Charlotte Hornets get back to back wins, Brandon Miller role change and Clifford job security

Charlotte Hornets get back to back wins, Brandon Miller role change and Clifford job security

The Hornets win back-to- back games this time against the Indiana Pacers what is so different how do the new additions look so good out there on the floor with one another we’ll discuss it all today on locked on Hornets locked on hornets part of the locked on podcast Network your team

Every day in a minute cuz we live it’s locked on Hornet part of the lock 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 real quickly did want

To give a shout to prize pick this episode is brought to you by prize pick the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon NBA use code all lowercase lockon NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 that’s Doug Branson you

Can find him on his substack every Hornets boox score.com and I’m Walker mail you can listen to me on sports radio 927 WFNZ every weekday on Weston Walker from 12: to 3 pm we’ll be talking about a Hornets Victory there too how about Charlotte beating Indiana last

Night 111 to 102 they’re 2 and 0 since they’ve got all of the additions playing for their squad okay they’re 12 and 41 and I was talking about this with Colin hogard over at WFNZ and and are you laughing at something specifically or just the victory over I was laughing at Sam

Farber’s tweet uh he is the radio voice of the Charlotte Hornets he tweeted that the Hornets are six and0 and this you you saying that reminded me of the Tweet he said the Hornets are six and0 when they shoot above 53% and I was like yes they’re 12 and0

When they score more points than their opponent like yeah if you shoot over 50% you’re you’re you’re most likely going to win the game no there there shooting extremely well and especially off of the bench they actually have a bench presence right now and I was talking

About this with Colin and this was even before the Indiana game right so they beat Memphis even if Memphis is also down bad real bad yeah and it was like Colin even brought it to me the Hornets fans have never been more happy the fan base has never been happier thirsty than

Beating Memphis we were so down bad but now we even have go Hornet’s chance in Spectrum Center everybody is taking note of it the team is out there seemingly having fun playing together playing on the court that’s really cool and so there are a lot of good things to note

The new additions Grant Williams is shooting pretty well from three in this one he was two of six but he’s bringing physicality he was seven of eight from the free throw line so that’s nice 21 points I believe that ties a career high and he was the leading scorer for the

Charlotte Hornets miles Bridges scoring 20 Brandon Miller making plays down the stretch continuing his efficient play meic even with a travel yes maybe who cares there was the Euro Step that was also a big bucket down the line and then Seth Curry going for 18 with a bunch of

Buckets made too man this was an awesome game to see oh it totally was and I mean the timing on this is just incredible for the new ownership group because uh you know you you really you have nothing to lose at this point at the end of the

Season and you get to put exciting basketball in front of fans when look the Panthers are down B too right there’s not a ton of competition in Charlotte um you know so I think this is this is great they are Charlotte fans are hungry for something to go right in

Their city and this right now is going right and so much of it is driven by these bench players it is it is Grant Williams uh shooting the lights out it’s The Hornet’s ability to play NBA level basketball in terms of the IQ that’s on the floor in terms of the effort that’s

On the floor right now everyone still in tryy out mode you know I mean all these guys want to remain in this rotation not just this season but but a ton of these guys are here next season too you know that’s the whole thing it’s not like if

These guys were all on expiring deals yeah maybe they’d be trying out for their next team but look they’re looking at uh Clifford and and you know maybe they think he’s going to stay and they want to battle for a chance to be part of this rotation when there is something

To play for and they’re all playing like it right now it’s it’s really great to see and it allows Bridges room to drive it allows Brandon Miller not to have to play 40 minutes a night and to take a thousand shots per night uh it’s giving him a little rest

As we get to this uh end of the you know pre All-Star break period it’s just everything is is so perfect right now and they get a win against a good team like you can’t make the the Memphis excuse on this they were 10-point dogs going into this game and they win by

Nine that no you’re right that’s the big one right so now okay and this is what we were even messing with too against Memphis part of the reason even if we joke how terrible the Grizzlies have been this year because they might be the only team in the league that had worst

In worse injury luck than what the Hornets had but you’re right here are the Pacers that are playing really well and even offensively Doug the Pacers are one of the best offensive teams that we’ve seen in recent memory and they score 102 points to the one that the

Hornets were able to put out there it’s not like they were suffering a ton of injuries either halberton was out there Miles Turner Pascal cakam their big ticket addition right before they got to the trade deadline their bench they even have some of the guys that they traded

For dougy mcbuckets is back for them but even so you still have Ben Maan who’s getting 15 minutes like the injuries weren’t a problem for Indiana and so I think that was the big thing here that okay now it’s real now you have two back-to-back victories and you’re

Getting help from different sources on the bench so Grant Williams he was big time in the last two games Seth Curry did basically nothing against Memphis like that just wasn’t it was everybody else that we were focused on here he did like Seth Curry did a lot of shot making

Seven of 11 from the field only two of his made field goals were from three-point range and yet he still scored 18 points he was a monster off of the bench scoring the basketball Doug and here they are continuing to move it 27 assists again so part of the thing is

Okay you have to move the ball well and you have to make shots when there is an opportunity to make those shots but even here yeah they shoot over 53% from the field but under 30 from Beyond The Arc so it’s not like you just even had these

Easy assists where okay there’s somebody not easy but you get the point just the assist where you throw it to somebody out there at the top of the key and then they drain it because they’re wide open like you’re not even getting the three-pointers to continue that assist

Rate to go up and so I think the ball movement continues to be on display and you’re seeing better offense because of it hell 111 like 111 was there 125 and here they are actually scoring the basketball at a better rate the last couple games well it’s ball movement

Walker but it’s also body movement I mean it’s so crazy like all these newbies these guys that they brought in post trade deadline all these guys cut all the time like meic who didn’t have a great game in this one but he’s constantly moving around he’s constantly

Moving the defense which is going to is just going to naturally result in open shots or open driving lanes for other players I mean there was a play like around 8 minutes to go in the second quarter Bretton who would go on to like Miss every single three after this but

He hits the three where he relocates perfectly I mean it was just like as Richards drives gets down to the dunker spot and and just draws that defender in a little bit Berton recognizes it immediately relocates up to the left wing and he’s there for an open shot and

He hits the three like that’s you look at some of these players and you go okay look I was a huge fan of JT Thor I wanted him to succeed it just didn’t work out okay I imagine Thor in that position I don’t even know if he makes

The relocation but if he does he doesn’t have the confidence to take the shot that Burton’s hit which was heavily contested he almost got hit and and he doesn’t have the confidence to take that shot and I don’t think he has the skill to make that shot so it’s really you

Know people are like man I’m so I don’t think many people like this but I think there are some that are looking at this and going how could it be so different and it’s really just a case of bringing in guys who have been on legitimate NBA rotations with playoff contending teams

They know what it looks like they know what it feels like and a lot of these guys have been pushed out into the fringes of the of that rotation and they’re hungry they’re hungry and they know how to play and when you have guys like that anything’s possible so now

It’s the whole honey moon phase right because I saw you tweet this out with Steve Clifford’s comment this is great this is all very new this is the very football esque term of not having film out on these guys yet and so you don’t know how they’ll play and you’re not

Exactly sure what’s going to go on Grant Williams had a higher usage rate last night against Indiana then I mean I don’t know about how much he’s gotten compared to any other game in Dallas but there there were a few games I guess in Dallas that he had something similar but

Not many right like he’s been above in the 50th percentile the last couple of games as far as how much he’s been used and so teams are trying to figure out okay how are the Hornets going to play with Trey man starting with Grant Williams getting all this time with meic

Coming in and playing a lot Seth Curry now right so now it’s interesting to see okay is this a 10 game stretch where they start playing better and then our team’s going to adapt but right now it’s just a lot of fun to see what they’re

Able to do and to see how long they can keep it going last thoughts before we move on well it is a honeymoon phase and they will have trials ahead of them right I mean right now Brandon Miller is being differential and Miles Bridges is not miles Bridges is getting his he had

A near triple double last night what 20 points uh 10 rebounds seven assists if I remember correctly so you know eventually Brandon Miller is going to want more shots so how does that work right somebody’s got to give somebody’s got to sacrifice this bench right now is

In triy out mode and I think everyone sort of is looking for their shot on the bench and and some of the guys that have been around here before are looking to make that happen to build their confidence to get them ready for the rest of the season but eventually that

Has to shift here’s another trial lamelo ball most likely comes back at some point I saw him warming up before the game like I I I don’t think he comes back before this All-Star break but certainly after the All-Star break I would expect him uh to play and so how

Does that all work who has to give it up then is it meic is it man so there are trials and tribulations ahead of this game ahead for this team but here’s the key and Clifford has talked about it all season and he mentioned it last night

This league is about having the right right kind of players toughness effort High character people like to overvalue coaching and they undervalue finding 9 to 11 guys who want to leave it all on the floor and I think it looks like they found a few guys who want to leave it

All on the floor I’m really interested in the Brandon Miller aspect let’s talk about that a little bit more coming up next on the lock on Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet how have we seen Brandon Miller’s Game Change yet remained the same and is

There more volume coming or is this just what we can expect the rest of the season we’ll get to that in just a moment on lock down hornets this episode is brought to you by prize pick prize picks is an America’s number one fantasy sports app

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NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 more lock down hornets ahead Doug you brought up Brandon Miller in the first segment with some of the the lack of volume here like that’s that’s something that’s been interesting to see with the new additions right so just for reference the last game they

Played Without gr and meic and all the guys coming over he played against Milwaukee and it was a terrible performance on the road it was you know it was The Perfect Storm to get a beat down you knew it was going going to happen because of just the right in the

Middle of sending your guys out not getting your guys back yet he had 15 field goal attempts and that was about on par maybe even a little less with what he’d been putting up at least at the beginning of February right couple of 25 field goal attempt games in there

19 17 and then the 18 against Milwaukee he shot nine times against Memphis and he shot eight times against Indiana if you go back to at the beginning of the season right when they were at their most healthy Lamela ball was playing you had nine in his debut against Atlanta 13

16 97 12 11 16 you get to six and I think that’s the lowest amount of field goal attempts that he’s taken but you’re also at least without an injury if I’m not mistaken either way you get the point you have to go back to like at the

Beginning of the season to see this type of lack of volume for Brandon Miller on any consistent basis and now it’s not consistent yet only two games but the difference here is that you have an entirely different team the guys that used to be playing and coming off of the

Bench they’re not getting any minutes anymore in fact Steve Clifford is really rolling with an 8man rotation with just a dash of bans in there just a little bit 12 minutes and then he comes in and that it’s not too much but he still counts AP part of it just eight and a

Half man rotation if you will are we just going like are we gonna see what doug 13 field goal attempts per game on average the rest of the way like are are we going to get him shooting a decent amount more like what kind of volume do

You expect for Brandon the rest of the season I don’t expect it to revert back to what it was you know before this deadline and I hope it doesn’t honestly because I don’t think that that was healthy for him um that kind of shot diet and I don’t think that it was

Healthy for the team the team didn’t look very good when it was essentially miles Bridges and and Brandon Miller just sort of taking turns going ISO possessions that didn’t look great I think you will see some kind of return to a little bit more of an equilibrium

When uh when this rotation really gets figured out fully I don’t think Steve cord has not had enough time to get his hands around exactly what he wants to do you can see him experimenting with different lineups and so you know again lamelo’s got to come back got to figure

That out everybody’s going going to have to figure out like what what you know what you’re comfortable with in terms of the amount of shots that you’re going to take what you like from Brandon Miller though is that he’s still finding ways to impact the game and especially in

This one I mean late he hit a shot uh that put them up eight late in the fourth quarter and he he drove on the big he got on Turner drove on the big sto pop hit it from mid-range it looked like Jason Tatum it looked like Paul

George like it was a killer shot to put them up eight right at the end of the game it really stopped any momentum that Indiana hoped to make and that was it was it just looked like an All-Star level shot so that’s what you want to

See you want to see a guy that can step back back when other players are playing well but look you’re going to have a game coming up I don’t know who it’s going to be against if it happens you know right after the deadline or if it’s

If it’s this next game on Wednesday you’re going to have a game when Grant Williams can’t hit the broadside of a barn when bton is not playing well when meic isn’t giving you something and then you have to go to Brandon Brandon already has the experience this rookie

Season of taking that kind of load it’s just you don’t want him doing it every game but you know he can do it and that’s exciting so I I was just looking at what Brandon has done really this entire season if you go back to basically the

Beginning of December and now you have lamelo injured and you’re starting to deal with okay Brandon Miller is certainly the guy I mean it’s his team and just how much he has the basketball in his hands I mean he’s not with the super Superstars where those guys are

You know it’s their offense and they have 100 percentile usage every single game but you’re getting close to 100 I mean you’re in the 90s pretty consistently you’re never below 50 except for once in that stretch since we can go back to the beginning of December

Doug I wouldn’t be bringing this up if it wasn’t such a stark difference right now we’re talking about both games here with the new bench players at under a 50% percentile usage and that’s what I’m interested in you brought up so so okay if we try to

Question why or or if this is going to happen the lack of volume the rest of the way now we need to question is it good or bad you you mentioned the healthy shot diet it wasn’t great for the team it wasn’t great for Brandon

Miller the thing is like are we sure it wasn’t great for Brandon because Brandon was playing really well the team around him wasn’t like and and I that’s where I totally agree with you on the yeah it wasn’t great for the team because they were losing a bunch and having more

Talent is going to help and now you can spread the wealth and it’s just harder to focus your attention on a million different guys than just have to depend on Brandon but my my my question is is it is it still good to give Brandon the Superstar looks before he’s a superstar

Yet at that kind of volume and the thing is if he was just so inefficient then I would be like oh thank God okay now he can go back into a role where he can settle in and there’s still some truth to that there’s still a lot of Truth to

That but he also was really good yeah with all of that responsibility and so that’s the question it’s like I I wonder how much they’re going to bring that back as they continue to move forward and so those those are just a couple of thoughts I have about Brandon yeah for

Sure and and I totally agree with you that you want to see that from him you want to see him taking that many shots at some point and multiple points throughout the rest of the season I’m not saying Brandon Miller needs to take eight nine shots the rest of the way

Here’s what I’m saying we’re getting close to the end of this All-Star break period he needs a rest I’m glad he’s getting some minutes where it’s not all on him right now that’s that’s what I mean and then you’re you’re right he has been an efficient scorer here’s what I

Would like to see more of the rest of the way though I would like to see him expand his playmaking ability you know to to be the Super Wing that we all know that he looks like he’s going to be but I don’t even want to say can be at this

Point I think he’s going to turn in to this player it’s so exciting to watch him play when when not if yeah that’s right and I want to see him expand his playmaking game and so let him focus on that a few games let him focus on uh

Defense I mean he needs to improve as a Defender there are multiple areas of the game that he needs to improve on and so what I’m just what I’m telling everyone is that what this trade deadline has done is allow him to explore those aspects of the game because it’s very

Difficult to explore any other aspect of the game when you know and everybody else on the team knows if Brandon Miller and Bones Bridges don’t score a thousand points the Hornets aren’t winning a basketball game that’s no longer the case and so he can look at these other

Aspects of his game it’s only going to help him help him when the Hornets actually legitimately have to win tough games against good teams no and and you’re right like the the team is winning they’ve won two games in a row so so don’t do the thing that was

Hurting you and not allowing you to win those games but also this is th this is prime territory for the age-old debate of do you just let your young guys go the bleep at it if you’re going to rack up these L’s and not go deep into the

Playoffs at all or do you want to build the winning culture which I also know you tweeted about and I think you’re right it’s been such a losing culture here you need to fix it these guys are happy yeah so let them be happy let them

Win and be happy and rejoiced in all of the victories the the two but all of the victories seemingly coming our way I want to talk about that in the next segment but last thing on Brandon Miller I think Brandon Miller’s smart enough to understand look if he wanted to go into

These games and take a bunch of bad shots what what’s stopping him like the ball has been in his hands the ball is just moving to other players because I think he has basketball IQ enough to know hey we’ve got some new players here let’s try to get them let’s build their

Confidence let’s let’s help them understand you know what’s what’s going on out here I know I’m going to get mine like BR like Brandon Miller has no confidence issues he understands that he’s he was talking before the trade deadline he was talking like a guy that

Knew that this was his team now and in the future okay so he’s got no problem there I think this this is a smart play by him to just you know reain back a little bit because you know you’re going to get yours in the future well yeah and

And of course you can’t say anything if you’re winning and you’re like hey I need the ball more you know well that that led to 10 that something that I would do that’s me that’s a me play yeah I think that is that’s a that’s a Branson Miller not a Brandon

Miller all right let’s move on one more segment to go coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet we’ll get back to that winning culture Doug wants to talk about how important it is to build that what they’re seemingly doing

Right now and is Steve Clifford at the helm of that on top of the new players and if so does Steve Clifford come back next year we’ve been flirting with that a little bit more we’ll continue to coming up next this episode is brought to you by

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To be flexible and suited to your schedule visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp HP betterhelp.com lockon NBA more lock down hornets ahead I brought up one age- old debate when you have such a bad team do you just let the young guys cook even if

You’re racking up a bunch of L’s so they get ready for the future or do you try to do the thing that allows you to get the victories a little bit more so even if you take away some of the volume from your younger players and so we are in

The camp of hey let’s get the wins right now even if it means less volume for your number two overall pick but also Doug because okay if you rack up the win you start to understand how to win at basketball a little more so and then you

Build that culture yes tank andas might want you to lose so you get a better draft pick or you get better odds at selecting high in the NBA draft but I think here this is the time where we’ve already done a lot of losing the more

Wins you rack up it’s not going to take you out 10 like it’s not going to be a 10% difference of you getting the first second or third overall pick from now to where we we end up at the end of the season and you might see a decent amount

More wins like that might be true but it’s not going to be a big enough difference Doug to matter to me to say all right we’re winning a little too much let’s go ahead and dial it back because there’s one thing okay we can be

In the top five I don’t want to take us out of the top 12 that’s not going to happen and so that’s why it’s all the more important to try to win as many basketball games as you can absolutely and you also have to take into consideration the fact that this is a

Weaker draft that having I don’t even know that I mean maybe having the first overall pick would be great it’s I guess it’s great in any draft but you know the difference between two to seven is is not going to be that significant this is this is not a draft that people are

Screaming about okay so you have to take that into consideration but more importantly what you said you’ve got to at some point step on the gas and build some kind of culture not even it it’s it’ll eventually get to a winning culture that’ll happen when they win

Actual you know game that matter but you’ve got to build some kind of culture they had zero culture prior to this trade deadline you’ve got to start building something winning games helps you do that and you’ve already got you’ve already cashed in you already hit the lottery with lamelo ball and Brandon

Miller and you just have you just have to have high hopes that lamelo’s this whole ankle situation gets itself figured out and you’ve got those core pieces there and you may look miles is playing extremely well right now and if the Hornets go inside him then now you’re you’re build third fourth fifth

You know core pieces as well and so you know I think this is the right time to just win as many basketball games as possible and and start to build those winning habits because that that it is important it it will be important next season to go into this season with some

Come out of this season with some kind of momentum for sure Steve Clifford now has a couple of wins back to back with new players and we talked about this before the deadline Doug that okay miles Bridges Love Steve Clifford w w narowski talked about that

When when he dropped the news that yet miles and Rich Paul they’re going to veto any trade and no matter what trade is on the table they’re GNA veto it and they have that power because of the qualifying offer who is Steve’s agent because kudos to Steve’s agent for

Slipping that one in the all the news is popping around and people are calling W and saying things I want to know who Steve’s agent is because he just got that note under the door just in time it was a great little nugget there so so

Right like why would you put that in there you know like there are a couple reasons W and Steve Steve is like on W’s pod every year it seems like they have a relationship yes they absolutely do and he said that Miles and Steve have a great relationship that they’re really

Close like I said Nick Smith Jr he talked about how Steve Clifford is the best coach that he’s ever had there’s a relationship there Doug how many times have we talked about lamelo and Steve uh that seemed genuine right where Steve continues to talk about how great lamelo

Is and then that’s reciprocated I in a way that it really wasn’t with James bgo right like lamelo you know shared thoughts on Steve more so than he ever did when bgo was the coach all of this to say even with the documented like uncertainty around Steve Clifford the

Rumors were out that Mitch cup was not going to be the GM anymore like we knew that was going to happen and we weren’t surprised yesterday like oh okay timing it’s here all right everybody get on their horses and ride and tell the world but it’s not surprising to see that

Happen with Steve Clifford it’s almost surprising that we maybe don’t expect him to be moved on from at the end of the year like now it’s a real 5050 shot in my opinion where I used to think oh yeah it’s clear as day they’re going to clean the entire house they’re going to

Move on from Mitch they’re going to move on from Steve now with the head coach all we continue to see Doug even like even when we brought this up a couple of weeks ago yeah now there’s a real shot like a very very real possibility it

Seems like he could come back if you pull your best players at the end of the year miles Bridges Brandon Miller lamelo ball I mean Mark Williams hasn’t really played but I guess that’s a a future core piece as well if you pull all those

Guys and you say hey what do you think about Steve Clifford and they all give you the big thumbs down the Roman you know Emperor like you know send him to the Lions then it’s an easy call you you move on from Steve Clifford okay but if

All of those guys are playing well because end of the season you made some moves at the trade deadline you made the team better everybody’s playing well I don’t think they’re going to say that just based on their comments all season long when they were losing like when

They were playing terribly they all still got behind Clifford and said look game plan was there we just didn’t execute right so I don’t think that that’s going to happen so then you have to ask yourself okay these owners have gotten schn and Plotkin they’ve gotten a

Little bit of a Taste Of Glory because I think think even though you’re hear you’re so right you’re hearing some propaganda about about Mitch cup you know oh Final Act he you know he leaves us this final gift come guys like this was I just this I will go to my grave

Whether I get direct evidence or not I will go to my grave believing that this was a schnall and Plotkin production that this was an owner-led trade deadline that they were active in not only saying here’s who we have to move but here’s who I want to go get okay

Okay you’re you’re you’re saying they are the GM straight up like not moving forward I don’t think they have a desire to do that no I know I know I think in this particular one it was like Hey we’re gonna we’re GNA we’re very much here to help okay you know

Lean on us but also we are going to make some decisions as well so um I I think that was a big part of it okay and so they’ve gotten a little bit of Taste Of Glory about making a change and then the fans in the arena which they were in

They were there sitting uh somewhere and they’re hearing I think our guy Evan hail has had this whole email docu like the big email thread of just meeting Rick schn and then meeting Gabe Plotkin you know big shout to got to throw his name in the GM hat at this point I think

You know I think he’s know he’s it’s he’s campaigning as well as anybody to be honest with you uh but they’ve gotten a little bit of Taste Of Glory and let’s go Hornet’s chance that’s feeding that and so I think the danger for Clifford is that a big name comes up big name

Hits the market and they just even though everyone loves Clifford even though you’d love to see some continuity for Brandon Miller and continued continuity for lamelo ball because lamelo Ball’s issues have not been Steve Clifford’s fault right and so you know but but the big name comes up and they fall in love

With the idea of oh let’s make a change here because we can make a change I would rather them invest heavily in a new front office not just a general manager but invest Heavenly in a in a new training staff in a new scouting Department I want heavy and investment

In that team building side a if if it was a choice between one or the other and maybe you could do both but I would rather than focus on that and leave the guy that everybody likes and you look you’re giving him good players now and

You see what he can do if he does that the rest of the season then that’s the answer like you’ve got a guy if you give him some tools if you give him some ingredients he can cook um by the way I was looking up the

The real Evan hail just document of him emailing gay Plotkin saying Hey would love you know I’m big fan and then gay Plotkin and Rick saying hey I’ll meet you once you get to the stadium and so that was really cool I just wanted to make sure I got that right you’re right

Too like with Steve Clifford yeah now he has some things to work with where it’s just the young player man like that’s what it is I I don’t even know I Doug like to be fair I’m not even sure how good these guys are and that’s not even

To try to do the rain on everybody’s parade thing I just let get my umbrella out here we go there’s the umbrella no I’m just I just know that at least they’re veterans and they’re at least third-year players well and I guess you know with meic he’s a rookie but you

Know not really with him being so you know much older and being in the Euroleague it’s just not leaky black leaky black was getting a lot of minutes and he was undrafted Mena like think think about just how far in the depths of the NBA player pool

They had to go as soon as before before they get to their second game the Hornets announced that now they’re sending guys back down to Greensboro these guys were a part of the real rotation that Steve Clifford had to throw out there and now he can run with

Just eight nine guys and be good and none zero of the bench players that were getting any time before the trade deadline are getting time now Nick Smith Jr late first round rookie nope you’re not playing anymore leaky black nope not playing anymore Nathan Minah JT Thor

Just had happened for him Les Thor none of those guys so I’m not even sure how great they are I just know that they’re veterans and Steve Clifford can work with a bench that is a competent enough NBA player not a competent enough g-league player and that’s no fault of

The young guys it was a terrible situation that they were in it was absolutely terrible they were asked to do so many different things and hey it’s your it’s your 13th game here Ball’s yours check up what okay uh what do I like that’s what they’re doing and here

They are having an actual bench unit um go ahead if you wanted to share something there well and if look if your plan was to rebuild next season then I would totally say yeah you know politely ask Clifford to move on because that’s not his Forte go and find like a a coach

Like OKC did or or you know whatever and go say hey I need a coach that can come in and relate with young players and play a lot of young players if that’s the deal to move on from Clifford that doesn’t seem like it’s the deal it seems

Like like you know Mitch cup wasn’t fooling it looks like this is going to be a retool not a rebuild they’ve got three first rounders to play with this next offseason they could go out and get a Mel Bridges and really round out this whole starting lineup and make it a

Competitive team in the East if that’s the plan then I would stick with the guy that knows how to coach veterans and has done you know that’s I here’s I’ll tell you selfishly why I want Clifford to stay because I don’t want Clifford’s tenure to end without him you know really

Once not even counting 20156 but like once giving him actual legitimate NBA star-level players he had one in Kima in 2016 but giving him multiple Star level players and let’s see what the guy can do let’s just see what the guy can do I

Just want to see it I just want to see it play out so we don’t have to end the 10 you’re going what if last thing I’ll say about Cliff Doug do you remember the players poll when there were a couple questions about coaches you would least like to play for

And most like to play for and Steve Clifford showed up on both lists he’s demanding is is right these players these players it’s I guess it’s up for debate on how well they’re responding to Steve because before they weren’t getting any wins and it was it was bad okay like

Even some of the effort stuff was there too uh there was enough there to question how well they were responding to Steve Clifford’s message right that was legitimately Up For Debate but when they go to the mic they say things about him that they don’t say about other

Coaches they’ve played for James brego being the only other head coach that they’ve played for here in Charlotte but they’re telling you how much they love playing for that guy so it’s not like he’s coddling him I don’t think anybody would accuse Steve Clifford of coddling these players maybe lamelo last year a

Little bit in the public eye because he didn’t want to say anything bad about him at all and that’s true still but okay that’s fine like let’s focus on the actual players that are a problem not lamelo because he’s not really problem until he’s on the bench um with Steve

These players respond well to the coaching and I think that’s what’s interesting is he was on both list but it seems like these Hornets players are more on the I like playing for Steve Clifford a lot more so than the other one and I think that I think that

Matters a lot here’s the bottom line okay he bought a haunted house Steve Clifford bought a haunted house and all of a sudden there’s an exorcist that came in and just made all the demons go away okay if you’re the bank if you’re rich schn Rick schob and Gabe Plotkin if

You’re the bank you cannot come in for clothes on this guy all the demons all the ghosts and the goblins and the ghouls they’re all gone he’s got a house now let the man live in his house that’s all I’m saying he’s sitting there dancing with him now man he’s made he’s

It’s basically just a big old party over there with all the ghost and now he’s like all right part’s over we’re getting yall up out of here that’ll do it for lockdown Hornets thanks for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods and

That includes YouTube also make sure you go check out Doug substack every Hornet box score.com and you can listen to me on sports radio 927 WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 3M have a great rest of your day we’ll be back with you tomorrow room

The Hornets win again, this time beating the Indiana Pacers for their 2nd win in a row. How is the bench affecting the game in such a big way? Does Brandon Miller’s lack of volume matter? Finally, the guys discuss if Steve Clifford will come back to coach the team next year.

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