Is LaMelo Ball the leader of the Charlotte Hornets? PLUS: The More Thor movement may come to an end

Is LaMelo Ball the leader of the Charlotte Hornets? PLUS: The More Thor movement may come to an end

we go back to the sio satchel and answer whether lamelo ball is still ready to be the leader of this franchise then will profile JT Thor the more Thor movement is it still a thing that’s all today 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 CU we live relx it’s lockon hornets part of the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day and we thank you for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your podcast that does include YouTube there is Doug Branson once again you can find him on his substack every Hornets boox score.com I’m Walker mail you can listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 3M sports radio 927 FM we’re going back to the sio Satchel to lead us off here our Silly Season we’re just letting the people do our work for us that’s I mean we appreciate it so we do we’re good at that we’re really good at that which you know we we you say that in some kind of derogatory way and and to that I say listen we give a lot uh to the fan base to the sickos we deliver each and every day delicious Hornets content for them to to consume put in their gullets the least that the sickos could do is occasionally throw us aone and give us some content ideas that’s right you’re right I I should not be as chastising as I am I’m not not trying to belittle uh our own podcast by that and they’re very smart sickos these questions are every time I’m all not surprised but I’m just um elated that our audience comes through with really intelligent questions honestly sometimes too intelligent I really wish some of these questions were a little sillier so I’m challenging the sickos now we’re in the Silly Season and all of these serious questions are great and we’re glad to answer them in the best way that we can but I would Al you know like some silly questions as well so um challenge challenge okay you’re the You’re The Keeper of the sicko Satchel I don’t want to steal your thunder who wrote in and what do they write about Aaron writes in how serious do you guys think lamelo is about continuing to be the leader of the Hornets franchise between the resistance to ankle braces and lack of communication with the media and fans it has left me second guessing his motivation to win for Charlotte I hope this is not the case thoughts okay one how serious do you think lamelo is about continuing to be the leader of the Hornets franchise to that I will answer I don’t know I don’t know whether lamelo wants to be a leader I have zero clue that requires knowing him personally and getting his thoughts away from the podium and away from the microphone we did this a lot with Cam Newton in Carolina right I actually think Cam Newton was a leader of this team I think cam did a absorb all of the responsibility that was on the Panther’s shoulders to try to move forward into the NFL postseason whatever yes but he didn’t go for the fumble Walker yeah true leaders go for the fumble yeah that that’s true but uh despite all of the questioning of whether he was ready to be a leader despite being the quarterback the most important position of the team like did you need to be a leader I think cam was I think people still have that same type of issue with lamelo he’s the point guard he needs to be the leader of the team especially with him having been the first good thing to happen to this franchise after Kima Walker left right so you move on from Kima you need a star you get the third overall selection lamelo Falls to you and it’s clearly 100% the right choice so you select lamelo the guy is so much fun through the first two years he actually gets injured his rookie season but still wins rookie of the year gets to an All-Star the last couple of years it hasn’t worked out does lamelo want to be the leader I have we ever heard him say that he does and that he relishes that opportunity that’s kind of my question I I don’t know if we’ve ever heard him say outright in a way that was convincing yeah i’ care about being the leader of this team more than anyone else anytime Steve Clifford or somebody else would talk about who the leader is they’d point to Miles Bridges as the vocal leader right if Brandon Miller is also vocal and a really good basketball player that’s young and we care about him being a foundation piece Doug I would flip it I I I don’t know if we can know if lamelo truly wants to be the leader but also does he need to be might be a more fair question well in football with the quarterback position that almost feels like you need to be a leader like I I feel like leadership is sort of baked into that position in basketball I don’t really know that leadership is baked into the point guard position whether you have sort of a mid-tier point guard an All-Star point guard or an all NBA point guard I think that basketball IQ like you have to have a point guard that sort of understands the game and then if it’s an All-Star and all-nba point guard like lamelo has the potential to be then he has to have sort of other worldly instincts in terms of of of basketball IQ and I think lamelo has all of that he doesn’t necessarily need to be a leader but if there was a lack of lead leadership on the team elsewhere then then you would almost have to expect him to take a leadership role if he was going to be the highest paid player on your team which he will be starting next season um pending whatever happens with Miles Bridges but you expect him to be the highest paid player and if there was no other leadership then you would really he’d have to be that guy I think Brandon Miller’s the drafting of Brandon Miller is really going to let lamelo ball off the hook in terms terms of being a leader of this team because I don’t think there’s any question in my mind that that he has some reticence about being a leader I think he’s a Hooper he loves to play the game of basketball I don’t question his desire to win I don’t question his desire to become a better basketball player I think all of those things are there I think Steve Clifford has told us that and and I think he would have hinted or left that piece out if he didn’t believe that lamelo wanted to win and wanted to be on the floor and wanted to be a better basketball player but when before Brandon Miller there was a lot of talk about handing Keys over remember that conversation about Terry Rosier was the leader and there was going to be a handing of keys to lamelo as he was preparing to you know sign that max deal and that conversation was awkward it wasn’t natural and lamelo did not seem like he was very eager to take on that role and I don’t think that lamelo sees that piece as part of something that just is is a natural part or a thing that he’s really even thought about when he thought about you know the future of of him being an NBA superstar I don’t even think like leader was one of the words in his you know if he made a vision board I don’t think leader was on his vision board okay he’s one of one he feels like he’s rare he’s sort of I think he feels like in a certain sense that like he’s over in this other category that you can’t you know box him in in certain respects whereas you contrast that with Brandon and Brandon immediately talks about I want to be a leader of this team because leadership is a lot of things it’s holding other players accountable it’s being a great example on and off the court um it’s being able to communicate with players about hey here’s what we love that you’re doing here’s your role here’s my role here’s our role here’s an understanding of the team overall and and being able to communicate that in a political way those are all skills that not everyone has and if you try to put somebody in that box that doesn’t have those skills that’s actually where you get problems when you when you have guys stepping up and being leaders on teams that have communication problems that’s when you have like multiple players only meetings that’s when you have a lot of conflict that’s when you have Jimmy Butler you know chastising uh Joel embiid because he didn’t get a solid read on what kind of guy that was and he ends up leaving Philadelphia that’s what all kind of problems exist so I don’t have a problem with him not being a leader if that’s not his natural fit but you know he’s got to figure this car thing out he does have to be an example off the court even if he’s not going to be a leader he does uh you know have to play by play by a different set of rules than maybe a player that isn’t as important or being paid as much as he is has to play by he’s still young but also he’s played four years in the league I I think at this point you would expect us to know pretty well him going into his Fifth Season whether or not he was ready to take on that top guy and I think if you go back to when he was on the court two his first two years of the of his career Doug it was Miles bridges that was given that position and I think he kind of took it I you saw him be the vocal guy challenging people to play better both offensively and defensively but also just being the fiery passionate dude that you could see pretty easily same thing with Terry like Terry seemed to be that guy at least we would hear it at the podium but also I think people really respected him hosting all of the Hornets players when they would go to Miami and he would ganize the troops before they would enter whatever regular season they were about to enter it was those guys that took on that role and look remember we didn’t even talk about Gordon being that guy we we criticized him for not yeah he didn’t want to either like we criticized him despite making $30 million a year he was the highest paid player on the roster but it was pretty clear for him right nobody M nobody was mistaking Gordon Hayward as as the leader of this team and I that’s why it doesn’t feel like lamelo is on the court there might be some possessions where he can hit a gamewinner he stepped up defensively against Tyrese halberton like there are times where he’ll want to take over and he’ll get passionate about it too but man it just feels like that description that you would typically think about when you’re talking about the captain the captain we’ve often looked at more so with a miles more so with the Terry and now more people would describe Brandon Miller as the captain when you think of what that leader what the captain what whoever is leading everybody like the evaluation would be more so with those players but but saying all of that I understand Aaron’s frustration if if you can call it that and I know that other fans are frustrated by lamelo in a lot of respects whether it be ankle braces or you know they they see him doing a lot of stuff off the court and they haven’t seen him do a lot of stuff on the court and then they look at the salary and they realize that now they’ve they’ve played two straight players 30 plus million dollars a year and neither of those players have really been what you would consider a traditional leader and I I understand the frustration you know what I’m saying and until we see lamelo ball play a majority of the Season get back to All-Star level player play get this team into a postseason because we haven’t we haven’t seen lamelo ball really in a postseason we’ve seen him in a play in couple play but not really in a postseason and that’s where like if you look at Anthony Davis and not Anthony Davis Anthony Edwards you look at some of these players that are making their Legend right now and becoming leaders in front of our eyes they’re doing it in where the stakes are the highest not the regular season where the stakes are the highest and Brandon Miller hasn’t been that either in the NBA he hasn’t been involved in that but he was as a college player he played in games with major stakes and that’s where we see leaders created that’s where we see leaders who are natural leaders kind of take over and and get some of those skills so you know a lot of this too is like the Hornets have to as a team uh fill out this roster such that lamelo is able to experience that and then we can make I think we can make more judgments about who he is as a player his desire to win once they actually get into that position by the way Brandon failed at that in college if we’re going to be honest with it but they got the tournament they got uh beat down in the sweet 16 last thing here did they win the SEC did didn’t they win an Championship I forget I forget if they won conference I just know they lost in the sweet 16 but what I do know too with Aaron is they also ask I’m second guessing his motivation to win for Charlotte that I’m Gonna Keep separate I don’t question that Ste and Steve Clifford did mention that by the way to be fair to lamelo like that that Steve wishes we could see him on the court because we don’t get to see his passion to win for this team so I I put that separately to be honest with you I don’t question that at all I think both things can be true well you’re not in front of these guys leading the charge but you might not be that person but I don’t question your desire to win I still think that is well there for lamelo he wants to win just as much as anybody sure but if if the Hornets the Hornets winning I think it’s fair to say the Hornets winning has a lot to do with with him being on the floor and if he’s not willing to do everything that’s necessary even if it’s uncomfortable even if it means kind of working through some issues with the ankle braces or whatever if he’s not willing to do that and that means that he’s not going to be available for as many games as they need him to be to win then I think you can connect all of that uh you know in some ways to to a desire to win maybe let’s move on coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet sound of like a lawyer there was kind of making my closing argument does Doug still want to be the leader of the more Thor movement if the ankle braces don’t fit you must quit then you will’ll work it out coming up next JT Thor talk on lock on [Music] Hornets before we move on I want to tell you this episode is brought to you by FanDuel it’s winter take all time in the NBA and the NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks to bet on spreads money lines player props and more visit fanduel.com lockon and make every playoff shot count FanDuel America’s number one sports book we always appreciate their support let’s profile JT Thor shall we JT Thor after drafting him a few years back in the second round out of Auburn remember they selected JT because they absorbed that pick from Detroit after the Pistons traded Mason plumbley and so Doug I go back to when they first drafted him it was it was one of the best values of that draft in fact what’s hilarious is that selection still the better selection than the two first rounders Mitch CB selected in that process with James book Knight and Kai Jones unbelievable and yet and yet still it’s not going well if you would have said JT was the best pick out of that group yeah I think you would Envision both I think you would probably say it didn’t go well with book knigh or Kai but it did pretty go pretty well with JT Thor and that’s just not the case this past season his third year in the NBA he averaged 3.2 points per game he did so shooting 43.7% from the field just 34.6% from distance on a little over attempt one attempt per game and really only just over 12 minutes a contest he started three games but not a lot of run and not a lot of production when he did get some opportunity it’s been more of the same like he showed us some flashes we got excited about what he could do after his rookie season I think a disappointing sophomore campaign and for sure a disappointing campaign once more here in his third year I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy got cut wasn’t a Charlotte Hornet much longer Doug I think that’s where we are with JT that’s the ultimate Les Thor you know look so I I was the president of the morthor movement and and I think it’s important to understand why I was the president of the morthor movement because I looked at him when he was drafted and and I didn’t know of course I didn’t know when he was drafted about the book n or Kai Jones or how all of that would turn now but I looked at him and I said man second round value 69 I’m I’m surprised this guy didn’t get drafted before uh he feels like one of those like guys that could that that Toronto constantly turns into uh you know borderline star players because there’s defensive effort there there’s there’s some at least mechanically it looks like maybe there’s a shot there that he becomes you know a decent outside shooter and he’s got all the tools defensively and and he’s blocking shots all over the place and they athleticism is is not like off off the charts but certainly um is is eye popping and like it all seemed like it was there and he just couldn’t progress as a player particularly I think shooting and then knowing exactly where to be defensively I think those are the two things that really stood out for me of like ah man that’s why this guy can’t get any run also he never really got stronger this is kind of my fear with Brandon Miller and and a lot of guys where we go okay all he’s got to do is get stronger all he’s got to do is put some weight on I think Brandon Miller will do it but some guys you’re just waiting waiting waiting and it never happens and they never really reach that uh reach whatever ceiling they have because of that and and that was Clifford’s big thing after his first year was like this guy’s got to get stronger but he’s available he’ll play you know nicked up he will you know kind of gives 100% like he has all of the sort of intangible stuff it’s those darn tangibles like threo percentage and you know things things of that nature that really hurt him his his stats were so interesting Walker this season because okay well well let me let me just zoom out and talk about his stats overall he offensively his points per shot attempt his first year was 102.5 that’s 23rd percentile among forwards in the league uh that dropped in his second year to 98.3 points per shot attempt that’s ninth percentile meaning like a bottom fiveish in the league among forwards and then season uh cleaning the glass recategorized him as a big because he played a lot of Center this season played a lot out of position because once again the Hornets went into an NBA season without an NBA level big rotation and so his points per shot attempt was 100 so slightly better than last year but just slightly eighth percentile among bigs in the league so he was super ineffective but if you look at his game log Walker it was that low despite the fact that he went on an absolute tear to end the season when the Hornets were mathematically eliminated from everything he decided to start uh hitting three-point shots hitting Corner hitting thorner threes all over the place and out of his last five games four of them were in the 90th percentile for points per shot attempt he was he didn’t score a ton but he hit nearly everything that he put up and it’s just makes you want to tear your hair out especially if you were the president of a movement that was calling for him to get more playing time it’s like like where was this when we needed it JT Thor scored 20 points in his last game this past rebounds 40 minutes you know yep all of that all of that is so true you know want to know what his career high is 20 points that he scored in his last game this past season if indeed that was his last game and he ended it by putting up a career high then just amazing stuff from what JT was I I again like I think the the story about him is that we were pretty excited about what he could do and that waned and if we’re talking about some of these other younger players that improve and they improve and they improve man we didn’t get any of that on JT right like is there anything that we saw him improve on at all year after year like Doug it it it stayed damn stagnant if it didn’t get worse in some situations like I I thought when Steve Clifford was named the head coach that JT Thor would kind of be a cliff guy I just thinking about him being toolsy and defensively he had a block percentage that was pretty good amongst forwards his rookie season there were some things to point to and say okay we got a shot now especially with Steve Clifford he was everybody’s pick to be a Clifford darling compared to what James brego might have wanted from him and it just never worked out man never did andam but it’s hard to believe that he’ll have success elsewhere after watching him the last three years right because developmentally Walker you have to pick a path and the path really Forks in the road at you can stay as small as JT Thor stayed physically but you got to shoot like 36 37% from three or you get bigger stronger I can play a little bit at Center defensively you know you can keep some guys away from the rim that are a little bit bigger and stronger and he did he didn’t pick either of those paths he picked the path that leads him out of Charlotte and and with with another team um last thing just looking at the game log as we’re continuing to do he got a shot at the beginning of this season just to kind of go with some of his minute totals he posted 20 minutes of run in quite a few games at the beginning of the year uh the first two 20 and 24 you get to the seventh game 20 20 23 27 and then 22 in the 14th of the Season you start to dwindle down a little bit did not play dnp CD uh you have a three game Run of getting about 20 minutes of run and then after that it’s like six minutes five dnp CDs all over the place just yeah it was it was one of those we’re gonna try it out well and then we’re gonna trade and then you’re gonna have some injuries and you’re still going to get some time because of the injuries and all right we’re not playing at all when once we get some of these dudes in the trade deadline that’s it and then they and then at the trade deadline they got poku which is kind of again talking about a path like poku is a decent a little bit after too by the way because he was picked up he wasn’t even traded so yeah even a little bit after the deadline yeah like so like but theoretically poku is a good three-point shooter that’s kind of he he’s not going to get any bigger so he has to be playable offensively he actually pass a little bit too poku can and he can he can kind of run a break I mean we saw him he’s a better player like he looks like he should basic taller he’s taller he can block shots I mean so that’s but that’s so that’s what I’m saying with JT Thor he is in this awful awful Middle where it’s like all right has some defensive tools but not really big enough and he can’t pass at all and he can’t shoot at all except at the end of the season and so you know unfortunately that’s where we I will say in in his defense he never threw the basketball at a referee thinking that he was a Charlotte Hornet unlike Boku he never made a shakon as far as I know no um man and look we really we really did we just dumped on the kid man we just dumped on him for a whole segment but just so everybody understands we wanted it to work out right Doug created a damn t-shirt if there’s anybody that wanted it to work out it was dou Game Busters man I would I wouldn’t even be on this podcast anymore if it had worked out I would just be collecting t-shirt money they would it would have been flooding the stands with more Thor it was a beautiful t-shirt and now all of that is gone and so yes am I a little bit bitter am I taking it out on JT a little bit unfairly because I couldn’t rake in that sweet sweet t-shirt money maybe yeah maybe all right let’s move on coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet you guessed it we got another mock draft it’s coming up next last segment lockon [Music] Hornets before we get to the last segment I want to tell you that this episode is brought to you by better help we all carry around different stressors whether it’s big or small when we keep them bottled up it can start to affect us negatively therapy is a safe space to get things off of your chest and to figure out how to work through whatever is weighing you down if you’re thinking of starting therapy then give better help a triy it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and you can even switch therapists anytime for no additional charge if you want to get it off your chest with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp HP betterhelp.com lockon NBA more locked on Hornets ahead let’s get to another mock draft Doug I have to say it we definitely took a long break uh from doing the mock drafts every day and you have more than delivered and made up for it cuz we have one every single show we’re bringing another one I I I have to I have to wonder if there are other podcast uh content creators that are just looking at us and thinking man are are we just being lazy are we just going to the mock drafts and then just saying hey we’ll we’ll do another segment I I know what your answer was going to be I just wonder if that’s what people think about it but you promise the people like this is the thing this is Chris Sims promising people that there are indeed 75 better quarterbacks than Blake Bortles and delivering every single day this is your baby and you’ve been doing a good job delivering on your baby well I appreciate that and the answer your question is yes of course it is yeah of course yeah 100% but I think we’ve learned a lot in this process and uh the thing that I’ve learned the most is that no one has any idea what the Charlotte Hornets are going to do and if that is a goal of this franchise right now um if they don’t want uh fans Media or any other team really knowing what the Hornets plan to do if they want to throw up all of the smoke screens right now it’s working because I haven’t seen any rumors about moving the pick I haven’t seen uh really we’ve not been going fishing we’ve not been going fishing at all really I mean I I maybe a little bit with the coaching stuff but I I wonder if that Tackle Box just going to be put up and getting old and Dusty in the garage we’re not going to bring it out again I don’t know because look it’s a new and and that would make some sense right if it’s a new regime and they’ve started to clean house I mean they’re not going to announce like as you know all they’re announcing the hirings they’re not announcing the firings folks and you know look sources within the team often are these sort of guys that you don’t know anything about you know people that you don’t know anything about and so yeah I mean I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you’ve had all of these new folks come in and all of a sudden some of the sourcing has dried up as people try to reestablish contacts within the new within the new uh structure so anyway um I’ve got something here from on.com um and it looks like the title of this website is five goats I’m not sure why it’s on three.com and the title of the website I don’t know there’s a lot are we so far into the internet you had did you say you have a five goats it’s five I think it’s I think the title of the website is called five goats but the URL is on 3.com and yep I have a virus I have a virus on my computer exit abort immediately uh the author is James Fletcher II jf3 sticks his Twitter handle is JD Fletch 3 if you want to follow him there um this one is fresh as of printing this episode about six hours old here and uh let’s see what old 36 has for us here number one Alex SAR number two Zachary Reet number three Stefan Castle goes to the Houston Rockets So no opportunity for the Hornets to take the guy that doesn’t even want to play for the team and then number four San Antonio Spurs Nicola toic number five Detroit Pistons go buis other than the one that we did with waserman saying Cody Williams was going to go to the Pistons I’ve seen a lot of I don’t know I don’t know if there’s Intel here but I’ve seen a lot of mock drafts have Detroit taking buis uh so there you go and then number six Charlotte Hornets select out of Kentucky Reed Shephard and Fletcher writes the Charlotte Hornets have hit in recent drafts building out the outline of a core worthy of a playoff conversation however health and off court issues have gotten in the way of tangible progress to this point perhaps that means they factor in fit more than a team typically in this range would especially given the lack of top tier talent to choose from Reed Shepard makes sense and all of these categories he could slot in between lamelo ball and Brandon Miller well and provide an alternative to either for stretches if needed the basketball pedigree and lack of offc Court story surrounding him also add value in the circumstance the Hornets don’t care about that they don’t care about lack of offc Court stories what are you talking about they’ve proven if anything longer they’ve proven that they can endure basically anything endure seems like the right word survive seems like the right word Thrive no Thrive not the right word I’m trying to think of what would truly surprise me at this point you paused with the Stefan Castle selection at number three I know why you paused it’s because he’s been linked to the Hornets quite a bit but I really don’t know what would surprise me with a jumble in the top five SAR falling to three that would be noteworthy other than that Doug I really don’t know I mean at this point we’ve gone through so many mocks I’ve heard it all I I think SAR falling to three or dropping outside the top two would be the only surprising thing at this point yeah I I think Reed Shepard has some top 10 cushion like I don’t see him having a fall I think Donovan kingan if he gets into individual workouts and and teams don’t see shooting potential I wonder if just like can you take traditional big today like kingan if there’s just no shot of him having a shot you know what I’m saying um so I you know a lot of people have been talking about kingan top three and then some have him as lottery I mean I think Clingan is the guy that if he gets by the Hornets you’re like oh boy I mean and we we’ve you see that every year I mean there’s always one guy who was like oh God I thought this guy was going to go at least you know top eight top nine and falls out of the top 10 completely I think I think for me kingan’s that guy actually don’t I don’t think Reed Shepard is that guy I think the shooting Talent is too Elite for 10 teams to pass up on and I hope it I hope the Hornets decide because I don’t see the fit I don’t see the fit oh with Reed yeah I with Reed yeah I don’t I don’t see that fit they need shooting defensive effort is there you know my big concern with Reed Shepard is offensively is he gonna be able to do anything but catch and shoot because of his size is he going to be able to really drive and finish and and maybe he surprises everyone and and he’s crafty enough to get it done early and then he you know puts on some muscle and is able to survive over the career but I just think that’s the Lynch pin between re Shepard being you know a utility guy uh like a mini Doug McDermot or is he gonna be you know some Elite Devon Booker level talent that to me is like the big because he’s not tall yeah it so primary ball handler or secondary ball handler in the second unit right now I mean does he come in and you don’t even want him handling the ball with the six through eight guys out there that that’s my question immediately and then can he develop into somebody you trust handling the ball with the second unit and then also being able to play off ball with the first unit where does he fit with your foundation players so I’m with you it’s it’s tantalizing though no doubt about it I and I would ask you this would he be the guy of the players we’ve mentioned we mentioned a lot of players including ton Solon who was mocked to the Hornets and goes eight in this draft to the San Antonio Spurs which is where I think he’s going to land because of Victor wanyama but um who would be the guy would it be Reed Shepard who the Hornets would take and you would go like what is Reed Shepard at the top of that list or is there another guy here that you look at and go man if the Hornets take him I’m just going to be a little bit disappointed no no Reed sheeper I I would be so interested in how that works because the Dude can shoot the hell out of the basketball D Dillingham would probably be the other Kentucky guy would be the guy you go what are they what are they thinking here D Dillingham would be the guy that I’m most out on right now at that spot um I I would tell you like drafting Donovan kingan almost feels like eating your vegetables to me I would totally get it it’s probably good for you but it also wouldn’t have me as excited as drafting some of the other prospects it would totally be the side of Brock that’s good like I I like broccoli broccoli is damn good but it’s like I don’t I’m not looking forward as hell to eating the side of broccoli and I think that’s what it is I I get it Doug I hear you I I just I’m one of those guys that’s wanting to shoot for the stars here even at you know being at number six I just view a more exciting pick even being a reed Shephard but really Stefan Castle Ron Holland trying to see if that works maybe Cody Williams does pick up enough steam to where he makes sense out there on the wing that’s how I feel I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m going to throw something out at you for your cling and take and your clinging disappointment and everyone including Rod Boon of the Charlotte Observer who says you can’t take kingan because of fit because you have Mark Williams already and you have I just wantan to I just want to throw this out there I’m gonna throw a couple of names out there that played center for the Charlotte Hornets last season okay I got you we’ll go with the guy that we talked about earlier JT Thor played significant minutes at at the center position PJ Washington Grant Williams who was one of their better centers this year that that’s a plus but then you can’t rebound uh marqueis Balden played significant minutes at Center for this team this season uh the list goes on and on and give me the one no the one get throw the hammer down here not the Thor hammer throw the Nathan menah hammer down throw that one down for well I I must have trauma buried that CU I was like what you talking oh my God Mena yeah geez I hear you because it’s not just this past season it’s it’s not just this season this season was not an anomaly we have been saying for three or four years now that the Hornets keep coming out and this a different people than there are today but they kept coming out and looking Us in the eyes and saying we’ve got a shot at making the postseason and then you look at the center rotation and you go there’s there’s like two people there that can play that this can’t be possible I I am not disagreeing with you even I totally understand the borderline necessity to draft Donovan King I necessity strong the desire to draft him I totally get it I for me I’m trying to hit on the ultimate ceiling where everybody works out and I I get drafting your insurance here with Donovan kingan more like State Farm okay State Farm broccoli that’s how I view Donovan kingan it’s nice you got have it but I would rather do the more exciting thing and get castle or some of these other guys but it would make total sense and I would not criticize the Hornets for it I would totally understand it you know what’s exciting when your house burns down and you get to buy another house that’s exciting when your car when you crash your car into a brick wall and you get a new car and hopefully you survived like that’s excit it’s exciting it’s exciting when oh my it’s not exciting when your Center gets injured or when anyone gets injured but then it’s exciting when you go oh remember oh yes we have this exciting prospect that can flat right in that’s exciting you’re not wrong you’re not wrong you’re titillating I’m not titillating onnet that I do love vegetables usually too I i’ I love them absolutely all right that’ll do it for lockdown Hornets thanks for making this your first good that you get that on the record just wanted to let people know because I don’t hate clinging that’s why that’s why I wanted to let people know about it thanks for making us your first listen catch us anywhere you get your pie we’re on YouTube Doug’s on the internet a website that isn’t quite five goats good but it’s still pretty good every Hornet spox score.com and you can listen to me on sports radio 927 WFNZ from 12:00 to 3 have a great rest of your day we’ll be back with you tomorrow bye- bye [Music] w

The guys lead off by going to the Sicko Satchel. Is LaMelo Ball the leader of the Charlotte Hornets? Does he want to be? Walker and Doug move on to player profiles and discuss the development of JT Thor, or lack thereof. Has he played his last game with the Charlotte Hornets? Finally, what would surprise you about the top 6 picks of the upcoming NBA Draft?

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