April 14, 2025 • 21 mins
The 2024-25 season came to a close in Boston for the Hornets, who fell 93-86 and finish the season at 19-63. Rob Longo and Sam Perley break down the game and pick their silver-lining selections, and also instantly react to the season as a whole for the Hornets.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Hornets Hoodcast, presented by Charlotte I ear
Nosen Throat Associates, the official I ear Nosen Throat Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Here's your host, Rob Longo.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi, friends, and welcome to today's episode of the Hornets Hoodcast,
the official podcast of the Charlotte Hornets, brought to you
by Santa Charlotte, Iron, Nose and Throat Associates, the official
iir nos and Throat Care provider of your Charlotte Hornets.
Rob Longo with you on the final postgame recap episode
of the twenty twenty four to twenty five season, and
unfortunately it is a silver linings episode. Hornets fall in
(00:35):
Boston yesterday afternoon. Ninety three to eighty six round out
the campaign nineteen and fifty three, overall, fewest wins for
the Hornets since the twenty eleven twenty twelve season win.
The Hornets well at the time. The Bobcats finished seven
to fifty nine. As Charlotte loses all four games against
the Celtics this season. We'll break this one down for you.
A lot to talk about in this one because there
were a couple of pieces that were in this one
(00:56):
that weren't really expected to be big contribut this season.
We'll get into that in our silver Lining selection. And
because the season has concluded, we'll do a quick little
post game recap myself and Sam Farber and I'm sure
some more people on the HHC will have a little
bit of a more detailed season recap here a little
bit later on this week, but in the meantime we
will do a quick instant reaction I guess you can say,
(01:17):
after this season has come to a close and helping
me out with all these topics. Lead writer of Hornets
dot Com that is Sam Purley, and Sam thank you
for joining me here as always on the Hornet's Podcast.
This one was an interesting one in Boston yesterday. Both
teams missing a lot of pieces in this one for
different reasons. Hornet's missing a lot of their big guns
because well, everybody was hurt for the most part, and
because of the bumps and bruises down to stretch. A
(01:38):
couple of other guys like Josh Green, Miles Bridges, Mark Williams,
and Nick Smith Junior didn't play in the contest yesterday
for Boston. They weren't playing for anything already locked into
the second seed in the Eastern Conference. We're able to
rest Jalen Brown, Drew Holiday, Al Horford, chrisos Prezegis, Jason Tatum,
and Derek White. So this was an interesting one from
the get go here. The Hornets fought back in this
one trailer by as many as twenty one there in
that first half, able to fight back take a lead
(02:00):
in fact in the third quarter before Peyton Pritchard finished
with a game high thirty four points. So again, thanks
for joining me here as always on the Hornet's Podcast.
But in terms of a recap of this one yesterday,
it's kind of straightforward. Both teams not playing with their
full deck of cards, and it kind of showed that
the Celtics were just simply the healthier team for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Definitely kind of a strange game, as game number eighty
two always is around the NBA. There's always some odd results,
career highs, starting lineups, things like that. It's actually kind
of find it a little bit of a fun day overall.
But yeah, Hornets fell down big in this one. They're
twenty four to five out of the gates. Down twenty
four to five out of the gates with about seven
(02:38):
minutes into the contest stabilized things a little bit. I
thought the defense got a lot better through that final
I want to say, seventeen minutes of the first half
guarding the three point line a little bit better. They
only gave up seven threes from the second quarter to
the fourth quarter. I think giving up seven in the
first quarter, so obviously made some nice defensive adjustments, only
gave up sixty points over the final three quarters. Ball
(02:58):
movement got a little bit better. I think once they
got some defensive stops, they were able to push the
pace and transition a little bit more, get out and run.
And unfortunately, the thing that kind of reared its ugly
head again was the turnovers. They had just nine in
the first three quarters. That what was a big factor
and allowing them to get back into this game was
the possession game, not turning it over and not giving
transition points the other way. And they had eight in
(03:20):
the fourth quarter alone, including three and I want to
say on their final three possessions when it was a
two point game. So tough one to end on because
you definitely want to see them kind of finish off
the comeback, even though you know, like you said, there's
nothing at stake from a standing standpoint, but you know,
I thought it was indicative of this, you know, or
resemble this Hornets team all season long. It you know,
(03:40):
matter if they're down twenty twenty five points, thirty points,
they fight all the way until the end. And saw
that again in this one.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The middle quarters were good for Charlotte. I mean, obviously
down thirty three to fifteen after the first rame, because
they were down twenty two to five at one point
there in the first frame, like you mentioned, so you know,
really cleaned it up in a second quarter outscore Boston
twenty eight to twenty one, and that's second frame. Celtics
were two to ten from three. Charlot wasn't much better
too to nine, But like you mentioned, when Boston goup
seven to fourteen in the first quarter, that certainly makes
(04:07):
a difference. Same thing in that third quarter. Hornets were
really good. In that third frame, outscored Boston twenty five
to fifteen, which doesn't look like a big spread in
terms of that sense where they were playing at that
high of a level, but Boston only shot nineteen percent
from the floor one to thirteen from three, and that
third quarter the thing that saved the Celtics was the
free throw line. They went six to nine at the
(04:28):
charity strike. Hornets were forty two percent from the field
in the third quarter, five to ten from three, and
four for eight at the free throw line in that
third frame. They were down sixty nine to sixty eight
going into the fourth quarter. But the Celtics outscore the
Hornets twenty four to eighteen in that final stanza and
ended up picking up a ninety three to eighty six wins.
So a couple of things to like in this one.
A lot of players in double figures for Charlotte, pretty
(04:49):
spread out scoring for the most part. Yusuf Nurkic and
Joshakogi tied for a team high fourteen points to Kwan
Jefferies reached double figures with eleven, Jalen Sims twelve points
off the bench. Musadia a rebound shy of a double
double as well with ten points off the bench. A
couple of candidates here for our silver Lining selections, which
we will provide for you right after this here on
Hornetsive Cast. It's a Silver Linings edition one final time
(05:14):
for the twenty twenty four to twenty five season. Rob Longo,
lead writer of Hornets dot Com, Sam Perley with you
on this episode of the Hornets Hood Cast, as always
brought to you by Scenta. Sam. Time now for our
silver lining selections right before the break there gave you
a rundown to some of the nominees you could say,
for the silver lining candidates that we had for the
game yesterday, even though the Hornets fall ninety three to
eighty six in Boston yesterday afternoon to conclude the season.
(05:37):
But as the guest of honor, I will always let
you go first. Who is your silver lining selection from
the game yesterday?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I'm going with Jalen Simms career high twelve points. That
was his first NBA game in double figures in the
six that he played. Signed a ten day contract earlier
in the earlier in the day just to I think
make him eligible for this game today. When he originally
signed us ten day, I think it was eleven days
left in the season. So good showing Jalen Simms. I
think hit eight in that third quarter was a big
(06:02):
part of that twenty one to six run. Both of
his threes on back to back possessions finished two to
five in that area. Also four of nine overall, hit
a couple of free throws, had two assists and a
steal as well in twenty a little over twenty minutes
off the bench. So a good one for Jalen Sims
to end on. Obviously, having a career high and your
final game of the season after entering on a ten
(06:24):
day contract is a good way to end a positive
note to end on. So yeah, I thought Simms was
really good in this one and definitely a key factor
in that big twenty one to six run that the
Hornets had early in the third.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Quarter, and real quick before we get to my silver
lying selection. I know you wrote a story about Jaleb
Sims for Hornets dot Com recently about how this is
kind of a dream come true and a really good
feel good story considering he is the Greensboro Sworms all
time leading scorer finally getting an opportunity here was in
training camp a couple of seasons but never made the
big league roster, and this was an opportunity for him
to kind of prove himself here a little bit. With
(06:57):
those twelve points in the game yesterday, Like you talked about,
was there a thing that you learned about Jalen Sims
are talking to him or talking to some other people
around the organization about him and that sort of thing.
What were you able to learn about Jalen Sims.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, just really kind of down to earth, humble, grateful guy.
I think I talked to him before the home finale
the other day, so he was, you know, still a
couple of games in, but talked a lot about you know,
his debut unit against Sacramento obviously had a lot of
ticket requests. You know, he said that it was funny,
he said, you know, he thinks people sometimes he thinks
people think that NBA players get unlimited tickets to games,
(07:29):
and that's not the case. So he had a lot
of family coming in. Friends obviously it was their excited
for him to see him, and it's obviously a cool story.
It's a guy that's worked very, very hard in Greensboro.
You know, three years is a long time to spend
in the G League, let alone at the same franchise.
But there was a loyalty element to there, and there's
a loyalty element to unc W as well. His first
three years there, he was recruited by one coach who
(07:52):
I think got let go. Maybe halfway through his I
want to say a sophomore season, they had an interim
coach and then another coach, and I think they only
had twenty seven wins his first three years, and he
said something along the lines I asked him, you know,
why why stay at UNCW. You could have you know,
there's a new coach there, you could have, you know, transferred,
probably had some options, you know, with all this new
transfer portal nil Era, and said, you know, I wanted
(08:14):
to win at Wilmington. It's a winning program and I
wanted to restore it as a winning program. So I
think they went twenty seven and nine his senior year,
just missmaking the NCAA tournament. But that was the first
of four straight twenty win seasons that UNCW has now had,
and they recently just made the NCAA Tournament and gave
Texas Tech a nice run in the first round. So overall,
(08:35):
just was great talking to him, and it's a little
you know, things are moving so fast for him at
that point with you know, he thought his season was
over and then ten day deal, then getting into NBA
debut and it's in his hometown and process everything is
it always moves a little bit fast, but I think
he could tell he was just so grateful for the opportunity.
It's appreciative of the moment and said, you know what
(08:55):
doesn't matter one one day, ten days, whatever contract is, Like,
I'm an NBA player. So I thought that was really cool.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And of course as charlote, Naden forgot to mention that
as well. So really cool moment for Jalen Sims to
get out on the floor and make his NBA debut
with his hometown team as well. So in terms of
my silver lying selection from the game yesterday, I'm gonna
go to the bench and I'm gonna take musa diabate
ten on the timer. Simpson two is right to Jalen Simms.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
He'll drive into the paint.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Bounce is it off?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Ya?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Bat up for that two handed slam and the Hornets
on the back of the Doctor Pepper Duck have the
lead for the first time hear the second half. As
you could tell, that was the first lead that the
Hornets got in that second half, the first lead since
the three to two score that the Hornets had about
thirty ish seconds into the contest of yesterday's game. Made
that sixty four to sixty three with about a minute
(09:43):
fifty eight left to go in the third quarter. Hornets.
Of course, obviously we're not able to keep that lead,
but a big bucket there from Musa. Diabatte really liked
Musa's game yesterday. Played twenty five minutes, four to nine
from the field. Did try a three from straight away,
missed it to the right. So again four of eight
inside the three point arc. I guess you can say
two to four at the charity striper rebound, shy of
a double double, also at a block, two steals as well.
(10:06):
I thought Musa the Abode had one of his better
games yesterday, just from a technical standpoint in a Hornet's uniform. Again,
something that I think has gotten lost a little bit
here over the course of the season is Musa was
on a two way contract. I think that's pretty well
known obviously at this point, but something that caught my
eye on the TV broadcast before the game started yesterday,
they had to scraphic up for Musy diabade. He played
(10:29):
seventy one games this season. That is the most by
anybody on a two way contract. And the crazy thing
about that is when you're on a two way deal,
you're only limited to I want to say, forty or
fifty games on a two way deal, so obviously it
was converted to a full time contract. Team was able
to earn that full time deal. But this doesn't happen
very often. This isn't a case where yeah, a player
might get a two way deal moved to a full
(10:50):
time NBA contract, but very rarely do they end up
playing the most games on the team, which must to
Diabatte ended up doing this season for the Hornets. So
it's a really big deal in that sense, by far
the most games and anybody has played on a two
way deal since the two way contracts have been introduced.
I want to say that was the sixteen seventeen NBA
seasons when they first started doing those. It's it's been
very recent in that sense. So really cool moment for
(11:12):
Mussa de Batti, I think just overall this season, but
he had a couple of moves in that game yesterday
where it looked like, Okay, this is a legitimate NBA player,
And I'm not trying to say that Musa wasn't before
he got that full time deal, but some of these
two way guys, you know, they get the two way
contract and then you don't really hear from him ever
again in that sort of instance, and it happens all
the time in the NBA. But Musa has done a
(11:34):
really good job developing his game. Had a couple of
good post moves in there against the guy like Luke Cornett,
a seven footer who has size against him, who is
going to be part of an NBA playoff rotation, who
was an NBA champion a year ago as well in
the rotation in that sense too. So I thought Musa
had a really good game, just seeing flashes out there
on the four where he's saying, this is a legitimate
NBA player and he has a really high ceiling and
(11:55):
I'm really interested to see where that goes here in
the offseason as well.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Think Sam Flarbar might have tweeted out something during the game,
and I don't know if it came to fruition, I
would venture to guess that it did. But Musa finished
top twenty in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game
this year as well. Really solid season, Like you said,
seventy one games played. Led the team just kind of
in the day of age with you know, the injuries
and everything. Right now, if you clear seventy games in
the NBA, I think teams will sign up for that anytime,
(12:19):
and I want to say a good amount of them too.
Like the games he did not play were just DNP
CDs because the center rotation, particularly after the All Star
break with Mark Williams and use of Nurkic and Taj Gibson.
I mean, it just it got a little crowded and
there was times where Musa just had to sit. He
was perfectly healthy, could play, which you just can't play
four centers at one time in the rotation and fill
(12:41):
out the rest of the other five or six spots
with the you know, wings and power forwards and point
guards and things like that. So this was a really,
really nice I think if you had said at the
beginning of the season that this is what Musa Diabate
was going to look like at the end of the year,
he's going to play seventy games, you feel certainly comfortable
with him playing out there, you know, at that spot,
you know, playing you know, as we saw at the
(13:02):
end of the season, a little bit of four opening
up his offensive game a little bit more. I think
he would have very very gladly signed up for this.
I mean, this was quite a fine by Jeff Peterson
in the front office. Wouldn't say it was undiscovered in
the sense, you know, he had gone to LA, but
I think he was hurt and didn't have a major
opportunity to play as many minutes there and you know,
able to land him and Mussa took care of the rest.
So huge credit to him, you know, Hornet's developmental staff,
(13:25):
Jeff Peterson, Charles Lee, everybody, it's been kind of a
total effort to kind of, you know, unlock this version
of Mussa Deabante, but they definitely have a keeper, you know,
with the young Frenchman. And I was I was, like,
you said, great one to end on him. I thought
he was really good in this one, especially key kind
of helping stabilize the defense after that rough first quarter.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Mussa Diabat one of the feel good stories from the
Hornets this season. Again silver linings episode of the AHHC
trying to look for the bright spots, but Musa has
definitely been a really good bright spot. And one thing
we haven't mentioned yet either. Two big congratulations to Seth Curry.
He did not play in a game yesterday, but will
officially finish the season as the best three point percentage
getter that has qualified in the NBA BI concrats to
(14:04):
Seth Curry a pretty cool moment. They're able to edge
out Zach Lavine after very close one. They're down to stretch.
Seth Curry was able to nail a couple of threes
there in that game on Friday to really put it
out of reach here. But a good job all things
considered by Seth Curry to reach that mark. When we
come back, we will wrap up this episode of the
Hornets Podcast. We also wrap up the season as a
whole rather briefly, as we will continue to roll along
(14:27):
here one final time postgame edition on the hornetod Cast
this season, Rob Longo and a lead writer of Hornets
dot Com Sam Purley putting a button on this episode
of the Hornets Cast. Hornetsive Cast all season long, presented
by sent a big thank you to them for providing
the Hornet iive Cast to you. As we wrap up
(14:47):
this episode of the hornetsvecastp wrap up the twenty twenty
four to twenty five season a little bit here as well.
Sam Farber and I will have a little bit more
of an in depth podcast here coming in the next
couple of days. Here. We're going to take a few
days off between now and then to just kind of
reset and get everything in order for our off season
to begin. But Sam Purley has kind of an instant
(15:07):
reaction here after Game eighty two. Wanted to get your
thoughts here on this season. And if I had to
kind of describe this season in one word for the Hornets,
I think the first one would be disappointing. I know
that a lot of people didn't envision this way of
the season going, and because of the injuries and absences,
it certainly did not go that way for Charlotte. But
in terms of something for me to take away from
(15:27):
the season, I think the word that I would use
is development. I think we saw a lot of development
from a guy like I talked about in the last
segment in Musadiabatte. I think we saw some pretty big
steps from kJ Simpson on a two way contract as well.
The Kawan Jefferies had some flashes on a guy that
I'd be honest, I don't think much was expected for
him coming into this season, and especially after he broke
his hand into preseason as well. We didn't hear from
(15:49):
him a whole lot, but he was a pretty impactful
player down the stretch, just in terms of eating up
some minutes and garnering a lot of playing time. Use
of Nurkic was the guy that came into the fold
rather laid same with Joshakogi, who were two of the
starting five in this game yesterday for Charlotte and t
Jhon Salon a six overall pick. We've seen some flashes
from him after there were a couple of times in
the season where there were definitely some signs that he
(16:11):
was a rookie. So, I mean, you go back and
you look at the starting five for the Hornets, the
projected starting five going into this season, and you're looking
at guys like LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller and Josh
Green and Miles Bridges and Mark Williams. That starting five
played a total of four games. And that's not the
way that you're going to win ball games in the NBA.
Is if you only have your projected starting five playing
four out of the eighty two simply just is not
(16:33):
going to be the case. And then you look at
the starting five that the Hornets rolled out for Game
eighty two yesterday. You got kJ Simpson, Dawan Jeffries, t
Jon Salon, Josha Koge, and Yusuf Merikic. I mean, two
of those guys weren't even on the roster to start
off the season. They were mid season acquisitions, both from Phoenix.
Theawan Jeffreys missed a lot of time, like I talked
about with a hand injury in preseason, kJ Simpson was
on a two way deal, and the notion for t
(16:55):
Jhon Salon was he was gonna get a lot of
time in Greensboro this year as well. So again just
not the way that the season and was expected to
go here for the Hornets. But I think we did
see a lot of development as a whole from a
couple of those players I touched.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
On for sure, And it's hard not to be disappointed,
particularly because the past two seasons have played out in
similar fashion where injuries, a widespread number of injuries, obviously
this year maybe being the worst of it, just are
too much to overcome. Melow Ball, Brandon Miller, Grant Williams,
I mean, Trey Mann, you know, Mark Williams missing more
(17:28):
time like it just it's hard not to be disappointed
because you know, nineteen wins is just it's tough. It's
tough in the grand schemes, we play eighty two games.
But like you said, I think you have to look
at the positives, and I think going into the year,
I was the two things is, you know, if you
get to after the All Star break, you get to
March early April, you're playing games that matter, and you're
seeing improvements from your young players, or from everybody for
(17:51):
that matter. And you know, not that the Hornets weren't
playing games that didn't matter over the last several weeks,
but from a standing standpoint, they were unfortunately in a
really really steep uphill battle and such was the case.
So but you did see guys play better in the
second half of the season, Like you said, the development
from Tjan Salon, You saw kJ Simpson play a lot better,
Nick Smith, the Kwan, Jefferies Musso we talked about. I mean,
(18:12):
you saw a lot of development from guys that maybe
were on not even in the rotation to start the year,
and they were given bigger opportunities, bigger roles, and they
capitalized on them and took advantage. So it's encouraging there
will be the word I'd ask. It's encouraging because that
sort of formula and process and developmental plan is in
place right now for this Warnant's organization. You're not going
(18:33):
into the off season, you know, ass you're looking for
a new head coach. The front office has a full
season under its belt for the first time kind of
hit the ground running and not have this big kind
of wave of change like the franchise experience at the
end of last off season. So you know, it's encouraging.
You know, again, it's it's a results driven business. Nineteen
wins is a tough pill to swallow, but you have
(18:53):
to look at the glass half fold that you did
get see progress, you did see development, and it's that
same sort of process and development that, as you see
now is going to continue to be applied down the
line for the players that are here, for incoming rookies
next season, you know, free agents, whatever. So I'm encouraged
by you know, the way they kind of ended the season.
It was, you know, tough obviously from a wins losses standpoint,
(19:16):
but there were a lot of good signs and hopefully
it's the where I know it's you know, the beginning
of kind of really getting this thing turned around and
pointed in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
The groundwork is certainly there. It's going to take an
off season to kind of rebuild. A lot of people
have to get healthy, a lot of people have to
get the body right, and of course the Hornets will
have a pretty decent draft pick in this upcoming draft.
We'll see how the ping pong balls, the lottery balls
fall here over the next couple of weeks whenever the
lottery is held in a few weeks time, and of
course we will have you covered for that here on
the Hornets Podcast. Will have you covered throughout the offseason
(19:47):
in terms of the draft and also free agency coverage.
And before we know it, it'll be August September, October
and we will be in preseason talking about the twenty
twenty five twenty six season, which we'll have certainly brighter
days ahead, I can guarantee you here in the Queen City.
Sam Purly, lead writer of Hornets dot Com, thank you
for joining me here today on this episode of the
Horntove Cast all season long as well. I know it
(20:07):
was kind of hit and miss from you, a little
bit of an odd one here this season coming in
and out with paternity leave, but happy to have you always,
and we'll look back to a little bit more of
a normal season for you next year in twenty twenty five,
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Absolutely, thank you for having me, and yes it was
a little bit of a strange season, but should be
back for all eighty two next year barring any sort
of crazy crazy stuff happening. So excited for a little break,
a little time off to kind of process this season.
As I'm sure you are. To take a deep breath.
Thank you to everyone for listening follow along. I know
there were some tough games mixed in there, but we
appreciate everybody listening, following along, rooting for the team, sharing
(20:40):
support all that. It means a lot and it does
not go unnoticed.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, I echo sam sentiments. I know at the end
of the broadcast yesterday, I thank everybody here in Charlotte
and just want to thank everybody listening to the podcast
here all season long. Couldn't done it without you. Appreciate
the support. I know the players and everybody in the
front office and everybody here at Hornet Sports and Entertainment
certainly appreciates the support as well. There will be bright
your days ahead, I assure you here Buzz City, and
it hopefully happens next year with a new, revamped little
(21:06):
bit of a roster with a new draft pick coming
in a higher draft pick, and having another year under
everybody's belt to develop under the Jeff Peterson and Charles
Lee regime as well. So for Sam Purli, I'm Rob
Longo saying Solong, thank you so much for joining us
here today in all season long on the Hornet Podcast.
We'll take a couple of days off here over the
next few days and have a full season recap here
later on this week on the HHC.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ere Nosen Throatcare provider
of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets dot com.
Welcome to the Hornets Hoodcast, presented by Charlotte I ear
Nosen Throat Associates, the official I ear Nosen Throat Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Here's your host, Rob Longo.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi, friends, and welcome to today's episode of the Hornets Hoodcast,
the official podcast of the Charlotte Hornets, brought to you
by Santa Charlotte, Iron, Nose and Throat Associates, the official
iir nos and Throat Care provider of your Charlotte Hornets.
Rob Longo with you on the final postgame recap episode
of the twenty twenty four to twenty five season, and
unfortunately it is a silver linings episode. Hornets fall in
(00:35):
Boston yesterday afternoon. Ninety three to eighty six round out
the campaign nineteen and fifty three, overall, fewest wins for
the Hornets since the twenty eleven twenty twelve season win.
The Hornets well at the time. The Bobcats finished seven
to fifty nine. As Charlotte loses all four games against
the Celtics this season. We'll break this one down for you.
A lot to talk about in this one because there
were a couple of pieces that were in this one
(00:56):
that weren't really expected to be big contribut this season.
We'll get into that in our silver Lining selection. And
because the season has concluded, we'll do a quick little
post game recap myself and Sam Farber and I'm sure
some more people on the HHC will have a little
bit of a more detailed season recap here a little
bit later on this week, but in the meantime we
will do a quick instant reaction I guess you can say,
(01:17):
after this season has come to a close and helping
me out with all these topics. Lead writer of Hornets
dot Com that is Sam Purley, and Sam thank you
for joining me here as always on the Hornet's Podcast.
This one was an interesting one in Boston yesterday. Both
teams missing a lot of pieces in this one for
different reasons. Hornet's missing a lot of their big guns
because well, everybody was hurt for the most part, and
because of the bumps and bruises down to stretch. A
(01:38):
couple of other guys like Josh Green, Miles Bridges, Mark Williams,
and Nick Smith Junior didn't play in the contest yesterday
for Boston. They weren't playing for anything already locked into
the second seed in the Eastern Conference. We're able to
rest Jalen Brown, Drew Holiday, Al Horford, chrisos Prezegis, Jason Tatum,
and Derek White. So this was an interesting one from
the get go here. The Hornets fought back in this
one trailer by as many as twenty one there in
that first half, able to fight back take a lead
(02:00):
in fact in the third quarter before Peyton Pritchard finished
with a game high thirty four points. So again, thanks
for joining me here as always on the Hornet's Podcast.
But in terms of a recap of this one yesterday,
it's kind of straightforward. Both teams not playing with their
full deck of cards, and it kind of showed that
the Celtics were just simply the healthier team for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Definitely kind of a strange game, as game number eighty
two always is around the NBA. There's always some odd results,
career highs, starting lineups, things like that. It's actually kind
of find it a little bit of a fun day overall.
But yeah, Hornets fell down big in this one. They're
twenty four to five out of the gates. Down twenty
four to five out of the gates with about seven
(02:38):
minutes into the contest stabilized things a little bit. I
thought the defense got a lot better through that final
I want to say, seventeen minutes of the first half
guarding the three point line a little bit better. They
only gave up seven threes from the second quarter to
the fourth quarter. I think giving up seven in the
first quarter, so obviously made some nice defensive adjustments, only
gave up sixty points over the final three quarters. Ball
(02:58):
movement got a little bit better. I think once they
got some defensive stops, they were able to push the
pace and transition a little bit more, get out and run.
And unfortunately, the thing that kind of reared its ugly
head again was the turnovers. They had just nine in
the first three quarters. That what was a big factor
and allowing them to get back into this game was
the possession game, not turning it over and not giving
transition points the other way. And they had eight in
(03:20):
the fourth quarter alone, including three and I want to
say on their final three possessions when it was a
two point game. So tough one to end on because
you definitely want to see them kind of finish off
the comeback, even though you know, like you said, there's
nothing at stake from a standing standpoint, but you know,
I thought it was indicative of this, you know, or
resemble this Hornets team all season long. It you know,
(03:40):
matter if they're down twenty twenty five points, thirty points,
they fight all the way until the end. And saw
that again in this one.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The middle quarters were good for Charlotte. I mean, obviously
down thirty three to fifteen after the first rame, because
they were down twenty two to five at one point
there in the first frame, like you mentioned, so you know,
really cleaned it up in a second quarter outscore Boston
twenty eight to twenty one, and that's second frame. Celtics
were two to ten from three. Charlot wasn't much better
too to nine, But like you mentioned, when Boston goup
seven to fourteen in the first quarter, that certainly makes
(04:07):
a difference. Same thing in that third quarter. Hornets were
really good. In that third frame, outscored Boston twenty five
to fifteen, which doesn't look like a big spread in
terms of that sense where they were playing at that
high of a level, but Boston only shot nineteen percent
from the floor one to thirteen from three, and that
third quarter the thing that saved the Celtics was the
free throw line. They went six to nine at the
(04:28):
charity strike. Hornets were forty two percent from the field
in the third quarter, five to ten from three, and
four for eight at the free throw line in that
third frame. They were down sixty nine to sixty eight
going into the fourth quarter. But the Celtics outscore the
Hornets twenty four to eighteen in that final stanza and
ended up picking up a ninety three to eighty six wins.
So a couple of things to like in this one.
A lot of players in double figures for Charlotte, pretty
(04:49):
spread out scoring for the most part. Yusuf Nurkic and
Joshakogi tied for a team high fourteen points to Kwan
Jefferies reached double figures with eleven, Jalen Sims twelve points
off the bench. Musadia a rebound shy of a double
double as well with ten points off the bench. A
couple of candidates here for our silver Lining selections, which
we will provide for you right after this here on
Hornetsive Cast. It's a Silver Linings edition one final time
(05:14):
for the twenty twenty four to twenty five season. Rob Longo,
lead writer of Hornets dot Com, Sam Perley with you
on this episode of the Hornets Hood Cast, as always
brought to you by Scenta. Sam. Time now for our
silver lining selections right before the break there gave you
a rundown to some of the nominees you could say,
for the silver lining candidates that we had for the
game yesterday, even though the Hornets fall ninety three to
eighty six in Boston yesterday afternoon to conclude the season.
(05:37):
But as the guest of honor, I will always let
you go first. Who is your silver lining selection from
the game yesterday?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I'm going with Jalen Simms career high twelve points. That
was his first NBA game in double figures in the
six that he played. Signed a ten day contract earlier
in the earlier in the day just to I think
make him eligible for this game today. When he originally
signed us ten day, I think it was eleven days
left in the season. So good showing Jalen Simms. I
think hit eight in that third quarter was a big
(06:02):
part of that twenty one to six run. Both of
his threes on back to back possessions finished two to
five in that area. Also four of nine overall, hit
a couple of free throws, had two assists and a
steal as well in twenty a little over twenty minutes
off the bench. So a good one for Jalen Sims
to end on. Obviously, having a career high and your
final game of the season after entering on a ten
(06:24):
day contract is a good way to end a positive
note to end on. So yeah, I thought Simms was
really good in this one and definitely a key factor
in that big twenty one to six run that the
Hornets had early in the third.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Quarter, and real quick before we get to my silver
lying selection. I know you wrote a story about Jaleb
Sims for Hornets dot Com recently about how this is
kind of a dream come true and a really good
feel good story considering he is the Greensboro Sworms all
time leading scorer finally getting an opportunity here was in
training camp a couple of seasons but never made the
big league roster, and this was an opportunity for him
to kind of prove himself here a little bit. With
(06:57):
those twelve points in the game yesterday, Like you talked about,
was there a thing that you learned about Jalen Sims
are talking to him or talking to some other people
around the organization about him and that sort of thing.
What were you able to learn about Jalen Sims.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, just really kind of down to earth, humble, grateful guy.
I think I talked to him before the home finale
the other day, so he was, you know, still a
couple of games in, but talked a lot about you know,
his debut unit against Sacramento obviously had a lot of
ticket requests. You know, he said that it was funny,
he said, you know, he thinks people sometimes he thinks
people think that NBA players get unlimited tickets to games,
(07:29):
and that's not the case. So he had a lot
of family coming in. Friends obviously it was their excited
for him to see him, and it's obviously a cool story.
It's a guy that's worked very, very hard in Greensboro.
You know, three years is a long time to spend
in the G League, let alone at the same franchise.
But there was a loyalty element to there, and there's
a loyalty element to unc W as well. His first
three years there, he was recruited by one coach who
(07:52):
I think got let go. Maybe halfway through his I
want to say a sophomore season, they had an interim
coach and then another coach, and I think they only
had twenty seven wins his first three years, and he
said something along the lines I asked him, you know,
why why stay at UNCW. You could have you know,
there's a new coach there, you could have, you know, transferred,
probably had some options, you know, with all this new
transfer portal nil Era, and said, you know, I wanted
(08:14):
to win at Wilmington. It's a winning program and I
wanted to restore it as a winning program. So I
think they went twenty seven and nine his senior year,
just missmaking the NCAA tournament. But that was the first
of four straight twenty win seasons that UNCW has now had,
and they recently just made the NCAA Tournament and gave
Texas Tech a nice run in the first round. So overall,
(08:35):
just was great talking to him, and it's a little
you know, things are moving so fast for him at
that point with you know, he thought his season was
over and then ten day deal, then getting into NBA
debut and it's in his hometown and process everything is
it always moves a little bit fast, but I think
he could tell he was just so grateful for the opportunity.
It's appreciative of the moment and said, you know what
(08:55):
doesn't matter one one day, ten days, whatever contract is, Like,
I'm an NBA player. So I thought that was really cool.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And of course as charlote, Naden forgot to mention that
as well. So really cool moment for Jalen Sims to
get out on the floor and make his NBA debut
with his hometown team as well. So in terms of
my silver lying selection from the game yesterday, I'm gonna
go to the bench and I'm gonna take musa diabate
ten on the timer. Simpson two is right to Jalen Simms.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
He'll drive into the paint.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Bounce is it off?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Ya?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Bat up for that two handed slam and the Hornets
on the back of the Doctor Pepper Duck have the
lead for the first time hear the second half. As
you could tell, that was the first lead that the
Hornets got in that second half, the first lead since
the three to two score that the Hornets had about
thirty ish seconds into the contest of yesterday's game. Made
that sixty four to sixty three with about a minute
(09:43):
fifty eight left to go in the third quarter. Hornets.
Of course, obviously we're not able to keep that lead,
but a big bucket there from Musa. Diabatte really liked
Musa's game yesterday. Played twenty five minutes, four to nine
from the field. Did try a three from straight away,
missed it to the right. So again four of eight
inside the three point arc. I guess you can say
two to four at the charity striper rebound, shy of
a double double, also at a block, two steals as well.
(10:06):
I thought Musa the Abode had one of his better
games yesterday, just from a technical standpoint in a Hornet's uniform. Again,
something that I think has gotten lost a little bit
here over the course of the season is Musa was
on a two way contract. I think that's pretty well
known obviously at this point, but something that caught my
eye on the TV broadcast before the game started yesterday,
they had to scraphic up for Musy diabade. He played
(10:29):
seventy one games this season. That is the most by
anybody on a two way contract. And the crazy thing
about that is when you're on a two way deal,
you're only limited to I want to say, forty or
fifty games on a two way deal, so obviously it
was converted to a full time contract. Team was able
to earn that full time deal. But this doesn't happen
very often. This isn't a case where yeah, a player
might get a two way deal moved to a full
(10:50):
time NBA contract, but very rarely do they end up
playing the most games on the team, which must to
Diabatte ended up doing this season for the Hornets. So
it's a really big deal in that sense, by far
the most games and anybody has played on a two
way deal since the two way contracts have been introduced.
I want to say that was the sixteen seventeen NBA
seasons when they first started doing those. It's it's been
very recent in that sense. So really cool moment for
(11:12):
Mussa de Batti, I think just overall this season, but
he had a couple of moves in that game yesterday
where it looked like, Okay, this is a legitimate NBA player,
And I'm not trying to say that Musa wasn't before
he got that full time deal, but some of these
two way guys, you know, they get the two way
contract and then you don't really hear from him ever
again in that sort of instance, and it happens all
the time in the NBA. But Musa has done a
(11:34):
really good job developing his game. Had a couple of
good post moves in there against the guy like Luke Cornett,
a seven footer who has size against him, who is
going to be part of an NBA playoff rotation, who
was an NBA champion a year ago as well in
the rotation in that sense too. So I thought Musa
had a really good game, just seeing flashes out there
on the four where he's saying, this is a legitimate
NBA player and he has a really high ceiling and
(11:55):
I'm really interested to see where that goes here in
the offseason as well.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Think Sam Flarbar might have tweeted out something during the game,
and I don't know if it came to fruition, I
would venture to guess that it did. But Musa finished
top twenty in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game
this year as well. Really solid season, Like you said,
seventy one games played. Led the team just kind of
in the day of age with you know, the injuries
and everything. Right now, if you clear seventy games in
the NBA, I think teams will sign up for that anytime,
(12:19):
and I want to say a good amount of them too.
Like the games he did not play were just DNP
CDs because the center rotation, particularly after the All Star
break with Mark Williams and use of Nurkic and Taj Gibson.
I mean, it just it got a little crowded and
there was times where Musa just had to sit. He
was perfectly healthy, could play, which you just can't play
four centers at one time in the rotation and fill
(12:41):
out the rest of the other five or six spots
with the you know, wings and power forwards and point
guards and things like that. So this was a really,
really nice I think if you had said at the
beginning of the season that this is what Musa Diabate
was going to look like at the end of the year,
he's going to play seventy games, you feel certainly comfortable
with him playing out there, you know, at that spot,
you know, playing you know, as we saw at the
(13:02):
end of the season, a little bit of four opening
up his offensive game a little bit more. I think
he would have very very gladly signed up for this.
I mean, this was quite a fine by Jeff Peterson
in the front office. Wouldn't say it was undiscovered in
the sense, you know, he had gone to LA, but
I think he was hurt and didn't have a major
opportunity to play as many minutes there and you know,
able to land him and Mussa took care of the rest.
So huge credit to him, you know, Hornet's developmental staff,
(13:25):
Jeff Peterson, Charles Lee, everybody, it's been kind of a
total effort to kind of, you know, unlock this version
of Mussa Deabante, but they definitely have a keeper, you know,
with the young Frenchman. And I was I was, like,
you said, great one to end on him. I thought
he was really good in this one, especially key kind
of helping stabilize the defense after that rough first quarter.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Mussa Diabat one of the feel good stories from the
Hornets this season. Again silver linings episode of the AHHC
trying to look for the bright spots, but Musa has
definitely been a really good bright spot. And one thing
we haven't mentioned yet either. Two big congratulations to Seth Curry.
He did not play in a game yesterday, but will
officially finish the season as the best three point percentage
getter that has qualified in the NBA BI concrats to
(14:04):
Seth Curry a pretty cool moment. They're able to edge
out Zach Lavine after very close one. They're down to stretch.
Seth Curry was able to nail a couple of threes
there in that game on Friday to really put it
out of reach here. But a good job all things
considered by Seth Curry to reach that mark. When we
come back, we will wrap up this episode of the
Hornets Podcast. We also wrap up the season as a
whole rather briefly, as we will continue to roll along
(14:27):
here one final time postgame edition on the hornetod Cast
this season, Rob Longo and a lead writer of Hornets
dot Com Sam Purley putting a button on this episode
of the Hornets Cast. Hornetsive Cast all season long, presented
by sent a big thank you to them for providing
the Hornet iive Cast to you. As we wrap up
(14:47):
this episode of the hornetsvecastp wrap up the twenty twenty
four to twenty five season a little bit here as well.
Sam Farber and I will have a little bit more
of an in depth podcast here coming in the next
couple of days. Here. We're going to take a few
days off between now and then to just kind of
reset and get everything in order for our off season
to begin. But Sam Purley has kind of an instant
(15:07):
reaction here after Game eighty two. Wanted to get your
thoughts here on this season. And if I had to
kind of describe this season in one word for the Hornets,
I think the first one would be disappointing. I know
that a lot of people didn't envision this way of
the season going, and because of the injuries and absences,
it certainly did not go that way for Charlotte. But
in terms of something for me to take away from
(15:27):
the season, I think the word that I would use
is development. I think we saw a lot of development
from a guy like I talked about in the last
segment in Musadiabatte. I think we saw some pretty big
steps from kJ Simpson on a two way contract as well.
The Kawan Jefferies had some flashes on a guy that
I'd be honest, I don't think much was expected for
him coming into this season, and especially after he broke
his hand into preseason as well. We didn't hear from
(15:49):
him a whole lot, but he was a pretty impactful
player down the stretch, just in terms of eating up
some minutes and garnering a lot of playing time. Use
of Nurkic was the guy that came into the fold
rather laid same with Joshakogi, who were two of the
starting five in this game yesterday for Charlotte and t
Jhon Salon a six overall pick. We've seen some flashes
from him after there were a couple of times in
the season where there were definitely some signs that he
(16:11):
was a rookie. So, I mean, you go back and
you look at the starting five for the Hornets, the
projected starting five going into this season, and you're looking
at guys like LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller and Josh
Green and Miles Bridges and Mark Williams. That starting five
played a total of four games. And that's not the
way that you're going to win ball games in the NBA.
Is if you only have your projected starting five playing
four out of the eighty two simply just is not
(16:33):
going to be the case. And then you look at
the starting five that the Hornets rolled out for Game
eighty two yesterday. You got kJ Simpson, Dawan Jeffries, t
Jon Salon, Josha Koge, and Yusuf Merikic. I mean, two
of those guys weren't even on the roster to start
off the season. They were mid season acquisitions, both from Phoenix.
Theawan Jeffreys missed a lot of time, like I talked
about with a hand injury in preseason, kJ Simpson was
on a two way deal, and the notion for t
(16:55):
Jhon Salon was he was gonna get a lot of
time in Greensboro this year as well. So again just
not the way that the season and was expected to
go here for the Hornets. But I think we did
see a lot of development as a whole from a
couple of those players I touched.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
On for sure, And it's hard not to be disappointed,
particularly because the past two seasons have played out in
similar fashion where injuries, a widespread number of injuries, obviously
this year maybe being the worst of it, just are
too much to overcome. Melow Ball, Brandon Miller, Grant Williams,
I mean, Trey Mann, you know, Mark Williams missing more
(17:28):
time like it just it's hard not to be disappointed
because you know, nineteen wins is just it's tough. It's
tough in the grand schemes, we play eighty two games.
But like you said, I think you have to look
at the positives, and I think going into the year,
I was the two things is, you know, if you
get to after the All Star break, you get to
March early April, you're playing games that matter, and you're
seeing improvements from your young players, or from everybody for
(17:51):
that matter. And you know, not that the Hornets weren't
playing games that didn't matter over the last several weeks,
but from a standing standpoint, they were unfortunately in a
really really steep uphill battle and such was the case.
So but you did see guys play better in the
second half of the season, Like you said, the development
from Tjan Salon, You saw kJ Simpson play a lot better,
Nick Smith, the Kwan, Jefferies Musso we talked about. I mean,
(18:12):
you saw a lot of development from guys that maybe
were on not even in the rotation to start the year,
and they were given bigger opportunities, bigger roles, and they
capitalized on them and took advantage. So it's encouraging there
will be the word I'd ask. It's encouraging because that
sort of formula and process and developmental plan is in
place right now for this Warnant's organization. You're not going
(18:33):
into the off season, you know, ass you're looking for
a new head coach. The front office has a full
season under its belt for the first time kind of
hit the ground running and not have this big kind
of wave of change like the franchise experience at the
end of last off season. So you know, it's encouraging.
You know, again, it's it's a results driven business. Nineteen
wins is a tough pill to swallow, but you have
(18:53):
to look at the glass half fold that you did
get see progress, you did see development, and it's that
same sort of process and development that, as you see
now is going to continue to be applied down the
line for the players that are here, for incoming rookies
next season, you know, free agents, whatever. So I'm encouraged
by you know, the way they kind of ended the season.
It was, you know, tough obviously from a wins losses standpoint,
(19:16):
but there were a lot of good signs and hopefully
it's the where I know it's you know, the beginning
of kind of really getting this thing turned around and
pointed in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
The groundwork is certainly there. It's going to take an
off season to kind of rebuild. A lot of people
have to get healthy, a lot of people have to
get the body right, and of course the Hornets will
have a pretty decent draft pick in this upcoming draft.
We'll see how the ping pong balls, the lottery balls
fall here over the next couple of weeks whenever the
lottery is held in a few weeks time, and of
course we will have you covered for that here on
the Hornets Podcast. Will have you covered throughout the offseason
(19:47):
in terms of the draft and also free agency coverage.
And before we know it, it'll be August September, October
and we will be in preseason talking about the twenty
twenty five twenty six season, which we'll have certainly brighter
days ahead, I can guarantee you here in the Queen City.
Sam Purly, lead writer of Hornets dot Com, thank you
for joining me here today on this episode of the
Horntove Cast all season long as well. I know it
(20:07):
was kind of hit and miss from you, a little
bit of an odd one here this season coming in
and out with paternity leave, but happy to have you always,
and we'll look back to a little bit more of
a normal season for you next year in twenty twenty five,
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Absolutely, thank you for having me, and yes it was
a little bit of a strange season, but should be
back for all eighty two next year barring any sort
of crazy crazy stuff happening. So excited for a little break,
a little time off to kind of process this season.
As I'm sure you are. To take a deep breath.
Thank you to everyone for listening follow along. I know
there were some tough games mixed in there, but we
appreciate everybody listening, following along, rooting for the team, sharing
(20:40):
support all that. It means a lot and it does
not go unnoticed.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, I echo sam sentiments. I know at the end
of the broadcast yesterday, I thank everybody here in Charlotte
and just want to thank everybody listening to the podcast
here all season long. Couldn't done it without you. Appreciate
the support. I know the players and everybody in the
front office and everybody here at Hornet Sports and Entertainment
certainly appreciates the support as well. There will be bright
your days ahead, I assure you here Buzz City, and
it hopefully happens next year with a new, revamped little
(21:06):
bit of a roster with a new draft pick coming
in a higher draft pick, and having another year under
everybody's belt to develop under the Jeff Peterson and Charles
Lee regime as well. So for Sam Purli, I'm Rob
Longo saying Solong, thank you so much for joining us
here today in all season long on the Hornet Podcast.
We'll take a couple of days off here over the
next few days and have a full season recap here
later on this week on the HHC.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ere Nosen Throatcare provider
of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Sam Farber
Rob Longo
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