Wes & Walker Interviews: BRANDON MILLER’S Shot profile | TRE MANN is 110% | How CLT Landed SEXTON! 🏀

Wes & Walker Interviews: BRANDON MILLER’S Shot profile | TRE MANN is 110% | How CLT Landed SEXTON! 🏀

Coming up today on the Locked on Hornets podcast, we play all the exclusive sound from Wesson Walker. The interviews we had with head coach Charles Lee, Conan Nipple, the rookie Brandon Miller, Trey Man. Got a lot of really, really good sound bites from them that we’ll replay right here on 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. for free and available anywhere you get your podcast. And that includes YouTube. I’m Walker Mail. You can listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. In fact, you can listen to the Very Wesson Walker Show, that midday time slot that was able to collect all this audio in interviews with some of the more important Hornets players and figures. So, go check it out. Again, 927 FM or visit us on the WFNZ app and go to wfnz.com. No Doug Branson today. He promised to do a solo show later in the week. I’m actually holding myself accountable this week and I’m going to give you a solo show. When I say I’m going to give you a solo show, so I’m pat myself on the back for just basically doing my job. Good job, Walker. I appreciate everything I’m doing for this podcast. Uh, I I did want to play a lot of the audio though from Wesson Walker because sitting down with Charles Lee and some of the other players that I just mentioned, I really thought they were more candid, which makes sense. It’s why all the writers and all the insiders, they want this one- on-one time to get more candid answers. You just get better information. And yeah, we’re having these conversations in a public forum, but I also think there’s a more relaxed feel. Part of it is based off of the art of the interviewer. You got to make these guys as comfortable as possible. I hope that we do a good job at that. But also, it’s not Charles Lee and some of these other figures going to the table on media day looking out into the room and seeing everybody else from different publications writing, writing, writing. Oh, okay. You said that. That’s interesting. And that plays with you a little bit. That gets in your head. We didn’t do that. We’re just shooting the bleep. We’re going back and forth. And I feel like you get not necessarily more sincere answers. I think they’re sincere on media day, but I I do think you get a more relaxed feel and now they’re starting to just have a normal conversation with you, which is really all I want. It’s not because I want any gotcha moments. I just want information. I want to be able to relay that information to the people. And I want to better understand what it is that you hoped to accomplish this off season. And I think we got a decent amount of those answers. Even with Charles being so good on the microphone in front of everybody else, just a little bit of a different perspective. So, we have a lot of sound. I don’t want to waste any more time. So, let’s just get right to it. Uh, one of the things I wanted to talk about with head coach Charles Lee the most was the philosophy on what they wanted to accomplish this off season with the style of players they brought in. We had our guesses. You could certainly guess and we have our own opinions on it, but what was it that Charles Lee and Jeff Peterson seek to accomplish? Yeah, I would say the biggest thing that that we look at first and foremost is do they embody what we want in a Hornet in terms of their work ethic, their character, uh how they go about their daily business. And then the second piece is how does it fit to our playing style? And so, you know, you hit on a bunch of things in terms of wanting to play faster, um wanting to be able to get more playmakers. I think that last year we just felt like there was a void, especially when we had injuries in terms of guys that can touch the paint and create some open shots for us and make sure our shot quality is good. And if they can’t for the rest of the guys, can they also create for themselves? And so I think that we really did that in terms of going out and either signing guys or uh acquiring guys in trades or uh even identifying the right type of guards in the draft too that I think are going to help either stretch the floor for us or they’re also going to be creators and playmakers and help us play a little bit faster which we’re really excited about. Before I address that comment, I have to apologize to my mom who is a writer and also a tiny bit of a grammar Nazi. I just said see. That’s something I said. I meant to say sought. I just want to apologize to my mom who probably is not watching this podcast, but I apologize. Anyway, the things I want to take away from what Charles Lee just had to say, number one, the philosophy on acquiring those players, lot of offensive skill sets that he talked about creating plays for themselves and others, wanting that more dynamic player out there with a player possibly getting injured. They’re more prepared for that. We’ve discussed that all off season long. But now if LaMelo does go down, they have not been nearly as prepared as they are for that scenario than they are right now. Spencer Denwitty is like a guy we’ve talked about possibly cutting. And Spencer Denwitty would have been your number one option to back up LaMelo Ball at point guard or be this ball handler for you last year, two years ago. U especially with Trey Mann being injured, right? We’re we’re baking in all of the injuries with this discussion and this year we’re discussing is is there a shot Spencer Denwitty gets cut and he had some awesome stuff to say at media day too. But that puts it in perspective. You have real depth. I think they’ve accomplished that. And I think we were right even with Charles Lee being a defensive-minded guy. I think I think defensively that’s what his calling card is. That’s what we hypothesize with him being named the head coach. But when they brought in all these players, we knew you got to lean all the way in on that end of the court. So, it’s it’s hey, what did you want to accomplish? It’s being more creative. It’s creating for others a lot of the playmaking. Can you even get your own shot? All of that. I didn’t hear a whole lot of we wanted to get better defensively. Last year, they were middle of the road in defensive efficiency for a lot of the season, better months than others, but that wasn’t the biggest issue. offense was a monster issue for them because of all those injuries, but also now you just have all of these hard dudes to guard out there on the perimeter. Connele was talking about it on Won Walker, too, where his welcome to the NBA moment might have already happened in practice. Just trying to straight up stay in front of Trey Man and he says, “Hey, I was so worried about staying in front of him.” He gives me just one clean step back, nails the mid-range jumper, and he said, “What do you do? What am I supposed to do with Trey man in isolation defense? And that’s that’s just Trey. Like now you’re talking about LaMelo and Brandon and all these other playmakers that you have. So I’m not surprised to hear any of that. But it was interesting to hear him say it and confirm some of the things they were thinking when going after these players. Speaking of going after players, one question I wanted to ask anybody that would give me a real answer on it was the process in landing Colin Ston. It was one of the more interesting moves the Hornets have made I would say over the last few off seasons with all of the things attached only getting rid of Nerkich who the Suns attached picks to offload. Um and the Jazz wanted to offload Ston so badly I guess that they attached a second round pick to go after a guy that also was offloaded attached to a pick. Like why do you value him that much? It just didn’t make much sense to me. Colin is a good basketball player. So, I asked Charles about the process and landing the Jazz guard. And here’s what the head coach had to say. I would say most things around here are usually some type of like partnership between Jeff Jeff and I. And the lines of communication are always kind of going back and forth. So, once I heard that that was a a possibility, I definitely raved uh about the the player um the person from afar, um I thought that he just really helped elevate our group. And that’s what we need. We need somebody that’s going to take I think we set a foundation or a baseline last year and now we got to take it up a step, take it up a notch and he does that. Every time he comes into the gym, he elevates it. Um the competitiveness, the skill set, um everything about him just is like this dog and like we all know. Um and and in the game of in the game of basketball, the game of anybody, the person that’s got a little bit more dog, a little bit more crazy to him, it’s going to help the whole group. And so it’s exciting to have that guy in the trenches with you. I still don’t know who called who. We’re not going to get an answer on that. That’s the best answer that we’ve heard. And it’s not like it was crazy enlightening. I think I don’t I don’t know if the Hornets were like, “We need more dog in us and Colin Ston is that guy with a nickname like Young Bull, then we need somebody like that.” Okay. It could have been the Jazz just wanting to get rid of Colin Ston to open up more opportunities for their young guys. That would make sense. I don’t think the trade itself makes sense, but getting rid of Colin Ston in that way. Okay, I can I can I can see it. But the Hornets, I think Charles Lee really likes him. It’s It’s not even thinking. Every time he talks about Colin Ston, he lauds his competitiveness and what he’s going to bring to this basketball team. But I could see a world where Jeff and Charles Lee got together and Jeff said, “Hey, we we we think the Jazz are putting feelers out there for Colin Ston. What would you say about the chance of acquiring him? I think Charles was all over it and I think you heard him discuss that a little bit. So, it it’s one of the better answers that I’ve heard just in how that entire journey took place, what what started it and we didn’t get a ton of information, but at least we got some. I think the Hornets really value him for that competitive nature, fitting Hornets’s DNA, challenging LaMelo at every turn. I think in practice that competitiveness is going to go a long way in changing the culture around here. Seems like Charles Lee really wanted it. Finally, before we move on, um, one one thing, one one piece of information we were able to get on Charles Lee before he was named the head coach was what he had to say during his time with Milwaukee. And there were some YouTube clips. You can go out there and find it. It’s on Bucks all access, not real access like the Hornets have, but they have an all access episode out there where they do some film study with Charles and and when he was an assistant, he was an associate head coach with Mike Benhoer, his mentor and and he I think he was open about what his responsibilities were, individual player development, Grayson Allen, Chris Middleton, Marjon Bochamp. So listening to that a few times, going back and dissecting what he had to say about Grayson Allen, I thought a lot of the things that he worked on with Grayson, you could apply to Brandon Miller. And well, I I won’t get into it. I’ll just let Charles Lee discuss it. But I I do think there’s quite a bit of similarities and discussing a little bit of the philosophy on how Mike Boenhozer liked to develop his young talent in his organization and if Charles Lee is taking that approach here with Charlotte comes to player development. I definitely have a little bit of the mindset of Bud in terms of how important it is to an organization to your whole life cycle. I think that um especially where the financial constraints are nowadays, if you can hit on some guys and you can help them get better, um you you you got to be able to. Um and then the other part is I also I think took from Bud, nobody’s done growing. Um I would say that we are all um lifelong learners and we can all improve. I got to see in Atlanta um Kyle Corver at that point of his career and Al Horford and Paul Mil like they all got better and so like I don’t want to hear this guy stuck in his ways and he can’t get any. No, he can. there’s something in his game that we can kind of dissect and figure out how he can get better in that in that regard. But then the next piece is um I actually um hand over a lot of trust and and uh responsibility to Zach Peterson who’s our director of player development and he does a great job of kind of con connecting all the groups making this a holistic plan uh for these guys to get better. So one just want to shout out Zack Peterson real quickly. He’s had a pretty interesting resume. He himself also worked with Mike Boonhozer and Charles Lee Once Upon a Time. So those two have a really good relationship. You’re talking about Zack Peterson being a video intern and video coordinator with with Benhoer in Atlanta from 2014 to 2018. Then in 2018-19 he travels with Bud and he’s there in Milwaukee for a little while. It you know actually goes away for a little bit and spends some time in OKC from 2019 2022 as a player development coach. He’s an assistant coach in LA with Darvin Ham from 2022 and 2024. Welcome back. Now he’s here in Charlotte as an assistant coach and player development guy as you just heard from Charles. So I think you do see the Bud way all in the fabric of what is the Charlotte Hornets. It is woven into the very fabric that is this team’s existence in this era. And that’s look, you can have your problems with Bud and his lack of adjusting in the postseason and there’s a reason he’s out of Milwaukee now and some of the failings I guess um and and what he’s had in the postseason, but regular season, Doug is there nodding his head somewhere saying, “Yeah, 50 games. He wins 50 games.” And so I I I like the BUD approach and applying that here in Charlotte. In fact, I I really like it. All right, let’s get to some more sound coming up next on the Lockdown Horn. on his podcast. Charles Lee talked about the shot profile with Brandon Miller. Brandon Miller talked about his own shot profile. We’re going to play both of those sound bites next to one another and see how they are similar and how they contrast. It’ll be interesting. That’s coming up next. LOH. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Appreciate them as always. is 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. I love using FanDuel. They allow you to play in so many ways. It makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little something writing in on the action. Whether you’re a casual fan or you just love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fan.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. More Locked on Hornets ahead. [Music] So, what’s interesting about Charles Lee discussing how they decided to attack this off season and and just the Bud kind of way. Okay, I want to go back to that player player development soundbite for just a moment. I think this team relied so much on internal improvement for so many years. I like that philosophy in general, but I don’t I don’t love relying on it, I guess, as much as the Hornets did, right? For instance, if those guys never did pan out, then I’m not then that was it. and it it wasn’t likely bets all the time on some of these first round picks panning out, even some of the second round picks turning out to be something in a way that you could avoid signing a free agent or you could avoid making a trade. So, I I I remember answering some questions about the Hornets will win this amount of games if what’s the biggest question surrounding the Hornets entering the upcoming season. I remember a couple of times saying this year is all about internal improvement because they didn’t go out and make these splash signings and splash they didn’t make sprinkle signings. They they just didn’t do it. They didn’t want to spend the money. They didn’t have the money. They already had enough players that they kind of liked and maybe they would grow to love with time, but it just never worked. And once it didn’t work, you lose a whole bunch of games and there’s not all that bright of a future here. I think we finally have a nice mix. I think you have your developmental project in Tjan Salon. Still, I think you have a developmental project that’s not nearly as much of a raw issue you have to fix. With Ton, you don’t have to fix any of that with Khan. I don’t think anybody would describe Khan Canipple as raw. He just knows how to play the game at a high level. So, now you’ve got some guys that are a little different in what you need to develop. Same thing with Liam McNeely, who has a lot of talent. got hurt at Yukon but has all the ability. And you’ve drafted different types of players. It feels like you have a few escape hatches. If one guy doesn’t work out, now you have one just another rookie cuz you drafted four that we all like. You drafted some older players that that don’t seem like they’re going to fail before you even get off the runway. Like a couple of the first round picks from the 2021 draft class. It there just seems to be more stability. you seem to have a nicer foundation and I think that is what comforts me. So player development still a huge part of the Hornets’s way but if they they don’t have to go all the way in on it and if they fail with a couple of these projects then that means the whole thing fails. Like you can have a few misses and still come out on the other side. Okay. Speaking of development, we want to see Brandon continue to get a lot better. I asked Charles Lee about what we can expect from Brandon Miller this year. And I I asked him specifically the Grayson Allen example that I just brought up in the last segment. A lot of the things that they worked on expanding his game in Milwaukee, I think you could apply to Brandon. Here’s what the head coach had. It be fun to watch him uh in year three this year. Um because I do think that number one, he’s he’s put on some uh some muscle mass as well. He understands the importance of getting to the basket, getting fouled a little bit more. Um, I think having a little bit more variety in terms of how he finishes too, like you can’t just dunk on everybody or you’re not just going to be able to right-hand finish on everybody. And so I think this whole off season him and Josh Longstaff have done a great job of adding more variety to his paint finishing and then also just being able to play through contact. Uh I think that last year um it was a great learning lesson for him and Melo in terms of we had so many out um at certain points of the year that I know they’re usually the focal point but now they’re even more the focal point and it’s like we’re putting the toughest most physical guy. We’re just going to take these guys out of the game and that that that helped him grow and helped him recognize the importance of being able to play through contact without foul calls. Uh and also he got to see a lot of different coverages. Um, so I think from a pick and roll standpoint, now he’s got more of like an experience of how do I go against uh the blitz or how do I go against center field and what’s my shot profile look like? Um, because I do think the shot profile stuff is stuff that he uh addressed uh last season. And so I think this year with a with another year of player development and added awareness, he’ll be even better. I thought that was just a smorgus board of great stuff on Brandon Miller and everything he needs to improve at. like one the various finishes at the rim and getting there more frequently. Maybe I like it so much because it’s a little confirmation bias, but I I I don’t think it’s a secret. We’ve discussed it a million times. He was in the 15th percentile last year in getting to the rim at only 16% of his shots came at the cup. Now, when he got there, it it’s not like he shot terribly. He was in the 65th percentile. He shot 68% at the cup. But I think for me when you’re 69, he’s a really tall guy, which goes back to the LaMelo. Is he really 6’7? Is he not? Look at how he looks at stand when standing next to Brandon Miller. No, Brandon’s just big. Brandon’s just really tall. And muscle watch. Brandon gained some weight, some good weight. You heard Charles Lee talk about that, too. Absorbing that contact, welcoming the physicality when attacking the cup. Yeah. When you’re 6’9, how functional is that height? Because right now, I would say Brandon Miller’s height is used getting shots off over people’s heads. It’s going to be really tough to block him. And that’s something I was worried about with the low release coming out of Alabama. It’s not been all that much of an issue as far as I’m concerned. So, okay, you’re you’re tall. You can get you can shoot over the top of people. That’s great. How else do you use your height offensively? Because defensively, I think you can use your length, right? I’m just talking about specifically the offensive identity. So, okay, you can get your shots off over people in the mid-range, but we know Charles Lee wants to change that shot profile and did last year. We’re going to get to that more. Brandon Miller had to comment on it, but okay, you can get your shots over the top of people. I kind of want my 69 wing that can handle the rock a little bit. He needs to get better at ball handling, but I would like my 6ix9ine wing to be able to finish at the cup and get there a lot more. 16th percentile among wings. It’s it’s an efficient shot and and just shooting through contact, getting to the foul line, all of it. I think that if if he figures that out or takes a big leap because you’re not going to figure it out all the way, but if you take a big leap in those categories then and then he shoots 37% 38% from three on volume which is absolutely within the realm of possibility probability for some people. You’re flirting with an all-star appearance. I if if you take a huge leap the closer you get to the basket. So I love that. not just having to dunk on people all of the time. We love to see it, but you’re not going to be able to do it all the time, right? Like it we are still going to get the highlight plays, but I think Charles talking about that and then just being the number one assignment for people thought it was interesting at the beginning of last year where these defenses would hone in on Brandon Miller first and forced LaMelo to be a guy that has to bail out the offense in some of these late shot clock situations. And they would focus on Brandon so much they would throw a bunch of bodies at him and they see these toothpicks out in the back court with LaMelo and Brandon who don’t have a whole lot of fat on them. Like they don’t they have almost zero fat. Problem is they don’t have a ton of muscle and they’re working to address that this off season with a bigger commitment from LaMelo according to Charles Lee and LaMelo himself, a bigger commitment to the weight room uh with Brandon Miller and you can see that as well. Yeah, I think they’re heading in the right direction. So, you heard also Charles Lee talk about the shot profile with Brandon. It’s been a largely discussed topic for over the last year. I think people were frustrated with Charles Lee taking the mid-range away, quote unquote, from Brandon, even if still he was getting enough shots up there, man. He shot 28% of his shots in those 27 games from the mid-range. I like that’s fine. That’s fine. Especially when you’re shooting 10 threes. Like I Anyways, I I I did ask Brandon if the mid-range question was the most annoying question that he had been answering over the past year or so cuz he seems to like I I remember after some games when people would ask him about it, he might roll his eyes or he would have a short answer and say, “I’m not worried about mid-range shots.” Like I feel like he’s asked that a lot. He he did say it’s not all that annoying, but you know, he was asked that again on media day. I think it was Richie Randall of um Busby at media day who asked him that. Here’s what Brandon himself had to say about his own shot profile. It’s going to be a little bit like last year. Um but you know, I eventually get back to you know the mid-range. I think just right now I’m kind of taking what the defense gives to me. Um whether it’s a open three, open mid-range or a pass to my guy Miles Bridges or a lob. Um you know, anything like that. Just, you know, got to be, you know, consistent with with with our play. um and just, you know, build off of that. Um the comment about Miles, by the way, Miles was walking right by us as he shouted him out. So that’s why he specifically mentioned Miles there, just to bring you a little more clarity on that. But he did say he’ll get back to the mid-range. And I don’t think Charles wants him to do it all that much, which makes sense with the shot profile that we saw from Bud offenses in Milwaukee, from what we saw in Boston with Joe Missoula, who just wants you to shoot a ton of threes. I think there’s going to be more attention in the paint with Charles Lee. But to hear both of those comments alongside one another, I thought that was quite interesting. All right, coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Coniple addresses Bill Simmons comment on uh playing for Team USA in 2028. I I don’t I don’t think Khan loved it so much. And then Trey man, that probably was my favorite interview of all of them just because of how real he was with us and everything he was going through during the off season. There’s some comments from both of those guys still to come here. LH, this episode is 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. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Monarch is built for people with busy lives. And if you’ve put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. Don’t let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown NBA atmonarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s a 50% off order your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked onna. More lockdown hornets ahead. [Music] Last segment here with a couple of comments that we have on continle from Trey man who I thought were both really fun to talk to. So, let’s dive in a little bit more with what Khan had to say. Uh, Bill Simmons uh had I guess a mini viral comment about a bold prediction on who he guarantees is going to make team USA 2028 and he said it was Khan Canipple that one like we know Khan is Bill Simmons guy because Khan joined the Simmons pod during the pre-draft process and so yeah, there’s probably a little bias here from Bill. What’s funny is we talked with Khan about that both off and on air and I don’t think Khan was a huge fan of I think it’s pretty insane to do that uh before before I play a single NBA game. Um yeah, I don’t know. I I think I think some of his reasons about it were good, like you know, having a guy that’s that’s willing to to do whatever role. Um and I think I do play the Euro the European style game pretty well I’d fit, but um we’ll see. Yeah, he didn’t like it. It It’s so funny, too, because I hope I’m not betraying any trust, but it was just more more of that. I I told him after the show or after our interview with him and he goes to a different station, I was like, “Man, you that that you didn’t really like that comment.” He’s like, “Man, what now? There’s what? Like, now there’s all this pressure. Like, what are you what are you doing?” Um, and and he did appreciate the sentiment from Bill Simmons and some of the qualities that he talked about Khan possessing, but yeah, it it it’s a lot. I just thought that was a funny moment from Khan, who by the way. Um, I don’t want to use these cliches, but but man, my guy, all he wants to do is talk ball. A He’s a gym rat. F first one in, last one out. Like, he he just wants to talk basketball all the time. And here’s a sound bite I hate that I didn’t get. Now I’m mad at myself. But he he’s a sicko, too. I asked him who his favorite Charlotte Hornet/BOC of all time was. and it can’t be anybody on this team. So, he wouldn’t feel like he was betraying anybody. He he was clear to not say LaMelo or Brandon or whatever. He said Al Jefferson, which yeah, that’s a lot of our favorite players, too, within a different time frame. But Khan Kipple telling us Al instead of Larry Johnson or Alonzo Morning or Baron Davis. Like, I thought that was a sicko answer and I really appreciated that from him. Thought that was a funny comment from Khan. Let’s talk a little bit more about Trey Man who had the back injury last year, only played in 13 games, was quite good in those first 13 games in the season and then eventually hit the rest of his season was taken away. Also wasn’t at Hortit Media Day uh exit day wasn’t at exit day last year. some things going on I think behind the scenes and and Trey was open in that he didn’t want to talk a lot about some of the stuff that he was going through personally and of course I respected that. I I I only bring that up to say I think he was going through maybe a few more things than we know about. Not just the injury. I don’t know. Like I don’t know. It just seemed like the injury was a real issue going into a contract year of course and then only playing 13 games. Like that’s really hard and I don’t know what else was going on with him behind the scenes. But Trey was very reflective with us and I asked him how he’s feeling and here’s what he had. How are you feeling, man? Healthwise, are you 100% right now? Will you be 100% by training camp? How’s the health status of you? I’m 110% right now. Love it. Yeah. Feel good. Yeah. He was he was awesome to go back and forth with. Um, you know, we can play some of the comments a little bit later in the week about his style. Like that was cool just going back and forth for five minutes on who Trey is as a as a dude. So again, that interview is on wfnz.com. Some of the basketball questions we asked him. I I did want to know how close he was to leaving cuz remember when they brought in Colin Ston and they drafted Khan Canipple and then they drafted more wing players like Liam McNeely who’s out there on the perimeter. Same thing with Seion James that fits a different type of role. I It It looked like Trey Man might be gone. It wasn’t 100% at all. Like I I still wanted him to bring Trey back, but it looked like he might be gone. I asked Trey how real it was that he would not be a Charlotte Hornet in 2025 and 2026. Here here was his answer. It was definitely real. Um you know, it’s negotiation. So like we have our opinions. Um, you know, Jeff and them had their opinions. Um, but at the end of the day for me, it was about getting on the same page. Um, and I feel like we did that. But it it definitely was a real shot. Anytime, you know, somebody’s in that position, it’s going to be a real shot in this challenge, especially having the season that I had where, you know, I didn’t play the whole season and stuff like that. So, it was it was tough. Yeah. Um, it you know, then he eventually signs a deal with the Hornets for a couple of years. And I’m so glad he’s back because I I do go back to that last playoff, not play in, but playoff appearance the Hornets uh gave us. And you see a couple of guys finishing in the top 10 and six man of the year uh voting. And I feel like you have that shot again depending on the type of leap the Hornets can make overall with Colin Section and Trey Man. And I don’t know who’s going to start. I guess you could throw Khan Canipple into the equation. I don’t think he starts, but Josh Green not going to be available I think at the beginning of the season. So, you throw him out. It still is a tough decision on who to go with in your starting five. And last thing we’ll end on, going back to Charles Lee, I told you I would ask this. Um, I didn’t ask him on media day uh in front of everybody, but I did ask him on Won Walker about his philosophy on a starting five because he’s not going to outright tell us, “Oh, yeah, you want to know the starters? It’s this guy. It’s this guy. It’s this guy.” So, you kind of got to work and read in between the lines. here’s what he discussed about his philosophy on starting a particular five. Yeah, I would say I definitely try to just put the the best five that fit together. Um I think that we understand who who the the guys in the starting lineup are that are like consistent and and and who you want to play through and then it’s just finding the right pieces around that. You know, how does it help you defensively? Um is there somebody out there that that can guard better or something like that? And then offensively, are they going to help the the ball move or do we have too many ball stoppers on the floor? So I’ve really tried to think about who are the guys that are definitely the starters and then after that what are the great complimentary pieces around it. So what can we take away from it? Yeah. Still did a pretty good job of hiding from the question and I get that because if he said it’s a hey we want to put our best defensive five out there. Well now you might choose a particular group. So I think the thing you take away from that is ball stopping. You want to keep the ball popping. They they want to run fast. Charles Lee talked about how they can get up and down the floor a lot quicker with the pass rather than the dribble. So, I think that’s one thing to hone in on at the beginning of the year, who’s giving the ball up, who is trusting that the ball is going to come back to them late in the shot clock. I think there’s a player we can discuss when it comes to that mindset and what Charles Lee was addressing and how many guys are trying to find the best play for the team by passing it to a different player and then expecting it to come back every once in a while. Like I I really I really like that brand of basketball. It’s fun. It’s the beautiful game. I’m hoping that the Hornets have a beautiful season uh in 2025 2026. All right. We we have more sound bites, too. like some pretty interesting nuggets here and there that we’ll get through it uh get to throughout the week, but I thought that was just again a smorgus board of Wes and Walker sound that we could comb through without Doug. And hopefully you enjoyed it. That’ll do it for Lockdown Hornets. Thanks for making us your first listen. We’re free and available anywhere you get your pods, and that includes YouTube. Subscribe, like, and rate us, and do all the stuff your favorite YouTuber tells you to do right here on the Lockdown Hornets channel. We got a lot more content to get to as the week goes on. Have a great rest of your day. We’ll be back with you tomorrow.

Walker goes solo to breakdown the best soundbites from his interviews on Wes and Walker. What did Charles Lee hope to accomplish this offseason? Walker gives his thoughts on Lee’s comments about identity, pace, player development and more. Finally, you’ll hear from Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, and Tre Mann on the upcoming season.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://linktr.ee/lockedonhornets

Become an official member of the Locked On Hornets Sicko Brigade and get Hornets news, rumors and pictures of Byron Mullens sent directly to your phone via Subtext (14 Day Free Trial): https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonhornets

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

Get Doug’s gamenotes, special articles and a podcast on Hornets history at the Every Hornets Boxscore substack: everyhornetsboxscore.com

Get more Walker on Wes and Walker 12-3pm on WFNZ 92.7 FM

Top 35 Hornets Nicknames of All-Time According to Doug Branson: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-nicknames-in-hornets-franchise

Top 35 Hornets of All-Time According to Walker Mehl: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-players-in-hornets-history

📲 Follow Locked On Hornets on Twitter
Locked On Hornets https://twitter.com/LockedOnHornets
Walker Mehl https://twitter.com/WalkerMehl
Doug Branson https://twitter.com/DougBransonLOH

For your next listen, check out the Locked On NBA podcast, where the season never ends providing national expertise with a local perspective. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

BetterHelp
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month.

eBay Motors
From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Now through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#Hornets #LaMelo #LaMeloBall #CharlotteHornets