’re in the building. I’m, you know, I’m just watching it on on a screen, but like you guys can feel the atmosphere, the energy that Miles Bridges was bringing the the Spectrum Center in the first quarter just for him not to be featured for the next two quarters and you go from leading in a game to being completely blown out of a game. Yeah. and then wondering why LaMelo is throwing up shots that he’s throwing up because yeah, he’s trying to get your team back in the game. Now, do did I love all of those shots from LaMelo? No. Did I did I feel like he was settling a little bit, but he also wasn’t getting a whistle. I mean, there I shared a clip online asking how the hell this wasn’t a foul when Rudy Goar blocks his shot and grabs his entire arm and throws it towards, you know, the floor. Um, and then also there’s a clip that was circulating where um, Deventenzo just like completely chops across his body on when when when he’s on a drive and hits all of LaMelo across the chest, abdomen, midsection, and there’s no foul call on that either. Um, it might be because, you know, LaMelo’s got to point his favorite finger at the refs, you know, and get fined. Yeah. Which we haven’t touched on. Uh, so, you know, that could be buddy buddy, uh, referee on referee, you know, defending their boy, but whatever. Um, the coaching staff’s got to wear some of that because probably a lot of that just for the weirdness of all of this and the rotate the the the rotations have really I just feel like they’re trying to be too cute and they’re really trying to be like what matchups can we attack? Um, who do we need to go after in this lineup? which that is part of the game. I’m not saying like you take all of that out, but what’s happening here is that you’re not getting there’s no cohesion with certain players playing with each other because like you’re trying to get too cute with it. like you’re not having enough minutes with your best players on the court and then you’re not staggering those minutes to where you still have your best players on the court when you do have to make subs and get some guys some rest because you are dealing with injuries. But it it it just feels like there’s just too much going on from the from the coaching staff currently as it pertains to starting lineups, rotations, nightly, you know, mismatches, things of that nature. Yeah, I they’re I just I just want to give them the benefit of the doubts as far as like the feeling out process early into the season because otherwise it’s not sustainable this this [ __ ] not having the best players on the floor at all times, especially when the guys that that are getting the chances aren’t really making the most of it. Um and so that’s a recipe for for losing a lot of games. But it is I mean you’re looking at some NBA coaches now in the regular season most guys run 10 10 man rotations. Y sometimes 11. Um but you do have co coaches around the league who are running nineman rotations in regular season and then we see that really shift down in the playoffs to a eightman rotation sometimes seven. Mhm. Um, and so in these early moments, and I get not trying to burn guys out, LaMelo’s dealing with a shoulder, um, all of a sudden, uh, ankle impingement as well as his, uh, you know, it’s been stated these last couple games. I do you really need McNeely playing right now? Do you really need that many Ton Salon minutes right now? like right here at the early offset. We’ve had a we’ve had numerous days off before many of these games. I know we just had a backto-back uh here recently, but I mean we’ve had some rest in between and we’re at the beginning of the season. Hopefully some of those guys do start to come back. If you do have more injuries, then yeah, you have to open up your your rotations uh and your depth chart a little bit more. But right now, guys are fresh. They’re coming in in some of these games. I say you just got to go for like you don’t have to be finding minutes for these guys. Like go get the win. Go get the win. And you know, shifting to the rookies, like it also also kind of feels a little greedy. Like they brought in four rookies draft night and three of them are clicking and that feels like a good ratio. Like if McNeely never plays basketball again, like hypothetically, right, and you go three or four on draft night as far as like real NBA players, you are getting an extension as a GM, right? So part of me is like, yo, you got house money. Just let McNeely Cook in and Greensboro um and just go with what you have with the rookies you got that are clicking right now. Cog Brener, James, and Canipple. Um because James especially has been overd delivering. I have been very impressed by cockbrand like you mentioned his ability to compete at the rim um and just finish at the rim is just basic [ __ ] like yeah that is what we need. I hate to keep bringing his name up but certain certain centers weren’t always into just doing what needed to be done and cogn willing more he’s willing and able to do so and it’s appreciative uh I’m appreciative of it. Um and then James is a dog like honestly not since this is crazy too. Uh, not just Dennis Smith Jr. I felt this good about a like a perimeter uh player sticking in on defense and just competing his ass off. And James Yeah, he’s he’s been better than Dennis Smith Jr. because he’s been he’s been money from three. Yeah, he’s huge. Yeah, that’s something that Dennis Smith Jr. could never give us is as much uh appreciation that that we had for Dennis Smith Jr. defensively, he never brought this offensively. No. And so like Seion, like you spoke about Ton Salon and how you felt like he was pretty for the most part staying within his game. Seion is doing that and then some like exponentially. Um he’s moving the ball. He’s not a shot first guy. I mean, Seion James, he’s on route to being on Musa Diabate level real quick if this continues. And Josh Green’s going to have to find himself a new home if this continues because he’s not going to touch the floor if James keeps shooting the way that he’s shooting, moving the basketball, driving, and then finishing at and around the rim the way that he has. Uh, and then just competing the way that he does defensively. Uh yeah, Josh Green’s gonna as long as injuries don’t play the that role into forcing him in. Seion James may have just Wally pipped uh old uh old old Josh Green. I’m here for it, too. By the way, uh with respect to Josh Green, uh Seion’s jumper is crazy in person. It is a line drive. Uh there’s optimal efficiency in everything he does, including shooting the ball into the basket. No wasted movements. I respect that. There’s no fluff. No, man. Straight business. He He ain’t got time for any of it. He’s He’s going to pick you up. He’s going to get in your body. He’s going to get on your nerves and then he’s going to go down on the other side and bang in threes. Honestly, like on stream the other night was just talking about like how we got here just, you know, I think it was um the Orlando game where things were just really bad. just kind of opining on the state of the franchise and all the stuff and like where we are in the rebuild and all the stuff and like you know they whiffed on two drafts in a row you know 2021 and 2022 and it just just really set things back and this this 2025 class has a chance to you know make up like really make up for lost time kind of and could get us back on track like any hypothetical time lost in this rebuild could You know, the difference could be made up quickly if this James thing is real and continues on like this. Cog Banner, same. Uh, Canipple, same thing. And then if anything, anything any quality minutes out of McNeely at some point would really put them back on track to really do something special, especially if they get um just any I’m not even say lucky lottery night, just any quality um rookie out of the lottery this upcoming season. Things are looking really nice, man. And I I’m really excited for the future of this franchise uh with Canipple, with James and Cockurn especially. Yeah. See, Sam, this is why I don’t understand why some there’s been so much negative talk online about the start of the Charlotte Hornet season because um when is the last time you felt this good about the future of this franchise? like, yeah, okay, Miami put it on us. Uh, honestly, the coach gave away I the coaching staff I I feel like gave one away. Yeah. Philly. Yep. And then the Timberwolves game. We were in that one for large swaths of that game until we just weren’t. Okay. And then the Magic, we just don’t match up well. Like, they always beat our ass because they’re just so good defensively. Uh, and we’re so bad defensively that we make their offense look better because they struggle offensively against everybody else, but we’re so bad defensively that it makes them look better. Y and then we’re we just don’t match up well with them because their defense can shut down our offense and then we just we just don’t play well against Orlando uh and match up well. And so I’ve seen a lot like same old Hornets. Uh this team sucks defensively. Uh it’s going to be another long year, no playoffs, return to your normal uh you know, program uh of the Charlotte Hornets season, all this. And I’m just sitting back and I’m like, guys, you ungrateful sons of like Yeah. Like we have like legit rookies who are playing one just playing. We’ve When’s the last time you can remember that playing and then also being effective while playing and then we’re getting elevated allstar play out of our best player. We brought in a guy who can legit probably contend for six man of the year type, you know, awards as long as he continues getting the minutes and continues being a bench player that some injuries might force him into the starting lineups. We have a possible rookie of the year candidate in Keniple. We have a possible defensive rookie of the year candidate in cockbriner. All right. So, like I mean you’re you’re talking about high level stuff and we haven’t even had Brandon Miller yet. We haven’t even had Grant Williams come back into the fold where he’s going to take those salon minutes and he’s going to elevate the ceiling of this team and the floor. Um and so I yeah, there have been some some bad games. That’s to be expected when you’re playing for rookies and you have multiple injuries. But I just I feel pretty good. Like I I haven’t been uh positive about the outlook of this team in years. I even over the summer I was like, “Guys, this is not a playoff team.” And I I hope Khan plays well. I don’t think Caulk Brener’s going to be in the rotation. I Me and you had that conversation. We thought this was going to be Plumbley’s to lose. real quick. In the at the at in the arena for the Timberwolves game, I saw Plumbley on the on the uh bike. I was like, “Oh [ __ ] he’s warming up. He’s about to come to this game.” Thankfully, it didn’t happen, but that scared me. I was like, “Oh, no.” Praise. That was another thing. No, no, no. So, look, I that was another thing in the Philly game. And I’m not trying to trash on uh Charles Lee too much cuz I do think that they are experimenting trying to find out what they have in this team. Hey, what exactly do we have in Liam McNeely? All right. And so throwing them out there, I just think you got to surround them with your best players whenever you throw him out there so that he can be in the best situation to succeed. You want to put your player as a coach, you want to put your players in the best situation to have positive impact. And I’m I don’t think that’s taking place. But going back to the Philly game, it wasn’t just not playing Colin Ston down the stretch when he was arguably our best player on that night. It was also putting Mason Dan Plumbley in the game before Musa Diabate. And you can sit here and try to tell me all night that Mason Plumbley can defend Joel Embiid better than Musa can. I’m going to call you a liar and I’m going to say you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Mhm. Because Musa, not Musa Debbate, Joel Embiid was killing us from deep because Ryan Cogbriner wasn’t quick enough to step out on him. Mhm. The the thought pattern on that is Musa can defend him on the on the perimeter. But what he’s going to do at that point is he’s just going to walk down to the block and then they’re going to throw it into him and then he’s going to abuse Musa on the block. He’s going to abuse Plumbley everywhere. Y he’s going to abuse him in the per on the perimeter and in the block. So it doesn’t matter. At least Musa can take one of those things away. Mhm. Maybe not both, but at least one. Yeah. And so I thought that was another uh just really bad coaching. Like we just overthinking things. And then Andre Drummond, this was the third problem I had with that game. Andre Drummond played the entire fourth quarter. We never hacked Andre Drummond. Yep. He is like a 30% free throw shooter and he’s running up and down the floor. That’s a Plumbley job. Six. You got six fouls, Mason. Make use them all. Exactly. If we’re going to play Plumbley, that’s the time in which you do so. And then you foul Andre Drummond and you make him shoot free throws. Whenever they started their run, you’re still up double digits. that the the the coaching decisions in that game. That’s really the one that that frustrates me. And then the throw in the three rookies, the sophomore and the guy who only played 13 games last season. Those are really the ones where I just like start thinking to myself like we’re just trying too hard here. Like sometimes the guy on the couch who’s sitting there saying, “We have 150 yards rushing. Run the damn ball.” Yeah, that guy’s right. Yep. Like we don’t have to get cute here. We don’t have to throw it deep. Like sometimes halfback dive, power, all of those things work. And sometimes the coaching staffs, you know, they’re just trying to get too cute with it. Um, no Plumbley minutes, man. Paul Briner has proven himself. Musa Diabate has proven himself. I’m so glad we’re here. And Hornets fans, you need to hear us when we say this. Why are you upset? We have legit rookies. You thought you were going to be watching Mason Plumbley get 20 minutes a night. You don’t have to watch that this season because our second round pick center is a starter in the NBA and providing you real life NBA starting minutes. And your fourth overall pick has hit more threes through seven games than anybody else in the history of the NBA. And your second round pick who you didn’t know could ever play real NBA minutes because his offensive game was so uh inept is banging in multiple threes a game. Like guys, be thankful. Yeah, we’re going to lose some games by double digits. We’re going to give up a lot of points, but the rookies are learning on the job. They’re doing a pretty damn good job. And I feel really, really good about where we’re actually headed. And I didn’t know when I was going to be able to say that about this team. I just really never knew. Mhm. And I’m and I can sit here on November the 3rd, 2025 and say I feel really damn good about the future of the Charlotte Hornets. And that should make all of us happy. Well said. Well said. As we sit here, the Hornets are 11 at 11 seed, three and four. You know what I mean? It’s it’s a good place to be right now. Jason, the the winless New Orleans Pelicans tomorrow. Now look, we’re going to say all this. We’re going to give them credit for beating the [ __ ] teams. We’re gonna give them credit uh for all of this and then we’re just going to go and get gobsmacked in New Orleans tomorrow. That’s why this video is going out tonight. All right. That’s right. We get we get 24 hours of peace before that Pelicans game. So fingers crossed the trend continues because Yeah, man. You said it well. I think that’s a good place to to wrap it up on and the future’s bright for Charlotte for sure. That’s right, man. All right. Thank you. Thank you everyone for watching. Make sure you like, make sure you subscribe, and we’ll see you soon.

The Charlotte Hornets are 3-4 and are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Balta and Sam talk about the season so far and where the team is heading, the good and the bad.

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By: Sam Dracula