2025 Draft Picks Introductory Press Conference

2025 Draft Picks Introductory Press Conference

all of us in Buzz City as we welcome the Charlotte Hornets 2025 draft class to their new home my name is Sam Farber i’m the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Charlotte Hornets and it’s my pleasure and privilege to be your MC for today uh before we get started obviously normally we would host events like this at our home Spectrum Center which is currently undergoing its reimagination in anticipation of the 2526 season so we want to say a big thank you to our friends and partners from Lowe’s Home Improvement for hosting us here in this beautiful space the TechHub Auditorium a great space for this great occasion whether you’re here with us in person or are tuned in live on FanDuel Sports Network 92.7 Sports Radio WFNZ or the Hornets.com page thank you all for joining us here today it’s been a very exciting couple of days in Buzz City as the team added four picks in the 2025 NBA draft on stage we have the fourth overall selection out of Duke Khan Canipple first round pick Liam McNeely out of the University of Connecticut and then on the second day of the draft round two the Hornets added two more picks seion James also out of Duke and Ryan Conch Brener out of Kraton University as we build this new era of Hornets basketball we’re thrilled to build out around our core with young versatile talents and extraordinary workers with high character such as the group we have on stage with us today joining them on stage at the end we have Hornets head coach Charles Lee and we’ve got president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson who’s going to tip things off with an opening statement
uh thank you guys for for being here season ticket holders uh media members Hornets employees really appreciate you guys uh just coming out to support you know throughout the process we thought it was important to uh to again identify uh players who who fit what we’re about and and these four gentlemen they embody everything that we want to be about um in terms of just competitiveness uh versatility IQ uh you know and just their their willingness to to be a part of the team and make people better so uh again cannot tell you guys how thrilled we are to to have them a part of our organization and our family um and it’s an exciting day for the Hornets uh we can’t wait to see what they do uh on this journey coming up so with that said we’ll uh open it up to questions
jeff thank you very much uh for the assembled media here if you would like to ask a question please raise your hand a member of the PR staff will get you a microphone and if you’d be so kind seeing as it’s your first time meeting our draft picks uh let us know who you are and who you’re representing hello can you hear me um uh congratulations everybody sam Pley with hornets.com uh welcome to Charlotte uh I’m curious there’s a little bit of familiarity amongst you guys uh just kind of a for each one of you Khan and Seion you guys obviously played together so uh I’m curious how would you best describe the other person’s game and what the team is is getting from you know your previous college teammate and then uh for Ryan and uh for Liam you guys played against each other in the Big East kind of the same way what do you from being on the opposing side what are the Hornets getting in the uh other person uh Seion’s a great teammate uh first and foremost obviously a great player um but he’s a guy that’s willing to do anything that the team needs to win you know he’s he’s a great rebounder great defender um smart with the ball makes good decisions um and he can really knock down knock down threes out to catch and shoot um so he’s he’s a guy that brings a a good versatility to the Charlotte Hornets yeah and for Khan um of course you guys know Khan’s game khan’s a great dude one of my favorite teammates someone that I’m glad to be able to play with again share the floor with again um more than anything Khan’s a competitor and he’s someone that wants the ball especially when the moments are the biggest um Khan’s game speaks for itself he makes shots he makes plays for others and he’s going to make all of us better players and make this a better organization um first of all thank you all for being here i’m super excited to be Hornet um but let’s just say I’m I’m glad to be on Ryan’s team this time um he made it really difficult he was really difficult to play against he’s like a 75 wall in front of the basket uh one of the best defensive bigs in the Big East ever in my opinion great player yeah same same with me i’m glad to be on the same team as Liam this time uh high high level score found that out in Omaha when he dropped 40 on us so hopefully it’ll be good to be on the same side of that this time but yeah high high level competitor high level scorer it’s going to be a lot of fun being on the same team as them rod Boone Charlotte Observer right here guys over here in the back just for each of the players the homelessness organization what do you guys know about the team and organization before you got here and how do you want to change the perception that’s maybe nationally about just how the organization is perceived not around these parts obviously you know Coach Lee and and and Jeff Peterson here to my right have uh made it known that they want to change the culture here um they made that known to us on the visit and the interviews at the combine um so it’s it’s bringing in high character guys that are about the right things about playing together about winning um you know that’s that’s going to take some time and and we’re all here and I I think bought in to be able to do that i mean it’s a really young team um but everybody’s been so welcoming jeff coach uh some of the guys have been texting me and I know Khan as well uh but it just brings like a almost like a familiar familiarity uh to the group and it’s like a sense of team connectedness uh but yeah like Khan said I’m I’m super bought in and ready to give everything I have to this program yeah those two um said pretty much said it all um the biggest thing that we’re um looking to build the team for uh with a high culture team a high character team and a team that’s going to be uh winning and sustainable for the future and it’s cool to be able to do this with these guys yeah kind of what those guys already said um when I came on my for my workout for my pre-draft stuff you could feel like the excitement the energy just in the workout and around the building and all that you can tell that what they’re building here is is going to be something special so I’m excited to be a part of it i know these guys are going to be a big part of it as well i’m excited to go on this journey with them and then for Charles according to Jeff you help scout these guys I guess in terms of the process so could you give me a scouting report and how you feel these guys will each help you um win games yeah I was very kind of Jeff to say that um I would actually give him and his group uh a ton of credit uh for these individuals that we have up here today um I think that they do a phenomenal job of identifying characteristics that we are looking for to continue to move this thing forward and build sustainable success um I think that you know in the heat of the moment sometimes you can get caught up and you can be tempted by other situations and uh they stayed true to their process and to their core and what they know that our team needs um on and off the court and I think they did a phenomenal job um every now and then if they asked me to impart some uh some jewels of what I think they could add to our team or to our culture um I would try to do that uh I would try to study but I could never keep up with them with how much film they watch but you know just going down the line I think they all have different skill sets the biggest thing that they’re going to add to our group immediately is competitiveness uh the hard work and understanding that um nothing’s going to be given to them from day one that they’re gonna have to earn it that they’re going to have to work hard um but they’re they’re they’re committed to that um when you sit down with these guys and you talk to them about um what they love about the game it’s like the work that goes into the game uh not just the actual um tipping it up and getting to play in front of the crowds and so that like to embrace that part of the journey is really important and rare um and the other part that I think that they’re going to bring is just a another level of togetherness and and a commitment to sacrificing whatever is needed uh to help the team win and help the team continue to uh move forward all right guys over here on the left uh Will Palagic from WFNZ the radio home of the Hornets uh in terms of for each of the players the teammates that you now will see the existing Hornets players uh for each of you what excites you about some of the players that you guys have seen play in the league and now are your new teammates well I just think for me I remember Coach Lee talking about um players watching the workout so when I was here there was there was a bunch of guys watching me work out um you didn’t I didn’t see that every every workout I did for the other teams there wasn’t that that level of interest um so you feel that support um you know the guys calling you and texting you uh that’s really special especially on on the night of and and the day after um makes you feel like you’re part of something right away kind of like what Khan said like I was getting I was getting texts from the guys pretty soon after I got drafted um I mean that’s that’s just a cool feeling nba players are texting me uh I’m still I still feel like a kid so it’s pretty cool um but there’s a lot of talent on this team a lot of young talent and uh I’m super excited that this group is going to add to that yeah I would second um what they said uh the biggest thing I know is just a lot of talent in the room we’re going to walk into a locker room full of talent and full of a bunch of guys who can get after it and we’re going to have to compete for everything and it’s going to be awesome it’s going to be fun and um we’re going to get bit uh better because of it same thing these guys said especially Khan when I was at my workout for pre-draft like some of the guys who were already on the team were around and were talking to us not just like acting like we weren’t there and you know actually showed an interest in in us and get to know us a little bit so definitely exciting going to that type of locker room where like everyone in the locker room wants to get to know you and and you know help you along and you know build something special and quickly for Jeff and Charles um this infusion of four young players skews the roster a lot younger how much does that excite each of you that you now get four new guys to kind of help from the ground up and uh it adds to not only the youth of the roster but you talked a lot about Hornets’s DNA how much does it impact you guys being able to do that from the ground floor all the way up
yeah look I I think the youth is is definitely important more than anything I would say is these guys are winners you know it was a huge part of the equation in in in uh in wanting to draft them um you know whether it’s in in high school or college they all have you know a ton of accolades but uh um you know winning is the the priority for them uh they hate losing more than they they love to win which is what we want to be about jeremy Granderson ESPN Charlotte second row back here guys uh question for question for coach can you talk about how these plays for like a lack of better words open up the playbook on offense and defense for you guys like Ryan and guys like Seion and then Liam and uh Khan as well it’s extremely exciting um I actually you know text Jeff after the draft and was like heck of a job like we just got so much better um in a lot of different ways and I think that we um now defensively cuz that’s always like the way to my heart um we’ve added a couple guys four guys now that like can their tails off and to have the fourtime um Big East defensive player of the year on our side and um you know having a guy that I think can help us really anchor our defense and help us protect the paint um and then the versatility from the other three guys to guard multiple positions uh to refuse to be screened the active hands uh you know all the winning plays um I I I believe it was Khan’s highlight film during the ESPN draft where like he’s diving on the floor and then he’s yelling at the crowd like we need those type of plays those 50/50s and so we’re going to get a a scrappy gritty group defensively and then offensively we’re adding some shooting we’re adding some IQ um we’re adding guys that can play with each other and play off the ball play on the ball um so like you said the playbook gets to really expand um as they continue to grow as well this is Richie of Buzzbead over here to your left uh this is directed at Khan and Liam if you have time uh when we think about your game we think about the three-point shooting that’s the first thing that comes on the scouting report uh but with NBA defenses you know maybe shading you inside the ark can you speak to your level of comfort playing with the ball in your hands and just why it’s important to counter that uh on the NBA level in terms of not just being build as a three-point shooter yeah I think obviously the three-point shooting like you mentioned is a is a huge part of my game um and I think I’ve I’m more than that obviously and I’ve I’ve always been more than that um I think I showed that at Duke this year my ability to play with the ball and ball screens um to attack closeouts um to be crafty in that way um but yeah I think there’s more than just the the three-point shooting in my game at Yukon I had to do a lot more than I expected i had the ball in my hands and uh I was just forced to create for myself and others um so that got me outside my comfort zone and I mean that forces you to get better and I got I got comfortable towards the end so yeah I’m I’m looking forward to it uh Hunter Bailey with the Charlotte Observer for Seion and Ryan i mean it’s been less than 24 hours since you guys got drafted to the NBA what has that been like what kind of whirlwind and have you slept at all yeah it’s definitely been a whirlwind it’s definitely been quick my parents right here in front of you and you can see they’re still real sleepy for sure but uh um it’s awesome though this is what you dream of um we knew it was going to be a quick turnout we knew everything was going to happen really quickly uh but the excitement is keeping me up keeping me energized and I guess it’s awesome yeah same deal with me i think me and my wife got 3 hours of sleep last night trying to catch an early morning flight to get here but I mean it’s all worth it um it’s it’s what you dream of as a kid so whatever you got to do to make this happen and we’re doing it
mike said from Quincson News and Carolina Sports Live this is for Jeff and Charles in piggybacking off what the players said they had current players there for their workouts so the followup would be how much did your current players you know offer advice and influence in who you ended up picking
yeah it’s it’s what you love about them uh the guys that are currently on the roster because they they care they’re invested um again we’re all pulling in the same direction so you uh inevitably we we disagree on some things of course which is good uh you want to get their opinion um but at the end of the day you know it all goes back to again winning characteristics and and habits that we want to be about and um but it it was good to have have Melo and Brandon and Miles all those guys they were in there they’re watching and um again offering their input on on these guys down here to all the players on your to your right uh you got Matt Alisa with Sports Illustrated at all at every stop in all of your basketball careers you’ve played on some great teams with some great players how is how is that experience going to shape you coming to the NBA playing on the Hornets with all of this talent that the team already has that you guys have talked about i think that was a big part in in my decision process at Duke and and one that made me a lot better as a player um obviously wasn’t the best player on my team um so learning how to affect uh winning in in other ways when you don’t always have the ball you’re not always going to shoot um learning how you can be an effective player uh and really still make winning plays um without the ball uh defensively rebounding all those areas where you can you can help the team be successful uh so my high school team we had six seniors within the top 40 ranked in the top 40 um and four of us were drafted in the first round um so I think that taught me how to play with other great players uh find a role and like just devote myself to winning and uh playing for coach Hurley at Yukon I think that that opened me up to like a real intense coach and I think that’s going to serve me well throughout my NBA career yeah playing with talent it’s been awesome it’s something that makes us all better um like Khan said like I was the last one to join our team last year i know it knew what kind of loaded team you’re walking into also wasn’t the best part of the team obviously but like we knew what kind of group we had and it was one of those things where it forces you to figure out um like Liam said um where you can fit in what’s your niche and how can you just impact winning at a really high level and how you can continue to grow your game from there and just having that experience helped me out a ton uh back row here Kenneth Lee with WFAE uh co a question for coach Lee um you know what’s your expectation for this group um for summer league uh my expectation for these guys is to come in and have an open mind um I think try to learn as much as possible the first couple days um get themselves acclimated to um offensive and defensive kind of just like terminology um getting them into in the habit of routines and working with our performance staff and our coaching staff and go out there and be yourself compete at a high level um which is what the expectation of a Hornet is on every day and being obsessed with just trying to get better um you know it’s not to go out there and score 30 points or 40 points like I want to see you dive on the floor i want to see you go vertical um I want to see you make the extra pass when the defense is shifted and hopefully that’s going to help our summer league team uh have more uh wins in the win column um but that that has got to be the focus just trying to play team basketball jeff this is for Jeff and Khan this is Daryl Horo it’s fun queen City nerve uh I imagine you watched a lot of Duke basketball Jeff during the season and uh you got a chance to see you Khan and you know Cooper Flag for instance and aside from Cooper Flag maybe being a little bit taller and possibly a little bit hoppier uh what your comparison might be between him and Khan and for Yukon how do you think your game equates because uh you have quite an all-around game too so that’s really the question for both of you
yeah I think again they they both they’re both winners um they’re both versatile i would say we got the better shooter uh but you know look they they they compete on the defensive end um they’re both versatile um they can make plays with with the ball in their hands they can play off the ball so uh they do have a lot of uh I’d say um you know parallel traits to to one another um that again ultimately in my mind in our mind they they at the end of the day equate to winning yeah I think just we have a similar thought process um on how to play the game uh it’s not about individual accolades or whatever it’s it’s all about winning um all about making the right plays and and giving effort 100% of the time this question is for uh Charles and Jeff both um and I’m not sure how much you were able to watch the ACC tournament charles you’re probably on the road jeff not sure if you went to any of the games but how much did Khan’s performance after Cooper’s injury kind of enhance what you already knew about him you know as a basketball player and all that he can do but as a leader as well
yeah it was certainly another valuable data point um again just his ability to adapt uh in real time in that situation that’s what the NBA is about right things rarely go the way that you you think they’re going to go um so again it’s it’s a testimony to just his mindset his character um showing that he can step up in a different role when the team needs him to to do that um and then when Cooper does come back he can kind of assimilate back into the role he was in before so it was certainly a very valuable data point uh agree with Jeff great data point um it was cool to actually watch some clips with him from the tournament and and see some of the possessions because I think like Seion hit on it perfectly um in the biggest moments when you need him to step up he’s willing to do it and so there’s a level of just humility to do whatever the team needs there’s a level of sacrifice but there’s also like a a internal drive that he knows that he can do it he’s a confident player um he’s a smart player and he kind of like helped will that team back into the game like there’s moments that they’re down and um you know you’re you’re playing uh an important game during an ACC tour uh during a tournament game um without one of your best players and so I think that it was just really impressive and just showed the type of character and and commitment to competitiveness that he has guys Steve Reed from the Associated Press i’ll welcome all of you to Charlotte um Ryan I wanted to ask you about you know you’re four-time defensive player of the year in a pretty tough conference um where did you start to develop that defensive mentality of you know rim protecting and everything else and you know I I guess have you been tall pretty much your whole life and then secondly for Charles and uh Jeff um the opportunity that he has here especially with with with the trade with Mark um I wonder if you could talk about that as well uh yeah I think my defensive game was always a little ahead of my offensive game so that’s kind of how I got my foot in the door in college and how it got me minutes to start my college career so that’s kind of always what I’ve hung my hat on and I’ve always loved playing defense more i’ve like playing offense and um a lot of it just comes down to practice i wouldn’t say just like a special knack for it like just like anyone with any skill I had to practice and work on it and get better but when you play in college for 5 years you tend to get a little better at things how how tall were you at what age sort of i mean like for instance eighth grade 10th grade
um I never really went on a growth spurt i just was constant grower i was always tallest in my class i think I was like 6’2 in eighth grade and just grew like 3 in every year in high school so I don’t know that’s no for the same grew the same every year i don’t know why that’s a go um yeah no I look I I think Ryan obviously has an incredible opportunity uh of course we still have Nerkish and Musa um but I think and Charles can get into this a little bit more of how he plans to use them but uh they’re all three different different you know skill sets and they bring uh a different look to the game whether it’s defensively if if Charles wants to mix up coverages or whatever it may be so um again I think that at the end of the day could be be a weapon for us just the the different looks we can throw at teams but let Charles Charles can get a little granular with that no it’ll it’ll be fun to be able to play with like three different pitches um in your arsenal and in your tool belt um I think he also has a great opportunity to learn from two other guys um that were here last year and like you know Moose is obviously more of a switching big but plays really high energy and has one way of trying to protect the paint and Nerk’s obviously been around and he’s got a different way and so I think that he has a opportunity to learn from really two good guys um on top of the coaching staff and his instincts and his mindset are going to help me even explore different options like he I I always give credit to the players they’re out there doing it at sometimes so learning him and watching him in summer league will help help me figure out you know exactly how I can best use him um defensively and then offensively I think that he poses a problem down there in the paint um more teams are switching now so the ability to throw throw him down on the post and I feel like I’ve seen them pass a little bit and so like can we play through the post and do some post splits and get these guys coming off and shooting and stuff so um you know we’ve all talked about all these guys versatile skill sets and I think Ryan has the same thing and so we’ll continue to kind of develop those and obviously just evaluate them as as we get more time with them
uh Richard Walker Carolina Sportsub this is for you Jeff obviously you kind of had a old school new school draft you’re part of two of the 18 record setting freshman then you draft two fifth year guys talk about what that means for the NBA draft future and did that happen or was it just kind of by accident
yeah look it just kind of happened it certainly wasn’t our intention going into to the night um I give a ton of credit to our uh our group you know our scouting staff uh our analytic staff um you know the the coaches they they certainly had input into it and you know there’s a ton of work that goes into the entire draft process but um you know we felt good where we landed with with all four of these guys and just so be it that yeah a couple of them are younger and couple them a little older uh but I think the uh again I I’ll continue to go back to like they all regardless of age they they want to get better right they they want to continue to to push themselves and and maximize their their opportunity we have time for two more so here and then
uh Jeremy Granderson ESPN Charlotte question for Jeff when you looked at this year’s NBA playoffs we saw that shooting point of attack defenders rebounding and rim protection were vital to a team success how do you evaluate the current landscape of the NBA while also trying to see where the league is heading
yeah it’s uh and I think it it’s probably another layer to that too right there’s a difference between the regular season and the postseason which which we we want want to be at at one point and uh we’re going to get there um but yeah I think shooting is is always going to be a premium um so anytime you can add that is is um certainly a great thing um but then again I think the other thing that that stands out when you watch the playoffs it’s IQ right iq and toughness and um again all four of these guys uh you know their most powerful tool is their mind uh they can really think the game and adapt and um you know when different coverages are thrown at them and um just willing again to explore different solutions within the game in real time uh and then again of course the physicality i love it uh I love that it ramps up in in the postseason um you got to be the first to hit because if not you know you’re going to get get uh probably get embarrassed so again I love that these guys again they all have a physicality to them as well so I I think um you know that they will continue to again push us in the right direction final question
matt Rinsky from hornets.com khan and CM you guys obviously played at Duke so you know the passion and love that the Carolinas have for basketball how excited are you to be able to just translate that over here to Buzz City yeah I’m super excited to be just down the road from where I was at um obviously having that that support from from Duke and and those fans in North Carolina uh is going to be huge and uh you know it’s it’s great great to be back here uh wasn’t gone for too long and uh uh super glad to be here yeah and same here um I just started getting comfortable and by the time I started really enjoying Durham and enjoying North Carolina it was time to wrap it up so uh it’s nice to be able to uh to play here now play in Charlotte and really um kind of get involved here excellent you guys are going to love Charlotte uh we’re going to start reimagining the stage we ask all the players to grab your jerseys and everyone else to please keep your seats we’re going to have a couple photos here on stage and while we do that we want to say thank you to everyone joining us here live in person as well as all those tuning in here to today’s press conference welcoming the four newest members of the Charlotte Hornets organization also want to remind everyone that after two summers of reimagining Spectrum Center we cannot wait to be back inside of our home building 20th anniversary and begin the next season of Hornets basketball so if you haven’t purchased your tickets yet I’m sure someone here can help you out with that we look forward to seeing you uh when we tip off the season in October and with that we’ll get some photos here of the newest members of the Hornets

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