Hornets NBA Draft Combine WINNERS and LOSERS: VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, Ace Bailey and More

Hornets NBA Draft Combine WINNERS and LOSERS: VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, Ace Bailey and More

We get NBA draft combine results from Doug. He’s selling Chicago. He’s telling you about shuttle times, verts, max verts, standing verts, all the verts. Doug Branson gives you his thoughts. And of course, we still have a mock draft for you. Not a lottery simulation. Bummer. But we do have a mock draft for you. That’s all today. Locked on Hornets. Shuttle me timbers. 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] It’s Locked On Hornets, part of the Lock On podcast network. It’s your team every day. Thanks for making us your first listen. We’re free. We’re available anywhere you get your podcast, and that includes YouTube. There’s Doug Branson. I think the last day of the green screen behind him before he heads on home. But we got one more day in Chicago. He’s there still covering the NBA draft combine. And you can watch him on locked on NBA cover it. And you can read some of his stuff. Actually, he just told me about his latest piece of rigging the lottery. He wishes it was rigged. I don’t know what it means, but we all got to find out on every hornetsboxcore.com. Again, that Doug Branson, the guy that writes for every hornetsboxcore.com. I’m Walker May. Listen to me. WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3:00 p.m. So, we’re done grieving. Okay. I mean, maybe we have some episodes every now and then. Not wholeon podcast episodes, but just personal stretches where you see us lose it every once in a while, but for the most part, for the most part, we move on and we look ahead because all you can do is move forward, baby. And we don’t want to absolve the Hornets of any wrongdoing whatsoever just because they didn’t get the first overall pick. There’s real talent here at number four. Doug has been watching them work out, not in a creepy way, but in a way that we do so at the NBA draft combine. So, this is all your episode, baby. Like, I’m just going to be bouncing uh ideas off of you. Yeah, man. I mean, the ball is yours. You just go ahead and you dribble wherever you want. I’ll be bouncing ideas off of you. I’ll be responding. I got some questions for you, but really let’s just start with I guess winners and losers, biggest observations that you took note of. What you got for me from your combine thoughts, Doug? Okay, now I know you just said you wanted to move forward. You wanted me to dribble the ball up the floor, get it past half court, but I have to look behind me for just one more second because the NBA I know you’re tired of the rigged conversation. That one that was a lot yesterday. I know, but I found it hilarious that the NBA, maybe they always do this. This is the first time that I’ve noticed it, so maybe it’s just more people elevating that because of the conversation, but the NBA posting the entire lottery process. I love that you get to see it from point A to point B, but they do that in this effort of like transparency as if we haven’t all seen the Mission Impossible movies. Okay, I saw Tom Cruz in a Wolf Blitzer mask create an entire nuclear Fallout apocalypse uh news broadcast, okay, to trick someone. So, like, get out of here, Adam Silver. You know, that’s not that’s not going to fly. They they do release the footage every year. There is the footage of the 2024 lottery process as well. It’s just this is the year where it’s the craziest. And so, they released this one as well. And yeah, I was I was totally totally totally waiting for whoever it is that’s announcing the process. By the way, probably did the best job of announcing what the process is like compared to anybody else like in terms of just writing it down. That that process was uh a lot better. Do Do you want to explain to the people what’s going on with your computer right now? I don’t I don’t Well, no. You’re going to have to I’m sorry. You’re just going to have to look up my nose for this episode. I I have the phone camera set up, but it is not cooperating for whatever. I’m tired of Chicago. I’m so ready to be back in Nashville in my office with all of my equipment. It’s been a, you know, rogue setup here. I’m doing my best. So, you know, let me know if I have any uh bats in the Batcave. You’re just going to have to look up my nose for this episode. That was a hell of a transition. All right. Let me know. Let me know if I have any boogie plans. Not anymore. He’s gone. He’s going back. Uh he basically can Can you say that that there was a sniffle and the boogie is back now? You can’t see the boogie. Anyways, I don’t I don’t know. I tried to make that work. All right, Doug, up close and personal. If you’re watching on YouTube, Doug, tell us your biggest combine uh observations. Like, what were some of your biggest takeaways? Yeah, I think the the combine in a lot of ways, well, let me just say this first. The combine is one piece of this puzzle. We should we’re going to talk a lot about the combine results and my observations, but I do just want to set that table a little bit that this is one piece. You still have to know how to play the game of basketball. Like it’s great that you can jump high and run fast and you’re agile and shooting the basketball, you know, in the shooting drills, all of that stuff super important, but it’s not the only thing. And and they’re not measuring your ability to quickly process information and play complex NBA defense, you know, and offense, too. I mean, so so much of this a and your ability to get bigger, you know, and your desire to get bigger, you know, those observations have to happen. That’s the toughest part of all this, evaluating the psychology of these players. So, just want to put that out there before we start to jump into these numbers. But I think that a lot of what I saw in the numbers and what I saw with my eyeballs confirmed a lot of my priors. Like I came into this thinking VJ Edgecomb, super athlete, good catch andoot shooter, struggles a little bit off the dribble shooting and and some some of the other shooting concerns, but he’s going to be a transition scorer because of how fast he is and how athletic he is. and he backed that up with his uh with his vertical scores, with his shuttle time, with his lane agility drills, you know, all of those. They they didn’t jump off the charts, but they were certainly above average and above a lot of the people that were in his group one, which was, you know, he was with Cooper Flag, he was with Trey Johnson, he was with Ace Bailey. Coniple didn’t participate in this combine because of a sprained ankle that he’s still recovering from. But VJ Edgecomb, you know, super athlete and he backed it up. So VJ Edgecom is somebody that’s going to be in very much so consideration for the Charlotte Hornets there. I think it’s going to be VJ Ace, Trey Johnson, Khan Canipple is going to be interesting. I I yesterday I said I don’t think he’ll be there. Um, in terms of inconsideration, I think he’ll be available. I don’t know how much he’ll be in consideration, but people are still throwing his name out. He can shoot. So maybe I I I shouldn’t have left him out of that group yesterday. But VJ Edgecom, best athlete in this combine. Maybe except for a North Carolina guy we can get to in just a moment. But I want to hear more about Trey Johnson. What’ you think about your boy Trey? Oh man, he shot the absolute snot out of the basketball like in the shooting drills. Boogies. Sorry. Oh yeah, it’s this is a boogie show, man. He was when he gets on a heater, he gets on an absolute heater. And I’ve been interested in some of his pro comps. And I don’t I don’t love the top end comp, which is Devin Booker. I’ve been historically uh anti anti-deon Schnooker on this show. Uh you know, but hopefully Trey Johnson can be more than just a heater. But boy, he shot he shot it incredibly well. And I thought too like some of his some of his athletic stats, some of his like agility stats and different things. Um you know, he I thought he just performed really well. And then physically, you know, I think he’s he’s more gifted than than a lot of people are giving him credit for. I think people pay attention to the scoring and the shooting and I think they’re sleeping uh on his on his abilities a little bit in in other areas of his game. And a lot of people think he’s good he’s a good passer as well. Not like he’s not going to be a point guard. Like if you think he’s going to be, you know, a primary ball handler and primary play creator, then you’re going to be disappointed in what Trey Johnson is. But if if he’s a secondary creator, which is what he would be if the Hornets drafted him, right? I mean, you’re going to put him alongside LaMelo Ball, but I think he would actually complement some of the struggles that we saw Brandon Miller have being a secondary play creator. It allows Brandon Miller to, I think, focus more on the things that he’s really strong at right now, uh, which is, uh, scoring from outside, scoring in the mid-range, and Trey Johnson can be a little bit more of that secondary play creator. So, yeah, I just I love what I saw out of Trey Johnson in the combine, too. He was a big him and Edgecomb. I mean, I’m not really talking about Cooper Flag, obviously, but he he had great scores, too. Uh, but of the winners, you know, I would definitely put Trey Johnson and VJ Edgecom in that category. What about Ace Bailey? You know, way faster and more agile than I assumed. And I think if I was looking at his I’m trying to pull up the stats here. Yeah. For Ace Bailey, the shuttle run, you know, I’m a huge fan of the shuttle game. It tests your agility. It tests your, you know, quick movement, quick twitch. Uh he was 93rd percentile among participants um in the in the small forward position at shuttle run. Uh so he’s but seriously he’s like much faster and much more agile than I assumed. His physical profile he’s built like a little mini Zion but he’s obviously not as big as Zion and he can’t jump nearly as high as Zion. His um his standing vert was 27.5 which is in the 26 percentile. Where’s his max vert? His maxver vert is 34.5, which is 45th percentile. I’m not sure what I’m not sure if Zion did some of these drills, but if he did, I guarantee you that max vert was going to be in like the 80th or 90th percentile. Dude can jump. Uh, so Ace can’t do that. Um, but yeah, I mean, I I I think some of these some of these scores impressed me. Uh, and you know, so I guess I’m a little I’m still low on the fit, but I’m a little higher on just the profile of him as a player. So So if we end the the first segment with those guys that are going to be widely in consideration, right? Coniple didn’t participate because of the ankle injury. So we can just remove him from this specific conversation. But between VJ Edgecomb, Trey Johnson, and Ace Bailey, how would you rank those guys in terms of how they performed at the combine? not on your big board because we already have those rankings, but in terms of how they participated in the combine, the winners, how would you rank VJ, Trey, Ace? I think they all took it seriously and they all u again confirmed a lot of what we thought about them. The thing with Ace Bailey though is like if you look at some of his physical numbers against small forwards, you’re like, “Ah, that looks pretty good.” But if you if you don’t think he can hang as a small forward defensively, then you have to start looking at him at the power forward position and then those numbers start to look a little less impressive. So all the concerns about him for me are defensive. And so none of that is none of that had the opportunity to really be uh remedied here at the combine. That’s what I mean. This is you know this it’s not all about the combine. So, but yeah, I I think my my big takeaway is that a lot of these guys confirm the priors. And I think if you’re a Hornets fan and you’re looking at this draft and you’re a little disappointed at four, the Hornets are going to get some kind of good player at at four. And and it’ll be a different kind of player depending on who the Sixers take at three. They’ve got an opportunity. I honestly I think Trey and VJ for sure are going to have long careers. Like if you look at uh Trey Johnson, I think like middle of the road for him is Tim Hardaway Jr. And in fact, like a lot of the combine similarity scores are pretty similar between him and THJ. And THJ, for whatever you think about him, has been like a 15 point per game scorer for like 10 years. You know, that that’s not terrible. It’s probably not what you want it for, but you also don’t want someone to crater out. And that’s I don’t think all any of these three guys are going to crater out. All right, coming up next on the Lock on Hornets podcast everywhere. We’ll get a deeper look inside Doug’s nose and we’ll get a deeper look inside the NBA draft combine with Doug having been there, covered all of the athletic testing. We went through the big guys that are going to be in consideration there at number four, but what about some of the other athletes? We do have a shuttle time, a fastest shuttle time. So, you know, Doug is really going to like that. And uh we have a couple of other prospects that we want to get to coming up next. Lock on [Music] Hornets. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. The days are getting longer. The weather’s warming up. It’s pretty rainy around here, like non-stop rainy, but it is warming up, I can promise you. And people are spending more time outside, which means it’s the perfect time to refresh your outdoor space. Whether you’re working with a big backyard or a small balcony, Wayfair has everything you need to make it feel more like you. Wayfair’s massive selection of outdoor essentials makes it easy to transform any space into your ideal summer setup. From comfy conversation sets to sleek dining tables and outdoor decor, they’ve got it all. And the prices, they fit your budget. Uh the delivery is free and hassle-free as well, even for the big stuff. Uh and whether you’re entertaining guests or just relaxing solo, shop Wayfair to help you unwind. Shop a huge selection of outdoor furniture online this summer. Get outside with Wayfair. Head to wayfair.com right now. That’s w a yf a iir wayfair.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. More lockdown hornets [Music] ahead. Other athletes to take a look at. You went through some of the winners. Um let’s go with one more winner here, Doug. And let’s go with the second rounder because I think he was a big takeaway. probably a guy that was generating the most buzz around his standing vert and his max vert. Drake Pal um a 43 in I believe max vertical uh 37 1/2 in standing vert uh both by a decent margin both of those uh were the best marks. In fact, if you took his standing vert at 37 and a half and put that with the max verts, it would still be top seven, right? I mean, this guy uh explosive. I’ll be honest, having watched North Carolina, you know how good he is defensively. That’s his calling card. I I didn’t expect to get oh like 43 Max invert. I did not expect to see that, but those were some wild numbers from the Tarheel and maybe that vaults him into the first round. I think it does vault him into the first round. And I’m still waiting on like the final data for some of these guys that came in later in the day. I’m looking, by the way, I just want to shout out Nick Nick Kalinowski. uh Cali Drafts with a K on uh Twitter. He has uh this nice little data set here for the combine. I’ll put a link in the show notes, but some of the data, some of the final data hasn’t come through yet for some of these late guys. So, I don’t know percentiles, but we did get some numbers uh from Jonathan Gavone, Phony Gavon. You know, he’s he’s at least good for some numbers. And he he put some stuff out there and yeah, Drake Powell jumping out of the gym, jumping off the charts here. And but I did watch Drake Powell shoot. A lot of work to do there. Lot of work for Drake Powell in terms of shooting. So the numbers weren’t good uh at the combine. He was in the bottom third in terms of the percentages at North Carolina. It wasn’t a lot of volume, but he did shoot around 38% in college from three. His free throw percentage wasn’t great, which may lead you to believe, okay, small sample, not a whole lot of numbers up there. So perhaps it was a little bit of a mirage in terms of what we saw from Drake on the outside and especially since he shot under 70% from the free throw line and here he is in the bottom third at the combine. So I I think if you were to put all those numbers together, sure there might be the percentage that he shot at North Carolina to suggest that he can be a three and D and be okay at the three part. But there are some other numbers that would say uh maybe not so much and there’s some work to do. Well, you can look you can learn to shoot. I mean, people have l So, if if the Hornets are confident in their ability to turn bad shooters into decent shooters, then there you go. And and you you ran the numbers there. I’m just telling you like when when I was watching them shoot, and I’m no shooting expert, okay, I’ll just say that right now. But I have watched a lot of basketball. I’ve watched a lot of guys shoot and I’ve seen some of the worst shoot it. He’s not that like but the the form is wonky. Like it doesn’t if if it starts to go in with that form, I would be surprised. You know, I think there’s there needs to be some adjustments made and and you know, but look, I mean, he again, you cannot teach you can’t teach vert like you either have it or you don’t and Drake’s got it. So, if the Hornets want to take that 33 and 34th pick and move up into the latter parts of the first round to secure Drake Pal, I don’t think that would be a bad idea, honestly. Like, get great athletes and and try to teach them skill. You know, I don’t love doing that in the top 10, but I am perfectly fine doing that in the 20s if if you think you can get him there. Early 30s, too, if if he last there. But you’re right. I I saw the Gavon uh latest mock draft and it had him going I think 32, like just just outside the first round. And that might have been uh pre-combine. So, you would think some of those verts would would vault him into the first round. Those were some of the winners. Is there a loser that comes to mind, Doug? I mean, Derek Queen uh did not map out I think he was So, Nick Kalinowski does these like combine scores that combine the the drills and the measurements and he’s done this like historically since 2000. Uh well, go the data goes back to 2000. Yeah. And for centers, he’s in the sixth percentile when you average when you tot up everything. And um it’s it’s not very good. Uh the shooting numbers were awful. Uh and some of I mean we we sort of knew that he wasn’t like super athletic. Like that’s the thing, right? I mean he’s in that he’s sort of in that Alperin Shenon uh big al mold. Uh and so all of that was confirmed. Plus he didn’t shoot well, which I think that’s kind of what you want out of Derrick Queen. You want him to be able to shoot the basketball. Uh so yeah, tough tough tough combine for for Derek Wayne. Yeah, I don’t think I don’t think it knock it’s not gonna knock him out of the first round or anything, but I just think if you were thinking about take I think if you were thinking about taking him fifth, you’re probably rethinking that today. Oh, no. It’s not going to knock him out of the first round. But our conversation about him probably is does it knock him out of the top 10? Is that something that’s on the table? Which if if the numbers are that bad like singledigit outcome, singledigit percentile outcome, that’s not good historically. I mean, six percentile athlete is pretty low. We knew he wasn’t going to test well. You’re right. He he’s never going to be a combine warrior. You would like to see him shoot a little better. There is some shot making that you can see. There’s some shot making that you can see out of Maryland, but really he does a lot of his work high post, getting around guys with craft with angles and the high level of skill. it. Can you see that translating at the Shenon level or do you think that the passing isn’t as good as Shenon so he can’t really be that hub nearly as much and do you want to pass on him like out of the top 10 I think is on the table for him. You’re you’re buying completely into skill. Uh the only thing that he was above average in in terms of percentile among centers uh was slightly above average in standing reach and above average in weight. Uh his vert score his his vert score was like 12%. His agility score was uh 20 24% raw score 25%. And the overall combine score like I said 6% among centers. Lane agility 20th percentile max verd 15th percentile shuttle run 33rd percentile. I mean just not agile. Can’t really get off the floor. If he had shot better, you know what I’m saying? saying if he had shot the ball better, I think you you would let him off the hook on some of this stuff and or and and not like shot great, just shot better, but he just his shooting numbers weren’t great at all. Yeah. And I think if he shot better at Maryland, you would let him off the hook, right? Like if because it’s not all about the combine shot, like maybe you just have an off day, you know, whatever. Um you can’t put a ton into that. But he didn’t shoot very many threes at Maryland and he only shot 20% on the one a game that he took. The free throw percentage was 76%. So something to maybe be an indicator for him being a better shooter from the outside. Those things work. But uh yeah, not a good combine for Derek Queen. All right, before we get out of here, I I did want to just mention one other combine observation that you have here in the rundown. I I can’t believe it. It nada called it, man. Like he he called it to a tea. I I you think maybe he’s just throwing stuff against the wall and he’s seeing what sticks. Well, this one it sticks, baby. Shout out to Natada. Tell the people how Natada got something right, Doug. Well, so we were joking about my obsession with the shuttle run. And I was obsessed. Like someone came up to me at the combine and I was just staring at the shuttle run the whole time. And they were like, you know, there are other drills. And they like took my head and turned it, you know, left and right to show me all the different drill. I was like, “Oh my god, you’re right. There are different drills.” Let me uh so we were joking about my obsession with the shuttle run when he was on uh last week and he said, “Well, watch out for Rashier Fleming because he’s going to crush the shuttle run. He’s super agile.” And so we got this uh tweet from John Shep here. Rashier Fleming takes over the fastest shuttle run time here at the 2025 NBA draft combine. Really impressive mark at 2.72 seconds. Now again, he was part of the later group. Final data hasn’t come in, but that’s better than VJ. That’s better than Trey. I think it’s going to hold up as a taller than both of them, too, right? Like he’s a bigger he’s a wing profile guy, right? Yeah. And and shot the ball really well, too. Like I’m interested when the full data comes in for Rashir Fleming. I think he did himself a lot of favors. Uh, and because people were already, and not just Natada, like I had been reading more and more about Rishier Fleming, people were starting to wake up to him uh coming into the lottery, mid lottery, and I I think that’s that fire is only going to continue. And so, you know, the the thing that we don’t see though uh at this combine are the interviews with the general managers. Uh, you know, I think that’s really interesting when it comes to Ace Bailey and VJ and Trey and all of these guys. the questions that they’re asked by the general manager, particularly for this franchise, because I think they do, this version of the franchise, I think, pays attention to the intangibles. They’re trying to buy in Oh, yeah. to people as much as they’re buying into numbers. And and I don’t know how you you know I think all this stuff is weighed by different franchises like some and if you look at it uh some people some franchises love to go after the combine heroes and some love to go after the people that really perform well in college and then I and so you’re weighing all of these different things. I think this I think that Jeff Peterson and Charles Lee put a lot of weight into how you come across as a person because that’s going to determine, you know, how you’re going to deal with the adversity that comes with being a rookie in the NBA. Are you going to be able to say, “Oo, I really messed that up my rookie season. How do I improve that in the off season?” And when you’re taking 18 and 19 year olds, it’s super important to buy into the guy because that, you know, maturity level early on is a good indicator of how quickly they’re going to improve. Yeah, I have more to say on that and I’m going to say it in the next segment coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Everywhere. intangibles and difference in philosophy with what you have in Schlotkin and Jeff Peterson compared to what you had with the MJ regime trader Joe Cho who we may need to bring up again perhaps he made an appearance at the combine and also with what you had in Mitch Cubch. I’ll talk about the differences in philosophy and then we’ll finally get to the mock draft all today locked on Hornets. This episode is brought to you by CarGurus. Shopping for a car should be exciting, not exhausting. But between the confusing prices and hidden fees, it can feel overwhelming. That’s why I love using Car Gurus. They help you cut through the noise and show you the best deals with full confidence. With over 4 million listings, CarGurus has more new and used cars than any other major online marketplace in the US. They verify dealers, provide real price analysis, and give you the tools and data you need to make the right choice without second-guessing yourself. If you need a deal you can trust, CarGurus makes it easy to compare vehicles side by side with unbiased deal ratings. And the best feature is they give you price drop alerts so you know exactly when the perfect car is available for your budget. It’s no wonder Similar Web estimated traffic data shows CarGurus is the number one most visited car shopping site. Buy or sell your next car today with CarGurus at cargurus.com. Go to cargurus.com to make sure your big deal is the best deal. That’s c a rg gu. cargurus.com. cargurus.com. More lockdown hornets [Music] ahead. You talked about the intangibles. Jeff Peterson flat out told you that’s what they care about. During Exod interviews, he said, “We care about that kind of stuff.” and you’ve seen it with every move they’ve made. We’ve touched on this quite a bit, but if you’re just finding us wherever in the Hornets ether after you’re dazed and confused, no Cooper flag, is it rigged? What should we change the lottery process? Oh, there are prospects available at number four. One thing is, you know, that the Jeff Peterson regime, they are going after guys they feel good about with their character and with their work ethic. Every move they’ve made almost. I I can’t think of one that honestly doesn’t represent that. Right. Josh Aakogi Musa Diabate they love. They give him a multi-year contract after bringing him in on a two-way deal. You also go after Tan Salon who doesn’t know how to play at any other speed. You actually are are trying to say, “Whoa, dog. Whoa. We need you to back off of this just a little bit.” So, every move they’ve made, they go bring in high character guys. We had this conversation, too. We’re like, “Do you overlook some of the intangibles for some of the talent?” and then hope that you have established a culture to bring the best out in some of these guys because I do think the good teams they can do that sort of thing. Do we have the culture in place yet or do you need a few tweaks? Do you need to make a few adjustments to make sure your culture can bring the best out of a guy that might have some questions? not necessarily questions about his character, but you know, just just maybe not a 100% motor constantly like Derek Queen is is tabbed with not having a 100% motor all the time. So, do you have those types of questions about really, really, really talented guys? And are you going to be willing to pull the trigger on them? I think that’s a question that Peterson, Schlotkin, all those guys are going to have to make a distinction on. And so far, I have an answer. I have an answer. They don’t charact. Yeah, they don’t have that locker room. They they’ve got to bring in high character guys. I don’t think they have the locker room that’s ready to support uh bringing in someone uh that’s not really ready and making them ready. They’re going to have to come in with a mindset of like, oh, I want to be it. And I’ll tell you, and this is all vibes, so you know, nothing scientific about this, just my observations being there. I thought that VJ Edgecomb in particular had a level of seriousness on his face and in the way that he approached all of the drills and the warm-ups and everything that was involved. He just looked like an ultra serious dude. That’s all I can say. Uh and not that not that Trey Johnson wasn’t and not that that’s really like an extreme determining factor in whatever is going to come. I’m just telling you VJ Edgecomb looked like a super serious dude. Uh, one more player that did not did not do himself a ton of favors, I think confirmed a little bit of the priors, but maybe in such a serious way that it’s going to bring up some concerns, is Kan Malawash, who his really his shuttle run uh 10th percentile, his standing vert 15th percentile, his max vert 30th percentile, lane agility 40th percentile. It it’s just like a lot of below average in terms of agility, in terms of vertical, and and just a generally below average uh combine rating for Malawash, who I saw hit a few three-point shots, you know, obviously. Yeah, his shooting was actually So, I think he was 12 of 25, honestly. Okay, 12 of 25. That was that’s pretty good for him just being a massive human. And on the the 40th percentile agility, I think clearly you’re going to have to sacrifice some of the athleticism in that body. So the 40th percentile agility doesn’t necessarily bother me as much. Some of the 10th and 15th. Okay. Shut. He’s out for me. Shuttle run 10th percentile. I’m sorry. You’re done. Um Malawatch, I think the more we get through this process, Doug, the harder it is for me to give you an opinion on him. There are some things I really like and there are some things that scare me. I I don’t consider him as polarizing as Ace Bailey because I think there’s a wider variance there, but it’s just hard for me to pin down exactly how I feel about Malawatch. The the shooting, the guy’s not been playing basketball very long. I think that matters. Yeah. And if you’re talking about him going into God, how long has he been playing? Like is it is it four years? Something like that. I mean, it’s not been very long. and and he’s not just a total plotter where he can’t move whatsoever, but does he move well enough for my taste? The guy is almost 71 without shoes. I think he came in at 7 foot three quarters without shoes on. That’s a that’s a monster, man. Like that’s a that’s a big dude. So, it’s it’s tough for me. I I don’t think he’s going to be a part of the equation at at four. So, we don’t really have to have that big- time debate. Trade back possibly. I don’t think that’s on the table either. But just in terms of how we evaluate these prospects, uh, hard for me to figure out, man. I don’t know. There’s there’s some good and bad there. Yeah, I’m interested. I’m interested to see the numbers come out for Danny Wolf and Cal Briner and some of these other center prospects that might be available either in the latter part of the first round or certainly in the upper parts of the second round where the Hornets have two picks. I’ll be interested to see that versus their shooting numbers. I saw the Danny Wolf height. I mean, the height, you could uh check that box off. I think it was 610 and a quarter, something like that without shoes. So you’re you’re touching seven feet. That’ll do for sure. Uh difference in philosophy and then before uh philosophy, we get to mock draft. So you were talking about some teams will go after super productive college guys and some teams will draft the athlete. Some teams will draft the intangibles. We’ve seen the Hornets draft the intangible with Ton Salon and the Toolsy guy as well. So you give me athletic traits and you give me character. Great. Especially in last year’s draft class. Take a swing on that. That makes sense. It it does feel like the the old regime, Doug, they were they had the reputation of going after uber productive college basketball players. Yes, they they they prioritize skill for sure. Well, and and so Miles Bridges, right? Someone that was supposed to be a top five pick. Yeah. The slips down just a little bit after going back to Michigan State, but still a college star up at Michigan State. Miles Bridges is that selection for them. Malik Monk, Rich Cho, Mitch Cupche, different GMs, but Michael Jordan still overseeing a lot of this. Malik Monk, super super productive college basketball player that falls to them at 11, but super productive college basketball player. PJ Washington. PJ was awesome at Kentucky. Had the ankle injury in the tournament, but was really good at Kentucky. That’s also more so though in the 1112 range. So maybe that’s what you fall back on. that’s your that’s your cushion if you don’t get a top five pick and instead you just hey here we are in the double digits let’s just go after somebody we know they know how to play basketball but now that you’re dealing with the the second overall pick going after Brandon Miller LaMelo Ball was the third overall selection Mitch Cupch didn’t prioritize super productive college basketball player there you go after LaMelo right and LaMelo was the right pick Brandon was super productive but clearly going to be a top three pick you go after him and Mitch Cupchek, Jeff Peterson, Rick Rick Schnull, Gay Plotkin, they all had their hands in that pick. So, I I I guess my point is I don’t know if if this front office has a type yet, right? We know character is their type, but in terms of drafting, we just don’t have a large enough sample with them only going after one guy so far. It’ll be interesting to see how that develops over the next couple of years. I mean, an interesting sort of counterfactual would be would this version of the franchise have drafted LaMelo Ball? Would LaMelo Ball have slipped to four? I do I do think there’s a certain aspect of like you the talent is so good that you have to overlook certain character stuff and and and and LaMelo came into a different version of the franchise that had uh veterans had more veterans. You know, he landed in a different place than he would have if they had drafted him today. So anyway, interesting question. All right, Mockdraft No Ceilings NBA. Uh great substack. one of my go-tos for draft analysis and coverage. They’ve updated their mock draft since the lottery came out. And number four, the Charlotte Hornets are taking VJ Edgecomb out of Baylor 65 in shoes 193. And they say Charlotte got their hearts broken with the way the lottery fell, but they can take comfort in knowing they are bringing in an absolute dog in VJ Edgecomb. He brings some of the best athleticism you’ll see towards the top of this class. Steel percentage of 3.8, block percentage of 2.3. His measurements came in favorably. Thought to be more of a scorer than a shooter. Edgecomb still shot over 36% on his catch and shoot looks. And I’ll say that if you look at his shooting numbers, he did great from the corner, which I think again VJ Edgecomb his offensive profile early in his career is going to be be in the corner in the half court and be ready to go in transition. And which is great like that. The Hornets need that. Well, you know, you know who would get off the floor in that scenario? you get Josh Green off the floor because because what what this offense does is you you just plant Josh Green in the corner. That that’s it, right? That’s how this offense was drawn up is he just goes and he hangs out there. He sets up camp. He brings s’mores. He gets to pick between his favorite fluffern nutter. Uh does he give you some chocolate? What kind of Hershey’s does he like? Does he want Reese’s? He put a little peanut butter on his s’mores when he camps out over there. VJ Edgecomb doesn’t need to camp. he’ll be over there, but maybe he can do a little bit more stuff with the basketball in his hands and not shoot an abysmal percentage from two points like that. That would be nice to have alongside a LaMelo. Yeah, I think he’s going to be way more aggressive than Josh Green. I think that’s what excites you. Um I think I’m I’m still This is to me I think I’ll just profile this right now. I have I’m going to be close to 50/50 on VJ versus Trey because there we’ll talk more about Trey in coming shows, but there’s so much. He is a tough shot maker. And when I when I look at like boxes that you have to check to become a star in this league. One of them is do you are you a are you unafraid to take ridiculously tough shots and do you make them? And when you look at his season at Texas, like that’s all he did. I mean, he was just a tough shot maker. So, man, this is going to be a difficult decision. I do not envy this front office. And I’m telling you right now, for those that are waiting on me uh to to take another scoot wagon sort of jump, this is going to be much tougher because I just I look at both of these guys and I salivate over the different ways that they could help this team. I’m right there with you. It’s going to be VJ seems like a guy that would come in and immediately be a fan favorite just diving for loose basketballs and all that stuff, but but Trey seems to have a little bit more of the electricity, you know, circulating throughout him. Uh, both guys would be fun. Um, they’re gonna get a good player. It’s okay. The kids kids might be all right. I think so. I think so. I think this is u I’m getting more and more excited about this draft. Again, it’s not 2024. It is not uh 2013. The last time the Charlotte Hornets selected fourth was 2013 when they took Cody Zeer who and this is not Cody Zeller hate. I mean, how much production did the Hornets get out of Cody Zeller? My god. I will that will be a take that uh that I will will die on that hill. The right pick. Oh, they didn’t. They could have taken Giannis. Yeah. So could have, you know, 10 other teams by the time the the Bobcats picked and the Bucks picked. So we don’t need to do the Giannis thing. Cody Zeller compared to everybody else that they could have taken at that point. Right pick anyways. Yeah. But at the same time, we we all knew on that night that like it was a two or three player draft and the Hornets were drafting fourth. Obviously, Cooper and this is a two-player in terms of guaranteed not I mean what what can you really guarantee but pretty much guaranteed all-star and Cooper flag and Dylan Harper it there is a drop off but it’s not as severe as it was in 2013. There are really good players at three and four and the Hornets are going to get one from from Dylan to those guys. I think you’re right. Right. I mean, from from Cooper, it’s a big one, but I think from Dylan who we would have taken second cuz I I even like what Dylan Harper did at the combine to be honest with you. He looked to be good. But yeah, man. I I’m with you. I It’s going to be tough between those two guards to see who we want the Hornets to take and who they eventually end up taking there at number four. That’ll do it for Doug’s time in Chicago. Doug, appreciate it, man. I I hope there you go. Anything? Oh, you’re good. I think you’re clear. Oh, wow. We got a deep look. I saw all those IQ points up there. Um uh your your last day in Chicago. You’re going to go home today. We’ll be back with you at the uh the home studio tomorrow. Nat’s going to come on tomorrow and tell us his combine thoughts. There you go. Okay. So, uh we appreciate your work, sir. Did you have a good time? Just real quickly, give us a summary of Chicago. Oh, I had a great time. Big thanks to Amrazole uh for allowing me to eat all of the um Harold’s chicken. Uh shout out to Walker for the recommendation there and the uh pizza. And I went over to Chinatown and got some slurp slurp noodles. They were amazing. Um yeah, I’m just No, that’s actually that’s the name of the place. I’m not making that’s the actual name of the place. It was amaz They had handpulled noodles. My god, was good. Okay, so you you ate well, man. Doug Branson eating well in Chicago. So, go check out his work. Every hornetsboxcore.com. You going to be unlocked on NBA today? I am not. No. Matt and Hayes thankfully are holding it down uh for me until I get back. I’ll be back on Thursday to share all my thoughts on uh Jason Tatum and the uh man. I mean, wow. Just a crazy turn of events in the NBA, right? It seems like the new rule is you either want to be three through six or you want to get bounced from the playin so that you can win the lottery. If Adam Silver likes you, if if he likes you because he has control over this, he has control over it. I’m Walker Male. Listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12:00 to 3 p.m. Have a great rest of your day. We’ll be back with you tomorrow. [Music]

Doug Branson reports from the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago with in-person takes on top Hornets targets like VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, and Ace Bailey. Plus, Walker and Doug debate combine winners, losers, and who should rise on Charlotte’s draft board.

Doug Branson checks in one last time from Chicago to deliver fresh insight from the NBA Draft Combine. On this episode of Locked On Hornets, Doug shares his firsthand observations of potential Hornets picks like VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, and Ace Bailey. Edgecombe proved himself as one of the most athletic players in the class and showed a focused intensity that stood out all week. Tre Johnson’s shooting was elite, lighting up the drills and showcasing skills that could pair beautifully with LaMelo Ball. Ace Bailey surprised with his quickness, but his position fit and defensive concerns remain.

Doug and Walker also spotlight lesser-known risers like shuttle-run king Rasheer Fleming and explosive Tar Heel Drake Powell, who posted wild vert numbers. Not every prospect came away winners—Derik Queen and Khaman Maluach struggled to stand out and raised real concerns. The duo dive into how the Hornets’ new front office approach, which heavily values character and athleticism, is shaping their draft philosophy.

Finally, they react to the latest mock drafts and tease a tougher-than-expected decision between Edgecombe and Tre at pick #4. It’s an episode loaded with combine context, insider impressions, and a look at the future of the Hornets.

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