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00:00 Compare it to the I mean, I don't know it's it's double the other two. I'm going to players as my second one at
00:06 25% that doesn't match up to yours does it?
00:10 I'm at players for 30%
00:13 Okay, again, we are very close very much in the same ballpark. So yeah
00:17 I've got them accounted for a fourth of the blame
00:21 You could just go down the list of players and just kind of like think this season how many players have shown improvement?
00:29 How many players have regressed how many players have kind of stayed the same?
00:32 And I just don't see a ton of improvement from the players and the accountability
00:37 Rest on their shoulders. I mean obviously we just mentioned that the roster construction isn't ideal, but that doesn't prevent players
00:44 from stagnating
00:47 Doesn't prevent them from trying to get better
00:48 I think Lamello and I guess Rozier to a certain extent are one of the two players that I can kind of think of that
00:55 Have noticeably improved in a handful of aspects and you've got Lamello who gets to the rim a little bit more draws more fouls
01:02 Rozier has you know taken up his his role as Lamell has been out
01:06 He's elevated his three-point efficiency back to where it was after a down year last year is his scoring as much needed
01:13 His clutch shooting as much needed and he's just doing it with the more prominent role
01:18 But when you look at the other players like I can almost point to almost every single player on
01:23 The roster that has not gotten better or there's something that's like popped up
01:27 That's new that I'm like wow
01:27 Like I didn't realize that that was now a deficiency of yours like PJ Washington for example
01:32 He has disappointed me this year with his on-ball defense and it just hasn't popped like it has in seasons past
01:38 Like he had a he had a very solid start to the season
01:41 But he's been inconsistent since like the first five or six games Mark Williams, for example, like we've had discussions about this
01:48 I'm sure you guys have is you know have has had as well like getting pushed around by more physical bigs
01:54 I would have thought he would have shown something this season that I can point to that stands out like wow
02:00 that's a noticeable improvement from Mark Williams and
02:02 That's not to say that I'd like I'm not on board with him
02:06 But like I actually think he's regressed defensively from what I saw last season
02:10 I mean, I was so impressed how he used to not jump at pump fakes and then this year
02:14 He's got him foul trouble like time and time again
02:16 whereas something last year that's felt like I was he was really locked in on and wasn't as much of an issue and
02:21 Obviously, it was different for him coming in from the G League and playing later in the year
02:27 But I think offensively he's been kind of impressed me
02:31 I think exceeded my expectations but defensively which is a thing where everyone, you know pegged him in
02:36 He just doesn't
02:38 Influence other team around the rim as often as you you thought he would I think from the flashes that we saw last year
02:44 Yeah, and I think the physicality stands out to me getting pushed around to your point
02:50 He's trying to jump for all all the blocks that he can get and that gets him into trouble with the fouls
02:55 One thing that we saw last year was him being a little bit more versatile in the pick and roll situation
03:01 But we're seeing a little bit more conservative approach with him and drop and obviously recently he's been injured
03:06 JT Thor has been another disappointment to me. I don't know feel about him. Like he has regressed on both ends of the court
03:12 Bridges has fallen off since his hot start and I would say like Nick Richards and Hayward like they haven't necessarily gotten like tremendously better
03:20 But they I would just say they've kind of been like flatline to me like both of those guys
03:24 But you know besides lamella besides Rozier a lot of the other guys just have not shown enough
03:29 No, and there's only so much blame you can put on like the roster construction
03:34 You've got to kind of overcome that and be a little bit better individually, but that's kind of how I view it 25% for these players
03:41 Well, everyone says the summer is where you get better, right? That's the phrase that goes around players
03:47 That's where you can work with your skill coaches
03:49 Improve your shooting percentages and pre-ball handling working getting a better shape or improving your athleticism
03:55 You know when you're in the season
03:56 You don't have as much time to work on your craft as much just as your play recover play recover
04:02 And I agree with you like there was the game of the night. I think I tweeted this that
04:05 You know, you're gonna see Nick Smith jr. Bryce McGowan's JT Thor
04:10 I remember in years past if we'd have seen like first and second years player hitting the floor
04:14 You're like pin to your eyes are pinned to the TV, right?
04:17 Because you're excited to see glimpses of these guys who've been hidden on the bench and you want to see how they're developing
04:23 And there's just no excitement about this seems young place
04:26 It's just like oh great like we you know
04:29 we're gonna they're gonna come in and we're probably gonna be outscored by 10 and
04:32 It's gonna be a real struggle and there is just no mystery intrigue. I don't think apart from like with Nick Smith jr
04:38 He is the only one that I feel that kind of level anticipation exists
04:43 And and so unlike Nick Smith jr
04:45 There's been a couple of times last year when he like he really hustles he plays hard
04:48 you can see him like running up the floor hard playing with like high energy and
04:53 It really jumps off the page and then I realized why it jumps off so much just because there's just not many
04:59 players in the Hornets you play with that like level of verve and hop in their step like he does and
05:04 Sometimes it ends up with fouls, but you don't describe any of these Charlotte Hornets players like high energy active
05:12 defensive disruptors
05:14 I just don't think they play all that tough. I again I talked about in the coach in the front office side
05:20 They've got soft players. I think the players have to take some responsibility
05:24 Like, you know one night turnovers is the issue the next is defensive rebounding then the next night
05:29 It's the fouls then they can't shoot the ball from three. There is no real consistency
05:33 I don't think from any of the players as a collective group, but the one thing that's consistent is
05:38 they generally get pushed around and bullied by veteran teams and
05:41 Like there's only so long you can keep wishing and saying well, they're gonna mature they're gonna get stronger
05:47 some point like these young guys like you're not saying that about the Oklahoma City Thunder and
05:52 A lot of their players are in their first and second and third year
05:54 So that is something that I don't think these players have have taken on and Steve Clifford has tried to protect them
06:01 you know, he said that they're playing hard effort is not the problem and
06:04 I think yes, that's right times
06:07 But you can't tell me you watch all the games this year and don't notice low energy period
06:11 So when the team have given up or when there's like five people standing around watching Kyle Lowry grab an offensive rebound
06:18 You know, that is something that falls on the players like Steve Clifford can't do any more than do rebounding drills and tell the team
06:25 They need to focus and they need to box out
06:27 But this is something that the players have not learned to do like it's a battle just to get them to do the basics
06:33 Never mind the more trickier things
06:35 Well, a lot of things that you just mentioned like turnovers
06:38 defensive rebounding
06:40 Things of that nature do come back to toughness like you got to be tough on the ball
06:45 You got to be smart with the ball. You got to be able to box out players
06:48 You got to have every play not just now and then every single possession, which is the this team's problem
06:53 They do it for spurts when things are going well when the shots going in
06:56 Suddenly people are boxing out and they're in the game but like Orlando who've been terrible for years before this year
07:03 I remember used to watch them go into Orlando and they'd have won like 10 games and have 30 losses
07:08 And you could see them playing with like a level of energy and intensity
07:12 That was impressive Moe Wagner would be chirping playing physical and you could be like, oh, they're not there
07:18 Yeah, but they're playing with something Charlotte just have a complete absence of them
07:22 you almost wonder if
07:25 To your point. It's almost like if their offense is going well, then they'll play hard on defense
07:30 I feel like I feel like it's gotta be the opposite
07:32 I feel like you got to play hard on defense regardless and then if the offense comes then then that's when the stretches come and
07:37 I think that's what's Clifford's trying to preach. I'm sure he's stressing that in practice
07:41 He's trying to get these guys on board, but some of them just don't have it in them to be
07:47 100% four quarters 48 minutes to be hustling every single possession. This is a team that just can't take quarters off
07:54 We've seen the slow starts and you know
07:56 You get that glimmer of hope in the second and third quarter when they try to come back
07:59 But at that point it's too late because you wonder man if they had just shown this effort in the first quarter
08:04 Who knows where they would have been by this point and then back to your previous point about the young players about like the intrigue?
08:11 And just kind of being interested in how they are playing
08:14 Yeah, there isn't a whole lot but I also feel as if if the team itself was constructed a little bit better and
08:21 They were coming in not just to you know fill in for injured players
08:25 But they were coming in just to you know, have an eight minute spurt here there in the game
08:30 It's almost like they'd be contributing to a winning team and I feel like that's when you get a little bit more interested
08:36 We now know that Nick Smith jr
08:38 And JT Thor and Bryce McGowan's all these guys are coming in and they're not going to contribute to a winning team
08:43 They're just getting out there getting reps because we know overall this team is not going to succeed to where you know
08:48 They probably should succeed at if the roster was built a little bit better
08:51 So I think that's why or at least partly why like as fans
08:55 You just don't get all that excited when NSJ comes in because it's like okay
09:00 He may put up six eight points, but it's it's not really going to contribute to anything in the overall grand scheme of things
09:05 Yeah agreed
09:08 So we were very close there you were 25% I was 30%
09:11 I will let you go to the third section here
09:14 And and from what I think you said before have you got these two sections split percentage equal? Correct? Okay
09:20 >> All right.