DRAFT RECAP: Hornets Take Kon Knueppel + TRADE Mark Williams for 29th Pick Liam McNeeley

DRAFT RECAP: Hornets Take Kon Knueppel + TRADE Mark Williams for 29th Pick Liam McNeeley

oh my god busy night for Jeff Peterson last night we don’t have the other starting center they traded a guy twice now in Mark Williams he’s gone he’s gone again they drafted Khan Canipple they drafted Liam McNeely they have two more picks early in the second round today what are the Hornets going to do how do we feel about what the Hornets did last night we talk about it 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] we have ourselves a first round to talk about jeff Peterson busy man last night we’re busy as well it’s Locked on Horn it’s 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 that does include YouTube i’m Walker Mail you can listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m wesson Walker doug Branson every Hornetsboxcore.com also locked on NBA and we need some help with this one send out the not a bad signal not a
natada not a Oh there you are now Edward producer of the ion college basketball podcast and not friend of the pod family member of the pod here on Lockdown Hornets we’re all tired we were all up late i I I didn’t hear from Jeff Peterson he didn’t get to the table yesterday until 12:20 a.m i I I’m going on 3 hours sleep doug has a baby and he was doing a whole bunch of other stuff yesterday for the podcast network natada doing the same thing with with his that you guys you guys did a whole draft recap on ion college basketball right yes we did we recorded at 1:45 in the morning we’re back to tournament schedule
yeah look I I’m look free advertising like I’m just skipping the coffee i’m going right to just the radioactive
energy black force energy drink of like that’s what that is you’re I’m going to be I know uh I’m going to look like Blinky the three-eyed goldfish in the Simpsons after I’m done i’m going to drink two of these i’m drinking two it’s going to be radioactive
okay wild night we go into last night thinking the the three things at least this is what we thought between me and Doug
first option for the Hornets was take VJ Edgecom if he’s there what is Philly going to do at number three are they going to take VJ do they just take Ace nope they take VJ he’s the third overall pick he’s off the board for the Hornets now it gets interesting do the Hornets trade back to six seven or eight does Washington New Orleans or Utah not maybe Utah we’ll talk about them in a second does Brooklyn want to go up to number four take Ace Bailey the Hornets move back take the best of their big board at 6 seven or eight and just allow one of those teams to take ace at four he was on the phone jeff Peterson said that he was fielding calls last night couldn’t get anything done third option we thought was going to happen if they didn’t take VJ Edgecom if they did not get a deal done the next option was they were going to take Khan Canipple sure enough it happens they take Khan Canipple doug we’ll start with you thoughts on the Khan Canipple selection at four last night yeah I think essentially they tried to trade down and none of the teams called the bluff that the Hornets were actually going to blow up their entire locker room and the culture that they were developing by selecting Ace Bailey and and the fit with Brandon Miller was was a problem and so I don’t think that anyone bought it now I think Washington thought there’s no way Utah is going to take Ace Bailey we’re fine we’re going to get Ace Bailey at six and they they should have called uh the bluff by Utah but they didn’t so the Hornets were in a tough position to make that trade they don’t they take Coniple i think it’s a good pick you know I I was a little higher on the star upside from Trey Johnson but at the same time I understand the coniple pick because you’re getting somebody that I think is going to be a safe role player for the next 10 years really good upside can play both ends of the floor i think you can get Khan Canipple to be a two-way player much faster than you can get Trey Johnson to do the same thing trey Johnson exciting offensive player but defensively there were a lot of issues if we’re all being honest and so if they want to compete as quickly as possible I think Khan Canipple helps them do that and I think there is there is still some exciting things about Khan Canipple’s upside particularly in terms of his secondary playmaking uh that that I think you know you can hang your hat on and say “All right this wasn’t the the safest of safe picks there’s a little bit of upside here.” So overall you know I think he’s a very talented player and I think the Hornets got somebody that they can play right away natada you were a little more hesitant on taking Khan Canipple at four given our conversations on this pod almost every week leading up to the NBA draft here we are with him being the fourth pick Ace Bailey and Trey Johnson on the board how are you feeling specifically about what they did at number four there are a lot of other things to talk about but let’s just focus on this right now with the top five selection how are you feeling this morning
i kind of I I really I think it’s safe i think it was a move that kind of underwhelms me i continue to wonder what’s going to happen with Khan when if he can’t get to his spots and more importantly what happens if he can’t stop the other guy from getting to his spot i have those concerns when it comes to Khan Canipple i do think it’s a safe pick i do think you should they should have taken the gamble of look look we’ll take six and whatever trade back they did not apparently did not feel comfortable with it i get it i like their second pick a whole lot more than I do their first but I do understand what they’re trying to go for considering that there was a lot of LaMelo to Daycoin Jeff in the corner and Nick Smith Jr in the corner
right
and when you start looking it at it in that regard it kind of makes sense um so we were going through our favorite stats and our favorite things about all of these prospects yesterday on Wesson Walker i look at VJ Edgecomb i see the 33 dunks last year stat josh Green had 17 in comparison brandon Miller had 17 out there on the perimeter in the limited amount of games that he played so Brandon can go attack the rim coniple isn’t going to help you with dunking the basketball and providing a whole bunch of rim pressure trey Johnson wasn’t going to do that either uh there was one option there in terms of complimenting LaMelo and Brandon getting to the cup getting to the foul line a little bit more and that was VJ so once VJ was gone okay then I would have gone Trey Johnson as well i liked him better but I I like Khan fine i think it’s a good not great pick and I’m going to be cool with it we’re going to talk ourselves into it i’m going to pull for Khan and I see how it works with him i think the getting to your spots thing for Khan Canipple in the NBA has a lot to do with his footwork his footwork is immaculate man like the the guys the guy’s pivot point just faking dudes out of their shoes from in a from a foam booth is pretty pretty awesome um the secondary playmaking is great right the decision-m driving into the paint absorbing that contact bringing the rim protector out from the goal in order to throw the correct lob pass not to Mark Williams anymore again we’ll get to that in just a moment but throwing the lob pass to Amusa a center that the Hornets take in the second round uh you know or two possibly um and he’s always making the right decision my man can shoot i really like what he can do off screens attacking off the screen shooting off of the screen you know hockey assist stuff like just making the right read this feels like uh we need help unlocking a lot of other pieces on our roster and Khan is going to help us do that whether it’s the spacing that he provides for a lamelo to have a little more room to operate for Brandon to have a little more room to operate if Khan does get a little head of steam going downhill he gets cut off kick out bam brandon and LaMelo both can shoot um off of the catch it it for me I I feel a little bit like I do with Brandon Miller in in terms of like it’s hard for me to envision this pick failing offensively defensively he might be a liability it’s certainly on ball but it is hard for me to envision this pick failing offensively there’s a lot to like there with what he can do with the ball in his hands
he seemed to be highly rated as a team defender so that’s a plus but yeah you look at that and it’s like okay you you’re going to still have to have LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller improve maybe significantly defensively um if you want to have a chance to compete in a postseason series but but that might not be what they’re thinking right now this is a probably still a two threeear sort of development process the best thing about Khan Caniple is that he can mold himself and seems willing to mold himself into whatever the Charlotte Hornets need at a particular time i mean you saw that at Duke where he comes in and then you know Cooper Flag is the guy and he didn’t he didn’t need to be Khan Canipple did not need to be the guy to be effective and then when Cooper Flag was out then Khan said “All right I’m going to step it up i’m going to rise to the moment.” And so you know those are those are character things that are that are actually super important for a young player coming into the league because there are going to be those moments when he’s asked to do those things but there are also going to be moments of adversity and and I think we’ve seen him respond to both and so in a draft in which I thought they’ve got to come away with a player that can contribute sooner rather than later particularly when you consider that in the last draft they took Tan Salon a multi-year project i mean I think they got a great pick here in Khan Canipple
i do worry about this is the thing I worry about with Khan is that you have to be sure about LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller for this to work if this does not work if you’re not sure about either one this kind of falls apart it’s like what we talked about last time I was here i don’t think these are cornerstone pieces you have to be sure about this and if you’re going to go forward with a LaMelo ball you’re going to go forward with a Brandon Miller you have to get make sure that they stay up stay upright and play almost 50 60 games and neither one of them have really done that in the last couple of years if you’re going to do like I understand the pick if it’s going to be okay LaMelo Brandon move forward i’m just not sure how wise of an idea that actually is you you know I think you’re right in terms of competing next year or competing because Khan Canipple right now isn’t going to be your star the the ceiling for him isn’t going to be as high as a Trey Johnson in my opinion it’s not as high as what Ace Bailey possesses as well so with Khan you’re not going to get that I do think that he’s the kind of piece that you draft in the first round that does give you versatility if you decide to move off of LaMelo and Brandon if you decide to go after whatever identity type of player you want who you can go after him because Khan’s going to be able to fit with that player offensively defensively again there are some issues right but offensively you want to go get a ball dominant guard great canipple can just slide right in there you want to go get somebody that is a better playmaker they can actually help Khan play a little bit better in that regard so I think Khan fits in well there i just think that he’s a real versatile player you mentioned like you can mold him into whatever you want how about Khan clay nipple just little ball of clay whatever you need we’ll just form him into whatever you want here with the offense so that like going over some of his film last night again it we’re we’re doing all like the the unathletic white guy stuff like he’s real crafty he’s you know he’s got a high basketball IQ he’s first one in the gym last one
accurate though but but like with him there there are some real uh footwork Savon stuff where that’s how he gets away from uh you know or that that’s how he gets by without the athleticism the the two-foot jumping stuff is is awesome he’s controlled i think he will get to the foul line in the NBA um you know jumping off of two feet and being strong and like he he’s he’s kind of a bull a little bit like he he’s not soft man dude’s tough and I do like that so um I’m with it i I’m I’m in i wouldn’t have made that decision i would have gone Trey Johnson or traded back but Coniple would have been my next choice and I I’m I’m good with it i’m in i’m excited to see how it goes and there are plenty of other things that the Hornets did last night and what they’ll do today in the second round to help supplement what they did last night drafting Khan Canipple coming up next on the Locked on Hornets podcast bees everywhere they made another pick last night at 29 and it’s because they traded a guy again they already traded him they did it twice now Mark Williams is a Phoenix son he is no longer a Charlotte Hornet what do we make of the trade we’ll discuss it coming up next lh [Music] this episode is brought to you by Wayfair there’s nothing like stepping into your own outdoor space and feeling like you’ve escaped to a personal oasis if you’re wanting to update your patio this season Wayfair has made it so easy to turn it into a space that feels like yours comfortable stylish and ready for summer wayfair has everything you need to level up your outdoor space conversation sets outdoor bars fire pits the low bar could we make a low bar here with Wayfair go to Wayfair and make the low bar baby hot tubs gazeos and yes even the perfect string lights to set the vibe it’s like giving your backyard that resort feel without the resort price tag delivery is free fast totally hassle-free as well even with larger items you might order from Wayfair now whether you’re hosting friends or just unwinding with a book it genuinely feels like your own private retreat make it whatever you want to make it don’t wait make your outdoor space your dream oasis today with Wayfair and enjoy it all summer long head to wayfair.com right now to shop a huge outdoor selection that’s w afir wayfair.com wayfair every style every home more lockdown Hornets ahead [Music] hornets weren’t done after making that fourth pick we’re all writing our coniple writeups in the media room we’re all putting our analysis out there okay does that word go here all right write punctuation is it good press
don’t do the canipple pun don’t do the canipple pun
all right it It’s so played out do I do I do I play it safe do I just say confident instead of a canipple play no i I don’t know all right okay all right we’ll wait for Jeff Peterson to come in and then we’ll call it a day oh oh they traded somebody oh they traded Mark Williams strap in boys we’re in for a long night strap in the Charlotte Hornets the Charlotte Hornets traded Mark Williams to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for the 29th pick in last night’s draft which eventually turned into Liam McNeely a 2029 first round pick swap and Vasameich
yay
he’s coming back he’s back what vasameich is coming back actually maybe not so much we’ll get to that in a moment as well the 2029 pick by the way that will be the least favorable of Cleveland’s Utah’s and Minnesota’s first round picks and is one through five protected sources said when Shams was getting the protections on all of this so let’s talk about the Mark aspect first and then go to Liam McNeely mark Williams was traded to the Lakers last year the Hornets got an unprotected first and Dalton Connect which felt like basically a first round pick because the Hornets were documentedly reported in Dalton Connect and then eventually they just got him by trading Mark and you get an unprotected first from LA which was really nice that trade was rescended after the Lakers failed Mark Williams physical okay depending on how you want to word that mark Williams failed the physical the Lakers failed Mark Williams physical for him he failed the physical regardless weird vibes i think Mark handled it well enough you could understand why he wouldn’t there were some things that you could clearly tell bothered him but it felt like there was a little sense of urgency to move on from Mark but not so much that you would just deal him for whatever right not so much that you would just deal him for anything less than what you thought he was worth you still were motivated to move him you get two first you get a late first this year and you get the least favorable of Cleveland’s Utah’s and Minnesota’s first round pick in 2029 a few years from now it’s not as good of a package as you got from the Lakers it’s probably a little closer to the value that Mark Williams possesses as a player right now going into year four but I understand why they made it it’s two first round picks they got a McNeely they have another asset they have another first to add to their war chest of all sorts of picks now Doug I go with you what do you think about the trade and even dabble in some le Liam McNeely analysis if you want to
um I think that once they traded him to the Lakers the well was poisoned that there was no there was no like reality in which Mark Williams and the Hornets salvaged that relationship they did the best they could with it and you know move forward and and I think Mark Williams had the incentive to you know make sure that he was attractive enough to move on to another team and still have a role in the NBA after everything that happened and I think he did so he acted professionally so salute to Mark Williams did not have to do that and he did and so
I think that’s a good way to put it like everything you just said I think that’s that’s a really good way to put it on on both fronts and now he’s a member of the Suns
yeah but uh so um I’m I’m surprised the Suns did this because I think now they have Mason Plumbley Nick Richards and Mark well yeah okay I’m feigning surprise here because they’re terribly run
exactly
but now they have like nine shooting guards and nine centers i don’t know how any of that works they’ve got the entire Charlotte Hornets center rotation from 22 23 i I feel the worst for Nick Richards who cannot get out from under Mark Williams he’s like “What do I have to do?” But I can’t believe but here’s the thing the Suns have changed general managers and coaches so many times that there’s no consistency within the organization to understand that hey we went with Mason Plumbley said no way like we can’t start Mason Plumbley so then they went out and got Nick Richards and then no we cannot start Nick Richards and they just keep going down the line and learning lessons that the that the Hornets have already learned and another lesson they’re gonna learn is that Mark Williams and and fans of Suns I’m sorry to break it to you you’re gonna learn this lesson too you’re going to look at the box score and say this was a 15-10 guy who had top 10 true shooting percentage in the league last year what the hell were the Charlotte Hornets thinking giving him up for too late first and the the thing that they’re gonna find out like five games into the season is that he despite putting up those numbers he’s not the player physically that you want at the center position defensively at the center position and then offensively unless you have an elite point guard that can get him the ball right at the rim exactly where he wants it he is not very versatile offensively so I’m I’m I’m happy that the Hornets moved on from him so that they can this idea he was a part of the core was ridiculous and now they can just fully focus if it’s this guy that they want in the second round or if it’s somebody in free agency or trade they can finally start deciding what is our future at the center position because it wasn’t Mark Williams natada
at this point I just want to point out that Jeff Peterson got two late firsts for a center that hasn’t played more than 44 games in a season crazy
that is a heist
let’s make that like Let’s make this clear this is a heist i don’t want to hear anything about oh you gave up on him no this is a heist you got exactly what you needed from him it was very clear that they did not want to pay him nor do like because you would have had he stayed on this roster you would have had to feel comfortable enough to give him an extension there is no way you do that i’m sorry so if you’re telling me that this is and this is what happened two first rounders yo you take that you run and if you’re Matt Ishbia you’re blocking like Jeff Peterson’s number in the offices of the Phoenix Suns because at this point he’s robbed you twice
so please rob me please begging it’s so Oh my god i even forgot about the Mason Plumbley of it all Doug it’s un that three centers now they’ve gone to they they go get Cody Martin they were the team
it’s been a position of weakness for the Charlotte Hornets for like a decade
i cannot believe it i can’t believe it
yes i that man’s Midwest Midwest James Dolan what are we talking about i can easily believe this
what’s funny is Isaiah Thomas being his his like his adviser this is James Dolan let’s let’s just accept that part well well what you know I I can’t help but think of the Anakin Skywalker Padmé meme where there’s four different pictures and they’re talking back and forth and then Padmé is trying to seek clarity from Anakin Skywalker i picture Nick Richards as Padame seeking clarity oh you know welcome to Phoenix Nick Richards oh thank God now I don’t have to play behind Mark Williams i don’t have to play behind Mark Williams right i don’t I don’t have to play behind Mark Oh no i still I still have to play We haven’t even we haven’t even talked about the other thing which is that before they made that or yeah before they made the trade right they they got the 10th pick out of the Kevin Durant deal the Phoenix Suns did and they took Malawatch whose biggest cop was Mark Williams
they want to be the Hornets so bad they can they want to be the Hornets
they did the thing that I was so terrified that the Hornets were going to do they did the thing it was amazing
that is right uh and they’re going to be the Miles Bridges team they’re going to we’re gonna go
it’s so blatantly obvious it’s so blatantly obvious
and I don’t even know if they have enough first now uh or
they need a small forward they’ve got too many shooting guard they even they need a small forward power forward combo guy
i draw the line at Hugo you don’t get Hugo okay you have a great mascot yourself you’re not getting Hugo the Hornet but you can have Mark Williams for two first round
i’m not going by the way I think I ruined the Lakers deal or at least people accused me because I went after the deal was done i went on locked on Lakers to do a crossover and I was just like I don’t know what you guys are doing and then all of a sudden Rob Pelinka is picking up the phone and telling Charlotte the deal’s off so I have a promise for you locked on Hornets fans i am not doing a crossover with Locked on Suns we’re going to lock this in i’m not going on any shows i’m going to shut the hell up and let this deal happen and potentially a future Miles Bridges deal
all right uh we have more things to talk about liam McNeely the player that they got in return with that Mark Williams trade alongside that 2029 first round pick let’s get to it coming up next on the Locked on Hornets podcast everywhere the shooting guard small forward out of Yukon what does Liam McNeely bring to the table we’ll get to that coming up next [Music] this episode is brought to you by Skiims when I found out Ski was making underwear for men I was intrigued i’ve heard so much about their quality from friends and family so I had to give it a try and let me tell you it lives up to the hype i’ve always had issues with underwear whether it be fit comfort just finding the right style but SKIMS can change all of that and it can change for all of it uh all of it for you too their men’s line offers something for everyone from boxer briefs to classic briefs all designed with the perfect balance and comfort and style you can go to shopki men’s.com let them know we sent you as well after you place your order select podcast in the survey and select uh our show Lockdown Hornets in the drop-own menu lockdown hornets select that in the drop-own menu so they know that we sent you go to skimsmenskims.com again skims.com more Lockdown Hornets ahead [Music] n I’m going to go to you first on this one man and I know you were really excited about Liam McNeely being that pick at 29 i I saw a few people that had him high on their boards um and he had the ankle sprain last year at Yukon the box score doesn’t look great the in terms of the efficiency but I think some of that actually was affected by the ankle sprain was shooting quite well before the ankle sprain which is nice but there are a lot of people that are high on this pick including you tell us what you like about the Yukon uh wingman being drafted here by the Charlotte Hornets
liam McNeely was quite literally the best player on a team that put the fear of God into the national champions i understand that people are going to point out the shooting efficiency the numbers being down this that and the third i want to point out this while we do this that his point guards were solo ball who’s not really a point guard Assand Diara who decent point decent college point guard but a guy that may not even be playing in Europe next year and then you have Aiden Mahaney who was so bad at point guard that Danny Hurley had to move him to two guard and then he subsequently transferred right after that this guy is going to be a very very very good pro uh I think they drafted an absolute 10-year guy in the league and I think he’s going to end up being a Sam Hower type and mind you those guys don’t come cheap so you’re telling me that you’ve got yourself a 10-year shooter that is going to be able to hit shots i do want to remind anyone that’s complaining about this Dacoin Jeff started 25 games for this team last year hell no
do not complain like instead of La La LMO to Daquin Jeff in the corner or LaMelo to Nick Smith Jr in the corner now it’s Khan in the corner now it’s Liam McNeely in the corner i think this is a really awesome swing especially for a guy that you weren’t going to keep in Mark Williams
what do you think Doug i I know we didn’t talk a lot about Liam McNeely once they went into the 29 range the odds are they were going to get somebody we didn’t talk a lot about that was just outside of our range on the players we focused on uh you know close to it with some of the early second round targets but they get Liam McNeely and again the center names that are on the board for them today the the fact is that they’re still there Maxim Reno our guy like we we stopped talking about him because we thought that he was going to be a top 20 pick but he’s still available would love that Ryan Caulk Brener certainly our guy that we thought would be there he is at least as of now he has to last two more picks three yeah two more picks before we can figure out if the Hornets might select him there’s a Rashir Fleming nada called his shuttle time doug I know you were a big fan of Shuttle Times no Penda like I I like the names here early in the
second there’s a lot there’s so much talent and there’s like I’m excited for the Hornets and what they do here
i got carried away Doug i got excited about the other names but let’s focus on the name they did take leah McNeely what are your thoughts so I know Natada just asked me and all of us not to complain but I am going to complain because I’m not in love with this pick it’s not that I don’t think that Leam McNeely could be a good player in this league it’s just that I felt like they had an opportunity here to secure a big that they wanted and not put the risk there because that that’s what they did according to Jeff Peterson that’s what they did with Khan Canipple they wanted Khan Canipple and so they took him at four they were scared to trade back that he would go to Utah that he would go to Washington or New Orleans or whatever and they wanted Konipple i just feel like you’re putting this at risk particularly when you look in the second round i think Boston picks before them if they don’t move out of that pick they need a big so and and they’ve got some time with a gap year they could go with somebody like Reo or uh Kulk Brener and then you know you don’t end up getting the guy that you want um and I and I look at McNeely and I think this seems like a worse version of Khan Canipple has all the cons if you will of Khan Caniple without I think some of the upside in terms of playmaking and and just general feel for the game that that you have with Khan Canipple but same concerns about athleticism um I’m I don’t really I I I don’t really care about the shooting inconsistencies going from high school to Yukon because I do buy that the ankle had something to do with it i do buy all of Nata’s stuff there with with the point guard that he had um I did hear from a source that said he worked out for a team in the in the pre-draft process and worked out with a group of exhibit 10 players and wasn’t the best player on the floor uh I I think that if I had to guess Liam McNeely is going to play more time in the G-League than we expect i think Khan Canipple particularly with the Josh Great injury is going to start right away um I think you’re going to need some seasoning on Leah McNeely before you find out who he is i do agree with Natada that like it makes a lot of sense to go after two shooters particularly when you look at not only how poorly the Hornets shot from the three-point line and that wasn’t just injuries that was a lot of the players that you thought were going to shoot threes that weren’t shooting them as well and then uh I think it’s just shooting efficiency across the board the Hornets weren’t very good so from that perspective I kind of get it but I think Liam McNeely is going to need a year before we really figure out what they have there um I guess those E10 players should get multi-year deals man that’s all I can say maybe just give them
and who knows the workout process is weird and and we I don’t know do we know um if they worked out if the Hornets worked out Liam McNeely
you know what we don’t i did ask I I did ask that question by the way yesterday with Jeff Peterson how much he values personal workouts with all of the scuttlebutt about the Hornets possibly having trouble working out guys which I I don’t think that was necessarily true you know the guys that were mentioned were players that they had no shot of taking ace Bailey who didn’t work out with anybody except for Washington in a secret workout which is hilarious and they did work out Trey Johnson they they mentioned it but we just didn’t know because they kept it quiet um but Jeff did say they’re important but they are not a must in order for us to take said player so I don’t know if they worked them out yeah I I just I’m a little bit concerned that they saw a player that a lot of draft boards had you know in the 20s and they said this is an opportunity for us to get a steal without asking the obvious question of like why is this player falling um so you know I I’m not in love with the guy who falls like and I and I think this was a fall from where I saw him projected and you know yeah I I have concerns i I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world because it’s a pick honestly that you weren’t expecting them to make anyhow before they made the Mark Williams trade um but I just would have been more comfortable if they had gone for Max Rau or with K
who’s falling right now is falling i will say I’m with you at least at least in that in at least in that instance you get somebody that offers a ver a more
a couple of more skill sets that you don’t already that you weren’t already invested in Canipple that’s you know the the overlap with him and Canipple
um I think is is interesting to me i
I also asked Jeff Peterson about differences in their game and I I think he he talked about Canipple having a little more playmaking to him he talked about Canipple being essentially stronger being able to guard a little bit further up the position ladder than what Liam McNeely is going
i heard him say Liam McNeely could guard up i don’t that one was a bit much for me the the size is good though i mean in fact if if you were a little worried about Khan Canipple remember the combine the measurements weren’t kind to him he was listed at 67 at Duke and then he comes in at 6’5 not uh not wearing any shoes you look at where Liam McNeely measures at the combine he comes in almost at 6’7 I believe mcneely 6 feet 6 and 3/4 in uh 215 lb frame i the the wingspan is only 69 at that kind of frame so a little bit smaller but it’s not you know like not Khan it’s better than Khan
he’s an NBA player guys i
I think the body is I actually kind of like the size that McNeely has i I’m in on McNeely too um I sure I’d rather have Ray know i’d rather have Caulk Brener
i would rather have Fleming i mean just just like a traditional three and D you know that’s the thing too when you look at both of these players you go “Okay that’s a lot of three
but a lot of question marks about the defense you’ve got a coach and Charles Lee who wants
uh to be a defensive focused team.” You also have them wanting to shoot a lot of threes so in some ways this makes a lot of sense in some ways it doesn’t
i would ask you though isn’t Fleming just as much of a falling knife as Liam McNeely though well you know yeah i mean there were a lot of falling knives you know I I’m just saying when you get to the bottom of the draft that’s going to happen i guess that’s the point though right that’s not my biggest That’s not my biggest qualm with Leam McNeely you know I just wanted them to t I just felt like when they got the 29th pick I thought “Oh this is a great opportunity for them to move those two second round picks and do whatever they wanted to with them.” And you get a big prospect and there are a lot of good big prospects and with Max Ray No yeah there was a little bit of a fall but I to me that was a regression to the mean because like I think Max rose and then there was sort of a reality check whereas Liam McNeely you know I I’ve all I think through this whole process I’ve seen him in the in the 20s
well I will say in our locked on podcast mock draft he he did not get selected at all in the first round like I I actually think that he he kind of was slotted but but I I’ve seen Keith Smith who we’re actually going to have on today for Weston Walker top 10 um I’ve seen some of them top 10 i’ve seen a lot of them he’s kind of all over the board here’s what I’ll say i think their vision last night in selecting Coniple and Leah McNeely was let’s get smarter let’s just have a team that’s cohesive it’s a little not in the terms of getting out in transition and running and having the basketball pop as much as what the Indiana Pacers do but we’ve been spending this entire postseason run trying to figure out what we can take from the Thunder what we can take from the Pacers these small market teams that go on these incredible runs to the NBA finals by leaning all the way into a certain identity i think what the Hornets are trying to build now is a bunch of space out have a bunch of shooters to help LaMelo and Brandon you still need some rim pressure there are plenty of things that the Hornets need to address but you need guys that are going to make the right plays i do think Liam McNeely is a smart basketball player again you see him as a former top 10 guy coming out of college good enough for Hurley to go recruit i kind of like the pedigree in that regard of here was somebody that was extremely highly recruit recruited shot really well had an injury that affected the shot in my opinion falls a little bit maybe because of the injury and then you look at the box court you don’t love the efficiency numbers but perhaps that’s a mirage for what he truly is and he’s also just really smart i I I think during draft processes I’ve missed mostly on guys both in not wanting them and wanting them uh like in in terms of undervaluing and overvaluing I should say like feel for the game um I I I think I think feel matters a lot and I think both of these guys have a really smart feel in the game and I think that’s going to help this Hornets offense with their decision-m with getting the best out of other players and I’m hoping that they address center there’s still a lot of good names on the board here so you have Fleming K Brener Ray No and you need at you know there’s only going to be two picks before you select that 33 and 34 we’ll see what they decide to do natada final thoughts on what the Hornets did what the Hornets are going to do early in the second round just final thoughts as uh we end the show today
hornets DNA is taking shape like quite literally they want smart players that can actually shoot and now we see what they want it’s going to be more of that Milwaukee five out style i couldn’t be happier i couldn’t be more excited despite the fact that I kind of wanted Trey Johnson here more
okay Doug final thoughts uh Charles Lee wanted to shoot a lot of threes and got a rude awakening last season that this team did not have a lot of three-point shooters so the Hornets addressed a need very clearly in this draft that’s a win and they didn’t do what Phoenix did what New Orleans did by trading an unprotected first round pick to move up 10 slots god
they didn’t do anything insane in this draft and we can always count that a win when you’re a fan of the Charlotte Hornets
it It’s so good don’t do anything insane uh it actually leads to a conversation that I want to have maybe in the uh in in our next episode when we address the second round like the the importance of fit the philosophical question of how much fit matters no you just draft best player available well may maybe they they do want them to fit a little bit that that does matter in terms of having players go to the right situations well these guys both fit the way that Charles Lee wants to play and I think we did have that kind of right when assessing the Trey Johnson Coniple Ace Bailey of it all do they want to go after a player that fits within the scheme that Charles Lee is going to coach with it doesn’t look like Lee’s going anywhere there’s organizational alignment between Jeff Peterson and Charles Lee he’s only here for one year he’s not going to get fired this upcoming season fingers crossed for him I guess i don’t think so so with him being a part of the process Jeff Peterson mentioned that yesterday clearly scheme mattered and they got some players that fit what the Hornets do very nicely we got a second round uh to also enhance this team coming up today we’ll be back maybe tonight i don’t know we’re going to have to schedule that off air but we’ll try to figure out when the next pod is going to drop right here on Lockdown Hornets natada is the man thanks again to Natada for helping us out staying up late waking up early helping us out here breaking down the prospects natada Edwards Natada the Scribe on Twitter uh listen to ion college basketball podcast with Gary Parish and Matt Norlander natada is the producer behind the scenes doug Branson every Hornetsboxcore.com also locked on NBA you guys got a lot to talk about doug I can’t wait to tune in with Matt Moore and Hayes and Doug Branson our very own breaking down the entire NBA draft and I’m Walker Mayo listening to me WFNZ every weekday we’ll be talking more about this draft from 12 to 3 p.m 927 FM it’s a fun one boys i’ll see you tomorrow [Music]

The Charlotte Hornets’ draft night was anything but quiet — and we’ve got all the reaction. Jeff Peterson was working the phones, but with no deal materializing to trade down, the Hornets locked in Kon Knueppel at #4. Hosts Walker Mehl, Doug Branson, and guest Nata Edwards debate whether Knueppel’s high-IQ, footwork-heavy, two-way skill set justifies the pick, especially with more explosive players like Tre Johnson and Ace Bailey still available.

Then came the shocker: Mark Williams was traded — again. This time it stuck, and the Hornets flipped him to Phoenix for the 29th pick (used on Liam McNeeley), a future first, and Vasilije Micić. The crew breaks down why this trade was a savvy asset grab, even if Williams’ potential remains intriguing.

They dive deep into McNeely’s upside as a shooter, his injury-plagued season at UConn, and why he might need G-League seasoning before becoming a contributor. They also preview second-round targets like Ryan Kalkbrenner and Maxime Raynaud, and how they could fill the looming center void.

From big-picture philosophical debates about fit vs. best player available, to how Charles Lee’s offensive vision is finally taking shape — this is your all-in-one breakdown of a massive night for the Hornets’ future.

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