LaMelo Ball’s FRUSTRATION BOILS OVER in Heat L | Kon Knueppel LEADS | Brandon Miller Injury Update

LaMelo Ball’s FRUSTRATION BOILS OVER in Heat L | Kon Knueppel LEADS | Brandon Miller Injury Update

Oh no, that’s not what you want. The Hornets lose big to the Miami Heat. Apparently some old habits die hard, but Coniple keeps on keeping on. We’ll open up the autopsy report. I mean my notebook today 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] Welcome in to Locked on Hornets. I’m Doug Branson. You can find my work on every hornetboxcore.com. I also produce Yahoo Sports Daily. I hope to produce it. A whole team behind Yahoo Sports Daily every day on Yahoo Sports. Check that out. I’m usually joined by Walker Mail of the Wesson Walker Show. But he’s doing the postgame show tonight on WFNZ. And I’m doing the postgame show here on Locked on Hornets hanging out with you on a Tuesday night in which the Hornets drop a big one. 144 to 117 the final score. They almost gave up a buck 50 to the Miami Heat who had been playing well offensively despite the fact that they didn’t have Tyler Hero. And in spite of the fact that they didn’t have Norman Powell who’s been a big part of why the Miami Heat have been playing well offensively. No Norman Powell for this game. He was a late scratch. Uh but the Hornets really could not stop anyone. Andrew Wiggins 21. Bam Adabio 26. Jame Hawz Jr. The big story for Miami, 28 points off the bench. Uh, but the Hornets offense slowed down by their first real test defensively. We’ll get into that. Coniple was a bright light in an otherwise uh, pretty pathetic showing from the Charlotte Hornets. We’ll talk about him a little bit later in the show, but the big story is the Hornets. They did have their first big defensive test. They did play Philadelphia, but Joel, but no Paul George, Joel Embiid, uh was on a minutes restriction. Tyrese Maxi, you got the full Tyrese Maxi experience and they played some physical defense, too. Uh but the Hornets were able to put up a lot of points in this one. Uh it was much more of a struggle and a lot of that 117 I think uh came really after this game uh was was decided. Although they did put up some good first half numbers, it’s just the Miami Heat were allowed to put up much better numbers. They were able to shoot really whatever they wanted from the three-point line. They made 20 threes. Miami did in this game. Uh and a lot of that due to short closeouts, uh the defense not being able to get set because they were giving up transition looks. A lot of those transition looks it was a little bit we’re slow getting back on defense. end of a three-game road trip sort of situation. There were uh a lot of bad shots that Miami was more than happy to take into transition for for three-point opportunities, particularly in those bench units with Jame Hawz Jr. Um and yeah, I I just think they were more physical, uh faster, and just more ready to go in this game than the Charlotte Hornets were. But anytime you win big or you lose big, I think the natural inclination is to look at the best player on the team and and say to yourself, did they go as that player went? And tonight, I think the answer is yes. LaMelo Ball scores 20 points, but on six of 18 shooting in 28 minutes of play, 33% from the field, four of 12 from three. did have nine assist, but also had five turnovers. Uh did have eight rebounds, one steel as well, four personal fouls. This felt like a game that he was going to foul out of. And maybe he would have had he been allowed to play more in this game. But his frustration at not getting foul calls was a big story in this game, bubbling over uh to a final call that went against him, a charge call. And LaMelo Ball, he flashed some kind of hand signal at the referee. I don’t, you know, I didn’t do the Zapruder film. I didn’t take the microscope to the FanDuel uh sports network feed, but all I know is that he got called for the charge. Hand went up towards the official who was walking away and the official across the court who was looking in LaMelo Ball’s direction, calls a technical foul and I was watching the home broadcast. So, they didn’t they didn’t make a big deal of it other than the fact that LaMelo Ball or I’m sorry, Dell Curry made reference to LaMelo Ball’s frustration and even said Charles Lee should get him off the court at this point because the frustration was bubbling over. So, we’ll wait to see if a if a fine is incoming for LaMelo Ball. But it but I said at the in the cold open like this was a case of old habits dying hard. This comes a this lamelo ball performance where we saw frustrations at not getting foul foul calls which led to transition buckets on the other end which led to one moment early in the game when Charles Lee like called a timeout on I believe it was a Hawz bucket just completely uncontested transition look. Charles Lee calls timeout very aggressively calls timeout and then like hops out onto the floor. Eyes bug. He was looking for someone to yell at. Looking for someone to do battle with at that moment and just and I don’t I don’t even know if he said anything to anyone, but he said it all with his eyeballs. Like if you’re anyone on the Charlotte Hornets, you knew, oh, dad’s mad. Dad is totally mad right now. We all need to just like go to our room, not say anything. just like let dad cool off for a minute, let him pick up the clipboard, draw some squiggle lines on there, and try to regroup this thing. But they never were uh able to regroup. And this comes on the heels of a game, a comeback against the Washington Wizards in which LaMelo Ball was lauded by his teammate Miles Bridges for his leadership in the locker room. And I think there have been mentions all across the beginning of this season for the Charlotte Hornets very early in the season, but there have been mentions about LaMelo Ball’s growing maturity level, his the effort that he was giving on the defensive end of the floor. And I think all of those are valid uh valid examinations, valid analysis of those first three games. It’s just in this one all of that took a step back or at least what was on the floor. Don’t know what was said at halftime. Maybe we’ll get some insights into that uh after this game. But in terms of what we saw on the floor, it was just very reminiscent of some of the frustrations that he had last season that led to him fouling out of games that led to a Brooklyn Nets game last season in which he was pulled by uh Charles Lee. I think a valid criticism of Charles Lee in this game is that LaMelo ball was held out a little too long between the first the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter. things started to slip a little bit for the Hornets and I think they could have used LaMelo there and I think LaMelo might have found a little bit of a rhythm in the game, but perhaps Charles Lee sensed something in LaMelo ball from the early going in this game that the frustrations were starting to get to him. And look, he had a legitimate gripe. There’s no doubt about it. He had a legitimate gripe. There were plenty of of drives that he had in this game where he was clearly bumped. But the fact of the NBA is that you’re going to get different crews, different nights, and they’re going to call the game differently. And I think the best players in this league recognize what Well, I would group the best players in the league in two categories. There are some best players in the league that do gripe with the officials all the time, but they’re so overwhelmingly talented that if they give up a transition bucket on one possession, they’ll equal it out or more than equal it out with three incredible plays, you know, or just consistency of play across the quarters. And then there are another group of players that don’t gripe with the officials as much and just sort of understand, all right, if that’s how the game’s going to be played, I’m going to now adjust my game accordingly. And I think the adjustment for LaMelo Ball, particularly like in the third quarter, was just taking a lot of ill-advised step back three-point shots because once once he gets frustrated with not being able to get into the paint and get the calls that he wants, he tends to move back to the three-point line and take a lot of it on himself, particularly if they’re down six, then down eight, then down 11. you know, he he starts to I mean, I think it like the the pinnacle of that in this game was the, you know, 16 seconds left on the shot clock, drunken master three-point shot that he tried to pull ISO and it goes short and and one of those missed three-point attempts ends up as a transition bucket on the other end. Because when he does that, when four guys are down close to the basket and he’s I isoing and there’s 16 seconds left on the shot clock and it’s in the middle of the quarter, like those possessions typically reserve for the end of the game where that can’t hurt you, but it hurt them in this particular instance. But but the big bigger point and one that I’m sure Lee has hammered over and over to not only LaMelo Ball, but all of these guys is that the game is different. The game is faster. Everybody’s pushing, particularly the Miami Heat. They love to get out into a transition and I’m sure they went over that in the scouting report. And if you gripe to the officials, you’re going you’re going to get fouron-ree situations. You’re going to get five on four situations and and that was just advantage Miami in this game. Uh but this game was not solely about LaMelo Ball. There were uh not great performances from several Charlotte Hornets. Both what like players you would expect and players you wouldn’t expect. Let’s talk about that coming up on Locked on Hornets. Beast everywhere. One player that I’m not going to gripe too much about is Khan Canipple, who continues to impress uh with, I would say, more than solid play. In fact, he led the Hornets in game score. We’ll dive into his game as well coming up on Locked On Hornets. [Music] Today’s episode of Locked On Hornets is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or you want to ride that hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to uh fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at an even bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Unfortunately, Charlotte Hornets couldn’t make that late push. Although Charles Lee tried, he subbed in Cochrinter. He subbed in LaMelo late. He subbed in Miles. It’s not as if they didn’t try, but it just wasn’t there for them tonight. Maybe it will be against the Orlando Magic in a few days. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play uh your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. This game this uh episode of Locked on Hornets is also brought to you by Game Time. Game Time basketball season, it’s here. I told you it’s back. It’s officially here. And nothing beats being in the arena for those opening games uh that than you know you want to be there. I mean it’s it’s way better than watching it on television. Let’s just be frank about it. Uh but let’s be real. Getting tickets can be a total headache. 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All of those warts that we and we started to see some of those warts in the first three games. It’s just, as I’ve said many times on this show, shooting covers a lot of sins. When you are getting three-point contributions up and down your roster, it’s going to cover up a lot of things that are going to cost you in a tighter game. And that’s, you know, look, the Miami Heat defense, uh, it’s still good, folks. It doesn’t matter. They just, they just find some random players off the street. They bring them into the Cassa Center. They teach them how to play defense and teach them how to just stand at the elbows and cut off driving lanes. That’s what they do. So all of those warts like the turnovers that the Hornets have been having, the fouling issues that the Hornets have been having, the Ton Salon issues that the Hornets have been having, and really it’s less about Ton and more about some of the inexperience uh that has clogged up a little bit of the offense, particularly in some of those deeper bench units that they’ve been featuring. Uh those issues really came to the forefront in this game and you got to tip your hat to Miami because they had a great shooting night too. I mean yes some of it was short closeouts. Yes, some of it was transition problems but also some of it was just Pella Larson knocking down shots. The Hornets are going to give up Bamabio threes. Like there are going to be games they were willing to give up Joel Embiid threes. They’re just going to be games because of how their center rotation is stacked. like Cockprinter is just not going to be able to stand out and guard Bam Adabio at the three-point line and he didn’t have to early in the game because Miami stuck with their Kel Wear Bam Adabio look which allowed Bam Adabio to be guarded by Miles Bridges and I thought I thought Caulkrinter did a great job of challenging Kel Wear at the rim. I thought he did a great job in the in the occasions in which he he got Bam Adabio close to the rim. I thought he did a good job there, too. It’s just they’re going to give up that three-point look when he’s on the floor and Bam Adabio unfortunately was just on tonight. Sometimes you’re going to get Bam, you know, what did he finish with? I mean, I know he was three of four at one point. Uh Bam Adabio in this game, three of five from three. So, they’re going to give up nine points to Bam Adabio sometimes. Uh but it really was I mean Pella Larson three for six. Kell hit two. Wiggins hit three. Uh Fonteio crushed them three of four uh for 10 points off the bench. Yoic hit two of them. So they were just getting sprayed 20 of 45 for the Miami Heat. The only uh the only Heat player not to hit a three was DaVon Mitchell. Uh but the Hornets defense didn’t do themselves any favors and the offense didn’t do themselves any favors either. I mean, talk about old habits. I mean, there were plenty of shots from Miles Bridges that looked very much like the Miles Bridges of last season. I think a lot of Hornets tried to drive. They tried to they tried to put their head down and maybe only one of them was truly successful and that was Colin Ston who was seven of 11 from the field. I would I would add Khan in there. Khan not necessarily getting to the rim and finishing there, but he was able to at least keep his dribble alive long enough to kick out to the corner for a careerhigh four assists. But a lot of Hornets were driving and they were either getting stripped or they were putting up wild shots. I mean, some of the shots that Miles Bridges put up at the rim just had zero shot of going in. And then again, he reverted back to, “All right, I’m going to take this step back three-point shot that just ugly, terrible, no good, don’t want it ever again. Saw it a lot last year. Send it back.” Like those are the kind of shots that kill the Hornets because not only are they missed opportunities, not only is it no ball movement, it’s just easy transition opportunities for the opposing offense. And that’s what you got here. Uh Cogrinter very efficient in this game. Five of five. I think I think the broadcast said he’s like 18 of 20 to start the year. 10 points, uh six rebounds, but a lot of that was early. I mean, I think a lot of that was in the first half when they were moving the basketball a little bit better, particularly like LaMelo and uh running some high pick and roll stuff and they just got completely away from that. And then then some of that was Cochr Brener just like cleanup duty. Trey man, three of 15 man, he is struggling to begin this year. Yes, he missed a considerable amount of last season and so the broadcast was on this. I think a lot of people are on this like, hey, Trey man has got to get the minutes, the reps to get back into rhythm and that’s that’s great. And they don’t really have I mean, it’s not like Josh Josh Green is healthy a healthy scratch. Brandon Miller’s out. Brandon Miller would have soaked up, you know, I think Liam McNeely got 11 minutes. Brandon takes those, but Trey man gets 26. Brandon probably takes like, I don’t know, 12 of those. More than that, maybe. Because Seion, I think you got to play Seon. Seion gets 23 minutes. I thought those were 23 good defensive minutes where he scores eight points on two shot attempts. Like those are great Seon great minutes because he’s hitting his threes and he’s playing defense. Like you got to play that guy. I think Trey man would probably be getting maybe closer to 18 17 minutes per game and then Brandon Miller would soak up the rest. So, some of this is Trey man. They have to play him. Some of this is he’s got to get the reps to to get back into a groove. And that’s all you can hope is that he gets back into a groove or Josh Green gets healthy or Brandon Miller gets healthy. We should touch on that too uh before we get to Coniple. did get an update somewhat on Brandon Miller from uh Chris Haynes who’s reporting that Brandon Miller is seeking a second opinion on the left shoulder uh soreness which they have up upgraded to subluxation a shoulder uh subluxation which I believe is like a shoulder separation uh of some kind. Um, so but they I think they’re waiting to get back to Charlotte uh to do further evaluations on it. I’ll just say with the second opinion thing, I mean, you don’t often go for a second opinion for like a worse diagnosis. Like you’re like, “Hey doc, you know, yeah, I I this person told me I’d be fine. I would like you to now tell me that I’m not going to be fine.” Uh Brandt Miller wants to play. Like he looked he’s looked sour. Other than the Miles Bridges dunk from the last game that had everybody with funny faces. Like Brandon Miller looks like a guy that hey, I missed a significant portion of last season. I cannot miss a significant portion of this season. He looks like that. He wants to play desperately. And I imagine that the second opinion is linked to that idea. Now that could mean a range of things. That could mean that someone is telling him, “Hey, you’re young. This if we go ahead and do surgery now, your long-term prospects look a lot better. Uh, you know, maybe we can have you back at the end of the year, end of the season, da da da.” And he’s like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I, you know, no, it’s surgery. I can’t I got to get back out there for my guys.” Or it could be, “Hey, you’re going to be out for a month.” and he’s like, “I don’t know. Even if out for a month, I feel I feel pretty good. I think I can just like rehab this thing. Maybe, you know, maybe take a few more games off and get back out there.” There’s a range of what all of this could mean. And I think we’re going to find out in the next few days when when they get back to Charlotte uh and uh they whoever gives that second opinion can give that second opinion. So, that’s all I’ve got on Brandon Miller. Obviously, I mean, you could just take this game and say it’s good evidence that Brandon Miller is a huge loss because there will be nights when Miles Bridges is off. Having Brandon Miller, I think, takes some of the pressure off of I I don’t even think I know it just takes pressure off of LaMelo Ball. A and maybe some of that pressure is linked to some of the frustration because LaMelo Ball knows, hey, I just we had to we came back against the Washington Wizards, not a great team, and it took 38 points, 13 rebounds, 13 assists, and three steals. Now, I know he can’t he, you know, he wasn’t focused on the triple double, but it wouldn’t be unfair to think like it wouldn’t be unfair of him, honestly, to go, “Man, it took a lot out of me to to get this team over the Washington Wizards. What am I going to have to do in order to get over the Miami Heat a much better team?” And that’s where the pressure builds and that’s where, you know, the frustration could build. So Brandon Miller, he was leading the team in that win over the Brooklyn Nets. Uh he was a big part of that win, I should say. And you it would be a huge loss. And they’re going to have to find out, can Khan Caniple take some of that uh shot creation? Can Colin Ston take some of that shot creation? Trey man playing a lot better would obviously help. I mean, that’s where that’s where him like the the patience to let him kind of get his reps and get back in a rhythm. That’s where it sort of hits up against the fact that like actually they kind of need him to play well now. That’s the reality of the NBA. All right, coming up on Locked on Hornets everywhere. More on Khan Canipple, player of the game in a loss where they gave up 144 points. I’ll have comments on his offense, on his defense. Uh we’ll talk about the rook, the fourth overall pick coming up. [Music] Today’s episode of Locked On Hornets is brought to you by Ripling. If you’re a business owner, I am. Here’s the truth. SAS promised to make work easier, but now the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams and they simply don’t work together. That’s not SAS. 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That’s monarch.com code locked on NBA for half off your first year. More locked on Hornets ahead. Final segment of locked on Hornets here. We’re going to talk about Khan Canipple. He kept on keeping on. 19 points, three rebounds, four assist, a careerhigh in assist on seven of 15 shooting, and five made triples. Man, this guy, they told us, Dell Curry, who knows a little something about shooting, told us this guy was an elite shooter. And I wanted to believe it. I did. I mean, I watched him on tape at Duke. I wanted to believe it. Summer League had me a little bit worried. Or there were considerable number of missed shots, and he was doing a lot more with his pass, with his IQ. Uh there were there were lots of things to be excited about in his summer league performance, but I don’t know that like elite shooting. I don’t know that I would call what he did in summer league elite in terms of his shooting. But boy has he figured it out here in the big leagues and he showcased some of it in the preseason as well. Um he is just I mean the the relocations that he’s doing, I keep saying it, they just they look so beautiful. the footwork so compact just knows exactly where he wants to be. Jeremy Lynn when he played for the Charlotte Hornets, he did an interview and he talked about how so much of this game of basketball is split seconds and inches. And really like when you watch Khan Caniple and the way that he moves off ball to get to the corner, it is inches and split seconds that he’s using to perfection and to be in the right place at the right time. Uh opens him up for shots that he otherwise wouldn’t get. And on top of that, he makes some of the toughies, which is one of those like checkboxes that you make on future allstar, star player, third star, whatever his ceiling ends up being. He has to hit these things. You got to hit these things. And one of those things is can he make the toughies? And he’s he’s making some of the toughies here in the early going. and he’s consistently providing them outside shooting that this team has desperately needed. And he finishes 19 points. I said that. But I love the four assist. I love how he kept his dribble alive amongst a very handsy Miami defense. He was one of the few guys that really passed that test because K I mean Colin Ston who also finished uh he had six assists in this game and you know but he was straight line driving and had a mind to drive and get fouled or put shots up but I thought Khan really like moved the defense in a way um that was exceptional that we had seen LaMelo Ball do through the first three games. Khan sort of picked up that mantle in this game um and was absolutely fantastic and gives you a lot of reasons to hope. They’ve still got to find that mega star. Is it LaMelo Ball? Can Brandon healthy stay healthy enough? You know, huge questions that the Hornets have to answer and maybe it’s a future trade at some point that provides them with that player. But I think one of the questions that they’re quickly answering with Khan is, do they have the necessary auxiliary piece that you need to put around a star in order to actually have success in the playoffs because it’s not good enough to have a transcended player. Teams have transcended players and sometimes they miss the playoffs entirely if they’re not healthy enough. And if they are healthy enough, they get into the playoffs and they get smacked in the first round. I mean, even a Milwaukee Bucks team that has Giannis Takoupo, uh, one of the most prolific freak athletes, uh, and and scorers of our time. If you don’t put enough talent around that guy, they don’t they’re not championship contenders. They’re NBA Cup contenders. That’s fine, but they’re not championship contenders. Obviously, the Hornets are very far away from championship contention, but the Hornets found themselves in that last draft, you know, one spot outside, I think, of the players that are going to be automatic stars and potential superstars. Like, I VJ Edgeum has shown me enough. I think he’s going to be a automatic star, potentially superstar in this league. Cooper Flag, same thing. Dylan Harper, I, you know, can’t be any higher on him. And he plays with a guy that’s going to make it very easy to look that way. I mean, really, the only thing that might keep Dylan Harper down a little bit is the fact that he does play with Wimby and Wim is going to soak up so much of the oxygen. So, the Hornets found themselves on the outside looking in to that group and they had to make a call. And I think they made a call on a guy in Khan Canipple that can be a difference maker in a playoff series, can be an allstar on a team packed with other allars. Like he just has so many of the tools. He’s so gifted and he’s he’s just a lot of people that do talent evaluation now in the NBA with the speed of the game which you saw in you’ve seen through these first four games with the Charlotte Hornets upping the pace but you saw how effective Miami was with it tonight right so people who are talent evaluators now they talk a lot about processing speed how quickly can people process what’s happening on a given possession and with a given set of possessions in a in an NBA basketball game. And man, I mean, Khan is so good at just dialing up where defenders are and what they want to do and what their tendencies are and how to exploit that to get by them even though like he’s not the fastest. He’s not the most athletic. Uh but he has ball skills, man. He has handle skills. Uh and and he has a vision uh that is very unique in this league. and I think can take him uh can really take him wherever he wants to go and and you know if his particularly look if his shooting stays like this man that’s you know it it has you dreaming it has you it has you wondering hey maybe were we a little bit too were you know did we build the ceiling a little too low did we build was it a false ceiling do we need to go in you know with sledgehammers do a remodel of this coniple uh home and bust out that fall ceiling, put in 10 foot ceilings and and maybe one of those like glass, you know, glass openings, right? I mean, what what can this guy do if he’s going to shoot like this from three, pass the ball like he’s doing? And by the way, one turnover limiting the mistakes that we’ve seen him make. if he’s going to again improve this quickly, if he’s going to learn the NBA tendencies this quickly, man, it gets you excited. particularly if they can get Brandon Miller back and healthy. Particularly if LaMelo Ball can shake this game off, h rebound against uh Orlando, continue to, you know, put together a resume that can shed some of this, you know, media narrative that look, I in all honesty, he kind of earned tonight and he’s got to unearn it on uh Thursday. That’s the NBA. You can take one game, you can throw it away, and if he has another huge triple double performance in which he’s limiting the mistakes, limiting the frustration, and maximizing his talent, you do that enough times, you can have these games where there’s an off night. That’s why there’s 82 of these things. So, hopefully they shake it off. Uh Walker will be back will be back with me tomorrow to help preview that game against the Orlando Magic. We’ll get his observations and thoughts on this game. Until then, thanks for tuning in. Go Hornets. Go America. Check out Every Hornets box score for my full writeup. Go Hornets. Let’s swarm Charlotte. [Music]

The Charlotte Hornets got routed by the Miami Heat, as “old habits” returned for LaMelo Ball, who struggled with foul calls and frustration. Despite the big loss, rookie Kon Knueppel continued his impressive start with 19 points and five threes.

The Hornets’ hot start came to a screeching halt in Miami. Doug Branson opens up the autopsy report after a 144-117 blowout loss to the Heat. This was the Hornets’ first real defensive test of the season, and they failed it. The defense gave up 20 threes and couldn’t get back in transition, often due to frustration on the other end.

That frustration was epitomized by LaMelo Ball. After showing increased maturity in the first few games , this performance felt like a step back. LaMelo’s frustration with not getting foul calls bubbled over , leading to a technical foul , poor transition defense , and ill-advised shots. Doug discusses how this one game impacts the narrative around LaMelo’s growth.

It wasn’t all bad, however. Rookie Kon Knueppel was a major bright light , scoring 19 points, hitting five triples, and dishing a career-high four assists. His off-ball movement and high-level processing continue to impress.

Finally, the show covers a worrying update on Brandon Miller, who is reportedly seeking a second opinion for a shoulder subluxation. The episode also touches on the continued struggles of Tre Mann and the bad habits returning for Miles Bridges.

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

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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

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