BREAKING: Charlotte Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak OUT as GM. Deadline additions star in Hornets win

BREAKING: Charlotte Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak OUT as GM. Deadline additions star in Hornets win

The Hornets wion a basketball game over the weekend it felt like their Super Bowl with the new look hornets and then earlier today we got the news that Mitch cup would be moving into an advisory role within the organization there’s a lot to break down let’s get to it right

Here on lockdown Hornets you are locked on Hornets your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day in a 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

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For free terms and conditions apply when if the Hornets are used in this new GM basketball of operations job available for anybody that wants it anybody that has a good track record LinkedIn can make it easier for the Charlotte Hornets if they wanted to use him and so feel

Free to go to LinkedIn jobs and use it yourself that’s Doug Branson you can find him on the substack every Hornet boox score.com writing all sorts of positive Hornet stuff over the weekend and we’ll have to see what he writes about this mits cup check news because

It just broke we’re recording just so everybody knows a little peek behind the curtain at 9:24 a.m. this Monday the news came in around What doug like 8:45 I think on my way into work I bike into work I’ve got one of these like ebikes you know you can turn them up to

You can you can like turn the motor up and as soon as I heard the news come down on SiriusXM I turned my bike to Turbo I said I got to get to the studio lot talk about I also I saw you tweet like four minutes after I texted you did

You tweet like mid biking I’ve heard of driving and tweeting which isn’t great but what about about biking and tweeting and did you put other people in danger by doing that only myself I mean everybody else has got the two-ton death machines I would have been the only one

Heard in that scenario but listen this is uh you got to be you got to be on top of this stuff man I mean you know it’s breaking news it’s true all right I’m Walker M you can listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 3:00 p.m. we

Do have some news here as we were mentioning Mitch cup check basketball head of basketball operations before now no longer he served as the team’s uh president of basketball Ops and general manager since 2018 he’s moving into a consultant role with the organization the team officially announced I guess

Just before 9:00 a.m. today a search for the new general manager will begin immediately and cup will remain in his current post until a successor is found this is all found in the Charlotte Observer written up immediately by Rod Boone who of course covers the Charlotte Hornets a couple more quotes I’ll

Mention real quickly as Mitch nears the end of his contract we agreed that now was the right time to begin the search in order to put the organization in the best position for the upcoming off season this quote coming in from Hornet’s co-chairman Rick schn and Gabe Plotkin after they released a statement

Quote we’re excited to begin the hiring process for our new head of basketball Ops as we continue to shape this franchise and work towards building a team for long-term sustainable success we’ll leave it here we did see this John Hollinger tweet you mentioned John Hollinger last week saying it was the

Hottest rumor during the trade deadline it’s the hottest rumor guys you guys have no idea how hot this is Mitch cup might be gone after the trade deadline from his GM title it turns out to be true what do you make of the news really just a few days after they operated the

Way they did at the deadline yeah it’s not shocking it’s not surprising uh whenever a team shifts into new ownership you expect a shake up uh sometimes it happens instantly and and other times like in this situation the owners are very clear like we’re using this year to evaluate uh everyone’s

Performance and then and then they’ll make some decisions moving forward and and it makes sense to do it now uh because you know you can get that new person set up ready to go ready for this upcoming offseason which will be very important for the Hornets who now own

Two additional first round draft picks to deal with and and they’ll have their own draft coming up as well so uh this it feels like the right time it feel I mean it’s I think it’s certainly the right move it’s time to move into a new era of front office for this new

Ownership group I I’ll be interested to talk about some of these names that have come up in this woe report as well uh but when you look back on the cup check era of Charlotte Hornets basketball in terms of the draft there were some there were certainly some hits

And some positive things to talk about but I think it will be defined by the fact there were zero playoff appearances a couple of play in blow blowouts but zero playoff appearances and a lot of a lot of young players some of those players developed

But not a lot of Veteran presence on the team not a lot of maturity on this team and they never really fielded a roster that I felt was a a serious threat to to get into the playoffs but also to make noise once they were in the playoffs and

That’s because I don’t feel like the front office and I’m going to include former ownership here and Michael Jordan they were never prepared monetarily to get involved and use all the tools in terms of free agency and dra and And Trades that you have to do in order to

To feel the serious roster and they always leaned on this idea that Charlotte you know had all of these limitations it was all about what Charlotte couldn’t do in terms of roster building instead of being creative being positive and and Fielding a vision for folks to get behind and ultimately I

Think that’s what led us here today so Mitch cup did say after signing my extension two years ago the plan has always been for me to move to an advisory role after this season when my contract ends in June this is what cup Che said earlier now it feels like the

Appropriate time to begin the search for the next leader of our basketball Ops I want to thank Michael Jordan for hiring me and bringing me to charot I’d like to thank Rick and Gabe for their support since becoming majority owners and I appreciate the relationship that we have

Developed I really like the core of our team including our additions at the trade deadline I’m excited to watch their continued growth and development the Hornets are in good hands with Rick and Gabe and I look forward to helping any way I can I believe our future is

Bright we don’t have a lot of information I did want to touch on that one of those last sentences in that statement the future is in bright hands um with Rick and Gabe or they have a bright future in the hands of Rick and Gabe do you think that’s true based off

What we’ve seen so far if we are to believe that ownership was driving the decision-making at the trade deadline not negotiating I think Mitch cup deserves credit for what you got in return for PJ what you were able to get in return for Terry rier the Gordon Hayward trade even if you’re telling

Mitch hey do this get the most that you can that’s fine that’s absolutely fine from ownership but Mitch gets credit for the negotiation there still ownership deserves some credit also and so now we have this decision to move on from Mitch we’ll figure out who has this new GM

Title do we have enough information at least at the beginning in chapter one if you will to say you know what I do think the organ ation is in um good hands with these two guys who continue to make decisions I think we both agree with Doc

For sure I think it’s still TBD they have gotten a little bit more aggressive now with these trades to set themselves up for the future I really believe that like it’s less about the firing and more about the hiring how aggressive do they get in terms of bringing a big name into

The front office if they decide to move on from Steve Clifford later on at the end of the season how aggressive do they get uh to bring in a because look the the ownership that’s where they can make a difference they can open up the wallet

At that point there’s no salary cap on making those kinds of moves so how serious are they about bringing real names to this franchise legitimate people that can that can uh that have sway you know especially in the front office I mean you got to have guys that

Have relationships across the NBA to get those kinds of deals done in free agency or in trade but I thought one of the funniest uh or or interesting quotes from Mitch cuup after the trade deadline was when he was asked about how involved the owners were and gay platkin was on

The call I don’t think he said anything on the call but he was on the call which is like well the boss showing up to the call you kind of had a sense right then that like okay something is a foot um but he said that he was surprised by the

Basketball knowledge of the ownership group how how they sort of knew you know what what players uh they they wanted to Target and what players were capable of what um but but frankly like this trade den and we’re going to talk about it you know coming up here their their impact

On this uh first game yeah but it was like yes you need playmaking like it it doesn’t take a basketball genius to look at this roster pre- trade deadline and understand where the deficiencies were and yet for whatever reason look you can either believe that cup check didn’t

Have the relationships or that he didn’t have the basketball knowledge anymore that the game had passed him by and he wasn’t able to fairly evaluate his own roster and maybe put too much stock into the young players that he was responsible for drafting you could believe that or you could believe that

Ownership group or former owner Michael Jordan tied his hands and said look I don’t want to go into the Sal I don’t want to go above the salary cap I don’t want to go into the tax land I don’t want to be involved in any kind of

Aprons and so you know make your moves accordingly and Tide his hands in that way and then you know look Mitch cup has tight relationships with M it’s why he’s going to be an organiz ational adviser or whatever because he has relationships with Jordan and he has relationships

With Plotkin and schn now and whatever you believe the fact of the matter is the Hornets did not make the playoffs during his tenure and they had some serious draft issues as well and so that’s why we’re here today and and I think it was a good time to make the

Move I’m glad they didn’t wait until you know right before draft night you see teams do that and people look at those teams and say those teams don’t know what they’re doing because they waited too long listen team didn’t wait too long all right so Mitch cup is out as GM

And head of basketball Ops who are the other names let’s get to it in the other segment coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet we’ll reveal some of the names in consideration to be the next GM and we already have a pretty

Good sent a good lead on who it might be at least to dwindle it down to just a few different players that was a sniffle I don’t know if that was a sense you said didn’t you you say scent or did you say s I did I think that was that was

Quite it looked like you were you know almost that was me got me doing a scent like my beagle look like Doug beagle Branson baby that’s what Doug is doing we’ll see who the other names are on the other side of the break coming up next lock down

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To talk about the quality of candidates coming up next not from LinkedIn but just from Gabe Plotkin and Rick schn trying to figure out who the next GM is going to be we can get to that in the third segment but Doug said hey do you

Just want to talk about the game and you know what I had a feeling this was gonna happen I haven’t seen Doug this excited in a long time and I’m happy because Doug has been feeling the Hornets fever for how terrible the Hornets have been for really quite a while now but also

This season and I’m glad that not only did they have a great NBA trade deadline we both agreed with that that was a fun show that we did just a couple of episodes ago but we got to see those new additions after what was just a dreadful Friday night performance against the

Milwaukee Bucks it was absolutely horrible JT Thor got sham goded by thanasis and tenmo like yeah it it got to levels I didn’t know existed in the NBA even though I wasn’t shocked I still didn’t expect it to get that bad all it’s fine because we got to honor Gerald

Wallace at home against the Memphis Grizzlies a team by the way that he had a buzzer beat or tip in against I was there one of my favorite games I’ve ever attended underrated moment in Bobcats history in my opinion and you also get the win because of Vil yes me chit and

Then you could do your thing me chit you chit we all chit according to Doug Branson you know if you’re not watching YouTube Doug is flirting with putting on the big dub hat and it was against the Memphis Grizzlies they do not have a very good B basketball team right now in fact

They’re quite bad given all of the injuries Doug I’ll leave it up to you what are you what are you doing all right fine I get it because you know a lot of people have commented about the context of this game it was against the Grizzlies one of the few teams that the

Hornets went up against this year that were just as injured in terms of the severity of the players the might have had it better than the Grizzlies which is saying a lot and might not even be true to be honest but the fact that it’s debatable you know goes to show you how

Bad off they are right and the Grizzlies were involved in the trade deadline too and so they had some new names that they were trying to figure out you know so obviously these were two bottom dwelling teams not a lot of people are going to

Talk about this game not a lot of people are going to know about the context of what the Hornets have been through and so this one was truly for the sickos so I’ll grant you that instead of the big instead of the big dub hat I’m GNA go

With the Big M hat for meic I mean oh my God this me was incredible I and I want you to talk about all of your favorite qualities I thought you were going mhat for moral Victory which we could also do because you can wear the big moral Victory it

Wasn’t a moral Victory it was an actual Victory we don’t even have to talk about moral victories anymore that would be great if we’re transitioning into an era of Hornets basketball where we have to stop focusing on moral victories and start focusing on actual victories I

Would be so pleased with that but let’s let’s look listen this game made me well up um and it wasn’t just because Dale Curry had a nice moment with Seth Curry and there was a little dad stuff going on and I’m a you know I mean you know my

Baby is a couple years old now but I’m still sort of recent dad and so that’s obviously going to have an emotional impact on me but that aside I weld up because this game featured ball movement from meic who had a career-high and assist and he’s a rookie but he’s kind

Of not a rookie cuz he’s like 30 plus years old but he was a Euroleague MVP this guy knows had to move the basketball he also scored 18 points Off the Bench there were so many bench points in this game so many contributors Grant Williams needs another shot

Obviously didn’t go well in in Dallas and if you listen to his comments they were not so veiled in his thoughts on his time in Dallas that was weird he’s back home he was hitting threes Davis bons was moving without the basketball in a way that I was like oh yeah that’s

Right I remember that killing the Hornets he was hitting three-pointers they were stretching the floor miles Bridges had room to drive and he didn’t face like three Defenders every single time he didn’t have to take a thousand shots Brandon Miller didn’t either both of those guys were super efficient like

It was everything that we’ve been screaming about for weeks nay months nay years it was incredible I loved every moment of it it refreshed me I need I was really in a bad place with the Charlotte Hornets and that game and I understand the context and I also so I

Will be the first to say there are losses ahead for this team this team is not going to be a threat to make a play in okay I’m just going to lay that out there and if they prove me wrong so be it but I’m gonna say they’re not making

A crazy run I think you’re safe okay but at the same time we needed that every all the sickos needed that that was a boost of whatever ketamine I don’t know what do they what do they give people to just like no not ketamine ketamine is

What Dexter uses to pass out his victims before he kills the opposite of that whatever the opposite of that is shot of adrenaline it was a shot of adrenaline right to the heart of every single Hornet sio yeah I think that’s true and so what this this game was fun because

Like I I actually think the turnovers contributed to the fun because there’s just action all over the place like they had 19 turnovers in this game but that was by far the worst thing about them I mean what you see here is 43 rebounds so they outrebounded Memphis that’s not

Anything that we’re used to to we are used to 30 assists like this team we actually have seen good ball movement before but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen it like I can remember the West Coast Road Trip early on where I think I said something like the Clippers

Game was the best ball movement game we’ve seen without lamelo ball he wasn’t playing at that time and so there were times where you actually did see ball movement but it had been a long time since we saw offense that looked that organized and guys that just knew how to

Play the game basketball IQ guys that were out there sharing the court with one another I think the 30 assists are a pretty good stat to start with if you wanted to point to that uh being a contributing factor to how they were able to win this game and then the

Efficiency bad shooting night for Martin two of seven Trey Mann started off hot he was fun at first still dished 19 dimes and so that or nine dimes and so that’s fun four of 11 from the field though other than that everybody else shooting pretty damn well Grant Williams

Five of 11 three of six from three bertans three of five both from the field and three meic doesn’t hit as three-pointers this is not something you should expect to see going forward but he hit a couple of the few that he attempted over 51% from distance here

Doug we’re certainly not used to seeing that here recently it’s been Brandon Miller every once in a while miles every two games PJ who’s no longer on the team and that’s about it now they at least brought the shooting off of the bench in

This game so yes we saw a lot of fun things happen in on Saturday that we haven’t seen in quite some time it’s not about the number of assists it was about the fact that there were so many players who were making plays for other players

It wasn’t just meic it was man and Nick Richards running like a legit pick and roll game it was Grant Williams getting fed it was Miles Bridges getting fed it was there were multiple players moving the basketball and it was Drive kick Drive kick for the past couple of weeks we’ve been

Seeing drive drive drive drive drive drive drive it was there was no kick the kick didn’t exist and now we’re getting guys drawing down the defense and moving the basketball it was crisp it was clean it was pretty amazing considering that the Hornets literally they just swapped

Out their entire bench I don’t think that’s ever happened in NBA history that a team swaps out their entire bench and plays that well and gets that many bench points like that it is insane it was the first time they had all gotten together and hooped it up it was crazy so the

Bench is where we should start because those are where all the new additions came in including a starting Trey Man by the way at the point guard spot he looked good too guy fell in love with himself in the fourth quarter though I was like I was like all right Trey man

Relax a little bit you know I mean pull it back you you you you may you had some found money there and you should have just like stuck with that but I I loved him too and this is going to be you know something I think for Trey man that’s

That’s probably within his realm but going back to the bench WJ did say when he was talking about the trade deadline that the Hornets have a bunch of dudes on their bench that might not be in the NBA next year like none of them except

For PJ of course who they gave up a first round for in Dallas everybody else like that’s it and then you see the box score in this game after those comments from WJ Doug none of the old bench guys got any minutes none like I’m not like literally zero this is not hyperbole

Zero it was Grant Williams Davi bertans Seth Curry meic that’s it you had four people and Steve Clifford told you the new guys are going to play tonight and they did and they played a lot of minutes in fact bertans played the least amount of minutes in this game and he

Logged 12 off of the bench and he came in just firing and that was it well Steve Clifford also said that uh that they were able to go Grant Williams small ball five because Grant Williams is a physical rebounder because because they can play five out and survive defensively he he obviously didn’t

Mention PJ’s name but I don’t it doesn’t take much to read between the lines because you can go back to previous comments that he made when PJ was here and they had to go small ball five and Clifford was adamant like we can’t do that because we get crushed on defense

And we get crushed on the boards uh Clifford also said look high IQ veteran guys guys that can move the ball that’s what he’s seeing right now most teams if they’re serious about getting into the playoffs it’s what I’ve been talking about for years now with cup cheack most

Teams that are serious go into a season with a solid core of starters and then a solid core of bench players that are like NBA rotation level players and then you have deep reserves what the Hornets kept going into the season with was a solid group of starters and then deep

Bench Reserves being responsible for bench minutes and and that’s been the problem all along and that’s when you have health issues with the Charlotte Hornets it absolutely crushed them every single time because then they had to go to players that just needed to be in the

G-league for a little while and and then come in occasionally to give you that oh where’ that guy come from performance instead they were depending on that performance every night and Bryce mallin can’t do that JT Thor can’t do that Nick Smith Jr at this moment cannot do that I

I am interested in the rebounding stuff from Grant because he had eight in this game but Doug he’s been actually one of the worst rebounders according to bigs on cleaning the glass in the NBA since he set foot on the NBA court so this is the thing that people are saying about

Grant that’s a little surprising it’s like yeah it’s great he’s home he had eight rebounds he’s been in the bottom five percentile of bigs for three out of the six years that or five years that he’s played and that includes one percentile like in with Dallas you know

So so this whole like I’m just I’m just okay great like I am not here to rate on the parade if we’re if we’re in the business of warning people what to expect via Trend and what to maybe just reel back in then maybe we reel back the

Grant William stuff in as far as the defense and the rebounding specifically but people like the toughness from him and so we’ll hope to see him exhibit that continuously that would be my only thing the meich threes that’s something that I don’t expect but the ball

Movement is and I think that’s my most valuable trait in players and teams because the Hornets have been so good at it before and like it was the reason why I was scared to move off of some guards and eventually it would work like Devonte Graham I was like man look you

Get a first for Devonte I understand you making it but I was very wary of that because Devonte was a good passer remember he had a ridiculous assist to turnover ratio whenever they traded him but it still worked out right like it it I love ball movement and I think Doug

You’re seeing that here help guys that aren’t very talented compared to other NBA franchises and so I think that’s what we can get excited about even if it is against Memphis that offense looked like it was something more sustainable than we had seen like over what like two

Months and that’s what’s exciting we’re going to put together at least a good enough looking product against some of the other good teams out there and even if we lose L right well we’re going to lose but that’s it because they’re not going to shoot that well from three

Every single game there are going to be tough nights ahead unless Lamela ball is able to come back sooner rather than later so I don’t think they’re in any danger but the product is going to be so much more watchable I just cannot stress how difficult it’s been to watch Hornets

Basketball lately because it hasn’t looked like NBA basketball that’s the whole thing and this is to me a shot to the ball to anyone who’s like play the young guys because now you see you see it in Stark relief what it’s like to play young players and what it’s like to

Play actual NBA veteran type rotation players what kind of difference that makes for a team almost immediately you don’t even need a training camp you don’t even need really like a legit couple of practices it’s just like no insert NBA rotation players play better like it’s pretty simple and the Hornets

Haven’t been able to pull it off for the past couple of years it was refreshing it was amazing it is Reviving me and I can’t watch I can’t wait I cannot wait to watch them play again that is not something that I’ve been much lately I’m

I’m excited I am not kidding and I’m totally here for it I am not kidding when I told when I tell you my Hornets timeline was celebrating just as much as any Kansas City Chiefs fan that I saw in my timeline there are there are different down there are different

Levels bad yeah we have been all right let’s move on and see if anybody can help us out of this down Badness that we’ve experienced for so long coming up next on the lock on Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet I told you last uh time that we

Would explore some of the names that could be your new Hornets general manager we’ll do that coming up in the last segment of lock on Hornets before we do that I want to tell you that this episode is brought to you by Nissan are you the kind of driver

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Say this Doug he did say that this was always the plan and I think we knew this too I can go back to not this past off season but the one before that when Med when Mitch Cup held media availability and there were these rumors about possibly then Mitch cup moving into an

Advisory role and then I asked him are you gonna be moving to an advisory role or are you gonna still be here as general manager hadn’t been asked yet so I was like all right let’s throw it out there let’s throw out a Feeler and then

Mitch just straight up to told us nope got a new contract just signed it not too long ago two years and I’m going to be the GM for the duration of that 2-year contract now I guess that’s not technically true with him getting moved mid-season but still that was

Effectively what took place and we just procrastinated that idea or we moved it a little bit later and so here we are in 2024 carrying out this new idea well it it is the plan in the same way that if I crash my car and the airbag comes out

Like that was always the plan but I certainly didn’t desire to get into the crash and have the airbag deployed like Mitch has I predicted this a few shows ago that this was most likely going to be how this played out that Mitch was not going to you know here’s a box go

Clean out your desk and Security will walk you out there’s just too many there’s a web of relationships and so if you’re looking at this from the outside and you’re like celebrating okay Mitch is moving on they’re going to bring in a new name this signals you know a move

Away from the Jordan ERA this signals that the new owners are like really taking ownership it’s not quite that I think there for the next however long there are going to be little webs of previous eras because that’s what you get when you bring in a new ownership

Group and the previous owner remains part of that ownership group and and maybe a not so insignificant part maybe he’s not involved but the name is still there and has relationships with the new owner so that’s what’s going to happen but look I mean I’m sorry like this was

Not the plan all along okay if if they had made if they had made a run and they were in playoff contention right now Mitch cjack would still be the general manager and he’d still be the general manager next season I just wonder with the age stuff

Though like I’m not I mean you’re you’re right like I’m not saying it went swimmingly for him I I do wonder if Mitch CB you know being what what is he now 70 I think he’s 70 right on the dot so if that’s maybe but you’re right like

It’s not like it went well enough for him to say okay yeah now we need to have you and so now he’s moving on he’d be a youthful president of the United States he would be yeah it’d be the it’d be the best although the the debates would be

Amazing with Mitch K what what’s going on know um I would love to have that would be a great SNL skin if we had if we had like Niche Charlotte SNL which we do I mean we we should see that you know America uh land land of the free you

Know home of the well you know I’m not going to go into it all I’m a fan of the Atlanta Braves but I like I like Atlanta it was a great World Series um we can move on to the next GM and figure out who that might be so here’s what w

Tweeted after the news broke earlier this morning W said among several League Executives expected to be considered in the process when hiring the new GM New Orleans GM Trent langon Brooklyn assistant GM Jeff Peterson Cleveland GM Mike ganzy Philadelphia GM Elton brand and others others sources tell ESPN now

There are two names that immediately become intriguing because because of what we talked about when Jake fiser joined Weston Walker and said I don’t want to give you the actual name because it feels insensitive to be discussing this guy as the new GM when there already is one in place right we talked

With Jake fiser a few weeks ago Mitch cup was already there Jake fiser didn’t feel like it was you know the best thing to do to talk about who would take his job he did give us a hint though which was I you know the decision making there

From Jake okay but the decision the the hint the egg it was a connection to Duke and so Elton brand and TR and Langan both have that connection to Duke now Doug we did not talk about Langan when he first said that I was thinking okay Elton brand is

Somebody like that’s the obvious one the what oneand done you know number one overall pick back in the day Philadelphia GM been in the spotlight that makes sense we flirted with like oh God they don’t mean Danny Ferry do they oh we we panicked for like a brief I

Don’t know 4 hours I like no I I hope not but TR and Langdon is the one here Doug and I think it comes down between those two guys with Langan being very intriguing alongside Elton brand because of that hint that Jake fiser gave us I

Think it’s this list of names is really interesting because I can I think you can break it into to the two categories the current like sitting GMS and bran Langdon and ganzy and WJ I don’t know if you mentioned this one too but uh W mentioned LA Clippers Trent Ren also in

This did not mention him so that’s that’s a name that W has floated as well and so that’s one group and then the other group are names that we’ve heard of and they’re a little bit lesser known names and they’re sort of assistant GMS or advisers or whatever and that’s Jeff

Peterson schlank those two names have been like the the top of the name list forever and Wes Wilcox and those are all guys too that have like direct connections to Rick schn from when he was at Atlanta Hawks minority owner but what I love about that first group of

Names all those names are guys that have I think langden I don’t know about Langdon for sure but certainly ganzy and brand and ren have been involved in a lot of trades for bigger names and and and and reforming rosters from the ground up using all available tools

Draft free agency and trades and so if that’s really where they’re going hey let’s go out and snag someone else’s general manager Walker if you’re trying to convince Elton BR who’s in Philadelphia or Langdon in New Orleans or ganzy and Cleveland or redin and Clippers those are all winning teams if

You’re going to bring a guy like that into the Hornets organization exactly he’s making the money sign you’re going to have to open up that wallet okay so that’s what intrigues me about this list of names as well I would love to see the ownership group especially after moving

Cup Che to an advisory role and maintaining that relationship and that connection to Michael Jordan I would love for them to set their stake and like all right no no guy that I know from Atlanta or whatever we’re going to go out and get a name that maybe we’re

Not as comfortable with maybe is not as much of a known Factor but is a known factor in the NBA is a guy that has made Moves In the NBA and we’re going to open up the checkbook just like we’re doing with the practice facility and all these

Arena Renovations we’re going to do the same thing for the onc court product and go out and get a big name GM so TR and langon is interesting here but also with Elton brand that that’s the Atlanta connection right because Elton brand did I think play his last season in Atlanta

And then there was some you know maneuvering in the front office alongside until he get gets the uh GM job in Philadelphia for a while and so there’s the Atlanta connection I I wonder like when when everybody threw out Travis schlank that’s the name everybody hits their wagon to at first

Because it made the most sense success having built a squad that at least got to the Eastern Conference Finals has the Atlanta connection with Rick schnall who was a minority with that owner with that Organization for a while and so that was like when when people would tell you

Sources are telling me Travis schink could be considered I wonder if those sources were just people in other front offices guessing telling their guesses to insiders insiders telling us yeah sources tell me others believe it could be Travis link right where there wasn’t actually like of based off any knowledge

Now I want the Duke connection like I mean you’re trying to tell us something here and so maybe it’s langon maybe it’s bran but you’re right Doug already a good sign already a good sign because it shows we know what we’re gonna have to

Do to pry langon off of a team that is looking to contend this year and even if you wanted to move off of a bunch of those like you’re talking about how many first round picks you could get in return for Zion for Brandon Ingram for a

Couple of other players that they have same thing for Philly you know Philly might just be a tough job but you know right like you Dar Mory is the guy there but so he’s the one that’s calling all the shots with Philadelphia but when Elton brand is you know another guy that

You could consider you have to wonder what kind of money could be going his way so yeah very interesting to see those two Duke connections and then Mike ganzy I for those that are very entrenched in mid-2000s college basketball I want West Virginia great Mike gany to bring Kevin pittsnogle

Alongside him and then he has to become the east choice because I want to say pit snoggle as often as I can on lock down hornets was gansy the guy who got the Donovan Mitchell deal done right I mean that’s he’s got to be the guy right

I don’t know look into it this is breaking news here you know I’m not I’m not I’m not up to date on my gansy knowledge but if he’s the guy that got the Donovan Mitchell deal done that’s exactly the kind of guy that I want in the general manager seat somebody that

Can go after the big fish and here’s the here’s what I really want I mean that would be nice but here’s what I really want I want someone that can come in and be honest about the sins of the past about the failures and maybe they can’t

Do it publicly as as much as I would like but the danger of keeping Mitch cup around is that you can’t be honest within those internal conversations about hey there’s some stuff that we really messed up here what gives me hope is that ownership was super involved in

The trade deadline and they broke down a lot of what Mitch cup built up and trading away PJ almost had miles allowed it they probably would have traded miles to and um then of course Gordon Hayward moving to OKC so you break out of that down you release James book Knight after

You release Kai Jones that 2021 draft completely over and you know that that there the players they brought back to me was a recognition of hey here’s the thing that we’ve been missing actual NBA rotation players off the bench players that can make plays if and when honestly

Lamelo ball gets hurt I mean that’s the way it’s been unfortunately and and so there’s a recognition there that that there were some things that didn’t happen in the past that need to happen I hope that continues and I hope the name that they bring in can be honest about those and

Move this franchise forward that’ll do it for a lot of information coming at you on lockdown Hornets we’ll have plenty more to say as the week goes on so make sure you stay tuned make sure you push notifications this is a great time for those notification buttons to

Be on when you subscribe to locked on Hornets on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast because we’re still pumping out audio content you don’t just have to watch these pretty phases you can listen to these beautiful voices as well every single day we’re on every day that’s

Crazy it’s crazy especially because I I’m sure that a lot of people have maybe gone away from the Hornets taking care and listen I don’t blame anyone that the whole thing about being a sicko is that you can’t help but watch the Hornets you’re sick in that way I don’t blame

Anyone for taking a break from the Hornets a little you know mental Siesta or whatever but um but if you’re back all of a sudden we’re still on every day we’re here for you whenever you’re ready to get back into the Hornets this season we are here for you every single day all

Right that’ll do it for locked on Hornets continue to make us your first listen we appreciate you for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your podcast again that includes YouTube have a great rest of your day we’ll be back with you

Tomorrow to try to clean up everything else we didn’t get to today

Just a few days after the NBA trade deadline, the Charlotte Hornets announced GM Mitch Kupchak would step into an advisory role while the search for a new GM would begin. Who are the interesting names Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin could go after? Also…. HOW BOUT THAT GAME? The guys celebrate a new-look Hornets victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

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