Trae Young's frisky Hawks, Magic will LEAP, WTF are Heat doing? | Southeast Division Predictions

Jason previews and predicts the outcome for the Southeast Division including Trae Young's Atlanta Hawks, Paolo Banchero's Orlando Magic, Bam Adebayo's Miami Heat, LaMelo Ball's Charlotte Hornets, and the Washington Wizards.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at
the volume. Have you Thursday? Everybody? Hope all you guys
are having a great week. We are doing our final

(00:21):
division preview today with the Southeast Division. Probably the weakest
division in the NBA, but still some interesting teams, interesting
young players, and one team in particular that fits a
lot of my personal basketball philosophies that I'm very, very
excited about this year. So this is the Southeast Division.
We're gonna be covering the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets,

(00:42):
the Miami Heat, New Orlando Magic, and the Washington Wizards.
You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe
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(01:03):
last but not least, if you want to get questions
into our mail bags, We're going to have our first
mail bag of this preseason phase next week. So drop
your questions in the full episodes on YouTube in the
comments and we will get to them in our mail
bags this next week as well as throughout the remainder
of the season. All Right, let's talk some basketball, starting
with the Atlanta Hawks. Quite a bit of turnover on

(01:24):
the back end of their roster. They lost Kobe Buffkin,
Click Capella out of the starting lineup obviously, Karris Lavert,
Terrence Man, Garrison Matthews, Larry NaNs Junior, and georgi' nie.
They added Nikhil Alexander Walker, one of my favorite three
and D guards in the league, Luke Canard one of
the best catch and shoot players in the league. Chris
topsportzingis a switch beater to help Trey Young, which we'll
be talking about, Charles Bassie, Caleb Houston, young wing who

(01:47):
showed some shooting potential last year. And then their first
round pick Ason Newell, athletic big who has made a
name for himself as an offensive rebounder. He had forty
two offensive rebound putbacks last year at Georgia which tied
for the second all of Division I basketball. I really
like this Atlanta Hawks roster. It's built off of basketball

(02:08):
principles that I believe strongly in, and I believe, if
they can stay healthy, that they will win a lot
of basketball games based on this strong foundation in a
lot of ways, I'm gonna have my eye on this
team this year almost as a proof of concept for
what I believe in. If the way that I see
the game going is accurate, so to speak, I think
this Hawks team, as long as they stay healthy, is

(02:29):
gonna win a lot of games. I spoke in a
video a few weeks ago about the idea that basketball
flows down from advantage creation. If you have a guy
who can break the defense down and create openings, just
about any pro hooper will be able to find a
way to thrive in those openings. For a lot of
the offenses around the NBA that the ones that struggle

(02:50):
usually starts with creating that initial advantage and having a
passer who's able to actually hit those openings when they
take place. I think Trey Young is one of about
a half dozen guys in the entire league that truly
excels at this idea. Of advantage creation on a team
last year that was pretty devoid of offensive skill, and

(03:12):
they had lost one of their best players early in
the season and Jalen Johnson to injury. Trey Young posted
per cleaning the glass who filters out garbage time. Trey
Young posted a one seventeen point four offensive rating when
he was on the floor last year. I think that's
incredibly strong given the talent that he was playing with.
And this roster compensates for Trey and his biggest weakness,

(03:33):
which is his size in athleticism, by surrounding him with
an incredible depth of high level athletic talent. Guys who
can defend, the guys who can rebound, Guys who run
the floor super well, guys who play super hard every night.
The four guys that I'm looking at here are Jalen Johnson,
Zachary Risache, Dyson Daniels, and na Keil Alexander Walker. They

(03:54):
bring defensive playmaking as well as end to end athleticism
I talked aboutlast year. Zachary Risaschet is one of the
most gifted open floor athletes I've seen in terms of
getting ahead of transition defense just with his end to
end speed, Jalen Johnson is obviously every bit is formidable
in that regard. So it starts with their transition attack,

(04:15):
forcing missus long misses in particular, and turnovers and getting
lots of easy stuff with their athleticism in the open court.
And then Nikil, Alexander Walker and Dyson Daniels represent one
of the best duos of guard defenders, of perimeter defenders
that you'll find in the league. They are going to
start every defensive possession again as long as they can
stay healthy by making opposing ball handlers uncomfortable. That is

(04:39):
the beginning of every great defensive possession in basketball. Getting
into the ball, that's what leads into forcing a team
later into the clock, forcing them into tougher shots, which
can lead to longer rebounds, forcing turnovers. And while all
those guys, all those four guys have their offensive limitations,
ni Kile Alexander Walker has become a really nice catch

(05:00):
and shoot player as well as a guy who can
put the ball on the floor. Jalen Johnson showed some
offensive pop last year. These guys have offensive skills. I've
talked about Zachary Rissasche and his close out attacking and
his left handed finishing. These guys all have things that
they bring to the table, but all of them are
not what you would consider to be like super high
level offensive players. Right. That's where Trey Young can support

(05:21):
them in turn by creating high quality advantages, the kinds
of advantages that pros like them will thrive under, and
it'll make it easier for them on that end of
the floor. I think this is going to be a
team that thrives on the margins, and that's a big
part of why I think they're gonna win a lot
of games. I think they're going to create margin in
transition with their speed, get a lot of easy buckets

(05:45):
before even having to confront half court situations. I think
they'll create margin by forcing turnovers. This team actually forced
a lot of turnovers last year, and I think they'll
force even more this year with the addition of Nikhil
Alexander Walker and just the growth individually of their young player.
They're gonna create margin on the offensive glass depending on
how much Asonule plays him and him and on Yakakongwu,

(06:07):
they're a pretty devastating pair of offensive rebounders. That's a
group of traits. Those margins there that just make it
easier to win basketball games night tonight in the NBA
regular season, and then Nanci Salad did a really nice
job of finding some complimentary offensive talent to round out
the margins for Trey Young on that end of the floor.
So again, for instance, Trey Young's biggest offensive weakness is

(06:31):
beating switches. If you can let him work against some
form of drop coverage or high drop coverage or blitz
or anything that's gonna involve him having his defender chase
over the top of the screen, Trey Young is gonna
pick you apart. But if you can switch. His inability
to beat switches is something that has come up from
time to time in his career. Chris hops porzingis is

(06:51):
the antidote to that. He can beat switches with quick
post ups and quick face ups, somethings that he's been
doing really well for years now, dating back to when
he went to Washington right. Luke Canard is a super
high level shooting threat. He shot over fifty percent on
unguarded catch and shoot jump shots last year. In fact,
out of the one hundred and fifty five players in
the league to take at least two hundred catch and

(07:12):
shoot jump shots. Last year, he was the third most
efficient in the entire NBA. So you added one of
the best shooters in the league, one of the best
switch beaters in the league. That's going to go a
long way towards rounding things out for them on offense.
I feel very similarly about this Atlanta Hawks team to
how I felt about the Clippers last summer. If you

(07:32):
guys remember, I had very similar conversations about how even
with Kawhi Leonard out, this was a Clippers team that
had rim protection with Zubots and had a plethora of
elite perimeter defenders and a floor raising offensive engine in
James Harden and I talked about how I believed that
would be enough to keep them afloat during the regular season.

(07:53):
And that's a big part of why I'm optimistic about
this particular Atlanta Hawks team. I don't feel him as
a substantial threat to go win the title or anything,
but they just check too many boxes for what I
believe succeeds in the modern NBA to not win a
lot of games. They have an elite advantage creator, they
have complimentary play finishing talent for different types of situations.
Guys who can run the floor and transition, guys who

(08:15):
can beat switches in the posts, guys who can be
deadly from the perimeter. And they have a bunch of
high motor athleteses just a bunch of big athletic dudes
who play hard every single night. That is such a
key to succeeding in the NBA regular season, where ebbs
and flows an effort can play a massive role in
whether or not games go one way or another. They
have excellent perimeter defenders combined with rim protection. With Porzingis

(08:38):
is healthy, I think that's a foundational strength for a defense.
And they play in a pretty weak conference, so if
they stay healthy, they get sixty plus games at a
Krisops Porzingis. You don't have an injury to a guy
like Jalen Johnson, Trey Young can stay on the floor.
If they get those things to go their way, I
think they're a real threat to finish with the top
four seed in that Eastern Conference host a first round series. Now,

(09:01):
this could obviously go wrong in a bunch of different ways,
but again, if they can stay healthy, I expect them
to be one of the most fun teams in the
NBA this year. I also view them as my personal
favorite for a Yanis trade. Should the opportunity arise, they
can get a deal done with Jalen Johnson and Yakakonglu
and draft picks. And I think it's foolish to just

(09:22):
say that Trey Young is the same as partnering Yannis
with Dame. I view those two guards as remarkably different
archetypes of players. I think Trey is in an entirely
different class as a playmaker than Dame, especially with pick
and roll partners, so I think they would thrive him
and Yanis to a much greater extent than Name ever
could with Yannis. So just another Hawk storyline to keep

(09:44):
an eye on this year. Today's show is brought to
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(11:13):
or Virginia the Orlando Magic. They lost Cole Anthony, Contavious Callbo, Pope,
Gary Harris, Caleb Houston, and Corey Joseph. They added Desmond
Bane their big offseason acquisition, Tyas Jones, one of the
best catch and shoot players in the league. Skill guard
who was kind of wasted in Phoenix, who I think
will be useful there. We'll talk about that in a second.
Colin Castleton and Jace Richardson, as well as Noah Penda

(11:37):
their two draft picks. Jase's Jason Richardson's kid. He's just
a really solid role player guard, and then Noah's a
defensive forward prospect. All eyes will be on this refined
offensive skill that they added this summer. Remember, this was
the very worst jump shooting team in the NBA last
year by a country mile. Tias Jones is not the

(11:59):
explosive athlete that Cole Anthony was, but he's a lot
more polished now. Tias is polish. Was wasted on a
Phoenix Suns team that needed athleticism and physicality from the
guard position, not necessarily skill, but it will be welcomed
in Orlando for starters. He brings reliable shooting to a

(12:19):
team that can't shoot. He was eighty seven for one
seventy two on unguarded catch and shoot threes last year,
Tyas Jones. That's fifty one percent. He's going to hit
open shots and he has the ability to make some
pick and roll shots in two man game. He can
hit floaters in the mid forties. He can hit mid
range jump shots in the mid forties, so I think
he has the ability to run some action with Orlando

(12:42):
screeners as well. I just think he'll be a lot
more valuable here than he was in Phoenix, and you
don't have to worry about his physical limitations as much,
because yes, he's a poor defender and just about every facet,
but he'll be surrounded by elite defensive talent and you
won't have to depend on him in big spots because
he's not in your best five man groupings. Just a
really solid rotation player that fits a very specific need

(13:02):
for this group. Desmond Baan, though, is the real dynamic
piece that Orlando brought in, and I could not be
more excited about the natural basketball fit. I talk about
this idea all the time. Your value to your basketball
team has to do with the role you're in and
what they need from you, not what you're good at
in a vacuum. Desmond Baan may not be the superstar

(13:22):
talent that some other guys around the league are, but
his specific skill set is going to be ultra valuable
in this Orlando Magic system. I actually want to start
on the defensive end of the floor here. Anytime you
go and grab a skill guard, you worry about dealing
with an inferior athlete, right, a guy who's going to
give up a bunch of his production on the other

(13:43):
end of the floor getting attacked or making mistakes. Right.
That is not the case with Desmond bay He's a
competitive mffort who plays his ass off on defense. He's
got a trunky frame that makes them difficult to exploit
with size mismatches. He flies around, applies great ball pressure.
He's gonna get favorable matchups because of the partnership with
Jalen Suggs, so he's not gonna have to guard the

(14:04):
other team's best player or anything like that. I think
he's going to contribute to Orlando's defensive identity not take
away from it. In an offense, he represents the first
player in the Franz and Polo era that can actually
unlock those two guys in their two man game situations,
whether that be ghost screens or even just using them

(14:25):
as role men and in two man game situations like
ball screens and things along those lines, any action Orlando
would run with their guards before Desmond Baine entered the equation.
Even decent shooters, guys like Jalen Suggs or Corey Joseph
teams would just be willing to live with the results.
You'd live with them taking threes slipping out of a
ghost screen. You'd live with them taking pull up threes

(14:48):
out of a ball screen if you got a good
screen on the on ball defender. They would make it
hard for guys like Palo and Franz to actually make
the defense pay for lingering or sticking to on the ball.
It also made it harder for them to get favorable
switches because you could get away with hedging and recovering
against those level of shooters. You are not going to
be able to just live with Desmond Bain getting good looks.

(15:12):
He shot over fifty percent on unguarded catch and shoot
threes last year, more than half. You cannot leave him open. So,
by the way, Orlando, the worst three point shooting team
in the NBA last year, added two fifty plus percent
open three point shooters. That's gonna be a big boost
for them in a key area. Bain was also one
of the best pull up shooters in the league last year.

(15:35):
Out of sixty players in the league to attempt at
least two hundred fifty pull up jump shots last year,
he was fifteenth, so in that upper fourth, ahead of
guys like Damian Lillard, Devin Booker, shake Gilgess, Alexander or
Jalen Brunson. That will force defenses into more compromising positions.
If you give up open shots to elite shooters, they're

(15:55):
gonna make them. If you have Desmond Baines set a
screen and you stay attached to Desmond baine on a
screen for Franz or a screen for Palo, those dudes
are gonna go screaming downhill because the bigger defenders guarding
Palo and Franz are not gonna be good at navigating screens.

(16:16):
If you switch now, you're giving Palo and Franz favorable
size advantages, something they had struggled at times to achieve
against the hedge and covers that they often face in
years past. In situations where Pollow and Franz are the screener,
they should get more opportunities on the role because you'll
actually have to account for Desmond Baine in that situation

(16:36):
instead of just living with the guy taking a shot
coming off of that screen. Those two guys combined for
about one hundred and ten roll man possessions last year.
I think we could see that number double this year potentially.
And lastly, for clutch situations, the Magic now finally have
two man game combinations that they can actually go to
and count on getting quality stuff advantages, either for guys

(16:59):
slipping out or for mismatch attacking situations with Smalls getting
onto Franz and Pollow. This was the sixth worst clutch
offense in the league last year. They lost seventeen games
in clutch situations. In the series against Boston when they
got killed in crunch time, they managed just a ninety
offensive rating in the two games in that series that

(17:22):
went into the clutch. I expect Desmond Baine to really
grease the wheels for them in these spots. The rest
of the story for the Magic this season will come
down to the continued skilled development of Palo. In Franz,
Palo showed some real growth as a short range shot
maker last year. It was fifty percent on jump shots
inside his seventeen feet. He was forty eight percent on floaters,

(17:43):
but his jumper fell apart when he got further away
from the basket, and those short range percentages both dipped
down into something less favorable when they got into the playoffs,
including against Boston. He Palo is below fifty percent at
the rim. So include improved skill development for Palo over
the course of this year year will be key, and
then Franz, Like I've been waiting for Franz to improve
as a jump shooter for years. He was thirty percent

(18:05):
on jump shots last year with the Magic, twenty eight
percent with Germany. This summer, he has shown, similarly to Palo,
some impressive short range shot making. He's got a good
floater and he can hit the jumpers inside of seventeen feet.
But those two guys just improving overall as perimeter players
will be another key swing factor for Orlando this year.
I think this Orlando team's gonna be really good. I

(18:27):
think with Desmond Bain, they have a legitimate chance to
win the conference. Bain, to me is the classic example
of your value is more specific to your situation than
in a vacuum, and I think Bain plugs naturally into
a very specific need for this team. And now you
have Palo in Franz with a couple of years of
playoff experience. The Celtics and Pacers are out of the mix,

(18:51):
so it kind of feels like that first real opportunity
for a long playoff run for the Magic. We saw
how their physicality caused concerns for Cleveland too years ago.
This is gonna be a fun season for Magic fans.
They have every reason to be very optimistic. All Right,
We're gonna go very quickly over the course of these
last three, I should say quicker over these last three

(19:12):
Mimy Heat. They lost Kyle Anderson, Alec Burks, Hayward high Smith,
Kevin Love, and Duncan Robinson. They added Precious to Chewa,
Simone Fontechio, Norman Powell, as they're Duncan robinson replacement. I
like Norman. I think he can obviously have health issues
from time to time, but when he's healthy and like
on the floor every night and in rhythm. He had
some really high level scoring stretches last year for the Clippers,

(19:35):
and then their first round pick Kasparas yakachonas basically the
classic big European shot creator from the perimeter type of vibe.
You guys have seen a bunch of that sort of
dude come through the league in recent years. This feels
like one of those years where Miami could be sneaky dangerous.
There aren't any truly great teams in the Eastern Conference

(19:55):
aside from Cleveland, and that just depends on how you
feel about them. I definitely think that they would qualify
as a team that kind of has separated themselves from
the rest of the teams in the East. But whether
or not they can really contend with the Denver Oklahoma
City types, I think that's reasonable to debate or to
have some doubts about. I personally have some doubts there.
But there are no what I would consider to be

(20:15):
top tier championship contenders in the conference, and I've often
referred to Miami over the years as the bouncer to
the championship club. A team that is so well coached
and solid in every phase of basketball that they can
expose teams that aren't real contenders. They'll lose to the
eventual real contender they'll lose to, like that twenty twenty

(20:36):
two Boston team. You know, when that particular team, when
they were so locked in on defense, was just at
another level that Miami couldn't reach. They lost to Denver, right, Like,
they're gonna run into certain teams that are just too
much for them. But anybody that's beneath that true championship
contender tier Miami's exposed in recent years. So I think

(20:56):
it'd be foolish for us to just think it's impossible
that we'd be watching this Heat team potentially playing the
conference finals this year. The difference is Jimmy Butler's gone,
and maybe that ends up being the difference between those
Miami Heat teams in this one. But I guess we'll see.
Time will tell, right. I like the change to the
roster over the last year. I'm actually an Andrew Wiggins fan.

(21:19):
I think he's one of the best perimeter defenders in
the league still, and I think his athleticism is still
game changing. Having guys like him and Davion Mitchell as
primary perimeter defense options with bam out of Bayo on
the back line and kill a where theoretically with the
player that he can become as a rim protector, Like
that's the strong foundation defensively. I think Norman Powell is
going to be a great fit and bring that much

(21:41):
needed offensive firepower. Tyler Harrow is coming off of a leap.
He went for twenty four five and six on sixty
one percent for shooting last year. The bam Adebayo Kella
where like two big look was. Honestly, it had a
very promising first campaign. They were plus four points per
per one hundred sessions in one thousand and eighty eight

(22:01):
percent possessions. That's a pretty large sample size of them
of those two being successful. I think they're gonna be
top ten defense again, and I think they have a
chance with the improvement internally and with the addition of
Norman Powell to kind of get into that middle of
the pack on offense somewhere in that like fifteen to
seventeen range. And if they get there, they're gonna win
like somewhere between forty and forty five games. And then

(22:25):
because of their coaching because of just that whatever it is,
that Miami Heat culture, or maybe it's just Spoll Show,
whatever it is, they're just always a threat to steal
a playoff series or two. I think they're a super
long shot to win the conference, but I think this
would be a fun Miami Heat team. And then the
big potential curveball here is whether or not they decide

(22:45):
to make some trades. Wiggins is a guy who has
some interest around the league. I know the Lakers want him.
They kind of make complimentary trade partners because the Heat
are light at power forward and the Lakers are light
at small forward, and they have the ability to kind
of piece that together. But I think the Heat won
a first round pick, and I know the Lakers don't
want to use a first round pick, So I think
both of those positions are completely reasonable. I can totally

(23:08):
see why Miami would not want to give up a
player that is such a strong foundational perimeter defender in
athlete and Andrew Wiggins without getting first round draft compensation.
And I can totally see why the Lakers are like,
we don't want to give up a first round pick
with a twenty seven year old Luca and a forty
year old Lebron to get a thirty year old player

(23:29):
who's theoretically at the tail end of his athletic prime.
So like, I think both positions there are completely reasonable,
and so I can totally see why a deal hasn't
gotten done, And it may never go anywhere at that
point unless one of those teams becomes desperate, and we'll
just see if that ends up happening. I doubt it
at this point. I want Wiggins, but I'm reasonable enough
to know that it's a long shot. And then the
Heat have some big picture questions surrounding whether or not

(23:51):
they're committed to the bam Adebio Tyler Harrow Corps. Like
I know, teams like Dallas or Houston would potentially be
interested in a guy like Tyler Harrow and that draft
compensation that they received there could spark the next era
of Miami Heat basketball. So that's really the final piece
of this Heat story this year. Are they happy with
being just the feisty Eastern Conference team that could win

(24:14):
a series or two or do they want to pivot
towards a full rebuild. And that's going to be the
other big storyline to watch with the Heat this year
next to Washington Wizards, at Las Sidique Bay, Malcolm Brogden,
Rashaun Holmes, and Jordan Poole. Added Marvin Bagley, Malachi Branham,
CJ McCollum, Cam whit More, a nice flyer on an
athletic wing out of Houston with some upsides, and then

(24:37):
my favorite player in this year's draft lottery Trey Johnson,
a very skilled guard with some good size and athleticism
that can shoot off the move and shoot off the dribble,
and a lot of stuff that works in the modern
NBA in terms of scoring. They also have another first
round of Will Riley, is a big wing who also
has some potential as a tough shot maker. This is
easily one of the most interesting young teams in the

(24:59):
NBA that are in that rebuilding phase right because they
just have a boatload of super interesting young players. If
an exciting young backcourt fueled by guys that I think
will be complimentary with bub Carrington and Trey Johnson. Again,
Trey Johnson's ability to score off the ball in off
ball action I think makes him a natural fit there.
A bunch of athletic wings guys like Bolla, Coola, Bali

(25:20):
and Cam whitmore lots of shooting with the young draft
picks as well as Corey Kispert. We'll see how much
guys like CJ mcollum and Chris Middleton play, but they
obviously bring shooting as well. I just think in general,
those are two awesome bets to have in that locker
room to help with the development of your young yards.
I talked about this after the draft, but like I
think Trey Johnson in particular, I was watching him in
the footage and he's kind of still doing everything at

(25:43):
one hundred miles an hour, which is typical for a
young player. Likes to score off screens because perpetual motion
brings a bunch of advantages there, but there's a change
of pace element that I think he could improve on.
And like CJ. McCollum is like the perfect guy as
a guy who had some athletic limitations to go to
tray and be like, here's three or four things you
can do in terms of nuances of navigating screens as

(26:06):
an offensive player to help get yourself more openings. I
think CJ is going to be a good mentor for
him there. And then I think they're destined to be
a good defense. Alex Sar showed plenty of upside last
year to think that he could become a strong defensive foundation.
They have an elite defensive wing prospect in Bilockolbally to
compliment that, plenty of athleticism down the roster. And so
this is the fun year for Wizards fans because you

(26:27):
know you're headed in the right direction, and this is
the season that will be a good start to finish
showcase of their young offensive talent. And we should get
a much better feel for their overall trajectory after this year,
which will then be informative for what the next phase
of Wizards basketball looks like in terms of how they
can rebuild around those guys. Lastly, for today, the Charlotte Hornets.

(26:49):
They lost Seth Curry, Todge Gibson, use of Nurkics, Joshakog,
Mark Williams, and a few other young players. They added
Pat Connitan, Spencer Dinwoodie, Mason Plumley, Colin Sexton, and a
bunch of draft picks Konk Nipple and Liam McNeely in
the first round. A couple of big and skilled wings
sigh On James and Ryan Kalkbrenner in the early second
round signs like a like a fire hydrant, like Lou

(27:10):
dort build type of wing. And then Ryan Kalchbrenner is
a big for a team that has probably the weakest
center rotation in the league right now. Of rather than
them or Boston, they're in that group right This is
an incredibly strange team. On the one hand, I like
several of their young players, like Brandon Miller had an
eleven game stretch last year before his injury where he
averaged an efficient twenty eight points per game. I think

(27:32):
he's blossoming nicely into one of those like future star
wings that we're going to have in this league. I
think Kan Knipple is gonna be a good NBA player.
He's big, he's smart, he can shoot the ball, and
he knows how to make the right reads. Excuse me,
he knows how to make the right reads when he's
coming off of screening actions. There's a lot of value
in players like that in the modern NBA. Trey Mann

(27:52):
has been one of my favorite backup guards in the
league for a while, just an incredibly aesthetically appealing game.
But I have big questions in other areas. I have
incredibly complex feelings about LaMelo Ball. On the one hand,
I'm still a big believer in his talent on offense.
I know he can be a bit of an inefficient
shot chucker, but I consider him to be like a

(28:12):
real advantage creator, like one of those offensive engine types
that I talked so much about, And that's just a
super rare trait in this league. That Hornets team was
hopeless to score the basketball when he was off the
floor last year, and when LaMelo was on, they were
a decent offense. And I don't think that that is

(28:34):
a accomplishment to take lightly by any means. But on
the other hand, he's got this like general air of
unseriousness that bothers me in terms of his role as
the leader of the team. And he's missed forty four
percent of his games as a pro. He's played in
two hundred and thirty one games at of four hundred

(28:54):
and ten potential games. That means he's missed one hundred
and seventy nine games. He's failed to play in fifty
games in three consecutive seasons. So as much as I
believe in his foundational talent, I'm basically out on him
as a foundational superstar at this point, a guy you
need to build your franchise around. Even though I believe

(29:14):
in that skill, it just he can't stay on the
floor and it's just delaying whatever sort of progress he
can make in terms of just figuring out how to
be a pro. I I just don't see it as
a foundational superstar in this league. They've loaded up on
all his veteran ball handling for some reason, which I
thought was strange, Like, you still have Trey Mann and

(29:35):
Brandon Miller, and if LaMelo's healthy, obviously he's going to
handle the ball a ton, So like I don't understand
why you'd bring in Spencer Dinwoody and Colin Sexton. I
could see one of those guys as like LaMelo insurance,
but I just thought that was strange. And obviously this
team has one of the worst center rotations in the league,
so I think they're a safe bet to compete with
Brooklyn as the worst team in the Eastern Conference this year.

(29:55):
And for your Hornets fans, just enjoy watching Brandon Miller
and Conkin it Pull and those other d picks and
just hope one of those guys popping up to give
you some advantage or some optimism for the future. All Right, guys,
it's all I have for today, As always, to sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We will be back next week as we dig into
the rest of our preseason content. We're gonna be covering

(30:16):
our top contenders. We're gonna be talking about awards. We're
gonna have a mail bag. We'll also have some more
preseason reaction. I'll see you guys today