LIVE RECAP: LaMelo Ball returns in game against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs

LIVE RECAP: LaMelo Ball returns in game against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs

Are live We all thought we got good news when lamelo ball returned we got to see him for the first time since November 26th and then we had to watch the actual game and the Hornets lose 135 to 99 I guess we’ll break down the good and the

Bad today on lockon Hornets locked on hornets part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day in a minute cuz we live It’s locked on Hornets Hive LIVE edition oh Doug sipping on a little something today if you want to catch us on YouTube you can catch us anywhere you get your podcast now I want to I’m feeling in the mood it’s Friday night you know we can either you know it’s it’s like Johnny

Manzel said if we win or lose it doesn’t matter we drink feel like that I’m ready it’s definitely been true of this season it has never been more true of the Charlotte Hornets than this season that’s true except there’s been a lot of losing more so than winning and

The Hornets lose again 135 to 99 that’s Doug Branson you can find him on his substack every Hornets boox score.com I’m Walker mail you can listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 300 PM real quickly today’s Hive live episode is brought to you by Jace medical

Empower yourself when you purchase a Jace case providing you with a personal Supply of five antibiotics that treat 50 plus infections get yours today at jal.com and use code locked on to get $20 off your order that’s Jace JJ medical.com I’m looking professional you’re drinking on the job it’s very

Different Vibes we got going on got this is a live show baby never know what’s going to happen we cannot stop we have started the live stream people are are surprisingly after the the margin of of defeat there people are pouring into the live stream right now we’ve got Mason

Saying yikes we’ve got beginner saying Clifford Subs lamelo out right after he drains a three people are already upset about lame he’s he just literally returned to the lineup and people are already upset about something related to lamelo regulator said that was painful hope BM is okay of course Brandon Miller

Injury we’ve got to get to that here in a bit as well uh amber saying drink a double dog oh listen I mean this is uh this is past present and future and this class right now okay folks there was some there was a lot more in this class

Before we started this live show I’m really jealous right now if you would have told me I would have joined you I would have gotten a drink maybe I can do it during a break I don’t know so yeah the Hornets they lose let’s get to the

Lamelo story though here Doug so lamelo returns for the first time since November 26th going out with that ankle injury and he comes back and not a great shooting night for him not terrible terrible but not a great shooting night five of 14 three of n from distance got

To the foul line a ton career career highs in both uh in both attempts and Ms I would say so I I would have pretty easy to guess here how about 15 for 16 from the charity stride for lamelo ball so he finishes with 28 points despite

Not a great shooting night five assists five Steals and three rebounds for lamelo how do you think he look after the uh ankle injury rehab well he got off to a good shooting start which was surprising to me because I remembered when he you know started this season

Coming off of that ankle fracture where he didn’t get a lot of time to work out over the summer he sat for a long time didn’t have a lot of game action right five on five and he his shot looked off as he was sort of adjusting to the

Equipment that they put into his uh you know the screws and stuff that they put into his ankle he was trying to figure all of that out so part of me expected to see that for a few games where where the shooting was was was off like through the first three quarters and

Then he would find a rhythm later in the game that’s what happened earlier in this season it’s not what happened in this game he he hit I think three uh three-pointers um in that uh first quarter at least three shots and then um you know again was relentless in

Attacking he’s obviously Walker 15 of 16 from the line career highs as I just said he’s obviously not afraid of whatever’s going on with the ankle he’s not thinking about it because he was in attack mode this entire game I don’t really care about the shooting numbers

Honestly where where I thought he looked a little bit Rusty was just in the timing in terms of his passes in terms of uh protecting the basketball he had six turnovers in this game but all of that’s going to come back you take a 28o game 28o game from him five assists five

Steals in this game uh you know this loss this blowout loss was 0% about lamelo ball yeah it wasn’t about lamelo and this is what like when guys come back from injury I think okay there’s a couple things that could happen one they’re just rusty from the get-go understandably so

Because it’s been a long time especially in lamelo’s case since he played basketball or sometimes they’ll go off of the adrenaline right away and then you could see him perform maybe well the first game back they’re just so amped up and ready to go and they also might have

The whole fresh leg syndrome even if you are injured you haven’t been playing as much as everybody else and you perform really well because maybe the other players are tired but I mean still just a little rusty here with the shot and the passing you mentioned some of that

It didn’t seem to be on the same page as guys and also Doug one thing to consider it Brandon Miller goes out in this game we’ll get to that maybe a little bit more so in the next segment but only logs about nine minutes before he takes

A nasty fall and then has to go to the locker room doesn’t return after that but you Areo you’re talking about a bunch of guys still out and so when lamelo does come back the team is different it’s it’s not quite Will Smith going into the living room of the Bel Air

Mansion and looking around and seeing where everything went where did everybody go the John Travolta meme Just Your Meme your GIF of choice but it’s still pretty depleted and so now you have to get on the same page with leaky black not leaky black I guess he played

A lot later but you are talking about JT Thor 19 minutes Mena 19 minutes ish Smith 22 McGaw 24 Nick Smith Jr 25 so maybe the bigger newer names are Mena and Nick Smith Jr who are probably a part of the rotation you know since lamelo goes down with injury and no

Brandon Miller right like you still have miles but it’s still a little different for him and so yeah now you’re talking about chemistry being compromised too because you have different players that he’s out there on the court with no you that’s it’s a great it’s a great point

Because it’s not as if he returned you know to play with Gordon Hayward and PJ Washington guys he’s been playing with his nearly his entire career so if that were the case then you could go okay yeah he’s really getting his rhythm back in terms of his Pas timing in terms of

You know some some of the things that he’s doing and and set play execution that kind of thing but you’re right I mean he’s playing with with with names that not many of the fans know you know and so does he know who Nathan Mah is did you think a good

Question you pick him out of a lineup that’s a great question um so yeah I I I just think you come away from this game thinking lamelo is not going to take as long as he did earlier in the season to be fully fully back and think the other

Thing too is like a lot of people were looking at his shootaround film like it was like zuder film they were breaking it down you know scientifically looking at the angle that his foot hit the ground and oh one foot two foot listen don’t matter whatever he’s doing he’s

Doing it right the the shots that he hit from the left wing were as I don’t care if he came down on one two or three feet I mean he was that was as smooth as butter I mean I’m not I’m just not worried about lamelo’s shot um and and

If he’s going to if the refs are going to respect him like that moving forward then you know I mean I think it’s too late for an All-Star bid but you he could he could turn some heads and and get get things moving in the right direction going into next season maybe

We play with that a little bit too late for an All-Star bid did finish eighth in the Eastern Conference guard voting results and so maybe if there was enough here’s the thing it it’s not going to be because of lamelo that he can’t get back legitimately in the race it’s because

The Hornets are out here getting beat by close to 40 by a six- win basketball team well if he got an All-Star bid it would be because like six or seven guys got injured which would be pretty ironic right of all the injuries that that lamelo has sustained and all the

Injuries that the Hornets have had to deal with if lamelo were to back into the All-Star game because you know there there was a tremendous amount of injuries to people do to do actually make the All-Star Game before we get to more injuries including one that happened in this game did you

Want to go to the live chat I know it’s been active I’ve been looking at a couple Doug what were some that you wanted to read listen people are all over this chat right now regular saying we are the sickos why else be here exactly you’ve got nowhere else to be

There’s no there’s no other place on earth that is going to understand your sickness like we will um we we watch every single one of these games we we live and die with this team uh for some reason it doesn’t make any sense sense U

But but that is what it is uh let’s see uh let’s see hero rocket hero Rocket says thought lamelo’s returned would spark the team guess not um a lot of fire Clifford a lot of fire cup checks a lot of fire the word fire and fired is is uh definitely

Prevalent within the chat neon charg I see all caps call for jobs right now uh I see that on the line sorry Haley who said not the soft G Walker we’ve been over this I said GIF I’m a gif guy more than GIF I’ve been doing it for years

Now I’ve been trying to change him folks I mean you know you have I thought I’d change it before I saw him wear a tie but here we are this is this is my favorite though I’m not gonna out him just because I’m not a snitch like that

Even if they don’t really care but I like my guy’s comment got high laughed and disbelief all game all right that’s where we are that’s our listenership and I love them so a lot a lot of questions in here essentially do we need to call for jobs

Right now I mean have you been watching the show like I think we’ve been pretty clear that a house cleaning is necessary and to me it’s all it really is all a timing thing look if the Hornets were an organization that had like realistic expectations for playoffs and weren’t

Just lying to fans and saying yeah we’ve got enough Talent here when they look I think anyone knew that there wasn’t enough talent to really make a serious playoff run uh maybe maybe there was a few years ago and had had things broken the right way and they could have

Developed that talent but that time is long gone and so you know if there were serious expectations sure yeah you you would maybe have an ownership group that would come in and say we haven’t lived up to those things but but I think that they’re going to look at the situation

And go tons of injuries we’ll make a move eventually um and until then check out these redesigned Suites Renovations yeah check out these seats you can’t afford I don’t know I mean that’s that’s where we are right now folks I don’t know what to tell you 2500 lower level seats you can’t afford

By the way that’s coming to Spectrum Center um all right soul for a soul let’s get to the bad news even more bad news coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast we’re gonna talk more about Brandon Miller who goes down falling after a transition opportunity

You know getting crashed into by a Spurs player and not turning to the game we’ll get to that in just a moment here in the second segment real quickly this episode is brought to you by Jace medical I know we come to sports to escape from some of

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Offer code locked on to get $20 off your order all right more locked on Hornets coming up with Brandon Miller being injured psych gotcha you’re that’s not a good team but you got here because you’re a sicko and we can’t have lamelo return and not sacrifice another body in order to get

The best player on the team you have to sacrifice the other bright spot on the roster Doug what did you see with this brand and Miller injury and what are some of the noteworthy things about it to you well first of all we have to answer a question here on the chat by

Adam Adam asking a very simple question who won uh the answer is the San Antonio Spurs won the game 135 to 99 I guess this is a recap show so we should read off uh the final score um it was a dominant performance by Victor wanyama which we should have seen

Coming by the way uh because the Hornets uh I I don’t think they came into this season with a legitimately deep enough Center rotation for a team that had playoff aspirations we said it a million times in the offseason this team was one injury away uh for Mark Williams or Nick

Richards from having some ser issues in that front Court well they had Nick Richards miss a lot of time due to a concussion now Mark Williams has missed a ton of time due a low back contusion and they’ve had to depend on Nathan Mah who look in a word was awful in this

Game I mean there’s just no other way to put it was was missing a ton of uh shots at The Rim uh was I don’t know I’m not going to blame him for not being able to deal with the few possessions that he had against Victor wanyama I mean Nick

Richards couldn’t do much with him either but um this was was not a good showing for Mena and and again against the team that we should say it has the third worst record in the NBA I mean you not only get blown out you get blown out

Against a team that has a worse record than you and there are only three teams that have a worse record than you so look I mean there’s you know there’s a lot of fans in the chat right now that are upset and I think they have every

Right to be all right let’s talk about Brandon Miller so he gets hurt in the second quarter he goes up for what would have been I think had he not gotten fouled by K Johnson would have been a Monster Jam would have been a highlight

Would have been a top I don’t know top three top five play of the season so far I mean he was heading for a huge Jam in transition and Kellin Johnson goes up to me it looked like he made a play on the ball they called it a flagrant

One and I think that was the right call um it was a dangerous play because you’re going up uh with someone and lot of contact midair you know the NBA has been pretty clear that that’s a play that they’re going to call flagrant on and the question is is there malice is

There a hit to the head is there something else that they could tack on that say all right that’s a flagrant too I didn’t see that in that play Brandon Miller lands on his left hip it looked like and then his head shot back and I couldn’t tell on the replay it looked

Like the head hit the back hit the floor and it looked like it hit it hard like it it just snap back and so that’s what I’m really concerned about now they called this a lower back contusion so now we got a little uh double contusion

A two for tusion with Mark Williams and Brandon Miller Double hip flu too apparently yeah yeah back to the hip stuff again yeah so um but the head stuff is what worries me because that concussion protocol as we saw with Nick Richards can keep you out for a very

Long time and and so he he like stayed on the floor a long time Walker and then he got up and he jogged back to the sideline and then had to lay back down now that certainly could be a back thing it could be a hip thing could be a lot

Of things but you know I just would say let’s kind of keep an eye on the language and how this injury develops if it stays a low back contusion or if it becomes a hip thing or if it becomes a head thing as well they can always tack

That on afterwards and say yeah also he’s now in the concussion protocol well yeah and and now you know with we have experience with lower back contusions because Mark Williams isn’t coming back not yet and you do get lamelo ball back but now Brandon Miller is out and we

Just can’t you know have these guys all healthy and Brandon now like there’s been quite a few moments from Brandon this year where he’s been injured but he’s been injured how many times now Doug maybe like three separate times but he’s only missed one maybe at most two

Games and each of those injuries and then he’s come back pretty quickly it doesn’t mean that he’s going to come back quickly after this one but we’ve seen him banged up quite a bit with lamelo he had the one big injury that’s the case with Mark Williams now after he

Tried to return from it early then had to go back out and hadn’t played since and so it it just doesn’t matter who it is Gordon now with the serious injury to hold him out and we’ve seen that before yeah it’s it’s Brandon Miller’s turn I guess maybe to undergo a long injury

Although hopefully with him being still the most important part of this season it’s lamelo true but also you want to see Brandon the second overall pick and lamelo be on the court together you’re you’re never going to be Peak excited yes because of all the Hornets losses that keep accumulating and the season

That’s already over you’re not going to get it the play in tournament you want to see lamelo and Brandon and you want to see them together and you’re not going to be able to see them together there’s a lot of reasons that injuries happen you know soft tissue injuries

Because you’ve been playing a ton um especially for young guys who aren’t used to doing that who played in college and are making the transition to the NBA you’ve got freak injuries that and some injuries you go well there’s just no reason that happened and then some of

Them you can tribute to like oh there was a timing issue there or oh he didn’t expect that or as we’ve seen with Brandon a couple times this season there have been a couple of attempts that he’s made at The Rim that are like oh you

Might be a year or two away in terms of just your timing in terms of understanding who you’re going up against in terms of your size and strength you might be a year or two away from actually being able to execute that play and when you launch yourself into

The air like that make yourself available and you’re not strong enough to like finish hang on the rim and let that guy move through you then you know there there could be opportunities for injury and we have to also understand that he’s played the most minutes total

Not per game but maybe per game too I don’t know but he’s played the most minutes total for the Charlotte Hornets this season his and again he’s a rookie and so there are going to be more opportunities for him to be injured and more wear and tear on a body that’s not

Used to all that wear and tear Clifford is aware of that and he’s mentioned that like hey I’m playing my rookie too much I’m playing Terry Roser too much and there and there will be opportunities for this kinds of kind of thing to happen but you’re right he has been

Banged up he’s been quick to bounce back which is sort of like yeah he’s a young guy that’s that’s what’s going to happen but listen I mean this walker this soul for soul thing I mean we we joke about it because it’s the Marvel meme you know but it’s

Ridiculous like I you we cannot The Hornet cannot go one single game getting a starter level player back without another starter level player getting injured like I I’m just I feel like I just need to get as close to the camera as possible and just say listen Bas this

Okay pleas why why what what did we do we didn’t we didn’t we didn’t kick a goat out of a stadium we didn’t we didn’t boo Santa Claus we we had Michael Jordan as an owner that’s all that’s all that’s all that’s ever happened and look

You got Chicago fans right now they are booing a widow they booed a widow okay turn your attention somewhere else we don’t deserve this we don’t deserve this to all you Gods watching us on YouTube please just take that message seriously from Doug because we can’t take it anymore my

Man’s going crazy he’s staying up late he’s drinking double Bourbon and we need you to just go ahead and take care of us all right let’s go to the last segment any any chat comments you wanted to read before we head to the last segment anything not there scrolling

Scrolling um let’s see scrolling qct said the Kings made the playoff I’m really this is dangerous territory because I’m not pre-reading these qct said the Kings made the playoffs the Timberwolves are the best team in the west the Pistons won a title more recently than the Hornets won a playoff

Series it’s true but it’s been a long time since they’ve won a single playoff game I I heard that like it’s been a while since they the horn have won a playoff game before the Pistons have um the horns are absolute Rock Bottom you agree with that Walker was this was

Tonight you lose to you lose to a team that is that is two and 15 at home they played in San Antonio two and now three and 15 um you you lose you lose Brandon Miller your rookie while the the guy that was drafted one spot above now I do

Want to be fair because people are going to make this about like oh the Hornets almost had an opportunity to take wimy but the fact of the matter is the Hornets never could have gotten wimy like there were four teams in line the Wizards should be upset that they didn’t

Get wimy because they actually the way the pingpong balls work they actually had an opportunity at wimy the Hornets never had an opportunity at wimy um but that’s what this is going to be about but do you agree is this rock bottom it feels pretty bad but I you got to

Understand I’ve talked about 13 different Rock bottoms this season between the Panthers and the Hornets year it’s it’s true I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the phrase Rock Bottom in from September to December in 2023 since the Attitude Era of the WWF has the the phrase Rock Bottom been more

Uttered we’ve had that segment so many times with Carolina we’re starting to have it more so with Charlotte I mean the the 144 113 loss to Indiana that felt pretty bad 135 to 82 against Philly that felt pretty bad too um I think this one this one hurts though

Maybe every every time I experience it I’ll say it just because you get lamelo back you think it’s good news and that’s always the time I think we’re at our most vulnerable is when we think we’re going to get something great and lamelo comes back gives you some hope you’re

Playing against a six- win Spurs team Brandon Miller and lamelo are both out there on the floor you have Terry roier too who’s been injured sometimes but he’s out there and then you get stomped while wimy is just dunking it on consecutive alley oops and three-point

Shots and blocking shots and I that in fact that’s when I came back I just called that this is why I’m in a shirt and tie by the way this is why so I came back and from from calling the Stetson Queens game Queens got beat by 22 so you

Know anything I watch tonight they’re just going to get destroyed I’m fine it’s fine watching wimy come back that was the first thing I saw was him just destroying the Hornet so yeah it feels pretty bad it feels pretty bad all right let’s keep talking about this game

Though because we we got to get to there’s a couple guys we still got to get to uh no one no one should be spared from that except lamelo ball I think lamelo ball Terry Rosier too I thought Terry Rosier I mean just he was sweating

Bullets out there I mean this guy you know he’s given it all and he finally got some rest he finally got someone to take some of the pressure off him that’s that’s the best thing about Lamela ball being back is that um you know they they

Don’t have to rely on Terry for every single you know offensive burst um but and I thought he played decent but about everyone else in this game deserves a little bit of critique so and we should talk about wimy too I mean good God I me

Guy he’s a fre that’s it that’s the you just broke it down you just broke it down that’s it all right one more segment to go coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast well continue to talk a little bit more about not only wimy but some of

The other observations that we had not very good observations that we had from this loss to the San Antonio Spurs this episode is brought to you by prize piics prize picks is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America it’s the easiest and most exciting way to

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There again go to prize.com priz picks we always appreciate their support one more segment to go locktown Hornets all right Walker let’s continue to talk about this game was not that’s right yeah was uh was a difficult game to watch at times uh lamelo made it a

Little bit easier you know something on lamelo I think uh when I talk to people who don’t follow this team a lot but they know lamelo’s on the team they know he’s exciting and I reveal to them that he’s never scored 40 points they’re a little bit shocked because they they’ve

Seen highlights of him knocking down you know six seven threes in the game they’re like how does that guy how does that guy not how has that guy not been able to accumulate 40 plus points and I’m like it’s all about the free throw line right I mean you know guys that are

Doing that on the regular uh uh you know your Jason tatums your Shay Giles Alexander your Luca Don’s guys that can fill it up um you know every other night they’re doing it because they just consistently get to the place the free throw line where you don’t have anyone

Guarding you and it’s a it’s an easy way to to Really accumulate points and and the moment that lamelo ball can force referees to make those calls um consistently will be the moment that he takes his game to a to a new level so it

Was you know on a night that I think a lot of us are going to want to forget I hope that that’s something that that lamelo doesn’t forget I hope that that’s something it’s funny that it happened against I was looking at the referee crew at the beginning of the game Ben

Taylor who was the guy that you know we talked about the Raptor coach uh who went on a huge rant after his team couldn’t get a free throw call or or a foul call to get to the free throw line in that Raptor Lakers game he like

Basketball is crap this is crap NBA is crap um you know that was been Ben Taylor Ben Taylor was the guy that was responsible for that rant so funny how the NBA work yeah no it is funny um yeah I mean I think watching some of the

Other things in the second half because this is really all I got to see live I’ll have to go back and watch the first half I I although maybe I just don’t I don’t want to do that to myself but no you have to I did you have

To make sure I’m gonna double check um I might just have to lie to you somehow but yeah I think some of the other things are you know Nick Smith Jr continuing to play you know you did see the some of the mistakes still I mean he fouled on the three-point attempt that

Was something from Nick Smith Jr that we’ve seen it countless times this year does it feel like we’ve had more fouls on three-point attempts this season than you can remember in previous years yes because they’re playing lots of young guys like this is not this is not hard

To figure out right we’re not talking calculus here if you play a bunch of rookies you get a bunch of rookie mistakes like that’s something that in Nick Smith Jr’s game he’s going to clean up but Brandon Miller he did it ear he did the same thing earlier in the game

Landed in and I they did call it flagrant and um that it was three shots in the ball he landed in someone’s uh Zone he’s done that multiple times this season so yes you know when you rely on young guys you get those kind of like backbreaking just like oh mistakes and

Honestly like I’m less upset about that than some of the stuff that I’m continuing to see out of Bryce Galls who is who does have a few more years of experience under his belt he’s just continuing to make I mean bad fouls bad bad defensive decisions um he was

Missing shots at The Rim as well uh you know he he was in uh Steve Clifford’s dogghouse in the previous game and I thought he was going he started the second half for Brandon Miller but if if I think if Clifford had literally any other choice he he

Probably would have gone to MCW at this point because he’s working his way into that book Knight dogghouse yeah and and James book Knight by the way did not get any minutes in real time got six minut at least I didn’t see any in the first half here

Doug but you know it was well the game was Out Of Reach very early on but James book Knight only got six minutes of run Bryce McGowan’s got 24 minutes in this game so unlike the last time out we saw Bryce play less he got bench James book

Knight comes in and that really wasn’t the case here um did you have any other Hornets observations before we got to share some opinions on wimy and then wrap it up tonight well on on the wimy thing you know he put Richard he put Nick Richards on skates on this crossover that

Again just somebody his size it just doesn’t make any sense well and this is here’s what’s crazy there aren’t people his size W it would be different I I saw I saw somebody for I saw somebody for Stetson tonight at 7 Foot put the ball

On the deck and hit a nice finger roll layup he didn’t blow by a guy it was a bad close out but it was just a nice layup putting it on the deck for a seven-footer that’s who you say that about but when you explode off of the

Perimeter at 74 and dunk it and did you see the clip from wimy I think this was a couple of games ago where it was the most watched clip in NBA history of his finger roll because he takes off like just inside the free throw line and it

Looks like it’s going to be a finger roll he he gets to decide in midair because he’s that big and that long finger roll dunk finger roll no dunk boom and it’s the most watched clip that’s ever happened because he’s 74 and can handle it and it’s not that oh he’s

Pretty like it’s crazy what he can do for his size no there’s nobody his size and so it’s also crazy what he can do it’s yeah what you’ve never seen it and Nick Richards is not a small human being no he’s not Nick Richards is a big dude

And and there was a play I believe it was in the second quarter where wimy put the ball back but I think he also put Nick Richards back in the rim like he just forced Nick Richards to put back uh wm’s own Miss um it was yeah man I mean

You know there are some weaknesses in his game he does turn the ball over a lot he’s not shooting his three ball particularly well like you can’t guard it but he guards himself because he’s just not making them and and when he well and the Spurs don’t help right

Roster constrction isn’t helping him get to the right spots right yeah exactly but but there are moments when if he has the ball like below where his number is on his jersey it’s surprisingly easy to take that ball away from him and the Hornets took advantage of that uh but

Then they would just go and blow the layup and transition that was a problem you look at this game and through the first half the Hornets scored six of 15 from three and they didn’t even crack 50 for the half why because they literally missed every single thing at the rim and

It wasn’t just about wimy wimy was a dominant force of the rim he forced a lot of things away from the rim but when the Hornets did get opportunities against Dominique Baro because look when they go away from wimy they get super small the Spurs do the Hornets could

Have had opportunities to to make up and this is what teams have done to the Spurs All Season you wait for wimy to go to the bench and he goes to the bench a lot because they’re they’re load managing him and when they go when you they go to Dominique Barlo then you

Dominate them and the Hornets because they weren’t organized enough because they were turning the ball over a ton because their offensive possessions were garbage they were they they could not take advantage of those moments and that’s that’s why they lost the that’s why they lost the game and then I wanted

To get to something else in the chat oh uh a few Keen eyed observers noted that lamelo had the uh LEF France lefrance uh tattoo back on his neck it was not covered and and W if you go to W’s Twitter account he’s got a whole article on basically the

NBA just reversed course they said it was a clear violation prior to his injury and then he gets injured and he comes back and I get there was some discussions I guess between him maybe some further explanation of the fact that it’s his middle name and the NBA

Just decided maybe it was a Pity I think it was a Pity move on the Hornets and and lamelo and all the injuries they just decided all right mercy rule nobody’s going to watch these games anyway are we yeah our sponsor really going to be all that mad like you’re

Pulling these games from ESPN like who gives a damn that’s what I’m saying yeah we took it off ESPN so nobody’s going to see it anyway which by the way which by the way let me just say this like ESPN airs college basketball games okay so

You know the fact that they’re too good uh for this uh Hornets Spurs game please get out of here all right I I’ll give you some rapid fire observations for me I I I did get to I did get to hear Sam Farber on the call sports radio 92 27

WFNZ your Hornets Flagship station here in Charlotte I got to listen to Sam on the call and I got to hear the douge mcbuckets experience where we couldn’t get that lead to anything less than 18 it was Bang Bang Bang three three-pointers in a row um so there’s

Something Doug mcbuckets he’s back baby and he’s back in a big Way Off the Bench another one Devonte Graham minutes at the very end here got to see Devonte come in 10 minutes for him hit a few field goals hit a couple threes hopefully he gets traded hopefully he

Gets traded that’s a tough situation for him I mean he essentially you know real Fall From Grace since getting traded from the Hornets to the Pelicans and then yeah he gets he he gets traded to I guess he he gets moved to the Spurs he had that uh

DUI and then he he gets moved to the Spurs and Spurs are essentially like look we’re playing all young guys we’re tanking and so you know now he’s essentially out of the rotation so hopefully he gets moved to a team uh that could use his Services because he’s

Still a good basketball player yeah I forgot about that DWI he had goodness gracious okay yes but Devonte Graham and that honestly out of the moves that Mitch cup was able to capitalize on I I was nervous I definitely didn’t love trading Devonte Graham for the first

Rounder but he the first round pick you can’t argue with it like I mean that’s well you okay but this this ired me this irked me on the broadcast because they said well you know that that trade resulted in the pick that became Mark Williams and you you hear that you go oh

That’s nice you a trade for first round pick I heard this too yeah and then and then if you pay attention at all you remember oh that was the 15th pick they also had the 13th pick that they traded to Denver for a worse f a a worse first

Round pick although you know we’ll see yeah Mick Smith J looking pretty good look at them they they may be ultimately proved right but to say like oh well they you turn like you could have had Mark Williams at 13 and and they when they traded that pick they didn’t know

Nick Smith Jr was going to be available in the fir in the back half of that first round get out of here look if if the Hornets are right on this because Nick Smith Jr is just such a baller I I’ll shut up there’s just no way I can

Ever be okay with that process if they try to do it again next time I just I can’t be okay with the process but Nick Smith junor he’s awesome he fell to him we got lucky I’ll shut up last thing I tweeted this out about Eric Collins

Having to dig deeper and deeper into the depths of that factoid bag of his than he’s ever gone before and he is just knocking out of the park because of course he does with it being Eric Collins and I was talking to my girlfriend about this who loves Eric

Collins and he’s so polarizing with so I mean I don’t even know how polarizing he is I think mostly most Hornets fans love him you have your fuddy duddies out there who think he’s a little over the top and too extreme but this is what Eric Collins is to me he’s fantastic he

Is so much fun I love the craziness because it allows him to be as famous as he is but also the the only thing I don’t like about it Doug is when he does get crazy and I’ve mentioned this maybe a few times before the theatrics do take

Away from just how damn good he is at normal play-by-play and that why I don’t like it because he is re there’s a reason ESPN and anybody else wants to hire him yes it’s because he makes the exciting calls so damn exciting but also normal flow play-by-play bring being

More prepared than you are he is going to be more prepared than whoever the other play-by-play announcer is and he’s going to deliver it with the best flow ever even if you’re just going through normal casual blueprint prototype play-by-play stuff I just wanted to give Eric Collins some more flowers he’s

Going going through it again with an eight- win season where he has to pull out all of these like the top 10 Virginia born three-point made players in the NBA however you want to phrase it he’s got the top 10 list it’s crazy and he delivers the good back and forth I

Just more flowers for Eric Collins who is legitimately very good in the theatrics and also at the whole just normal part of calling the game I’ll also give Dale Curry some credit in that uh there’s been a few times this season where Eric Collins has put Dell on the

Spot in terms of explaining why a certain player might not be getting the playing time that they’re getting or just most recently this Bryce mcgallen situation where against uh the Bulls excuse me against s in that Sacramento blowout he got benched in the second quarter and Dell’s been pretty honest

About like oh this what I’m gonna tell you why it happened and I’m going to give you the example plays like they’re not pointing it out they’re not test trting it right you know there’s a a limit to the criticism when you’re you know Bal and the team and they’re kind

Of interconnected in a certain way but at the same time there has been a level of honesty about like these young guys and where their deficiencies are and and that’s that’s the thing and and what I think is and this is kind of something that you and I think should talk about

As we sort of digest this and get into next week is I’m afraid I’m concerned that the issues with the youth uh and and that resulting in losing basketball games and the injury issues are going to obscure the issues that this team had when they were relying on Veterans and

Fully healthy it was a brief moment but in that moment you could see hey not enough shooting on this team not enough physicality on this team like there were root issues that I hope that as the as or if this new ownership group starts to kind of take stock of you know the

Future of the actual basketball product that they remember that and don’t let all this other stuff that’s happened circumstance obscure it yeah I I I completely agree with that one yes I I actually don’t give Dell enough love because I want Eric Collins to get as much love and I I do think

Dell’s even gotten I even think he’s improved over the last three years like Dell was already good and then even the last three years I think he continues to improve that chemistry just becomes unbreakable but you are right about that for instance Chicago overtime loss you

Just give me PJ or Gordon not and just give me a player you probably win that game but when you talk about the first loss to Chicago on the road you give me you probably don’t win you know what I’m saying like if you’re a logical mind

Like we we can still say okay give the Hornets after an eight- win season if you are normally healthy and we’ve had this conversation a little bit do you bump that up to 13 14 maybe maybe you know highend 15 but that still doesn’t

Get you into a place you want to be and I think your point is dead on all right final chats that we got here why are you smiling what what are some of the chats that are rolling in tell me your thoughts I don’t know if this is tongue

And cheek or not but Jay said we should have had Kai for wimy you know reference to uh that summer league game so long ago when Kai Jones Charlotte Hornets and took advantage of wimy on a few possessions so uh there that uh Jay also ask would you rather be in Detroit

Situation or the Blazers situation or the Hornets or are we just guess those are the three options would you rather be Detroit would you rather I no Detroit’s down bad like Detroit’s one of the teams you go okay I don’t feel I don’t feel quite as bad being a Hornets

Fan but Blazers I mean they’ve got some and I’m not this is not about scoot I mean just they’ve got some Talent there well yeah what what do the what do the Blazers do with Simon still like you have it feels like you have pieces you can still trade the problem with the

Pistons is you’re not really trading anybody to help some of the younger pieces that you want to keep because I I you still want to keep Cade I know there’s varying opinions on him Jaylen Duren is still somebody you want to keep so you can’t trade anybody though to

Help them right like Jaden Ivy I that’s maybe somebody because Monty Williams I know they had their thing at the beginning yeah it does feel like they’re stuck a little bit whereas if you’re the Blazers and even the Hornets you can trade some of those guys problem is Simons is gonna be more

Valuable um than anybody the Hornets have Malcolm Brogden maybe even the same like I don’t know about Terry Terry’s Terry’s value is just I I don’t know what to make of it because it was he they weren’t able to trade him last year year I don’t know how much of that is

Still held over so I don’t know but yeah I I think Blazers are probably the number one Hornets number two I no I’d still rather be the Hornets because I think you know Hornets well because Hornets really I think you’re in a situation where you trade vets and you keep young players

And you’re you’re pretty confident that you’re in step two of a rebuild you don’t have to go to step one but I think with blazers yeah you know they’re probably still firmly in Step One because you’re right they’ve got to they they would be forced to trade some younger pieces to

Bring back some draft assets and try to refigure that team when you look at lamelo Brandon Mark Nick Smith Jr if that’s like the young core that you go all right we’re going to March that way and whatever whoever else we can trade like all those pieces feel like they

Make sense you’ve got star point guard superwing uh Center who may or may not ever develop into a shooting center but if you can put four Shooters around them you’d be okay and then Nick Smith Jr you know Powerhouse scorer Off the Bench like all of that makes sense if all that

Continues to develop and improve all that makes sense with with the Blazers you’re right I mean the pieces don’t make sense they’ve still got some stuff to figure out there all right last one final comment we have to end the show today I’ll say is somebody asking what’s

The cure for this sickness and for that I tell you there is none there’s none there is no there is no cure for the sickness the only the only the only cure for the sickness is getting one of those uh six Suites that they showed us that they’re renovating in the Spectrum

Center but you can’t afford it so if you’re SI if you’re sick you can’t afford all right we can we can talk about that next week that’ll do it for this week’s edition this Friday edition Hive LIVE edition of lockd on Hornets thanks for making us your first listen

We’re free and available anywhere you get your pods and that includes YouTube as that’s how you’re able to check us out on hive live right now have a great weekend we’ll be back with you on Monday previewing the week ahead and seeing how we can climb back up out of the depths

Of Hell from this loss against the Spurs it’s all coming up next week on lockdown Hornets

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