Hornets’ DO NOT DRAFT List REVEALED | LaMelo SNUBBED by Potential Draft Pick | Herb Jones Trade Idea

Hornets’ DO NOT DRAFT List REVEALED | LaMelo SNUBBED by Potential Draft Pick | Herb Jones Trade Idea

nana Edwards joins the podcast He has a do not draft list He has hot draft takes and we have a tweet from Mike Led on a certain draft prospect that might not want to work out or might not want to play with LaMelo Ball Interesting stuff All today locked on Hornets [Music] 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 were available anywhere you get your podcast and that does include YouTube Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time Game Time Download the Game Time Map Create an account Use code lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase I’m Walker Mail You can listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3:00 p.m Except for this week Filling in for the Kyle Bailey Show from 3 to 6:00 p.m So that was yesterday That’s going to be today Tomorrow we’re back to regularly scheduled programming next week Doug Branson every hornetsboxcore.com He also host Locked on NBA with Matt Morren Hayes And then we got somebody else joining us today It’s the family member Natada Edwards Producer of the ion college basketball podcast You can find him and his hot draft takes on Twitter at Natada the scribe Natada have you been behaving yourself lately i try People bring the smoke to me at this point and I want them to stop bringing me the smoke because I’m just I’m I don’t believe you Don’t believe you I don’t believe you All I say is “Hey maybe we don’t draft this guy Maybe we don’t draft this guy and people get upset It’s not my fault.” Well we have a do not draft list from you And Doug was teasing me He was teasing me about all of the hot takes that you were texting him He did not tell me what your hot takes were So I’m excited to get to all of that today But first we got to get to your do not draft list There is someone that many people are speculating is in the Hornets It’s in the Hornets uh chances of taking them Like there there’s a there’s a shot here Um who is that guy for you Natada that is being linked to the Hornets but you don’t want them to draft let’s start with Conanipple Let’s start let’s start with the big one Let’s start with the whale Um quite literally Khan Canipple is a fine piece If you’re trying to finish off a roster he’s a nice fine connective tissue That’s great The Hornets don’t need connective tissue They need kind of a cornerstone piece If you’re telling me that the Hornets are taking a cornerstone piece and a Trey Johnson and a VJ Edgecomb cool I’m not the biggest Conan Canipple guy because I quite literally I think he tops out probably as fifth starter maybe good really good sixman I I’m not for what he does for the measurements that he has for the slow shuttle time I’m not sure he’s an actual like connective piece he’s much more like there are guys that are trying to put him in this L Dort range I can’t go there with that there are guys that are trying to put him with the in the Klay Thompson I can’t go there with that I do think he’s kind of like we’ve I’ve made the joke he’s Christmas socks before That’s kind of what it is Again if they draft him it’ll be like on a I’m a 13-year-old kid It’s Christmas morning and you know what my grandmother got me instead of that nice Nintendo 64 they got me socks Mhm And that’s all I got socks Well that’s fine You know what your grandmother is very responsible She’s just trying to keep your feet warm Socks are great Socks are a human innovation uh that has probably saved our feet from uh many infections keeping them warm Christmas socks are great What are you talking about yeah sorry it wasn’t a Nintendo 64 We can’t all have Nintendo 64s I think connective tissue is great The Hornets need both They they need to continue to stone corners and they also need to continue to find players that can help the cornerstones that they’ve already drafted and and um and Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball Well you’ve already knocked it out of the park in the top of the draft It It’s It’s time for connective tissue Connective tissue Can Can I ask this question though What in the last uh Let’s be kind here Let’s What in the last three years says that they’ve developed any sort of cornerstones well they believe it I I mean it seems like it at least I mean they seem to be all in on LaMelo Ball That they seem to be all in on Brandon Miller But I would also argue that that might be a foolish that might be a fool’s errand at this point like you won 19 games and it wasn’t like you could have lost even more and you could have won less I don’t think you necessarily have cornerstone You might think you have cornerstones but when you win 19 games I don’t think you have any cornerstones You have guys that you might like to be cornerstones but you don’t actually have them So if if Khan Canipple isn’t the guy for you at four is it one of those situations where you are fine with the player just not at four would you trade back and take him or if they trade it back let’s go I’m struggling again folks If they trade back all the way to eight would you take is is Cam Johnson coming because if Cam Johnson comes that’s a completely different scenario for me where if you’re telling me Cam Johnson 8 and 26 sure I guess I’m just talking about the range though right like it and how how much of it where I’ll ask you simply where would you feel comfortable drafting Continental in this draft 7 8 N outside of the Trey Johnson range because I think Trey Johnson’s just a vastly better shooter And if you’re going to go get a shooter quote unquote shooter go get the best shooter in the draft Go get the best shot maker in the draft All right so Khan Canipple is on the do not draft list for all intents and purposes for the Charlotte Hornets Is there somebody else on the do not draft list according to I’m so glad you asked I’m so glad you asked cuz uh common Malawatch center from Duke We’ve seen I think it’s Jonathan Wasserman I s I’ve seen Raphael Barlo attach Hinton to to Charlotte and I’m of the mind at this point if you’re going to go draft a project center There are other centers that you can go do this in the 20s with and you have two picks in the in the 30s that you can go get that are better suited If you’re going to go get common Malawatch it just tells me that you’re still not necessarily sure about what you have in center And I don’t necessarily blame you but I would much rather the Hornets go get a veteran center an actual veteran center rather than go draft a common mileatch that is very very very clearly going to take at least two or three years More importantly I think there are better centers that you can have in the 20s I think Thomas Sorber of Georgetown would be a perfect center to bring in along slowly and by the end of the season probably would start for you I think there are a lot of different pieces I think Malawatch at four is an overdraft and a horrifically bad one at that Well I think everyone is uh very well they they know my opinion on come on Malawash that that I think he’s great guy great player Uh could be for some other system not for the Hornets And something I don’t know that I’ve talked about a lot is like if the Hornets were full of wing defenders or point of attack defenders uh that could help Malawash come along you know and not put all the pressure on him to defend the rim then maybe it’s a it would be a better situation for him But that’s not the case for the Charlotte Hornets They need when Nata says they need veteran talent back there they need Yeah They need high IQ They need like experienced talent back there that’s going to know what’s coming at them because they’re going to have a lot you know with with the way that this uh guard rotation is structured So yeah I’m out on Malawash And uh good luck So uh All right go ahead Doug I can’t talk I I need you to take care of me Well so what about Ace So what about Ace Bailey here is he on your do not draft list as well because right now he has uh basically canled all workouts with any team He is he is Jesus take the wheel at this point Just wherever I land I think I’m top three So take me there or take me wherever at this point Uh do you think he’s going to go to Philadelphia at three do you think it’s all smoke if he falls to the Hornets at four do they have to take him because the talent is just too irresistible Let’s be let’s be real here He’s trying to get to Brooklyn This is all this is that this is about because if you remember the Gavon tweets the the Gavon story I believe it was he’s Ace Bailey is looking for a place that he can go play immediate minutes and go play a lot of minutes at the outset He wants to be a star He wants to be a star and he wants to be a star immediately That place is Brooklyn That is very clearly nakedly Brooklyn I have Ace on here for another reason do not draft on top of the positional fit But most importantly it’s very clear in the last I don’t know 18 hours that his representation has horribly done this dude a disservice And if we’ve learned anything about how representation carries out and makes things worse in this locker room in this at this point in the time of the Charlotte Hornets culture you can’t draft that kind of guy because that kind of representation ends up carrying a stench with you carrying a just an attitude with you It reminds me unfortunately a lot of Lance Stevenson where there were people around Lance similarly to there are people around Ace that probably need to go and until he realizes it it’s one of those things where it’s not a right fit Well and interestingly enough you bring up Gavon and all these reports I think what’s interesting about bringing up as we affectionately call him Phony Gavon maybe not so affectionately when we bring up Phony Gavon the original reports from him on Ace were all glowing Yep Right He was carrying the water for his representation He was saying how great he is that Ace Bailey is the third ranked prospect that you don’t overthink this you don’t pass over him Okay so that was I guess what a month ago Then this week it’s actually from Gavon that we hear some of this stuff go on about well he’s not working out with anybody There are teams that are really worried about Ace and his representation So I think the fact that you’re hearing some of these things from Gavon specifically tells you a lot where at first he for some reason I mean not for some reason he’s carrying the water for the agent right but because of that reason at the beginning he was telling you not to overthink it Now he’s telling you what all of these other teams are saying and it looks like he don’t want to be the odd man out So the fact that it’s coming from Gavon I think actually tells me a lot given what he was originally reporting a month ago So a little bit of appeal back to the c of the curtain This was going on last week like people like were the the talk of the talk last week was about Ace and specifically Ace’s representation Like a lot of this was starting to be a thing as as early as last week Again you saw Sam Vassini effect effectively allude to all of this Like again Jeff Goodman was telling you about Omar and his thing and him trying to charge for interviews and everything else like that It felt like once once this came out everybody that had any knowledge of it said send tweet They had it in the drafts They were ready for it to come out and then they pressed send tweet because it was already in there after the reports came out Like I had someone tell me like offhand about Ace quite literally last week I like Ace I’ve met Ace I’ve dealt dealt with Ace during this draft process and I wish he’d get get rid of the people around him Like effectively that’s what he told me And a lot of this has to do with his agent Uh Doug before we move on just one more thing on Ace How much should that affect what you do if it’s not Ace and then you sent us the Keith Pompei quote with some of the guys he was talking to within Philly’s organization saying that Ace isn’t a bad guy It’s not that he’s immature It’s that he’s age appropriate mature where he’s just kind of silly He might be dancing in layup lines but like it’s not like it’s a huge deal So if it’s the agent that is the biggest issue like you could change representation you could change agents players do it a decent amount I don’t know how many rookies do it and certainly not at this point in the process How much should that affect anything that the Hornets and any other team does when selecting Ace i think the Hornets are highly leveraged on Goofy I think we’ve got enough Goofy I think they need to to to buy a little bit more stock into serious player Uh and and that’s it’s one of the things that I mean I I love about Trey Trey Johnson I love about Coniple I think Coniple is like a serious hooper Like he’s just he’s obsessed with basketball So is Trey Johnson VJ Edgecom is super serious So I think you have three players right in the right in the Hornets range that all feel certain needs that the Hornets have And they all seem to be serious about wanting to be a good pro because look getting into the league particularly as a rookie is going to be very difficult no matter what situation you find yourself in But when you come into a young locker room I think it is important to make sure that you’re getting culture matches and or culture matches for what you want the culture to be not necessarily even the guys that you have in the locker room It’s not about matching them It’s about matching what you want everyone else to model And I think that’s not you know what I’m seeing in Ace Bailey It is what I’m seeing from some of these other prospects All right Maybe one of those prospects doesn’t want to play with the Hornets because a certain player is also playing for the Hornets Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast everywhere Mike Lette had a tweet about a prospect not wanting to play with LaMelo Ball possibly We’ll get to that coming up next LH [Music] This episode is brought to you by Lollipop It’s a new kind of soda and it’s made for people who love the classic taste of soda but want something that supports their health With just 2 to 5 g of sugar and 9 g of prebiotic fiber in every can Lollipop is reimagining soda in a way that’s better for your gut I know Doug is excited about that Traditional sodas are loaded with sugar like 39 g in a regular Coke or 44 g in an orange Fanta Alip flips that script with just a fraction of the sugar no artificial sweeteners and gut- friendly ingredients like Ali Smart a blend shown to support digestive and overall health It’s a soda that tastes like the real thing but actually does something good for your body I told you Olivia’s all over it I’m all over it especially the lemon lime soda There are other great flavors out there but I keep going back to the lemon lime It’s refreshing I love going to that flavor in particular But you can try whatever flavor you want Get a free can of lollipop Just buy any two cans in store and they’ll reimburse you for one Head to drinkllipop.com/lockedonba That’s oipop by the way Not two’s only one Oipop.com locked on NBA to claim your free canned and find lollipop near you That’s drink lollipop.com/lockedonba More lockdown hornets ahead [Music] Okay here’s the tweet from Mike Lette of Queen City News Quote “Spoke with a source tonight who told me at least one draft lottery pick refused to work out with the Hornets out of a desire not to play with LaMelo Ball Again Mike Lette of Queen City News Okay I’ll go to you Natada Big deal Not a big deal What are your thoughts?” Like we all know who this is right like we all know this is Jeremiah Fierce right got my guesses That would be one Yeah that would be one Like like we pretty I’m pretty sure it’s Jeremiah Fierce So it doesn’t bother me I would if I’m Jer Jeremiah Fierce I wouldn’t want him to work out here because again how many those small guards actually win games in the playoffs not many And if you’re Darius Garland you need another small dynamic small guard in in uh Donovan Mitchell to actually win games in the playoffs So yeah again Jeremiah Fears doesn’t want to play here That’s perfectly fine But like I I get where Mike Lette was trying to go with this I do understand that this is kind of a spicy headline I also think it’s kind of unfair to throw this on LaMelo Ball because let’s be real here This is a positional fit not necessarily about LaMelo Ball Yeah it’s not clarified Go ahead Doug Well that’s the whole thing If this is a positional fit deal it’s like yeah what’s the big deal obviously like if you’re a point guard and you want to be drafted top five in in the NBA draft you don’t want to come into a situation where you’re not only going to spend the majority of the season if he’s healthy the majority of the season on the bench but you’re going to be doing it behind a guy who had some of the highest usage in the NBA last season So even if you even if you crawl on the floor with him you’re never going to see that basketball So yeah I mean I that would be obvious if it’s about if it’s another player that it’s not about positional fit with If it’s VJ Edgecomb if it’s uh whatever if it’s Trey Johnson or Con Canipple and they’re looking at the LaMelo ball situation and saying “Yeah that is too much usage and I don’t and I’m not sure if our personalities match and if that makes much sense for me.” Like if that’s what it’s about that is more concerning But we just simply don’t know what any of that means Yeah I gotta be honest with you man I don’t think this is a big deal at all in either situation In whatever situation you want to cook up like well play players not wanting to play for Charlotte is in the NBA draft is not a it’s not an unfamiliar Yeah it’s not an unfamiliar thing for us I have developed bulletproof skin when it comes to this Oh you want to play for Charlotte all right we’ll take you anyway Oh you don’t want to work out for Charlotte all right draft That’s not how it works buddy In fact it in fact there used to be a time in fact there there still might even be a little bit of this time that we’re living in right now where it’s more likely that the Hornets take you if you don’t work out for them That there was that stretch of time where James Naji didn’t want to get drafted here It was funny a second round pick did not want to come overseas because he didn’t want to play for Mitch Cupch and Cupcheck said “I don’t care.” Which is hilarious about Cupcheck He really didn’t care A lot of players opinions Yeah it worked out great I I love you Naji Shout out to Naji I’m sure he’s balling wherever he is whatever league he’s playing I think uh I like Mike I think he’s a good dude I’ve worked with him before But the thing for me is this is such a non-issue for me A couple things Positional fit you guys already talked about If it’s a Stfan Castle-like thing where Castle is trying to tell people he wants to play point guard and then you have LaMelo who’s already a point guard or he’s trying to steer himself away from other teams that have an established point guard you’re just the Spurs and then you draft Stefan and you put him in the best position to succeed and he wins rookie of the year if he buys in Okay so we can move on from that If it’s Jeremiah Fears if it’s somebody else that views themselves as an onball primary ball handler whatever you want to call him then okay you draft him if you’re Charles Lee and then you have him run second unit for a while You see what their future looks like cool If it’s something that he doesn’t like LaMelo Ball I I need to know how in the hell do you know him like that because we have never heard any other player have any disparaging word about LaMelo Not really I’ve not heard anything Miles loves him Like Mark Williams loves him Uh there are so many Brandon Miller and LaMelo are friends that that’s that’s the kind of thing about LaMelo where he’s goofy right we can talk about the being serious defensively We can have some of these conversations about LaMelo being a bad teammate That does not seem to be one of them So if one of these players gets word through his agent who represents another player who said some heard something from another player and they said “Nah I don’t really mess with LaMelo like that.” Okay Or what are we doing are we playing the telephone game you heard something and now you don’t want to play like I I need to know how much you know LaMelo and I just don’t care I I I find abs no matter how you want to slice it I do not care about this tweet I do not care about what this draft prospect says about LaMelo To me it’s just a non-issue as it should be And quite honestly if it were anybody like let’s say it’s Khan let’s say it’s Trey let’s say it’s a VJ and they don’t want to play they don’t want to work out here Like unfortunately there’s this beautiful thing called footage and film And we can figure out essentially how you work out here And then we have things like background because all these trainers know all these other trainers as we kind of figured out with the whole Tan Salon situation where you saw that clip and guess who’s whose agent that whose trainer that was trey Johnson’s So there’s a lot of this where I just there’s enough and I I’ll use connective tissue again but there’s enough connective tissue to where even if you didn’t want to come here and you didn’t want to give these this team or franchise any information too late It’s already out there Well it’s also silly Like I I think it it’s a little knock against your intelligence if you’re a point guard and you don’t want to come play in Charlotte where the point guard is making a lot of money and does take a lot of shots but doesn’t play a lot of games Like there has been plenty of opportunity for Nick Smith Jr and for uh KJ Simpson got minutes immediately as a second round pick He got like exactly there’s just so much opportunity here Unfortunately for Hornets fans and unfortunately for the team itself there has been plenty of opportunities for those players uh to get some shine So if you are if this is Jeremiah Fears or if it is another point guard I would say you know do your homework do your research Yeah And the other thing is you know with this tweet from Mike I would like a little more clarity on it because it’s a twoline breaking news type tweet that says the draft prospect doesn’t want to work out because he does not want to play with LaMelo Can we get any reason as to why like did did you follow up it’s not how this works Well but but it could like what what you could do is you could ask why You could ask if it’s a positional issue or if it’s a personal issue And if the agent the agent could answer that question or you could ask it the agent say no comment and then you say it was not clarified as to why they didn’t want to play with LaMelo There there needed to be a follow-up question or there needed to be some clarity in this tweet for for me or unless you just wanted this right unless you wanted the podcast to talk about it And to your point I guess Doug sometimes that is how it works but it it doesn’t mean that I don’t get to ask you for you know clarity and a little bit uh more refining of your tweet No I don’t like that this is how it works but this is how it works And if LaMelo Ball were in a bigger market a more serious market uh like New York or LA like his father wants him to go to LA and play for the Clippers like you you better believe there going to be all kinds of people coming out of the woodwork doing stuff like this Like that’s what that’s the whole game Uh and again you don’t have to like you can love or hate the game but that’s the game Uh and so he’s just getting a just a small little micro taste of it here from Mike Lette in Charlotte Yeah But right and and I’m with you to me that the game doesn’t even make sense sometimes though We’re still talking about it if you clarify it You know what I’m saying but but I think what happens is you you you get the appetizer and you don’t even see like a little bit more food behind the appetizer You’re like “Oh good cookie Run away.” Hey And then you know like that’s that’s what it seems like It was like there there’s more there buddy Like there there’s a couple more cookies You just want the one mine my precious Uh that’s what it seems like All right let’s move on Coming up next on the Lockdown Hornets podcast we have a couple mock drafts of course And we have some Nata Edwards takes on Lavar Ball Still trying to figure out a way to have the Ball brothers play in LA except play for the Clippers Yeah Lavar is out here on social media trying to make that happen We’ll get to that in just a moment Locked on Hornets This episode is brought to you by Game 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Stadium there And then you’ll find great seats for as low as $100 thanks to exclusive discounts which in the NFL is like five bucks It’s like pocket change if you’re talking about NFL ticket money Yeah that could go way up past $100 Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time Download the Game Time app create an account use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase Terms apply Again create an account Redeem code L O C K E D O NA locked on NBA for $20 off Download the Game Time app today Last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed More Locked on Hornets ahead [Music] Okay You want to go Lavar Ball clip first you want to talk about Lavar still angling for the Ball brothers to play with the Clippers so the the exact quote here from Lavar I don’t know what exactly it was but I just know that he continues to put out videos of Lonzo LaMelo they were shooting in an empty gym and he’s still trying to get them to go to the Clippers because of course of what happened with Lonzo and the Lakers He wants the Ball brothers in LA because he feels like LA is big enough to hold both of their star power and he doesn’t want them to play for the big boy franchise that just sold for $10 billion by the way with the Lakers because it didn’t work out between the Lakers and Lonzo So now out of spite he wants both of LaMelo and Lonzo to play with the Clippers Even LeAngelo I’m sure he wants LeAngelo to play with them as well When Lavar continues to discuss this like we It’s funny because we actually didn’t hear a lot from Lavar I would say like early on in LaMelo’s tenure with Charlotte it felt relatively quiet Remember we can go back even before two what was it like 2017 right when Lonzo was about to get drafted Lavar was everywhere He’s on first take never lost He’s talking to everybody LaMelo’s drafted We think we might hear a lot from him We really don’t But now it feels like we’re starting to hear a few things here and there over the last year especially as it pertains to the Clippers What do you make of all of it Nada honestly it just feels like one of those situations where we’re talking about a guy that who just had a big medical procedure done that wants his kids all in one spot Like a lot of this feels like a lot of hot air And more importantly there’s something called a beautiful thing called the NBA contract which holds LaMelo Ball here And the Hornets have to get requisite compensation for them to trade him So if that’s going to be the case and yo if the Clippers if he wants the Clippers to do it and the Clippers want to do it go get a whole bunch of first round picks make them valuable make them unprotected and then make a deal after that Unless it’s that then like this is a lot of hot air and it’s a non-story to me quite honestly What you think Doug yeah this feels like uh this feels like a lot of dad stuff This doesn’t feel like uh this doesn’t feel very real And I will say he did wait until LaMelo Ball had the contract in hand He got the the Max deal and now you know so he was responsible enough to wait until all of that was in hand to start making some noise again Uh I don’t think this is too much of a concern for the Charlotte Hornets The big concern is just like him being healthy and back on the floor and seeing what they can do with him and Brandon Miller That’s all that really matters and all the other stuff is is noise and will continue to be So I I don’t take too much from and I don’t and honestly I’m not even I’m not even really wanting to blow this up into like oh this isn’t you know LaMelo’s not serious his family’s not serious None of this is you know it’s all a distraction I don’t like may maybe if LaMelo Ball had played in 60 plus games in both of the last two seasons and been in contention for awards and the Hornets were on the doorstep of the playoffs or in the playoffs and lost in a first round series and then Lavar Ball had started talking all this stuff then maybe I would have said okay this is ridiculous like we need to be focused on the right things but they’re not even they’re not even anywhere near that so I don’t think this is a big deal Yeah same I don’t think it’s a big deal I do want to ask you this maybe rapid fire before we dive into some mock drafts Um I will say it could La La LMO just come out and say “Hey I know what dad is talking about I know he wants me in LA.” And I get it It makes a lot of sense but I’m happy here with the Hornets I’m just ready to get ready for or I’m just getting ready for the 25 26 regular season I mean it would help but we wouldn’t believe him Unfortunately the way this attention economy goes even if he said that cuz he said quite literally at exit interview I want to be here Yeah So he says it enough to where it really is a non-story Okay Lavar Ball said something Congratulations We’ve moved back to 2021 or so Like that’s that’s what it feels Isn’t it funny that it was earlier than that because I just did that thing I was trying to find the timeline of when Lavar was really big like that It’s like seven years ago Time is a ridiculous thing Anyways so again so we’re again we’re talking about a guy that hasn’t really been relevant in like six or seven years and unfort people in hell want ice water Same thing Yeah No it wouldn’t matter It would in fact I think it would make it worse if he said something I think he’s done the right thing which is when he’s asked he says “I want to be in Charlotte I’m a you know this is what I’m about.” And and I think L if you even go back to Lonzo like I think all of the Ball brothers have been very clear that like what dad says is what dad says He’s a great dad We love our dad And and our dad has been committed to helping us become pros since we were little boys And we love dad But our career is our career And what we say is what we say and what dad says is what dad says And that’s all that’s all they’ve ever said And so that’s all I care about at this point And again I think this would be a big deal a bigger deal if he had played more significant time if the Hornets were in any kind of contention for anything But right now it remains noise and all that matters Uh tattoos don’t matter Uh nothing uh what Lavar Ball says doesn’t matter All that matters is that he’s fully healthy and ready to go for the next season because he is super important to what the Hornets are trying to do Yeah Natada Is it more impressive that LaMelo was able to have the pain tolerance of five people tattooing him at the same time or the cool part or or is it more concerning that Lavar you know whooped as you know what in Bat G were they playing bat gamon i didn’t know what that game was that they were playing I think it was Batgam I do believe it was bad but also like I I’m just impressed If I had the cash to go get five tattoos at once and get it all done and not have to worry about it for the rest of the summer I would do it I would go do that That is very impressive That is okay I’m going to sit in a spot quite literally and do nothing because you can’t move if you have five different guys doing this And so I’m going to do that And then on top of that I’m going to go get shots up over at the BBB gym which for all Lavar’s faults pretty pretty impressive arena Looks like it’s a pretty impressive gym So I do think that like that’s more impressive than what Lamar what Lavar is saying at this point I have zero tattoos but I’m about to be 38 years old so I’m closing in on the silly midlife crisis thing to do And tattoos definitely up there on the list And so I promise you if I get one tattoo I will get five tattoos at the same time and they will all be mockdrafts I’ll just have mock drafts tattooed all over my body You’re going to have three from Wasserman He’s He’s the mockdraft king I’ll tell you where Phony Gabon’s tattoo is going I’ll tell you where it’s going I can guess I can guess Oh dear All just gez Jeez dude I just want to see producer Katie’s face when you when you come home with these mockdrafts tattoos I just want to see that That’s all I want What happened to daddy that’s what’s Why Why does he have Wasserman’s tattoo name on his face why why is that is it Charlotte Hornets the Charlotte Hornets happened honey He became a Charlotte Hornets fan when he was a little boy and he became cursed for life We lost him to the madness Yeah it’s true To the sickness Yes I’ve uh got a mock draft here Here it is from Kevin Ocon man and he has updated his mockdraft and this is a good bow to put on this episode Cooper flag goes number one Dylan Harper goes number two Ace Bailey goes number three Not to the Philadelphia 76ers We’ve got a mock trade here The Pelicans uh trade up They send Herb Jones to the Sixers uh for the third pick and Kelly Ubé The seventh pick goes to the Sixers So the Sixers trade down and the Pelicans take Ace Bailey leaving VJ Edge right there for the taking Do the Hornets do it according to Kevin Okan man no they do not They take Keniple out of Duke Non honestly here’s the thing Nada Nada I think this is if I if you were to make me make a prediction right now I honestly think either this happens or the Hornets trade back and take Yakonis or something I really feel like at this point the Ace Bailey is going to go three Whether it’s to the Sixers or to some other team that trades up I think this is all this Ace Bailey stuff is just complete noise He is going to be a top three pick Some team is going to want to get up there and do it and then the Hornets are going to pass on VJ Edge I I I think the Hornets end up trading back I do think that Bailey goes three I do think that the Hornets are going to do just enough to convince somebody to go give give them another asset to go get another NBA player and then feel comfortable to draft Coniple I do not think that we’re going to get a another scenario like Tan Salon I do think that they’re actually going to go get this go get the asset that they actually want because this again is a 19- win team and if you come out of this draft with Khan Canipple and two second rounders granted the sec of v varying quality I think you’ve come away underwhelmed for a 19- win team Um last thing for me we’ve talked a decent amount about Yakonis especially with Christian Peak you know putting that name out there She at 4 p.m on draft day was the only one that sniffed out the Hornets interest in Tan Salon and called it Uh so I I do think there’s some Yakonis interest Who is the Tan Salon this year though if they trade back like you’re predicting and they’re in that 7 to 10 range what whatever range they’re in is there a guy that we’re not talking about that the Hornets could be interested in enough and surprise us all like cuz we didn’t even talk about Salon My god But like one episode last year not even like like half a segment of one episode last year We didn’t talk about him a lot Noah song Another French guy I think a song or I think it’s either song or segue I think it’s essay or I think it’s but a bunch of the French guys I think a lot of the French guys are not getting talked enough about We hear a s get talked in the top seven of this draft It would not shock me at all if they went to the French side yet again for another guy that could be a tweener forcenter who is absolutely killing it right now overseas If they do that if they take another home run swing on a project in the trade back they better trade back a little bit deeper and they better come away with some kind maybe multiple assets that they can use to be a little bit more competitive next season or I think I would be severely like underwhelmed and like what are we doing is this like a 10-year plan like what is happening they they’ve got to come away with multiple players that they can pair next to LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller to like veteran players that they could actually be more competitive next season So if Herb Jones came came in that deal would that be underwhelming and would that be underwhelming where they go get Herb Jones give you a reason to theoretically trade Miles Bridges and you get a Si and then maybe another firstrounder like the 20 number 23rd number 23 pick Like I would think that would be enough to where I would be okay with it Can I just It would not It would not be my pick but I would love I think Herb Jones would be a perfect addition to what the Hornets are trying to do Can I tell you how much I would freaking love Herb Jones on this roster I can’t tell you how much I would freaking not on Herb It’s my favorite nickname It It might It’s certainly up there Not on Herb Jones Oh my god I’d be screaming that from Media Row They’d have to take me away Yes But but if but if it were me I would say why not try to do that deal and then also take Khan Caniple or also take someone that because you’ve already got Tan Salon who they they clearly believe in We’ve seen we just did video this week of uh of everyone you know involved with the team seemingly at one of his workouts uh trying to help him uh you know be better Like they’re already bought in there Why take another project why not just add more pieces that can actually help this team win now because he’s not a project He’s not in the Tjon salon project camp He’s more closer to fully baked product than he is he’s in the Salon camp I think we have to remember Salon was drafted in probably one of the shallowest drafts that we can remember in in recent history It’s a little bit different with this draft If you’re going top seven in this draft you were probably more closer to ready to play immediately than if you are in Tan Salon’s camp You’re saying this is a fully baked French pastry compared to Tjon Salon where we’re still waiting Yeah it’s not parbaked It’s not Again this is not a parbaked Parisian This is actually a fully baked Frenchman Love it Natada Edwards Love Nata Edwards joining us as he does so often during draft time Ion College basketball podcast Go check the pod out He produces the college basketball podcast out there with Matt Norlander and Gary Parish Doug Branson Every Hornetsboxcore.com also locked on NBA doing a lot of great stuff keeping you up to date with what’s going on in the NBA Finals and the NBA draft And Matt Moore is all over the place man Shout out to Matt doing a great job also Um I’m Walker Mail Listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12 to 3 except for this week where I’m on from 3 to 6:00 p.m Have a great rest of your day We’ll be back with you tomorrow [Music]

Nata Edwards joins the show with a fiery “Do Not Draft” list, including major warnings about Ace Bailey, Khaman Maluach, and more. Plus, could LaMelo Ball be scaring prospects away — and is a trade involving Herb Jones the smart path forward for Charlotte?

Why does Nata think Kon Knueppel is a pair of Christmas socks on draft morning? And what makes Maluach a massive overreach at center when better options like Thomas Sorber are available later? Doug and Walker debate the Hornets’ direction — whether they need cornerstone players or connective tissue to support Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball.

But the real drama? Ace Bailey’s draft stock is getting clouded by representation issues, with rumors swirling that he’s actively trying to land in Brooklyn — and may not even want to work out for the Hornets. Plus, Queen City News reporter Mike Lacett’s tweet about a draft lottery prospect refusing to work out with Charlotte due to LaMelo Ball raises serious questions. Is LaMelo becoming a problem, or is this just another agent-driven narrative?

Finally, the guys break down LaVar Ball’s renewed push to unite the Ball brothers on the Clippers and why that noise doesn’t really move the needle. Mock drafts, LaVar takes, potential trades involving Herb Jones, and who could be this year’s Tidjane Salaun — it’s all on a jam-packed episode of Locked On Hornets.
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