Charlotte Hornets win fifth straight season opener; Whalers and Nordiques face off in Colorado to…
Uh, normally they say 90% of the time we don’t start with the National Basketball Association on this program because it’s the NFL season, right? It’s college football season, it’s hockey season. Uh, but the NBA’s uh commanding some headlines here in the last 48 hours. Obviously, the new season’s getting underway and we’ll chop that up in a hot second. Uh, Max was in Charlotte last night, as I mentioned, for the game against Brooklyn in which the Hornets turned out just fine. had the debut of Khan Canppel by Charlotte Hornet had debuts last night for former Duke players as well. Cooper Flag in Dallas and Tyresese Proctor in Cleveland as well. But this morning in the last 20 minutes, the NBA uh got flipped on its head and a lot of those ties come right here to North Carolina. How so, you ask? Well, here’s the bit. So, uh, Portland Trailblazers head coach Chanty Bilips, Miami Heat guard Terry Roier were arrested this morning as part of federal investigations related to illegal gambling. This is reports all across the world. Uh, ESPN, NBC, CNBC, ABC at all. Uh, this is not a this is not a fabrication. This is fact. There will be a news conference in the next hour to talk about these arrests from this illegal gambling investigation. Terry Rosier, who now plays for the Miami Miami Heat. The investigation related to him likely has something to do with his play in a Charlotte New Orleans game. Boy, if you couldn’t get any more North Carolina, that would be it. Charlotte Hornets’s Pelicans game back in 2023 in which one professional better, this is according to documents related to this investigation, suggested that one better placed 30 wages in 46 minutes on the under on Terry Rosier’s points, rebounds, and assists, which caused a freeze on betting on Rosier. Rosier was playing for the Hornets at the time, played 10 minutes, and then left because he said he had a foot injury. The NBA did its investigation, said no league rules were broken. Okay. FBI believes there’s something else going on. Now, with Portland Trailblazers head coach Chanty Bilips, this apparently, according to ABC News, had something to do with an illegal poker operation tied to organized crime. Bilips will make an initial court appearance later today. So now we have an active player in Rosier, a head coach or soon to be ex- head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, Chanty Phillips. And by the way, again, as we tie things back to North Carolina, Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundan’s getting ready to buy the Portland Trailblazers along with his group. And can you imagine the first thing he was going to be thinking about wasn’t necessarily going to be a ribbon cutting or plans to help build a new arena there, but would be to hire a new head coach. He’s walking into that. So there are a lot of ties to North Carolina within this investigation, not including sports betting and sports gambling. So that is where we are at. the NBA is about to get turned on its head very quickly. Adam Silver made a uh a point to in kind of the the leadup coverage to opening night uh on Tuesday about how they are cracking down on like offering as many players for player props. uh maybe not offering as many of the like two-way players and lesser known guys like taking those unders off the board to try to help curb stuff like this. Uh and we’ve seen some kind of gambling integrity issues. The baseball had a few with pitchers throwing first pitches of innings like way in the dirt to make sure it was a ball and stuff like that. Uh and I don’t know as long as gambling is legal. I don’t know how exactly they’d be able to completely stop stuff like this, but uh it definitely seems like the crackdown is really coming and I feel like Chanty Bilips and Terry Rosier will ultimately not be the only ones kind of involved in this. It is active player and active coach and I think that’s probably the most concerning thing that things get brought up. And listen, I endorse sports gambling. I bet on games last night. I’m that guy. The difference is is that I cannot manipulate a game. I cannot manipulate performance like a player can and certainly like a coach can. Now, apparently the bill of arrest is not tied to active sports betting on games and players, but is more about some sort of illegal poker operation. So, a lot more will come out here in the next hour. The FBI has called a press conference. This is a long time coming. When the FBI digs in, it means something is happening. They were they were somewhat involved, I believe, in the college basketball betting scandal that happened most recently. That’s still active, by the way, which includes players uh here within this state. Uh but that is uh Oh, goodness. It’s most most interesting to me is like that the the timing of it because I mean the Travelers had a game last night. Sure. He was he was on the court coaching a game like nine hours ago. But you know, I guess if you’re the FBI, you know where guys are. That’s true. Right. I mean, I’m like, I don’t need to go hunt guys down on a road trip. I knew exactly where Terry Rosier was going to I’m just saying as if I’m looking into the eyes of law enforcement. I’m like, I knew where Terry Rosier was going to be this morning. He was going to be at a hotel. Yeah. And I knew where Chanty Bilips was going to be. He was going to be in Oregon cuz they played a home game. And I guess if his uh if the Bilips thing really is more tied to like a poker game with organized crime, then I guess him coaching is less of a conflict of interest. But I don’t know. I guess uh they’re having the FBI press conference at 10:00 and I guess we’ll get some more more details out of that as it kind of continues on. I guess you could draw in again Tom Dun’s about to buy this the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes is about to buy this Portland Trailblazers basketball team and now he’s going to hire a new head coach as like one of the first acts. I’m not just coming over to watch a game. I’m looking at my interim head coach right now on the Why’ they bring back Terry Sts by the way? He was a good coach. I like Terry St. Anyway, we’re kicking off with the NBA here. Paul Ehander. That’s Max Gorn. That is the breaking news this morning. Also last night, breaking news. The Charlotte Hornets seem to be an entertaining basketball team. Now, they played the Brooklyn Nets. This wasn’t the Lakers. Let’s let’s call let’s let’s just pump the brakes here. They didn’t beat the Denver Nuggets by a quadrillion points. This was the Brooklyn Nets, but it was a 19-point win, and they scored 77 in the first half. 77 points. in starting Con Canppel, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges back. Seemed like they were kind of in vintage mode, uh, so to speak, but Max, you were there. Seemed like everyone had a good time. Yeah. And, uh, we didn’t really know into the leadup who was going to start in the game. Obviously, like LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, those three were pretty pretty locked in, but uh, we were pretty surprised, honestly. Me and my buddy were were big, uh, been big Hornets fans. uh he’s from Charlotte, so he’s been big into it since he was uh very young. And I’ve followed the team very closely for probably the last 10 years or so. Um we were pretty surprised to see Conanipple and Brian Kulkbrer both starting this two rookies uh that you just drafted in your in your starting five on opening night. And uh everybody did their part. They they ran a a 10-man rotation. Nine of the guys were in double figures. It was very much a team effort leading to the win. Uh, Kenneipple looks good. He looks comfortable. Uh, three for four from three last night. Um, you know, doesn’t look out of place on the NBA floor. Helps kind of connect the offense. I was really surprised actually. Scion James got a a a good chunk of minutes. And he did get minutes last. I don’t know if we were expecting him really to get any action at all, but he came in I think in the second quarter or it might have even been late first quarter. Uh, regardless, it was sometime in the first half when he got his first uh his first run. Um, and he is just a menace on defense. I think the first his first NBA stat recorded as a as a like a 6’4 guard was a block. Yep. If that tells you anything. So, he he has that dog on defense that uh I think that’s kind of the culture they want to instill in Charlotte is a little bit more defensive. And don’t get me wrong, they still gave up 117 points to this Brooklyn Nets team that is gonna be pretty darn bad this year. They’re tanking hard. Um, but lots of positives to take away. Again, we’ll have to see when they take on some some better competition, but basically everybody that got in for the Hornets looked good in some fashion. Nobody really looked out of place or or unprepared for the start of the year. So, I’m feeling pretty good so far. We’ll see if that can uh that can continue. Canelo wearing number seven, James wearing number four. For the Brooklyn Nets, Drake Powell also played two. So, you know, just lots of ties in that one. Powell played seven minutes, had two points. They have Dron Sharp as well. Dron Sharp. Wow. That’s a You know, all the ACC’s, all the all the Carolina kids, they’re all there. All the Duke kids, Zire Williams, Stanford. Yeah. Okay. All right. We’re stretching the ACC legends out a little bit more here now. Was John Elway there. Uh, so Charlotte Hornets 136 117 over the Nets. Again, starting things off with the NBA because a lot of debuts last night. Cooper flag debuted in Dallas last night at point guard. We did a full 15 20 minutes on this over the summer. You and I did Max about how we hope that at least I hope that Dallas wouldn’t screw up Cooper flag. He started at point guard last night was pestered all night long at 68. Again, we saw him at Duke bring up the ball a ton. you know, we we we saw this, but creativitywise, he’s probably better not being your primary ball handler. He had 10 points last night, didn’t score his first bucket till the third quarter. Uh had 10 rebounds, so he double doubled. But when he was running the point, Dallas was very inefficient. And maybe that speaks to the to the again, don’t screw up my finals pick here, Dallas. Uh because I’m a San Antonio guy, too. And I didn’t pick San Antonio in this one at all. uh knowing that Wemanyama wasn’t sure what we can get out of him and then Wemanyama drops 40 on the on Dallas in a in a not close basketball game. 40 and 15 boards, three blocks. Yeah, the Dallas was just outclassed. They couldn’t do anything with him. And this is this is Derek Lively in the middle who, you know, just picked up eight fouls by breathing last night and Anthony Davis who really couldn’t get anything going. Like they kept feeding the ball and it was clank clank clank clank clank. Yeah, they’re definitely missing Kyrie. Uh, and yeah, they need a ball handler. I guess maybe they realized D’Angelo Russell is not the player they were hoping he would be. Dango the singer than he is D’Angelo player. He only played 15 minutes, six points, one for six from the field. probably not what you want from a guy that I assume they acquired to maybe be a stop gap guard uh until Kyrie’s back to full health, but I mean, woof, like not not a lot of positives to glean from uh from Dallas. And uh Cooper Flag, I’m sure he’ll get into the rhythm, but I agree. I don’t know if starting him as the primary ball handler at point guard is necessarily the best deployment of uh his ability. No, he can’t get aggressive at that point. He’s he’s going up against quicker guards. I mean, it’s pretty clear. And this is San Antonio. This is game one. This is game one. And Stefan Castle, who was rookie of the year last year. I mean, they’re bringing Dylan Harper off the bench. And Harper’s, you know, going to be Harper or Kell Johnson for uh the Spurs could be sixman. Harrison Ingrams on that team, too. I mean, they played deep bench. I mean, that’s what it was. This wasn’t much of a a basketball game after the third quarter. Let’s just call it what it was. But, yeah, Flag was fine. Tyresese Proctor D also debuted in Cleveland last night. Played some bench minutes. didn’t do a lot of scoring, played a handful of minutes. So, lots of ACC value. The people that you have been watching, the players you’ve been watching over the last couple years and certainly especially from last year now trying to make their impacts in the NBA, our eyes clearly will be focused on Flag and Kppel. Just Kpple because he’s playing in Charlotte and Flag because well, it’s Cooper Flag. So, I really hope that they figure it out in Dallas and don’t screw him up too much. As a primary ball handler, that’s not his bit. But, they really don’t have a lot of options. Klay Thompson isn’t going to be that guy either until they can figure out what that rotation’s going to look like. So, full night for the NBA and still even a fuller morning for the NBA as they now start dealing with a gambling scandal. [Music] I’m Max Gordon with three things you need to know right now from 999 the fan. Miami Heat guard Terry Rosir and Portland Trailblazers head coach Chanty Phillips have been arrested by the FBI this morning in connection to an illegal gambling probe. According to ESPN Shamstrania, FBI director Chad Cash Patel will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. today with more details. The Charlotte Hornets tipped off their season with a win defeating the Brooklyn Nets 136 to 117 last night at the Spectrum Center. Fourth overall pick and former Duke Blue Devil Conanipple started in his first NBA game for Charlotte, providing 11 points, five rebounds, and one assist in the win. Charlotte has now won five straight season openers. It’s hockey night in Carolina. The Hurricanes will dawn the Whalers sweaters tonight in Colorado against the Avalanche who will dress as the Quebec Nordics in an homage to a classic Adams division rivalry. Stormwatch with Adam Gold begins at 8:30 ahead of a 9:00 puck drop right here on 999 the Fan. Find these stories and more onlports.com and the 999 the Fan app. So, I’m going to take a little bit heat on this one as I normally do when these things come around. Good morning everyone. Paul Lhander with you. Max Gorn back as well with the update. Appreciate that as always. As Max mentioned, it’s a hockey night in Carolina tonight. You’ll have all the coverage right here on 999 the fan from Colorado. I mean Quebec. I mean, I mean Quebec. I mean col. So, the Colorado Avalanche are going to throw it back tonight. They’re going to wear throwbacks. The Hartford Hurricane I mean the Carolina I mean the the Carolina Hurricanes are going to wear the Whalers uniforms tonight in what has been described as a throwback to the Adams division. Max Gorn, you’re you’re you’re a sports savant. You you know things. Can you name the old four NHL division names? Which I know you can. I know you can. Dial in, baby. Don’t uh don’t get too uh there’s the uh the Patrick division. There’s one. Yeah. Then the Adams. Obviously got the Adams. There’s two more. There’s two more. You see, I haven’t It’s early this morning, you know. I was stuck in traffic. I’m I’m trying to I know that they have the uh Me, too. All right. So, Adams and Patrick. There’s two more. I know. I’m For some reason, the Clancy is bouncing around in my head. I don’t think that’s one of the divisions, though. I know they have the the King Clancy. You’re close. Uh Clarence Clarence Campbell Conference is what it was. But it was the conference, the Norris division, right? So, Adams, Norris, Patrick, and there’s one more alphabetically. [Music] And people are out there pounding their doors, the ones that know. Oh, man. I’m I’m I’m disappointing all the It’s all right. It’s a It would be a trophy name. Yeah. Self-proclaimed uh uh hockey. No. Uh uh Wales. Smi. Smi. Adams. Norris Patrick. Just thinking of other NHL trophy names thinking it might maybe it has to be one of them, right? Where’s the Clansancy? Um, so Adams Norris Patrick Smite, formerly the Prince of Wales Conference and the Clarence Campbell Conference, and then everyone went full realignment, right? They renamed all these divisions and whatnot. Tonight, the Carolina Wher Hartford Hurricanes are going to wear the Hartford Whalers jerseys. And knowing that they were going to do that, the Colorado Avalanche, who by the way are celebrating their 30th year in Colorado, so it’s an anniversary year, are going to run it back with the Colorado Quebec Avalanche Nordique uniforms. So it’s going to be two old school uniforms with reminders of things that are long gone and are no longer around. And I understand the need for nostalgia that rolls back. I totally get that. What? And I totally get that it’s a money grab. Uh oh. Ugly truth out there. Pipe bomb. Uh that it is a money grab. It is for the teams and for the for the league. Sorry. Spoiler alert. It’s for money. And there’s a certain bit of nostalgia for it if you’re a diehard hockey fan. But every time these old unis roll out, and I’m not going to go much longer on this, there has to be an explanation of why these old uniforms get run out and why the majority of folks, and not me, enjoy that little trip down nostalgia lane. I I love how you’re so committed to being against the the the retro branding. I can’t go back on it. I understand that. And I understand that, but this this is uh and it’s probably different for me because, you know, I’m I’m 24, so I don’t really remember these I I don’t remember these teams playing because I wasn’t alive. I do remember these teams, man. Um and so maybe someone who does remember will will not take this as well, but to me, like it’s been 30 years since these teams moved. Like if you’re still hung up on it at this point, like the people that are like these teams like they stole the teams from those other cities. They shouldn’t be wearing the they shouldn’t be wearing the logos. Like they’ve been at least for the Whalers and I’m not sure how long the Nordics were a team before they moved, but I know the Whalers uh I’m pretty sure they’ve been in Carolina now longer than they were ever in Hartford. Oh, absolutely. And it was 30 years ago. Thank you. There are adults in the workforce like myself who were not even alive when those teams existed. It’s fun. You know, you you love to have a little bit of a and as you mentioned as well, you know, there’s definitely a money aspect to it. You know, there’s more jerseys that you can sell and more merch. And I I’m wearing my Whalers t-shirt underneath my Hurricanes. There you go. Yep. sweatshirt right now. But it’s fun. It it’s a little throwback to a classic rivalry. Maybe if you’re in the arena, they can do kind of throwback graphics. I know whenever they do Whalers Night at the Lenovo Center, they do like a they take the, you know, the digital boards and they do like a old classic like the I don’t even know how to describe it, but like the old like Dacttronic scoreboards where it’s the, you know, like a high school Yep. one. Yep. It’s only so many like pixels. Yep. Old Nintendo. It’s fun. It It It’s fun. It’s a good time. It’s a little just a homage to the past. Um, and I feel like a majority of people enjoy just seeing something a little bit different just so you can switch it up now and again. Sure. You know that well, Paul, as a as a a graduate of uh Oregon, right? They do wear a different jersey every game. We started the whole damn thing. So, you know, I I don’t mind a little retro look now and again just to switch things up from the maybe the monotony of the regular season where you see the same sets over and over. You where you and I disagree. That’s all. It’s where you and I disagree. If the Oklahoma City Thunder had Seattle Sonics night, people would become unglued. It hasn’t been long enough. Maybe in 10 years. Glued. They have a They have a championship. I would think that if they ch and Oklahoma City just got their championship and that’s my threshold for when you can move on. It’s the same way with the Hurricanes. Hurricanes moved here. They got a championship. Sorry Hartford, we stole your team. Same way with Seattle. Sorry, we stole your team. But there would be like pitchforks if the Sonics the the Oklahoma City Thunder did Sonics retro night. I’m like, come on. We can’t have it every single way. We can’t have it. That’s for me. We can’t have it every single No, I I I and I think you’re I think you’re you’re right about that, but I think you also have to factor in the like uh icon value or the history of the the previous stuff. Like the Whalers never really won anything. Uh, and you know, so I don’t feel as bad, but the Sonics, like they had Sean Kemp and they had Gary Payeyton and they were actually like a pretty solid franchise. They won championships in in Seattle. Yeah. Like in the in the 80s and 90s, they were actually a good team. So people maybe have more fond memories of that. And it was also more recent. It was like 2008 when they moved to Oklahoma City. So, uh, definitely th those wounds are still a little bit more fresh. All right. So, God, we went a little bit longer than I thought we’re going to go on that one. Anyway, I’m on record. I’m just saying uh this is a this is like the familiar the Carolina Hurricanes going into this game against Colorado. Colorado’s playing some lights out hockey right now. The Colorado’s favorite of this one. So this is the first time that Carolina’s been the underdog in a matchup and this one could be a little bit tighter just based on the familiar. Marty Nous, Judge Drury and Executioner Jack Drury and now Brent Burns are all on this team. And you don’t think that they understand the tendencies of the leading scorer for the Carolina Hurricane, Seth Jarvis, or what it looks like to go up against Freddy Anderson, or where Jaylen Chatfield prefers to go on the ice when he comes back. Like, this is where that recent knowledge, I believe, will keep this game incredibly tight. And you’re going to see Marty Nes do Marty and it could be the same way going the other way, too. And I I believe that’s going to be the case where they know what a Marty Nous is going to do. when Marty Hes is leading the Colorado Avalanche in points, is leading them in that category and is right at the tops in goals and has more assists than anybody else on this Avalanche team. Like he is their MVP right now. It’s not Nate McKinnon. And so, and even Jack Drew is going to do the same thing. And Brent Burns out there. Brent Burns right now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, he’s playing 20 minutes a night. Like, it’s not some like randomness that he is still playing in this league at that at that high potential. Yeah. And he’s scoring points. Yeah. He’s been looking pretty good for them so far this year. And they’re going to they’re going to celebrate uh his 1500 games uh tonight. I think he they should I think he crossed that milestone a few games ago. Throw that in the Hurricane’s face. Will they save it? Well, I think I feel like a lot of the Canes, they want to be there to help celebrate that cuz he was a good teammate. Oh, you mean the Whalers? Oh, right. Well, yeah. I guess they maybe they invited the wrong team, right? That they actually it’s it’s the Walers that will be there. Hopefully, they play more like the Hurricanes than the Walers tonight. Yeah, you would hope so. I mean, this is again, it’s another tough one. Like we we knew looking at the uh state fair road trip stretch here. uh first couple of games a little bit easier in terms of strength of opponent when you’re going through those California teams that have not really had any playoff success or anything over the last few years. And then you get a gauntlet of Vegas who won the cup two years ago, Colorado won the cup three years ago, and then Dallas who has been in the Western Conference final three years in a row. You face them all in a row. These are teams that are going to be in the playoffs, going to be towards the top of the standings at the end of the year. Uh you knew it was going to be tough, especially when you’ve already been on the road for a week and you’ve been uh you know away from home, away from your family. Yeah. Living in a hotel. But it’s good to bond with your teammates that way. I think I don’t remember who it was. It might have been Eric Robinson. Uh they had asked one of the players about it early on in the trip and they were like, “Yeah, like a good opportunity like this is when we get closer because we have to be together for so long. We’re away from home. Uh that’s when like new guys kind of start to assimilate and everything and everybody gets really comfortable. So, uh it’s going to be a tough task tonight for sure. I mean, it’s a high-flying offense. Marty Nius, as you mentioned, yeah, he’s killing it right now. He’s been off to a great start. It’s contract year for him. So, I’m it’s going to be a bit I’m going to be a bit agassed at how much he actually ends up getting in this off seasonason. It’s going to be what is that? Eight digits. If it was 10 million plus, right? Is that is my math right? Yeah. No. Yes. Eight digits. And it’s going to be over that I think by a pretty decent margin. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a deal similar to the Miko Ransin 8 by 12. Uh and then when that contract is signed, I think most Kane’s fans will be like, “Okay, like it’s I think we can live with having let him go based on the way the Kane’s cap sheet looks. That would be just a little bit tougher to work around, but he’s he’s he’s earning it so far. Yep. Well, maybe his dad can negotiate that deal. Uh the Avalanche have not lost in regulation. They’ve lost twice in overtime, but a team that has not lost in regulation. So, big big tall order tonight. Uh, by the way, the the jersey the jersey thing that we were chatting up, uh, Jordan Martinick was asked about it yesterday, uh, in the locker room by a reporter from Denver Sports. And, uh, Marty, well, here’s what he said. I look forward every year to wearing these jerseys and then obviously when they release theirs and found out we were playing them on this night, it’s it’s going to be cool. Two two retro looks going at it. And um I I know in Carolina a lot of the fans get mad when we do this night just because they’re like, “Okay, well, you’re not the Whalers anymore, but it’s it’s just it’s a cool thing to do every once in a while.” And uh changes it up and it’ll be it’ll be good uh good viewing for sure. And he’s a hockey player. He called you out, Paul. Of course he did. He’ll punch me in the face, pull my jersey over the top of my head, and take me to the ice. Buckle in your fight strap. Yeah, exactly. He’ll get the he’ll get the stick taps and I’ll just get a you know a a black eye. I think uh I feel like most people that actually get mad are are are not from uh this area or not from like Raleigh and and the greater car the the Vega Carolina. Like I feel like most of us are just like, “Oh yeah, those are like those are cool.” Like yeah, there’s some I want I want a t-shirt with the logo on it because it’s a cool logo. I don’t mind the logo. It’s not the logo. It’s not the logo. It’s good that they bring it back because it’s such a good logo. like you got to keep it in the zeitgeist and keep it in rotation. So if if not for anything else, just because a a a great alltime logo gets to be pulled out of the closet and and put on display again. Well, if you’re in love with it, why don’t you marry it, Max? [Laughter] Listen, we can all have fun. We can all have different opinions. That’s the wonderful part about this country. It is. But I’m standing hard on this one. I I can’t I can’t I’m not going to go out and buy Nord Deak’s crap either. 10 10 toes down standing on business. It’s Listen, if you don’t stand for anything, if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. There you go. All right, friends. Uh you know what? A fun Thursday conversation again. Hockey night in Carolina tonight, nine o’clock. It’s the It’s Carolina against Colorado. Nine o’clock puck drop 8:30. Storm Watch with Adam Gold in the pregame.
Paul Ihander & Max Goren break down a flurry of NBA news, including a string of arrests linked to a gambling probe and the Charlotte Hornets’ season-opening win. Also, they discuss the Carolina Hurricanes’ upcoming matchup with the Colorado Avalanche, in which both teams will don the sweaters from their former cities.
This podcast is presented by Hempie’s, North Carolina’s premium hemp dispensary. Order online at hempies.co.