April 9, 2025 • 27 mins
The Hornets wrapped up the home portion of their schedule against Memphis, but ultimately fell by a final tally of 124-100. Rob Longo and Sam Perley break down the game and pick their silver-lining performances, and they also preview Charlotte's trip to Toronto as the Hornets are on the second night of a back-to-back for the final time this season.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Hornets Podcast, 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 Podcast,
the official podcast of the Charlotte Hornets, brought to you
by SENTA Charlotte I ear Nose and Thrown Associate's the
official I ear Nose and throw care provider of your
Charlotte Hornets. Rob Longo with you here on unfortunately a
silver linings episode here of the HHC Hornets fall last
night in the home season finale against the Memphis Grizzlies
one twenty four to one hundred Charlotte now nineteen and
(00:36):
sixty on a season after their twelfth wired to wire
loss this season. Good news though Hornets finished the home
portion of the schedule twelve and twenty nine, at is
a one game improvement from a season ago where the
Hornets went eleven and thirty. We'll break this one down
for you, provide you with our silver linings. So also
game day edition of the HHC as the Hornets are
on the second night of a back to back in
Toronto this evening, so we got lots to cover here
(00:57):
on this episode of the Hornets podcast and helped me
out with all these topics. Our good friend here, the
lead writer of hord it dot Com, Sam Purley, with
us here in studio one final time here for this season. Sam. Welcome,
as always good to talk to you face to face.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Of course, thank you for having me. It's always nice
to be in studio. I know this is the last
one of the year, obviously being the last home game,
so yeah, always good to be here and talk with you.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, we'll talk to you here down the line. The
next couple of games here as well, might give you
tomorrow off, but other than that we'll have you here
through the final Friday and Sunday games against the Boston Celtics.
But Hornets have to take care of business against the
Toronto Raptors later on tonight. But before we get to that,
we will break this one down for you again. Hornets
fall last night one twenty four to one hundred. The
(01:38):
final tally Hornets in this one forty second different starting
lineup in seventy nine games this season. As Charlotte did
not get off to a great start, Memphis scored the
first seven points of the game never looked back in
this one. Grizzlies led it thirty three to eighteen after
one quarter of play. Memphis also led it sixty three
to forty four at halftime. But the big story in
the first half, unfortunately was Jalen Wells being injured with
(01:59):
about a minute ten left to go in the clock
in the second quarter, got upended by kJ Simpson on
a breakaway dunk in very scary moment here. Again, just
our thoughts are and our well wishes are with Jalen Wells.
Do have some updates for him as well, but did
need to be stretched out of the arena and taken
to a local hospital for further evaluation. The last update
as of the recording of this podcast that we got
(02:21):
here about Jalen Wells is that he is alert. He
has all the feeling in his extremities, has a broken
right wrist according to his agent that was through Shamsharania
as well. Also had some facial discomfort as well and
dealing with some other bumps and bruises along the way,
but he is going to continue to receive some medical care.
As of the last updates so that is the good
(02:42):
news on Jalen Wells, but very lengthy delay there as
the Hornets and Grizzlies had to have a little bit
of a period there to get warmed up again and
ended up being a sixty three to forty four Memphis
lead at halftime. As I mentioned, Grizzlies were able to
expand on that lead in the third quarter ninety seven
to seventy four after three quarters of play, and Memphis
just continue to step on a gas. There a one
twenty four to one hundred final in this one yesterday
(03:04):
and Sam, of course, the big news in this one
the well being of Jalen Wells. Good that he is
okay all things considered, because it was a very scary
fall and took quite a delay here at Spectrum Center,
and just a very unfortunate situation all around, and that's
the good news. And it just seemed like after that
it was kind of the game, I don't want to
say was meaningless, but it just felt like there was
(03:25):
a lot taken out of this game because of that injury,
and there was a lot of uncertainty going into halftime
with the status of Jalen Wells, and throughout the course
of the game also, So it just felt like there
was a lot of air taken out of the arena
after that injury into the second half.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Most certainly and rightfully. So that was obviously a very
scary situation. And that's the quietest I've ever heard the
arena and just you know, in sort of a particularly
terrifying moment. And you know, it's good that all things considered,
it seems to be Jalen Wells as responding well to
now that we're you know, a couple hours, three or
four hours after taking the fall, and it's tough because
(03:59):
it's the end of what's been a tremendous rookie season
for him, but a great story. He's kind of a
mid second round pick out of Washington State. I mean,
seventy four of seventy nine games he started this year,
so he's obviously been a big piece of their success
this season. And you know, just a really strange vibe.
I've never seen anything like that on the court. You know,
hope to never see it again, obviously, and you know,
(04:20):
just kind of the delay and making sure he was
okay and getting him onto the backboard and just kind
of having the time to rewarm up and then there
was only a minute left into halftime, and then you
sort of I mean, if anything, the halftime kind of
came at a good time, just because I think it
kind of gave the team some much needed decompression. And
then again coming back out and it just in the
back of your mind, you're thinking about Jalen Wells and
(04:42):
hopefully he's doing okay, and then there's a basketball gaming
going on. So yeah, just kind of overall a little
bit of a weird vibe in this one. And you know,
the final result obviously, you know, for the Hornets, it's
strictly basketball content. Disappointing, but nothing in comparison to you know,
how important is hoping that Jalen Wells is all right,
doing okay. And it was a tough one to end
the I SITU stated the home schedule this season with
(05:05):
you know what happened with with Wells Obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Obviously that's's definitely the first thing that was on our mind,
and everybody was expressing their their thoughts and their well
wishes for Jalen Wells during the game. After the game,
Miles Bridges touched on it after the game, Charles Lee
as well and just making sure that everybody continued to
be in their thoughts and well wishes for Jalen Wells,
and again, very tough situation to be in when you
take a look at the final numbers. Again, doesn't really
(05:28):
matter in a grand scheme of things in a sense,
because some things are bigger than basketball. The Jalen Wells
injury it's certainly one of them. But the Hornets go
for about forty five point seven percent from the field,
shoot about twenty nine percent from beyond the arco fifteen
to twenty three at the free throw line. Grizzlies go
forty five point two percent from the field, so a
little bit of a worse percentage than Charlotte, but did
go thirty three percent from beyond the arc and did
(05:49):
go twenty two to twenty six at the free throw line.
John Moran twenty eight points, five rebounds, eight assists. Pretty
typical jaw game in that sense. Desmond Bain had nineteen,
Zach Edi had seventeen points, nineteen rebounds, Sharon Jackson Junior
added fourteen. Again, this is a Memphis team that's battling
for position in the Western Conference. They're playing for a lot.
Hornets continue to be shorthanded in this one. Miles bridges
team high fourteen points, Josh Kogi had twelve, t John
(06:12):
Salon thirteen and nine off the bench, most to Deabat
had ten off the bench as well. So again, it's
just one of those instances where one team was very,
very healthy in this one and one team was definitely
not healthy in this one. And all things considered too,
because of what happened with the jay Lewell situation, kJ
Simpson was assessed a flagrant two foul at that juncture
(06:32):
of the game, so he was ejected from the ball game.
We did not see kJ Simpson in the second half,
so it was almost like another injury for the Hornets
in that sense, down another player going into the second half.
So again, it's one of those things where you look
at the Memphis organization as a whole, and I know
there's it's a little tumultuous, I guess you can say
simply because they did fire Taylor Jenkins about two weeks ago.
But if you go back and you look at the
(06:54):
Memphis organization from last year as well, John Morant situation
being suspended, came back for a couple games, looked like
they were going in the right direction, and then he's
out for the remainder of the season, and then they
just don't have a whole lot of talent left out
there on the floor. Get a really good draft pick,
get Zach Edy, and are able to make a run
here in the Western Conference because Memphis is now about
forty seven and thirty two on a season, So again,
(07:15):
kind of two franchises in opposite directions at this point
of the season stand But I think that yesterday is
a good reminder of just the health and availability the
Hornets is not there and what it could be is
definitely a lot different on the other side because Memphis
is able to reflect.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
That, and Memphis too, I would say last season, as
bad as the Hornet's situation with injuries was last year,
I think Memphis was about as bad as I had
ever seen last year, you know, just completely decimated, and
you know they've obviously had better, you know luck this
year with it and the eady edition. I was very interested.
I think that was a little bit of surprise for
everybody on draft night, and he seems to have gone
(07:49):
to the perfect team in terms of fit for him.
It reminds me a lot of what Steven Adams used
to do for them. I mean a lot of it's
just you throw the ball up on the rim, Jah
or Ban or somebody throws it up on the rim
and either goes in or he gets the rebound and
puts it back or tips it back out for a
second chance opportunity. It's there's a lot of similarities, except
you know, he's you know, bigger than Steven Adams, which
(08:10):
is obviously a rarity. But the Grizzlies seemed to be,
you know, they're they're kind of clicking right now. It's
been again a strange season for them, you know, parting
ways bringing an interim coach in uh tuamas Izalo hope
you're pronouncing his name, that yes, who is new to
the NBA this year. He's from Europe. He was coach
of Paris Basketball last year. There had lost the first
(08:31):
three games under him against some pretty tough opponents. Now
they've won three straight and uh I thought to tonight
they had seven I think the Hornets had seven turnovers
in the first quarter. They just kind of overwhelmed him
on the glass and with their length and size and
being able to use Jaron Jackson and Santiel Dama and
switching those guys out on the perimeter and shooting threes,
and then Edie was just I mean, he was terrific.
(08:52):
I mean, Horners just didn't have any answers for him.
The physicality that he brought. I mean, it's it's tough
when he's seven to four and three hundred pounds. Is
not a lot of guys that can match up with him.
So obviously, you know, thoughts and prayers with Jalen Wells
when we talk about just from up strictly basketball context,
here was, you know, the Hornets just they just you know,
Memphis is going to one direction right now, and unfortunately
Charlotte is kind of trying to play the best they
(09:13):
can these final few games.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Hornets fall last night against the Memphis Grizzlies, won twenty
four to one hundred. Once again, now nineteen and sixty
on a season, but to improve in a home record
standpoint this season twelve and twenty nine to finish out
the home campaign. We're eleven to thirty a season ago,
so a little bit of progress in that sense. Hornets
need to win two out of their last three on
the road in order to get to the even mark
(09:36):
of twenty one wins on the season a year ago,
still funny to talk about. On this episode of the
Hornets five Cast, it is a game day edition Hornets
in Toronto tonight. But before we get to that, we
will touch on our silver lining selections in last night's
game that comes your way right after this here on
a Hornet's five Cast brought to you by SENTA. It's
a silver Linings edition of the HHC. Rob Longo and
(10:00):
Sam Parley, the lead writer of Hornets dot Com, on
this episode of the Hornets high Cast. Time now for
our silver lying selections, because even though in the loss,
they are always silver lying to the point from a
couple of candidates going into this one, couple off the
bench as well. There's a lot of options in this
one in terms of starters or reserves. Sam Pearli, you
are the guest of honor. Where would you like to begin?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I will go with t Jon Salon as my silver
lining finished with thirteen points on three of seven shooting.
They were all threes, uh four of eight from the
free throw line, had nine rebounds that just missed out
on a double double, three assists, and that was in
twenty nine minutes and was also a plus eight in
a game the Hornets unfortunately lost by twenty four points,
(10:38):
so obviously was making a positive impact out there on
the floor. You know, we've talked a lot about, you know,
t Jon and the progress he's made this season, and
you know, it doesn't always look the prettiest at times,
but you can see the progress more and more and
getting better as a ball handler. He's getting better at
sort of that's he had a couple of nice step
back threes where he created separation. I think needs to
(10:59):
get a little bit quicker with some of the shots stuff.
But you're seeing more good right now than you saw
maybe at the beginning of the season. Not that it
was bad, but it just kind of was a little
all over the place. You're just seeing more consistency, more good,
less of those sort of like rookie moments at this
point of the season. So I was really impressed with
TJ on Salon tonight.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, I thought t Jon played a pretty solid game.
You looked at his stat line thirteen points, nine rebounds,
three assists. The only thing that I would have liked
to see maybe a little bit differently, is the fact
that he was able to mix it up a little
bit three of seven from the field, those were all
three point attempts. He goes four to eighth the free
throw line as well, so he was driving to the
basket and he was creating contact, but he wasn't able
to finish or anything like that. So maybe mixing it
(11:41):
up a little bit, trying to drive a little bit
more and kind of even things out in terms of
just the regular field goal attempts and the three point
attempts as well. But Tjon a pretty solid silver lining
selection in the game yesterday. For me, I'm kind of
going back and forth. Cap tip to Miles Bridges. He
finishes with a team high fourteen point six rebounds, three
assists off a four thirty team shooting. But I'm also
(12:01):
gonna go to the bench and I'm gonna go with
Musa Diabate.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Usa driving up the middle, goes up and throws it
down all the muss loose, a turbo charge drive from
Musa Diabate and a doctor Pepper dunk the full two
leaders from Musa Mussa Diabonte.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Ten points in the game yesterday, two rebounds, two assists,
also had a block. Only played seventeen minutes, but he
was five or six from the field. The only miss
was a three point attempt that was a little bit short.
It hit the front iron. So again, Musa trying to
expand his game a little bit, I think, trying to
experiment a little bit here in the end stages of
the season. But I want to say maybe at least
three or four of his field goal attempts and the
(12:43):
makes were all on dunks, So he was doing a
good job getting to the rim. He had a lot
of good post moves in there, and a lot of
vicious dunks as well, as you heard one right there
called by the one and only Sam Farber, of course,
but if you go back and you look the stat
line here, it's solid all things considered for Musa. But
I think the thing that's interesting here with Mussa Diabat
as he gets into the offseason and can develop a
(13:03):
bunch of different skill sets. We've heard him talk about it,
We've heard Charles Lee talk about it a lot here, Sam,
is the fact that he's still raw in a sense
that you can kind of mold him a little bit.
I mean, the three point shot is something that's going
to be a work in progress, and there is those
post moves as well. But we've seen a tremendous amount
of growth I think from Moosa this season, just going
(13:24):
from a two way contract coming into training camp, going
back and forth between Greensboro and Charlotte, going to the
G League, coming back, and just developing on a couple
of things in that sense, filling in where there are injuries,
and then earning a full time contract from that two
way deal. So I think Musa has the ability to
still kind of figure out what his niche is in
the NBA here, for lack of a better term, I
(13:45):
think that there's some wiggle room here. And I think
that one of the things that I would really like
to see Musa develop is just being able to play
the four, And I know that's a little bit of
a work in progress right now. He kind of had
the notion of a small ball five coming into training
camp in his first couple of years with the Clipper
in this league, and I think that if he's able
to kind of be a versatile guy, play the floor,
(14:05):
play the five, maybe sort of like a Draymond Green
a little bit out in Golden State, where Draymond can
play some small ball five, but he's mostly playing at four.
I think that could be a really good role for
Mussy Diabade because you can bring a lot of size
out there on the floor. If you can throw Musa
at the flour and bring Mark Williams out on the
five and have that maybe as like some sort of
closing lineup maybe if you need a defensive stop that
(14:25):
has a lot of potential there. I feel like.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Really interested to kind of see. And again with where
the hornet's rotation is right now, it's just it's kind
of hard to really get the full experimentation of what
Musa could do maybe a little bit more offensively, just
because you know, with how many guys the Hornets are
missing right now, particularly you know on ball creation scores,
Lamel balls, Brandon Miller, Trey Man. But you know, you
(14:50):
start you're seeing some flashes too, and I think it's
you know, becoming a you know a little bit more
of a three point shooter that's not taking six or
seven three's a game that's maybe taking one or two.
That's that's sort of like kind of the developmental trajectory
for some of these big men that slowly start to
expand their game. You don't go from zero to seven
threes a game in an offseason unless you've put in
(15:11):
some some crazy, crazy work and something unbelievable happens. But
you know, it's not even so much the three point shooting,
it's the you know, maybe some of the pull up shooting.
He's seeing some nice driving to the rim, a little
bit more offensive creation, offensive initiation. Seeing that too with Tijon.
I think some of that too is you're just getting
bad at your handle, being able to play through physicality
(15:33):
a little bit more. I think there's certainly potential for
him to play the four, and it doesn't necessarily mean
being a stretch four that just stands in the corner
and shoots threes. It could be you know, ball handling
a little bit more, you know, taking dribble handoffs, things
like that, just adding a little bit more to his game.
It can kind of open things up a little bit
more for you know, the other guys on the floor.
(15:55):
So I'm excited to see a what kind of strides
he can make on that side offense and then be
how it looks when he's playing, you know, with a
LaMelo ball and a Brandon Miller and Mark Williams some
of these guys, and he's got a little bit more
space to operate. How much more does that kind of
unlock what he could do on the offensive side again?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Hornets fall last night one twenty four to one twenty
against Memphis, A couple of the cap tips going to
Musi Diabonte t Johnsalon, and it tipped the cap two
to the team's leading scorer, Miles Bridges with fourteen points.
Hornets have a chance to improve now in a regular
season to get the win number twenty in game number
eighty coming up tonight against the Toronto Raptors. We will
preview that matchup for you here right after this on
(16:37):
a Hornets I've cast. It's a game day edition of
the HHC rob Logo and a lead writer of Hornets
dot Com Sam probably with you here on this episode
of the Hornets Ive Cast. Time now for our game preview.
Hornets on the second night of a back to back
against the Toronto Raptors. These two teams met about two
weeks ago north of the border in Toronto at the
(16:59):
end of March, and the Toronto Raptors took that victory
one oh eight to ninety seven. North of the Border.
Mark Williams team highs with eighteen points, and twelve rebounds
in the loss. Charlotte did get five players in total
to reach double figures in the scoring column, but Ya
Caperlo had a game high twenty four points for Toronto.
Manuel quickly added nineteen as well for the Raptors. Hornets
took more shots than the Raptors, but had a lower
(17:20):
shooting percentage from the field and from the three point
line compared to Toronto. Also didn't help that Charlotte turn
the ball over eighteen times compared to six for the Raptors.
And since that game, it's only been a couple of games,
but Toronto has been eliminated from the play in tournament
and will more than likely finish this season in eleventh
position in the Eastern Conference. Could drop the twelfth, but
won't really matter a whole lot other than the faith
(17:41):
of the draft lottery and having a better percentage there.
Raptors have gone to in three. Like I mentioned, Sunday,
the last game against Brooklyn on the road Sunday one
twenty to one oh nine. Eight of the ten players
that played in a ball game for Toronto scored, led
by a game high seventeen points from Jonathan Magbo. Raptors
have been off since Sundays, so it's going to be
a pretty sizable recied advantage for the Raptors heading into
(18:02):
this one. So, Sam, you know how these game previous work.
We need a player to watch for each side and
a stat to watch, and as Sam Farber likes to say,
other than points, because that cheating is cheating because the
team that scores most points is going to win the game.
So where would you like to begin, Hornet's player to watch,
Raptors player to watch, your stat to watch?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I am going to go with Hornet player to watch.
I'm gonna go a little bit off the beaten path,
and I'm gonna say Jalen Simms, I mean he got
into the game again tonight. I think the Hornets needed
a little bit of spark there in the third quarter.
They obviously you know, without kJ Simpson at that point,
and needed I mean, they were kind of down to
they need as many ball handler as they could get
out there. You know, Miles played kind of relatively low
(18:37):
minutes just given where he's been at all season, just thirty.
But Jalen Simms, you know, three games on the ten
day contract right now, is right now at seven point
three points, had a career high nine points last night,
shot three of five from the field. You know, overall
this season in these three games, shooting sixty percent, sixty
percent from three, I think that would be I'm trying
(18:57):
to do the math in my head about three to
five right now. Huge sample size, But I like what
I've seen from Jalen Sims. It's cool that, you know,
it's obviously a really neat for him to be, you know,
from Charlotte to do we did with the Greensboro sworm
last three years and to get this opportunity and not
only see this guy get an opportunity like he has earned,
but to you know, flourish in it. So I'm rooting for,
you know, getting more minutes, more points, and just seeing
(19:18):
if he can kind of, you know, really finish out
this this ten day contract and the season on a
really high positive note.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
A solid pick, an interesting pick as well. Jalen Simms
Sam Purley's player to watch here for the Hornets. For me,
you know, it's kind of tough going across the board
because it's the second night of a back to back.
You don't know who's going to be available on one
side of the other, just because of the way that
the injuries and absences have happened here for the Hornets,
and some of the injury management as well. I'm gonna
go to the bench as well. I'm gonna go with
(19:45):
TODJ Gibson. TODJ Gibson, last night, we didn't mention this
earlier career game number nine hundred and ninety nine. There
is an opportunity here for TODJ to get the game
number one thousand in his NBA career. That is a
huge milestone because again it's one of those things, it's
a nice round number, and there's still one hundred plus
players that have reached the thousand game plateau. But I
think that as the season is in the years have
(20:08):
gone on, it's a lot harder to get to that milestone,
simply for the fact that there's a very high turnover
rate in the NBA right now. It seems like every
two to three years there's a new crop of guys
coming in trying to replace everybody. So you have to
be really among the elite of the elite to get
to a thousand games, and Todje Gibson is certainly worthy
of that. So I'm hoping for TAJ to get in
early and often and get the career game number one thousand.
(20:30):
I know it's a little bit of a cop out maybe,
but I want TODJ. Gibson to get the game number
one thousand. He's gonna be my Hornets player to watch.
Where would you like to go next? A Raptors player
to watch for a stat to watch?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Well, I'm gonna go with Raptors player to watch. And
I actually had a nice little paragraph written out about
Jamal Sheed, rookie had a career high tying seventeen points
the last time the Hornets played Toronto. Was really impressed
with his defense. Defense. He's top fifteen in the NBA
and steals this month first amongst rookies. And then I
look at the injury report and he is out for
(21:01):
tomorrow's game or today's game with rest. So Jamal Sheed,
I'm gonna have to do a quick pivot. O Chaiaji
is also out for the game with rest, as is
Grady dick or Ka Kamchi Brandon Ingram, Jacobi Walter, who's
another rookie all out. Yaka Perl and Scottie Barnes are questionable.
So if you had any of those guys, you've got
(21:22):
about two minutes. This is gonna be to dig up something.
I was really impressed with Sheed's played last time Hornets
played Toronto a couple of weeks ago. But I will
pivot and go to the Raptor to watch the last time.
I did the game preview for Toronto two weeks ago,
and it's a manual quickly. You know, he's missed a
good first most of the first half of the season.
He's not on the injury report right now, but thought
he played really well against the Hornets the last time
(21:44):
they met. Shot only six of fifteen from the field,
but was five of eight from three point range. That's
tied for his second most threes in a game this season.
Also had nine assists, which I think was a game
high at the time. So it only played twenty seven minutes,
so wouldn't be totally surprised if you know he plays
somewhere again in that twenty four to thirty minute range,
but hasn't been able to kind of fully showcase what
(22:05):
he can do with the Raptors this season just because
of the injuries and injuries around him. But you know,
he's the guy that you know is impressed, impressed in
New York, and Hornets did a good job with him
inside the Ark in that last game was just one
of seven. It was the threes. They kind of lost
track of him. So I'm gonna go with Quickly as
my Raptor to watch tonight.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I think he didn't get a very fair shake in
New York if I'm being honest, I mean, it just
kind of got shipped away for you know, a pretty
sizable trade package going along with RJ Barrett over there
for the I want to say that was the Ogon
Andobi train. If I'm not mistaken. That sounds right off
the top of my head.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I think that's right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I think that he didn't really get a fair shake
there in New York. I thought he could have been
a really good player for the Knicks. But I mean,
I think that fit is one of the biggest things
here in the NBA, and he's starting to find his
fit in Toronto. So IQ is a good IQ pick
pun intended there. But in terms of Raptors players to watch, yeah,
this is very difficult because there are missing a lot
of pieces going into this one. Again, don't know the
status of Scottie Barnes and Jack and Pearls since they
(22:58):
are questionable. I'm gonna go with Jonathan Magbo then, since
he had that game high and that team high seventeen
points against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, and two teams
that are really I don't want to say they're not
trying to win, but there are definitely players that are
resting in this one obviously, and Brooklyn's kind of doing
the same thing here. But Magbo in that game against
the Hornets at the end of March, he only played
(23:20):
twenty five minutes. He went two of eight from the field,
one for four from beyond the York, did have five rebounds,
but he only finished with five points. And then he
was able to pop off with those seventeen points the
other day against the Nets. So it's kind of interesting
how you can just be so fluid from one game
to the next in the NBA. And in that game
against the Nets he ended up being very efficient. He
(23:41):
went eight of nine from the field, made one free throw,
had eleven rebounds in seven assists. I mean, he almost
had a triple doubles. So Jonathan Mogbo is going to
be my Toronto Raptor player to watch, simply because what
we don't know about anybody else being available in this
one could be a very lengthy injury report for Sam
Farber to get through at the beginning of broadcast here tonight.
But that leads us with only a statistic to watch.
What are some numbers you're keeping an eye on here, Sam.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Real quick on Magbo great story went to a start
off no Division one scholarship offers, went to two different
community colleges, Missouri State for a year and then the
University of San Francisco for one year. Was early second
round pick this past season or this past summer last year.
So I'd love stuff like that. I think it's a cool,
really really cool So good for him having the success
he's had in his rookie year. My stat to watch
(24:24):
is going to be offensive rebounding. Hornets gave up six
offensive rebounds in the first quarter of their March twenty
eighth loss in Toronto, and then just five the rest
of the game. With some area they really kind of
tightened up, led to just thirteen second chance points. With
the way the Hornets are kind of strugglering now with
the turnover differential, they had fifteen turnovers for twenty five
Memphis points in the game last night. They can't afford
(24:47):
to be given away extra possessions on the offensive glass
to Toronto. Again, Perl is kind of the guy most
responsible for that. He's questionable for the game. We'll see,
but Orlando Robinson, Magbo we just talked about. Possibly even
Chris Bouchet could get some minutes. Those are all guys
that are really good at generating those second chance opportunities.
And Hornets have to buckle down on the defensive glass.
And it can't just be in Mark Williams Musa Diabati
(25:09):
kind of operation. It's got to be a full guards, forwards, wings,
everybody crashing the glass because you know, it's something that
Toronto's really good at. They're really good second chance scoring
team and they're a very good offensive rebounding team as well.
So that is the area I'm looking to watch for tonight.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And the Hornet struggled in net system as well. When
you go back and look at the game yesterday between
the Grizzlies and the Hornets, I mean, Charlotte usually averages
close to about sixteen and a half second chance points
per game. That's second in the association. That took a
hit yesterday, the Hornets got six offensive rebounds, only resulted
in seven second chance points. Grizzlies cleaned up in that category.
They had fourteen offensive rebounds, only sixteen second chance points.
(25:46):
So it could have been a lot worse just based
off of the number of offensive rebound possessions that they got.
But something else that you touched on there were the turnovers.
I touched on it too. The last time these two
teams played, Hornets turned the ball over eighteen times. Raptors
took care of it pretty well, only six turnovers. But
the bigger reason is because of the live ball turnovers.
The Raptors like to get out and run on fast
break opportunities. They score about eighteen fast break points per game,
(26:09):
that's fourth in the Association. The Hornets only score a
little bit under twelve fast break points per game. That
is next to last in the NBA. So that's pretty
big disparity there. That's the number I'm going to keep
an eye on because you just can't in addition to
giving up those extra possessions, you can't be giving them
easy looks at the bucket, and that's going to happen
there on those fast breaks. So it's gonna be interesting
how this one turns out. On the second night of
a back to back. We're rooting for Todd Gibson to
(26:31):
get to game number one thousand in his career. We're
also rooting for Seth Curry to make a bunch of
threes so you can qualify for the three point field
goal percentage crown here at season's end. But however this
shakes out, we will have you covered on tomorrow's episode
of The Hornets Hoodcast. Sam Parley, thank you for joining
me here one final time in studio on the AHD
and thanks for pulling some double duty second night of
a back to back for you. We will give you
(26:51):
tomorrow off. How about that?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Always happy
to help. And if you need me in a pinch,
you know I'll be there.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I know you will be We'll have you a penciled
in here for Friday and Sunday as well. And of course,
one more time, big thank you to all of our
fans here that came out to Spectrum Center throughout the
course of the season. Now that the home portion of
the schedule has wrapped up, big thank you to all
you guys for your support all season long. It does
not go unnoticed. We really appreciate you for Sam Purly,
I'm Rob Longo saying so long. We will talk to
you here on tomorrow's episode recapping the Hornets and Raptors
(27:20):
here on the HHC.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Thank you for listening to the Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ear nosen throad Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets
dot com
Welcome to the Hornets Podcast, 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 Podcast,
the official podcast of the Charlotte Hornets, brought to you
by SENTA Charlotte I ear Nose and Thrown Associate's the
official I ear Nose and throw care provider of your
Charlotte Hornets. Rob Longo with you here on unfortunately a
silver linings episode here of the HHC Hornets fall last
night in the home season finale against the Memphis Grizzlies
one twenty four to one hundred Charlotte now nineteen and
(00:36):
sixty on a season after their twelfth wired to wire
loss this season. Good news though Hornets finished the home
portion of the schedule twelve and twenty nine, at is
a one game improvement from a season ago where the
Hornets went eleven and thirty. We'll break this one down
for you, provide you with our silver linings. So also
game day edition of the HHC as the Hornets are
on the second night of a back to back in
Toronto this evening, so we got lots to cover here
(00:57):
on this episode of the Hornets podcast and helped me
out with all these topics. Our good friend here, the
lead writer of hord it dot Com, Sam Purley, with
us here in studio one final time here for this season. Sam. Welcome,
as always good to talk to you face to face.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Of course, thank you for having me. It's always nice
to be in studio. I know this is the last
one of the year, obviously being the last home game,
so yeah, always good to be here and talk with you.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, we'll talk to you here down the line. The
next couple of games here as well, might give you
tomorrow off, but other than that we'll have you here
through the final Friday and Sunday games against the Boston Celtics.
But Hornets have to take care of business against the
Toronto Raptors later on tonight. But before we get to that,
we will break this one down for you again. Hornets
fall last night one twenty four to one hundred. The
(01:38):
final tally Hornets in this one forty second different starting
lineup in seventy nine games this season. As Charlotte did
not get off to a great start, Memphis scored the
first seven points of the game never looked back in
this one. Grizzlies led it thirty three to eighteen after
one quarter of play. Memphis also led it sixty three
to forty four at halftime. But the big story in
the first half, unfortunately was Jalen Wells being injured with
(01:59):
about a minute ten left to go in the clock
in the second quarter, got upended by kJ Simpson on
a breakaway dunk in very scary moment here. Again, just
our thoughts are and our well wishes are with Jalen Wells.
Do have some updates for him as well, but did
need to be stretched out of the arena and taken
to a local hospital for further evaluation. The last update
as of the recording of this podcast that we got
(02:21):
here about Jalen Wells is that he is alert. He
has all the feeling in his extremities, has a broken
right wrist according to his agent that was through Shamsharania
as well. Also had some facial discomfort as well and
dealing with some other bumps and bruises along the way,
but he is going to continue to receive some medical care.
As of the last updates so that is the good
(02:42):
news on Jalen Wells, but very lengthy delay there as
the Hornets and Grizzlies had to have a little bit
of a period there to get warmed up again and
ended up being a sixty three to forty four Memphis
lead at halftime. As I mentioned, Grizzlies were able to
expand on that lead in the third quarter ninety seven
to seventy four after three quarters of play, and Memphis
just continue to step on a gas. There a one
twenty four to one hundred final in this one yesterday
(03:04):
and Sam, of course, the big news in this one
the well being of Jalen Wells. Good that he is
okay all things considered, because it was a very scary
fall and took quite a delay here at Spectrum Center,
and just a very unfortunate situation all around, and that's
the good news. And it just seemed like after that
it was kind of the game, I don't want to
say was meaningless, but it just felt like there was
(03:25):
a lot taken out of this game because of that injury,
and there was a lot of uncertainty going into halftime
with the status of Jalen Wells, and throughout the course
of the game also, So it just felt like there
was a lot of air taken out of the arena
after that injury into the second half.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Most certainly and rightfully. So that was obviously a very
scary situation. And that's the quietest I've ever heard the
arena and just you know, in sort of a particularly
terrifying moment. And you know, it's good that all things considered,
it seems to be Jalen Wells as responding well to
now that we're you know, a couple hours, three or
four hours after taking the fall, and it's tough because
(03:59):
it's the end of what's been a tremendous rookie season
for him, but a great story. He's kind of a
mid second round pick out of Washington State. I mean,
seventy four of seventy nine games he started this year,
so he's obviously been a big piece of their success
this season. And you know, just a really strange vibe.
I've never seen anything like that on the court. You know,
hope to never see it again, obviously, and you know,
(04:20):
just kind of the delay and making sure he was
okay and getting him onto the backboard and just kind
of having the time to rewarm up and then there
was only a minute left into halftime, and then you
sort of I mean, if anything, the halftime kind of
came at a good time, just because I think it
kind of gave the team some much needed decompression. And
then again coming back out and it just in the
back of your mind, you're thinking about Jalen Wells and
(04:42):
hopefully he's doing okay, and then there's a basketball gaming
going on. So yeah, just kind of overall a little
bit of a weird vibe in this one. And you know,
the final result obviously, you know, for the Hornets, it's
strictly basketball content. Disappointing, but nothing in comparison to you know,
how important is hoping that Jalen Wells is all right,
doing okay. And it was a tough one to end
the I SITU stated the home schedule this season with
(05:05):
you know what happened with with Wells Obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Obviously that's's definitely the first thing that was on our mind,
and everybody was expressing their their thoughts and their well
wishes for Jalen Wells during the game. After the game,
Miles Bridges touched on it after the game, Charles Lee
as well and just making sure that everybody continued to
be in their thoughts and well wishes for Jalen Wells,
and again, very tough situation to be in when you
take a look at the final numbers. Again, doesn't really
(05:28):
matter in a grand scheme of things in a sense,
because some things are bigger than basketball. The Jalen Wells
injury it's certainly one of them. But the Hornets go
for about forty five point seven percent from the field,
shoot about twenty nine percent from beyond the arco fifteen
to twenty three at the free throw line. Grizzlies go
forty five point two percent from the field, so a
little bit of a worse percentage than Charlotte, but did
go thirty three percent from beyond the arc and did
(05:49):
go twenty two to twenty six at the free throw line.
John Moran twenty eight points, five rebounds, eight assists. Pretty
typical jaw game in that sense. Desmond Bain had nineteen,
Zach Edi had seventeen points, nineteen rebounds, Sharon Jackson Junior
added fourteen. Again, this is a Memphis team that's battling
for position in the Western Conference. They're playing for a lot.
Hornets continue to be shorthanded in this one. Miles bridges
team high fourteen points, Josh Kogi had twelve, t John
(06:12):
Salon thirteen and nine off the bench, most to Deabat
had ten off the bench as well. So again, it's
just one of those instances where one team was very,
very healthy in this one and one team was definitely
not healthy in this one. And all things considered too,
because of what happened with the jay Lewell situation, kJ
Simpson was assessed a flagrant two foul at that juncture
(06:32):
of the game, so he was ejected from the ball game.
We did not see kJ Simpson in the second half,
so it was almost like another injury for the Hornets
in that sense, down another player going into the second half.
So again, it's one of those things where you look
at the Memphis organization as a whole, and I know
there's it's a little tumultuous, I guess you can say
simply because they did fire Taylor Jenkins about two weeks ago.
But if you go back and you look at the
(06:54):
Memphis organization from last year as well, John Morant situation
being suspended, came back for a couple games, looked like
they were going in the right direction, and then he's
out for the remainder of the season, and then they
just don't have a whole lot of talent left out
there on the floor. Get a really good draft pick,
get Zach Edy, and are able to make a run
here in the Western Conference because Memphis is now about
forty seven and thirty two on a season, So again,
(07:15):
kind of two franchises in opposite directions at this point
of the season stand But I think that yesterday is
a good reminder of just the health and availability the
Hornets is not there and what it could be is
definitely a lot different on the other side because Memphis
is able to reflect.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
That, and Memphis too, I would say last season, as
bad as the Hornet's situation with injuries was last year,
I think Memphis was about as bad as I had
ever seen last year, you know, just completely decimated, and
you know they've obviously had better, you know luck this
year with it and the eady edition. I was very interested.
I think that was a little bit of surprise for
everybody on draft night, and he seems to have gone
(07:49):
to the perfect team in terms of fit for him.
It reminds me a lot of what Steven Adams used
to do for them. I mean a lot of it's
just you throw the ball up on the rim, Jah
or Ban or somebody throws it up on the rim
and either goes in or he gets the rebound and
puts it back or tips it back out for a
second chance opportunity. It's there's a lot of similarities, except
you know, he's you know, bigger than Steven Adams, which
(08:10):
is obviously a rarity. But the Grizzlies seemed to be,
you know, they're they're kind of clicking right now. It's
been again a strange season for them, you know, parting
ways bringing an interim coach in uh tuamas Izalo hope
you're pronouncing his name, that yes, who is new to
the NBA this year. He's from Europe. He was coach
of Paris Basketball last year. There had lost the first
(08:31):
three games under him against some pretty tough opponents. Now
they've won three straight and uh I thought to tonight
they had seven I think the Hornets had seven turnovers
in the first quarter. They just kind of overwhelmed him
on the glass and with their length and size and
being able to use Jaron Jackson and Santiel Dama and
switching those guys out on the perimeter and shooting threes,
and then Edie was just I mean, he was terrific.
(08:52):
I mean, Horners just didn't have any answers for him.
The physicality that he brought. I mean, it's it's tough
when he's seven to four and three hundred pounds. Is
not a lot of guys that can match up with him.
So obviously, you know, thoughts and prayers with Jalen Wells
when we talk about just from up strictly basketball context,
here was, you know, the Hornets just they just you know,
Memphis is going to one direction right now, and unfortunately
Charlotte is kind of trying to play the best they
(09:13):
can these final few games.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Hornets fall last night against the Memphis Grizzlies, won twenty
four to one hundred. Once again, now nineteen and sixty
on a season, but to improve in a home record
standpoint this season twelve and twenty nine to finish out
the home campaign. We're eleven to thirty a season ago,
so a little bit of progress in that sense. Hornets
need to win two out of their last three on
the road in order to get to the even mark
(09:36):
of twenty one wins on the season a year ago,
still funny to talk about. On this episode of the
Hornets five Cast, it is a game day edition Hornets
in Toronto tonight. But before we get to that, we
will touch on our silver lining selections in last night's
game that comes your way right after this here on
a Hornet's five Cast brought to you by SENTA. It's
a silver Linings edition of the HHC. Rob Longo and
(10:00):
Sam Parley, the lead writer of Hornets dot Com, on
this episode of the Hornets high Cast. Time now for
our silver lying selections, because even though in the loss,
they are always silver lying to the point from a
couple of candidates going into this one, couple off the
bench as well. There's a lot of options in this
one in terms of starters or reserves. Sam Pearli, you
are the guest of honor. Where would you like to begin?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I will go with t Jon Salon as my silver
lining finished with thirteen points on three of seven shooting.
They were all threes, uh four of eight from the
free throw line, had nine rebounds that just missed out
on a double double, three assists, and that was in
twenty nine minutes and was also a plus eight in
a game the Hornets unfortunately lost by twenty four points,
(10:38):
so obviously was making a positive impact out there on
the floor. You know, we've talked a lot about, you know,
t Jon and the progress he's made this season, and
you know, it doesn't always look the prettiest at times,
but you can see the progress more and more and
getting better as a ball handler. He's getting better at
sort of that's he had a couple of nice step
back threes where he created separation. I think needs to
(10:59):
get a little bit quicker with some of the shots stuff.
But you're seeing more good right now than you saw
maybe at the beginning of the season. Not that it
was bad, but it just kind of was a little
all over the place. You're just seeing more consistency, more good,
less of those sort of like rookie moments at this
point of the season. So I was really impressed with
TJ on Salon tonight.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, I thought t Jon played a pretty solid game.
You looked at his stat line thirteen points, nine rebounds,
three assists. The only thing that I would have liked
to see maybe a little bit differently, is the fact
that he was able to mix it up a little
bit three of seven from the field, those were all
three point attempts. He goes four to eighth the free
throw line as well, so he was driving to the
basket and he was creating contact, but he wasn't able
to finish or anything like that. So maybe mixing it
(11:41):
up a little bit, trying to drive a little bit
more and kind of even things out in terms of
just the regular field goal attempts and the three point
attempts as well. But Tjon a pretty solid silver lining
selection in the game yesterday. For me, I'm kind of
going back and forth. Cap tip to Miles Bridges. He
finishes with a team high fourteen point six rebounds, three
assists off a four thirty team shooting. But I'm also
(12:01):
gonna go to the bench and I'm gonna go with
Musa Diabate.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Usa driving up the middle, goes up and throws it
down all the muss loose, a turbo charge drive from
Musa Diabate and a doctor Pepper dunk the full two
leaders from Musa Mussa Diabonte.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Ten points in the game yesterday, two rebounds, two assists,
also had a block. Only played seventeen minutes, but he
was five or six from the field. The only miss
was a three point attempt that was a little bit short.
It hit the front iron. So again, Musa trying to
expand his game a little bit, I think, trying to
experiment a little bit here in the end stages of
the season. But I want to say maybe at least
three or four of his field goal attempts and the
(12:43):
makes were all on dunks, So he was doing a
good job getting to the rim. He had a lot
of good post moves in there, and a lot of
vicious dunks as well, as you heard one right there
called by the one and only Sam Farber, of course,
but if you go back and you look the stat
line here, it's solid all things considered for Musa. But
I think the thing that's interesting here with Mussa Diabat
as he gets into the offseason and can develop a
(13:03):
bunch of different skill sets. We've heard him talk about it,
We've heard Charles Lee talk about it a lot here, Sam,
is the fact that he's still raw in a sense
that you can kind of mold him a little bit.
I mean, the three point shot is something that's going
to be a work in progress, and there is those
post moves as well. But we've seen a tremendous amount
of growth I think from Moosa this season, just going
(13:24):
from a two way contract coming into training camp, going
back and forth between Greensboro and Charlotte, going to the
G League, coming back, and just developing on a couple
of things in that sense, filling in where there are injuries,
and then earning a full time contract from that two
way deal. So I think Musa has the ability to
still kind of figure out what his niche is in
the NBA here, for lack of a better term, I
(13:45):
think that there's some wiggle room here. And I think
that one of the things that I would really like
to see Musa develop is just being able to play
the four, And I know that's a little bit of
a work in progress right now. He kind of had
the notion of a small ball five coming into training
camp in his first couple of years with the Clipper
in this league, and I think that if he's able
to kind of be a versatile guy, play the floor,
(14:05):
play the five, maybe sort of like a Draymond Green
a little bit out in Golden State, where Draymond can
play some small ball five, but he's mostly playing at four.
I think that could be a really good role for
Mussy Diabade because you can bring a lot of size
out there on the floor. If you can throw Musa
at the flour and bring Mark Williams out on the
five and have that maybe as like some sort of
closing lineup maybe if you need a defensive stop that
(14:25):
has a lot of potential there. I feel like.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Really interested to kind of see. And again with where
the hornet's rotation is right now, it's just it's kind
of hard to really get the full experimentation of what
Musa could do maybe a little bit more offensively, just
because you know, with how many guys the Hornets are
missing right now, particularly you know on ball creation scores,
Lamel balls, Brandon Miller, Trey Man. But you know, you
(14:50):
start you're seeing some flashes too, and I think it's
you know, becoming a you know a little bit more
of a three point shooter that's not taking six or
seven three's a game that's maybe taking one or two.
That's that's sort of like kind of the developmental trajectory
for some of these big men that slowly start to
expand their game. You don't go from zero to seven
threes a game in an offseason unless you've put in
(15:11):
some some crazy, crazy work and something unbelievable happens. But
you know, it's not even so much the three point shooting,
it's the you know, maybe some of the pull up shooting.
He's seeing some nice driving to the rim, a little
bit more offensive creation, offensive initiation. Seeing that too with Tijon.
I think some of that too is you're just getting
bad at your handle, being able to play through physicality
(15:33):
a little bit more. I think there's certainly potential for
him to play the four, and it doesn't necessarily mean
being a stretch four that just stands in the corner
and shoots threes. It could be you know, ball handling
a little bit more, you know, taking dribble handoffs, things
like that, just adding a little bit more to his game.
It can kind of open things up a little bit
more for you know, the other guys on the floor.
(15:55):
So I'm excited to see a what kind of strides
he can make on that side offense and then be
how it looks when he's playing, you know, with a
LaMelo ball and a Brandon Miller and Mark Williams some
of these guys, and he's got a little bit more
space to operate. How much more does that kind of
unlock what he could do on the offensive side again?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Hornets fall last night one twenty four to one twenty
against Memphis, A couple of the cap tips going to
Musi Diabonte t Johnsalon, and it tipped the cap two
to the team's leading scorer, Miles Bridges with fourteen points.
Hornets have a chance to improve now in a regular
season to get the win number twenty in game number
eighty coming up tonight against the Toronto Raptors. We will
preview that matchup for you here right after this on
(16:37):
a Hornets I've cast. It's a game day edition of
the HHC rob Logo and a lead writer of Hornets
dot Com Sam probably with you here on this episode
of the Hornets Ive Cast. Time now for our game preview.
Hornets on the second night of a back to back
against the Toronto Raptors. These two teams met about two
weeks ago north of the border in Toronto at the
(16:59):
end of March, and the Toronto Raptors took that victory
one oh eight to ninety seven. North of the Border.
Mark Williams team highs with eighteen points, and twelve rebounds
in the loss. Charlotte did get five players in total
to reach double figures in the scoring column, but Ya
Caperlo had a game high twenty four points for Toronto.
Manuel quickly added nineteen as well for the Raptors. Hornets
took more shots than the Raptors, but had a lower
(17:20):
shooting percentage from the field and from the three point
line compared to Toronto. Also didn't help that Charlotte turn
the ball over eighteen times compared to six for the Raptors.
And since that game, it's only been a couple of games,
but Toronto has been eliminated from the play in tournament
and will more than likely finish this season in eleventh
position in the Eastern Conference. Could drop the twelfth, but
won't really matter a whole lot other than the faith
(17:41):
of the draft lottery and having a better percentage there.
Raptors have gone to in three. Like I mentioned, Sunday,
the last game against Brooklyn on the road Sunday one
twenty to one oh nine. Eight of the ten players
that played in a ball game for Toronto scored, led
by a game high seventeen points from Jonathan Magbo. Raptors
have been off since Sundays, so it's going to be
a pretty sizable recied advantage for the Raptors heading into
(18:02):
this one. So, Sam, you know how these game previous work.
We need a player to watch for each side and
a stat to watch, and as Sam Farber likes to say,
other than points, because that cheating is cheating because the
team that scores most points is going to win the game.
So where would you like to begin, Hornet's player to watch,
Raptors player to watch, your stat to watch?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I am going to go with Hornet player to watch.
I'm gonna go a little bit off the beaten path,
and I'm gonna say Jalen Simms, I mean he got
into the game again tonight. I think the Hornets needed
a little bit of spark there in the third quarter.
They obviously you know, without kJ Simpson at that point,
and needed I mean, they were kind of down to
they need as many ball handler as they could get
out there. You know, Miles played kind of relatively low
(18:37):
minutes just given where he's been at all season, just thirty.
But Jalen Simms, you know, three games on the ten
day contract right now, is right now at seven point
three points, had a career high nine points last night,
shot three of five from the field. You know, overall
this season in these three games, shooting sixty percent, sixty
percent from three, I think that would be I'm trying
(18:57):
to do the math in my head about three to
five right now. Huge sample size, But I like what
I've seen from Jalen Sims. It's cool that, you know,
it's obviously a really neat for him to be, you know,
from Charlotte to do we did with the Greensboro sworm
last three years and to get this opportunity and not
only see this guy get an opportunity like he has earned,
but to you know, flourish in it. So I'm rooting for,
you know, getting more minutes, more points, and just seeing
(19:18):
if he can kind of, you know, really finish out
this this ten day contract and the season on a
really high positive note.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
A solid pick, an interesting pick as well. Jalen Simms
Sam Purley's player to watch here for the Hornets. For me,
you know, it's kind of tough going across the board
because it's the second night of a back to back.
You don't know who's going to be available on one
side of the other, just because of the way that
the injuries and absences have happened here for the Hornets,
and some of the injury management as well. I'm gonna
go to the bench as well. I'm gonna go with
(19:45):
TODJ Gibson. TODJ Gibson, last night, we didn't mention this
earlier career game number nine hundred and ninety nine. There
is an opportunity here for TODJ to get the game
number one thousand in his NBA career. That is a
huge milestone because again it's one of those things, it's
a nice round number, and there's still one hundred plus
players that have reached the thousand game plateau. But I
think that as the season is in the years have
(20:08):
gone on, it's a lot harder to get to that milestone,
simply for the fact that there's a very high turnover
rate in the NBA right now. It seems like every
two to three years there's a new crop of guys
coming in trying to replace everybody. So you have to
be really among the elite of the elite to get
to a thousand games, and Todje Gibson is certainly worthy
of that. So I'm hoping for TAJ to get in
early and often and get the career game number one thousand.
(20:30):
I know it's a little bit of a cop out maybe,
but I want TODJ. Gibson to get the game number
one thousand. He's gonna be my Hornets player to watch.
Where would you like to go next? A Raptors player
to watch for a stat to watch?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Well, I'm gonna go with Raptors player to watch. And
I actually had a nice little paragraph written out about
Jamal Sheed, rookie had a career high tying seventeen points
the last time the Hornets played Toronto. Was really impressed
with his defense. Defense. He's top fifteen in the NBA
and steals this month first amongst rookies. And then I
look at the injury report and he is out for
(21:01):
tomorrow's game or today's game with rest. So Jamal Sheed,
I'm gonna have to do a quick pivot. O Chaiaji
is also out for the game with rest, as is
Grady dick or Ka Kamchi Brandon Ingram, Jacobi Walter, who's
another rookie all out. Yaka Perl and Scottie Barnes are questionable.
So if you had any of those guys, you've got
(21:22):
about two minutes. This is gonna be to dig up something.
I was really impressed with Sheed's played last time Hornets
played Toronto a couple of weeks ago. But I will
pivot and go to the Raptor to watch the last time.
I did the game preview for Toronto two weeks ago,
and it's a manual quickly. You know, he's missed a
good first most of the first half of the season.
He's not on the injury report right now, but thought
he played really well against the Hornets the last time
(21:44):
they met. Shot only six of fifteen from the field,
but was five of eight from three point range. That's
tied for his second most threes in a game this season.
Also had nine assists, which I think was a game
high at the time. So it only played twenty seven minutes,
so wouldn't be totally surprised if you know he plays
somewhere again in that twenty four to thirty minute range,
but hasn't been able to kind of fully showcase what
(22:05):
he can do with the Raptors this season just because
of the injuries and injuries around him. But you know,
he's the guy that you know is impressed, impressed in
New York, and Hornets did a good job with him
inside the Ark in that last game was just one
of seven. It was the threes. They kind of lost
track of him. So I'm gonna go with Quickly as
my Raptor to watch tonight.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I think he didn't get a very fair shake in
New York if I'm being honest, I mean, it just
kind of got shipped away for you know, a pretty
sizable trade package going along with RJ Barrett over there
for the I want to say that was the Ogon
Andobi train. If I'm not mistaken. That sounds right off
the top of my head.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I think that's right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I think that he didn't really get a fair shake
there in New York. I thought he could have been
a really good player for the Knicks. But I mean,
I think that fit is one of the biggest things
here in the NBA, and he's starting to find his
fit in Toronto. So IQ is a good IQ pick
pun intended there. But in terms of Raptors players to watch, yeah,
this is very difficult because there are missing a lot
of pieces going into this one. Again, don't know the
status of Scottie Barnes and Jack and Pearls since they
(22:58):
are questionable. I'm gonna go with Jonathan Magbo then, since
he had that game high and that team high seventeen
points against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, and two teams
that are really I don't want to say they're not
trying to win, but there are definitely players that are
resting in this one obviously, and Brooklyn's kind of doing
the same thing here. But Magbo in that game against
the Hornets at the end of March, he only played
(23:20):
twenty five minutes. He went two of eight from the field,
one for four from beyond the York, did have five rebounds,
but he only finished with five points. And then he
was able to pop off with those seventeen points the
other day against the Nets. So it's kind of interesting
how you can just be so fluid from one game
to the next in the NBA. And in that game
against the Nets he ended up being very efficient. He
(23:41):
went eight of nine from the field, made one free throw,
had eleven rebounds in seven assists. I mean, he almost
had a triple doubles. So Jonathan Mogbo is going to
be my Toronto Raptor player to watch, simply because what
we don't know about anybody else being available in this
one could be a very lengthy injury report for Sam
Farber to get through at the beginning of broadcast here tonight.
But that leads us with only a statistic to watch.
What are some numbers you're keeping an eye on here, Sam.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Real quick on Magbo great story went to a start
off no Division one scholarship offers, went to two different
community colleges, Missouri State for a year and then the
University of San Francisco for one year. Was early second
round pick this past season or this past summer last year.
So I'd love stuff like that. I think it's a cool,
really really cool So good for him having the success
he's had in his rookie year. My stat to watch
(24:24):
is going to be offensive rebounding. Hornets gave up six
offensive rebounds in the first quarter of their March twenty
eighth loss in Toronto, and then just five the rest
of the game. With some area they really kind of
tightened up, led to just thirteen second chance points. With
the way the Hornets are kind of strugglering now with
the turnover differential, they had fifteen turnovers for twenty five
Memphis points in the game last night. They can't afford
(24:47):
to be given away extra possessions on the offensive glass
to Toronto. Again, Perl is kind of the guy most
responsible for that. He's questionable for the game. We'll see,
but Orlando Robinson, Magbo we just talked about. Possibly even
Chris Bouchet could get some minutes. Those are all guys
that are really good at generating those second chance opportunities.
And Hornets have to buckle down on the defensive glass.
And it can't just be in Mark Williams Musa Diabati
(25:09):
kind of operation. It's got to be a full guards, forwards, wings,
everybody crashing the glass because you know, it's something that
Toronto's really good at. They're really good second chance scoring
team and they're a very good offensive rebounding team as well.
So that is the area I'm looking to watch for tonight.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And the Hornet struggled in net system as well. When
you go back and look at the game yesterday between
the Grizzlies and the Hornets, I mean, Charlotte usually averages
close to about sixteen and a half second chance points
per game. That's second in the association. That took a
hit yesterday, the Hornets got six offensive rebounds, only resulted
in seven second chance points. Grizzlies cleaned up in that category.
They had fourteen offensive rebounds, only sixteen second chance points.
(25:46):
So it could have been a lot worse just based
off of the number of offensive rebound possessions that they got.
But something else that you touched on there were the turnovers.
I touched on it too. The last time these two
teams played, Hornets turned the ball over eighteen times. Raptors
took care of it pretty well, only six turnovers. But
the bigger reason is because of the live ball turnovers.
The Raptors like to get out and run on fast
break opportunities. They score about eighteen fast break points per game,
(26:09):
that's fourth in the Association. The Hornets only score a
little bit under twelve fast break points per game. That
is next to last in the NBA. So that's pretty
big disparity there. That's the number I'm going to keep
an eye on because you just can't in addition to
giving up those extra possessions, you can't be giving them
easy looks at the bucket, and that's going to happen
there on those fast breaks. So it's gonna be interesting
how this one turns out. On the second night of
a back to back. We're rooting for Todd Gibson to
(26:31):
get to game number one thousand in his career. We're
also rooting for Seth Curry to make a bunch of
threes so you can qualify for the three point field
goal percentage crown here at season's end. But however this
shakes out, we will have you covered on tomorrow's episode
of The Hornets Hoodcast. Sam Parley, thank you for joining
me here one final time in studio on the AHD
and thanks for pulling some double duty second night of
a back to back for you. We will give you
(26:51):
tomorrow off. How about that?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Always happy
to help. And if you need me in a pinch,
you know I'll be there.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I know you will be We'll have you a penciled
in here for Friday and Sunday as well. And of course,
one more time, big thank you to all of our
fans here that came out to Spectrum Center throughout the
course of the season. Now that the home portion of
the schedule has wrapped up, big thank you to all
you guys for your support all season long. It does
not go unnoticed. We really appreciate you for Sam Purly,
I'm Rob Longo saying so long. We will talk to
you here on tomorrow's episode recapping the Hornets and Raptors
(27:20):
here on the HHC.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Thank you for listening to the Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ear nosen throad Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets
dot com
Hosts And Creators
Sam Farber
Rob Longo
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