Baron Davis says the TIME IS NOW for LaMelo Ball & the Charlotte Hornets

Baron Davis says the TIME IS NOW for LaMelo Ball & the Charlotte Hornets

What is your your viewpoint on the steps LaMelo needs to take for that franchise to kind of get over the hump? I think one uh for LaMelo LaMelo need to have like a goal going into the season. Mhm. And to be the top point guard coming out at the end of the season. I’m play 82 games or whatnot and I’m going to get my team to the playoffs. So, I think that’s where like Melo got to take his talent and take his goals outside of just, oh, I’m one of the top dogs in the league and I’m trying to make the All-Star game, right? Because I’m a brand. I think he need to one, he need to have that. But also on the team side, there got to be some accountability, right? Or some direction, right? Because the one thing you playing on a team and you looking back in the summer, you looking and saying, “Okay, here schedule come out uh November uh October 10 games. Okay, we can go 73. November 15.” Like, you know, you got to think your players is looking back saying, “Man, damn.” Like, all right, we going to be under 500 this month, under 500 this month. So when you’re looking at the roster and you look at the Hornets roster, you got to pick a direction. Mhm. You got to choose a direction because LaMelo need stability around them. Yep. You can’t have a bunch of young dudes, right? Flying, you know, flying around like we’ve seen that in NBA history. Like yes, the talent is gonna be great. It’s gonna be exciting for fans, but when you trying to win, you got to have some people that stabilize the consistency every day because like LaMelo can have a great game. Miles Bridges have a great game. They both have a great game, but like West who going who going to stabilize you the next the next game? So, I think they don’t have to me the right mix of veterans, good players, you know, you know what I’m saying? And then young talented players that have the ability to overindex and so they don’t he don’t they don’t have no trampoline. It’s no buoyancy when it come to them. It’s just high or low. High or low, right? And that’s why it’s hard, you know, for somebody as talented as LaMelo because what is his direction? Yeah. We coming in this season to do what? Right. Right. Like what you mean? No motivation there, huh? What you mean I’m not winning? And you bringing winning coaches in from other se uh other teams and they can’t win. Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. And that’s my favorite because it’s not sometimes it’s not the team, it’s the vision. Yeah. Of the organization. Are you trying to win? Are you trying to have a fun team and get draft picks? Are you trying to wait for your superstar? But a lot of teams when they get a superstar talent, like the hardest thing to do is know how to build around a LaMelo ball. Mhm. Yeah. Do you do you think you think it’s more a LaMelo thing where because listen, if I’m a free agency, I’m not picking Charlotte just because there’s no winning culture there alone. Regardless, Charlotte is an amazing city. Yes. Would love to play for it because of the city. Like I could see myself living there. In terms of a basketball standpoint, I’m not going like my my career over with if I go there. Is that is that mellow that has to kind of change the perspective or is that more the front office making moves to to kind of make that a landing destination? Because I mean they they going to keep going down this route of getting early draft picks or younger getting younger getting younger to a point where LaMelo’s going to have to get shipped. They’re going to have to try and start over. Brandon Miller might have to be the face now. Like what’s your take on on kind of that situation? They got to get excited. Mhm. Right. They got to either get off to a good start. They got to establish something. Right. We trying to get to the playoffs. We’re trying to be competitive. In order for somebody like yourself or a good free agent to go to Charlotte, you got to show like, damn, we young talent and we got off to a great start. we maybe didn’t make the playoffs because of injuries and this and that, but like or second half of the season, they didn’t show like, oh, they making a push, so next year they going to be something to deal with. They got to figure that part out first. Because once you figure out that part, then you can start saying, “All right, let’s trade some of this young talent, get some veteran pieces, and now like we got we can make moves to get to the playoffs.” Mhm. They don’t even know if they want to be in the playoffs. They don’t know if they like and bro like like like it it’s not me taking the jab at them cuz I love Charlotte. I you know I I talked to you know the team the owners like like Charlotte is home. So I want to see them win and I think you know with what they got you got to they got new owners they got new president. They got new management. So over the ne I would say really this is like their first year. Mhm. Right. Right. It was the first start. Yeah. And is their first pick. Stupid, right? Cuz they I mean maybe they drafted Brandon Miller. Um but LaMelo Ball is not their pick either. But they did re-up them. So let’s see what they start to build. You got talent. Yeah. Out of it. You got talent. Now the coach got to put that together and the coach got to figure out are you the Golden State Warriors when Mike Mark Jackson took over. Right. Right. And it’s like he built like you can see in them games he like y’all belong in this moment to some young dudes that was balling like they did but maybe not knew that they deserve to be in that moment. Right. And so you can see like somebody is willing something a certain type of DNA and pedigree into LaMelo and the team. Yeah. LaMelo, just to kind of touch on it because you talked about his brand and I think Y LaMelo is one of those young guys that came into the NBA during that social media time and him and his brothers, his family, they were huge on social media and I think LaMelo was the it was the first time where he was the leading vote getter for his position for guards in the Eastern Conference and and he didn’t make the All-Star team. Yeah, that was crazy. So, why is there such a big disconnect between how the fans view him and then you have some of his peers? You know, it’s it’s been there’s been discussions how he doesn’t play winning basketball. Why is there such a big disconnect there? Well, it’s the same people that call Tyrese Hallebertton overrated. So, we know P Mhm. Everybody’s a hater, right? Like you ask all the players, right? Like dude can hate a dude for just no reason at all. So, you’re never really going to get the most honest opinion from the players cuz you know they players is going to hate players especially when you’re competing against him and man it’s like where’s the winning team bro? Yeah. Where’s winning? Like where’s the team where you like oh man like I want to see them play against Philly in the playoffs. Oh, I want to see the match up with LaMelo in Boston. like this kid ain’t never really had a chance. Yeah. To do that. So he’s young. He young responsibility. It is. It is. But I mean, you know, and and I I just think, you know, that’s I think where Melo got to take that jump, right? I think he came out last year putting it all on the floor. I think people criticized his shot selection, but you know, I think that’s all part of growing, right? That’s all part of the maturation being a young player growing up in this league. you you you like, “All right, let me dial back from threes. Let me figure out how to get more in the midi. Let me get down the lane. Let me I know I can play make now. Let me start creating.” I think he just got to take that step. Yeah. Right. And then everybody else kind of falls in line, right? Like if somebody’s going out there and they gunning, if I’m out there, I’m like, man, we ain’t like what we doing. We ain’t trying to win. You know what I mean? Like we get numbers, we ain’t trying to win. But then now everybody’s involved. it starts to feel more of like a team. It’s more of a camaraderie. Yeah. That’s when you got guys that buy into you. So, I I think he just got to be more of a leader in that aspect of listen, I’m, you know, I’m I got the ball. I’mma make [ __ ] happen for us. Yeah. But it’s also hard to lead when everybody around you, maybe one or two dudes, you know, ain’t going to be there next year, right? That’s true. Everybody on their own agenda. Like how can you leave somebody that’s like, “Man, I got to get eight points, seven rebounds, right, and they and he don’t even care what the score is.” Get that paper. Like, how many players on the team really don’t give a [ __ ] about what the score is as long as like it was a good game and they can look at their stats and be like, he had highlights. I got one more year. He had highlights that is so it’s hard to lead dudes like you know I I played on teams where you would think like damn man y’all got so much talent but like dudes walk in the gym and be like man like I ain’t never had a chance to be the man I can be the man on this team and that’s like we already lost. Yeah. Right. Right. We ain’t going to the playoffs. Nothing, dude. We got two dudes that ain’t never been the man on they on they team walking in the locker room like, “Yo, I can be the man on this team.” Like, if that’s the case, that’s the case. We ain’t going nowhere, right? Bro, what are we playing for? [Music]

Baron Davis gets real on LaMelo Ball & the Charlotte Hornets future and why they have no more time to waste. Baron lays out goals for LaMelo and challenges the Hornets to finally take the next step by surrounding him with the right pieces.
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