Have the Charlotte Hornets done enough this offseason?

Have the Charlotte Hornets done enough this offseason?

All right, we’re up. Welcome to the Sam Dracula channel. With me is Balta. How you doing, bro? Fantastic. Horn summer league for the Hornets starting tomorrow. I know we’re going to get into that. Um just really waiting until then. I’ve had to watch all of these other, you know, prospects, you know, get there first and all of the overreactions that we always have with that. Uh I’m ready to overreact myself. No, it’s the best time of year because you can’t really lose games yet. So, it’s all upside. It’s all excitement hopefully unless someone gets hurt, which we’re not going to talk about cuz we’re we’re wishing good things upon this next 12 months. But, thank you so much for for joining me. Thank you so much for watching either if you’re live or on replay in the stream slashvideo. We’re talking Charlotte Hornets free agency hall. So, everybody that’s brought to the team or returning to the team since the draft, uh, specifically Mason Plumbley, Trey Man, Pat Coneton, and Spencer Denwitty. And then we’re going to focus on summer league on the back half of this show and what like things that we’re looking out for, things we want to see, things we hope we don’t see type of stuff. So, where do you want to start with free agency thus far? Like, where you at with it, I guess, overall? Um, so we we’ve been told for numerous off seasonasons now that free agency is dead. It’s essentially extending players or sign and trade uh you know extending your your your rookie max deals or your superstars like those are givens essentially and then you have these signin trades that are really there. There’s no more. You know, we had I can’t remember what year it was, but when the Clippers like went and like were knocking on the door, uh who was it? Blake Griffin. Yeah. Yeah. And like none of that is a thing anymore. And like when we were waiting to see where Kawhide was going to sign, I don’t like people thought it was going to be the Lakers, but then I think the Knicks were in play and then he kind of surprised everybody when PG went to uh uh the Clippers and then he signed with them as well. Like you don’t have the KD going to the Warriors craziness, you know, LeBron’s I’m coming home. like all of that’s kind of out the window now, right? And so it’s really your stars take their max money. Uh you’ll have a couple guys change teams, but it’s usually in some kind of signing trade and it’s the shock value is really not there. I guess the most shocking this year was Miles Turner to the Bucks. Yeah. and the Bucks, you know, beating out the Charlotte Hornets for the longest stretch in NBA history. Uh, the infamous Nick Batum where we were paying Gordon Hayward 40 million a year essentially crazy. I remember where I was, bro. I remember where I was when I saw the news. Middle of CO and it dropped. I lost my ever loving mind. Anyways, I digress because you’re talking about this year. Yeah. Um I mean, we expected Trey Man to be back. Um Jeff Peterson, let’s let’s let’s stick to Trey for now. Um okay, so he’s returning three-year deal, $24 million. I don’t know about the specifics of the breakdown, but it’s basically eight a year on average. And that third year is reportedly a team option. So, for the for Charlotte to decline the qualifying offer or to decline to extend the qualifying offer, uh, and to get this resolution, which I think is a very, for my opinion, I think it’s a very team-friendly deal. I’m sure Trey would have wanted more, but I think it’s a good amount of money for what we’ve seen. I think it’s a fair contract and it has that wiggle room if the injury is something that is a recurring thing. There’s a safety net, it’s not that big of a hit. And I think Trey still has a lot of upside in him and so him returning. What are your thoughts about that? The deal itself and how this whole thing played out. No, I think it’s fine. Whenever the Hornets didn’t extend the qualifying offer, I really still wasn’t worried because we’ve seen this play out. Other teams have done the same thing up ahead of you, but like they did the Sexton deal, so it kind of like felt like the TR like that was part of the timeline as well, right? And so it kind of felt like this could have been insurance in case the Trey man deal fell out. Yeah, it could have been. But then also I think you know obviously us being on this side of it now I think it’s just really trying to shore up that back court so that when LaMelo Ball eventually does miss games, I don’t think anybody sitting here even thinks like we know he’s not getting 82. Not many players do. So that’s that would be dumb to jump to that. But I mean, do we think he’s going to play 70? Like if if he plays 70, I think we’re all ecstatic. Yep. But I mean, this is LaMelo Ball insurance. This is season saving insurance to where you’re not tanking and winning 19 games even if LaMelo Ball does go out for an extended period. And so I’m fine. like when Colin Ston was brought in, I still thought we were going to uh bring Trey Man back. Um and I think the deal was spot on. Um like 8 mil and then there’s the team option on the back. Often times players and their agents get a they get a player option on that final year. Mhm. We didn’t do that. We we got a team option. So, if two years go by and Trey man’s still struggling with those injuries, like you already stated, um, if he’s still dealing with that back, uh, we we’re used to injuries here in Charlotte and so there’s a safety net to go ahead and get out of that early. Um, I mean, really good deal. Uh, we saw other teams do the same thing. Uh, the Brooklyn Nets did it. I think it was with um um it was with the big the North Carolina big. Oh, Sharp. Don Sharp. Yeah. So, same thing happened with him. Declined the uh qualifying offer. Did a longer two-year deal. Uh and so the Charlotte Hornets doing that. I love it. Love Trey Man being back. Uh I said this last episode, last show. We’ll know what the what the front office thinks of Trey Man because the Charlotte Hornets have seen more Trey Man than anyone else. So, if we bring him back on a longterm deal, then that means good things. That means the medical staff is seeing good things, that means that Jeff Peterson is seeing good things, coaching staff. I feel really good about this Trey man. Me, too. I think it’s like genuinely incredible. just more incredible business from the front office and just excellent roster construction because I bring up the Sexton thing. Um because you know, let me back up. I there is short-term like right now benefit to the Trey man return and then there’s the upside piece of it. There’s also the if Trey man is even better than he was, we’ve seen there is an element of like, you know, there’s Denwy, there’s Sexton, these guys are very tradable, right? If there’s an opportunity to either flip them for assets, just point blank just kind of tanking, so to speak, or trade one of those guys for a real center and then you’re like, you’re in a real different and like real positive place. Like the back court in general is super strong right now. The front court, not so much. So, if Trey man over the this season, next season, or the year after is really after it, retaining that asset is so huge, man. And I’m excited. I really, he’s one of my favorite guys on the team for a guy who really hasn’t played a whole lot in a year and a half. Um, he’s in a very short amount of time made a big difference in in my mind as a fan. Uh, watching this, watching the squad, like one of the very few real bright spots. So, it’s awesome. They’re sticking around. than that that $8 million cap number that’s like basically low rotations slotted and he’s better than that. He has a chance to play better than where he’s slotted at cuz that’s where Meech is was at a little bit more than Nick Richards was at like annually. So from like a roster salary cap like distribution point of view, I think it’s a win a win for all like from every way you look at it. Like I’m a big fan of it. There’s a very real situation to where we get two, possibly even three years down the road from this and we look back and like Trey man is one of the bargain contracts in the NBA. Like one of the best contracts outside of guys on rookie deals who are stars. Like we’re talking like like that’s a realcase scenario that can end up playing out. Now, it could also be lingering back issues and more missed games and different things like that and then you’re not really looking at it that way, but both of those are very real scenarios. I love it. I love it. Uh let’s let’s switch gears. Let’s do a hard pivot. All right. To another guy. Let’s stick with the returns. Uh he wasn’t resigned, but he was reacquired. Mason Plumbley. How you feeling about Mason Plumbley coming back to Charlotte? [ __ ] hell, man. I text you. I text you into it. As soon as the news hit, I was just like, God, like this can’t be real, you know? Like, cuz Jeff Peterson was just deal after deal. Like even in you mentioned return, if Trey man plays above his contract and we want to create even more minutes for him, Sexton’s tradable. Um, Denwitty is tradable. We’ve already received assets back with Colin Ston. So like in like and we feel like we got the better player in that deal. So if we move Ston again like you’re getting even more assets you would think you would hope. Um, and so in every deal it just felt so like yes Jeff Peterson the good business more good business all of this and then you just see Mason Plumbley coming back. it it’s like we’re taking all of these like steps forward. Like the Charlotte Hornets haven’t moved in this way in such a long time. Like we go back and it’s like, “Oh, we don’t have a backup point guard.” And you get to like July, like the end of July and you’re like, “We still don’t have a backup point guard.” And it’s like, “What is Mitch Cupch doing?” Um, and oh, we really don’t have anything uh going for us. We’re not signing any free agents or anything. Like Jeff Peterson is trading. He’s acquiring future picks just like Meeich was going to be bought out. Guess what? We got Pat Coneton. We’ll get to that here momentarily as well. He may end up being bought out as well. I’m not sure, but we get free picks attached in that deal. And then Mason Plumbley deal happens. It’s like we What is this? Is this 2022? like we we’re taking all these steps forward just to take steps back. And so it was just like, oh my goodness. Like we’re just living in this time continuum like like it’s the Twilight Zone where we’re we’re we’re trying to move forward, but then we’re like an old girlfriend hit us back up and like, “Hey, how you doing?” And we’re like, “Okay, come on.” Like we we can hang out tonight. It’s fine. and I ain’t got any anything else going. I ain’t got anything else on my plate. So, from that standpoint, I think different would have just it could have been a Mason Plumbley equivalent player. But if it’s just a different name, it’s better because it’s different. It doesn’t feel like we’re moving backwards with that deal essentially and bringing back all of the plumb dog, you know, being point center and all all of all of the experience that goes with him. Yeah. Like I’m I’m not excited. Respectfully, I’m not excited to watch Mason play basketball for Charlotte again. Respectfully. respectfully because he is a he’s a he is an NBA quality like NBA level player like that where Taj Gibson wasn’t. Yeah. Right. And if you’re looking at agreed three centers they got like K Brener rookie Diamate we know he’s a pro. We know Mason Plumbley’s a pro. You know it’s like you know and then you kind of like weigh it up against what the team’s actual expectations are. Like they needed an adult in the mix. It makes sense on that. Well, I think where it really gets me, really like shoots me in the heart is like it was they couldn’t have waited. Like why’ they have to do that on the day on the day? That I Mason I know could probably help out some teams, but like it can’t be that crazy of a market for him. And today sitting here like you got Tristan Thompson still out there, uh DeAndre Jordan, uh Thomas Bryant, these are all guys of that tier and they’re still there. And so I would have just preferred to not have my serial [ __ ] in when all these good things were happening cuz like it was like this like really smart decisions all through all throughout it. And I’m not saying this is a dumb decision, dumb decision. I’m just saying it just kind of gives a bit of a bummer um amongst all the other good things that were happening. Yeah, it really took a shot to the vibes. That’s really what happened. Mason Plumbley, as you said, he’s still NBA quality player. I think he turns 35 this season. Um he’s older. It’s he’s he’s one of those guys who you can play and he’s not going to kill you kill you when he’s on the floor. I’m not going to say that he’s going to be a positive, a net positive either. Yeah. All right. So, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not a guy that’s just going to kill you kill you. And he’s not going to be one of he’s not a guy that’s going to take away minutes from Diabate and [ __ ] Brener. they they still should get their their minutes um and chances, but he’s a guy that you can plug in and if you have an injury, if you need just some minutes here, just for whatever reason, you can go with Plumbley. It’s not a terrible decision from a basketball point of view. It just really sucks that he’s back, honestly. So sitting here July 10th, um who do you think the starting center is? Because I think it Diamate will either start or be the second center no matter how you take it out. Um and then you got Plumbley and you got Cal Brener. Where do you where do you rank them? Not you personally because we know Mason probably last but what do you think the Hornets will do? because I I have a feeling Mason’s going to start when the season starts. It’s going to be Mason, Adabate, and [ __ ] Brener when the when the season tips off. Well, Sam, I will say this. I’m glad you’re asking me today, July the 10th, because if our boy Ryan Caulk Brener comes out tomorrow slanging, I’m about to get crazy with it because that’s what summer league is for. Yes, that’s what summer league is for. So if our So if But you’re not asking me tomorrow. I’m asking right now. Who do Who do you think Who do you think the Hornets are going to like in their plans and in pencil? What do you think the Hornets have slotted as the starting center right now? I want Diabate to be the starting center because the energy on the floor that he brings, it’s I mean it’s the equivalent of anybody else in the league from just an energy standpoint. I’m not talking skill. I’m not talking about his bag. I’m not talking about anything like that. But from just energy, it’s Musa for me. But if I had to wager, I it’ll probably it’ll probably be Mason Plumbley. He’s he’s the vet. He’s the older guy. if you get I mean from how the the onc court um basketball is going to flow, he’s played with a lot of these guys before. Um and so whether you thought the synergy was there prior or not, I don’t know. Um, but that probably speaks to something as well when the decisions are being made and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Mason Plumbley ends up starting game one. Yeah. Uh, that’s that’s where I’m at. A lot of things can change during the season, but I think that’s where we’re headed in a quick way. Um, what we gonna do, Sam, what we gonna do? You’ve asked me before, what do you think it says if the Charlotte Hornets bring back Taj Gibson? They’re not doing that. We see that. I want to change the name in that question. I want to throw it back at you. What do you think it says about the Charlotte Hornets that they brought back Mason Plumbley? I think we’re we’re headed for the lottery. We got to We’re on a rocket ship to the lottery. 100% agree with you. Which is fine. You know, I don’t want another 19 wins season, right? But as we’ve seen, you don’t need to be the worst team in the league to have good lottery luck. You don’t even need We don’t The Hornets don’t even need the number one pick. But what they do need is to continue add to add young talent. And I will say with the Mason Plumbley acquisition and then you’re talking like we talked about, we’re just going back to Ston Denwitty. uh those guys are tradable assets. Depending on how the season goes, there’s the opportunity to flip those guys to contending teams, take on money, bring in more assets and make something happen long term. So, this this franchise has been really this well, not franchise, this ownership and front office have been really patient and opportunistic. Those are the words they keep throwing throwing at us. I don’t see that changing right now. So, yeah, I think plumbly on the one-year deal on low money, it just reeks of we’re we’re on a rocket ship straight to the lottery. Agreed. And it wholeheartedly. And I don’t think that that’s what fans want to hear. And I don’t even know if that’s what fans are believing at this point. Um, you know, because the East is weak. you look across, tons of injuries, whether that be to the Celtics or whether that be to the Pacers, and then you look and the Wizards have a bunch of young guys, and then the Pistons lost some dudes. Um, and so you kind of look across the landscape and you you start to wonder, hey, could if they stay healthy, you know, Colin Sectton is good, Trey man’s good, LaMelo Ball’s still good, Brandon Miller’s good. Hopefully Kanipple’s good. Um, I also hate how much better Atlanta got as well. I agree. Atlanta, too, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, come on. Um but yeah, we’re headed back to the lottery and um it’s not a bad thing. It’s what I think I’ve said this prior uh on prior shows. I think when the front office took over uh that they actually saw this as a two-year plan. Um loaded top of the draft in 2026. So, I I mean, if the Hornets get another top four, top five pick, they’re going to get somebody super talented. And so, I think that’s what this team is looking at. I I I don’t think they’ll tank cuz it doesn’t work. Um I don’t think that uh anything I I I don’t think Utah Jazz are going to be sitting people this year. I think they’re just going to straight up suck and so they’re not going to win. But like, we’re not going to see that anymore. Atlanta Hawks winning the lottery. the um Dallas Mavericks winning the lottery. That’s kind of changed. Both of those teams in the playin winning the lottery the last two years. Hey, win as many games as you can. We’re not going to be very good. Our front court situation is not great. We have a ton of rookies on this team all of a sudden. Uh we’re probably definitely going to deal with injuries. We already are. Yeah, we’re headed to the lottery. Yep. I would love to be wrong though. It’d be fun to see the Oh my gosh. which I would love to like I think I just think this this is where the expectation is for now given what we’ve seen and how the how they’ve attacked the offseason so far. So let’s switch to let’s go Denwy next. Um Denwitty comes in on a one-year deal. Basically a vet minimum, right? Like we’re talking like 2.2 mil uh for the season. Played in Dallas last year. Um wasn’t like put up some good numbers in Dallas. He’s 32 years old, you know, so like you kind of wonder like when it’s going to fall off, but he’s not there yet. He’s another quality like NBA quality rotation guy today. And the Hornets didn’t the Charlotte Hornets have never had a guy like this during the last five years. So there’s a potential of like a bench of bench rotation of Ston, Denwitty, and Trey Man. And like that is such a crazy like robust and healthy situation that it has me like thinking like there is redundancy there if they want to go in that direction and and change things around. So what do you think about the Denwitty acquisition? Oh, I love it. Uh I’ve been on I’ve been a big fan of Spencer Denwitty. He the Brooklyn Nets have uh a way of having these point guards who can really score. Uh but then they just like don’t repay them or bring them back on on deals. We’re seeing that with with Cam Thomas right now. Um so Spencer Denwy, shout out to his Brooklyn Nets days. He’s kind of popped around the league here recently. Uh but I mean what he he averaged 12 points a game last year. I mean, like, this is a guy who can score. This is a guy who can lead a unit. Um, I I feel great about this. The fact that he signed here on a vetman, like I would have thought that other teams would have offered him that as well. Uh, and maybe he would rather go to those uh situations and circumstances more so than Charlotte. But I’m really I I’m happy for him to be here. And I think with him signing here, he was probably told some things about playing time. So I I I think he’s going to be in the rotation. Whether that’s a 10-man rotation, an 11man rotation, I don’t think this is a uh one of those things where like he’s just waiting in the ranks for somebody to become injured. Like he’s going to play legit. I think he he’s going to play more than I think we’re going to see more of him than we saw of Seth. Um, respectfully, uh, I think, you know, it’s gonna be it’s a crazy serious upgrade over the likes of Damen B and Isaiah Wong that we’ve seen lately. Even his fellow Colorado Buffalo KJ Simpson. Like, it’s a it’s an it’s a objective upgrade um for the for the cheap without having they got better without giving anything up. And anytime you can do that, that’s a that’s a massive That hasn’t happened a lot for us. Hell no, man. Hell no. Like this is a really smart move. So like like you’re you’re talking I mean you already mentioned some of the names but then you got Meech and you got Teao Maladon. Yeah. And it’s like Nilina man. Yeah. Like I mean Yeah. Frank Nilina just sitting there with his broken wrist for for for months. No. Like this this is good stuff. Okay. Uh last but not least, Pat Coneton reuniting with Charles Lee. Uh, speaking of Meech, uh, getting Meeches out of here for real, officially. And the Hornets acquire two second round picks from the Milwaukee Bucks that are like five and six years from now. Who cares? team that just wait that’s going to be paying Dame Lillard $20 million for the next five years for a team that may not have Giannis Anticmpo at that time in when those second round picks come around them things could be like the 31st or 32nd or 33rd overall pick of the draft for Meech for respectfully nothing and Con will be long gone by then it’s like you know what I mean but this type of move is so [ __ ] smart. I can’t get over it. That may this may that this may be my favorite move of the off season and it’s something that um the Hornets are overdue for something like this. Not since we fleeced OKC and sent them to Gordon Hayward has have I felt this good about a trade uh for the Charlotte Hornets. Um that that gone through that’s gone the Mark Williams one that that would have been it but that take back I got you. I got you. So that that Hey, Mark Williams wants Yeah, that’s good. But no. Yeah. What do you think of this deal? Good business. I I mean, how how do you give away a player that’s not going to play for either team and still get two picks in return? Like Meich wasn’t playing for us. Mhm. Milwaukee already bought him out. He returned 6 million. Did you get Did you see that report? No. Yeah. So he returned six of his 8 million. So, he’s only walking with two only two million um to not play for said team and then he’s going to walk his tail to Turkey. All right. Well, he’ll probably fly. Um but just good business, man. A guy that wasn’t going to play for either team. And the and the Bucks are like, “Yeah, but we got to get Conetan out of here.” And oh yeah, we’ll attach picks to that and Conetan might actually be able to, I don’t know, play some spot minutes maybe in that Seth Curry role um that, you know, you semi mentioned just a moment ago. I don’t know. Uh it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up being one of the guys that ends up getting cut and not making that final 15-man roster. um just because you got your your free picks. We weren’t getting those picks if Meeich was still on the books. Hey, let’s take Pat Conetan on even if he’s not in our plans. Yeah, we’ll take those free picks. Sure. Yeah. Um so a noble knowledge. So being in the lottery is ridiculously low standard for a team this good. I don’t disagree, but I don’t think this team stays intact like this the entire season. And that’s kind of built into and built into this. I think a lot of these some of these guys were acquired to be flipped. So I don’t think these a lot like SE I think there’s a world where Sexton is flipped. I think it’s a world where Denwitty gets flipped. And I think it’s a world where Miles Bridges uh gets traded or even Mason Plumbley gets dumped off someplace. So like I just I just don’t feel that this team will stay intact throughout the year. That’s that’s part of the calculus, so to speak. Um, but yeah, uh, largely I think the Hornets are done unless something happens, at least from a signing point of view. The roster is pretty bloated right now. And they’re also kind of primed to flip some of these guards for some front court guys if they want to take things more seriously. Um, which I would respect because that that’s part of again that’s part of it as well cuz the power forward spot’s really light, right? Diabate can play there, but like for the for the sake of this, we’re talking he’s a center. Bridges Grant Williams coming off an injury in year two to Jean Salon, which brings us to our next topic, summer league. All right. What are you looking forward to these next few days, these next week or so out of summer league from the Charlotte Hornets? I want K Brener to just be everything that I think and hope that he can be. Uh, I want him rebounding. I want him blocking shots. I want him scoring just easy buckets. Um, I want Khan knocking down shots, creating for others. Um, I want to see James just locking mofos down. Um, and then Liam McNeely. I I said this last show, he’s my least favorite uh of the Charlotte Hornets rookies uh picks. Uh I just want to see him. He’s a really good rebounder. He’s a really good rebounder. So, I’d love to see his fight on the glass, offensive and defensive. And then I want to see him knocking down shots as well because we’re told that’s one of his highest uh attributes and best attributes. Um so, I want to see that reflected. uh because his college tape does not does not show that it does not replicate that. Hey, this is his uh this is his best skill. And so those are things I’m looking for out of the rookies. Uh we can if you want to ask me, we can elaborate a little bit more on that. Uh if so, but Tan Salon, he’s got to look not like a rookie. Exactly. He has to look the part. Yep. It’s like you’re not a rookie. uh you had a full season and off season in an NBA uh program. You can’t look like a rookie. I want to see him just his body, his movements. I want him to look more fluid. Um I want him to knock down shots. He’s got to be a better rebounder. He’s big and tall. Um like he’s got to be better rebounding and he’s got to be a a better deterrent defensively as well. He’s tall. He’s long. Um, he gives good energy and so like these things have to start translating it. His foot speed is what gets him. He’s a little clunky on his feet, on his toes. That’s what gets him, but his motor and his size are there. So, you want to start seeing that affect the game more, whether that be box score or also just, you know, th those things that don’t show up, you know, at the end of a game. So, those those are the big things I’m looking for cuz everybody else on this roster, I mean, who cares, right? We got our rookies, we got Tan Salon, the rest, like maybe somebody’s fighting for that third two-way, whatever. I mean, I’m not really going to take too much unless somebody just really pops and then we can discuss them at that point. Yeah. Uh, it’s for me it goes to Jean Salon. That’s a pure curiosity thing. Like it’s like driving like just morbid curiosity where we’re at with him. I I have very low expectations for him compared to what I want to see from him. Whereas Caniple, I need like we got to make I need to see him click like right now. like that’s part of the package is him being NBA ready and looking like he is looking like he’s involved. So I want to see if he can keep up athletically um and what he looks like on defense. I know S summer league defense is what it is, but I want to see if he looks the part and fits in in that degree. But like you mentioned with Salon, like that’s that’s like the biggest wild card for the Hornets the next few years here is what can he be? What can he turn into? And by all accounts, he’s like put on like good muscle. He’s he stayed in Charlotte to stay focused on this. I think he’s really about it. Like I think he’s going to be a pro. How good he’ll be, I don’t know. But like he’s taking this [ __ ] seriously and and he has a chance to be something special if he sticks with it. So I’m I’m really want to see like the guy we saw last summer did not look like an NBA player at all. And I just want him to just I want to check that box and say Tan Salon is a certified NBA player. looks like he belongs on the on the floor amongst other high draft picks especially and not someone who’s getting outclassed by someone who’s not going to be in the NBA at all like that is what we saw last season. Um and I don’t want to see that this time. So, Ton Canipple and then yeah to your to your point I agree with you with like with K Brener especially if that shot is legit that is element we have not seen in Charlotte uh from that spot a real stretch five um in the city in a long time you know yeah guy who could [ __ ] Briner is he’s really interesting be real that could be real nice be because I mean he’s he’s huge he’s a legit sevenfooter Yep. He weighs 260 265 lbs somewhere in there. Like he’s a big body now. How strong he is, how much he’ll be able to take contact in the paint, different things like that. I think looking on switches and things like cuz he can get but you you take that trade-off with because the Hornets don’t have that size otherwise. They got Mason Plumbing, but you know what I mean. Like a real blocker that’s not Mason Plumbing’s thing. No, not at all. So you kind of like you can’t have it all with one guy. So yeah, if the athleticism is at a point that’s acceptable and the shot blocking is there plus the shot making is there, that is a real combination for like a something really special going forward. And with again going back to talking about uh earlier with like the lottery, uh that would change my outlook on this whole thing if Brener is him like already. It’s it’s super interesting because the I you look at the depth chart, the minutes and the possibilities are there like Liam McNeely is going to have to show a lot to try to crack this rotation. I feel like where we sit today. Um I think the same thing with Seion James just because the back court is just loaded. Yep. Right. Caught Briner like it’s right there, bro. Mhm. Like, so he’s going to be in drop coverage. He’s not going to be switching on to guards and being able to hang with them on the wings or anything like that. It’s going to be a lot of drop coverage. I’ll be shocked if it’s not be a lot of drop coverage, but then he’s going to be able to find that roll guy. Um, and then hopefully be able to deter some stuff at the basket. If I ranking it for me, uh, it’s probably Canipple, your your fourth overall pick has to he has to click. He’s got to be a day one. He’s got to be a day one NBA player, right? For me, it’s probably Canipple, Con Brener, then Tan Salon, just because, as you stated, my expectations are low. I don’t think he’s not an NBA player. I’m not one of those people that’s like, “Oh my god, like Jeff, for all the great moves you’ve made this year, like why did you [ __ ] it up so bad last year?” Like, “What are you doing?” Like, I feel like like his work ethic is there. He just might be an end of the bench guy. That might be what he ends up being. Um, but I would put him third, but he’s got to show us something. That list is still, it’s got to be really high. Like I want to see good things out of Salon even though I got him ranked third out of those guys and then it’s Seon and then it’s McNeely. That’s that’s really how I’m watching this. So one thing everybody has going for them is like the guard play should be really solid comparatively to what we’ve been seeing. Um it’s hard to get good summer league guards and the Hornets have KJ Simpson and Damen Ball. Those guys can handle the rock in the summer league environment. They can get those guys involved. They can get [ __ ] banner looks. They can find McNeely in the corner. they can find Canipple and then if any of those guys can create it on their own like if we can see some ball creation or shot creation and ball handling out of Canipple this summer league that would be massive as well cuz then you’re talking like a real real asset in the half court. Um but yeah, that is the guard play is it should be a really decent improvement from what we’ve seen in the past um this time around, which I’m excited for that cuz that can be pretty brutal when you have uh guards who can’t get the ball to the bigs or who are too interested in trying to make a team and put up shots then get their teammates involved. I think KJ and Damen will understand the assignment, so to speak, and their situation a little more secure. Yeah, with them already being on the two-way, um, you know, they feel good about where they’re at. Now, obviously, they want to impress as well. Um, but part of impressing and with them being on the team and being at practice, they know that part of impressing is ball movement. Part of impressing is not turning the ball over. Part of impressing is not forcing things that aren’t there. to where some of these guys who are trying to prove themselves and trying to get that two-way contract, trying to get a roster spot somewhere across the league, no matter whether that be in Charlotte or elsewhere, you know. Yeah. Are we’re looking good. And guard is probably the most important position. Point guard is probably the most important position in summer league cuz if you don’t have a guy who can handle pressure, who can bring the ball up the floor, get you into your sets, you’re done. And we’ve seen that with the Charlotte Hornets way too often um in the past. I mean, even the year that uh James Book Knight was a rookie, they tried putting him at point. It was terrible. I mean, I’m talking I’m talking could not get the ball to half court. And that’s when like I was like, “Oh gosh.” Like I oh those were the first red flag warnings and I know you can’t read too much in the summer league. I don’t know. Sometimes you can Sometimes what you see is what you see. Uh but the guard play is extremely important. Um and having two guys on two ways will definitely help that. Yeah, man. I’m excited. Summer league’s tomorrow night and then Saturday night and then the 14th and the 17th. No California Classic this year, which is it’s fine. It’s whatever. Also, a little disappointed Nick Smith Jr. isn’t involved in this. I think he could have benefited from from this run. Um, showing what do you think that says? My first thought my first thought was he didn’t want to do it. Second thing was he wasn’t asked to do it because he’s going to be flipped for something else. So, that that that’s where I’m at with that. I don’t even know if he’s there was even a possibility that he’d be part of the summer league squad, but I was like, man, if there’s an opportunity like with if I’m him and I see all these my my if I have if I have a job and I see my employer bringing a bunch of people that do what I do and they’ve done it longer and have more success than me, I want to do everything I can to stand out, like everything I can to stand out. And maybe he’s doing that in practice. We don’t know, right? to those workouts and his position is secure with the squad, but from afar it looks like he’s primed to be flipped for something else at some point. Um, I don’t know what his value is, but that’s what this seems like. Yeah, just the writing’s on the wall with Nick Smith Jr. He wasn’t drafted by this front office. He was uh the final first round selection of Mitch Cupche, I believe. Um, and so, you know, bringing in all these guys, I I think the Hornets also, uh, from their standpoint, I think they’re looking at it and like, we don’t want Nick Smith Jr. taking opportunities away from all of these rookies we just brought in. Good point. Yeah, that’s true. Good point. Let’s see what these guys have. We know what Nick Smith Jr. can do. We watched them all last season. and we’ve watched him over the summer and you know so I I think those extended opportunities uh for Khan and Seion and uh in the back court you got ball you got uh KJ I I think you’re kind of set there and even McNeely uh if you wanted I don’t think he’s a two but you know you can you can start to make sense of why he’s not there in Vegas and the we know Nick likes to put the ball up And there’s not there’s not that there’s not that many shots available for everybody involved. So that does make sense as well. But uh yeah, we’re almost 24 hours from right now as we’re speaking. So I’m excited for that. For the channel, I’ll probably I won’t be streaming during it. Uh probably do some recap videos during um after the fact. Maybe I’ll stream some of these um as we get go about it. But I’m really excited to get some basketball, some Hornets basketball back in my life. is in a in a run where I think it’s trending in a very positive direction and it’s a it’s a good place to be, man. I’m here for it. For me, it’s highly interesting. I mean, we drafted four rookies, right? And and so like in years past, we I mean, the last time I felt like this where you you had so much to watch for was the Kai Jones, James Book Knight, JT Thor. um draft. You had numerous. You had more than just two. You had three. I think I I think there was a fourth guy in there as well. Yeah. Scotty Lewis, right? Yeah. Scotty Lewis. Scotty Lewis. Yeah. It’s awful. Yeah. And so I mean, you had so much to watch and look for. You have that again. It’s not like like last year we were just watching Tjon Salon for real, right? Like we wanted to see, hey, we we reached on this six uh overall pick. he wasn’t on the radar. Then all of a sudden, he flew up our board. Uh we find out the day of that we might be taking this guy that a a lot of people had out of outside the lottery in what was supposed to be a downdraft. And so that was exciting to to to watch him um and gear up for that this year. There’s just so much to watch. So yeah, I I think this is one of the more anticipated Hornets summer leagues in quite some time. I mean, I’m here for it. I’m here for it. Glad for it as well. But I appreciate you for hanging out and and chatting hornets with me. Uh we’ll do this again probably sometime next week. So make sure you like make sure you subscribe. So stay tuned for that. Um yeah. Any final words before we say goodbye. Let’s go get this ship. Hang the banner if we win Summer League, baby. Let’s go. I love it. I love it. All right. Thanks everybody. Peace.

We’re going live to talk about the latest moves — including the arrivals of Pat Connaughton, and Spencer Dinwiddie, plus the return of Tre Mann and Mason Plumlee.

We’ll also dive into the Hornets’ upcoming Summer League slate, what we want to see from rookie Tidjane Salaün, and which young players need to stand out.

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