Charlotte Hornets predictions for 2024 + RECAP: Charlotte’s losses pile up in La La Land

Charlotte Hornets predictions for 2024 + RECAP: Charlotte’s losses pile up in La La Land

The Hornets lose their second game to an LA team on this West Coast Road Trip how do they get out of this thing and then we’ll play a game high mid low confidence 2024 predictions that’s all still to come 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 it’s lockon hornets part of the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day thanks for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods and that includes YouTube where Doug is usually dancing but he just like raised his eyebrow at me and I don’t know what’s

That was a weird look that was the most shook I’ve ever been looking at you in the camera not dancing smiling being goofy showing off that stash of yours like it was almost like you were angry at me for that intro I gave what’s going on I’m not angry I’m exhausted I mean

You know the West Coast road trip luckily it’s only coming once this season sometimes it comes twice but it’s one thing that the West Coast Road Trip you know game started 10:30 you’re up until like 2 but then you know to also suffer a niname losing streak it’s it’s difficult

I mean I’m just I I like to think of myself as an avatar for the fan base you know and so I’m just really embodying what I feel like are the frustrations of everyone that stayed up to watch the game last night yeah the face showed it

All this episode is brought to you by prize piic the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon NBA use code all lowercase locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 there’s Doug’s tired notes on his substack every Hornet

Spox score.com and you can listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 3M we got another one to talk about here Doug another loss where in the third quarter another one of those where the come out of the locker room losing that next quarter they would lose the third

Quarter 4123 lose the game overall 133 to 112 let’s hit hear your thoughts first what would I find on every Hornets box score.com well I thought they played a really good first half and we’ve seen that over the past couple of games they’ve been able to comp compete with

These Elite Western Conference teams they just haven’t been able to complete the game and we saw an unusual thing for the Charlotte Hornets in that first half they were shooting the three ball well and they finished the game with 15 made threes I believe they had eight of those

In the first half and they were able to keep Pace despite Anthony Davis scoring 18 points in that first half they were obviously every team knows the weakness of the Charlotte Hornets and that weakness is um interior defense and so they you know heavy dose of AD who is

Generally playing very well uh but you saw I think the Lakers team in the first half that’s the Lakers team that a lot of teams have saw the the slow the scene this season the slow plotting Lakers team that love to get in their half court defense that love to get in their

Half court offense and it wasn’t working as well for them against Charlotte and so then at the beginning of that second half Walker they started pushing the pace LeBron James said all right I’m going to go in attack mode here in transition getting matched up with McGaw with Brandon Miller who both started

Because of injuries and the the size on the wing was an issue La started yeah just five monstars just tall guys big guys beefy guys and eventually they wore down the Hornets and you know in that third quarter uh they it was a lot of LeBron early and then LeBron and AD went

To the bench and you thought all right here’s the opportunity for the Hornet to to make some ground up uh and the Lakers go to a Zone without either of those guys on the floor and the Hornets just turned the ball over and just had a

Disaster of a back half of that third quarter and and that was all she wrote yeah it was and you’re right it was the back half of the third quarter more I think it was tied at 61 with about 10 minutes left to go and then that’s when

It all started to unravel as the quarter would go on you mentioned the bench for the Lakers once they came in you you were hoping for the Hornets to be able to win those bench points not even close how about over 60 bench points for the Lakers in this game D’Angelo Russell hit

Shots Austin Reeves was excellent there was that one stretch a little later in the game where he was just taking it to the rack hitting a couple threes as well and how about even Max Christie I remember the Hornets working him out getting to talk to him your guy that was

Your guy you love Max Christie you do this with so many random players I just remember him being your guy I just I I just interviewed him or a little bit either way Max Christie did a good job in this game too and so over 60 bench

Points for the Lakers Squad yeah I I look at this game Doug and I see Anthony Davis having dominated only in 26 minutes I see LeBron James having dominated in his own way playing only 25 minutes and it’s like this is exactly what the Lakers would want I it’s it’s

Stars not getting to even 30 runtime and then still being able to beat a basketball team by over 20 points you separate yourself in the second half you even get your a little bit of competition in the first they just had it exactly the way they wanted to

Against this Hornets team competitive in the first half so you can’t just show up and get the dub like you actually have to grind for it a little bit and then you separate yourself and then you look up at the box score and your young guys

Like my boy Max Christie and some of the bench guys are getting lots of minutes scoring lots of bench points and your stars get to go healthy and rested into the next game yeah I mean there were just matchup problems all over the floor it wasn’t just about LeBron James and

Anthony Davis then you had because they went miles bridges on who was playing Power Forward they put miles on LeBron James that left Bryce McGaw to guard ruy haimura and I was surprised they didn’t go to Hai MOA in the first half but they finally figured it

Out we got it we gotta keep going keep going keep going they finally figured it out and ruy scored 12 points on five to six shooting in that third quarter and just back down Bryce and and you can’t you can’t even help in those scenarios because then you’re leaving ad

Open or you’re leaving LeBron open like this is just there are a couple of teams that just have size and strength such that and and multiple Superstars such that especially with a Hornets team missing so many guys it’s going to be near impossible for them to guard a team

Like that over the course of 48 minutes I think it was Valiant it was admirable that they were able to do it for a half they’re not going out there and just getting you know shelled from quarter 1 to quarter four but they just don’t this

Is not a team that is constructed uh to to to fight off these teams for 48 minutes well and and you mentioned Ry man he was just a bully down there and and how about even for the Hornets too how about both teams going crazy with the and ones Eric Collins mentioned it

On the broadcast last night too I mean there were and ones all over this game ruy had a couple PJ had two I think Miles might have had one but I mean that I would like to know what the stat is for most and ones this season because I

I might pick this game blindly there were just so many the other thing I’ll note too here Doug is this is the second game in a row where they’ve had 29 assists or more so 29 here 31 in the last game as we talked about that being the best passing Clippers game but

You’ve seen both La squads they’re really moving it like I I do think that is clicking for this squad as it stands right now where it’s not lamelo just him facilitating driving running the offense Al together they need a lot of help and so Terry is doing it he gave you eight

Last night I think Miles has been passing the ball pretty well the last couple of games there was a nice slide from PJ cutting to the basket where Miles was able to hit him PJ able to hit with a dunk uh we’ve seen some passing

From PJ but really I I think not even zero assists in this one but I think Miles has been the guy I’ve noticed most that has really taken on the facilitating and then you know ish Smith Nick Smith Jr how about Nick Smith Jr coming in with four assists something

That we don’t really see from him so I I think the passing has been pretty good better against the Clippers they didn’t even hit their three-point shots like they did in this one and they still finished with more assists and you could just tell just watching the game but

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the way they’re moving the ball when miles passes it looks good I think it’s when he I think I think it’s when he doesn’t that he’s making some interesting decisions now he got off to a great start in this game and hit uh three

Three-pointers in the first quarter he’s been really struggling with his three ball been in a general shooting Funk but he fell in love with it fell in love with himself and I thought played a little selfishly as the game went on despite those assists that you point out

Um I think the decision making with the ball in his hands was very questionable and look if you’re going to pull off a win that you’re not supposed to win on the road out west during this stretch you have to have one of your main scores and right now that’s Terry Rosier and

Miles Bridges that’s it with Gordon Hayward not Gordon Hayward threw this nine game losing streak that was your most efficient score overall was Gordon Hayward he’s out he’s out for a while so Terry Rosier miles Bridges one of those guys has to have a monster game and

Terry’s been out but since he’s been back has not had one miles has been pretty pretty inefficient and after those three threes that Miles hit he went one of 10 for the rest of the game and turned the ball over and drove to nowhere and pulled up for some reason

When he needed a pass um it was just it’s it’s it’s difficult to watch the Hornets I think give the kind of effort that they didn’t give early in the season on defense when they could have piled up wins now giving that effort when the offensive power has just

Completely gone away well and and last one with with PJ 30% from three this year just isn’t going to cut it it’s it’s killing him it’s hurting him and look that it’s the whole yeah I you keep shooting as much as you can especially when you’re open right like not bad

Decisions but you keep shooting in practice you try to fix and some guys just get into a slump we’ve talked about PJ’s confidence before and PJ’s confidence might just be hurting him from Deep he’s shooting better on twos this year than he did last he shot 60%

On twos two years ago on a much lower volume roll and then it you know went crazy it increased a lot last year with all the injuries this year you’re probably down a little bit more so with miles but you’re still playing on a decent volume the twos are up which is

Great but the three-point shot is way down 30% from pre from PJ you know there’s still a lot of time in the season to get those percentages up and help but at this point it’s not like we feel good about them getting to the play

In if PJ gets his numbers up it’s really only going to be for him and playing better basketball overall but not salvaging the season from a postseason standpoint and that’s frustrating for it to have gotten off to this slow of a start all right let’s move on speaking

Of confidence coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet we’ll give you 2024 predictions with our highest confidence level medium confidence level and lowest confidence level I understand the assignment now I did not at first and I’ll explain what I mean on the

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Up to 100 $100 go to prize.com lockon NBA use code locked on NBA for a first deposit match of to $100 2024 predictions coming up next when I clicked on the rundown for both of us here I all I saw was high confidence midc confidence and low

Confidence what I did not see was the title 2024 predictions right up under our main segment two category and so my eyes just glossed over it and saw the standalone High mid low confidence so what I thought you were planning for us today Doug was to pick players for the

Hornets that are playing with that confidence level as it stands right now I was like okay so just different I like it let’s go ahead and figure out who’s playing with the most and who’s playing with the least amount would you like to see those answers rapid fire before we

Move on to 2024 predictions I know I would like to see them in concert with what because I it’s funny that you and I had two completely different ideas for like very radio segments so I just I think we do them you know I’ll give you my high confidence uh prediction for

2024 we’re at the end of the year here and so we should hopefully hopefully we’ll just lose this tape though and never look at it again because I’m sure most of these will be wrong but I would also like to hear who’s who’s playing with high confidence as we go along this

List I like it okay you want to lead us off here with the actual assignment the 2024 predictions from Doug Branson and I have some too maybe those can be my rapid fire and then we can just focus on yours and also the players play with the

Most uh confidence right now I let you to lead us off here Doug I think my high confidence prediction is not going to be a surprise to people that listen to this show regularly it’s the thing that I’ve been saying uh needs to happen as soon

As possible and that’s that Mitch cup is no longer general manager of this team I don’t know when it’s going to happen but I believe with high confidence that it will occur sometime in the year of Our Lord 2024 um Mitch Cup’s tenure has had some success successes mainly in the draft um

But has also featured a team that has been seemingly like a young roster for Five Seasons now um has featured a few playin blowouts and really the the team I don’t think is in a significantly better position today than when he first became general manager and yes there are

Some you know excuses that you can lay in in terms of players being injured but at the end of the day as Steve Clifford likes to note you you are your record and and I think the the Hornets with now a new ownership group will look to a new

Front office to lead this team into the future all right I’ll give you my prediction first um it’s along the same lines of the front office my high confidence prediction is that this is the last year the Hornets core pieces will be here it’s the last year of the

Hornets as we know them I think we’re going to undergo a lot of change the bar is low because there hasn’t been much change at all going from season to season when Cody Martin Dennis Smith Jr Frank Nina when those are the guys that are your biggest new acquisitions then

Of course you’re going to undergo some change and a little bit means it’s the most you’ve ever experienced but Steve Clifford I’m even counting him Mitch cup I’m counting him Terry roier Gordon Hayward different combinations I think what you know the Hornets as the last few seasons will dramatically seems

Dramatic but I I do think it’s okay to say that b big changes comeing to the core as we know this team well it’ll it’ll be dramatic relative to the fact that they have not changed all that much over the past five years that’s the whole thing like any any any change to

The core is going to be dramatic even though the results have not been there such that you would go wow that’s crazy um can I tell you now my high confidence players lots of young guys on my list I’ll go my my youngest players here or my my highest confidence are the

Youngest players here Brandon Miller continues to like he’s just shown it all season long it’s not going away it doesn’t matter what kind of game he has I think Bryce McGaw is playing with some confidence right now he’s yeah that’s true 22 minutes for Bryce McGaw three of

Six from the field all of those field goals were three-pointers so not attacking in this one against LA but is shooting the ball a lot more and then I’ll go to the other young one how about Nick Smith Jr doesn’t matter if he comes in later 18 minutes here he comes up

With four assist and six points we know what he was able to do against the Nuggets when he was trying to fight for a rotation spot I think the young guys here Doug are playing with the most confidence right now so that’s what I say I agree I agree and that’s good

Right because they’re getting an opportunity should mention Brandon Miller we did we didn’t really talk too much about him in that uh game recap he did have 17 points in the final box score here five of nine 17 points on nine of TS he actually got to the free

Throw line something we haven’t seen from him uh much he comes back after the right ankle sprain he only missed a game he only he only misses one game due to ankle sprains he’s had three of them this season two left ankle sprains one right ankle sprain missed one game a

Piece for each of those injuries some eagley uh readers from every Hornets box score noticed that he was wearing uh what appeared to be either a lot of tape around those ankles or possibly even some ankle braces oh yeah we’re on ankle brace watch again baby three three ankle

Springs for the young for the Young and he says hey I’m going to protect my career I can see the future and I want that future to be bright I don’t want that future to be marred by injuries and Ankle concerns so maybe he’s putting the

Tech on there we’ll have to get a confirmation that yeah yeah yeah we need you you’re the journalist we got to get you on this you confirmed the lamelo ankle brace not wearing story now we need you on this I do not want to be known as the ankle brace guy that’s what

I don’t want to be known as ankle breaking news yeah that’s it yes ankle breaking news that’s Walker M’s new Twitter account what else do you have us for us here medium confidence level prediction for 2024 okay so medium confidence meaning I think this will probably happen but I could see it also

Not happening and we’ll stay on the ankle braces thing I’ll stick with lamelo here I think lamelo medium confidence will wear ankle braces again but it won’t be until next season I think he needs another summer to like work this whole thing out get the custom situation something that’s going to work

For him better I don’t think he’s going to make that adjustment mid season um he’s just going to go with what he knows for now but I do think that um not cooler heads will prevail but just sort of wiser heads will prevail and say Hey listen Max contract the Hornets can’t do

Anything to force him to do anything but hopefully his people hopefully he just kind of looks in the mirror and goes hey I would like to make an allar game again I would like my career not to be ruined by ankle injuries I’m going to give

Anything a shot and and I think we see him wear ankle braces again at some point okay my medium confidence level prediction is Miles Bridges will not be a Charlotte Hornet next year um maybe other people would go more confident but when the Hornets are getting rid of

Talent and they’ve already shown that they are willing to sign miles Bridges to a one-year deal I’m leaving that door open that they just might do it again but still medium level confidence for me I do think it would happen we actually didn’t talk about this here Doug but

Shams of the athletic sham Shania said Cote I’m told there are several teams including the Lakers and oh excuse me I’m sorry this was in the offseason but we know about the Pistons and their rumored interest from Shams in Miles Bridges and that’s something that we’ve seen reported before because it would be

Miles going home that would be the only reason as to why miles might agree to go back to Detroit which maybe home is valuable to him it means different things for different players but if miles wants to go to Detroit then he would have to put up with what is a lot

Longer losing streak than what he’s undergoing now at 28 after the Pistons were up 20 against the Celtics they eventually lose in overtime and now they’re undergoing a 28 game losing streak which is just brutal so is that something miles Bridges would say okay I’m willing to get traded to them or

Does he just waited out until we get to the off season and decide to sign somewhere as an unrestricted free agent but there are two path ways to where Miles could be playing for a different team maybe this year in 2024 or at the start of next season being 2024 that’s

My mid level confidence prediction I would put it at Mid as well because I think that uh I don’t put it as high confidence because I think schn and Plotkin both signed off on Miles Bridges joining team okay exctly they didn’t have a problem with it now they also did

Not sign off on giving him a big cont contract so if he tries to and and especially if the results so far this season hold if he doesn’t just go off you know in in the second in the back half of this year and have like an Allstar level

Performance then I think you know they’re not going to be willing to do that could another team like Detroit in free agency because I think the latest report from Shams was that Detroit would be sniffing around a couple of guys including miles bridges in free agency because remember because miles signed

The qualifying offer he’s got no trade Claws and and and I don’t see him lifting that for Detroit but in free agency you know he’ll he’ll have a bit more leverage with a team like Detroit that is starving for talent the Hornets will be too uh but the Hornets sort of

Know what they have in Miles whereas Detroit would be trying to get the car off the lot so I I agree with that and uh the other thing I was going to say was that I have one more medium confidence prediction quickly is that someone and this this is a little in

Line with your high confidence prediction someone that the fan base holds dear will be traded yeah and and I don’t mean lamelo I don’t mean Brandon those guys to me are Untouchable you’re not you’re not moving those guys but someone that the fan base holds de will

Be traded so we’re talking about we’re only talking about one player almost right I mean I I get it you’re you’re probably not I I bet you’re going to include Mark Williams here but also like I Terry roier is the one that’s most likely that that the players the fans I

Think it could be Terry I think it could well and and I think one of the second round Darlings so a Bryce mcgaw’s yeah I don’t know that the fan base holds Cody Martin dear but I think they they know his they know when he’s playing well how

Valuable he is so I think there’re there is going to be a player that the fan base holds dear and because the fan base is not prepared I don’t think for what’s about to happen because they haven’t made trades in years you know what I’m saying like guys are going to move and

People are going to be super disappointed because they’ve just been used to seeing I think they’ll understand because they’ll understand hey this team’s got to get better they haven’t been good in years they haven’t made the playoffs since uh you know 16 they haven’t won a playoff series in 22

Years now so they’ll understand but it’ll still hurt I I think I think from what I see from the fan base here Doug I think people are ready for a change and they won’t care as much like Terry is the guy that they’ll care as much about

Anyone seeing go and they’re going to understand that one everybody else cool man uh we just we need a change and it just wasn’t working level confidence players real quickly I would go to Terry roier who’s just kind of status quo confidence level right now like I’m not

Saying it’s ever waning but I don’t it’s not gone like he’s still playing his brand of basketball just isn’t isn’t hitting at the raid I I flirted with with high confidence level you know I’ll go mid to high Nick Richards Nick Richards high I would say super high

Especially on the defensive floor yeah the Hornets playing defense better because Nick Richards has stepped his game up defensive rebounding in that game against La he was fighting off ad for defensive rebound like ad’s not like you know super bulk guy but you got to

Beat him to the spot or he’s going to snat the ball out of the air and Nick Richards was doing it baby yeah Nick Richards might be in the high confidence category um I needed another one for Mid so I just brought him down there but you’re right more accurately he’s

Playing with some high confidence all right you want to just finish with the low let’s do it let’s do it I I need some room to breathe I got two low confidence predictions these are the ones I’m most likely to get wrong these are the craziest ones I want some time

To breathe let’s let’s send it to the next segment all right coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet let’s see Doug get crazy find out if you think there’s a chance that he’s right or wrong including myself and also who are

Going to be the low confidence players I reveal that’s still to come in the last Segment this episode is brought to you by FanDuel as the weather gets colder the NFL offers they stay hot on FanDuel get in soon cuz the season is about to end right now new customers get $1150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 money line bet that’s 150 bucks if your team

Wins and if you’ve been thinking about joining FanDuel there’s no better time to get in on the action the app is so easy to use there’s a wide range of betting options including spreads player props over unders even more than that Doug what have been the spreads for the

Hornets in these last couple of games against La I think it was 12 1 half against the Lakers if I’m not mistaking and I don’t feel like the Hornets are covering on any of these spreads that we’ve seen uh they they have not the spreads have been wide um I don’t have

Exact numbers in front of me right now uh but Vegas nuggets maybe the Nuggets was like 10 at home you can do a little guess the line if you want the line is up for the Phoenix Suns game okay if you want one Phoenix not great this year I’m

Going to go with if it’s 12 against the Lakers I’m going to go I don’t know 10 and a I’ll go 12 I’ll I’ll stick with 12 against Phoenix well it was better than what you were thinking which was reducing it cuz it’s 15 and a half okay

Yeah that’s a that’s so big yowa yeah that’s a lot well maybe we bet the buzz there but um it hasn’t been working for us and so we’ll see what we can do you can try though by going to FanDuel visit fanduel.com lockon kickoff the NFL season continue in the NBA season

FanDuel the official partner of the NFL more lock down hornets ahead Doug real quickly how’s the energy level been like thankfully the game tonight against Phoenix is at 8:00 we don’t have to stay up nearly as late but at the end like 5 minutes left to go in

The third quarter I look up at the clock and it’s midnight it’s like 12:07 like man you you do have to be built different West Coast road trips for the team just as strenuous on our lives you know quote unquote just as strenuous on us how’s the energy level holding up for

You right now the energy level’s fine I would say I’m glad that I’m not covering a West Coast team on the East Coast uh because when I cover these late games I eat a lot I have to just snack just to keep myself moving and grooving and I

Get nervous you know through the game I nervous eat anyway but then everybody’s gone to bed I have no accountability you know no no one’s saying hey you might want to put down the uh the Ritz crackers there buddy um you’ve eaten an entire sleeve so that’s you know how many

Pounds have you gained since the Hornet season started I’m averaging more pounds uh Than Miles Bridges is averaging three point M I’ll tell you that much right now all right so here we go do you want to bring here I’ll actually just go ahead and start with you bringing that

In because the the low confidence players right now for me it’s both of the front Court players that were drafted by Mitch CB his first two drafts here it’s miles Bridges and it’s PJ Washington you know PJ I it’s it’s frustrating with PJ now man and I know

It has been for some players or for some people already but I the the twoo shot going in more so the three-point shot not falling the turnovers aren’t great and so while we’ve seen progress from him overall in his career when he puts the ball on the floor and creates for

Others a little more I still worry about him completely taking care of the basketball and we’ve seen that a couple of times but it’s the three-point shot that just isn’t falling and that that’s a big part of his game it’s it’s three and D it’s being able to be a versatile

Defender while also being able to play an outside ing game I don’t think his inside game is strong enough to say inside out and so it’s usually starting with the perimeter and he’s just not hitting shots at this moment and so look you still have 50 games left more than

50 games left to increase those percentages that’s going to matter um it’s just it’s been a slow start in the first you know what are we now like you know more than a quarter into the season and it’s it’s frustrating to see so I would say him and Miles Bridges who just

Isn’t shooting as well yeah even the twos for Miles Doug I mean he was four of four of 10 from three-point range and I know you’ve been focusing on that he’s not been doing well but how about three of 10 inside the arc like that’s somebody that once he gets downhill you

Want him to finish strong at the rim and three of 10 ain’t going to cut it either well one wonders I think if that’s leaking into some of the bad decision making when you’re talking about the pull the the contested pull-ups that he took against La if he’s thinking to

Himself yeah I could get to the rim but when I when I get there I’m I’m not really performing very well so why don’t I just you know see about this pull-up opportunity but I think the thing that is worrying with miles from the perspective of should the Charlotte

Hornets give him a big contract in the off season is that in in in this nine game losing streak sample the Hornets have competed in a few of these games and then the game starts to slip away and I just feel like watching Miles when the game starts to slip away from the

Hornets his decision making gets worse you know what I’m saying and to me Allstar players guys you want to invest a lot of money in it’s got to be the opposite of that when the game starts to slip away I mean I feel that way about

Lamelo ball when the game starts to slip away you know lamelo goes in we saw it so many times first three quarters lamelo not shooting the ball very well g game looks like it’s out of hand and he goes in into the phone booth puts on the Superman costume comes out blazing in

The fourth quarter to get them back in a games he’s done that multiple times this season before he got injured not what’s happening with Miles Bridges when the game starts to slip away he commits more turnovers he misses more shots he Fades well and and two how much

Of this is this is just kind of the player he is because I and I know we’re focusing on the perimeter but Doug here he is shooting 32% on threes he shot 33 the last season that he played you have the One outliar season that’s what it is

If you play what is five years in the league now having you know supposed to be been playing in six and only one of those years you shot 40% from distance like that’s the outlier year and he’s shooting 32 it’s about online with what he shot the other four seasons that he

Played NBA basketball it’s the twos that he’s only shooting 52% right now is 5959 each of the last two seasons he played before that so that that’s what’s really hurting like to me he could survive not hitting those shots from deep as long as he was still getting to the rack and

Finishing there but he’s not doing that right now um I I complimented his pass when as you said when he passes I think he’s been making some really nice ones finding some cutting guys and that’s how you’re able to accumulate five assists that’s nice I like seeing that but miles

Has to finish at The Rim like that is your number one priority I think with this squad okay low confidence predictions for 2024 these are the things that I’m least sure are going to happen uh number one I this is going to surprise you Walker I think low confidence prediction one of Terry

Rosier or Gordon Hayward are traded I don’t I don’t think either of these guys gets traded I think they I think they hold on to Terry because the packages that they’re offered for his contract are not such that it outweighs the benefit of having him on the team

Remember I don’t well I won’t say remember I’m saying I’m coming at this from the perspective of this team is try going to try to compete next season they’re not going to tear it all the way down to the studs and rebuild because they just gave Lamela ball a Max

Contract this this team still feels like they’re focused on winning and to do that you have to have talent on your roster Terry Rosier is a talented player so I don’t but I and I don’t think the packages coming back are going to offset that with Gordon Hayward I think they’re

Going to look at it I mean you got the injury now that that may you they’re going to re-evaluate him in two weeks because of the left calf strain that may D if that extends any further that may dampen some of the trade talks that were swirling around him and and ultimately I

Think schn and Plotkin are going to look at this and go okay we’d rather this just come off the books and have a little bit more flexibility for the future front office that we’re going to construct here so I actually think low confidence Terry Gordon getting traded

So so you think um Gordon we just play out the rest of his contract and he’s gone and you think Terry starts next season with the Hornets is what you’re thinking yeah okay um all right with my low confidence 2024 prediction my low confidence one is the Hornets will

Quickly build a new core so high confidence is the core will change around them building a new Corp means you feel really good about what’s about to happen and that’s what I’m low confidence in right now but I think by default you’re gonna have these new

Players so lamelo is g to be here Brandon is already expected to be second fiddle to lamelo next season at least maybe Brandon surpasses him a second overall pick there’s certainly that possibility with his skill set and then you still have Terry but Doug they’re

Also going to get a high draft pick this year at least if the odds play out exactly how they’re supposed to Detroit’s gonna beat him San An that’s the trade piece so well what would you would you trade it for you another offseason of use the first round pick or

Trade it I love it it’s locked on Hornets Deja Vu well we’ll have that discussion in depth but right now I’m saying that’s the trade pie if you want the the talent because you’re not going to get a massive haul for it because this is a weak draft but if you’re

Really focused there is no unless I mean if you get the number one overall pick then all right let’s let’s let’s hold on let’s see let’s see how this draft class develops but right now doesn’t seem like there’s there’s not a Wim andama you know there’s not a consensus prize in

This draft so I think you know if you wanted to it’s not it’s not trading Terry it’s trading a high draft pick that’s your Avenue to getting a a new core featuring some All-Star level Talent so so my my my low confidence prediction is that they’re going to hit

On building up this new core because it is still really hard to do anyway and here’s lamelo here’s Brandon Miller who I would still consider new right it’s his rookie season the dudes play 20 games I I think we consider him new right now compared to the Terry miles PJ

Gordon years and whoever this next draft pick might be or who it might be used to trade for that that is what is going to be interesting because you you do have a big old pivot with this draft pick coming up the only the only the only

Thing I’ll say too about that we do this every year with the this is going to be a weak draft class thing so many people thought the same for the lamelo draft and you’ve got stars all over the place and so I like I’m always wary of oh well

This draft sucks let’s just go ahead and trade the pick lots of Ballers have come from that in pretty quickly so maybe that could be the same thing here but who knows what the Hornets are going to do with it Doug I if if they are so desperate to compete next season and

Compete right away in order to appease lamelo appease the fans you trade that first round pick for I don’t know what would that be if if it’s it’s a top four pick right if the odds stay the same and they have the fourth best odds right now

Going into the lottery plenty of time to have that discussion plenty of time wait let’s just let people dream let’s let people dream plenty of time to have that discussion what are they dreaming about though that’s what my [Laughter] question I don’t know I gotta go to

Sleep I gotta figure it out all right all right I got a couple more low confidence rapid fire before we get out of here uh one I think low confidence Steve Clifford will remain head coach of the Charlotte Hornets I think if you ask me you know will he be that’s probably

I’d put that at high confidence at this point because there there is a house cleaning coming typically that’s going to include the head coach as well although I put him at low because remaining because I think that the injuries have been so bad that there is an inbuilt excuse to

Say hey if if we want to do this with Clifford he’s you know you got to pull the players if the me the message seems to still be hitting he’s still he’s getting these guys to improve on defense I get against really good talented teams and if the if the coaching crop out

There isn’t such that you see a guy that’s like obvious and the Hornets haven’t been able to even get that guy remember the whole Kenny Atkinson debacle that schn and Plotkin want to over the next couple of years it’s going to take time they want to build a worldclass organization that includes

You know amenities for players and amenities for coaches and new practice facilities but that’s going to take time maybe they wait to go get that big fish for a year or two and meanwhile you get someone in in Steve Clifford who if the players continue to to enjoy being

Around could kind of shepher a a mini retooling of the roster any more rapid fire is that the last one final one low confidence Michael Jordan faxes a letter to schnall and Plotkin that simply reads quote I’m not coming back oh you p a anywhere near This Disaster

He’s having fun with his race cars and all the other stuff that MJ is doing there was a funny quote I don’t think we ever got to this but someone I think it was a game in Brooklyn and someone asked Steve Clifford about you know MJ moving

Uh back if he was still going to be involved and blah blah blah and Steve C was like look he’s got a lot going on you know he’s got his NASCAR team he’s got it’s so it’s so funny you know as we’re doing this sort of retrospective on 20 23 and predictions about

2024 it’s just so funny to think about where we started with Michael Jordan owning the charot Bobcats putting on a uniform going to the practice uh uh court and showing the guys what’s what to where it all ended up where he’s basically like washing his hands of all

Like yeah I’m around but like I don’t really don’t ask me about anything he’s not really around no not really all right 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 you can go check out

Every Hornet boox score.com please do so Doug the curator of such website and you can listen to me on wfnz.com and uh the app and just the radio station I don’t know why I went to the internet first I don’t know why I did that WFNZ 927 FM

Have a great rest of your day have a great New Year’s Eve safe and healthy we want to put the safe caveat in there as well and then we’ll be back with you to start the new year coming in more Thor in 2024 No

Walker and Doug recap the Charlotte Hornets loss to the LA Lakers, continuing what’s now a 9 game losing streak. How do they marry good offense with good defense? The guys transition to making predictions w/ varying confidence levels for 2024. Will Miles Bridges still remain with the team next year?

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