LaMelo Ball’s HIDDEN Impact In Hornets’ Stats | Does MJ’s FAILED Ownership Affect His GOAT Status?

LaMelo Ball’s HIDDEN Impact In Hornets’ Stats | Does MJ’s FAILED Ownership Affect His GOAT Status?

What were the Hornets strengths last year? We’ll go through actually some of the stuff that the Hornets were good at, plus answer plenty of questions in the Siko satchel. And Doug finally gets to his Happy Gilmore 2 review. Well, his thoughts on Frank Kaminsky’s There we go. Happy Gilmore 2 review. It’s silly season, folks. Stick with us. That’s all to come 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 podcast network. It’s your team every day. Thanks for making us your first listen. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast and that includes YouTube. Doug Branson, every hornetsboxcore.com. Also a part of locked on NBA with Matt Moore and Hayes. They’re talking all things NBA there. Keeping you up to date on all the national storylines. I’m Walker Mail. Listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3. I am keeping you up to date on everything Panthers training campwise. All the updates. Vibes are good in the Queen City. Not only for the Hornets, but they’re good for the Panthers, too. I’m, you know, I’m a little I’m a little scared about how good good things how how good things feel right now, but yeah, maybe a sleeper pick for Carolina. You can listen to us talk about it. WFNZ 927 FM. Um, speaking of all the vibes that we have going on right now, let’s talk about all the vibes surrounding the Hornets and maybe something that will transition from last year into this year and stuff that we want to transition into this year. The things that the Hornets were good at. Doug, I know you were sleuththing. You were researching some of those stats on Basketball Index. What did you find that the Hornets performed well in? Yeah. So, I’m going to try to get this up uh where I can actually screen share uh where it shows up big enough, but this is from bballindex.com. Okay. I think I have it here. All right. So, this is from bballindex.com. And this is in the 2024 25 season. These are the top 10 things that the Hornets were highest rated in relative to other teams. This is just teams, not players, teams in the NBA. And the things that they were lowest rated in among teams in the NBA. And I will note that so they have a stat called LeBron and it measures it’s it’s one of these all-in-one stats that tries to measure how well you did on offense, how well you did on defense. The O LeBron for the Hornets last season was probably it’s minus 5.77 which I’m going to say if it’s not last in the league, it’s very close to last in the league. But their defense of LeBron was actually minus 1.22, which I think probably puts them in the kind of 15 to 20 range. Like it’s going to be towards it’s it’s definitely below average, but it’s not as bad. um because to and especially I think at the end of the season uh they really shored up the defense um after you know they had no choice because so many of their offensive players were off the floor. So let me give you a few of the highest rated and then I’ll get get your thoughts on it, Walker. Yeah. So let me know if you notice a trend here. Floater shot creation, they were in the hundth percentile. Deep three-point shot creation, they were the second ranked team in the 96.6 six percentile mid-range shot creation, floater shooting talent, halfcourt shot creation, three-point shot creation, pullup three-point shot creation, and then rim deterrence is is thrown in there, but that’s not part of the theme here. What do you think is the theme that I’m getting at here? The theme I think the theme you’re getting at, which this was supposed to be, I think based on the bullet point, a positive segment. These are all the things the Hornets did well, but I can’t help but look at creation, creation, creation. And I don’t see enough talent. So, or points for or points per possession. The thing there there’s because there’s creation and then there’s execution, right? So, that’s definitely that’s definitely a theme. The other theme is LaMelo ball, right? Floater shot creation, deep to take away 100%. So, LaMelo. Yeah, it’s it’s LaMelo and then it’s creation. Not a lot of execution. Like it it it’s it’s fun when Well, it’s it’s not even like it was hard here. You know, I’m a rocket scientist. I figured this out. I think everybody would look at this list and not be surprised at all that there were a lot of floaters last year. There were a lot of deep threes last year. There were the the midshot creation. Now, maybe people would be a little surprised about mid-range shot creation, you know, because I we we tried to fight back against that narrative, but it’s the whole you took it out of Brandon Miller’s arsenal, he never takes mid-range jumpers anymore. I think people might be surprised about that. But for the most part, I think people would look at this list and say, “Yeah, that checks out.” Yeah, I would say you unless you’re you are a team with a lot of mid-range shot makers, you don’t want to be mid-range shot takers. So that this creation stat, I think actually is a function of the fact that they didn’t have a ton of shooters and they weren’t very effective at the rim and so they were just getting forced down in the mid-range. Like you knew as a defense if you could get them to take mid-range shots, you were going to beat the Hornets by 100. And again, I’m not saying it’s a good thing. I think people would be surprised at just how many mid-range jumpers or the I guess and it’s not I guess the total volume. I guess it is different in terms of like mid-range shot creation. I I guess I don’t know like the the disparity between creation and how many mid-range jumpers they pulled up for. So, I guess I don’t know the specific difference, right? Is there something different in being wide open, having the ball swing to you at the at a mid-range point, which is kind of weird, I guess, to think about, but anyways, there might be some nuances there in the definition between the two. But yeah, the definite themes here developing, and I had the same takeaways you did. And top 10 and rim deterrence, I think that was a lot of scheme that they wanted to take away the the rim. And so you saw a little bit more switching, you saw a little bit and a little bit more drop, too. And then I think look, Mark Williams had a lot of issues with his game, but he was a big dude and he chased guards out of the paint. Uh, and so that’s something they’ve got to figure out this coming season. No, that that was his thing and that matters, right? Rim deterrence for Mark. That was always something that he was good at. When people tried him and they were successful, then they might have attacked him a little bit more. So when you throw it to these guys in the post and they realize they can play through Mark Williams, then they would attack him a little more. But just in terms of guards getting into the paint, seeing if they have an opportunity to put a shot up, they might get a tiny bit spooked. Now, it’s not like Mark Williams was great at it. They were 10th, but I think Mark Williams had a lot to do with it. I don’t think Nerkach is the big- time rim deter that Mark was. But yeah, that was that was one of the strengths for him defensively. A lot of weaknesses. I think that was a strength of his. So, let’s go to the lowest ratings. I’ll just read these off. Uh, they were last in the league in handoff points per possession. So, points per possession is how efficient you are at creating points with a particular kind of play, right? So, handoff PPP, they were last in the league. Overall shot quality, they were last in the league. Here’s where the sort of execution versus create creation is how many times you do it. Quality is what when you did it, how many of those looks were good looks? And then your actual points per possession is how well you did on those quality looks. And that’s a big one. I would I would say if if you wanted to if you had a a draft, okay, most important stata stats, most important things that we’re looking at here. Um I would say overall shot quality is a big deal in terms of how it plays out in wins and losses kind of. But when you have a player like LaMelo Ball, that’s where and and I would say not just LaMelo Ball, there are there are star types in the league where they are going to create bad quality shots, but they hit them. And the fact that they’re bad quality shots is exactly and the fact that they can hit them is what makes them a star level player. Like star level players take bad shots and make them. So that’s a function of LaMelo. Yeah. No, that’s that’s true. Even with the LaMelo theme, he did play not evenif or he played what 50 games like. So, you know, there’s a lot of basketball without LaMelo. What’s the shot quality look like without LaMelo on the floor? But you’re you’re right. Like LaMelo and I would say his struggles post all-star break. They were that was tough. You know, LaMelo wasn’t hitting a lot of those. But you’re right. I’m going to here’s the two hammers and this is why they’re offensive LeBron stats and and they’re off. I mean, you could just pull up any kind of offensive stat you want and and the Hornets are going to be near the bottom of the league last season because their pick and roll ball handler points per possession last in the league. Transition points per possession last in the league. Transition is something that every team is seeking out because you have an advantage over the defense. The defense is not set. You you are going to get more points out of transition than almost any other function of the game except for free throws. And so the fact that they were dead last in the league in points per possession on transition and pick and roll ball handler is the thing that is the most run thing of anything that anybody runs in in the half court. So the fact that they were dead last in that is like wow. I mean there was serious things wrong with this offense. beyond I think beyond LaMelo being hurt there were bad things in this offense and that’s why I think they went out and saw it Colin Ston Pat Coneton uh drafted Khan Canipple I mean shooters offensive creators all over the floor because they looked at the numbers and went good god we can’t create decent shots yeah not I mean LaMelo should give you something better than dead last in the league in transition points per possession. I yet with LaMelo being on your team, it just feels like that should make you one of the more effective transition teams. Except, you know, Josh Green too, like going back to Josh Green, I know we went to him last episode, but that was something that he was supposed to help in and it it’s just when LaMelo goes down, you’re a transition offense, it goes in the tank. You you didn’t have Trey to run the floor. You didn’t have LaMelo to run the floor. And so now like, okay, who’s going to handle the basketball? man, we’re we’re doing a lot of Miles Bridges, help us out, bail us out type of stuff. And that’s and and shoot a bunch of threes around. Last thing for me, transition in my mind is so much about rhythm and understanding where people are going to be and almost having like a six sense for like I know what this player is going to do because I’ve played with this player a lot because we have a lot of reps. Hornets don’t have that because of injuries. Like that’s, you know, oftentimes when they’re running breaks, it’s like the ver, oh that guy. Oh yeah, that guy plays for me now. Oh yeah, okay. So there’s just so much unfamiliarity and the only way you fix that is by staying healthy. Yeah. And providing some stability which we’re not going to have. This is going to be a new group. A lot of turnover within this roster and guys who are going to play. So they got to figure out that chemistry quickly going into the season. Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. A lot of ball talk everywhere. Okay, sicko satchel time. Silly season. Sicko satchel time, baby. It is here. What kind of questions do you got for the people, Doug? Uh, Harley of the 12th Dwight Howard Division asks this. By the way, joint subtext.com locked on or noonhornets. No at jointex.com/lockedon hornets if you want to join the sicko brigade and enter your question into the sicko satchel. All right. Hie asked this. Curious after a recent episode if Michael Jordan’s stent as majority owner affected his GOAT status for you or how you feel about him as a player in general. Is he your goat? I like this question because I I’m surprised at how many people ask it. It’s a thing that doesn’t necessarily register with me, but it clearly registers with a lot of other people in that, hey, this run as majority owner of the Hornets and how terrible it was, that does affect his status as the GOAT with some of the people that check into that sort of thing. It does not for me. I completely separate the two. I don’t think we discuss I know that you’re in a different stratosphere with this sort of thing, but there have been players that have gone into a front office role before and I don’t know if we take a look back and say, you know what, that guy was actually trash or you know what, that guy was actually pretty good. It’s completely different. And I think what a common theme seems to be is a great player’s inability to accurately evaluate talent. That seems to be a thing. And you know, there are a couple different reasons for that. One theory is the Shaq theory. Why doesn’t this guy just dunk on everybody? He’s trash. Well, well, cuz nobody in the world has ever been built like you before, and you don’t see it. So, there’s the Shaq theory. There’s uh the I think galaxy brain theory. Oh, Michael is this super basketball brain. He knows what it takes to be a real basketball player in this league. You guys don’t see it, but Cody Zeller about to be a monster issue. Frank Kaminsky, yeah, that guy wins basketball games. So, a couple different theories as to how that affects him. Um, it does not affect who I think the GOAT is. Who is my goat? It’s Michael. I think Michael’s the best basketball player of all time. We are. We’re barely. We got it in July, Doug. We got a who’s better, LeBron or MJ debate question in right at the buzzer here with July. But Michael’s still mine and it’s not affected by what he did here with the Hornets, even if he brought me a lot of pain. Yeah, to your point, it almost strengthens his case. I think it strengthens LeBron’s case, too. I mean, there are a lot of Le GM jokes about his inability. And Kevin Durant is this way, too. And I know he’s not in the GOAT discussion, but he’s certainly in the where wherever he is. I mean, could he enter the top 10? I don’t know. Probably not. Maybe top 20, whatever. But he’s but he’s the same way. Like, he brings these players into his orbit. He forces franchises and then it doesn’t work because these players, you know, they’re so good at what they do, they have a a tough time evaluating uh the rest of the talent. So, I actually think that it strengthens his case. I will say that had Michael Jordan come in and been a terrible basketball owner and also been a terrible steward of the franchise and a bad just person that is involved in the city. Okay. I I don’t know if I could separate myself art from artist in that respect. you know, if he if he was George Shin level level uh bad as both a an owner and a human being, then it might I I can’t say for sure that it would not have affected, but he was not that. Michael Jordan invested um in in the city a lot. He didn’t invest in the team in the way that fans wanted to, but he was uh in terms of his philanthropy, in terms of the stances that he took uh with the bathroom bill, like a lot of the stuff that he did around the city, I think was positive. It’s just the team was not positive. So that’s that’s my that’s my take. Yeah. Michael’s change in personality and what his personality was during his tenure as majority owner here in Charlotte. It really is one of my favorite things to talk about and go back and forth with people on in podcasting on air doing a radio show. I I find that fascinating. And you’re right because this is the guy that said Republicans buy sneakers too. This is the guy that seems mythical. No. Well, he said he said it. It it the in the last dance, doc. What? He I I just don’t I don’t anything around Michael Joy. Even if he says it, I don’t believe it anymore because I think myth has mixed with reality in a way where I’m not sure anything. I’m not sure of anything anymore. Well, yeah. MJ said he said it. It was just that he was joking, right? That was his thing in Last Dance. But like this is the guy, you know, he also addressed this, but that wouldn’t publicly endorse Harvey Gant during his run against Jesse Helms, Jesse Helm’s notorious racist. Like now he is taking a stance against that sort of thing and like uh providing powerful statements. Anyways, like I I love talking about this change like what what what’s happening here with MJ? Why did it happen? But anyways, yeah, I I get your point and he’s still my goat. Basketball wise, still my go-to, but LeBron, I’ll tell you, he’s been Michael’s been my goat. I’ve been pretty like solid in that. Like, God, I mean, every time LeBron post 40 breaks some kind of record or gets into an AllNBA discussion, like you cannot you cannot be an honest evaluator and and and reckon with that and not say it it it hasn’t shaken some of the MJ go foundation. No doubt. Yeah. If anybody wants to say LeBron, I I can’t. I’m This is I know I’m supposed to have these strong takes on the biggest radio questions in the game. I I don’t It’s It’s Michael is mine, but like if you want to say LeBron, like I I get it. And that’s not what my job entails. I’m supposed to have this staunch stance. That’s it. That’s how it’s evolved for me, too. It used to be you would say LeBron, you know, after he won maybe after he won the Cleveland Championship, right? What did that made it four, right? Uh, yeah. And and you would you would say Lakers was four. I’m sorry. Lakers Lakers was four. Okay. Even after the Lakers championship, right? You say, “Okay, he’s now he’s the go.” I would I would fight you. I would say that’s ridiculous. And here’s nine reasons why. Actually, here’s six reasons why, and they’re all championship, right? That’s the only argument I need. Sean, I would fight you every time LeBron goes out there at 40 plus years old and gets into an allNBA disc. I mean, I just can’t believe that. I know he’s only done it once cuz he just turned 40, but like that just that has shaken me to the point where I’m like, “Yes, if you think LeBron is your goat, I’m not going to argue with you. I refuse to argue with you. I think Michael Jordan still is, but I refuse to argue.” Now it’s become a generational fully generational and not a rational conversation anymore. Okay, any other sicko satchel questions or do we want to keep it moving? Uh, let’s get to one more because I really want to give some breathing room to my Happy Gilmore takes. Um, Anita of the 24th Plumbley Division asked this. I need a summer league championship t-shirt and a con summer league MVP bobblehead with the headband and stitches. Anita wasn’t really asking a question here. She was demanding something that a lot of people have been demanding. That’s t-shirts. I still can’t find them. I don’t know if you have you’re you’re on the ground in Charlotte. I don’t know if you have any more information. I love the idea of a con summer league MVP bobblehead with the headband and the stitches. I love that idea, too. Get to work, Hornets. What are we doing? So, Hornets fan shop did tweet out that they were going mobile and this was Oh, wait. This was this was July 25th and they mentioned it going mobile July 25th and 26th. And I still haven’t seen any of the t-shirts out there. They just said, “Hey, check out the mobile fan shop. It’s going to be at South Park Mall the 25th. It’s going to be at Sunny’s Market located at the Canapapolis Cannonballers Ballpark July 26th.” Shop. I just they had a Oh god. Oh no. I didn’t see any of the shirts. Hey, Charlotte Hornets, there’s a thing called the internet. We made it about three or four decades ago. It was a whole government uh operation. DARPA looked into it. Al Gore says he invented it. It’s it’s the internet. You can communicate anywhere. In fact, you can sell things on it now. It’s a recent thing. You can sell things on it and people they can use their credit card digitally enter the information and buy stuff from you. It’s crazy. That’s the convenient truth is the internet exists. You can The convenient truth is I still don’t have a summer league championship shirt. It is July 30th. It’s it’s it’s a very inconvenient truth for everybody that still wants their shirt. They want their like they want the leagueisssued shirt. Everybody’s making their own version which is very cool. Like it and I I like that it’s unique but there’s something with the NBA logo on it as to making that more significant. And people want the NBA logo, leagueisssued summer league championship shirt, and we just can’t get it. The Hornets say they’re trying to get them in the store. That would I’m I’m actually surprised they haven’t gotten him in at this point, but yeah, I won it as well. Um, one one time in high school, I wore a Chris Winky jersey to school every day until they until they won a game and they didn’t win a game for a long time. And so I’m gonna lob a a similar protest here very soon. If I don’t I’m threatening the Hornets now. If I don’t get a summer league t-shirt soon, I’m going to start doing this show shirtless. If you care about your fan base at all, a lot of a lot of your fan base watches the show. They don’t want to see that. I promise you they don’t want to see that. So you care about me. If you care about Walker Mail, you’re going to get these t-shirts online where I can purchase it or I’m going to start showing showing some nip. All right, a little a little Branson booby is what we’re about to get in our life. Coming up next on the Locked On Hornets podcast everywhere, we get to Doug’s Happy Gilmore 2 thoughts on Frank Kaminsk’s review. Really, I think it’s probably just Doug’s review and he’s using Frank Kaminsky as the conduit to give us the take. That comes up next. Locked on Hornets. [Music] Real quickly, I know you’ve been waiting for the Gilmore 2 reveal, but I did want to tell you my favorite NBA bobblehead story. I went to Al Herring Al Harrington basketball camp. Yes, I went to Al Harrington basketball. Big Al Harrington. Yes. Not there was not any Big Al paint uh marketing campaign. I did get to see Germaine O’Neal. He he was there. That was cool. They brought him in. But uh I won like a free throw contest and because I won a free throw contest, I got an Al Harrington bobblehead and he was signing autographs at the end and I was like what do I I don’t have anything. I don’t I don’t the camp t-shirt. I don’t I don’t and it’s wildly and I keep everything like you can see if I were to turn the camera over here to this display section over here. I I I have an Al Harrington top of like the Russian nesting doll like we have with LaMelo. Yeah, there you go. So, over here, right, you got your basketball cards. You got some Panther stuff. There’s another row on the other side. I don’t want to tilt the camera because it’s going to put it out of focus and whatever. But anyways, uh I don’t have it anymore, but I got it. I got his bald head signed and it was the best thing I owned. My brother took it along with my NBA Al Harrington signed hat and God only knows what happened to it. So the the Kanipple bobblehead point that she brings up. Yeah. If if they need we got Frank Kaminsky in a Stormtrooper costume. We have Dwayne Bacon in a Bacon costume. Okay. We can get the coniple bobblehead with the tight head wrap, the hair sticking out. Hilariously. So, we can get that bobblehead made. It would We We have the resources. We have the technology. I’m totally with them on that point. I think I have a PJ Haristen signed hat. That’s the most obscure piece of sports memorabilia. I bought I got it. You know, sometimes at the end of seasons, I don’t know if they do this anymore, but they would do like at the very end of the season, they would do like clearance sales and they would just have like they would put folding tables out along the concourse and it would just be all this signed gear and you could get it for like a couple bucks. And I I picked up a PJ Haristen hat after they had already traded him. Yeah. I was like, “Oh, I’m snatching this.” Well, I I’m going to I’m going to buy the thing about the player where that that was the move. That was the move that changed everything. Trading PJ Haristen got the Hornets to a tight tightly contested playoff series. Okay, Happy Gilmore 2 review. It’s your time, baby. Uh, this is from Frank Kaminsky, former Charlotte Hornet, former Michael Jordan drafty who watched Happy Gilmore 2. Also, I should say Frank Kaminsky, wasn’t he in wasn’t he in an Adam Sandler movie? Didn’t he have like an extra role in the basketball movie that he did? It’s probably an Adam Sandler movie that I have not watched. Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s correct or not. Anyway, Frank saying here, “Happy Gilmore is maybe the worst movie I’ve ever seen.” Uh, he would respond to a few people on Twitter. Uh, someone asked, “Sounds like your expectations are a bit out of touch.” Frank saying, “I wasn’t expecting anything to blow me away. I also wasn’t expecting it to suck as bad as it did. I actually was angry at how bad it was, but if you like those kind of movies, power to you.” He said, “I will not be watching uh I will not be watching anymore.” Oh, there someone mentioned the Airbud sequel coming out. He said, “I will not be watching it. I’m done with 20 to 30 year later sequels.” Okay. What What’s your relationship? First of all, before I get into my thoughts, what’s your relationship with Abby Gilmore? Like, what is where does it fit in your life? Love it. Absolutely love it. It it was a movie. I was on a big Adam Sandler kick just like everybody was, but I’m still late to the party, right? So, where you’re I think four years older, something like that than me, five years maybe. So, where I’m a little bit later, Adam Sandler entered my life at a different point than it did yours. There was a a there was a stretch during the summer where I watched it every day. Like I I Big Daddy is my favorite Adam Sandler movie of all time and and Adam Sand and and Big Daddy I think is my favorite comedy ever just because of the sweet nostalgia of me having watched it when I was a kid. Absolutely love it. So, where does it fit in my film viewing experience? Yeah, baby. absolutely love Happy Gilmore. I have not seen Happy Gilmore 2 yet. Yeah. So, I was nine years old when Happy Gilmore came out and so like I’m probably like right in the like prime zone audience of of that of that type of comedy. So, it was a big part. Yeah. I mean, I watched it a ton and so I was excited but nervous when the new movie came out because a lot of sequels, a lot of reboots, but I thought Adam Adam Sandler would take a little bit more care with this particular piece of IP, you know, because I I wasn’t into the late Adam Sandler stuff with the the family comedies that he did. I just didn’t I didn’t find them very funny. Maybe I was I was just at a different part of my life. Well, maybe this is a good time to drop my Adam Sandler take. My Adam Sandler take is that the consistency for good Adam Sandler movies went off the rails after Click was done. Click solid. Anything post Click, it’s it’s shot in the dark. It’s it’s a dark throw as to if we’re going to get good movies. Before Click, Little Nikki is bad, but also like good movies all across the board. I think Click is the separator. Here’s my and and this is the time of the podcast. If you don’t want to be spoiled by Happy Gilmore 2, then you need to leave. Otherwise, don’t put any angry things in the comments. The reason I’m mad at Happy Gilmore 2 is because I feel like at the beginning of the movie, they did something so radical, so different that I thought, “Oh my god, they’re going to try to make a good movie here.” And that’s that they they killed Happy Gilmore’s love would be his wife, Vanessa. They killed her in the very first scene. He drive he drives a ball and he kills her. He drives a ball and act and a ball hits her in the head. He kills her and that sends him down and into a downward spiral and puts him at the lowest he could possibly be. And I’m like, yes, this is what so many reboots, this is what so many uh uh future sequels get wrong is that they keep these player the people that they took to the top. They keep them at the top and they tell this like sobb story about how hard it is to be at the top. And everybody at home who’s still probably in a similar space that they were when they watched the original film, which is like somewhere like in the middle. They’re thinking, I don’t I don’t care if you’re at the top. Like I like the coming, you know, from the bottom to the top story. That’s what I want. And I’m like, “Yes, this movie is going to do that.” It puts him It It kills a sacred cow literally and then moves him into this space and then proceeds for the rest of the movie to just lean so heavily on callbacks. And they do something that I more movies are doing now, which is they play actual clips of the old movie. I’ve seen the old movie. I know what happens. I don’t need to see the clips anymore. Just tell a story. Tell an original story that is interesting. Don’t play me clips. The moment you play a clip from the old movie, I think they don’t they got to fill some time because they’re out of ideas. Absolutely absurd. I can’t believe Here’s what makes me maddest about Happy Gilmore 2. You have made me agree with Frank Kaminsky on something. I can’t believe it. I’m sorry. You okay? You all right? You had to agree with Frank. I’m sorry about that, man. It’s just they tried. If they had not tried, if at the beginning of the movie they had done the thing that I said I did not want them to do, I would actually feel better about the movie because I would think, well, you know, they kind of just did what everybody else did. All right, I’m I’m here to just sit here. And I’ll tell you, I feel this way about the Mission Imposs because I’m a huge Mission Impossible fan. U so if you don’t want spoilers on that, uh you would now want to turn it off. But on the final movie, but they’ve done like 17 of these movies, right? The final movie played a lot of clips from the old movies, but going into it, I knew what I was going to get because even the very beginning of the movie, I’m like, “Yep, we’re in for just another one of these Mission Impossible sequels. They’re not trying to do anything more with it. I’m just lean back, eat my popcorn. I’m here for the ride.” The fact that they tried to do something radical and then rugpulled me and said, “Nope, we’re just going to do the same old schllocky BS reboot.” That’s what pissed me off. Yeah. And Adam Sandler’s all across the board, especially like again that postclick era in my opinion because there are some terrible movies. If you were to ask me, Walker, what’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen in your life? I would say Jack and Jill. It’s the worst one I’ve ever seen. And I can’t stand it. And I think a lot of people agree with me. That is not a hot take. But the thing about Adam Sandler is the serious roles, the he actually does damn well in those roles. But Punch, Drunk Love, I like his performance way more than the actual movie. And I get that call Thomas Anderson. That’s right. That’s that’s good writing, good directing. See, this is this is less about Adam Sandler and more about the team that’s around Duke and the people that make this stuff. They just like they try. I don’t know who had the idea to kill Vanessa. Whoever had that idea, had one idea and then they were like, “All right, what’s next?” And everybody went, “Oh, I don’t know.” My I think what what I was scared of, and we can finish on this, what I was scared of was they were doing the thing where they would just go after a whole bunch of celebrities. Get your favorite YouTube streamer. Get these favorite your favorite young athlete. I know. And it’s like I don’t I don’t Look, this is supposed to be separate from reality, right? Like to have a couple of cameos here and there. That’s what makes it great. But this is supposed to be separate. I don’t want this world where Happy Gilmore is inviting your favorite YouTube streamer and the Kelsey brothers are in it along with all of the now golfers. Why? Why are we Why are we doing this? Like give me Lee Trevino having a bit just dropped in every now and then. Give me too many golfers. Too many new golfers. And that’s what I was worried about that. I’ve heard that a million times. I want Bob Barker for one classic scene. Okay. It was tough. I know. I want these guy. It’s I mean that now mind I’m not going just stay away from the dead jokes. I think that’s what I want and that’s why I’m scared to just dive all the way in. And I I I think the way you put it at the very beginning of your take is something I thought as well. This is Happy Gilmore probably going to take care of this one. This is one where we’re going to treat with care, a little TLC. And especially after like 25, how many 96? What’s that? So that’s nearly 30 years. Like after 30 years, you’re gonna do something. Why? like you’ve you’ve waited this long, you feel like you would have had a couple of ideas and I really feel like they had they were like, “All right, we’re gonna we’re gonna radically change it. We’re going to put him all the way back down at the bottom and then Yeah, it was God. Yeah. Yeah. Give me Give me Kevin Neland as the golfer. G give me shooter McGavin. Like I don’t I don’t want actually I don’t want Bryson to Shambo. I want Yeah. Anyways. All right. No, here’s the worst. Here’s the I’ll tell you the worst thing was that they So, there’s the the the sort of niche sports joke that my wife didn’t get at all, which is that uh who is the Salurus when he was when Salurus first jumped on the scene, everyone went that guy looks like Happyy’s Caddy, right? Cuz he had the he had the the the blonde curls in the back and everybody’s like, “That’s Happy Caddy.” So, Zallurus shows up in the movie, but he doesn’t play Zotaurus. He plays Happyy’s Caddy, but he doesn’t have the hair anymore. Only you would only get that joke if you had been a part of that conversation and followed golf enough to know what Salatus looks like now. I got it from context clues because I don’t follow golf like that. My wife and I’m sure millions of other people who watched the movie were like, “What the hell? What What are they talking? That’s not Happyy’s Caddy.” Unbelievable. Just total fumble. God, spent a We spent a lot of time on that. I don’t know whether to, you know, be happy about it or apologize for it. Unhappy Gilmore, more likely. Unhappy Gilmore, too. Doug Branson, every hornetsboxcore.com, host Locked on NBA with Matt Moore and Hayes. Go check that out. That’s a lot better than Happy Gilmore, too. I promise. I’m Walker Male. Listen to me. WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3:00 p.m. Have a great rest of your week. We’ll be back with you next week. In fact, I shouldn’t say we, just going to be me. I’m going to try to bring the friends on. David Walker. I’ll reach out to Natada. I haven’t reached out to him yet, so this is my invitation to them. But you know, the usual suspects. I’ll look to have them on next week and give you a few shows while Doug goes on vacay. Have a great rest of your week. [Music]

NOTE: We taped this before the Hornets confirmed that Summer League Championship T-Shirts would be on sale at a Fan Shop pop-up but rant about the internet stands. –db

On today’s episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on the Charlotte Hornets’ performance last season by taking a hard look at the numbers. Using data from Basketball Index, we explore the areas where the team surprisingly excelled, like floater and deep three-point shot creation, and discuss how much of that is simply the “LaMelo Ball effect”. However, the data also reveals some critical flaws; we break down why the Hornets were dead last in the league in both transition and pick-and-roll ball-handler points per possession, highlighting a major disconnect between creating shots and executing efficiently.

Then, we open up the “Sicko Satchel” to answer your questions! First up, Michael Jordan (EVER HEARD OF HIM?): does his rough tenure as the Hornets’ majority owner impact his status as the GOAT?. We debate the topic, separating the player from the executive, and explore the common trend of superstar players struggling to evaluate talent. We also address the massive fan demand for the Summer League Championship t-shirts and a potential MVP bobblehead.

Finally, we wrap up with a topic that has the internet buzzing: Happy Gilmore 2. Prompted by former Hornet Frank Kaminsky’s scathing review, we give our own thoughts on the long-awaited sequel. We discuss the film’s shocking opening, why we were initially excited for its radical direction, and how it ultimately left us angry and disappointed by leaning too heavily on lazy callbacks and clips from the original movie.

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