Should the Charlotte Hornets shop LaMelo Ball? Who are the teams you would call?

Should the Charlotte Hornets shop LaMelo Ball? Who are the teams you would call?

we go over more Zack low audio would you trade lamelo ball or at least shop him around what could you get in return we’ll also play some draft games today on locked on 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 cuz we [Music] live it’s locked on Hornet it’s part of the lock on podast pod Network it’s your team every day thanks for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods and that includes YouTube today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel you can make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet visit fanduel.com lockon to get started can’t wait for bet the buzz on FanDuel this season we stick to it so much there’s the curator of BET The Buzz Doug Branson also the curator of every Hornets boox score.com I’m Walker mail listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 3 P.M you want to lead off with some lamelo ball convo that always gets the people going on YouTube and elsewhere we have it on our rundown lead with lamelo or Mark or Brandon you know that’s it’s the core they’ve told us that’s the core uh too often we end up leading with Miles Bridges but today we’re going to lead with lamelo okay Le let’s let’s lead with lamelo uh it’s not what Zack low and Jonathan gavone did in their conversation on the low post pod we just broke down some of their comments about the Hornets and the situation they’re in the draft all that stuff yesterday but today I want to get to Lowe’s comments on some of the things he was hearing around the league if people inside front offices not GMS but just NBA front office people if they were to interview for the GM job whatever that means if they were to interview for the Charlotte Hornets GM or vice president of personnel vice president of basketball operations whatever title you want to give what Jeff Peterson got right if you were interviewing for that job title what would you want to do what would you make known to ownership R schn and G gab Plotkin before you got that job and here’s what he said he heard around the league you know a couple months ago when Charlotte was in the quote unquote front office hiring process um that ended with Jeff Peterson I had front office Executives from other teams just sort of spitballing the way you do in conversations sort of like I would ask them just what would you do if the if the Hornets interview D like what would you do if you got called in NE none of these guys got called in were’re just shooting the breeze and and a few of them said I would I would go into owners I would go into plin and schnall and say step one I’m I’m investigating the trade value for Lamela ball I’m gonna see if we can get some team to give us an absolute Godfather offer of unprotected picks and swaps bottom out next year try and get Cooper flag whatever but like step one is going to be I’m kind of resetting the lamelo ball thing you know that’s easy to say and I don’t know that there would be a Godfather offer out there maybe there would maybe there wouldn’t you know I get the foibles I get that he hasn’t been healthy and that’s been the number one thing he just hasn’t been healthy I’m not rushing to get out of the lamelo ball business quite yet if I’m if I’m Charlotte have we ever heard the term Godfather offer surrounding Zack low before Doug ring any bells and the Hornets no no I’ve never heard of it oh except for that one time that we could not Escape it it was like a black hole that Godfather offered that the Hornets turned down and instead took Frank Kaminsky that’s right or did they really turn it down did it ever exist yeah I mean Godfather offer get out of here he lost me with that he also threw a foibles in there which I yeah he got me back he lost me with the Godfather and then pulled me back in with the foibles cuz I love some foibles he’s good he’s he’s good at that I figured you would like that if you were to tell me walkerwood is Doug and a like most about this quote I would have said that exact same thing I know you way too well yeah I we played some of this yesterday but I’m totally with Zack low on this I’m not out of the lamelo ball business yet either I absolutely think it’s well worth your while to see what a healthy lamelo and Brandon Miller can do no there is no guarantee whatsoever that lamelo will be healthy but I do want to see what those two guys can look like in the backc and I think also with his age with the ability we’ve already seen it’s not like it’s this UNT tapped potential where hey who knows maybe it could happen but we don’t know for sure no it it could because it did happen we got to an All-Star appearance and we got to a rookie of the year award season so that all that all matters and the fact that we’ve seen that play out on the court that’s why that’s not the first thing I’m taking care for sure I don’t know if lamelo is untradable I don’t know he doesn’t have that Mark but that’s not the first thing I’m doing if I get this job that Jeff Peterson did before the season ended now I don’t know if it’s the first thing that I’m doing um and I think that Zack low I’m pretty much on the same page as you and Zach especially the part where Zach says you know it’s easy to say that you would come in and trade the player that you just gave that the was that you didn’t but that the previous regime just gave a Max contract to um that is you know still popular with the fan base despite the foibles and despite the injuries people still want to pay to see lamelo ball play and you know over the course of this franchise post uh move to New Orleans they haven’t had a ton of players outside of Kimo Walker they really fit that bill of like oh this is a guy I will actually pay money to come and see that is is not going to see LeBron James or going to see the opponent that is playing inside the Spectrum Center so you have to wait that somewhat but where I’m slightly off of the page with both of you is I think while it doesn’t need to be the first thing you do I think and I hope that Jeff Peterson has been gauging what the value of lamelo ball is around the league and preparation for more foibles or preparation for more injuries or preparation for adjusting this team around Brandon Miller if that’s look we don’t exactly know what the lamelo Brandon fit it seems like it’s going to be perfect but what if it isn’t or what if other players you bring in what if what if it doesn’t start to work anymore and you’ve got to make some moves I think it I think it’s on Jeff Peters to come in and evaluate what the market is for him now I suspect that if he’s made those calls uh first of all you better trust that those calls don’t leak but if you’ve made those kind of calls or made some kind of indication that you know you want to see what that value is I suspect that the value is not going to be very high which is why it’s kind of ridiculous for these front office insiders to to want to come in and do that because I think they know good and well that if you call it around the league on ball everybody’s going to go I don’t know I mean just haven’t se injuries you know that there’s a lot that’s going to suppress that value and SO trading him now honestly makes zero cense but finding out what the value is and staying in tune with that I think is extremely valuable yeah and I think you could say that about literally every player in the league what is the value for every player some it’s easier to know right I want Jeff Peterson to know what the value is for Brandon Miller right now I want him to know what it is for every single player on the roster when we do this convo stuff about hey are guys shopping players yeah what what teams will often hide behind is well sure we we’ll listen to any deal we’ll listen to anybody nobody’s untradeable ultimately that means if you’re hearing a team is calling about what the value is for their player like a lot of times they are looking to trade that player I think there is a distinction in Zack low mentioning that’s what the first thing those guys would do right that’s the first thing they’re mentioning which means that it’s a priority okay sure I would love to know what the value is for lamelo but it’s not the first thing I’m doing I’m looking instead to enhance the roster around lamelo and Brandon it’s not the first thing that I’m doing which is not what Zack L said that the other guys were saying in front offices elsewhere the first thing that I’m doing is finding a cute nickname for schnall and Plotkin maybe schlotkin I just want to because I mean I think if you’re Jeff Peterson it’s going to be very heavy to constantly say you know schn and Plotkin let’s get with schn and plin let’s get a meeting with schn and plen I think the first thing you got to do as GM is you got to figure out a way uh if you want to call them Venture Bros whatever you want to you want to call them you’ve got to figure out what that thing is so you don’t waste a bunch of time that’s the first thing that I’m doing but what what I to clean up what I said because you’re right you want to you do want you have a desire to know what the value of all of your players are around the League what I’m saying is that it’s worth the risk of you you know some kind of information leaking to find out what the value is for lamelo ball right now not even with the intention to trade but just with the intention to know what that value is and to see and again to gauge it now see what this season does for him and then gauge it again I’m saying it’s worth the risk of that kind of information leaking it’s not worth the risk for Brandon Miller it’s not worth the r because I think the the ceiling honestly I think might be higher for Brandon Miller at this point and um there are I think there are some extenuating issues with ankle and different things with aelo ball where I think the risk is actually worth knowing what that value is that’s what I’m saying you want to hear you want to hear some teams that I think maybe would be interested in trading for lamelo I would love that wait are are you gonna do that next I am I am indeed coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet I will mention those teams the te’s already happened I will mention those plus we’ll have some draft games to play Doug is bringing not only the mo drafts but also the draft games because he is so tied up into all of it that’s still to come here on loon Hornets before we have so much fun in the second segment I want to tell you that this episode is brought to you by FanDuel summertime means baseball the NBA finals and more and you can bet it all on FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 200 bucks you can use to bet everything from the finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out of the park you can visit fanduel.com lockon and add a big win to your summer bucket list maybe we’d have better luck betting in the summer than the actual regular season because it didn’t go so well but do we plan on bringing back be bet the Buzz for FanDuel Doug is that something we want to do of course bet the buzz yeah I mean I I always love uh foibles when it comes to when it comes to FanDuel and plus it’s a great catchphrase I don’t want that to go anywhere FanDuel America’s number one sports book once again FanDuel being America’s number one sports book we appreciate them for helping us out here on the lockdown podcast Network more lockon Hornets ahead all right Doug maybe a little rapid FY I’ve got some teams that might make sense if you were to do this I’ve made it very well known I’m not interested in that right now but if you were to do it some teams that might make sense I don’t know if there’s teams that come up in your mind the first one that came up to me is Minnesota so if Minnesota is looking to take the next step they’re looking to move off of Carl Anthony towns weird Series where we kept shifting back and forth on how good cat was with Minnesota But ultimately they need a point guard that’s why they’re in the Darius Garland sweep Stakes I think well mighte connley has been good but do you want somebody else back there I don’t know maybe lamelo cat maybe that’s something that would make sense but if you’re looking for more assets then Minnesota does doesn’t have that they gave it all up in the Rudy go bear trade you’re talking about 2028 before you start to get some first so I don’t know how interesting that would be but Minnesota is a name that came to my mind ultimately I don’t think that would work um you have thoughts on Minnesota uh just I mean it would it would give the Hornets a big that can shoot uh but then you’d probably be in the same situation that Minnesota is now and figuring out how to make a cat Mark Williams or a cat kinging or whatever you got there at Center or whatever situation you have there it’s uh probably not the probably not the best move for the Hornets exactly Clippers would be another team oh yeah give me the name give me the name you know what name give me that name Paul George oh yeah the goat yeah right right pair paired with Brandon Miller if you’re looking for assets here for the Clippers you know they don’t have much their incoming draft picks 2024 second SEC uh second round pick and then 2030 is the next first round selection they have after everything they’ve done to enance that roster Clippers I I think that would be hard to do maybe you’re just doing the injury thing you’d have to give Paul George a lot of money who knows don’t know if he wants to be here but and it would go against everything that they’ve said they want to do which is build a sustainable like you do that you’re after you’re after one playoff run that’s most likely like 99% not going to end in a finals appearance uh and then what what’s next I mean maybe you get a couple more years I don’t know what georg’s contract situation I think I think it’s long but um he’s not you know he’s on the back side of his career and lamelo if the ankles hold up or is on the front side of his career so yeah I don’t I don’t think the franchise is going to do that really like ideally you would move him to a team that had significant draft assets and then you could rebuild around Brandon Miller using those draft assets so here are the two teams that fit that mold these are the two interesting ones this is where it would get real spicy okay the team that is looking to enhance their talent level at the expense of getting rid of future assets and they would make that next jump because the idea is lamelo is going to be healthy and he’s going to help that Squad as currently constructed Orlando who could use some scoring they could use some halfcourt initiation I think honestly if you were just like I don’t want to do it but if you were an NBA fan and you just wanted to see some fun stuff go down lamelo to Orlando would be quite interesting where they do have their first round picks they have it in 24 25 26 27 needless to say they got their first and it would help them who they’ve been going with this Cole Anthony Marquel folz Jaylen Suggs back court lamelo very different player than all of them so that would be quite interesting for Orlando to go all in at the expense of however many draft picks it would take to get him Orlando would be quite interesting in this uh conversation yeah it would be super ideal because if you’ve looked at some of the three to four first round pick trades that have H I mean I don’t know that’s again that’s probably not his hall right now because of the injuries because he’s only been to one All-Star game that you know he backed into um this will be way different than like a Rudy gobear conversation or a Drew holiday conversation but just say it’s I don’t know say it’s three first rounders and one of them is heavily protected the the multi firstr picks trades that have happened have been like to Milwaukee and Minnesota and the team getting the picks back are pretty much guaranteed that those picks are going to be late first rounders with Orlando I guarantee I mean you are adding significant Talent there and they do have Palo banero and fron Vagner is awesome but it’s not like you’re trading up to somebody that has like already like two elite elite NBA pieces so that I mean that’s probably the most ideal I think yeah so magic you get your first round picks and then maybe a window Carter thrown in there at the expensive pit like that would be some interesting stuff and then the the other one the point guard who are the point guard needy teams there’s one team that immediately comes to mind and it’s San Antonio pairing lamelo with wimy that’s what we that was our Dream right that was our dream we wanted it to happen before you just start before you before you say I’m asking this because I cannot that would be too much pain that would be that’s that’s the that that you have reached my pain threshold sir I cannot take it anymore I cannot watch that happen they have a lot of first Doug uh in fact we could go all Kevin Cosner draft day on him and ask for our picks back because the Spurs have the Charlotte 2025 protected first Lottery protected first round pick and they have first going all the way back 2025 they have one in 2026 so those would be like the Magic in the Spurs would be the most interesting teams to make something happen if if you were hellbent on reallying lamelo to see what you could get is San is San Antonio desperate enough to give wimy help right away in terms of a ball handler facilitator shooter would make a lot of sense would hide lamelo’s defensive deficiencies boy oh boy would that make sense for San Antonio and it would also make a lot of sense for Orlando those would be the two first teams I’m calling if indeed I’m shopping lamelo ball the only thing that would be more painful is if you traded him to New Orleans moved the team to Seattle and had Larry Johnson dressed as grandama come and kick me in the dug funnies that would be the only only dunnies oh I love that the dog fight and your sker oh no don’t tell leave the sker alone leave the sker alone it’s been through enough also the pork chop just leave the pork chop alone as well don’t mess with the pork chop buddy U leave all of it alone if you ask me all right let’s actually play some draft games on the other side we we we actually did not do rapid fire whatsoever we did not live up to our promise which is something we do consistently our only that’s our only promise our only promise that we live up to is that we don’t live up to the promises that’s right we will please the teas on the other side coming up next on the lock down hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet I promise we’ll get to those draft games and maybe dabble in the SEO Satchel that’s coming up next final segment before we go to the draft games I want to tell you that this episode is brought to you by better he we all carry around different stressors whether it’s big or small we keep them bottled up and when we do that it can start to affect us now negatively therapy is a safe space to get things off of your chest and to figure out how to work through whatever is weighing you down if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and you can even switch therapists anytime for no additional charge if you feel the need to get it off your chest with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp HP betterhelp.com lockon NBA and you too can get 10% off of your first month more lockdown Hornets ahead all right let’s play some draft games Doug what do you have cooked up for us today all right so aony gavone over at ESPN Jonathan gavone as he’s known to some other folks um did something that I actually liked and when he is phony gavon Walker is when he’s speculating when he’s trying to get the hot Goss when he turns into this like sauce reporter that’s when he’s phony gavon when he’s doing what he does best which is scouting talent and telling me who’s good at what and who’s not good at what that’s when I like my that’s how I like mik gavone so um he did this great right up for ESPN plus and he listed all of these skills uh that teams need nowadays and then he listed the best player that in this draft that is associated with that particular skill so the game is simple if you could have Walker the best player in this draft at one of these skills and I’m going to read these off quickly at one of these skills who should the Hornets want really you’re picking a skill and then I’m going to tell you the player if I did remember uh to have this article up and I did so I can tell you the player I’m gonna read these quickly are you ready yep I’m ready pick and roll finisher pick and roll playmaker ball handler pullup shooter spot up shooter movement shooter off defensive rebounder leaper SL dunker defensive playmaker shot blocker off ball defender on ball Defender full court Defender clutch player motor love a motor backstory frame competitor or intangibles yeah there’s lots of valuable ones ultimately I’m going to go with what I think are really hard to find at Elite levels and I think I have to go to the shooting okay and not spot up shooting I think I go movement shooting Doug over over pullup I looked at pullup but I’m going movement shooting as the the skill set that I would like most now tell me why why now because you you you debated there among the shooting archetypes now why do you think they need a movement shooter more than anything I think spot up shooting can probably be found a little more I guess I don’t have any numbers to back that up but it feels like spot up shooting is the easiest kind of shooting when it comes to also just bringing in a little bit more nuances whether you’re moving reading screens or you have the basketball in your hands and then you’re pulling up with the basketball already there you’re not assisted I think those two are really tough then when I start to think about specifically The Hornet’s fit if this guy isn’t going to have the basketball in his hands as much with lamelo Brandon you have some point guard depth coming in with the second unit then I would really like the idea of somebody coming off of screens and then fading and just being a good movement shooter with this team feels like something that would be really valuable so that’s how I eventually came up to that and there is somebody that fits that bill according to phony gavone that would be the pick there at number six if we wanted to go that route did you want to reveal the name because mock drafts are your specialty uh yes so um I’m going to tell you who you gave up so best pull-up shooter according to phony gavone is Cam Spencer the uh shooting guard out of Yukon and then the best spot of shooter is Reed Shepard out of Kentucky so those are the two players you gave up the best movement shooter is a guy that’s been recently mocked to the Charlotte Hornets and a guy that we talked about on the last show could very well be um a fit if the Hornets wanted someone to contribute right away and that guy is out of Tennessee Dalton connect is your best movement shooter according uh to phony gavone is it the best movement shooter according to um ESPN or not ESPN um WFNZ college basketball analyst Walker M yeah see yeah are you’re asking me if I think he’s the best movement shooter I have no I would say so it’s hard to matter it’s hard to uh argue I guess with the numbers but from it’s funny because I don’t know if I would have Dalton connect up at the top of my wish list I still like the idea of Stefan Castle Moore Reed Shepard shooting over 50% from three is highly tantalizing but connects despite some of the defensive deficiencies that he has he does fit he’s he’s bigger than Reed Shepard and he’s good at movement shooting he’s also older I do think that matters a little bit but perhaps not as much yeah I it would be a fun pick and if you like movement shooting and he’s giving you that best skill set there then that’s why I would be okay with him at number six even if there are some other guys without this test without this game that we played I probably would have gone with instead so he made 39.7% of his total shots off screen and 36.8 of his perent of his threes he made off of screens and I think getting Mark Williams back and healthy is a big part of this right because you’re when you’re talking about lamelo you’re running him off of like the one five up top trying to get lamelo going downhill you’re not really running like him off ball looking for looking for the ball to be passed to him Brandon Miller you might run off screens and boy was he good at it last I mean not even with great screen Setters he was great at coming off screens and getting the ball up quickly but to have a second guy that could do that and connect that that I think you could start alongside Brandon Miller and run both of those guys off screens and have some decoy action um and and might open if again if you have to respect connect’s ability there then that might open up some more stuff for ball and Brandon Miller I’m telling you Walker I might be talking myself into this pick I’m gonna be honest with you I’m talking myself into Dalton talking into Dalton uh so and and respect connect by the way is right there we could roll respect connect the connector no disconnect I like it um I’m talk myself came up with that that was good so the other one though it’s of course with defense being a real problem with him I I did look at on ball defense and that’s where Stefan Castle reign supreme what would you have gone with Doug I’ll flip it what was the skill set that you would have chosen there after you gave me some of the skill sets to chose well you just mentioned it which is on ball Defender that would have been my pick despite me writing Stefan Castle off my big board you can’t get back on once I write you off I’m sorry I just can’t it doesn’t mean the Hornets can’t pick you they they might very well pick you although man I just saw and here’s my obligation to the mock drafts uh mock draft a day is I saw that grind City media did a mock draft and they went to all these uh beat reporters and I’ve been on grind City media before and they didn’t call me and I’m I’m a little offended by that instead they went with Rod Boone which all right if you’re going to go with somebody beside me then go with the guy from the Charlotte Observer that’s fine uh but Rod Boon selected Reed Shepard with his sixth pick and I went hm Reed sheeper that’s interesting with with pick number six not going Castle there instead and it’s because I looked at the mock draft and and I don’t know who they got to represent Washington but the representative there took Stefan Castle number two overall instead of uh Reet SAR went one and then Castle went number two and honestly man the more I think about it if and I think gavone is right he is the best on ball Defender I think he’s the best defender period in the draft yeah and so I know that a lot of mock drafts like consensus mock draft would have castle at six but I honestly feel that one of these teams in the top five is going to look at their situation and go we we need to improve our defense and let’s take the best defender and Castle’s go I think castle for sure is going to go before the Hornets and so then you’re talking about trying to you know do you go all the way upgrade your offense or do you try to find somebody like connect or like Reed Shepard if Reed Shepard happens to fall who can improve your offense and also you know re not improve your defense but reasonably hold their own defensively um I think both of those guys would make sense but yeah man I mean on ball defense I think if you had asked me before the trade deadline Walker I would have said shooting got to get some more shooting but I think they address some of those issues at the trade deadline and now I think for sure it’s on ball defense look at the NBA Finals man look at how tough it is to score a basket now I know the Hornets are a long way from the NBA Finals but if you look across the playoffs it’s um you know Steve Clifford was right like you gota you got to be able to defend tenaciously you got to have guys not just like not just willing to defend but willing to attack defensively that’s why Boston is going to win this NBA championship I’m calling it right now I know people have been waiting for my NBA Finals Prediction and I’m giving it after they go up 20 but Boston’s going to win this thing because defense and the Hornets have no defense so of course they should take Castle but he’s off my big board because he doesn’t want to play here yeah he’s going crazy and sorry everybody he’s he’s going wild here you know you know what both Dallas and Boston has outside of outside of Luca who ISJ white guys they have that we had that we used to have that um but that didn’t work for us but besides Luca who gets attacked all the time defensively both teams have a lot of guys that can do both you have your centers that can rim run and Gafford can protect the rim we have PJ we know the effort is amped up with Dallas but he is becoming a two-way player drick Jones Jr not quite the shooter usually but did get hot against OKC and defensively is a good player you go back to Boston they’ve just got you know two-way players off all over the place and Elite Defenders with Drew and Derek that’s yeah it it sucks sacrificing something on one side of the floor man and and these teams just don’t do it as much unless oh okay Luca sacrifices something one he actually had been better defensively and also the dude is an MVP candidate ever since he stepped foot onto the NBA court like you can you can be a bad Defender it’s it’s tough to find both of those two or those types of guys with that with that skill set on both ends of the floor and that’s what Hornets are task with right now it’s hard to believe Walker but the Hornets as a franchise they used to have an identity now the first time they the first time that they started winning you know in your your early 90s run that included Mugsy zo and LJ they did have some defensive toughness but they they made their money on getting up and down the court in an era where you didn’t really get up and down the court as much and so they were they were that was a runand gun offensive team and then as they you know they had to trade zo they had to trade LJ away and they pivoted and instead of becoming you know instead of trying to replace that run and Gun they said no we’re gonna we’re going to become a defensive nasty team with you know one guy and Glen Rice that can that can light it up offensively and they took that to the to the extreme extreme uh with those uh early a teams uh that almost made uh an Eastern Conference Finals those teams were nasty defensively and they you know as you got into the early ODS those teams couldn’t score but my point is those teams had an identity and and you get an identity by by Drafting and trading and free agency acquiring players that do certain things and and they all and they and yeah you have some outliers that that can supplement you know particular things that you need shooting or rebounding or whatever but but everybody buys into the central message of the team and that’s how you build an identity and I’m hoping that a combination of Charles Lee and Jeff Peterson with proper you know Bank motivation from schal and Plotkin can allow this team to start pursuing whatever identity that is and if they want it to be defensive nastiness and toughness castles that to a tea man last thing I was looking up the last time they had an identity in my opinion at they they had some offensive identity with James bgo just getting up and down the floor but the last time they had success that 2015 16 year top 10 in defensive rating they were number nine in the regular season and low turnover offensively they weren’t going to wow you offensively but they defended their ass off and they didn’t turn the ball over that’s that was what Steve Clifford told you the identity was that’s what they could go back to when things went crazy and that’s how they were able to win 48 games and really be up competing for like a a top four spot remember it was all jumbled up with that three through six team there when everybody was competing for home that team was a clutch team that team never gave up I mean they they could be down 1520 at the beginning of a fourth quarter and have a chance to win a lot of that was the the the heart of the team in Kimo Walker a lot of it was that you added Jeremy Lynn and Jeremy Lyn gave them an offensive firecracker that could light it up in any particular quarter um but you know but if you look at sort of not just that year but that team as they built their identity along the way it was guys who had weaknesses that were willing to do what it took to improve those weaknesses just enough to make sure that the whole unit didn’t make mistakes defensively or offensively like they weren’t an elite defensive team like Boston they weren’t an elite offensive team like Dallas but they were able to to give just enough on on both ends of the floor uh but that but that was a lot of heart and soul from a lot of from a combination of like players who have been there for a while and players they acquired they really kind of got some flash in the pan and then you had a lot of maturity on that team um as well from guys like Marvin Williams all of those things this team currently lacks although they’ve got some little seedlings and Brandon Miller and Grant Williams now again that it’s some of the ingredients are there but you know if they decide oh well we’ve got it all now like Mitch cup has been doing for years and Michael Jordan if they look at it the same way and say now we’ve got all the ingredients we’re good they just need to catch fire if they do that instead of actually going out and finding these particular needs and filling them with players that that have that tenacity that have that defensive motivation then you know we’re going to be sitting here another year from now with uh the the same question what is this team’s identity yeah top 10 offense and defense that year which Steve Clifford preached constantly hopefully we can get back to those days that’ll do it for lockon Hornets thanks for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods including YouTube so check us out there but also we’re still doing the audible medium thing find Doug on a sub every Hornet boox score.com listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Weston Walker have a great rest of your day we’ll be back with you tomorrow byebye [Music]

Should the Charlotte Hornets shop LaMelo Ball? Walker and Doug continue to go through Lowe Post audio and discuss Zach Lowe’s recent comments on the thoughts of some front office executives around the league. What teams would make since to call in a potential LaMelo Ball trade? Finally, the guys play some NBA draft games. What skillset do you value most?

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