Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 You will listen to a Media Day edition of Inside the Hive on the All Hornets Podcast
00:07 Network, one podcast feed with multiple shows, making sure we cover the Charlotte Hornets
00:12 from every angle. If you like what you hear, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave
00:16 a five-star review. The All Hornets Podcast is affiliated with the Fans First Sports Podcast
00:21 Group. Today's show, We Are Power Ranking, our top ten quotes from Hornets Media Day.
00:27 We're joined by Chase, as always, and Skylar Callahan, site publishing manager for allhornets.com,
00:32 joining us for the first time since last year's Media Day, when he came on and did the same
00:36 thing after spending too many hours at the Hornets Spectrum Center today. So Chase, hello
00:43 to you. Skylar, welcome back a year later.
00:46 Yeah, thanks for having me on, guys.
00:49 Chase, how was your day? You were at Boston Media Day today, right?
00:54 I was. I had some work obligations at Media Day down in Boston. It was a grand old time,
01:01 as I'm sure many of the listeners could imagine with what went down on Sunday in Boston in
01:06 terms of the Drew Holiday trade. So it was a fun time. Quite an exciting vibe down there.
01:11 But I'm excited to talk about Hornets Media Day, too, because I was also very excited
01:15 reading some of these quotes on my ride back from Boston today. It got me even more excited
01:20 than I have been in the last couple of weeks for the season to kick off here.
01:23 This is Media Day, I feel like, is the peak of the mountain for fan excitement, right?
01:28 For hope, optimism. And then from here, it normally goes down when someone picks up an
01:33 injury on day one of camp. Preseason game happens, everyone's like, "Oh, the offense
01:37 doesn't work." And then games start and everyone's just balloon gets deflated. So this is the
01:43 peak right now. And we're going to ride the wave. Let's not be negative nancies. Let's
01:49 ride the wave.
01:50 Enjoy it while it lasts.
01:51 Exactly.
01:52 So we're going to be ranking, as I said, our top 10 quotes from the day, just things
01:57 that stood out to us. Skyler, as the man who is there in the room, we're going to go to
02:01 you first. What is your number one thing that stood out to you most today?
02:05 Oh, man, that's tough to just narrow it to the first or the top one. But I would probably
02:10 say maybe an overlooked one, and that's Terry Rozier. And he said something like that this
02:19 is the most excited he's ever been putting on a Charlotte Hornets uniform. And to me,
02:24 if I'm a fan, that gets me going because this is a guy that's been through a lot. Obviously,
02:29 he's been through the teams that have made the play in tournaments. He was there last
02:35 year, kind of had to handle the back point guard duties and then ended up having to play
02:39 point guard a lot because of Lamello being out. And he's been very open about how he
02:44 wants this team to take that next step. And he's had success in Boston before. For him
02:49 to show that kind of enthusiasm, I think just kind of shows, like, especially from a veteran
02:55 guy, if it's a younger guy like, you know, Lamello, I'd get it. But a guy that's been
03:00 around, I mean, you don't really get that type of enthusiasm all that much. So I would
03:06 say that one from Terry Rozier. And also the fact this kind of goes with it. Steve Clifford
03:12 pointed out, too, that he called Terry earlier in like August or something like that and
03:19 was asking him, hey, we're going to need you to be back here and stuff for training camp
03:23 and get you back and working out maybe a little bit before. And he goes, don't even worry
03:27 about it. I'm going to be there a month early. That just that blew my mind that he was there
03:31 that early. And he was not the only one. He was actually just one of the first ones. And
03:36 he started getting some of these other guys to come back to town earlier as well.
03:41 Chase is our Terry Rozier, a big Terry Rozier fan. It's got to be music to your ears, right?
03:47 It absolutely is. And I mean, Skylar and I are on almost the exact same wavelength here
03:51 with our favorite quote to come out of media day. Because mine was the one of Terry Rozier
03:56 saying that he thinks this is also the most talented Hornets team that he has ever been
04:01 on. And James, this is something that you brought up a couple of times on our recent
04:04 podcast. Like this might be one of the most talented Hornets teams just generally.
04:09 It wasn't the only one to say it. It was a common theme today, right? I think Cliff had
04:13 said it. I feel like it was said a couple of times, right? Gordon said it as well. Definitely.
04:22 Yeah, definitely something that came out today.
04:25 And exactly what Skylar said again, like if you're a fan, that type of stuff's got to
04:29 fire you up. Like from these veterans, like Terry Rozier knows what a good team is. Gordon
04:34 Hayward knows what a good team looks like. He knows what a group of seven, eight, nine
04:39 talented guys in the NBA and what that takes off the court to get to that point. And they
04:43 all think that they have that in this locker room in Charlotte right now. And this is something
04:48 JT also said. Everybody's counting them out right now, but the veterans have bought in
04:53 completely. All the young guys seem to be like following their lead. And every guy kind
04:59 of has mentioned like another veteran player that they've kind of gone under their wing
05:02 so far. And like, it just, it really seems like they're trying to hit the ground running
05:06 here in this preseason. And Terry Rozier, I think had a couple of really nice, really
05:11 nice gems from this media day press conference today.
05:15 I want to say one thing about that. You know, Terry Rozier was back early. I do kind of
05:20 feel like every year we have this discussion where everyone's back earlier than ever before.
05:25 And every year there's people who go, yeah, I've just never seen it before. I've just
05:29 never seen it. And I feel like we do this little thing every year and everyone gets
05:33 so pumped. Like, yeah. And it's like, didn't we do this just a few years ago? Remember
05:37 everyone went down to Miami and worked out and all that. You know, no one's ever done
05:42 this before. We're the only ones doing this. And yeah. So I I'm excited. It's great to
05:48 hear like part of me, I wrote in my notes is why doesn't this happen every year? Did
05:54 the team just like mail it in last off season because they knew things were going to go
05:57 bad from the bridge of suspension and everything else?
06:00 Yeah, that was just one thing that I was like, I swear we kind of get excited about the same
06:05 thing every year and players and coaches seem to say it. But I think maybe this year is
06:11 the one. This is actually the one right now we can really get excited before it wasn't
06:15 real. This is the one.
06:17 Yeah, I would say, I mean, just the enthusiasm from the veterans alone has got to be enough
06:22 to fire people up. But I mean, obviously, you hear the stuff from like even guys like
06:29 Miles. I mean, you know, just the confidence that he has in this group. And he wasn't around
06:34 this team last year. And that's going to go and lead me to my second quote here. And that
06:40 is my because I asked my what's the biggest difference playing for JB versus playing for
06:45 Steve Clifford? And he said the main thing is structure. And some people may take that
06:51 question.
06:52 Some people may take that like he's trying to take a stab at JB. But I literally asked
06:58 the question himself. It's not like he brought it up. But I think it's more so of he it's
07:04 more organized. Everyone knows what they're doing. They're all on the same page. Like
07:08 he said, you know, who's taking the shot, you know, where someone's supposed to be on
07:12 any given play. And there's not that confusion out there on the floor. Everything's clear.
07:16 There's a lot of clarity. So I mean, that could change. Obviously, he hasn't played
07:20 a single game with under Cliff. But as of right now, that that at least gives you some
07:25 confidence that he's going to be able to come right back in and pick up where he left off.
07:30 Yeah, I definitely think Cliff as a coach has a little bit more structure than Borrego
07:35 who was more, you know, if you get an open shot, take it. Whereas Cliff would be like,
07:39 no, no, that's not your shot. In this position. We want to try and get you know, that's our
07:43 that's our fifth option. Our first, second, third, fourth option are over here.
07:49 That's got to be a huge advantage for such a young roster to which I think plays into
07:54 probably what Miles was talking about a little bit like JB had similarly young rosters, but
07:59 definitely did not have the type of, you know, detail oriented approach to both ends of the
08:05 floor really, but especially defense. I think that saw Cliff be able to reign this in and
08:10 turn a very similar roster into just a wildly different product on that end of the floor.
08:16 And I do when they use the phrase the most talented team, I do notice they sometimes
08:22 stop short of saying it's the best team, right? Because talent is something that a lot of
08:28 young players have and with talent doesn't always come production or winning basketball.
08:34 So I'm waiting to hear that quote say this is the best team I've ever been on Charlotte.
08:39 That's when I think you can really begin to get excited and it's only a subtle thing,
08:43 but I think there is a difference there. And to go off of that, I think, I don't know if
08:47 it was Terry or Miles. I think it may have been Terry that said that it was by far the
08:52 most talented team that he's played in Charlotte by far. My biggest quote for the day was one
09:01 of the questions that everyone always wants to know after coming back from the offseason.
09:03 Who are the offseason MVPs? Who are the workout warriors? Who are the guys who stood out most
09:09 in the scrimmages and workouts? And Steve Clifford answered this. It might have been
09:13 even you who, was it you who asked it Skylar? Yeah. He answered it and you could tell that
09:19 he knew that everyone wants the answer of like JT Thor or Mark Williams. And he was
09:25 like, I just going to have to say it. It was Gordon Haywood and Terry Rissett who are like
09:30 the two most experienced veterans on the team who aren't necessarily young, aren't necessarily
09:35 up and coming, but he was like, they've been the best players like in all the scrimmages.
09:42 They've been the leaders, they've set the tone. And I think that's really reassuring.
09:47 And he talked a little bit about the year they were really good when they made the playoffs
09:51 and took Miami to seven games. The reason that was, was because experienced veteran
09:55 guys took great jumps. Al Jefferson had his best season of his career, you know, already
09:59 in his thirties at that point. So if we can expect to see big years from Terry Rissett,
10:06 from Gordon Haywood, you add on the development that you expect just to get from having younger
10:11 players. I think, I think that's really exciting, but they weren't necessarily the names that
10:15 I think I was expecting. Maybe a lot of people were expecting to hear come from Steve Clifford.
10:20 Yeah. I think you probably expected it to be like what you said, like maybe a JT Thor
10:25 who Steve Clifford has a major soft spot for. Like he has talked about JT Thor so much.
10:31 And he even last year, I remember in some post games, questions weren't even about JT
10:36 Thor and he would find a way to bring up JT Thor in a conversation. But, but I mean, in
10:41 some ways it is a good thing because like you want those guys that have been here and
10:45 have been in the game for a long time. You want them to continue to progress because let's
10:50 face it, Gordon Haywood's had a lot of injury issues over the last few years. And I think
10:53 a lot of people, even myself included, started to start to think last year, he's starting
10:58 to decline a little bit because last year really wasn't like his best year. I don't
11:01 think, I think he left a lot out there. So I think having, hearing that, it shows that
11:07 there's still some gas left in the tank for both those guys.
11:09 Chase, do you want to hit us with your next quote that stood out to you here?
11:15 So if we can knock out the off-season improvements here once. JT, his media appearance, I thought
11:23 was very, I guess eye-opening would be a good word for it. He, I mean, he, first of all,
11:29 I like he probably won the award comfortably for player that looks the most jacked from
11:34 the spring to now.
11:35 Well Skylar, you were in the room. You tell us Skylar, you were there. Who were your muscle
11:40 watchers?
11:41 The picture that, I think it was you Skylar that tweeted of him. I was like, that guy
11:44 looks a lot different than he did in April.
11:47 JT definitely looks bigger than he did because last year he was looking like a skinny rail.
11:52 And really the last two years, but honestly, Mark Williams, man, he just is massive. And
12:00 we were joking after he left. And I think it may have been Rob that said, he may have
12:05 looked taller or maybe it was Steve Reed. And I was like, I think he actually did grow.
12:09 No, it was Gordon Hayward that actually said that. Because we asked Gordon if he thinks
12:14 Mark got bigger. He's like, I actually think he grew. And it honestly kind of does. I mean,
12:18 he got up on that little stager that they have in his hair. Yes, he's got it flared
12:22 out now, but I mean, his head would have almost touched the ceiling alone.
12:26 It's incredible. But yeah, JT looks definitely a lot bigger. So I'm interested to see how
12:30 that helps him in terms of playing in the paint, rim decisions, finishing at the rim
12:36 and not just being a guy that shoots jump shots.
12:41 If JT Thor can put on enough weight with his size and his length and the current question
12:46 marks around Kai Jones.
12:48 I do wonder if there is like an injury to Mark or Nick and they have to lean on someone
12:53 as an emergency five, it could be PJ Washington. Could it also be JT Thor, right? You talked
12:58 about Steve Clifford, who talks about how he raves about JT. He works so hard. He studies
13:04 so hard, like probably didn't have the strength last year to do it. But if he is playing bigger
13:09 and stronger now and he knows the game plan, he has the versatility defensively. He's a
13:14 lot bigger and longer than PJ Washington. Maybe JT Thor is a sleeper small ball center,
13:20 which is always something that you thought could maybe be a selling point in the draft
13:24 a few years down the line.
13:26 Yeah, and I don't know if it was said by Cliff or if it was said by just us in the media
13:31 while we were waiting, but I think it did actually get brought up at some point. So
13:36 I do think JT's got the ability to and you also have PJ. I mean, with him being able
13:41 to play the five, you can play JT at the four. I mean, they have so many different ways that
13:45 they can move that frontcourt around. But I want to say the one thing that really caught
13:52 my attention with Cliff was that he was very aware of kind of like the situation he's entering
13:59 this year without really saying it. And somebody asked, again, I think it was Steve Reed that
14:06 asked about the pressure going into this year if it felt like a make or break year for him.
14:10 And he kind of thought about it for a second. He's like, I understand it. He's like, you
14:14 could say that. And we all know what the situation is. Like he's on a short term deal. The team
14:21 was awful last year, but obviously a lot of it had to do with injuries. But you have new
14:26 ownership and first impressions mean everything. And if you don't make a first impression in
14:30 year one, they're probably going to want to go out and get their own guy. So for him to
14:36 show that awareness means something. And he said something to the effect of like, I want
14:41 to be the best coach for these guys now and best coach for these guys this year. And that's
14:46 the mentality he has to try to have every single season, not worry about what's going
14:49 to happen next year or two years down the road.
14:53 Yeah. Next quote I'm going to go for, it's actually a selection of quotes. It's one from
15:00 Brandon Miller, one from Bryce McGowan's, and there was also one from Steve Clifford.
15:05 There seemed to be a narrative emerged today that maybe we haven't heard much before. In
15:09 the past, it's always been Gordon Hayward. He leads by example, right? You never hear
15:14 much about Gordon Hayward, the veteran mentor, but there was a few things today that just
15:19 came through, which we've not heard much before. So firstly, Bryce McGowan's talked about how
15:24 he worked out a lot with Gordon Hayward this off season, did a lot of morning workouts
15:28 and how he's really been someone that he's leaned on for advice now that Kelly Oubre
15:33 has moved on. So I thought that was worth taking note of.
15:37 You had Brandon Miller who said that Gordon basically tells all the young guys, forces
15:41 them to get on the physio bed basically every single morning, which again is just building
15:46 those right habits into the young rookies. And you got Steve Clifford who again talked
15:51 about the standard that he was setting in his summer workouts, him coming back early,
15:55 him having a great summer. So just those selection of things, everyone's criticized, probably
16:02 this team for not having a lot of leadership. We have, and I still don't think they have
16:05 enough. But I do wonder if maybe something has changed a little bit this off season where
16:10 Gordon Hayward has looked around and gone, yeah, maybe I do need to be a little bit more
16:15 vocal, a little bit more proactive with this team. And maybe that's a change that we're
16:20 going to see this year. Maybe not something he's used to, but something I think this team
16:24 sorely needs.
16:27 I think a big part of that too, and this is something Steve Clifford also mentioned, he
16:31 had a fully healthy summer. He was not rehabbing an injury. He wasn't off in LA going to doctor's
16:36 appointments every couple of months to get his ankle looked at after it was fractured
16:40 or whatever it may have been in the last couple of years. He was just in Charlotte working
16:45 out clearly with Bryce McGowan's very often also, like pretty much every day. He all,
16:50 I mean, he would post on his Instagram of himself at, I think it's Charlotte Catholic
16:54 High School, the like CC logo in the middle of the court. I'm sure anybody that's been
16:58 there would be able to recognize it immediately if they saw him post that. He was there like
17:02 all the time, like working out gym by himself, taking shots, just probably, I'm sure he invited
17:09 many other young players there with him as well. He's definitely not a vocal guy and
17:14 he probably is never really going to be, especially on the court is never going to be somebody
17:18 that's like yelling at his teammates, like screaming at them, directing them after mistakes
17:23 or like just beating his chest when someone makes a highlight play or something like that.
17:27 But I feel like he's definitely the type of guy off the court, especially to try and steer
17:33 guys in the right direction. Cause he's always been that type of guy off the court. He's
17:38 never been somebody that's known to not have like a good work ethic or is a poor presence
17:43 in the locker room or something like that. So I feel like that kind of thing just shows
17:47 up in different ways. And I definitely feel like he has taken a step forward vocally like
17:51 so far this summer, but maybe in the, in years past, it's just been harder to notice because
17:56 it wasn't like a vocal thing. It was like a lead by example. Like you said, James,
18:00 Do you think Gordon sent a group text to everybody saying, Hey, I'm working out here. Do they
18:04 want to join? And then Bryce McGowan's was the only one who turned up.
18:08 And they're they're 22 person group chat. He got one thumbs up from, from Bryce McGowan's
18:13 and that replies.
18:16 Okay. Skylar, I'm coming back to you. What, what was your next thing that jumped out for
18:23 me?
18:24 So I guess not necessarily injuries, but since we're kind of on the topic of it, I would
18:30 say Lamello committing to wearing braces this year on both of his ankles. That's going to
18:35 be interesting. I mean, you don't think it's really that big of a deal, but until you go
18:40 out there and play in it in the actual game, it's going to be a little different for him.
18:45 I think there's going to be a little adjustment period. So I wouldn't be shocked if he comes
18:49 out and he's a little rusty. I'm not saying he's going to stink it up or anything, but
18:52 like it's probably going to take him a few weeks, maybe a month before he really kind
18:57 of gets back to where we all expect him to be.
19:00 But that's, that's something different. I think Miles pointed out how, you know, Kemba
19:06 back when he was in Charlotte, he would be wearing the braces and the knee pads. And
19:10 I mean, he was all padded up. But it's just a part of taking care of your body and remaining
19:15 healthy. And as far as the shoes go, I know some people are sneaker heads out there. He
19:19 is not changing the cut of his shoe. So he's going to stay, he said he's, he wears like
19:25 a mid to high shoe, not a low cut. It's going to be like a mid to high and he's going to
19:29 kind of stay in that range. So we'll see if it pays off.
19:35 For the tennis fans out there, Andy Murray, a great British tennis player. We're not claiming
19:41 him to be English, he is Scottish, but we're claiming British. Had a lot of ankle problems
19:45 early in his career, had double ankle braces on. And these aren't just like a, like a,
19:52 I don't know, like a tube of grip sock. We're talking like they have plastic plates on each
19:56 side of the ankle. They lock your ankle in place, which is, I've worn them before playing
20:02 basketball myself, because I have a dodgy right ankle and it does feel weird. It makes
20:06 your foot like feel like fat and clunky, but it doesn't stop you from doing anything. And
20:12 that completely changed Andy Murray's career. He basically wore them every single game.
20:18 And I do think those are the type of braces that I actually do think have impact from
20:23 being able to spray in the ankle. So I think it's, I think it's a sensible move and it
20:26 shows that he's willing to work with the medical staff. I think he said it was the team, I
20:31 think he referred to, which is probably the Hornets medical team, were kind of like suggested
20:36 and asked him to do that and he's going to try it and do it. So that's good to see that
20:40 he's kind of adapting and learning and trusting the medical staff as well.
20:44 Chase, I'm coming to you. What's next?
20:48 Hmm. You know what? We'll go, we'll go back to JT Thor. I actually thought it was really
20:53 interesting that he mentioned that Cody Martin is somebody that he views as like a veteran
20:59 leader. And this is like, I think it says more about like where Cody's at in his career
21:05 and like kind of how the loss season may have impacted that. He's like, he's just a year
21:09 older. He's like 28 now. I think he is already turned 28. He's one of the oldest players
21:15 on the team. Like other than Gordon and Terry, there's nobody older than Cody Martin. So
21:19 it makes sense that players would kind of look up to him in that way. And I just think
21:23 that if he can come back and be healthy and just be a rotation player, like he doesn't
21:28 have to be like the team six man or something like that. Just be somebody that can be counted
21:32 on for steady minutes load every night. He's really going to cement himself as like a leader
21:37 on this team because his play style is probably the most conducive to like what people view
21:43 as like leadership qualities, like playing hard, showing effort, toughness, like hard
21:48 nose, defense, commitment to like the little things and details. Like nobody on the team
21:52 really embodies that more than Cody Martin. So I think that would be like really, really
21:56 cool to see him come back and be healthy and be able to do all those things with this,
22:01 like being basically two years older than he was the last time he was a real part of
22:05 this team, like on a day in day out basis. So I'm really hoping that that can, we can
22:09 see that come to fruition this year.
22:12 And the thing that stood out to me was Steve Cliff had said, and he said this last training
22:17 camp and he said again, that Cody Martin, he used the exact phrase is like, he's a huge
22:22 piece of what we're doing. And he said the same thing last off season. And everyone joked
22:28 when Cliff got hired, the ha ha, like Cody Martin is the most Cliff player. And you know,
22:32 James Bucknett was never going to get minutes because Cody Martin was going to play for
22:35 eight minutes and like, he's not been healthy enough to know if that was going to be true.
22:39 But the way he talks about Cody Martin a year on, he's still like a big part of his plans.
22:44 He is not an afterthought, which by now you could be thinking like, well, is he ever going
22:48 to be healthy? Like, have we got some other players we can look at with your Bryce McGowan's
22:53 and but absolutely. It seems that Cody Martin, Steve Cliff, it seems as keen to get Cody
22:58 Martin on the floor as anybody really. You know, he talked about how there's just not
23:04 many players like him in the NBA anymore, unselfish, do everything for your teammates.
23:09 So yeah, I think in Steve Cliff's vision as well, I still feel Cody Martin has a really
23:14 big role on this team if he can reach the levels that he reached two years ago.
23:20 And I actually was like one of the last two or three people. There's only like two people
23:24 in the media room left when Leaky Black got the talk. But I did talk to him a little bit
23:30 about like kind of being that glue guy, not being a stat freak or anything like that.
23:34 And I'll tell you what, like the more I go back and think about how Leaky played at Carolina,
23:40 like I think there's a chance that he could maybe make this team down the road and be
23:46 kind of that Cody Martin if he sticks to that commitment on the defensive end. If he sits
23:51 down there in Greensboro for a couple of years and develops and does enough, he may get a
23:55 shot. And you know, Steve Clifford, if he's still here, he's going to love that effort
23:59 on the defensive end. So I'm not saying he's going to get there this year, but I think
24:04 there's a chance at some point Leaky will get his chance in the NBA.
24:09 Last thing before I got to go, Mark Williams. I was wanting to, I saw James text me this
24:14 and he was like, you got to ask Mark about his three point shot. And I knew exactly what
24:18 I wanted to ask him too. And he seems confident. He said that basically if he gets the ball
24:24 and in rhythm and catches it in rhythm, it's going up. So that could really help stretch
24:30 the floor, open things up. And sometimes we see it in the NBA when you have a center that
24:36 just kind of clogs up the lane, it kind of takes away from what your point guard can
24:40 really do in terms of cutting and getting into the basket. But if Mark's out on the
24:44 three and he can hit those consistently, I mean, all of a sudden, LaMelo has just got
24:49 an extra eight points a game. Like it's going to open up so much more for not only Melo,
24:55 but all the other guys on the roster.
24:57 Yeah, no, absolutely. If Mark Williams can stretch the floor, I'm interested to see if,
25:04 you know, he said if I catch him rhythm, I'm putting it up. Now we've heard this before
25:09 from Hornet centers. We heard it from Cody Zeller. It happened in preseason. It then
25:14 never really materialized in the NBA season. You know, we heard it a little bit from Al
25:18 Jefferson in his last season in Charlotte, never really materialized, you know, both
25:23 under Steve Clifford. I think that'd be an interesting dynamic to see. And if Steve Clifford
25:28 really is letting him shoot, then rest assured that he is very confident because Steve Clifford
25:34 is probably one of the stricter players in terms of limiting players, what they're going
25:38 to do. So I think it's a great point. Yeah, Skylar, I knew you have to jump off to do
25:43 another podcast. Thank you for giving us some of your time. I know. Well done today. I'm
25:49 sure Leaky Black will remember that you were there for him at the end. You can get all
25:53 the exclusives later this year now. You were just there at the end by yourselves. Exactly.
25:57 Yeah. Thanks for that. Thank you guys for having me on. If you're on Twitter, or whatever
26:02 we want to call it, Callahan underscore, I'll be at Hornets training camp throughout the
26:06 week. So I'll try to get some quotes, some videos of guys shooting around and you can
26:11 check all that stuff out there. So thanks guys. And I'll see you soon. See you soon.
26:16 Thanks Skylar. Have a good one, man. Later, y'all.
26:21 Okay. Me and you. I've not designed a two person overlay for this part of the podcast.
26:30 So we're just going to recycle an old used one. Okay.
26:32 I was going to say it looks right, but then now I realize that it's from a couple of weeks
26:38 ago.
26:39 So I guess this is you're thinking what's going on. We don't even mind. Let's get on
26:42 with our talk. And so we're going to do that. I didn't actually know how we've got this
26:46 far without mentioning this next one, Chase. Brandon Miller. I'm anointing Brandon Miller,
26:52 the gold medal, the winner of media day. I think every single coach, well, there was
27:00 only one coach, every single player who came through, head coach, Steve Clifford, everybody
27:05 was raving about Brandon Miller. Not just one thing, talking about his unselfishness,
27:11 his high basketball IQ, his size, his ability to play off the ball without the ball, how
27:17 he's a quick learner, all these things that these are all the things that normally rookies
27:23 have to adapt to. How do you play when you don't have the ball in the hands? How do you
27:26 adapt to new defensive schemes? How do you get up to pace? All those things that normally
27:32 players and coaches kind of like protect rookies by saying, well, it takes some time. There's
27:38 a lot of change from college to pro. You can tell that he's raising eyebrows just with
27:44 the way. I don't remember a rookie being talked about in this way since LaMela Ball. And I
27:50 remember James Borrego said, you're going to see, he's going to raise some eyebrows.
27:56 He said that quote and you went, oh, hold on. He's egging on rather than trying to protect
28:02 the guy. And that's when you know, they've got supreme confidence. So yeah, I'm saying
28:07 Brandon Miller is the winner of media day. There was just so many quotes from so many
28:11 vets who would just clearly highly impressive Brandon Miller.
28:17 Well Brandon Miller, if you're listening, your trophy is in the mail for winning media
28:22 day. It will be here very soon. But I mean, like, I just think like everybody that listens
28:29 to this knows you heard my reaction when we live streamed the draft and the number two
28:35 pick came on the board. It was not overwhelmingly positive, but at this point, man, if I I'm
28:41 rooting for that guy to completely flip the script, cause it's not even just like Hornets
28:45 fans. It's like the entire NBA universe.
28:48 The Hornets are a joke. They're a laughingstock.
28:50 Yeah. It's like this guy is not going to be better. Whoa. This guy is not going to be
28:56 better than Scoot Henderson who went three. There's this was wrong. The set sign seal
29:01 delivered on June 22nd, 2023. It's already over.
29:04 Scoot Henderson just tried to call you to disagree right there.
29:07 Yeah. See, he was, he's already on my phone. I got him right here and I'm ignoring it for
29:12 the sake of the podcast. Listeners, this is what it takes to make it to the big leagues.
29:17 But yeah, if he can just come in and we're, we're in October and everybody around him
29:23 is like, no, like this guy is, this guy's the real deal. Like this, everything that,
29:28 you know, all, everything that the Hornets were saying about him probably in their draft
29:31 room when they picked him, that's real. What, what the NBA world and fans and media out there
29:37 are saying, like, trust us, you will see otherwise very soon. I mean, I, I'm rooting very strongly
29:43 for him to do that. Cause it always, it's unfortunate when players get like trapped
29:48 in these narratives, like as rookies, like Mark Williams immediately just got compared
29:52 to Jalen Duren his whole rookie year was not his fault.
29:56 Just something that fans and media disagreed with. And at the end of the year, it turns
30:00 out at worst they're equal. And maybe in some people's eyes, Mark is better. We just have
30:05 to wait for Brandon Miller to do the same. And I think it's going to end up pretty positively
30:10 in his and the Hornets favor. Some of the notes on Brandon Miller, he revealed that
30:16 he's up to 210 pounds, which is his target weight for the off season. He was listed at
30:21 200 last year, Alabama, and apparently he lost 10, 15 pounds with mono after the season.
30:27 So you have to imagine he was maybe sub 200 in that one 90 range. So that means that since
30:32 March he is probably put on somewhere in the region of 15 to 20 pounds, which is good to
30:40 see because I think some of the, he did look skinny. He's never going to be probably a
30:45 massive strong guy. He doesn't have a Kawai build, but he does need to put on strength.
30:51 So I think that was a positive sign to see. There was one other point I was going to make
30:57 on Brandon Miller, but I can't remember it, but he seemed pretty relaxed about everything.
31:03 Oh, this was it. Steve Clifford. He was like, he always dismissed the question. He was like,
31:09 he's going to be on the floor right away. He was not even like, it's like, you can't,
31:14 when you've seen the way he said it sounded like when you've seen what I seen, you would
31:19 be bonkers not to play Brandon Miller from the start from day one. That's how he said
31:23 it. Like the tone that he sent, which again, there's people going like, is Brandon Miller
31:28 going to start? You know, is he going to be playing? And I was thinking, well, maybe if
31:32 he comes off the bench behind Gordon Hayward, who he knows them well, Terry Rozier, like
31:36 maybe he's going to be playing 14, 15 minutes a night after today. I think he's going to
31:42 be up in that 20 to 25 minute range from early in the season, just from the way that everyone
31:47 is speaking about him. I know there's only 70 minutes to go around. And maybe on those
31:52 particular like second nights of back to backs, maybe they rest Hayward and they give Brandon
31:56 Miller a start. But I'm more optimistic about his role and his playing time after today,
32:03 because you know, if there was any doubt, Steve Clifford would be the first one to try
32:07 and manage expectations.
32:11 Speaking of Steve Clifford, one of my other favorite quotes for Media Day today is something
32:16 Sam Pearley tweeted out, Hornets.com writer. Shout out to Sam for his coverage of Media
32:20 Day as well. Been there for many years now. Always does a great job.
32:24 Friend of the podcast.
32:26 Wonderful friend of the podcast, recurring guest of the podcast. But he mentioned that
32:31 it, oh God, I completely just lost my train of thought. Oh boy. I got to get it pulled
32:37 up now. I got to, I'm scrambling. My brain is just like short circuiting right now.
32:42 Well, I'm going to come in with a take while you are looking for that. I had another one
32:48 queued up ready to go. James Bucknight, maybe one of the forgotten men of this upcoming
32:55 season. But this was one I was wanting to speak to Skylar about actually before we went.
33:02 His interview was, I felt very different from any of the James Bucknight interviews I've
33:07 watched. He appeared very thoughtful, reflective. Maybe I say like a little bit more mature.
33:17 You never know to like, is it going to translate on the court? Who knows? But in the past,
33:21 I always remember like after he was drafted, he was talking about rookie of the year and
33:25 you know, it's going to be high like television. And the guy who I saw speaking today, you
33:31 know, he talks a little bit about how he's worked in all areas of his game, including
33:34 his mental side as well, which again, I think it's not a secret now that Buck has struggled
33:41 with some mental health or feeling low at times. And he's maybe not dealt with that
33:47 the best way. And what I saw going into year, was it going to be three? Three now for James
33:54 Bucknight is just what I felt was maybe someone who has a better understanding of their situation
34:01 and where they are. So I'm interested to see what this Bucknight season looks like. You
34:07 know, the summer league was not promising. Let's be honest, we watched it, we talked
34:11 about it. But today he at least off the court appeared to have maybe speak and appear and
34:19 act a little bit more like an MPA player needs to.
34:23 Yeah, I mean, this is obviously a make or break season for him last year of his rookie
34:29 contract at my make or break month, because yeah, picked up at the end of this month for
34:34 next season as well. Like if he is not good in training camp, if he is outplayed by Nick
34:39 Smith, Jr. Bryce McGowan's Cody Martin, you know, all the other guys, then they may not
34:45 pick up his option next year. So it might not be a make or break year, it might be make
34:48 or break month. Yeah, and that's tough to do in training camp. Like there's like you
34:52 just said, there are three guys that could be ahead of him very conceivably at the end
34:56 of this month. I mean, right now they all three of them might be might be ahead of him.
35:00 So it's not an easy thing to do. And if you're going to be able to accomplish something like
35:04 that, you definitely need to be in your best physical and mental shape. You got to be sharp
35:09 to even come close to being able to put in the work and attention to detail that it takes
35:14 to overcome that type of odds, which is unfortunate that he's in that situation. But obviously,
35:18 you just got to play the hand that you're dealt at this point. I mean, he does seem
35:22 like he's in a good place. So that that is an improvement where he's been at times when
35:26 he's mentioned that himself like multiple times that when his on court play hasn't gone
35:32 well, it's not been something that he's handled well as a as a person, which I would imagine
35:37 that everyone listening to this or in the world can relate to that at some point. But
35:42 it's just on a grand stage and an opportunity like the NBA. These chances go fade very quickly.
35:48 So we will definitely see, like you said, probably over the next month, like what James
35:53 Booknight's future is in Charlotte.
35:56 Yeah. OK, let's let's circle back to your Steve Clifford point.
36:00 Yes. And I remembered pretty much immediately after you started talking, which makes perfect
36:05 sense that as soon as my brain realized that it was not my turn to talk anymore, it was
36:10 like, OK, now I got it. But I wanted to talk about how Steve Clifford mentioned the progress
36:16 that they made last year and like the type of team that they were in terms of pace of
36:19 play. He said that he made we made good progress, progress last year when we had certain guys
36:24 on the floor. Our team is made to run and we ran last year.
36:27 They're seventh in pace, but they were twenty seventh in points per possession in transition
36:31 play. So I think what he's kind of alluding to right there is we played fast. We just
36:37 were in a position to reap the benefits of it. Our team wasn't healthy enough for the
36:42 entire year to have a large enough sample to where we could be a good team in transition.
36:47 We were just a frequent transition team. This year, we're going to try and piece that together
36:52 and have the results look a lot more similar to what the process looks like here. And I
36:57 think like Brandon Miller is going to be a huge part of that with his ability to play
37:00 fast and space the floor, play multiple positions and shoot the ball. Lamello, obviously the
37:06 biggest part of that. But this is something Skylar mentioned, too, with Mark Williams
37:10 three point shooting. I think like if he does add that to his game, that's another thing
37:15 that's really going to help them be able to play fast, because then you don't have one
37:19 guy on the court at all times that teams know they don't need to respect as like a trailing
37:25 shooter in fast break situations. Like what is one of the easiest and like most efficient
37:31 ways that the Timberwolves get a three for Carl Towns running in fast break and having
37:36 whoever has the ball just pitch it back to him as he steps perfectly in rhythm to like
37:41 an above the break three, which is a lot easier for a guy that's really tall and has long
37:45 arms and doesn't need to push on his shots very much like Mark will. I think that's going
37:49 to be something that is like, if that's a real development, that is like, it's basically
37:55 like if like Robert Williams learned how to shoot or like Rudy O'Bannon, not to the same
37:59 level of impact yet, but like it's that type of skill set, adding that three point shot.
38:05 It's just a very, very rare thing for a player that's as good at the things he's good at
38:10 defensively to also be able to stretch the floor.
38:13 And you've nailed it. That is very rare. And that's why I want to pump the brakes a little
38:16 bit. I'm, you know, it's good that Mark said he's going to let it fly if he's in rhythm,
38:21 but how many players go from not shooting threes in college at all, who are interior
38:26 rim blockers, shot blockers to like average NBA shooters from three like Brook Lopez.
38:33 That's one. I don't know if you can name many others, maybe Al Horford, right? Could maybe
38:39 another guy, but these are much older guys who've had like 10 plus years to work on their
38:44 craft in the NBA and they've developed it over time. I want to pump the brakes a little
38:50 bit because I think if like if Mark Williams shot, if Mark Williams like took three threes
38:56 a game and shot 29% this year, I think that would be like good progress. So I don't want
39:03 people thinking here like, Oh, if it can just be 35% on medium volume, it's like, that's
39:08 just, I don't think going to happen.
39:10 Oh yeah, that, that, that would be a fun, I mean, but I, even I'm thinking like just
39:16 basically the volume that Cody Zeller took them at when he was in Charlotte, which was
39:20 like one and a half, I think per game was what he peaked at, but just not shooting them
39:24 at like 24%, maybe up that to like even 30% just to make it so teams have, when you catch
39:30 the ball beyond the arc, they can't just look at you and let you shoot. Like someone has
39:35 to close out. I think they will for at least the first half of the season. No one's going
39:39 to be closing out. They're going to be like, we're worried about the ball. We're going
39:42 to let the seven foot two guy over there shoot a three. Who's like never proven it. So he's
39:47 going to get wide open looks for like until he's shot like a month of 40%, they're going
39:54 to leave him wide open. So I don't think, yeah, defense opposing defense isn't going
39:59 to be the challenge here. I didn't think at least for the first bit.
40:04 It's interesting. A quick fact check on your, not yours, Steve Clifford's figures about
40:08 transition because when he said that I was like, huh, there's some figures. I think you
40:12 read them out. If you could just read them again. I think he said in frequency, they
40:17 were seventh in pace and 27th in points per possession in transition. But now that I,
40:23 now that I say that and actually think about it instead of reading the, just reading it,
40:27 I think they were ninth in pace last year. Well, so I'm looking on cleaning the glass
40:30 here on frequency of transition. So this isn't necessarily pace, but it's frequency transition.
40:35 They were sick. But then when it comes to efficiency, I had them down, they were 24th.
40:40 Right. So maybe slightly better. So this is just, again, interesting here. The reason
40:44 I bring this up, when you talk about stats of what a team is and isn't, like teams have
40:49 slightly different ways of defining things, different to figures that are publicly available,
40:54 like cleaning the glass filters out garbage time stats and from blowouts. And also like
41:00 just maybe what they exactly monitor and track a little bit different, but I just thought
41:05 that was interesting. Like they were maybe not quite as in transition quite as much as
41:11 these stats suggest, but maybe a little bit better on cleaning the glass. I just thought
41:14 it was interesting to kind of compare the public stats to what Steve could have quoted
41:18 and that they're similar, but not exactly the same.
41:21 Yeah. I mean, they might keep their own stats, honestly, the Hornets. They might track it
41:27 themselves in a completely different way. I mean, he could, I mean, he got very easily
41:32 just mixing up the number seven with six or eight or nine is very easy thing to do also.
41:38 But it is definitely interesting. That would be like if we were in the room with him immediately
41:42 and we had just gotten that answer, that would be a very interesting follow up is to be like,
41:46 is that like per the NBA stats or do you guys track that or whatever it may be? Because
41:50 that could lead to a whole web of different answers that you questions that you could
41:55 ask him too. So, but I do think that he is just generally much more equipped to play
42:03 the style that he tried to play last year, but actually see much better progress or results
42:08 from it. And that was something people hated on him too. When he took the job, it was like,
42:12 Oh my God, they had Lamella and he's going to make him play like so slow and not be himself
42:17 and not let him like free, free wheel and be this like creative playmaker that he is.
42:23 He wasn't very healthy last year, but in the minutes that he was, that was not the case
42:26 at all. He was very much letting him run, make the same type of like ridiculous passes
42:31 that only he can make that he was making when Borrego was the coach too. And now the team
42:36 was just a much more sound, structured defense and offense. So I'm very excited to see that
42:41 this year with a fully healthy lineup for most of the season.
42:47 Absolutely. Okay. We're coming to the end here. Any last things, I guess, from today
42:54 that you wanted to touch on anything from a MrBeast new sponsorships? I don't know if
42:59 you saw Kelly Oubre's comments or anything else from the team really.
43:06 So the MrBeast thing as someone who I knew who MrBeast was and that he was like a YouTuber
43:11 and like really famous and gets like millions of views on his videos and stuff. But that
43:16 Jersey patch being my introduction to the fact that he has like a chocolate bar, like
43:21 candy bar line was just a crazy, it was just crazy learning all of this at once. And then
43:26 also realizing that it's the Hornets Jersey patch. But I cannot think of like from a sports
43:32 business perspective of a smarter Jersey patch thing. Like they basically just drew in the
43:38 amount of subscribers that MrBeast has, which I'm sure is like millions upon millions of
43:43 people and like gave them a route to being a Hornets fan, which obviously you have to
43:48 like like basketball and all that stuff. It takes a lot to fully get into it. But like
43:53 how many other teams have that type of market or demographic to market to and that many
43:58 people to pull from that may have not been interested in their team before, but they
44:02 certainly might now. We always talk about this, the cool merchandise and like the logos
44:08 and the color schemes for the Hornets, that doesn't hurt either. So they're really like
44:12 doing a very good job with like the off the court branding stuff and just be like raising
44:18 the presence of themselves, like not just in the city, but just general as like a national
44:22 brand for a professional North American sports team. I think it's very cool to see them do
44:27 these kinds of things. And also the logo looks really cool and it's like the same color as
44:31 the teal almost. So good, good move all around, I think.
44:36 Yeah, it's different, right? And I think that's probably something the new ownership group
44:40 wanted to bring in something, you know, fresh up and coming. You can imagine it as something
44:47 that they were wanting to look at. It might have been in the works way before new ownership
44:51 group, maybe we're giving too much credit, but there's more you can do with it, right?
44:56 There's loads of stuff you can do of the back of it. Who knows if that's in the plans or
45:00 if it's going to be a pretty transactional relationship. It just depends what the contract
45:05 is for the sponsorship, but interesting addition. Yeah, I need to try some of these chocolate
45:13 bars though. I'm pretty jealous now. Can you get them in stores like in America? Have you
45:19 seen these around at all? I've never seen them over here, obviously.
45:23 I'm Googling it right now, but I have literally never seen these in my life. So it looks like
45:28 you can buy them at like Target and Walmart. Oh, Shaw's. Okay. Yeah. So you can get, that's
45:33 a local grocery store up here. So yeah, you can just go to the grocery store.
45:37 This is my challenge for you. For the next podcast. I want you to buy some and I want
45:42 you to try them live on the podcast. I don't want to get some feedback.
45:45 I will absolutely do that. That is our, for one hour next Monday, we will try this chocolate
45:50 bar and I will review it. Just cycling through flavors. Just cycling
45:52 through all the 35 different flavors of candy bar. I love it.
45:59 I mean, Hey, that works. I love chocolate. That sounds like a plan to me. You don't have
46:03 to twist my arm for that one at all, but it's also, he's from North Carolina, Mr. Beast,
46:08 which is cool. I did not know that. I didn't know very much about him at all, but it's
46:11 cool that it's like a local guy that's doing this as well. So very, very cool. And I saw
46:17 that on Twitter that you were worried when yesterday Hornets social media to tease this,
46:22 tweeted a picture of a chocolate bar with a Hornets logo on it. I saw you were worried
46:28 that they had, we're going to have some Brown jerseys. I do share that worry with you a
46:33 little bit, but I thought about it, the Brown and teal and purple and white. I think there
46:38 could be something there if they wanted to make a Mr. Beast jersey instead of just the
46:42 jersey patch. Oh no, come on. I said my tweet was a little
46:47 bit tongue in cheek. And also because I was curious.
46:51 Oregon Blazers jerseys. Well, no, I, it was genuine question. I didn't,
46:57 I couldn't think of any Brown NBA jerseys in history that I knew of. Right. So it was
47:02 a little bit tongue in cheek because I didn't really think it was about, I didn't think
47:05 they were going to go to Brown jerseys. It's just not something an NBA team I didn't think
47:10 would do, especially for a sports reason. And why, why would they make it chocolate?
47:14 But so it was a little tongue in cheek, but also I was just curious, like where the Brown
47:17 jerseys in the NBA and there were some that people posted. So yeah, it was interesting.
47:21 That, see, that's what I thought. I thought you were like just an extreme disapproval
47:27 of the Brown Portland trailblazers jerseys. That's just an Oregon across the front from
47:31 like, I think two or three years ago. That's what I thought it was a reference.
47:34 No recollection. No recollection. I mean, I only remembered it because I would
47:40 see it when Damian Lillard was playing on league pass late at night, which will not
47:44 be happening anymore for the Portland trailblazers. So if they ever have a Brown jersey again,
47:48 I probably won't see it play. See it either. Yeah. My final thought, and we'll say here,
47:53 we've only touched on a few things from media day. If you want to deep dive into this more,
47:58 we have all the player and coach videos posted on all hornets.com. We have a live article,
48:04 which had quotes as, and when that happened on the all Hornets website. If you want to
48:09 hear about some of the comments that Kelly Uber made regarding Charlotte, you can go
48:14 find those on the website as well. My final thought is with all the movement, the Drew
48:20 holiday, Damian Lillard trades, it all happened. I want to say that I think the way the trades
48:26 broke in the end, I think it broke pretty well for Charlotte. Like there was a real
48:32 situation where Damian Lillard was going to be in Miami or Drew holiday was going to be
48:36 in Miami and now Miami has lost Struce and Vincent.
48:40 A couple of their players got a little bit older, Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, not on the
48:46 young guys. And I just think it's interesting that he could have got a lot more difficult
48:54 their division, who you see more regularly and it's not happened. And what happened is
48:58 teams like Boston and Milwaukee were already going to be really good, have got even better.
49:02 So I think it's a really bad thing for the likes of Philly, maybe Cleveland. But then
49:07 for those teams who are maybe battling for that lower edge of the playoffs, I think it's
49:12 a bad thing because it's not spread the talent. It's kind of consolidated it. So that was
49:17 just a passing thought on the final part of the podcast.
49:22 That was exactly my thinking too. And I think down the road, like it kind of just puts the
49:27 Hornets in more in a better position to make moves similar to that because A, those like
49:34 Boston, Milwaukee, like these teams are making these moves right now are kind of locked out
49:37 of them for the next couple of years. Like the Bucks aren't making a Damian Lillard trade
49:42 for, you know, Superstar X next summer. That would be pretty inconceivable to do after
49:47 all they've given up over the last couple of years for Drew Holiday and Dame now. Boston's
49:52 obviously not doing it either because their core is locked in through this season and
49:55 next season. And the other teams are kind of just in the mode of, you know, shifting
50:00 downwards like Miami, Philly, Toronto, like they might be tearing it down sooner than
50:05 they're building it back up. And it does make it harder to break through at that like very
50:09 top level of the conference and be a team that could like make the finals or something.
50:13 But like in three years or even two years, it's not inconceivable that if everything
50:19 breaks right for like the Hornets or other young teams, like even like the Magic or the
50:22 Pistons that they could become, you know, go from the 10, 11, 12 playing range to like
50:27 three, four, five very quickly, because all it's going to take is a couple of moves from
50:33 these veteran teams that are in the play and range now Chicago, you could throw in that
50:36 range as well. And they'll become the Hornets, Pistons and Magic that are tanking, trying
50:41 to get a lot high lottery picks. And these teams will even if they if it's through no
50:45 real like fault of their own, and they're not even trying to get that much better that
50:49 quickly, they're just naturally going to rise up. And it really everything broke for the
50:53 Hornets this summer, I think apart from acquiring players that would make them better themselves,
50:59 like it definitely didn't hurt them where these guys landed up.
51:02 Yeah.
51:03 All right, Chase, it's been a long day. It's been a long day for you in Boston. It's been
51:08 a long day for me transcribing video and recording everything. Thank you for everybody who, who
51:14 interact on social media today. Thank you for those who read Hornets.com. Hopefully
51:18 this has given you a nice taste into what's happening media day and look training camp
51:22 starts tomorrow. Steve Clifford said they're bringing in refs scrimmaging for minute one.
51:27 So there's gonna be some live action play tomorrow. I think the Hornets do a little
51:31 bit differently from what Clifford said. They don't do drills. They like to scrimmage. They
51:35 like to hit people from day one. So yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see Skylar make
51:41 sure you're following Skylar on Twitter as well as @Callahan. He's going to be there
51:46 at training camp all this week giving you all the information that you want. So make
51:50 sure you're following Skylar. Appreciate him jumping on here. Chase, appreciate you jumping
51:54 on as well after a busy day for you. And when you speak next week, when we'll have probably
51:59 some more insight into how things are going with training camp. So we will speak next
52:03 Monday and we'll get a podcast in next Tuesday. A couple of things before we finish. We do
52:08 have a new podcast schedule for this upcoming year. So it's going to be me and Chase going
52:12 to be publishing Tuesday. We're going to have Hornets and Heartbreak publishing Thursday
52:16 and we're going to have Buzzer Boys, Buzzer Beaters even, which is Eric and Atticus is
52:22 going to be publishing on Saturday as well. So make sure you check out allhornets.com.
52:27 Make sure you check out all Hornets Twitter where you can find our schedule on there.
52:30 And we're going to be bringing you scheduled podcasts every, basically pretty much every
52:35 other day of the week. So you're going to be kept up to date all year. But thanks everyone
52:40 for tuning in. Thanks for listening. And we will speak to you next week.
52:44 everybody. Season is here. Let's do it.