Brandon Miller ONLY Untouchable? | Sicko Satchel: Jarrett Allen trade, LaMelo Hurting Rebuild?

Brandon Miller ONLY Untouchable? | Sicko Satchel: Jarrett Allen trade, LaMelo Hurting Rebuild?

It’s a sicko satchel Friday. Lots of rumaging. Lots of rumaging through the sicko satchel today. We do first lead off though with a fun game that Doug created. We give you the report. You guessed the reporter. That’s all today. Locked on Hornets. That doesn’t sound very fun. It’s great. It’s fun. 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 Locked On Hornets, part of the Locked On podcast network. It’s your team every day. Thanks for making us your first listen. We’re free and available anywhere you get your podcast and that does include YouTube. There’s Doug Branson. Find him on his Substack every hornetsboxcore.com. Also listen to Locked on NBA with Matt Moore and Hayes. I’m Walker Mail. You can listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3 PM. We’re going to be out at Speed Street today. Charlotte Motor Speedway Memorial Day weekend. North Carolina crib represent Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Coke 600 in store. So, we’re going to be out there if you Where is Speed Street? Cuz I I recall Speed Street being on Trion, but do they do it do they do it uptown anymore or is it somewhere? It’s moved. Nope. It’s moved. Yeah. It’s weird, right? Because when I think of Speed Street, I think of going to Uptown as well and then just walking the street like you were a middle schooler at the county fair, but it’s now that at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s just the street right out in front. So, it’s uh Yeah, it’s not the same. It It is cool to be at the track, but it’s not the same as uh Uptown. So, well, it’s disappointing because I remember that and growing up with Fish Camp Jam. Were you Did you get to experience Fish Camp Jam or had it already gone away? These were things that that as a kid in Gastonia or Belmont or any of these surrounding suburbs, it was it was your opportunity to go to the big city to see the tall buildings to dream a dream. Now all these things are moving away. I don’t get it. Yeah. Going to the track, it’s like, okay, we’re we’re next to Concord Mills. That’s cool. As a kid, let’s go shopping. Uh but no, but the the track is sweet. By the way, the only fish camp that I know is Jones Fish Camp. When you’re heading into Kataba County on 16 or heading out of Kataba County on 16, they got their own little pond out there. Just fry everything, baby. Jones Fish Camp, we love you. All right, let’s move on. Let’s play the fun game that was enticing for everybody to play. I’m sure they didn’t turn off the YouTube channel immediately upon saying, “We’ll give you the report and you guess the reporter.” But this is something that you created, Doug, because well, I mean, I don’t know if you have an We do have an issue with it. Tell the people I’m angry. That’s why I create most things I create on this show are because I’m angry at something or someone, and this is no exception. I have a report here. I It It may It may or may not be juicy. I’ll let you decide that. It’s a report on the Hornets. I’m going to read it in a moment, but I’m going to tell you right up front. I’m not going to tell you who wrote this report. And the reason why is because I went to this person’s website and I tried to copy and paste the text over into our rundown so that I could give this report and then give credit to this report. Guess what? I couldn’t. The website would not allow me to select the text. Okay. Then I tried to rightclick on the website and a little popup came up and said this website has disabled right clicking. Unbelievable. I get not wanting to be aggregated and not given credit, but I can’t even give you now because you won’t let me aggregate now. I’m not go, you know, ethically I am. I’m going to put it in the show notes. So, if you want to know who it is, you can go to the show notes, but I’m not going to speak this person’s name because they have made their website so hostile. Okay? Cuz I I had some thoughts because the the name is quite interesting, especially with the Hornets side of things, right? because we’ve run into this type of reporting from this type of reporter before all the way back. I’ll give you a hint. All the way back in the what the 2015 draft, right? I think it was a 2015 draft. That’s what it was. So, uh, that that’s when a certain report rubbed people the wrong way. I I I digress. I digress. Go ahead, Doug. What’s the report? All right. This is it. One opposing executive told that he’s been led to believe Brandon Miller. That’s right. I’m not going to even say the name of the website because the website is so hostile. You get a fart noise. That’s your name. That’s right. One opposing executive told that he’s been led to believe Brandon Miller is the lone untouchable on Charlotte’s roster, though he doesn’t think LaMelo Ball or Miles Bridges will be moved. Quote, “No one would pay what the Hornets are surely seeking for either player.” unquote, the executive said. He added that he intends to call Charlotte about the number four overall pick just to gauge what the Hornets would want in exchange. The exec at the exec added he has no idea if the Hornets are willing to move the selection. Okay, let’s play. Here’s another game. The game is you can guess the reporter. The other game is is this a report? That that’s the other game. How much substance is there truly to what you just read? Is this a report or is this just I need to put a quote out there. I got a couple exec exec contacts and I’m going to put out something that they said. I’m going to ask them about the Hornets. They’re going to give me something and then I’m going to put it on this website that you can’t copy and paste because I I I really do think the only thing that could be considered a legitimate report here is one opposing executive told Hoops W, excuse me, Hoops, well, we can say your name, right? We didn’t give you the reporter though. We didn’t give you the reporter. told that certain publication that he’s been led to believe Brandon Miller is the lone and untouchable on Charlotte’s roster. He’s been led to believe that. Have you been told that? But uh I’ve been led to believe that Brandon Miller is the lone untouchable. What about LaMelo and Miles? Will they be moved? They could. They could. Will they? Do you think that Are they shopping them? They could. They really could. Uh okay. Okay. So, what what’s happening with this? Do you think they’re going to do you think they’re going to take any phone calls? It’s possible. It’s certainly possible. Anyways, that that that’s the game. Is this a real report? That’s my question to you. What do you say, Doug? I I mean, I feel like this person really did talk to an executive, but obviously the executive has not even called the Charlotte Hornets. So, yeah. I mean, there’s I I think though this information does track with me. Like, I do believe that Brandon Miller is the lone untouchable player on this team. And I think it makes some sense to me that LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges are going to be untouchable by default because the Hornets are going to want to get a lot in return for a deal for LaMelo Ball because uh there’s a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of resources invested in making LaMelo Ball great. And I think there is still an attitude uh from this coaching staff that LaMelo does things that not a lot of other players do and you need those kind of players to be successful if you can you know develop some of those other skills and make them a more complete player which I think Lee has. I mean just from what he says it just seems like he has some confidence that LaMelo once he gets his body right can do some of those things. than Miles. Uh, you know, obviously I don’t I mean, we we discussed yesterday like how serious are they being in in all of this press about him being a leader or not. Uh, but he certainly is one of the more veteran presences in the locker room and he plays a lot of games. So, he’s valuable to the Hornets to a certain extent. And I’m sure other teams would ding the Hornets a little bit for some of the off-c court stuff for Miles. And so, they might not be willing to give him up for as little as being as maybe being offered for him. And look, may Okay, so perhaps I’m going a little too hard on whatever this website is. Uh, I can’t imagine they would watch this and then say, “Oh, you know what? Now I’m going to allow you to copy and paste stuff from our website. It’s probably only that’s already out the window, so forget about it. They’re probably they’re probably going to put up, you know, 20 ft walls around the website now. But okay, people are probably interested in what exacts are saying from other teams. But but this is just an opinion from another front office exec. though what’s happening is you’re just putting out there what somebody in a high up position in the NBA thinks about the Hornets position even if they clearly don’t have a ton of information on what the Hornets are thinking because he whoever this exec is said quote no one would pay what the Hornets are surely seeking which means you don’t know what the Hornets are seeking which means they have not called you nor have you called them and you’ve gotten this information either through like third degrees of separation or three degrees of separation or you’ve gotten it based off of your own opinion on whatever has happened before. So, look, maybe he’s right. I guess that would be the kind of thing I would throw out there as well. That would make sense to me. We’ve said Brandon Miller makes sense as the only untouchable player on this roster. Uh we’ve had our conversations about whether you would trade LaMelo, what it would take. Same thing for Miles. But, um that’s the report. That’s the report in the offseason. And I think teams I think teams will call about the fourth pick. I I think that the price for the three pick may the price may include having to take Paul George which is a price in and of itself because he makes so much money that deal might be more complicated whereas it would be less complicated I think to deal with the Hornets and move to four and if the you know if they’re not enamored with VJ Edgecom or Trey Johnson and maybe they’re enamored with someone like uh Canipple or Carter Bryan or somebody that can be had uh just a few picks down then you you know, trading back, I think, is a real possibility, particularly if it means that Jeff Peterson can stack even more first round picks if they don’t feel like they want to be competitive this next season. if they’re really targeting two seasons from now, two, you know, the next off seasonason for making the big moves and they can score one or more first round picks in exchange to for somebody to move up to four, probably unlikely it’s going to be multiple first, but if it gets you an extra first, that’s that’s very much something that I can see Jeff Peterson doing. All right, sicko satchel time coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Beast everywhere. We got questions uh from Ben from the seventh Dwayne Bacon division. We have questions from casual Hindu of the first Lance Stevenson division. We got some plenty uh we got plenty of other questions to get to as well. Sicko satchel time. Locked on Hornets. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can’t miss moments. Whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action. FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props, performance trends, and same game parlays. Fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big. You could win $200 in bonus bets that will add to the excitement of watching live sports or just betting even on some of these props that FanDuel has to offer. There are plenty of ways to get in on the action with FanDuel. And if you’re new to FanDuel, it’s the perfect time to sign up. Again, head to fanduel.com, place your first $5 bet, and if it wins, you’ll get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. Sicko Satchel time. It’s been a while since we’ve dedicated two segments to the Siko Satchel. So, let’s run through these questions. What you got for the people, Doug? Ben from the seventh Dwayne Bacon division writes, “Fake trade idea. Miles and a couple of seconds for Jared Allen. Cleveland needs playable wing depth pretty badly and Charlotte can secure a center for the future assuming Mark is gone this off season. It feels inevitable that Cleveland moves on from Allen to play Moy at the five. And Charlotte seems like a glove inhand fit for what Allen can provide on both ends of the floor minus the three-point shooting. Okay. I don’t think Cleveland would go for that. I think they would ask for a first round pick. Two, uh, I think that’s way too low on what it would take to go get Jared Allen in my opinion. But if we wanted to just stick with the spirit of the question, would you go after Jared Allen somehow this off season? You look at Cleveland and their success or lack thereof with him. He’s not been great in the postseason. This is someone that has been a great regular season player and I really value him as a player. I like Jared Allen a lot. We know that he’s destroyed the Charlotte Hornets a couple of times. He’s one of those guys that always frustrates me because he’ll put up a nine for nine game with 17 rebounds. That was post Mark Williams. That was premark Williams. Jared Allen has just been a thorn in the Hornets side for quite some time. But then they get to the postseason and then it hasn’t quite worked out for him nearly as much. It feels like he might not be as physical a player in the postseason as much as what other people might want. So, all that being said, I could see a world where they’re willing to move on from Jared Allen, who I just checked the Cavs payroll not too long ago, actually. He’s making he’s going to be getting up to $30 million. Not quite there yet, but will be getting up to $30 million a year. Um, so should they go after him? I don’t know. I don’t think so. I I I would I I would like Jared Allen on my team, but where we are now, do I want to get rid of first round picks to go get him, which I do think it would take first round picks to go get him? And it Miles as well, right? Like you have to attach some win now players to what Cleveland would want. I I just to me I I feel like it’s too hard to make sense in my brain, Doug. I don’t know if that’s how it works in yours. Yeah, it could cost you Tan Salon, could cost you a young player that that you want to develop. Like it’s Yeah, it would be difficult particularly because it is such a long-term investment. You are really betting that Jared Allen is going to contribute significantly to your team for four or five seasons. You know that on this show I’ve expressed my desire, my deep, deep set desire for this Hornets team to have some bigs that can legitimately shoot. Jared Allen cannot do that. But that wouldn’t preclude me from a deal from for a center that would anchor your defense because I think there is a way for the Hornets to win particularly in the regular season with four really good shooters around a true anchor big. I mean I think that’s what Charles Lee part of what Charles Lee wants but I think ultimately the full vision of what Charles Lee could win with in the playoffs has to involve a lot of players that can shoot outside. And so, yeah, it it would be difficult to be paying him $32.5 million at the end of that contract. You can always, you know, find ways to to make the the deal will get better. You can find ways to move the deal, but that is a long-term investment in a guy that that again, you said in the playoffs becomes a little bit more difficult to play. And if that’s ultimately the goal for the Hornets in the next like three or four seasons, that could be a problem. Yeah. So, I I’m not sure about the injury stuff with him. uh played 20 minutes in the game four loss to Indiana, scored two points, played 30 minutes in the game five loss to Indiana in this postseason and only scored nine. Um there there was Look, I know you’re not exactly asking him to be this monster scorer. Um you want him to get a ton of rebounds. There were two 12 rebound games for him. There was also a five rebound game, a two rebound game, and a four rebound game. And that’s the stuff that leaves Cavs fans frustrated. It’s Yeah, sure. you’re capable of getting the double digits. Like we’ve seen him be a monster and that’s great. I like him as a player, but there have been those performances. The Mitchell Robinson matchup is infamous for Jared Allen where he just gets torched. And this is before like this new and healthy and like bat out of hell style Mitchell Robinson that we’ve seen in this postseason. Final thing on Allen and his contract. It’s actually a weird one where it jumps up a lot. So he’s only going to be making $20 million next year. But then in 2026 27 it goes up to 28. So it’s a big $8 million increase from 202526 to 2627. Then you get to 30 and then 32 uh before he’s an unrestricted free agent in 2019 30. But Ben hits on 2930, excuse me. Sorry. Ben hits on something here that is interesting with the Cavaliers and I think several other teams are going to want to be shedding payroll. And so the Hornets might be able to take advantage somewhere, but I think they would be better off in particular with Cleveland, looking at a guy that that has been rumored to them, Isaac Auroro, who’s making 11 million if they if the if the Cavaliers want to move a little bit of salary, but keep their core mostly intact. You know, there are opportunities like that that I think the Hornets could add some 3 and D prospects to Aoro, who dealt with some injuries this past season, but hopefully can get back healthy and contribute to the Hornets next season. Uh, good question by the way. That that was worthy of a conversation for Jared and then just the spirit of it parlaying that into something. Good question because it it’s very much on the table. Last thing too with Cleveland Todd Jerome stuff like he’s probably going to price out of what the Hornets can get, but I it does feel like I feel like that I mean you’re willing to give anyone who just walks in the door $10 million. I mean, what’s another, you know, 15? What’s another what’s another 20? Okay. like that. If if Christian Brown is out here getting 30 million on the extension, it’s a Yeah, you know, if you times it by three, then I’ll admit it’s a big deal. Uh but Ty Jerome, it’s frustrating because that’s the kind of guy that you would like to have here as a backup point guard, scorer, shooter, uh that the Cavs just had on their payroll this past season for only two and a half million and now is going to parlay that into 20 plus. Yeah, that’s that’s the kind of guy you need. I’m making a joke there. If you didn’t if you haven’t been watching us all week, if you’re not an everydayer, what’s wrong with you? But if you’re not an everydayer, I’m making a joke there in reference to uh me being a little bit hesitant to give Trey Mann right now $30 million over three years. So, $10 million a year. I you know, I don’t I don’t even know if I’m going to debate this. I think that’s just relative to the comments that came after the most unpopular take I’ve ever on this show. Everybody to a person was like, “You’re an idiot. Why aren’t you giving Trey Man 3?” And you know what? I I I I respect all of your opinions. I still think all of you are wrong. I still think that you have to be a little bit hesitant. Here’s what it says to me. Honestly, I don’t blame people uh for saying that I for I don’t blame people for being wrong about me being right. Here’s what I think. I think it speaks to the desperation that the sickos who contribute to the satchel and comment on YouTube, the desperation they have to see a player play for the Charlotte Hornets and exceed expectations instead of not exceed not even meet those expectations. So when they got a taste of that with Trey man, they want to hold on to it as tightly as possible. And all I’m saying is the man had a serious back injury that would not get better. And we don’t even know if it’s better yet. And you got everyone is out there just screaming like throwing money at him. And I’m saying, “Guys, you’re thirsty. Hold on. Let’s find out what Trey man is or isn’t before we go out and throw $30 million down the drain.” So, one, when you say you sickos and you people, it it’s funny. It’s so patronizing because it’s like it’s you’re speaking to me too, right? So, like because I’m the one that also was very much so disagreeing with that. That’s one. Two, it you know, you said you’re a little hesitant. Okay. You said you wouldn’t do it. You said you flat out wouldn’t do it. It’s okay to be hesitant. Like, I don’t Not that I wouldn’t bring him back. I’d bring him back. It’s just like I’m not going to bid against I don’t think anyone out there is going to give back. You said you wouldn’t bring him back. You said that on the show. You said you wouldn’t bring him back. You said you wouldn’t bring him back at 10 million. Yes, you did. No, I did. Go check the tape. You said you would not. You said you would not bring him back on 10 million. Million. No, I said one year qualifying offer. Yes, you did see that. You You said 10. That’s what people are saying though. You would not bring him back at 10 a year is what you said for three years. I don’t think anyone’s going to give any and we’ll figure out I’ll I will eat the the big dub hat if someone gives him $30 million. I will eat the big dub hat. I mean, okay. Yeah, that’s it’s probably too long. Like, I don’t think that’s going to happen either. But it’s also not eat big dub hat impossible. We’ll find out. I Okay, for sure. I I don’t think it’s going to happen either. But big dub hat meal impossible. That seems strong. Um I think people just like a good player, man. But I hear you. All right. I’m not patronizing. I’m not patronizing. This is the cave allegory where everyone’s everyone’s in the the bottom of the cave. We’re in the darkness and we see shadows and we don’t understand them. I’m just the person that happened on this particular instance to turn around and see the light and see the world for what it really is. And I’m seeing Trey Mana, extremely talented player, back injury scares the hell out of me. I’m not giving that guy three years, 30 million. Come on. To to defend that your stance, I will say clearly this is all if if the back is ravaged, then no. Right. Like I I don’t know what their what their records show. I don’t know what’s happening with Trey behind the scenes. So, if it’s clearly terrible, then yeah, you’re not going to throw him the qualifying offer, no less for sure than the three-year $10 million a year contract that we’re talking about. But if it’s ravaged, then of course not. That’s the caveat. But see, there’s a there’s a spectrum. It’s not like, oh, it’s either completely shot or it’s completely healthy. That’s that’s the thing about these injuries that we’ve seen with Mark Williams and with Cody Martin and with Trey Mann. A lot of times it is you ramp it up, you see how it goes and you sort of cross your fingers and you play a guy eventually you get to a point where you feel comfortable playing that player, but there’s no guarantee that he’s not going to play 10 games and the stuff crops up again. That’s the whole that’s the risk that you’re taking and that and that’s not a risk I think the Hornets should be willing to make on T. If Trey man were like someone that had recovered from this previously or had given the Hornets three or four good years, different conversation. Sure. It’s just we just don’t know. Yeah. Don’t know about the back. That’s the big caveat. All right. Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Beast everywhere. Let’s get to more sicko satchel questions and then we’ll give you another mock draft. That’s still to come here. L. Good question from Ben. We had another Trey man discussion. I want you to flame Doug in the comments again. He wants more. He was not burned. Spun my ATV’s wheels in the mud, Dave. You should have just kept going instead. You did. Oh, great video games, by the way. The ATV video games, whether it be Nintendo 64 or PlayStation. Phenomenal video games. What’s the next uh sicko satchel question you have? All right, here we go. Casual Hindu of the first Lance Stevenson division uh writes this. As you learn more about the draft, would you rather keep the 33rd and 34th pick or package them together and move up to get one player instead of taking a swing on two? I’m leaning on trading up, especially because some of these center prospects are moving up on people’s boards and I really want to get one of them. Okay, so this happens a lot in the NFL draft. that does not happen a lot in the NBA draft. And part of that is because you’re talking about so many more players and needing to provide a big impact with a 53man roster that you can even hold on to more guys on the practice squad, all that stuff. It’s why you see so much more movement on NFL draft day than you do on NBA draft day when guys are moving down the board because they don’t value as much more bites at the apple. They value swinging on a guy and then hitting by possibly moving up. All that being said, I have been one that believes the NBA teams, they should value more bites at the apple more. And I know it’s like, well, what do you mean? We’ll trade for all the first round picks. We love having all these first round picks. Yeah. But part of that is because you you like the perception is reality approach with picks where everybody values first rounders until they grow arms and legs. And once you use that first round pick, now it’s not as valuable to them anymore. That’s just the way it works. So you like draft picks, but you don’t actually like using them. And the other thing is in the second round, this is exactly the time that you need to just have two darts to throw rather than one. So okay, a Rashir Fleming would be interesting. Would love to move up for a guy like that. A Maxim Rayode, you and I both love him, right? Uh everybody loves him though. We might have talked about him earlier than what hit mainstream, but now everybody loves him now that the draft is about and we’re starting to get second round draft evaluations and so now he’s not going to be there. If one of those guys was on the board at like 24 25, okay, I I’d sign off on that deal, but overall I think people undervalue the approach of just using multiple high second round picks, hitting on one and playing the odds game. I think also there’s another scenario where they keep one of the picks and they trade the other one for and turn it into two second rounders that could end up being higher up on the board next season or the season after that. And then you just keep I mean this is the Sam Prey approach. you, you know, you may wave a magic wand and uh Presto Prey prey, it one pick turns into three picks all of a sudden and you’ve got a thousand picks and now you can package all of those together to to bring in uh better better personnel than you would have been able to just by making the sort of dice roll with the 34th pick in this year’s draft. You also have to you also have to keep in mind that players that are going going to be selected 33 and 34 are most likely going to get guaranteed contracts that will factor into cap uh evaluations. And while look I mean if if there are good players to take then I then I would obviously say take those players but I know this team is going to make cap evaluations particularly on a team that they don’t expect to be a serious playoff contender next season. They will make those they will make those cap evaluations. So, I I think one of these picks gets moved, but I I wouldn’t say that all of these center prospects are necessarily moving up. In fact, I have my mockdraft that I can get to really quick as part of this uh question. And it is from the NBA draft room.com and VJ Edgecom goes forward to the Hornets. That’s I mean that’s just sort of chalk at this point. But in the second round they do have Max Reo going 31. Calcrren are going 32 and then the Hornets are left with Noah Penda and Tahad Pedaphor. So but but that’s lower than I’ve seen them in some other drafts. I think it’s I I think they honestly I think they might be better off just there are so many center prospects. Danny Wolf is moving down. This Hansen Yang guy from China, he’s moving up. There’s just a lot of shifting right now. I think they’ve got to wait and see uh how the particularly the back half of the first round develops and make a call, you know, in that war room in the moment. Make that call then. All right, what’s the next sicko satchel question? All right, so I’ve got the mockdraft out of the way. Check. We’ve done that. Bam Bam of the 21st Ricky Pierce division aka the flying big big paper daddies writes, “Read the LaMelo trade dis trade discourse. One thing I think isn’t being discussed enough is roster flexibility. With a successful trade, the Hornets shed ma a max contract that whether we acknowledge this or not has hindered our ability to rebuild. We should have invested in LaMelo three seasons ago and now we’re a bottom dwelling team with the max player. Ask yourself if that makes any sense if we’re trying to rebuild. Disclosure, I thought drafting LaMelo was amazing and I’ve loved his time here even if it’s been injuryplagued. So yeah, looking at this, it seems like he has frustration with the Hornets for not having invested in LaMelo. Does he I wonder if he means just investing in the right pieces around him to get the most out of him because it’s not like the postseason. Yeah. Yeah. Because the contract stuff you can’t you can’t bring that up any further and you know you had his rookie deal, played that out like they went through the normal rookie process. So it’s not like they just would have paid him earlier then it would have made all that much more sense. So, just wanted to make that clear because there’s some NFL lingo that you could use with that, but not here. So, just wanted to get that clear. Uh, with the money stuff with flexibility, yes, it it would provide you flexibility. LaMelo is going to be making upwards to getting to $40 million around I think. What’s the most he’ll be making? Is it 45 by the end of his contract? I don’t think it’s quite that much. Um, yeah, this is going to be my Trey Man approach. You’re going to accuse me of throwing around money willy-nilly. I I I don’t think this is a bad contract for LaMelo. It’s bad when he doesn’t play. No doubt you are banking on him just not being able to be on the court. And I get it. That’s frustrating. It’s really frustrating because we talk about it every day on this podcast. It’s 24% of the cap right now. It’s only going to be what 20% of the cap as this salary cap continues to go up for the NBA. So, it’s going to be projected I think 156 next year. LaMelo next season will be making $ 38 million. So that’s 24% of the cap. Again, that’s only going to go down. So I I the roster flexibility for sure. You have to ask yourself, would you rather have the flexibility and move off of LaMelo or would you rather still take the chance that LaMelo can be that guy with talent around him and you’ll have money to spend it? You will if you want to move off of Miles and you get rid of Nerkich and you can make other moves with Brandon Miller still on his rookie scale deal. So you can make other moves to try to help LaMelo get to that next spot or LaMelo helped some of these other guys get to that next spot, but the money doesn’t bother me nearly as much. The health is what bothers me. I get some of that is tied together. I do, but um the money doesn’t bother me. Yeah, the money doesn’t bother me either. I don’t think it really bothers Bam Bam in terms of like how much LaMelo is making. I think it only bothers him in the sense that it it locks up the Hornets’s ability to to maybe make some other moves. Or maybe it doesn’t. I I think what locks up the Hornets’s ability to make certain moves is that they’re just unwilling to make those moves. I mean, we saw that in the Jordan Cupchack era, and we just don’t have any evidence that this version of the franchise yet would take that roster flexibility and actually do anything with it. I think they they they would rather still invest in young players and try to accidentally make the playoffs and then, you know, then make a move. So, that’s the whole thing. If they if if they could if they could get rid if they could trade LaMelo and have a solid plan for winning, I would be all on board for that. I’m not necessarily on board for a trade of LaMelo that completely resets the franchise with draft picks and bad money that isn’t going to result in winning. You know, I’m I’m not in favor of that at all. U because I think LaMelo in the right circumstance with the right players around him can absolutely impact winning on this team if he’s healthy. And you know, the big risk for me is the injury stuff though because if the if the ankle goes again and he misses half of next season, then that that contract, you know, it becomes negative trade value at that point if it’s if it’s not already. Yeah. And I was trying to make sense of that question, too. Right. It’s not a bad one at all. like the the LaMelo contract it we should bring it up but he mentions here whether we acknowledge this or not his contract has hindered our ability to rebuild that’s a Hornets issue that it’s not a LaMelo issue that’s a Hornets issue with paying other guys with uh not being able to identify the right kind of talent to uplift LaMelo and the rest of this team and this is what every team has to deal with if you have talent such as LaMelo that kind of talent is going to call for that kind of money. Again, Bobby Marks just talked about how Christian Brown’s extension is going to be worth $30 million. What where is he on the Denver Nuggets totem pole? Because it’s Nicole Joic, it’s Jamal Murray, it’s Michael Porter Jr. and then it’s probably Christian Brown. That’s your fourth best player who yeah brings defense, brings a completely different skill set than what you’re talking about with LaMelo. But that guy’s going to be $30 million. It’s because the cap is going to go up and that’s just the price of paying for a good player nowadays. LaMelo better than Christian Brown when healthy. LaMelo somebody that can completely alter your offense which does matter. That guy’s going to be making $37 million next year. Like it’s just these contracts are crazy. That’s what they are. So honestly kudos to Mitch Cupcheek and company for paying LaMelo as soon as they did right off the rip. Just not caring. It’s only going to hurt us if we tried to delay this or whatever. Like, we’re not This is what we’re doing. We’re going to give you all the money. We’re just gonna cap’s going to go up and it’s on the Hornets to find talent around them. That’s it. That’s always the task at hand. See if they can do it. Um, any more satchel questions or you want to move on? We’ve got one more here to end the show. This is from uh Doug of the First B. Diddy company. Wonder who that could be. Uh, I’m glad it’s not P. Diddy. B doing a lot of work there. Oh, B. Make sure I annunciate the B. Diddy. B is in boy. I’m going to see the latest Mission Impossible movie today. How impossible is the mission to win a playoff series as we sit here today? I love it. It’s a great question. How impossible is it? That hasn’t happened in 23 years. Uh, I saw a graphic that was the best-selling Apple product when each of these Dallas franchises made the conference championship. And it was like Dallas Stars, Mavericks, and Rangers were all the iPhone. And the Dallas Cowboys, it it looked like, you know, one of those old school Macs that you had in elementary school if you’re our age. Uh, the the what what are they calling the Apple twos? Oh my god. Yeah. Oh, so so I was saying that uh did half the thought and didn’t do the second half. So then I went and I looked to see what the bestselling Apple product was the last time the Hornets won a playoff series and it was the Apple Mac G3. You remember the the It was a desktop computer, but it sort of it looked like a thought bubble. It was like rounded. Yeah. Did Did it have That wasn’t the one with the different colors, right? Different colors. Okay. Mhm. That that’s in Zoolander. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller trying to get into the computer by smashing that specific computer. There you go. That’s how I remember Apple products is by going to Zoolander. So, how impossible is the mission to get to the postseason? I I’ve been causing myself a lot of pain with looking at the rosters for these other playoff teams, these other good NBA teams. Doug, I I don’t We’ve talked about it with Indiana a lot, how they’ve been able to develop talent in the second round from a Nemhard and just winning on the margins, getting all of the talent, squeezing everything that TJ McConnell is worth out of $11 million a year. Um, and just getting winning players all over the place. There’s so many on Indiana’s roster. But in looking at the Cavs payroll, it it’s kind of the same for them, too. They have monster contracts with their top four guys. like all of them are going to be making a ton of money. Evans, I think Evan Mobleys kicks in next year. So, they were able to, you know, finagle the cap a little bit this year, but like Ty Jerome, who had he qualified might have won six man of the year, certainly would have been top three. Uh you have a Tai Jerome for them. Uh you have uh uh a couple of other guys that I’m just blanking on. And I’ll bring up their uh their payroll again. But some of these other guys that aren’t making money that have uh contributed like a Dean Wade contributes, a Sam Merrill actually contributes for that basketball team. Um Isaac Aoro kind of does, but you get the idea. like there. I wonder if second round picks and some of these teams with depth being such a big deal and that being such a big talking point about the postseason, it seems like picks outside of the top five and outside of the lottery matter more than ever and that teams are hitting on them more than ever. So, with the Hornets having been a good second round draft team, you just need to hit on some of the stars for those guys to supplement. Um, there there’s some hope there, I guess. But at the same time, like I the Hornets haven’t done enough and haven’t hit like big on the Tai Jeromes, right? They haven’t hit big on the Aaron Nmiths and and all of the other names that we brought up in the past. So, all that being said, that’s still the task at hand. It’s still going to be really hard. I think it’s going to be pretty impossible to win a playoff series next year, but maybe two years from now, I’m hoping it’s not so impossible. Yeah, it’s it’s going to be improbable, but LaMelo Ball uh if if he does get healthy, stay healthy, and acquire some of those skills that Charles Lee seems committed to helping him develop uh and turns him into an all-NBA conversation. And then you have Brandon Miller making some kind of uh post injury season leap gets into the most improved player conversation. You get an, you know, whatever average season from Miles Bridges relative to what he’s given you over the past couple of years. Uh and then you, you know, get some development from Ton. A few things break your way. Maybe Trey Mann comes back and is super healthy and they give him a lot of money and he’s super happy and everything goes well there and they have a six-man piece. It’s not impossible. Uh, but I think it would it would, you know, over the next couple of years, it is going to require them to find those role play, not only find the role players, but also just like find a way to play and be so doggedly dedicated to it that it that it scares people. I mean, that’s what I take away from Indiana and New York to a certain extent. Like Tib said, I’m going to play my starters until they’re ground in the dust and everyone went, you’re a And then and then now they’re in the Eastern Conference Finals. Indiana plays not just with a pace on offense, but they pick you up full court all the time. And people said, “You can’t do that for a full season. You’re not going to be able to do that in the playoffs.” Guess what? They did it. They they found a way to play. And they said, “Damn everybody. We’re going to do that. And we’re and every person one down to the 15th man on the roster is going to not only be bought into that idea, but there we per we actually selected them because they could do the thing that we were going to ask them to do. That’s the challenge. Find a way to play. If you look back at the last several teams that where the Hornets made made the playoffs and won playoff series, they decided here’s how we’re going to play. Those early OS teams were just devastating defensive teams that had like one or two shooters and and everybody else was just like, I’m going to punch you in the mouth with my defense. That’s how they played. The Hornets have to find that identity and they have to quickly go and assemble the players that can play that way. All right, that’ll do it for Locked On Hornets. Thanks for making us your first listen. It’s impossible if you don’t try. And available anywhere you get your podcast. That’s the slogan. It’s impossible if you don’t try. Just try. You know, you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take. Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott, Locked On Hornets, thanks for making us your first listen. Go check out locked on NBA. Go check out every hornetsboxcore.com. You’ll see Doug Branson’s work there. I’m Walker Male. Listen to me. WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3 p.m. Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back with you on Monday. Be Diddy.

Is Brandon Miller the only untouchable on the Hornets roster? That’s the bold claim from a new report making the rounds—and Doug and Walker are here to break it down. They unpack what this says about LaMelo Ball’s perceived value around the league, and why Miles Bridges may be stuck in trade limbo for reasons beyond just his contract.

Then, it’s time to talk bigs. A fan-submitted trade idea sends Jarrett Allen to Charlotte—would it work? Doug and Walker debate Allen’s fit, his playoff shortcomings, and whether the Hornets should invest in a traditional rim protector at the cost of future flexibility. Spoiler: Walker isn’t sold.

The conversation shifts to the NBA Draft, where the Hornets hold back-to-back picks at 33 and 34. Is it smarter to swing twice or try to package up and move into the late first round? The guys compare notes on rising center prospects, second-round strategy, and how Charlotte might emulate the Thunder’s draft-day magic.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://linktr.ee/lockedonhornets

Become an official member of the Locked On Hornets Sicko Brigade and get Hornets news, rumors and pictures of Byron Mullens sent directly to your phone via Subtext (14 Day Free Trial): https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonhornets

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

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

Get more Walker on Wes and Walker 12-3pm on WFNZ 92.7 FM

Top 35 Hornets Nicknames of All-Time According to Doug Branson: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-nicknames-in-hornets-franchise

Top 35 Hornets of All-Time According to Walker Mehl: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-players-in-hornets-history

📲 Follow Locked On Hornets on Twitter
Locked On Hornets https://twitter.com/LockedOnHornets
Walker Mehl https://twitter.com/WalkerMehl
Doug Branson https://twitter.com/DougBransonLOH

For your next listen, check out the Locked On NBA podcast, where the season never ends providing national expertise with a local perspective. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

BetterHelp
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month.

eBay Motors
From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Now through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#Hornets #LaMelo #LaMeloBall #CharlotteHornets