Draft Day!!! What will the Charlotte Hornets do + Charles Lee introduced as Hornets Head Coach

Draft Day!!! What will the Charlotte Hornets do + Charles Lee introduced as Hornets Head Coach

draft day it’s here folks we also have some audio to go over from Charles Lee during his introductory press conference alongside vice president of basketball Ops Jeff Peterson busy day today on lock on hornets and this stuffy Walden you know you are locked on Hornets your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day in the minute CU we live it’s locked on hornets 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 and that includes YouTube we have a lot to go through today I will say I think you’re going to be on the same page as me very different Draft Day experience that we’ve gone through compared to other Draft Day experiences is with the anticipation being as low as it is with us not exactly caring who they take all that much at six it’s been a weird draft experience this go around uh well I would say compared to last year yeah when when you had two guys uh and and those guys were flip-flopping and we felt strongly about one guy yeah it’s I would say it’s different I care tremendously about who they take and I think the stakes are super high and if you want to hear me care more about that then you should tune in to our live show on YouTube tonight starting at 7:30 p.m. I’m going to have David Walker I’m going to have NADA uh Walker is going to be covering the draft for WFNZ um on location where suff punch which by the way you guys can join us if you want to you have to go to hornets.com and RSVP but we’re going to be out there I’ll put out some Twitter info at Walker mail if you want to check that out as well but suffk punch in Southend area and and you there’s going to be so much draft content pull up Doug NADA David all on the phone be at suff punch and just take all the draft content you can well I think you should go to suff punch and take your phone and watch us watch me on YouTube and just double dip you know bring noise cancelling headphones but I just want you to forget everything The Walker just said this is a huge draft Yeah that you didn’t like that yeah I Stakes are the highest watch us tonight I mean I care that that player comes good I don’t know if I have a really strong opinion and I was trying to compare this not to last year with the whole scoop Brandon debate I really was trying to go back because it felt like we really did care with the center draft Jaylen durran Mark Williams they have two first round picks what are they going to do with that selection process you go back before at 11 that was an interesting class where we were trying to figure out everybody had strong takes on a bunch of different players in 2021 not 2011 but 202 so to me it just felt very different this go around where it doesn’t seem people care of course I care I want the Hornets to do well it only helps me cynically and emotionally but what happens is I don’t have as strong of an opinion nearly as much as I’ve had in previous draft classes and it’s not even close forget scoop Brandon even previous draft classes well sometimes you have to fake it until you make it so here’s my suggestion for the rest of the show I’m just going to bring up a prospect and you have to tell me whether they are going to be a bust or whether they are going to be a superstar there is no in between there is no role player there is no had a little stretch there is Bust or there a superstar right now Reed Shepard man he’s gonna be such a star have you seen these shooting numbers before rules of not star not a star it’s either Bust or superstar superstar put the super in front of it there you go boom you heard it here folks super duper super NOA whatever kind of star Dallas whatever kind of star whatever kind of star you’re talking about that’s what Reed Shepard is going to be the shooting numbers are bananas and maybe he falls through the Hornets although that’s highly unlikely considering what we’ve seen so far let’s get to the draft a little bit later we’ll give you that later long show I’m just GNA warn everyone right now we’ve got a lot to get to and we’re going to do a live show tonight so we’re going to do even more content just get ready uh do you think the show is going to be as long as my straw is a very long straw why that’s like it’s the only one I could find this morning that looks like that looks like a goof straw that looks like a party straw uh that you would give somebody a goof yeah I know yeah the show is going to be as long as this tasty coffee let’s get going Charles Lee press conference introductory presser yesterday Jeff Peterson alongside him I’ll go to you I I was there um and Charles Lee first off I I was about to go to you and then I pulled the rug out from under you but classic be being at the pr being at the presser I’ll just go with Vibes Vibes are so good like I I know it’s it’s different than Steve Clifford because the Vibes weren’t great we were scrambling for a head coach Kenny Atkinson told us no after telling us yes even with James bergo The Vibes were good then but Mitch cup Che the introductory press conference it’s like the only introductory presser you were there at that one Doug it’s the only introductory presser that somebody lost it’s it the classic media saying is it’s you win every single first press conference you have whatever title that you gain from an franchise Mitch cup lost the introductory presser so like Vibes different everybody wins Jeff Peterson Charles Lee extremely excited about it thankful um it’s it’s a hard it’s a hard guy not to like Doug and I could see why he would do very well in the interview process yeah from the opening presser I’m not sure we learned a ton but from the subsequent One V one interviews that he did with Kyle Bailey that he did with Rod Boon and that he did with carbon I think there were some interesting nuggets that we can get into with lamelo ball and Brandon Miller but I think if you read between the lines of some of the things that he said in this press conference it’s interesting too but just to The Vibes question I think you’re right I think everyone looked competent I think everyone looked professional look the guy showed up he still wants to be the coach and not only does he want to be the coach he really talked to what the ownership group and what Jeff Peterson communicated to him in terms of providing him with the necessary things that he that that that are going to be crucial to to making this thing a winner and and the other thing is like he was honest like he he’s not going to come out and say like this team stinks but he was honest about both as a team when he said this is not this is not the same personnel as I had in Boston when he was talking about you know sort of Boston defense versus what he can accomplish early on I think he understands that there’s work to do he understands that there are steps that have to be taken that you’re not going to immediately turn this thing into a winner that the front office and the ownership group all have to be aligned to to make this thing into a winner and he was he was honest about individual players including lamelo ball who he you know sort of not so subtly says um he is going to challenge him uh to be better on the defensive end and so you know I love that honesty and he he know knows what he wants he knows what it takes to be a winner and that’s the thing you can’t bring a coach like Charles Lee who’s just come off a championship had a championship in Milwaukee and not give him the tools because he is going to immediately see oh this isn’t this isn’t how it was running Boston this this isn’t how it was running Milwaukee when we won a championship so so that’s all great to hear perhaps the most honest moment was when he was asked about team defense how good it was in Boston and how he could apply that here in Charlotte and he said well the Personnel is very different that’s a different roster and that was with the roster by the way most of it in support of Charles Lee in attendance lamelo ball was there by the way you had Brandon Miller in attendance a bunch of the younger guys Trey man leaky black so lots and lots of hornets players there in support Charles Lee noted that and was very thankful for that support by the way but with them in the room said we don’t have that personnel which is also very honest as you mentioned so he knows the task at hand and I I think with somebody that’s so nice like Charles Lee so engaging right there were some questions about accountability I guess and it was totally speculative you’re thinking about this guy not NE not not necessarily being a hard ass or anything like that and then when we had the JJ reck Charles Lee debate oh JJ seems like he could get the most out of them because coach which by the way it looks hilarious right now it seems that the Hornets finally the the the house may be uh de haunted because they it seems they finally dodged the the headlines because Charles Lee is not creating any bad headlines no not J he’s not nope he’s not but you get my point that was kind of the debate and it was all speculative between these two where there’s a harder personality from JJ is not going to put up with any BS Charles Lee might because he’s such a nice guy okay I don’t believe that if that were to be true because of Charles Lee’s personality it’s going to be a lot harder to for to do whatever you want essentially with a guy trying to tell you how to play with two championships two championship rings on his hand so I think the winning brings him a lot of reputation and again it is pretty amazing no matter where he’s gone as an assistant coach Doug he’s won at a crazy high level there’s been only a couple of teams in the past 10 years that have posted 60 wins in a regular season and Charles Lee was on both of those staffs with Atlanta who didn’t win a championship and with Boston who did this year he also won that Championship with Milwaukee he’s just seen winning basketball all across the board and I like how he’s going to take some stuff from the bud tree and even a little bit from Joe Missoula his one year working with him different schemes different ideas but all continuity of thought with the staff I yeah there’s a reason that the Vibes are high and I’m I’m bringing it all in baby give me all the Hope in the world yeah the vi and The Vibes are going to continue to be high but there will come a point because here’s let me let me set some let me set some things up so do this Hornets team that he’s about to take over is going to be unless we get some crazy draft trades uh tonight which uh we could and that’s why you should watch our live show tonight at 7:30 p.m on YouTube uh but unless we get some crazy trades this team is going to generally be the same team that Steve Clifford left and Steve Clifford gave you some hints as he was out the door that not every single player on this roster is like ready to do all of the things that are necessary to play Championship level basketball and I don’t think that that’s necessarily going to change uh from then until you know September or October early October when they take to Camp so I think the challenge for uh Coach Lee is going to be you know can can he get everyone to buy in and if somebody doesn’t buy in what happens what happens to that player what happens to their playing time what happens to their future with the Charlotte Hornets and that’s that’s probably going to take you know a year year and a half two years to really figure out how all that works um you know I think that I have no concerns I don’t know about you Walker I’ve no concerns that Lee’s going to come in and be like a beline level bust remember when beine got hired by Cleveland and came in and was like making them run you know fundamental drills and the players were immediately like okay this guy no like I don’t think that’s going to happen at all and and had like this borderline racist comment pretty immediately like that he was like oh my God slugs no he said slugs beine said he said slug he meant to say slugs fair enough fair enough I know that was the alleged thing that happened I hope none of that happens with Charles Lee but but that’s so that’s what we’re saying though is that what we got from this press conference if anything was that everybody seems confident everybody seems competent everyone seems professional everyone seems aligned including the players that were there in attendance um you know about what’s going to be necessary it’s just the next step everyone’s it’s easy to be aligned at the opening press conference it’s harder to be aligned when you’re a training camp or you’re halfway through a season so that’s you know that’s that’s the difficulty and I think Charles Lee has everything necessary to to meet that challenge and you know what he mentioned that I like acknowledging it that he he kind of understands yeah everything is giddy right now honeymoon phase through and through but we have to have this one Vision in place when things aren’t all that great and he mentioned how things are going to go poorly and that’s when we all have to stick together very much so preaching togetherness and that was the word he really went with at the very beginning of the presser and then it would be featured throughout some of his other answers if we’re going long let’s just go long let’s extend this first segment and go down some of the comments that he had with Willie P on the Kyle Bailey show yesterday Doug this was after the press conference that he had with media available at the building the low’s building up town by the way which is really cool um but he had some interesting stuff to say with Willie P WFNZ on the Kyle Bailey show why don’t you take the people through those comments uh yes so the first one was um on the Hornets showing up in the Boston locker room we all saw this video uh was Brandon Miller it was Mark Williams it was Grant Williams former Celtic and marqueis Balden was also there in the in the way way back um and so he was asked about those players showing up and a lot of and we had talked about it on the show a little bit too like what were they invited uh did Coach Lee invite them I think we got some clarity on that via this quote from the Kyle Bailey show he said um it was special to me and I think that is a moment that they won’t forget which I hope it plants the seeds for when we’re working at all periods of the year and you know as you’re being coach we’re trying to prepare you for the toughest moments of the season and as we continue to build this thing and have sustain success I wanted them to have a feel for what the playoff intensity looks like unquote so that sounds like to me Walker that they were they were uh special guests of Charles Lee and he wanted them to see like hey this is this is what it looks like boys makes all the sense it’s it’s the bet I would have made it’s not like I thought Brandon Miller Andor Mark Williams were crashing the party with Grant Williams you would have to imagine and we said this Charles Lee knew about those guys in attendance at the locker room he knew about their attendance because he was in contact with these guys throughout the title run and that’s something Charles Lee said it was documented during the playoffs Mark Spears talked about that on the andscape website so Charles Lee continued to discuss that and it’s something I would have bet on weird also like I could see it especially with the young guys right if you if it’s pretty easy sell to me right yeah and that’s true except for Grant I guess but if you’re talking about Mark and Brandon who were in attendance it’s an easy sell I want these guys to experience Championship level basketball and I want them to see the joy the highs and the lows easy enough for me to buy it on listen I’ve watched a lot of Disney sports championship movies and they all start the same way and it’s very similar to you know the coach taking them uh somewhere special and saying This Is What It Takes uh so I love I love the move I think got some music in the background what do you think is playing the background here in slow motion as you do the panoram oh it’s it’s definitely what’s the uh Snuffy Walden is the guy that does all of these he did the westwing theme he does all these like uh you know big orchestral pieces yeah so good it’s definitely Snuffy Walden you [Music] know and then you have the nod you’re looking at the empty stands maybe or the celebrating it has to be one of the other ticker tape ticker tape on the ground yeah it’s beautiful um he also had a lot of things to say about indiv players I think we should get to that in the next segment that’s what we’ll do coming up next locked on Hornets don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet lamelo ball Brandon Miller Mark Williams have comments from Charles Lee on all of the players you would consider a part of your foundation plus yes of course we’re going to get to some draft uh talk still all today on lockdown Hornets you know I I bet I know what the clip is going to be in the intro with us singing and I like that just just producer Walker hit me in the moment you know I wonder if eBay Motors would appreciate that if that was going on in the background I’m not going to deny it I’ll tell you that by the way this episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patients the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or you get your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusion Supply eBay guarant fit only available to us customers more lock down hornets ahead how how dainty do I look like is is there any way for a man to look cool drinking out of a straw or is there just no way let’s see let’s test it y yep you don’t look cool sorry I looked at the camera you tried really hard and I think all right I’m sorry let’s move char Charles Lee looks like a cool guy and Jeff Peterson is a cool dude man like that that’s the one that just kind of oozes cool you’re like oh I want to hire this guy to a pretty important position let here the job is yours and then eventually he said the same thing to Charles Lee we’ll see what those both of those guys are able to do with the foundation let’s start with you want to start with lamelo what player do you want to talk about first uh yeah he had some things to say about lamelo um he definitely wanted people to know uh that uh he thinks lamelo is a very good player a dynamic player somebody that can play on both ends that he’s going to you know put pressure on to play play at the defensive end of the floor I thought what was interesting to Walker and I don’t know if if this caught your ear but one of the very first things that he said um at the at the opening press conference was that you know when he was discussing what it takes to achieve that sort of Championship level that he that he’s experienced in Boston Milwaukee he was talking about well it takes buay in from the front office it takes buying from the coaching staff it takes work preparation da da da it takes player doing everything they can to remain healthy mhm I mean he it’s explicit you know uh it’s it’s he didn’t attach that to lamelo Ball but I think you know that’s that’s a player you immediately think of uh because he has spent so much time being hurt uh so yeah I think uh he mentioned that several times players got to stay healthy players have to buy in on the defensive end of the floor I think both of those things apply to Lamela ball and so Jeff Peterson did what he could I guess and getting read of Joe Sharp and I don’t know if that’s G that’s schlotkin as we combine both the owners for ease you have schlotkin and Jeff Peterson making that call getting R of the head athletic trainer it’s about the best you could do I guess just refresh a training staff that had been a part of so many injuries whether it was their fault or not so now you’re moving on and it is up to the players to stay as healthy as they can and a lot of times it’s just bad luck so I don’t know it’s just you want them to remain as healthy as possible do everything they can to stay healthy the other thing Charles said pretty easy right lamelo is going to set the pace Charles Lee once to get up and down the floor very quickly that’s what they did in Boston too they were excellent in transition and while it might be true Doug that the roster is very different in Boston than it is here in Charlotte this is still a group that can run pretty quickly and get up and down the floor lamelo is a oneman fast break you put him on the floor you already have an opportunity for transition because when he’s on the flooor we can go back to all the fun highlights of him throwing full-court passes just on a damn dime beautiful Bullseye passes that were ridiculous and the defense doesn’t get set they don’t even realize they’re in transition oh hell lamelo okay yeah I forgot I have to get back immediately now you have somebody in Brandon Miller who I also really like in transition if you run some smaller ball Grant Williams out there I know he’s not exactly the fleetest of foot but even still like you have the trail man with Grant Williams you can get back to the three-point line and Grant can knock that down yeah it makes more sense any team that lamelo is going to be on and handle primary ball handling responsibilities then that team is going to be a squad you want to finish towards the top in transition and Charles Lee recognized that seemingly you know I think what’s exciting is that typically you get concerned about a young player particularly one that you just signed to a Max contract being having to adjust to so many different coaches and coaching Styles I think what’s exciting is that Lee I think is going to be a little bit of an extension of Steve Clifford but also that he didn’t play a lot for Steve Clifford so it’s not even going to be I think he can just you know just start his career all over again um with Charles Lee here’s what Lee said by the way to Rod Boon of the Observer on the injury front he said and so on the court though I think he’s just doing all that he possibly can do to make sure that he’s more available this year a little bit healthier injuries are going to happen but if you can do a lot of work on the front end hopefully you can create some luck where you avoid one or two of these little minor nagging injuries and then outside of that I think just offensively he’s going to be a big component um of our ability to play Fast which is what you were talking about there but I love the honesty both on the defensive front and on the injury front I don’t think we got a ton of that as as much as I thought we were from Steve Clifford and I I wonder if that was hey Steve we haven’t signed this guy to a Max contract yet so so I think there was if I if I’m being honest I think there was a little bit of eggshell walking with Steve Clifford and lamelo as he was trying to build both build a relationship with aelo but also the team was trying to get the deal done and sign him to the max contract and it also hadn’t gotten this bad yet so you have that too but all that’s over now it seems like Lee is not and and Lee I think Lee did a good job and this is what you have to do as a new coach I think is like you should be honest about what what you what needs to change without putting someone on blast in the media or coming in like I’m I’m the big bad coach and I know what to do and you don’t know what to do you know he didn’t he didn’t do any of that I think he walked the line perfectly here he was on Brandon Miller as we move on to another Foundation player he speaking about Brandon Miller with Willie P on the Kyle Bailey show he said quote I think that the conversations that we’ve had so far just how are you going to continue to be a dominant two-way player it’s not always about offense there there are other ways to impact Wom winning and so consistently just being on him about playing both sides of the ball and being a leader for us as we go here so not putting too much on his plate again he’s another guy that just being young I think the reps are going to help him and quote what’ you take away there H well he again this the honesty the pushing the young players the setting the agenda early and I don’t think he’s not telling uh Willie P that and he hasn’t told Brandon Miller that already like all of these guys know what the expectations are going to be when we hit training camp and I think that’s so important for that communication to be um outlined very early on I think also something interesting he said I believe this was to Rod Boon and their uh one-on-one is that Brandon Miller is going to have to quickly transition from becoming a a guy on The Scouting Report to the guy on The Scouting Report and you know I don’t know Walker I think there could only be one the guy on The Scouting Report and you’ve got Coach Lee saying that Brandon Miller is going to be the guy and I don’t know that you would have a ton of fans after last season disagreeing with him the the thing is he comes from Boston where there were multiple the guys and it’s what made them so great so with Charles Lee I actually think that having two or three the guys is still on the table coming from that franchise and speaking of another player that maybe it’s a little more polarizing but most people would put in the foundation it’s Mark Williams he was actually asked about this at the press conference and he said about Mark Williams he wants dominate the paint to be Mark’s middle name which I laughed at in real time by the way well that’s going to be difficult if he has to fill out medical forms uh the census you know that’s going to be they’re going to have to have extra boxes for him if that’s going to be his middle name the the Boston connections with some of the stuff that we’re talking about is interesting to me because he also brought up the best game of Mark’s season it’s something Steve Clifford brought up a couple of times when mentioning Mark it’s the fact that Mark did dominate Boston I mean Doug that game he really was excellent I the the effort was crazy going out to the perimeter to go get rebounds he was protecting the rim that was the best game that we have seen from Mark’s career and while Boston is a team that’s still a little bit smaller I don’t even know if porzingis played that game I think he was healthier at that time but even still he’s on the perimeter he did exactly what he was supposed to do and even more looked like an Allstar type of guy in that performance so I’m hoping speaking of consistently being on Brandon Miller same thing for Mark and those two guys Doug those are the guys that were there in Boston to see the championship run they were there in the locker room to see the championship celebration remember when James bgo kind of attached himself at the hip with Malik Monk and then eventually his wagon weirdly yeah he did so it it like it’s not that strong I guess there was a lot of Hey what how do we get the most out of this talented but not producing type of first round pick that everybody was excited about it’s not that here but you can clearly see these two players matter towards the future and Charles Lee has like a special project with each of these two guys on the roster you know what’s funny is you mentioned that uh when he when bgo came in and said like this team goes as Malik goes and then Malik didn’t go I mean he he went off the roster for a little while because of some drug stuff like he well in such a thing was Player Development and he he was really focused on that cuz that was what they wanted to focus on Steve Clifford was such the quote unquote anti-er developer like this is why we bring in bgo so that’s why he was emphas shooting the flare saying yes I’m going to improve Malik but I think it’s it’s Savvy of Coach Lee here not to Hitch his wagon to anyone to say look sure you’re going to have to come in and everybody’s going to have to do the same kind of work and and I think there has to be the followup to that is going to be if you’re not willing to do that then what happens you know and and I think there is some credibility again that comes along with Lee coming from Boston and Milwaukee that’s going to allow him to do that in certain ways that that I don’t think Clifford um Al Clifford was on some big-time rosters but they were sort of before all these young players were were even you know crawling around the floor but um you know I I think there’s some added credibility there so I think it’s it’s super important any other finishing Charles Lee thoughts before we focus on the draft on the other side I just heard some great words I heard creative I heard the word creative which I love I want more creativity I want more youth not not just on this roster but I want it through the coaching staff we’ve seen that with some of the hires but he said he specifically he wants his coaching staff to be creative he’s inviting uh you know those differing ideas about how things are are going to get done I think that that provides a healthy environment and I’m just man I’ll tell you the one word I keep coming back to is just honesty like there was honest without F blast it Savvy Hony Savvy honesty it wasal honesty itn’t headlines like they were doing in LA with reic it was the anti- JJ presser it was the anti- moula presser remember he comes from this Missoula staff but all reports are that Lee was kind of the foil to Missoula and that Missoula was sort of the Oddball and I mean you know if you’ve watched ESPN and herzo of his press conferences like he’s he’s an oddball and oh yeah Lee was the organizer he was uh the sort of foil to that and I think that’s what the Hornets need after so many consecutive off seasons of dysfunction and of of of of not competent functioning of an organization like they need somebody to just come in and say all right we’re going to get back to basics here we’re going to figure this thing out and and that’s the vibe that I got from both as you were saying Peterson who seemed like like hey this guy knows what he’s doing right I mean I think that is the the benefit of hiring younger people is that like they seem to be on the front foot and that’s that’s the vibe that I got Peterson also you don’t think about it but Peterson four years younger than Charles Lee which is I maybe that’s weird I know what happens I know it’s just still kind of weird to me to think about that oh he also he was asked by Scott Fowler uh this was Charles Lee asked by Scott Fowler what if he had Pro if he had a promise that he wanted to promise fans and the only thing that he would promise is that this team will be competitive yeah and they will be together so that’s you know I got some FanDuel over unders I got to hit you think that’s 30 or 35 wins or what we’re not good at bet the buzz what does competitive together get you they get your 30s get your 35 what we we can’t we can’t bet the buzz on this all right let’s talk about the draft coming up next on the lock on Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet who are they going to take at six what are what’s the likelihood that they trade down haven’t Ted talked about that possibility as much but it seems like maybe even a probability if Donovan kingan is there at six who knows we’ll talk about the scenarios coming up next this episode is brought to you by FanDuel perhaps this isn’t the right day to say that the sports aren’t sporting as much SP Budd draft they’re sporty today but even when they’re not sporting as much even even as the playoffs wind down and then we get fewer games I guess that’s true it’s not like we have a lot of games to speak of in the summer FanDuel still lets you keep the sports going whenever you want to and all you have to do is open up the app and then dream up bets at any time you’re in the mood this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com lockon start making the most out of your summer FanDuel the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball we have games there so again you can bet on the games there one more segment to go lock down hornets all right going going into that break you mentioned Donovan kingan so real quick Donovan kingan Bust or Superstar uh he’s going to be a huge bust man huge bust to match his size all these guys want Donovan cling and please you can’t even shoot a three-pointer dude’s been injured a couple times going to be a Flatout bust I hope the Hornets stay far away don’t want anything to do with them Stefan Castle bust or Superstar super duper Star have you seen the guy’s defense okay I just talked about the big man not being able to shoot but we know Stefan Castle is a great defender he’s going to take down your best offensive player every single night daily just like you heard in the fandu re Stefan Castle Superstar uh phony gavone said he went to like Scout him and was trying to get video of him hitting two consecutive shots and it took him forever to get it and he said that’s alarming yeah yeah um I’m going to go bust if I get to pick I’m going to go bust on ston Castle oh man what’s funny about that is gavon let us in on the process he told us he’s like look honestly this is what I do for prospects I try to wait until they make a whole bunch of shots and he admitted it I’m telling you gavone he admitted it so if Stefan Castle is so bad at shooting that he exposed Jonathan gavone you’re probably right he’s more of a bust than he is a booming Prospect or a super but there is no middle important to note as we go through the segment there’s no middle ground there is no uh it’s either Bust or it’s Superstar uh last one Ron Holland huge bust Superstar Ron Holland S I think there’s if I think there’s huge Hornets tradeback option here if kingan is available at six we know Memphis is salivating over Kling and they probably don’t want to sacrifice what it would take to get to three to take him but I bet they would sacrifice a couple of future assets to go get him at six which would then drop the Hornets back to nine and I think they could get Ron Holland at nine Ron Holland Devin Carter I think would be the favorite tradeback candidates if you move back to that spot so if you go to nine I’m looking at at the should we let’s just lean into this tradeback options are very real that’s picked up a lot of steam within the last week and it’s not something we talked about because Kelly e of the athletic reported that the Hornets were actually pretty aggressive in shopping up to go get that number three overall pick and now Houston’s made some trades last night after we see male Bridges get dealt we’ll get to that hold on I know you got some thoughts we’ll get to that a little bit later um but if you look at the Grizzlies payroll you trade back to that spot with the idea of taking Holland if connect is there maybe like connect could fall to nine who knows Brandon Clark another draft darling of way back in the day uh battled injuries impactful player when he’s on the court $12.5 million for the next three seasons maybe that’s something you would like but still undersized Center we probably need some more size there Marcus Smart would be interesting if you wanted to pair him with lamelo 30-year-old 20 million 21 million the set a culture player familiar with lee yeah you’re starting to make a lot of sense buddy yeah Markus smart that that would be somebody that I would certainly uh inquire about um looking at some other guys yeah they’re not going to get rid of Desmond Bane amaran Jaron Jackson are all going to be on their team like there’s a Luke Canard making 14 million but it’s a team option so shooting yeah that would be the thing there um Vince Williams I I can’t imagine they’d get rid of because he’s seems like a player at two million smart and Clark those are the guys that would be they got Clark he would lose it I’d have to call I’d have to I’d have to tell you I’d have to get you off the radio for just a second to get your reaction on the live show if that’s what happened but honestly to me and I I think the tradeback scenario would be my favorite scenario totally agree particularly if it was with Memphis because you would you would settle back into an area where I think there are some good defensive prospects that you would take plus you would get to get an asset out of that and look if the muel bridges if you haven’t heard the news uh already Mel Bridges went for five uh first round picks four of them unprotected from the Knicks and one of them a protected first rounder from Milwaukee plus a pick swap plus a second round pick all of those assets to go and get male Bridges who’s never made an allstar game it’s why we keep yapping about asset acquisition because the price keeps getting inflated folks it’s not just the grocery store it’s not just the eggs it’s not just the milk it’s the Miguel Bridges as well inflation is hitting everything and if you want to improve this at some point in the future not tomorrow but at some point in the future you’ve got to as an organization be focused on continuing to acquire assets and an easy way to do that is to drop three spots for a team that wants a player now there’s some sort of uh prerequisites like clingan’s got a fall but if that opportunity presents itself I I think the Hornets really should think long and hard about just how much they want like aulton connect you know Reed Shepard is the only name I’m like throwing all that out the window for if Reed’s available six or if they can go get Reed at three for some reasonable price you know that’s a guy I think that actually does like have Superstar potential what about castle Doug like if C Castle is the one to me that seems the most realistic that could be there it just he’s he is in the middle of all of the possibilities possibility of being there being a guy that the Hornets like you know he if you trade back you’d be out of Stefan Castle range if you had if you wanted to take him you’d have to there what about castle is he in the same category as Reed for you I just think Castle has more of a probability of being like a mid to lowlevel role player than than Reed does than a couple I mean than a couple of these prospects do honestly I mean you know I think I think connect has more if you’re just talking about probabilities I think connect has more of a probability of becoming a sort of bogdanovich and level role play player than than Castle does and so yeah I’m a little scared by Castle now again if if if there’s no opportunity to move back and Castle is sitting there and connect is sitting there and they want to take Castle because they like the high-end you know upside of Castle I’m fine with that but if that opportunity is there to move back and acquire assets I just I just think you do that in this draft yeah I think I like that scenario the best too by the way with Charles Lee talking about all these players he was sure to bring up defense with every single one lamelo Brandon Mark so if Charles has anything to do with it which I actually don’t think he does with the draft I I don’t think they’re listening to him really at all no I yeah that’s the kind of vibe I got too he was looking at him with analytics Charles oh my God that question I I was trying to stay away from the media critiques but that question I’m sorry like what are we in 2014 why are we asking about analytics the war has already been won okay analytics is all over the game whether you like it or not it’s just like we only had a limited amount of time in that first press conference to ask questions and we’re asking a coach about analy and it’s pretty obvious that like analytics runs through what Boston does it’s just like it’s it’s it’s one of those and and this is Skyler by the way so Skyler’s a good dude we asked the question fine but it’s just an absurd question so you you you got the blueprint answer of it’s going to have a part but it’s not everything I I think probably 95% of coaches GMS would say that analytics are an important tool but it can’t be the only thing and I think we’d probably get that answer more often than not like again 95% of the time so that’s what we got from Charles Lee and I was a part of the media yesterday so you can clown me I didn’t ask a question though like that just that just didn’t happen so little bit of miscommunication but we’ll move on from that um we can go to some more scenarios here Reed Shepard Dalton connect Stefan Castle those would be the guys in play at six if you move back I’m with you Ron Holland Devin Carter even still Dalton connect I think he’s in both ranges if that was the case so I I like I like any of those options I don’t know what the make me angry scenario is like I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m providing initial analysis tonight on WFNZ lockdown Hornets tomorrow calling back in like I I I don’t know if I have like this crazy angry scenario but it seems you have two for me here D I’ve got two two scenarios will make me angry one if they trade back and take Dillingham or God forbid they take Dillingham at six like that would be a scenario where you go wait a minute are they really aligned with Coach Lee like if they take connect like connect has the ability I think to upgrade his defense enough under the right situation to be far he’s bigger he’s just flat out biger it’s a size yeah so you’re giving him size uh and somebody that put and would help them in rebounding by the way we don’t we don’t talk enough about conect rebounding ability but the were not a great rebounding team and Mark he’s challenging by the way Lee was challenging Mark Williams to be you know a better defensive rebounder cuz you said and you’re right that Mark Williams uh played one of his best games against Boston and Charles Lee got to see that I’m pretty sure that Charles Lee also got to see Mark Williams very early in his career getting pushed around by Boston and some of their bigger reserves and so I think he’s very aware that like bigger teams pose a problem for Mark smaller teams he’s able to expose that um so I think that that would be one nightmare scenario is going Dillingham the other scenario that would make me angry is if they trade up for Reed and they sacrifice significant assets so a first I’m with you on that like a future first round pick I mean any any scenario with Houston probably has to involve a sign in trade with Miles um or or something like that or maybe some young players that like a Trey Manor Nick Smith Jr what we were trying to give to the Nets and they wouldn’t take it in our locked on NBA mock draft um so that those would be my two angry scenarios uh okay rapid fire as we end chances miles Bridges gets traded tonight 75% oh you think it’s happen you think yeah they’ve already talked about it if if if we had never heard a peep about them trying to move Bridges then I think uh I it would be much lower but I think it’s high because it’s one of the few things you could it’s one of the few things ailable to you to use that doesn’t really hurt you long term my second question also pertains to mil Bridges you’re right more picks are needed more than ever to go after the Stars even non Allstars but high level starters are we trading miles bridges for too low in some of the convos that we’ve had some people think so some people really liked that Houston idea trade if male is going for everything he did we’re only a couple of years removed from the the Rudy gobear trade if more picks are needed than ever to go after some of these guys could miles Bridges bring back what two first is that something crazy sounds like you think I’m crazy well he could have at some point in the past but not now like the reason Mel Bridges um got that many picks well number one it’s the Knicks and and they love mortgaging their future they they love tricking people into thinking they’re not going to do that and then all of a sudden doing that so they found the right they found the right partner but also it’s not only that Mel Bridges offers the Knicks something that they need it’s that he also fits with all those other Villanova players there’s going to be immediate relationships that are there but also and this is I think the most important thing is the contract situation that he only has two years left on the deal that it’s under 25 million that it’s easily tradable if everything goes to bleep and and nickland then they can move that deal easily with Bridges it’s for the Hornets it’s an entirely different scenario in that he’s not even under contract like that there’s no leverage miles can walk so yeah and like you’re going with the and and I know the difference between the two for sure it’s the fact that the Knicks traded we were having a discussion Doug of whether it was too much to give up three first round picks and if they were asking for Mark on top of that then we say hell no okay I know the difference between the two players male got five first another Swap and a second because of everything so are we saying that the M situation which this is a fair question in my opinion is the m situation four picks and swaps better than what you have with miles that’s my question um better than what you have for miles in what sense and trading them for two for like I’m asking if miles could get back he he would get back a first because you’re swapping and moving up third I guess you would get a pick swap there so like could you get a first on top of moving up that’s my question like what is the ceiling value for Miles given what we’ve seen some of these other Fringe Allstars to solid players to Allstars given what it takes to get those guys what’s the ceiling value for Miles Bridges well I think the this deal doesn’t hurt I think this deal does raise the ceiling because their stats are somewhat complimentary and uh neither have made an All-Star game so you know now Mel doesn’t have the off thec Court baggage there’s not as much risk there um and again you pointed out I don’t know how many how much teams care about it I you’re right like no but I bet te teams probably don’t care about it if they get the deal done but I bet they they would use it as means to to not guarantee deal year yeah I think there’s all kinds of stuff that kind of goes into how how you’re negotiating these deals so um yeah I think it’s certainly it’s certainly very interesting I I think again if miles was under contract with the Hornets then we’d be having an entirely different conversation it’s hard the answer is that it’s hard to gauge the answer is that it’s really hard to gauge what the ceiling return is I don’t know either but you know they’re going to have to figure that out in maybe 75% chance uh quick quickly but because I I don’t I’m not gonna have you tonight so I really we just I want to enjoy this with you though is this locked on NBA Mock Draft that we’ve talked a lot about and in that draft we ended up taking Stefan castle and we tried to do a deal for Mel Bridges and and here’s the deal that we offered the locked on Nets podast okay we offered him Trey man Nick Smith Jr Davis brons two unprotected first round picks from the Charlotte Hornets and a lightly protected Mavs first round pick Mel Bridges actually got traded in this Mock Draft before he got traded in the real world like what an hour before am I right about that no I don’t I I don’t know when exactly this happened I think it was probably a day before okay we saw I I contacted the lock on Nets podcast about the trade to be like what the hell um about an really minutes before the deal got done um for the Knicks so here’s the deal that actually won Mel Bridges in our mock draft let me remind you first that he went for in the real world he went for four unprotected first round picks a protected first and a pick swap we offered three picks the deal that got him for to the Pacers was was Bruce Brown osai abaji an unprotected first and a 2030 pick swap we offered him clearly more unbelievable un I’ve never been more outraged at an at an ultimate mock draft than I was at that deal falling through you’re going to be ultimately douge a when you go to Sam Amo and say we had a better deal on the table they decided not to take it this is how this happens well relative I’ll tell you the the actual deal that got uh him to New York was an actual Godfather deal okay Danny that’s an actual Godfather deal that was nowhere near what you were offering the Hornets for the Frank Kaminsky pick let me just say that number two in relative to what he actually went for in the mock draft our deal was a Godfather deal I just couldn’t I could and and it made me think this has to happen in the real NBA where a team particularly in the draft where things are time compressed and and opportunities come and then they go very quickly there has to be uh if you talk to Executives off the Record there have to be history has to be littered with this kind of thing where a team offered something big they rejected it thinking they could get something bigger and ended up having to take something way less yeah let’s stick with Boston Bill Simmons was just talking about how this happened when Boston was looking to trade for Paul George offered the Pacers something Pacers decided no they weren’t going to take it and instead traded with Damonte sabonis and Oladipo and Paul George is eventually a member of the Thunder where Boston was mad because they felt like their offer was better and they gave up in that reported deal which Bill Simmons is going to know about the NBA and the Celtics apparently in a proposed deal there it would have been one of the picks that landed Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown like one of those guys would have been an Indiana Pacer so yes Boston it it worked out kind of for the Pacers and the Celtics in some ways but yes you’re right that does happen and it happened in our own little world where they decided he wanted young Talent he he really was pressing on that one young player already established and aaji was it I’m surprised man I’m with you well what’s interesting is I think people approach these mock drafts very differently like I think you and I have always approached the mock draft from the perspective of there’s a little bit of what we would want the franchise to do but we also take into account what our franchise is actually thinking you know what I’m saying like if if we know because you and I pay attention to what the Hornets are doing and what they’re thinking and so we can take that Intel and say all right the the the Hornets are trying to get better they’re not going to mortgage their entire future but I think they would be willing to listen you know if they if the right deal came along like I I was not going to offer four unprotected first and a and a fifth uh first round pick like that give Mark the the level was ex we we really did go max value with what we talked about that yeah and I think a lot of people go into go into this thing thinking well no what would I do and and so I I just think there was a wrong read because the Nets and I never bought the whole like Nets want to stick with Mel I knew they were going to rebuild well the thing is I kind of do buy it but that pack that that’s the classic that’s the classic okay okay yeah it’s it’s the Knicks offering everything it’s here take everything we have I’m only allowed to give you four first round picks because of the steppan rule here’s another one because we have it from Milwaukee just take it we don’t want it just take it it’s un I can’t believe too I don’t know if you’ve been listening to some of the national media coverage of this it’s absurd people are protecting the New York Knicks in this situation they’ll blast them later when it doesn’t work out but that there’s so much protection of them giving five first round picks to a player that has never made an All-Star game it is absolutely bleeping absurd it’s a lot um I do if the Hornets had done this by the way if the Hornets had given four unprotected first and a protected first for Miguel Bridges they would be getting summarily laughed at it’s just absurd and different situations but I hear you I need to know what he said in response because you reached out in anger about the accepted trade Shame Shame Phil he crawled into a hole he hasn’t said anything to me on the chat well Doug it’s I mean I’m just I’m full of outrage and it’s going to continue on the live show tonight it’s 7:30 p.m. there will be no Snuffy Walden theme uh tonight it’s going to be it’s going to be hardcore metal death metal rage um unless they unless they draft Reed or unless they move back and get Holland and acquire some assets any other scenario I’m going death metal my prediction is to find Castle as a Charlotte Hornet tonight what’s yours uh no I think Castle’s going top five um I think dton connect is a hornet tonight I think that’s the most likely um but I would say second most likely is they they trade back like we said I don’t know if it’s for Ron Holland or whoever they’re whoever they’re T although they did I think we recently found out that they had Ron Holland in for a workout not sure about de Carter but I know for sure Ron Holland came in for a workout so keep an eye on it and I like I like the Marcus Smart thing I know people have uh very polarized opinions about that guy but I mean just in terms of a a veteran who’s going to come in and give you an attitude a little bit like Grant Williams kind of comes in and starts to say some stuff I mean I like it yeah uh we’re just going to get all the Celtics on tough guys let’s go Charles Lee coaching him too yeah man we’re going to have that all right that’ll do it I guess he didn’t my bad that’ll do it for lock down hornets on a draft day yeah Doug play us out here we appreciate you making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods Doug’s on substack every Hornets boox score.com I’m on WFNZ every weekday from 12:00 to 300 p.m. real quickly Doug’s going to have to keep doing it because I’m going to promote some stuff live locked on Hornets draft show Doug is going to be hosting it nada’s going to stop by David Walker also going to be hopping on and if you’re out and about and you want some camaraderie during the draft come to suff punch I’m going to be hosting with cardi B Paul being and cardi and Jeff Ricker’s going to be out there and make sure you tune in to our Twitter’s Doug Branson looh and Walker mail see you tomorrow we’ll talk about the Hornet’s newest player [Music]

Walker and Doug buckle up for draft night and discuss all the potential outcomes. Who will the Hornets most likely take? What are the percentages that Charlotte actually trades Miles Bridges tonight? The guys also share their thoughts on Charles Lee’s first official presser as Hornets head coach. What were the main takeaways?

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