NBA TODAY | Woj BREAKING: Hornets to hire Jeff Peterson as new head of Basketball Operations

NBA TODAY | Woj BREAKING: Hornets to hire Jeff Peterson as new head of Basketball Operations

Brooklyn Nets executive Jeff Peterson to become their new head of basketball operations 35 years old it’s been a meteoric rise for Jeff Peterson in the NBA from Atlanta’s front office uh to Brooklyn he replaced Tran langon in Brooklyn who went on to become the uh from Shawn Marx’s group in New Orleans

And now Jeff Peterson goes to a Charlotte team with new ownership Rick schn gab Plotkin you really trying to reshape that organization they picked up some first round picks some young players at the trade deadline and now Jeff Peterson leads that rebuild in Charlotte now 35 years old the youngest

GM or the youngest head of basketball operations I should say in the league yeah just 35 years old and taking on this job and everything in Charlotte right now with Brandon Miller with lamelo ball there they have been moving very quickly to make decisions to really uplift these stars because the future it

Might take a little bit of time but it can be very very bright in Charlotte W thank you so very much all right head playoff implications that calls for a little Coast to Coast we’re going to start Memphis Anthony Edwards he dropped 34 points in a Wolves win so CH the

Wolves have won two playoff series in franchise history so will they match that number in one postseason alone this year it can happen it can really happen this is the best defense in the NBA you have to look at what a has done he’s shown a huge amount of toughness coming

Back from that ankle roll and it just feels like this is their time I think they’re they’re construed this way and this might be the tides turning ooh the Tide’s turning they’ve been at the top of the West all season long heading to Toronto now Luca dones he turned 25 in

Style he became the first player in NBA history to have a 30-point triple double on his birthday but Brian you had your eye on his running mate Kyrie Irving yeah big deal he has a 35 Point triple 30 point triple double almost every night these days Kyrie has 25 or more

Points in seven straight gamees this is becoming a dominant Superstar one-w punch well especially in a tight Western Conference taking it to Chicago now the Bulls they outlasted the Cavs in double overtime thanks to outrebounding Cleveland by 35 so Zack L the Bulls they have been emphatic that they want to

Make the playoffs can you see them getting out of the play in tournament yeah I’m going to go no on that one credit to the Bulls for being frisky and kind of saving their season but to win two games from the 910 spot against Indiana Orlando Philly whoever it is

Tough sledding for the Bulls just lost to Detroit in our trip Coast to Coast this is the last stop Indiana the Pacers they beat the Pelicans Tyrese halberton he’s technically celebrating his sixth birthday today on leap year and 13 assists the Pacers eclipsed 30 assists

As a team for the 37th time seven more than any other team in the NBA which is pretty remarkable the East playin race though I mean it really can’t get much tighter four teams take a look at this they are separated by just a half game for the final 2 East playoff spots

Avoiding that play in tournament and look at where Philadelphia currently sits they are the sixth seed in all of this but the playin picture it might not stay the same for very long reigning MVP Joel mbid he had surgery to address an injury to that lateral meniscus in his

Left knee after this play you can see here this was against the warriors on January 30th so he’s missed the past 12 games remember the Sixers losing eight of those but he spoke for the first time since the injury earlier this afternoon I mean there’s there’s really

No timeline uh know it all depends on you can never tell how the body reacts um especially once you start working up um so I mean he all depends on how it feels and um and if it feels great then uh that’s good and if it doesn’t feel like

He’s right then we got to you know we got to keep going the plan is the plan I want to be on the floor as much as possible um I only have about 20 years to do this uh so any chances that I get

I want to be on the floor so it doesn’t matter where we are four 5 three um I know 7 8 9 10 11 uh doesn’t really matter where we are uh just want to play as much as we can and you know try to help us seeding doesn’t matter to Joel

Embiid he just wants to be back on the floor if he feels good enough senior Insider Adrian wien rowski is here with us as we dissect this Eastern Conference playoff picture here Brian how much of an impact could Joel’s return have on that race it’s a potential Borderline

Disaster for one of these teames in the top of the standings who could end up getting a a seven or eight seeded Philly team that’s not really a seven or eight seed if Joel and B doesn’t get hurt this team might have been a two seed they

Could very easily I mean they’re pretty much already in the playin zone right now right they could easily slide out of that even if he comes back in a month or so they could still be into that and then all of a sudden uhoh we got the two

Seed who do we have in the first round oh we’ve got the Sixers that’s no good especially with the Cavs the Cavs just lost twice to the Sixers without embiid so I think the question for Philly is not just is Joel embiid going to return can he return to an MVP level

Or maybe an all NBA level or an Allstar level how long does it take him to do that the idea that you are going to just rev up get into the playin tournament maybe after just 10 days or two weeks and that we’re going to see the player

We saw this season last season it is a lot to ask so it’s not just that they need embiid back they are built to they need a great Joel embiid to be able to really uh make a run in the postseason I’ll tell you why Joel embiid wants to

Play it’s because he has suffered for a player to have so much success as an MVP and then a favorite even so before he had his injury he has suffered so much heartbreak in the postseason and I think he wants to build his confidence up I

Mean this is a team that I feel like when you think about Joel embiid you think about 2019 what kawhai did to his team and him being emotional about it he wants to build confidence so yeah the idea is is that when he’s Peak performer yeah hopefully you can win a

Championship but more importantly I think he wants to win a championship in the future and so like look think about you know his pass I I wrote it down 2019 game seven heartbreak 2020 swept in the first round by the Celtics 2021 lost to Atlanta 2022 lost to the heat after you

Missed two games in that series 2023 you blew a series lead up 3-2 like he wants to get out there so that in the moments where he can build and find his confidence he knows that carries through so that he can actually capitalize on these Seasons moving forward now poor

Six fans they turn on the show and they just have Chen outlining their horrible playoff heartbreak history one by one by one look they are they’re obviously a totally different team with Joel embiid W said it right and Joel embiid said it in his own words he said you can never

Tell how your body is going to react so it’s going to be wait and see but it just can’t be emphasized enough this dude is averaging 35 points a game in 34 minutes a game you can argue about wil and Jordan and this on a per minute

Basis this was was the greatest scoring season in the history of professional basketball and they just have no answer without him it’s just praying that Tyrese Maxi hits a bunch of step back threes to byas Harris who’s been in a slump but yeah these teams at the top

Will be checking out and beat’s health and where Philly is because that would be a Titanic first round match up for anybody right I mean look at at the Sixers record with and without Joel embiid if the Milwaukee Bucks somehow creep up into the 78 matchup is against

The Milwaukee Bucks I don’t know who I’m taking in that one but if it is the Cleveland Cavaliers or a team like that with no knock on C on Cleveland that’s a matchup for the Sixers I might like a little bit sticking in the Eastern Conference here W you broke some news

This morning out of Charlotte what more can you tell us yeah I’m told that the Charlotte Hornets are finalizing a deal with Foree come want the B Fore speech for Speech foreign Speee stand Get you spe speech for for

NBA TODAY | Woj BREAKING: Hornets to hire Jeff Peterson as new head of Basketball Operations