Concern Meter: LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams, PJ Washington + an update on Bally Sports Hornets

Concern Meter: LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams, PJ Washington + an update on Bally Sports Hornets

We’ll put players on the concern meter where are we in our frustration with each of the players on the Charlotte Hornets roster we’ll get to that in just a moment plus there’s an update on your balet sports package how are we going to be able to watch the Charlotte Hornets

Later on we’ll discuss all of it today locked on Hornets you are locked on hornets part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day in the minute we live it’s locked on hornets part of the locked on podcast Network it’s your team every day thanks for making us your

First listen we are free and available anywhere you get your podcast and that includes YouTube this episode is brought to you by prize piic the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon NBA use code all lowercase locked on NBA for a

First deposit match up to $100 that’s Doug Branson you can find him on his substack every Hornet spox score.com I’m Walker mail listen to me on WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 3M I would ask if you’re watching Youtube I would ask really for the listeners Doug why he’s

Shaking his head but I know why I’m going to explain it because when I hopped on the broadcast when I hopped on our software that allows us to do this the first thing that I hear and then the only thing that I hear for the next four

Or five minutes before he hops on is fruit salad yummy yummy being sung quite well to be honest with you hitting the notes putting jazz on it getting real spicy real sing songy with fruit salad yummy yummy only repeating that over and over again and then he hops on he says

Hey buddy I’m laughing at him and then he says I’m going crazy there you go Doug how are you doing in the winter wonderland not so wonderous that is Nashville Tennessee well and I think anyone who has kids is going to immediately understand uh what you just

Said there food salad yummy yummy a classic by The Wiggles I’ve heard it about a thousand times over the past week because we’ve been snowed in in Nashville Tennessee that’s right I’ve been home for a week can’t go anywhere because it’s snowing the roads are icy in Nashville Tennessee not Buffalo New

York okay not Minnesota not Montana I’m talking about Nashville Tennessee has been under and it’s it’s snowing right now there’s a blizzard outside I’ll will tell you something I hate winter I hate winter I always have but this just fully reinforces it winter hurts you summer

Would never do this to me yes it would make my ass swampy but it would never ever subject me to what this winter weather has subjected me to fruit salad yummy yummy what’s the concern meter for Doug Branson you can text us you can put your

Comment you can text him on his subtext you can actually put some comments down on YouTube or tweeted us lockon Hornets Doug Branson looh Walker mayil let’s do the concern meter thing here Doug what player do you want to lead off with I I need you to vent about whatever player

You need to in order to help you from stop to stop the stir craziness what player do you want to start with on the concern meteer yeah I mean look I think we’re all very concerned about the team right now they’ve lost 17 of their last 18 uh their only win coming very

Improbably against the Sacramento Kings um in Sacramento looking more and more like a miracle than it did when it first happened uh so I think it’s you know that would be silly to do the concern meter on the team so I thought we would focus in on a few players a few

Circumstances as we get closer to the trade deadline when this team is going to have to make some decisions about a lot of these players and so my concern meter right now I’ve got two polls two ends of the spectrum one is Mitch cup looking at his roster and assessing his

Playoff chances that would be not concerned at all inexplicable for the past few years he has looked at his roster and thought about his playoff chances and went no I’m not really worried about it I don’t know why he felt that way but he felt that way so

That’s not very concerned at all and then on the other end so that might well that that might even mean that we’re concerned um that were not concerned but we all know we probably should be that’s what that right that’s true with this team right now there is no absolutely

Not concern I don’t think you can look at any player uh member of the front office member of the training staff any Usher at this point I’m just including everyone I just feel like you have to be a little bit concerned for them or about

Them at this point um so at the other end of the spectrum is Steve Clifford with veins popping out of his neck and his head yelling at Nick Richards Nick set the bleeping screen that would be all the way at the other end a very very con that’s the most concerned I’ve seen

Any human being in quite a long time he was over it he’s still over it that’s the perfect place to go for most concerned what player do you want to start with here doc okay let’s start with lamelo ball obviously right he’s just returned three a little small

Sample siiz theater of all small sample siiz theaters we’ve got three games with him back but Walker the team is still getting smoked and he’s look he’s not playing his normal minutes but he’s getting his normal usage and he’s had a few good games and the Hornets have

Really not been measurably any better than they were when he wasn’t on the floor How concerned are you about the fact that Lamela balls back but the Hornets are not I would rather choose Steve Clifford give me or no excuse me not Steve not Steve I’m sorry give me the Mitch cuup

Check sound bite give me the Mitch cuup check sound bite okay I don’t I don’t have a sound bite but I have um gotcha we were I was I planned this out perfectly in my brain just want here’s the thing I just wanted to paint a picture I don’t listen if you’re

Watching on YouTube you can see that I’m in the what formerly was my office and once I got the studios uh in downtown I this office is now my producer Katie’s office uh so look I don’t have any of my tech I’m wearing a headset I don’t even

Have my normal microphone like you think I’ve got like sounds ready to ready to pop off you truly are spoiled by your radio professionality that you think that I have like some fancy Tech I have been home for like seven straight days have not been able to leave my home you

Think I have sounds ready to rock you’re crazy all right I’m I’m Steve Clifford concerned for Doug I am Mitch cup concerned for lamelo ball I think we don’t have any allar on this team there you go yeah think that would be great if you just wanted to do that uh I think

But I honestly great sound bite though because that’s the exact reason as to why I’m not as concerned about lamelo it’s because there’s just not much talent around him you go back to three games ago when we did our Hive LIVE edition right after the Spurs game so a

Week ago was when he came back now we’re talking about three games one of the points that I made was that he was coming back to a different team than he left on November 26 this is not the same Squad there is no Gordon Hayward still

Brandon Miller has been out since he has returned because of the Fall that he took in transition you’re talking about Mark Williams also not being there and so now here we are with three players 60% of your top five players on the roster not playing miles Bridges being hot and cold Terry

Still being good and PJ Washington underperforming offensively and he’s going to the bench and now you’re start it just it’s a different team with lamelo just a couple of games back from injury I think what he’s earned Doug is the benefit of the doubt that if he

Struggles right off of injury that he’s going to figure it out too because he did it at the beginning of this season and that was with a whole offseason of recovery time and only a week return before training camp so I’m not concerned conc ered about lamelo it’s

Mitch cup Che level for me yeah for sure I’m still concerned about the team getting destroyed despite lamelo’s return I get that but we all know this team has zero margin for error to say slim would be too much they have zero margin for error and so that’s why I’m

Not as concerned about what lamelo is doing or really what the team is doing without Gordon Mark Brandon and lamelo’s on the RO on the on the court and as we move forward with this game I should give you a few more options that are in the middle right so there’s Mitch cup

Jack there’s a little bit concerned there’s just plain concerned and then there’s Steve Clifford that’s you know very vein popping Le concerned uh so I would not put this at Mitch cjack I would put this at a little concerned and and I’ll tell you why I agree with most

Everything you’re saying there in that this is a different team different circumstances and lamelo has played well let’s just say that right off the bat the only I think knock on lamelo’s play since he’s been back would be the turnovers but I I would put half those

On inability for players to catch a basketball near the rim I mean so many bobbled balls at this point by Nick Richards Nathan menah I mean look the level of Center talent that he’s playing with that he’s working these pick and roles off of has not been good and then

PJ Washington can’t hit a three to save his life and Cody Martin same kind of situation so it’s like that’s a situation of like who is he passing to and the other part of it I think can be explained by just Rhythm you know he’s just got to give back into his Groove

His timing has been a little bit off on some of these transition plays and and so all of that stuff will work itself out but he is Miles Ahead of where he was when he was coming off the ankle fracture and we saw his offense really struggle at the beginning of this season

That hasn’t been a problem he’s been able to score points he’s been able to do things that we weren’t really seeing early in the season when he was healthy like get to the free throw line so he’s in a weird way like evolved his game while recovering from this latest ankle

Injury so that’s been positive to see here’s why I am a little concerned I I I want to watch this situation as it moves forward for the rest of the season because I think we’ve done a lot of talk about lamelo ball as leader of this team

Evolving into that being a vocal leader of this team as the guy who is now going to be on the max contract the best player in your team can he become also the guy in the locker room that can rally everyone together and do the things that are necessary to get wins

And that’s something that I want to watch moving forward because this team needs to play better defense who are they going to rely on in the locker room because Clifford I think has said everything to this point that he has to say in order to like make people

Understand hey this is what’s going to help us win basketball games who’s going to step up on in that locker room is it going to be lamelo because he’s doing everything on the floor right I think that’s why I’m just a little bit concerned with the fact that the Hornets

Are still playing poorly while wilst he’s back okay let’s move on to a couple of other players coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet how concerned are you over Mark Williams injury I it’s just flat out the injury

At this point and also PJ Washington’s play since coming back from an injury we’ll get to that in just a moment this episode is brought to you by eBay Motors our partners at eBay motors have teamed up with lock on Fantasy Basketball host Josh Lloyd to bring you

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Around for that for that break read but you mentioned Mason plumbley there and you know he’s with the Clippers right now and having a lot of fun having a lot of success Kelly UB uh last season you know they didn’t resign him or last offseason he’s with the Philadelphia

76ers now having a lot of fun and I think that being a Hornets fan right now is a lot like Pro I haven’t experienced this yet but I someday will send my kid to college or whatever space College Moon College whatever it is by the time

My baby grows up but uh I I feel like it’s a lot like that right you just like you you have to learn to feel happy for people leaving you and going off to experience their own thing and so as we get to this trade deadline you know

Maybe Terry Rosier is gone Gordon Hayward gets bought out whatever you have to just learn to be happy and just Wave by as they get in the car drive off and uh that’s that’s the Hornets Fan Experience right now I I think it’s a point of pain for Panthers fans as well

Because that’s been one of the problems with the last 6 years of David tepper’s tenure it’s watching guys leave the organization and be successful and the latest example of that is Baker Mayfield having been terrible with Carolina and now going to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs and so Baker Mayfield that

That one like I know we can talk about the sicko nature the sicko history of what it means to be a Hornets fan compared to a Panthers fan watching Baker Mayfield is frustrating for anybody seeing how successful he is compared to how terrible he was last

Year Well you make such a great point it is um it is better for Hornets fans because the Hornets franchise at least has the decency to bring folks in who aren’t going to be future Allstars for other teams now Malik monk is threatening to do that but it’s not he’s

Not quite there yet he is still a role player for that Sacramento team so it’s much easier to be happier for those players when they’re not putting up Allstar caliber numbers that’s right or yeah or just like being a main reason the most important position on an NFL

Team and in playing that position well in order to get your team to the postseason yeah but I’m fine too I’m not singing fruit salad fruit salad I was going to say it fruit salad yummy yummy that’s going to be the anthem for now on when when we get just as crazy as

We can get about the Hornets when they just when the sickness uh turns to fever and the fever breaks we sing only one song and that is fruit salad yummy yummy I know we need to move on I need to tell the story because it talks about the

Sickness and so last night I was at an event at UNCC Charlotte and I had a couple friends with me and at my table for this event where they were handing out Awards I’m very appreciative of a 10 under 10 award they gave me at my table

I know I wanted to move on well you break you like I have to Brak up this story of me winning an award go on all right and it’s it’s the classic you know I go to school up in Boston just tell me you went to Harvard I’m just going to

Tell you I won the award but I’m going to be it’s going to be painful to say that so a guy at the table was named Adam and I knew his name I knew it and I’m like Adam I I know your name how do

I know you and then he didn’t even say hey my name is or whatever he’s like I’m a sicko I am a pure sio and great guy hanging out with us all night it was a lot of fun he said I do have one question though I have one question I

Said what’s that said how much do you hate Doug Branson sometimes because sometimes because sometimes he’ll be continuing to talk or go on the long rant and it’s great it is highly entertaining I I need to know how you feel I need to know how you feel

About it because it does seem like you get really frustrated and so I gave him the Dan levitar explanation that we are ourselves turned up to 10 right like that is the secret of the show that is the not so secret people realize it if you get the show I’ve seen this talked

About on Reddit when people talk about Lo on Hornets they understand what the roles are here and so that’s how you win right we turn ourselves up to 10 and so there is zero hate behind it there is only the the product of the show that

Allows the sickos to keep coming back I I’ll also say weaving back my experience here being stuck in the house uh with my entire family for a week now and you and I have been stuck together every day for the past what we’ve been doing this show

What four or five years 2018 August 2018 yeah so so almost six years or maybe a little more than six years and a when you do that thank you see that’s your role on the show is to do the actual accounting I can’t I can’t that was

Really hard that was really hard for us to get when you when you do it for that long you find out pretty quickly whether or not you like each other and and that’s the thing I’m blessed that I like my family and I’m blessed that I like

You cuz I mean we couldn’t do this every day without that Foundation of just liking each other and that’s going to get us through the debates it’ll get us through the long rants um but you have to you know this is my my only relationship advice is just to look love

Is great but you better find somebody you like because like’s going to get you through a lot more than love will that’s some good advice all right I I say we do rapid fire Mark Williams here just because it’s an injury uh I’m I’m not I

I want to keep up with the sappiness I I can I can do the sappiness all day but how concerned are you over mark Williams injury here Doug before we move on very because we haven’t heard a lot about it because it evolved from I’ve used the

Word evolve a lot on this show I just want to recognize that I think it’s the fourth time I’ve said the word evolve well now it happened to me yesterday I kept saying attractive on West and Walker and I couldn’t stop couldn’t stop the word the word has lost all meaning

Fruit salad yummy yummy so I am very concerned I won’t say I’ll say very concern what what am my list here concerned now I’ll say concerned because I’m not Steve Clifford screaming um at Nick Richard’s set of bleeping screen concern if they if they announce that he’s having surgery it immediately will

Go to that level and I feel like that’s where this is heading because we haven’t heard a lot about it because it did evolve from lowback contusion to just lower back and you know we’ve seen video of him doing some light workout stuff so it’s not like he’s just been completely

Ghosted that would make me super concerned uh but the length of time that he spit out with this lower back big guys that just for me is it’s it’s less about it being career-threatening than it just be about ceiling threatening right you’re talking about lower back injuries take big guys for

They’ll they’ll play you know six seven eight more years but it won’t be Allstar level play which is I think you know what we were all hoping for Mark Williams that he could develop into an All-Star level big defensively for sure and lower back stuff you you know if it

Lingers can really threaten that Mark Williams has consistently been placed in the future outlook of this team right now he can’t come back onto the floor and this is not one of those this is very Gordon Hayward esque from a couple of years ago that was my biggest

Problem with yes clearly Gordon Hayward has already an injury history stepping onto the roster what gets me a little more concerned is when you have this initial timetable or it’s at least now misleading I don’t know if they ever gave an initial timetable sometimes that can be good sometimes that can be bad

But the fact that he tries to come back can’t do it you feel like he’s going to come back sooner and then we continue to miss time we just are totally in the dark on this and you’re right now we have to be the podcast that talks about

Their promising young big man with a back injury and now what we’re going to have to do is find the examples of cers that have figured out how to reach a high ceiling with back injuries and now have to figure out who are the centers that experienced back injuries that

Never were the same and now we’re going to have to start doing that stuff that if he has surgery and then we enter that mold that is a Content area that I never wanted for lock down hornets I only wanted it for the other teams that had to experience that and we’re here

Discussing Brandon Miller lamelo ball and Mark Williams like depending on what you think about Nick Smith Jr and others it’s consistently been him as a third guy now like are if this continues then we can’t even be so sure like that’s a that’s a big deal like here we are

Trying to retool this thing I just talked myself into Steve Clifford now I’m cursing at Nick Richards that’s true well when you when you zoom out and talk about lamelo ball and Brandon Miller and all the injuries that they’ve sustained uh Brandon Miller just this season lamelo over the past couple of Seasons

Yeah when you when you zoom out and understand that you’re your three Untouchable pieces the pieces that everyone in the NBA commentary when they’re talking about this team you know tearing it all down they’re go oh those are the three you can’t touch they can’t

Even get on the floor yeah that is no please don’t touch them they’ll get hurt that’s right it’s a fragile it’s a fragile thing not a uh not a talent thing um all right PJ Washington last one real quick um he’s struggling badly um again his three-point percentage is

In the tank it’s you know when he had a good season in 2022 when they won 43 games it was you know his points per shot attempt went way up because his three-point shot was just on fire uh and that regressed in the next season he signs the contract

How concerned are you with the fact that PJ Washington especially since returning to the bench uh doesn’t seem to be much of an offensive threat anymore no I’m concerned I don’t know if I’m not Steve Clifford concerned but I’m I’m certainly more concerned than I am closer to Mitch

Cup Che level yeah the the shot hasn’t been there I I just you know with PJ everybody knows how much I love PJ it’s the joke right I just think the the role on the team has not been figured out the last couple of years this has been

Somebody that has had to adapt to so many different things and defensively while there might be some Advanced numbers that say that the Hornets are better without him on the floor there are you know defensive rating numbers that show that he’s not great like I that just doesn’t pass the eye test to

Me I’m not saying he’s out there being OG an anobi I don’t think that I just see so many other mistakes from everybody else Doug this is what I went into yesterday it’s such a terrible defensive team that I see everybody else making the mistake and I see PJ like for

Instance if you were I didn’t go check this but if you were to go see the tracking data and you go to field goal percentage for nearest Defender and when PJ’s been the nearest Defender how’s it looked like if that ex if that existed

If you can go find that like for me I wonder if PJs would just be Skyhigh because he’s running at the player because he’s a last resort while everybody else is just not doing their job so it the defensive part is frustrating because that we’re always

Going to be angry with his offense but the offense isn’t great it’s a problem I the I feel like he took steps forward as a Creator I don’t think you’ve seen that as much anymore like when he puts the ball on the floor it’s not I’m not

Thrilled I’m not like oh this is absolutely going to end up in a good possession so it’s just a little little scary about the turnovers the three-point shot while it was crazy hot at the beginning of the Season then you start to dive into the injuries and his

Role changes and it’s like okay well now it’s going back down I I do think that the offense needs to be a little more adaptable right like that even if so much has changed around you the numbers still need to be better even if it is somewhat of an excuse that everybody

Else has their thing figured out like Terry doesn’t but Terry’s just a better offensive player than PJ we know what it is so I’m concerned like I would like him to play better certainly offensively and we’ll see if he is even on the team like he’s a prime candidate to get TR

Yeah for sure I mean I would say I’m Mitch cup we don’t have be all stars on this team that’s where I am with PJ because he is who he is just he’s the same player that I think they drafted I think you had a little blip there in 2022 because

Everybody on that team just went um Supernova on offense and especially from three and that’s why they won 43 games but apart from that uh this this is who he is uh he’s improved his rebounding slightly this year but I I I don’t think statistically significant enough to

Really make note of uh the circumstances have been just as difficult for PJ as they’ve been for every single other player on this team so I’m sure internally he’s probably saying to himself yeah maybe I could have played a little bit better but also look at everything that happened around me he

Has been one of the more available pieces for the Charlotte Hornets over the past couple of Seasons so you can at least give him credit for that but I think this is who he this is who he is and this is why I think the Hornets

Smart to play hard ball in the offseason and not overpay because in the not overpaying they have made him continue to be available for trade had they overpaid I think it would have been impossible for them to trade him but now it’s it is still a tradable contract no

That that’s a good point about the the tradability of that contract the thing about the shooting was good the first three years it was above 36 the the 22 season you’re talking about was actually the lowest the first three seasons but it’s all in lower volume man like that

That’s the whole part about the PJ stuff right lower volume is going to be better for PJ and I understand you can only play pay a player so much if the volume is at a lower rate but like the higher the volume for PJ the worse the efficiency gets and so that’s what’s

Frustrating the the game that he started the the season that he started the least amount of games that was in 2021-22 that was his most efficient season and it was also on the least amount of attempts by two by two like but it was again it was a three-point

Shooting right cuz I mean you know clean the glass yeah the clean the glass has him at he was 52% from three in that 2122 season effective field goal percentage was above average the only only season he’s had an effective field goal percentage above average but he was

Still 36% from the rim that was 21st percentile the next season last season he was 27% at The Rim that’s 12 percentile this season 26% at The Rim that’s 12 percentile a little bit better at uh in the short mid um just a little bit above average uh but he was better

Last season in the short mid when he was you know the starting feature piece for the Hornets and uh yeah I mean you know this I I’m just saying like he is who he is essentially at this point I don’t I don’t think that to expect him to be you

Know a different player at this point would be reasonable and I think the fact that they played hard ball and got that contract down which some people criticize some people were like no give him the bag you know he was I mean I did like I mean it’s pretty clearly right

Here I’m the guy like wanted him to get more like understood why he would get more but no he hadn’t lived up to it no he hasn’t um yeah the 60% thing that’s what I see here too like when that year you keep talking about he shot 60% from

Twos that’s an outlier that’s like yeah that’s that’s the big thing in that year that’s a that’s a monster difference that that would be huge honestly like that’s something most people aren’t talking about it is a lot of the threes but my goodness gracious like that’s 60%

Year was the outlier from two so that would be great to see that again but it’s an outlier all right we’re already going over let’s move on coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet let’s talk about the Bal sports update Amazon

Now buys Bal hopefully it will improve our viewing experience but it does mean some other changes for the negative are on the horizon we’ll get to that in just a moment this episode is brought to you by prize pick prize pick is the largest daily fantasy sports platform form in

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First deposit match up to $100 one more segment to go lock on Hornets Doug I this is kind of your wheelhouse I know you’re really interested in the B sports package right it’s been a terrible viewing experience for the Hornets viewer it has been I mean garbage trash they deserve all of

The negative commentary surrounding them has Amazon come in to save us and just how much what is it look like now that Amazon is a part of the deal Bezos please save us um I don’t know I think is the the unfortunate answer I think

We’re going to have to wait and see on a lot of this but the news is that Amazon did buy a piece of Diamond Sports Group which is the kind of uh conglomerate that owns BS and essentially they’re going to come in and help uh prop up Bal

As they go through this bankruptcy procedure they’re essentially coming in as the Savior uh to to keep B uh moving forward and so what does it mean for you as the viewer well if you’re local it means that you may have an opportunity to watch these games on the Amazon Prime

Platform but it won’t mean that you’ll get to do that for your Amazon Prime subscription price I think there’s going to probably be an add-on situation where you can pay some number of dollars that’ll be interesting to see right as a going to be 20 which is what Bal wanted from you

To stream uh through the Bal app uh but you’ll get to do it through Amazon system which I think will be a more stable system will be a better uh experience for you because Amazon uh essentially owns the web with their AWS servers and those are super reliable

They’re not 100% reliable AWS does go down like the awe server will go down and you know half the websites in the world will go down all of a sudden so it’s not 100% guarantee but it’s way better than the I don’t know 10 20% reliability that folks have been getting

Used to with the B app so um I guess this is good news in the sense that in the short term it could provide more stability for the viewing experience but you know I think better I think it would have been better long term to see Bal go away to see DSG the

The whole Regional Sports Network idea go away and force teams Force leagues into Alternatives this is great for Amazon they get to back in in a very cheap way they get to back into the uh local NBA experience because the NBA right now is negotiating a new TV deal

That is sure to include one of these streamer Services whether it be apple or Netflix or maybe Amazon um they they were all vying for a piece of that pie while Amazon gets to go to the sort of the Big Lots and and pull a piece of this off the

Shelf for really cheap and uh but they’ve got to deal with all the headache I’m I’m sure of working with um some of this Bal backend but yeah it’s it’s good news if you love stability if you love the broadcast crew for baliy there’s not going to be any upsetting of

The Eric Collins Del Curry’s um apple cart if you will but I think long term I would like to see the teams pushed further into hey let’s get some local broadcast rights let’s get more people watching this product and and get off this this streaming only idea well and

And that’s so that’s the the really wellth thought out big picture style of this if you are interested in what it’s going to look like I think for me the bar as we’ve talked about man like they were so bad you couldn’t watch the games at the beginning of this season just

Flat out weren’t delivering you the product that you only it’s your it’s your one job that that will happen now you’re gonna right you’re going to be able to watch the games and so while it was a terrible viewing experience and you’re just asking hey is this thing

Going to work yes it’s gonna work now because Amazon has it and it’s not just B’s being this bankrupt thing so at least as we know it for next season let’s be clear this nothing changes nothing changes this season this is going to start with

2425 and and and then I think what will be interesting is after that point do teams renegotiate with Amazon b or do they make decisions that I think would be better for their product like I think it would be better for the Hornets not to take the shortterm maybe mediumsized bag of cash

From Jeff Bezos and b or what’s left of Diamond Sports Group and instead say hey why don’t we develop our own system while at the same time leveraging a local broadcast contract that might bring us Less in the short term but long term we’re growing the product because

More people can see it easier and they don’t have the frustrations because look when people get frustrated with bals they also get frustrated with the Hornets they don’t understand that it’s they don’t totally understand that it’s not the same thing yeah and so yeah do you want your product consistently

Associated with stuff that doesn’t have 100% reliability I’m not so sure yeah so no you’re you’re right it is next year that this is going to take place but yes longterm everything dug talked about there’s not a certain answer we’ll see what happens but next year you will at

Least get to watch your team which at very base level you needed to figure out how to give that to your customers that are paying $20 a month to just watch the Charlotte Hornets and maybe another team that you just put in there that they don’t care about same thing with the

Hurricanes too that are more interested in NHL and and maybe that cost does go down because now you have Amazon behind it who you know I’m sure DSG was doing the numbers and going okay we’ve got get $20 from some number of people in order

To just to keep the lights on right so now that Amazon is propping it up maybe that cost comes down to get more people back into that system so again short term but as we’ve seen with I don’t know I mean if you’ve taken an Uber recently

If you’ve gotten on a scooter if you’ve paid for a subscription I’m sure you’ve seen that these things are just creeping up up up up up up up because that’s how they do they get you in on the lower price and then you know steadily increase it as certain economic uh

Conditions change and so that’s why you know I I think it would be better for the long-term health of the product if it were on a broadcast network that people that generally people could get for free uh that that would be better because look this stuff is going to get

Expensive you are going to have local fans are going to have to start making the same kinds of choices that people that don’t live in the local market of their favorite teams are making like me I I live in Nashville Tennessee I don’t subscribe to the NFL package because I

Don’t care enough about the Panthers to watch to pay that amount of money to watch them every week I think that’s a a pretty good business decision based on their recent play I I am a sicko when it comes to the Hornets so I do pay for

League pass I have become a soccer fan and I want to watch Nashville FC and I want to watch their away games so I pay for the MLS pass but I’m making decisions because all this stuff costs a lot of money and so that’s what local

Fans are going to have to start doing if more and more stuff moves off into streaming and it does look like we could see that you have to pay for more money depending on the decisions that you make in the next five years or so Joe ovus

Was talking about this too on the Kyle Bailey show if you want to go check that out on WFNZ Doug’s gonna join me later on today that’s the hope at least we been trying to get this weekly launch off the ground but things happen Doug snowed in we have guests that keep

Finagling when they’re going to go on join today at 12 45 that’ll do it for lockdown Hornets thanks for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods that includes YouTube Doug can go back to listening to some wiggle songs and hopefully recover over the weekend

Hopefully the snow the ice it melts so he can get out and experience some fresh air somewhere like miles away from his home and we can have a healthier show on Monday until then have a great weekend do the propeller me

With the Charlotte Hornets continuing to lose, Walker and Doug rate their concern level over individual players on a scale of Mitch Kupchak’s playoff hopes to Steve Clifford cursing at Nick Richards. Where does LaMelo Ball fall? Finally the guys close with information on Amazon’s purchase of Bally Sports.

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