HORNETS STACK BACKCOURT 💥 | Spencer Dinwiddie SIGNS | Summer League STAR Watch Begins

HORNETS STACK BACKCOURT 💥 | Spencer Dinwiddie SIGNS | Summer League STAR Watch Begins

The July 4th weekend is almost upon us and Chef Jeff is on the grill serving up all the wings we can eat. We somehow have more signings to talk about and Natada Edwards is here to help today on 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] Welcome in. Welcome in. Welcome in. This is Locked on Hornets. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I’m Doug Branson. You can find my work on every hornetsboxcore.com and on Locked on NBA. He is Nata Edwards. You can find his work on the eye on college basketball podcast. What’s going on, Natada? Not much. Not much. I mean, you tell me Chef Jeff is like bringing wings to the grill and everything. Like, I’m just wondering what flavor wings. We talking buffalo? We talking like Hawaiian? Like, I I I got to figure out the flavor before I really just start getting in and start getting hungry and start preparing. You know how I am.
Listen, so many ways you can go. I know a lot of people like a classic hot wing. I like Korean barbecue. I like lemon pepper. I’ll eat a hot wing. But I think there’s so many ways you can get creative with wings. And certainly uh Jeff Peterson is doing that with his Charlotte Hornets team. We’re going to talk about some of the new signings coming up. No Walker Mail today. He started his vacation early. Programming note, we will be off tomorrow if something insane breaks. Uh make sure you’re checking out our YouTube channel because both Walker and I will have our phones with us and we are going to put the phone in our face if something insane happens over the weekend. So youtube.comdonhornet. Subscribe. Set your notifications. That’s important because then you will know when we go live. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Monarch Money very important if you are spending money. And guess who’s spending money right now? It’s the Charlotte Hornets. It’s Jeff Peterson. Not spending his own money. He’s spending the Schlotkins money right now. As the Hornets land another guard, they make another move in free agency, signing Spencer Denwitty. He joins Pat Coneton, Trey Man, Kylin Ston, Mason Plumbley as players Jeff Peterson has acquired through free agency and trade. Uh Natada, you haven’t been on in a while. Like what’s your main takeaway after this flurry of moves that Jeff Peterson and company have made this off season so far?
We can’t go back. And I’m assuming that Rick Rick Schnull specifically because I remember a conversation that Terrence Olgby had on another podcast where he’s like Rick was pissed with all the losing. I think there was a message. I think there was a conversation that was had with Rick Schnall and everybody else especially after the fourth pick was after it was revealed the Hornets got the fourth pick. And I believe that it was told that this can’t be that bad anymore. I do believe that there’s going to be some sort of competence. I do believe that Charles Lee had something to say about, hey, I need professional guys and if we’re going to change the culture, we need professionals around up and down the the roster. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Spencer Dwitty is a potential professional, but so far the Colin Ston moves the again, everything looks like we want competence here. And that just means like, hey, there should be a baseline of what 30 wins. Again, I think the baseline now becomes, okay, this is a 30- win team. Anything more or less means that Brandon took a step forward. That means Khan Canipple ends up being a top three guy when it comes to uh rookie of the year voting or something like or he’s a first team all rookie or something along the lines of that. I do believe though that there’s going to be a level of competence and it’s not going to be as bad as the last two years and not be as hopeless as the last two years have been.
Yeah, I love I love so much of what you said there. basic competence and and and like NBA level competence, like we we know how to play NBA basketball. We’re not going back to having to rely, particularly after a a couple of injuries, having to rely on GLeague level talent. It It’s fun to cheer for in that meme kind of way, but it results in in 19 wins. And and I think that’s the that’s one of the more important takeaways because I think people look at all of these moves and they say, “Wait a minute. You just drafted Khan Canipple. Where’s his minutes? Then you’ve got you’ve got to work in all of these guys. So many guards, not enough centers. What are the Hornets really after here?” And I think again there could be moves where several of these guys get moved for a potential big or or something else. Something else could happen. But if we just to happen though, doesn’t it? Something else has to happen.
Well, I mean, so yes. So, let’s talk about that. You You can have like I think 21 or 22 players in the off season. So, this is I think this is going to shake out somewhere in the range of they they make a two for one trade or there’s a waiver of some kind. I mean, the Hornets have several non-G guaranteed contracts uh that they could essentially wave uh for no penalty. And even if some of these all of these contracts are smaller mo most of them are smaller contracts. So you could move those as well pretty easily. Um and and get down to get down to 15 and then you have three two-way spots.
So I think you know the the NBA after they did this whole big CBA second apron thing
did give teams a few options uh to keep people on an extra two-way. So, I I think there’s a there’s a way to make all of this happen even if they don’t make some big massive trade. But I think a lot of people are asking, is this all of these guards? Natada, is this like LaMelo insurance? I made the comparison to the the scene from A Christmas Story when the mom wraps a little kid up in like all like three jackets and puts the scarf around the head. Is that what Jeff Peterson is doing here? making sure that if LaMelo gets hurt, this team can still compete. Or do you think that this is trade fuel? I think trade fuel for LaMelo is a little bit far just a little bit.
Or just trade trade fuel for LaMelo or trade fuel in general?
Trade fuel in general. I will go with like if you’re telling me that like Colin Ston gets moved, okay, I can understand. Like I don’t like it. I understand it, but I but it’s one of those things where I can understand I I get it. But it’s more importantly like I think there’s gonna have to be a trade. Nick Smith like unless you’re telling me you’re punting on Nick Smith, Josh Kogi, and Dacoin Jeff to get to that 18 immediately like and even then
that wouldn’t shock that wouldn’t shock me personally. I mean I I don’t think
I don’t think that’s out of the question.
It wouldn’t but it would be disappointing now, wouldn’t it, though? Like I feel like that would be ultimately disappointing and a kind of a waste of resources. But I think to me to me I wouldn’t see it that way. I would see it as a coming to terms moment like hey we are transitioning to being a more serious basketball team that would like to win games over looking good saying oo look at what our second round pick did or oh oh you know this this was a homegrown product in Nick Smith Jr. where you, you know, you drafted this guy, you traded up into the back into the first round to to or or, you know, made the trade the the ridiculous trade uh with the year before with Denver. Yeah. So, you make that ridiculous trade and you try to salvage something from it with the Nick Smith Jr. pickup and and you want to hold on to that, but this was that wasn’t even this front office. So, you know, I think it would be just more of a coming to terms moment of like, hey, we’re moving on.
I’m not I’m not Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that. I’m saying those are two non-g guaranteed contracts in Jeffre and a Kogi or partially non-G guaranteed contracts. I’m saying you end up just punting those and not getting another asset. That doesn’t necessarily feel like something Jeff Peterson would do. And that would that’s the ultimately disappointing thing. Nick Smith Jr. like we’ve given him two and a half years. I kind of understand it. It’s more about punting on a non guaranteed contract. That is kind of disappointing for me.
Well, it would it would be interesting to criticize Jeff Peterson for not doing enough to move Joshi when he signed or when he’s traded for Colin Ston, signed Spencer Denwitty, traded for Pat Coneton. It is going to be interesting to see how they balance all of this. But I think the the ma to go back to your main point which I think is the most salient point to me this goes beyond roster strategy of thinking how does this team look game one of 82 because you look if this team competes and and is in striking distance of a postseason birth at the trade deadline then like I think you would be well within your right to trust Jeff Peterson to get to that trade deadline and make maneuvers then to acquire an extra big or to find out where the Hornets are deficient cuz I think you you not only have to look at the fact that they’ve signed all these guards,
but some of these guards have questionable like defensive abilities as well. Like it seems like they’re satisfying the three-point shooting part of building Celtics South for Charles Lee, but they haven’t yet figured out the defensive part cuz the Celtics were well at least in their championship year. They regressed a little bit last year, but at least in their championship year, they were a devastating defensive team as well. And so a lot to figure out, but this goes beyond that. This is about bringing NBA talent to put around LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller and Khan Canipple and Tan Salon. Like they will benefit so much from having NBA talent from people that have experienced championships like Pat Coneton. And this is just I I think this is really a really good sign that this team is is starting to get it that you have to take risks that you have to spend a little bit of money. And and here’s the best part, Natada. I feel like they’re threading a needle because you still look at all of these contracts and you say movable, movable, movable, adjustable. They’re not backing themselves into a corner. They’ve still got room to maneuver.
That’s the other thing like I’m thinking about we can add Miles Bridges to the movable now section now, right? Like we can they can move a lot of this. There’s so much flexibility in what they can do this summer to where if they surprise then cool. Yeah, that you are going to see those kind of deals. The other thing I want to point out about all of this, this is the first year where the renovations are going to be done and money needs to be made for the Charlotte Hornets. So you’re talking about, hey, we have to show this year we absolutely have to show proof of concept. So if you’re telling me that all these things coincide with, hey, renovations are finished, it’s time to make money now, like there’s another reason why you have to show some sort of competence and why fans should expect no less than 30 wins, quite honestly. All right, coming up, uh, the off season continues with summer league coming up. One of the most important summer leagues ever for the Charlotte Hornets? I’ll ask nod to that ahead on Locked On Hornets. Today’s episode of Locked On Hornets is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can be. Whether you are saving up, planning something big. I got a little uh maybe Disney trip coming up maybe next summer. I don’t know. We’ll see. Uh I’m using Monarch Money to help me out because Monarch Money puts me in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app. It is a full financial command center tracking your accounts, your investments, your spending, and even planning those future goals all in one clean, easy to use app. And that means less time stressing out about your money and more time making it work for you. And if you share finances with someone like I do and you don’t want to constantly kind of get in that back and forth, you know what I’m talking about. Monarch makes it easy to stay on the same page without awkward spreadsheets or missed bills. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com. Code locked NBA for half off your first year. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. [Music] All right, Natada. The Hornets released their summer league roster yesterday. The first game will be July 10th in Vegas. All four rookies listed on the roster. Last year, both of last year’s rookies are on board, KJ Simpson and of course, Tan Salon, along with some familiar names like Jaylen Sims. He he got a cup of coffee with the actual varsity squad at the very end of last season, but he spent a few years with the Greensboro Swarm. Damen Ball is on the roster. How about DJ Rodman, son of Dennis Rodman.
You haven’t even gotten to the most interesting one though. The most fascinating one you haven’t even gotten to.
Well, that’s last but not least. PJ Hall.
Exactly.
Big who played for Denver last year. Also joining up, of course, ACC fans will remember him from Clemson. Um, so let me ask, we we’ll get in, we’ll kind of dig into the roster specifics here in a moment, but how important do you feel like this summer league is going to be for the Charlotte Hornets?
I’m not going to call it the 2012 summer league where you had Michael Kidd Gilchrist and and and company. That was that was a fairly important summer league. It’s top five though. I I want to say you need to see something from Tjon this year. you need to see something more from KJ because quite honestly KJ is another guy who’s going to need to perform and show hey I can hang with all these guards you just brought in. I again I have my doubts about that but still it’s an important one for him. Khan’s got to kind of justify being the number four pick this year. Like you’re going to need to expect a 20point game or two and I want to see what Kriner looks like as a starter. Like I have my questions about what he can do laterally in the NBA. I hope I’m wrong. I hope I get that first sign of hey, we he can handle being the drop big that everybody like they torch now, but an NBA caliber drop big. I I there’s a lot of these questions that I have for this team that are hopefully start to get answered this year, this summer at least. Yeah, it was already going to be an interesting one because you have four rookies and you had two sophomores. One is a in Tan Salon, a serious development project that got I think more time with the Charlotte Hornets than we expected in his rookie season. And we did see some development from his first game as a Charlotte Hornet to his last game as a Charlotte Hornet. And then and then we saw the video earlier of Charles Lee and Jeff Peterson. Charles Lee working with him directly and then Jeff Peterson on the sidelines watching him work and develop his game. And so a lot of people have those questions about like where does Tan Salon even fit when you have Miles Bridges and Grant and Grant Williams where does Tan Salon even fit within that scheme. So it was already interesting and then they m then they made all of these signings and you go wait a minute they’re filling this roster with NBA depth which is like yay but what does it mean for all of these people that they just drafted? So that I think there’s even more pressure on these young guys to show particularly the ones that already have a lot of college experience like coaulbriner like James to come in and say hey no I should be consider like when we get to training camp take a look at me over Spencer Denwitty over Pat Coneton like I know you know because and a lot of those guys I mean outside of Colin Sexon they’re not making a lot of money so it’s like with Colin Saxon making what he’s making you kind of feel like you have to and his talent you feel like you have to play him but you know some of these rookies if they have great performances in summer league and then they follow that up with great training camps and preseasons, you might see one of these guys. I mean, Coniple, I think his place is set, but one of these other guys, they could fight over one of these uh veterans. So, that’s really interesting to me. And then and then you do throw in a couple of these names like like Dennis Rodman’s kid, DJ Rodman, and I know you uh were very interested in PJ Hall being included and he’s a big and the Hornets obviously have a hole at big right now. What do you think about PJ Hall? PJ Hall is interesting to me because everyone was screaming they need another big, they need another big. They went and got another big on sneak tip and he’s probably going to get that last two-way. Like I kind of feel like that’s the guy that they’re going to get the last two-way and they’re going to be like, “Okay, we have Plumbley,” which again, your results may vary. Your excitement may vary on that guy. I completely understand. You’re talking about having a Seion James that is most likely going to get a two-way. You’re talking about Seion James and now PJ Hall. You like that big that big lineup I do think is going to end up being something that like it’s very interesting because you have three guys and then one on a two-way that’s going to play in Greensboro for the most part. It makes sense what they’re doing. I just wish they got another professional big, but PJ Hall feels like he’s going to get slated. Barring just absolutely crapping the bet, he’s going to be slated for one of those two wastable slots as well.
So, what I mean, what is a PJ Hall? What was he at Clemson? Uh, do do you have any recol recollection of what he did in Denver?
He is a stretch big. Again, played 19 games last year for the Nuggets. Uh, a stretch big. Very much in the kind of guy that Jeff that Charles Lee likes. We’ll stretch the floor, will rebound, we’ll defend a little bit. He’s a better offensive player than defensive player. Think in the Luke Cornet kind of role for him. He would be, if you’re talking about Celtics South, he would be ideally Luke Cornet. He’s got to develop his game. He’s got to fill it out a little bit. I’m surprised Denver kind of jettisoned him. But at the same point, he makes a lot of sense if you’re trying to develop a big along with Ryan Culbriner for what Charles Lee is trying to do. If Tan Salon struggles in Vegas, are you are you putting him on the trade block at that point? Are you saying, “Okay, yeah, danger danger. Will Robinson might be time to
What are you getting for him? What are you getting for him?” Like, that’s the thing. Like, if you jettison him, I I don’t think they jettison him yet. I think they’re going to give him the full year. I do think that there’s a really good chance he starts the year in Greensboro. And if he does, that also means they’re bringing in another fourman. But I do think there’s a really really good chance he spends more time in Greensboro and starts to really start figuring it out closer to January than he does in o in November, October. But I can’t I can’t say trade him yet. It doesn’t make sense because then you’re just fully admitting it’s a failure way too soon. And that would be I mean we haven’t really heard a decision on KJ Simpson yet and KJ Simpson on this roster as well obviously but he’s on this sort of two-way question mark restricted free agent question mark. What’s going to happen there? Uh still still waiting on a decision there and probably won’t be
I think that I think that roster Yeah, I think that roster spot is very very much up in flux. Very very much up in flux because you think about it like this. You have Denwitty right now. You have Ston right now. You have Trey Man and then you have LaMelo Ball. That’s one guard too many for that roster. And if you’re talking about fitting a PJ Hall and potentially another one of these these guys that maybe show out in summer league and in October, that feels like a roster spot that doesn’t feel long for this world.
Yeah, I feel like KJ Simpson, he really has to come in and just shoot the leather off the ball because that’s who just said it. Was it like LeBron James? Uh someone on Mind the Game, someone said that like
that was LeBron. Yep. Yep. You got to be special offensively. 6’2 and under.
Six foot guards. They just can’t survive in the league. There’s no there’s no space for Mugsy anymore. You’ve got to either be like DaVon Mitchell, crazy dog on defense with a little bit of like like DaVon’s short, but he’s got like, you know, he’s got girth. You know, he can he can put his chest into somebody and keep him away from the basket. And then uh or you have to be someone that shoots the leather off the ball. And that’s not necessarily what I saw from KJ Simpson last season. So,
no, no, not not at all. And like I again, he’s one of those guys you watch for that roster spot along with Nick Smith Jr. Like if they really want to revamp this roster overnight and they see another guy that performs that can’t stick on a roster, like KJ Simpson is another one of those guys. Damen Ball they got to figure out also too. Like maybe Damen Ball comes in, outperforms KJ Simpson, he takes his roster spot. There’s so much with this roster that is in flux that makes this summer so fascinating to where you guys are going to have content for quite literally till August. Easy. Easy August. Like that’s again this is ter this is terrible news for who wore it best. We are never going to finish that segment. There’s too much to talk about. We want to finish it best. August, sir.
You have all of August. Poor you. You have something to talk about till July and then you have to go all the way to the summer con. You have to use that in August. Poor you.
All right. Coming up on uh Locked on Hornets. We still have
everywhere.
We still have a segment to go on on this episode. Uh maybe we talk about what the starting lineup looks like in Vegas. Maybe we talk about what Nata wants to see from Ton. What he wants to see from Khan Canipple. How about we talk about the newest uh rookie on the block and then I want to know from Natada, how does how do the moves that Jeff Peterson is making right now recontextualize what we saw in the Mitch Cupche era that that preceded it? So, if you’re as curious as I am on not answer, stick around. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. [Music] Thanks again for making Locked on Hornets your first listen every day. Make sure you are checking out our YouTube channel, YouTube.comNBA. If you’ve been a longtime listener and you haven’t watched us yet or you haven’t subscribed on YouTube, it really helps the show. Even if you don’t plan to watch on YouTube, just head over there, hit the subscribe button, and then you never have to come back, but it would help us out a lot. Also, jointex.com/lockedonhornets. You can get a 14-day free trial. You get my sick and depraved Hornets thoughts right into your telephone, into your text machine. It’s great. Joinsubtex.comhornets. All right, Natada. How do these moves by Jeff Peterson, these recent moves, how do they recontextualize what we saw from Mitch Cupjack and Michael Jordan in that previous era of Hornets basketball where it seemed like they were kind of just really leaning on their internal development and there there weren’t many moves to be had and and they were just sort of hoping and praying that they could contend out of thin air. Have you ever seen the show hoarders where people hoard on to certain glom on to certain things and the house
not certain things everything right I mean they just pay for everything yeah exactly have you again think of it as hoarders unfortunately like the person has the greatest intentions and they want to develop this out of thin air but one they’re broke or intent or someone is starving them out of their money and there’s not me very many things that they can they feel like there’s not much they can do about the situation That’s the way I kind of look at the Mitch Cupche era to a degree. I also blame Jordan and I I blame Jordan a lot more now for not putting the right people around him around Mitch. It was just Buzz Peterson whereas we know there’s an entire roster of analytics guys. They revamped the medical staff. It was borderline owner malpractice. what was going on in the last last vestigages of the era and it might have cost LaMelo Ball a Hall of Fame career if you really start thinking about it. So I look at these moves in that in light of that because Jeff Peterson has the money to go spend to go do things. He’s got the money to go get a proper scouting staff. He’s got qualified smart people around him. Like I think about it like that. like Rick Schnull, Gabe Plin have enabled this dude to do whatever he feels to revamp this roster, bring a culture. So when you start looking at it like that, like Jeff Peterson does not have the handcuffs and everything that Mitch does, but at the same time, Mitch has been used to being the fall guy for other guys before. So I’m wondering how much this is learned behavior from his him as well. I think they certainly have enabled Jeff Peterson to go out and and make maneuvers and spend a little bit of money. We still, this is not a tax team. I don’t expect this to be a tax team. Jeff Peterson has yet to make a move that comes with serious downside risk. Are you saying, “Okay, we’re going going to take a guy with a lot of years or a lot of money and other I mean they have to make a move now. I mean, they have Lamela Ball on the roster.” Yeah, go ahead.
I was going to say he did make a move with serious downside risk. It’s just a draft pick. is not necessarily a like big contract guy. Tajan Salon has huge downside risk like there there’s that like financial downside risk. There is no guy like that but I would argue that he has made a pick with serious downside risk.
Oh no, no, sure. U I won’t argue with that. Uh, so and I think a lot of what we’re seeing now, if I’m being fair, and I try to be as fair as possible, what we’re seeing now is as much a result of what’s going on with the collective bargaining agreement and the second apron. And like the Pat Coneton deal doesn’t happen if there’s no second apron. And there wasn’t a second there wasn’t all of these financial restrictions as many of these financial restrictions in that previous era. So like Spencer Denwitty’s contract uh you know some of these guys they would have been more expensive more soughta and and you wouldn’t have had all the availability of these deals where where teams are trying to make uh these trades happen under the current rules at the same time there were things they could have done and that’s to me the big takeaway is that putting together a roster that can compete is about finding NBA talent from the the spot number one on your roster to spot number 10, 11, 12 down the line. And instead they said, “No, we’re going to get Gordon Hayward. We’re going to get Kelly Ubé Rosier ball like one through five, maybe six, maybe seven. That’s enough.” No, no, no. Players get injured. That happens. You have to have depth at every single position at some point in your season to to
compete. Yeah. Yeah.
And and so that’s, you know, and I think, look, they obviously need to figure some stuff out with their bigs, but if you’re going to address depth at any position, if you want to compete, you have to do it at the position where you’ve had the most injuries and where your talent is. That’s what LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, like you’ve got to look at figuring out what happens if one or both of those guys go down. If you still like, you’re not going to you’re not going to win a championship. You’re not going to win a playoff series. You might not even want to play in game, but if you want to make it through the full 82 with one or both of those guys missing action, you’ve got to have NBA level talent that can step in and then NBA level talent that can step in for the people who are stepping in. Like, this is a depth thing and the Hornets are finally realizing it. and and and Jeff Peterson has the license to go out and do that.
And the funny thing is you can make a case that he really hasn’t any he hasn’t really spent any money. He’s just shuffled it around, right?
Like that’s the fun part about what Jeff Peterson is doing is that’s not re like all he’s doing is shuffling around money. He hasn’t really made a purchase. All he’s done is he’s swapped two threes for one six or whatever. Like that’s the like
there’s a lot of this where it’s just sho again slight of hand doing a little bit of this doing a little bit of that and you’re right a lot of this is second apron but also like Mitch could have done this Mitch could have easily done this and he chose not to and that’s on him at the same point like this also should have been done like we just see how unprofessional at the end the Jordan regime was whether they were cash poor what have you just that’s what makes me sad about this is that they probably cost careers. I mean Gordon Hayward might still be playing if he had a proper proper medical staff around him or everything else like that. I just wonder what happened in the middle of that neglect to make to make this so bad to where Jeff Peterson’s doing the bare minimum of things and you see more confidence than you’ve seen in basically since Chad Buchanan left. Okay, really quickly rapid fire. Let’s talk about a few of these guys that we’re going to see in summer league very very soon. Um, let’s go to Khan Canipple first. What do you want to see out of him in Vegas? What are some questions left unanswered?
I just need to see him again. 14 points, 35 to 38 from three. That’s all we need to see from him. Something that is easily replicable in in the regular season. That’s all I really need to see from him.
What What do you think starters wise we’re going to see? You think it’s KJ? You think it’s Damen Ball?
No point guard.
KJ Khan. Uh, I would probably say Jaylen Sims, Tan Caulkrunner. Okay. What do you want to see out of Let’s Let’s stick with the current rookies. Caulkrunner. What do you want to see from him?
Move your feet. Move your feet. Don’t get Don’t be the mark on the pick and roll. That’s all I ask. Anything else? If you’d score a whole bunch of buckets or anything else, anything else is just frey. Move your feet. Don’t look like a traffic cone on defense. That’s all I ask.
I want to see some pick and pop, baby. I want to I I want him to shoot a three. I don’t He doesn’t need to go Kai Jones and go, you know, 0 for 10 in his first in his first outing.
But he see I’m okay with the off the offense call Brener is going to come. I’m more like the most important thing about a five right now is defense. Yeah,
get the defense right because that’s mostly like if he does this right, he’s your starting center because Musa being the starting center kind of scares me. I’m not going to lie to you. Well, and do they let him switch at all or is he going to be exclusively in drop coverage in summer? Because if he’s in only drop in summer,
then it’s like, okay, what happens when you go?
So, let let Yeah, listen. Chris Jet, who’s going to be the uh the the coach of this? Although, it seems like Kima Walker, they mentioned his name as well. I’d love to see Kima maybe late summer in one of those last games get a little head coaching experience. I’d love to see that.
He’s still second bench. It’s not It’s not I think that happens next year though. I do think Kemba Walker coaches a summer summer league game next year.
I think he’s I think he’s second bench once he gets the first bench. I do think that that’s a actual possibility. Okay. Um but I I want to uh I want to see I want to see Colin switch a little bit. Don’t put him exclusively in drop coverage. Uh let’s see. Liam McNeely, what are your thoughts on Liam McNeely, the draft pick? I mean, did you do obviously like the trade for a firstrounder? That’s great. But Liam McNeely specifically, do you like him? Do you feel like uh he can make an impact in summer league?
Sir, this this is a McNeely stand account. I as I told you last week, like this man put the fear guard god in Florida. Like I do believe that he’s going to be the guy that’s like, “Oh, Jeff Peterson really cooked.” I think ironically he’s got the older version of him and similar like you know you remember the film Looper right with George Joseph Gordon Levit and Bruce Willis and they’re the same character spoiler alert
right
well the looper for Liam McNeely is Pat Connisson and so we’re going to see very similar so I I do think that
watch out Liam or wait no the watch out Pat right is the younger one that goes to kill the older one right
yes exactly so think about it like that like I do think that he’s going to be very very effective. It’s the same thing though. I just need to see him shoot from three. If he if he hits the NBA three, if he’s that if he’s that guy, I think he’s going to be one of those guys that’s going to be like, “Hey, Josh Green, you might um you might not have a job here once Christmas comes around and New Year’s Day comes around.” If he does what I think he does, he’s going to put a lot of pressure on that wing rotation.
Uh during the cap spike era of NBA basketball, when the cap went way up because of the TV deal, now they smooth it out. um they’re boring now, but there was that one year where the cap went way up and people were getting these crazy deals. So that was the cap spike era. So we did a segment called Calorie Spike
and uh so we just it was just
spike very very well, sir.
Right. And so the star of Calorie Spike was uh fat conetan. And so if Liam McNeely is the if he is the looper, then it’s got to be Liam McDouble. Like that.
Yes. Yeah. Yes. Liam McDouble. That’s perfectly fine. Perfectly fine with that.
All right, that’s going to do it for this edition of Locked on Hornets. Enjoy the heck out of your Fourth of July uh weekend. Natada, that goes for you, too. Have some fun, my friend. Absolutely. We got We got some brisket going already. We got We
You’re making brisket?
Yes, I have. Dude, you don’t I didn’t tell you I bought a smoker for on clearance.
Oh, man. Of course you did. Of course I told you.
Yeah. Well, okay. So, so that’s like six and a half hours from here. I’ll be I’ll be there pretty soon. So, uh,
all right then. I’ll give you the gate code. Okay. Thank Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the show. Check out Every Hornets Box Score. Check out ION College Basketball podcast. Uh, produced by the great Natada Edwards for Walker and Natada and everyone uh that helps this show out. Have a great Fourth of July weekend and we will see you next week. [Music] Hey, hey, hey.

The July 4th fireworks came early for the Charlotte Hornets as GM Jeff Peterson continues to reshape the roster, adding Spencer Dinwiddie to a now-crowded backcourt that already features Collin Sexton, Tre Mann, and LaMelo Ball. Doug and Nata dive into the logic behind the depth, the flexibility it provides, and what it signals about a franchise that finally seems committed to basic NBA competence.

We talk about what this offseason tells us about Charlotte’s new front office and ownership compared to the Mitch Kupchak and Michael Jordan eras. Is the franchise finally turning a corner by surrounding their young stars—Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, and Kon Knueppel—with proven talent and depth?

With the Summer League roster now released, we preview key names to watch in Vegas. Can Ryan Kalkbrenner anchor the defense? Will Tidjane Salaun prove worthy of his pick? Could Liam McNeeley sneak into the rotation with a hot shooting run? We also touch on under-the-radar battles involving K.J. Simpson, Damian Baugh, and PJ Hall—who may have the inside track on a two-way deal.

Plus, what are the next moves for Peterson, and how does all of this set the stage for the season ahead? It’s a loaded episode with roster talk, Summer League projections, and some July 4th brisket smoke to top it all off.

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