June 26, 2025 • 27 mins
The Hornets were active at both ends of the opening round of the 2025 NBA Draft, selecting Kon Knueppel with the No. 4 overall pick, then trading back into the first round to select Liam McNeeley with the No. 29 overall pick. Sam Farber and Rob Longo break down the selections and how they fit on the roster as we hear from Knueppel and President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson, as well as expert analysis from ESPN's Paul Biancardi.
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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, Sam Farber.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornet timee Cast, your
Hornets podcast with all the notes, quotes, and daily buzz
around your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it
is a pleasure and a privilege have you with us
here once again on the Hornet Tide Cast, brought to
you by Santa Charlotte I ear Nose and Throat Associates,
the official I ear nosen Throatcare provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
Special edition Draft Day at least round number one. Draft
(00:37):
Day is in the books the Hornets, making two selections,
one at number four. Conk Nipple now a member of
the Charlotte Hornets. We are very excited to talk about
the newest member of the Hornets roster. We're gonna let
you hear from the man himself, the man who picked him,
Jeff Peterson, as well as some of the leaders in
the scouting industry on this newest member of the Charlotte
(01:00):
Hornets and helping me break down round number one of
the twenty twenty five NBA Draft. He's my producer on
the Hornets Trade a network, as were most the producer
this fine podcast, Rob Longo, here with me once again. Rob.
The only con about this podcast is it feels like
we're doing it super late at night post round one.
But then again, it was only two years ago. The
(01:21):
entire draft happened both rounds and then we would have
to break everything down afterwards. So I maybe maybe are
we just getting older and we don't remember what it
was like two years ago? Would we recorded this thing
at dawn?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I'm not entirely sure, Sam, if I'm being honest with you,
And I don't know if that's our old age kicking in.
I don't know if that's just it's really late at
night and everything just seems to be silly at this
point or what. But you know, do appreciate the Conkain
nipple little pun there that you try to sneak in.
We are con men, now, I guess you can say,
as are the rest of the Hornets fans. But yeah,
super excited with this pick and super excited to break
(01:58):
this down as well.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
That one might even better, So very nicely done there.
This is really an exciting pick here for the Charlotte Hornets.
Con Kinipple out of Duke, a star player, huge scorer
in high school, superstar in high school, and then was
at times a complimentary player to Cooper Flag, at least
(02:19):
on paper in some people's estimations. But when you really
look closely at the numbers, you see just the brilliance
of his overall game fourteen points per game, the shooting
percentage is exquisite forty percent plus from three, ninety percent
plus from the free throw line, all the intangibles you
could want. But don't take my word for him it.
(02:40):
Let's hear from some of the leaders of the organization
as well as the man himself. First, though, Jeff Peterson,
president of Basketball Operations, here's what he had to say
at the end of round one of the draft about
his selection at number four. Conkinipple.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
He just has a combination of you know skill IQ. First,
he embodies just what we want to be about from
a you know, Horne's DNA standpoint. He makes others better,
he doesn't he doesn't need the credit. He's happy for
his teammates. So I could go on and on and on.
Of course the shooting. We saw him early on in
(03:15):
the process and really identified him and continue to follow him,
so we're excited to have him as as a Hornet.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Jeff Peterson there weighing in on the number four overall pick.
So much of what you hear, not just from Jeff
but universally about Con is the intangibles, the things that
don't all have to show up in a statistical spreadsheet
but will always show up when it comes to determining
(03:42):
wins and losses, which is one of the things we'll
get into a little bit later here about Con his
impact on winning. But this guy, in a draft that
was very much loaded, very very deep, was that everyone's
upper echelon. Maybe not at number one or two, but
you didn't have to go very far to find him.
Many of the leaders in the industry had in rank
(04:05):
third overall. So the Hornets may be lucky that he
lasted till four. And no matter how you slice it,
this guy is going to have an instant impact here
on Charlotte and has the potential to have a really,
really long NBA career, hopefully all of it here winning
in Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
There's a lot of things that stick out to me
Sam when it comes to Conkin Nipple, And obviously the
big one, like you touched on, is the shooting. And
again that's not really that big of a secret if
we're being honest. I mean, that was always kind of
the calling card for him in his one season at Duke.
And if you didn't take our words for it, well
here's what con had to say about what his big
ex strength is coming into the NBA.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
I think obviously the best part bout my game is
my shooting, and that's something I'm always can rely on.
But I think there's a lot more to me as
a player than that, and so hopefully get there and
keep getting better.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
And of course there's always room for improvement, Sam, and
there's always things you got to work on, especially as rookie.
But the thing that really stands out to me is
just his ability to just shoot the basketball. For being honest,
I mean, like you touched on it, a little bit
over fourteen points per game, four rebounds per contest, almost
three assists per game as well. He played thirty nine
games at Duke this past season. The shooting percentage is
(05:16):
absolutely insane, I mean forty eight percent from the field,
forty point six percent from three, and ninety one point
four percent from the free throw line. I mean, the
guy's almost automatic from the charity stripe as well. Some
things just started clicking in my head and I was like, well,
you know, Brandon Miller was obviously poised as a as
a really good shooter coming out of Alabama a couple
of years ago. I wondered how those numbers stood up
(05:38):
compared to what Konk Nipple has and I went back
and I look, Brandon played thirty seven games in his
one and only season at the University of Alabama. He
averaged close to nineteen points per game eight rebounds to assist.
The shooting percentage is though, forty three percent from the field,
about thirty eight to thirty nine percent from three, and
eighty six percent from the free throw line. So while
the numbers in terms of the points per game and
(05:58):
the rebounds per game don't look great in terms of
comparison with Kahn and Brandon, because again Knkiniple's around fourteen
point four points per game four rebounds per contest, shooting
percentages are much much better too, and I think a
lot of that has to do with being on a
team like a guy like Cooper Flag And I know
that we'll talk about this a little bit later on
on how con fits with the roster construction that's currently
(06:19):
set up with the Hornets as well. But I mean,
if you have the ability to get a guy that
can be a catch and shoot like a conkiniple and
he can score in different ways as well. But I mean,
when you just have those kind of shooting percentages, you're
gonna make everybody around you better. And I know we're
going to talk about the roster here in a few moments,
but at the same time too, there's no getting around
at the Hornets were one of the worst shooting teams
in the association last year. So anytime they were able
(06:40):
to add instant offense and a guy like Conkinipple, you
do it. And that's what the Hornets were able to
do with Jeff Peterson as well yesterday and Rob.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It is it's not just a skill, it's the skill.
It is the number one skill you have to have
in the NBA. It overshadows everything else. It's not to
say that you can get away with having a completely
unathletic team out there and just knock down jump shuts.
There's so much more that you have to do. But
if you can shoot the basketball, you're going to be
in the game, like you're you're going to find your
(07:07):
spot in the game. And con doesn't just shoot it
a little bit. He is the best shooter in this
draft class. Paul be and Carti, who you're about to
hear from right now, is willing to, at least based
off the quote you're about to hear, bet on Conkaninnipples
shooting ability.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
Kank Nipple is an NBA shooter, just pure and simple.
He's probably the best stationary shooter in the draft. For example,
if you're going to throw the ball to somebody, you
can't take a dribble. He's just got to shoot it.
I put my mortgage on con Canipple to knock it
down at forty percent. It's already proved that at duke
ninety one percent free throw shooter. I believe he's an
(07:44):
NBA shooter. He's a great ball mover and passer, excellent
decision maker, and he plays with a quiet toughness.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So there you have it. Paul Be and Carti's mortgage
could have been up, but you'd be betting against Knkinipple,
which is not advisable if you're listening to Paul and
looking at the tape. Quite frankly an outstanding pick up
here for the Charlotte Hornets at number four. But one
of the big questions moving forward is how does he
fit with the Hornets and what does this say about
the future for the franchise. We'll hear more from Jeff Peterson,
(08:15):
more from Con, more from Paula be and Cardi, more
from Robin I as we roll along here on this post.
Round one of the twenty twenty five NBA Draft edition
of the Hornets iodcast. Sam Farbara Roblongo here with you
on the AHHC The Hornets iode cast, brought to you
by Senta Khanka Nipple to pick for the Hornets at
(08:36):
number four. There is another pick as well. Liam McNeely
will talk about him momentarily here on the AHHC, but
a little bit more about Con. This is a guy
who obviously comes in with a lot of really positive attributes,
but one of the ones that I would very much
like to highlight beyond the shot, one of the many
intangibles that he has been lauded for is the fact
(08:59):
that he is a winner and for a franchise that
has suffered through a couple of really rough season when
it comes to wins and losses, and not entirely because
of the roster, more due to circumstances, we would say,
with all the injuries and the lack of availability for
so many of the star players. But regardless of the reason,
losses have piled up for the team, this is a
(09:22):
player in kan k Nipple who just doesn't lose at Duke.
I think they lost four times his senior year in
high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they didn't lose at all.
This guy is a winner. He contributes to winning bassas
not just in places that happen to win. He himself
is a winner. He makes sure that his teams get there.
(09:44):
And that's whether he is the star of the show
as he was in high school, as he was through
the ACC tournament, or whether he's playing a lead role
but not the leading role per se, which is kind
of the reputation he brings out of Duke, and it's
part of the reason why I think, over the course
of this process, while Charlotte and the powers that be
were kind of tight lipped, didn't want to tip their
(10:05):
hands on too much. You know, one of the things
you'd hear from people about con compared to other prospects
is like, well, where is his ceiling? And the fact
of the matter is one you want a guy who's
contributing to winning, winning, Trump's everything, and whether you're doing
that as the top guy or as a somewhat more
complimentary player is irrelevant. But more so for this reason, Rob,
(10:27):
for ninety five percent of the league, the thing you
have to do is learn how to play basketball, show
that you can play basketball without being the star. And
that sounds like it shouldn't be that hard, but in reality,
for so many of these guys who have always been
the man on every team they've ever been on, it
can be very, very hard to do. And with con Kinnipple,
(10:47):
you have proof of concept that this is a guy
who was in absolute stud in high school. In fact,
before I go more on this, Paul ban Cardi on
the background here of con Kannep.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
He showed the ability to start at Duke Bright Lights,
big time basketball. Look, he was battle tested in his
high school days up in Wisconsin, led his team to
a state championship and they went undefeated.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
This guy's a winner. He led the Nike e ybl
in scoring.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
That's some of the best players in the country. Over
the course of the summer, he averaged over twenty points
per game. This kid's battle tested. He's a guy you
got to close out on. He's a guy that you
have to pay attention to. And because he's such a
good passer, he's easy to.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Play with Paulby and Cardi of ESPN there on continental.
So the ceiling is exceedingly high. He was an elite,
elite player coming out of high school, coming out of
the the AAU circuit, the eybl where he was the dude.
And then he goes to Duke where he is one
of clearly the top two players playing Bakers for a
Blue Devils team that, in many people's estimations outside of
(11:50):
the final couple of games of the NCAA Tournament, was
the best team in college basketball. And there he's a star.
But going back to my point, while we see that
ceiling very high, I don't discount how valuable it is
to have a really really high floor that means you
can play in the NBA. Use the comment earlier that
most of the league to prove you can play in
(12:12):
the league you have to prove that you can play
basketball without being the star, even you know, when you
get there, Like a guy like LaMelo, who's clearly a star,
he had to prove he could handle that responsibility by
playing complimentary basketball. He had to come off the bench
initially in his Rookie of the Year season. Now he's
a star, but to get to that point on the floor,
he had to show he could coordinate, conduct that offense.
(12:34):
And because he's a maestro, LaMelo, he easily cleared that hurdle.
I think that kon Kinipple will. And it goes without
saying many players, many highly drafted players, never do. There's
a lot of guys who are getting a lot of
praise in this draft for what their upside might be,
but before they ever touch it, they've got to prove
they can play well with other NBA players and contribute
(12:57):
to the offense, which is not always easy to do.
Konk Nipple's going to be able to do that on
day one.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
And I really don't like when we all agree because
it doesn't make for good podcast fodder. Sam, But based
off of everything you just said there and everything that
Paul Me and Carti said in a couple of those clips.
I mean, he's right, And something that really stood out
to me when hearing kN talk after he was drafted
by the Hornets yesterday, somebody asked him about playing with
Brandon Miller and La mellow Ball and what that's going
(13:24):
to look like. Here's what he had to say.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Obviously, those guys are great, great basketball players, and I
think something that really jumped out at Duke was, you know,
not being the best guy and how are you going
to affect winning when you don't have the ball. What
are some other ways that you can contribute? So I
think I can compliment them well off the ball, moving
as a shooter, and just bring my energy on both
ends of the floor.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I absolutely love that mentality. That's a mentality you need
when you are a guy that is trying to establish
yourself in the league, like we've talked about here the
last couple of minutes, and he's able to do both,
not just even with the whole high school stuff in Wisconsin,
but he did it at Duke last year as well.
If you go back to that first game in the
accs ornament that happened to be at Spectrum Center, Cooper
Flag plays fifteen minutes he goes down with that ankle injury,
(14:05):
and then Conkinipple takes over. Against the Georgia Tech team,
Ray scores twenty eight points, going seven to fourteen from
the field. He goes two to six from three, twelve
of thirteen at the free throw line, with eight assists
and five rebounds. That's not easy to do in the
middle of a game when you're superstar and Cooper Flag
goes down. And you know, he continued to do it
in the AC Tournament without Cooper Flag. He had seventeen
(14:25):
points off of five of eleven shooting against UNC. In
that semi final game. In the championship against Louisville, he
had eighteen points off a six to twelve shooting from
the field. So he has the ability to take over
when he needs to and again playing that complimentary basketball.
I mean we saw that all season long playing alongside
Cooper Flag as well. So he has the ability to
do both, and he has the recognition to realize, hey,
(14:47):
I'm not going to be the superstar on his team,
and I'm perfectly okay with that, Like he said about
playing alongside guys like Brandon and LaMelo, And again, we
talk so much about this catch and shoot of Konkinepple.
Who better to have a catch and shoot when you
have when you are possibly on the receiving end of
a no look past from LaMelo Ballzy drives and collapses
the defense too. So again, I think that con is
(15:07):
a really good pick. He's a really good fit for
this team. I know that at this point of where
the Hornets franchise is, and as early as a draft
pick that konkor Nipple is at fourth. Overall, you pick
for best value and best potential, but this is also
a really good fit as well. In one more note
two as well, the Duke University program first program to
have three of their top ten picks since Duke back
(15:29):
in twenty nineteen, and the three players in that draft
that were taken out of Duke or Zion Williamson, RJ. Barrett,
and Cam Reddish as some pretty elite company to be in.
So if history repeats itself, the Hornets are going to
have a really solid NBA player here as well.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Sometimes, Rob, I'm going to peel back to Curtin a
little bit here. When we're in press conferences, we ask
questions to the powers that be, and hope they'll give
an answer and confirm things that we're thinking, or at
least speak to something. And that's part of what I
was going for. When I was in the room with
Jeff Peterson post the round of the draft, I asked
him what it means for a player like Conkin Nipple
(16:06):
to have shown at a very high level what it's
like when you're playing alongside guys like Cooper Flag, guys
who are clearly NBA players. Here is what Jeff had
to say about how playing with elite good players preps
guys to play in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
We always want competitors. We do value positional size, we
value shooting IQ.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Just again, those are kind of the core tenders that
we'd like to look for.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Jeff Peterson again echoing some of those thoughts there on
what the value is having a guy who knows how
to play well with really good players and play complimentary
basketball and alluding a little bit to the next person
we're going to talk about here on this episode of
the a JHC. Because the Hornets didn't just make one
pick on Day one of the twenty twenty five NBA Draft,
(16:59):
they got back in to the first round at the
late stages of it and took a guy who is
very high on a lot of mock drafts, but ended
up being there for the Hornets to pick at twenty nine.
We'll tell you about him next here on the Hornets Podcast.
Sam Farbar, Rob Longo here with you on the AHHC
The Hornets Podcast, brought to you by SENTA. Draft Day
(17:20):
number one, the first round of the twenty twenty five
draft in the rear view, near Hornets taking Kanknipple out
of Duke at number four overall. He joins the Hornets,
score a LaMelo ball and Brandon Miller heading towards a
bright break future. One more note here on Conk Nipple, Rob,
I have not told you this before. You know how
much you love playing these games. I know you love it.
(17:40):
Who is older Knk Nipple or a last year's first
round pick, t Jon Salon?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
No peaking, Oh man, here, put me on the spot.
But if you're trying to set me up for this,
I'm gonna go ahead and say that Kank Nipple is
still younger than Tjon Salon.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
He is not. He is not younger not. It's close.
It's very very close. So I kind of cheated with
this one. But t Jean Salon is all of nineteen
years old, bored August tenth, two thousand and five. And
I'm double checking my work here because it's so late
as we're recording this podcast, much later than it normally
(18:19):
is when we do these things that I'm trying to
do the math in my head. But con K Nipple
is in fact older born August third, two thousand and five,
So he is a week older than last year's first
round pick who came in very raw. Yeah, I know
you want to chime.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
In, go ahead, you're just trying to make me look
silly at this point.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
You splaying no, no, no, But it kind of bolsters a
point here. And you know, we went into last year's
draft looking at Ti Jon. He's a physically very impressive human,
you know, basketball player, and he was when he came
into the league at eighteen, played most of last year
as a nineteen year old. He'll play his second season
as a twenty year old. But he is younger than
(18:58):
Conk Nipple, and now, you know, coming in with a
full year of experience, it should bode well here for
the Hornets future. Also helping the Hornets for the future
they made a second pick on Day one of the
twenty twenty five NBA Draft, bringing in Liam McNeely at
number twenty nine. Now we have to be a little
careful about this because of the song and dance of
(19:20):
the NBA and win trades actually go through, but we
can say definitively the Charlotte Hornets have agreed in principle
to acquire the draft rights to Liam McNeely. He's the
number twenty nine selection in the first round of the
twenty twelve and NBA Draft, coming over from Phoenix in
a trade which is not yet final. It will be
finalized in the coming days. But that's enough of a
green light here to talk about Liam mcneley, which is
(19:41):
really all we need for the purposes of this podcast,
so let's do it. Liam McNeely is a guy who
kind of in the reverse order of what kan K
Nipple has, has all of the experience that you want
to see both as being a star and being a
really good comp elementary player. For Conkin Nipple, he did
(20:02):
have starring moments at Duke. I hate kind of like
framing it this way because it doesn't give him his due.
He was such a great player at Duke, including when
Cooper Flag was unavailable. But even when he wasn't available,
knk Nipple had plenty of games where he was the
leading scorer of the Star Attraction and did so much
to help Duke to the spectacular season they had. But
(20:23):
we know the context of the conversation. He did play
with Cooper for their second first round pick. The Hornets
take a guy who did not always have as high
profile of a running mate and was considered to be
the guy on that team most of the way in
Leam McNeely. But if you rewind the clock back to
his high school days, he was the one playing with
(20:46):
Cooper Flag on a very star studded Mont Verd Academy
prep school team. Some people say, you can't call it
a high school, it's more of a prep school. Whatever.
They dominated that level. One of the questions I'm going
to have when he comes here in Charlotte, by the way,
is who does he think would have won his Mont
verg team or Lamello's Chino Hills team, both littered with
(21:08):
lottery picks. Not everyone gets it's a podcast. No one
else can see the reaction that you're having here. You
know that's a good question. So we'll find out what
he has to say when he gets here to the
Queens City. But Liam McNeely when he was at Montvert
was a specular player, contributed to winning, played well with others,
you know, showed a lot of those skills. Then goes
(21:28):
to Yukon and while they didn't win a national championship,
which I guess was kind of the bar they had
set for a couple of years, he had a really
really strong season, overcame injury, played really good basketball, fourteen
and a half points per game, right there with kan
k Nipple quite frankly in terms of scoring average eighty
six percent for the foul line, he can shoot it,
(21:49):
and a little misleading. He was a thirty one percent
three point shooter overall, but when you look to his
shots off the catch, I love all these second level
stats we get here from the NCAA thirty seven percent
three point shooter. So this guy can knock get down.
He's gonna have a lot less attention on him coming
on to the floor in the NBA, playing alongside the
likes of khon Kinneppol lamelow Ball, Brandon Miller or whoever
(22:11):
is on the floor for the Charlotte hornts it's a
higher level of teammate, which should open more catch and
shoot opportunities for him, not less. And so whether you're
looking back to his high school prep school days, or
you're looking to the numbers he put up at Yukon,
or just how he profiles as a player, this is
a guy who is a lot higher than twenty nine
on most of the experts draft boards. Hornets catch a
(22:32):
break having him fall to them there at the pick
they acquired, well before they acquired it. Sometimes a pick
will be traded and it's specifically because that team's on
the clock and the team trading for it wants that pick.
Charlotte traded for this pick well before Liam McNeely fell there.
I kind of have a feeling, in hindsight, maybe that
pick is not made available to them if the team
(22:54):
that traded it Phoenix knew Liam mcnel would be seitting
there for him.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I mean, it's very possible. Keith Smith, who covers the
NBA a longtime NBA reporter, he said he had Lee
mcnely at number eight on his big board in the draft. So,
if you're going off of just one simple opinion saying
that I had him at eight overall and the Hornets
pick him up at twenty ninth overall. That makes you
feel pretty good. It makes you feel pretty warm and
fuzzy inside. But you know, looking at his Yukon film,
(23:18):
it's it's kind of surprising, I guess in a sense.
You did follow the twenty nine. Really liked the way
that he's able to spread the floor with his three
point shot, with his length, he can create off the dribble,
He's not afraid of contact, He's able to get downhill
in some spaces as well. Really liked what I saw
pretty much almost a complete offensive game and just trying
to refine those percentages and no sort of things as well.
(23:38):
And I know that there was you know, the issue
in Yukon was there was some turmoil in a sense
where there was a lot of pressure maybe put on
themselves a little bit too much to go after another
national title. And it seldom like there was a lot
of pressure there between Dan Hurley and the media and
those sorts of things as well. But I mean, when
you go back to his high school days as well.
You rattled off him playing in mont Verb with a
(24:00):
couple of the other guys like Cooper Flagg. But I
mean just the list of a lums that are now
in the NBA. The list goes on and on. Precious
to chew a play dere Scottie Barnes, RJ. Barrett didn't
think I would say RJ Barrett twice on a pre
draft podcast, But here we are. You got former Hornet
Leaky Black in there as well, Kid Cunningham, D'Angelo Russell.
There's a lot of talent that's come out of that
high school, and of course there's a wealth of talent
(24:21):
that's come out of Yukon as well. So it's just
trying to put it all together at this point. But
really like to pick was one of those ones where
again we were kind of talking back and forth there
in the draft too about who was available and who
was going to be left with that pick at twenty
nine for the Hornets. I don't think either of us,
if we're being honest, had him Peg does somebody that
Charlie could get, because I don't think we both thought
(24:41):
he would be on the board at twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, it's a huge get here for Charlotte and it
just adds to the overall talent base and with both
of these guys, it adds in another guy who knows
how to play. That was one of the big talking
points we heard post draft from Jeff Peterson what he
had to say on both kN and Liam McNeely and
(25:04):
what they bring to the table.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
But again, I think that the thing about both of
these guys, Con and Liam, they're more than just shooters.
You know, they both come from same credible programs, coach
very well, very tough. So again we're excited about just
their overall package, but of course the shooting is a
bonus as well.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Jeff Peterson, President of Basketball Operations, commenting post draft on
the additions he's made here to the Hornet's roster. Charlotte
still as of the recording of this podcast, with two
picks in the twenty twenty five NBA Draft. They come
very early in round number two, which is happening later today,
So we will have a full breakdown much much later
(25:46):
on this day. Hopefully it'll still be this day, the
second round day. It's getting a little topsy turvy on
both of us, rob but we will have a full
breakdown of the draft in the coming days. We'll let
you hear from the picks as they arrive here in
the Queen City. Jeff Peterson, President of the Basketball Operations.
Lots of great content coming up here on the AHHC
in the coming days. But Round one in the books,
(26:07):
Liam McNeely and con Canipple at number four overall. Conk
Nipple coming to the Charlotte Hornets in big haul here
to Team Teal, and we'll look forward to introducing them
to all of you in the coming days here on
the Hornet Podcast. Rob Longo, no rest for the wicked,
as you like to say, back to work soon enough.
But thanks for joining me on this post first round
(26:28):
edition of the Hornet Podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Thank you, Sam. Trying to get some sleep. I know
that you and Sam Perlo will have a too. Sam's
recap of Round two coming up on tomorrow on the
Hornets Podcast, and I'll just kind of sit in the
background a little bit and do some editing, but I'll
let you guys take over and hopefully we get the
We keep the good vibes rolling in the night too.
Here in the draft.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I am hoping I am not too wired to go
to sleep, but I will do my best for Rob
Longo and for everyone here. I'm Sam Farbers, saying it's
been a pleasure to privilege having you along. Congrats to Conkannnipple.
Congrats to Liam McNeely, the new member of the Charlotte Hornets.
Get excited, Hornets fans, It's going to be a great
season to come. We will talk to you tomorrow post
Round two recapping the entire twenty twenty five NBA Draft
(27:10):
for our next episode of The Hornets Podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ear 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, Sam Farber.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornet timee Cast, your
Hornets podcast with all the notes, quotes, and daily buzz
around your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it
is a pleasure and a privilege have you with us
here once again on the Hornet Tide Cast, brought to
you by Santa Charlotte I ear Nose and Throat Associates,
the official I ear nosen Throatcare provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
Special edition Draft Day at least round number one. Draft
(00:37):
Day is in the books the Hornets, making two selections,
one at number four. Conk Nipple now a member of
the Charlotte Hornets. We are very excited to talk about
the newest member of the Hornets roster. We're gonna let
you hear from the man himself, the man who picked him,
Jeff Peterson, as well as some of the leaders in
the scouting industry on this newest member of the Charlotte
(01:00):
Hornets and helping me break down round number one of
the twenty twenty five NBA Draft. He's my producer on
the Hornets Trade a network, as were most the producer
this fine podcast, Rob Longo, here with me once again. Rob.
The only con about this podcast is it feels like
we're doing it super late at night post round one.
But then again, it was only two years ago. The
(01:21):
entire draft happened both rounds and then we would have
to break everything down afterwards. So I maybe maybe are
we just getting older and we don't remember what it
was like two years ago? Would we recorded this thing
at dawn?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I'm not entirely sure, Sam, if I'm being honest with you,
And I don't know if that's our old age kicking in.
I don't know if that's just it's really late at
night and everything just seems to be silly at this
point or what. But you know, do appreciate the Conkain
nipple little pun there that you try to sneak in.
We are con men, now, I guess you can say,
as are the rest of the Hornets fans. But yeah,
super excited with this pick and super excited to break
(01:58):
this down as well.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
That one might even better, So very nicely done there.
This is really an exciting pick here for the Charlotte Hornets.
Con Kinipple out of Duke, a star player, huge scorer
in high school, superstar in high school, and then was
at times a complimentary player to Cooper Flag, at least
(02:19):
on paper in some people's estimations. But when you really
look closely at the numbers, you see just the brilliance
of his overall game fourteen points per game, the shooting
percentage is exquisite forty percent plus from three, ninety percent
plus from the free throw line, all the intangibles you
could want. But don't take my word for him it.
(02:40):
Let's hear from some of the leaders of the organization
as well as the man himself. First, though, Jeff Peterson,
president of Basketball Operations, here's what he had to say
at the end of round one of the draft about
his selection at number four. Conkinipple.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
He just has a combination of you know skill IQ. First,
he embodies just what we want to be about from
a you know, Horne's DNA standpoint. He makes others better,
he doesn't he doesn't need the credit. He's happy for
his teammates. So I could go on and on and on.
Of course the shooting. We saw him early on in
(03:15):
the process and really identified him and continue to follow him,
so we're excited to have him as as a Hornet.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Jeff Peterson there weighing in on the number four overall pick.
So much of what you hear, not just from Jeff
but universally about Con is the intangibles, the things that
don't all have to show up in a statistical spreadsheet
but will always show up when it comes to determining
(03:42):
wins and losses, which is one of the things we'll
get into a little bit later here about Con his
impact on winning. But this guy, in a draft that
was very much loaded, very very deep, was that everyone's
upper echelon. Maybe not at number one or two, but
you didn't have to go very far to find him.
Many of the leaders in the industry had in rank
(04:05):
third overall. So the Hornets may be lucky that he
lasted till four. And no matter how you slice it,
this guy is going to have an instant impact here
on Charlotte and has the potential to have a really,
really long NBA career, hopefully all of it here winning
in Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
There's a lot of things that stick out to me
Sam when it comes to Conkin Nipple, And obviously the
big one, like you touched on, is the shooting. And
again that's not really that big of a secret if
we're being honest. I mean, that was always kind of
the calling card for him in his one season at Duke.
And if you didn't take our words for it, well
here's what con had to say about what his big
ex strength is coming into the NBA.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
I think obviously the best part bout my game is
my shooting, and that's something I'm always can rely on.
But I think there's a lot more to me as
a player than that, and so hopefully get there and
keep getting better.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
And of course there's always room for improvement, Sam, and
there's always things you got to work on, especially as rookie.
But the thing that really stands out to me is
just his ability to just shoot the basketball. For being honest,
I mean, like you touched on it, a little bit
over fourteen points per game, four rebounds per contest, almost
three assists per game as well. He played thirty nine
games at Duke this past season. The shooting percentage is
(05:16):
absolutely insane, I mean forty eight percent from the field,
forty point six percent from three, and ninety one point
four percent from the free throw line. I mean, the
guy's almost automatic from the charity stripe as well. Some
things just started clicking in my head and I was like, well,
you know, Brandon Miller was obviously poised as a as
a really good shooter coming out of Alabama a couple
of years ago. I wondered how those numbers stood up
(05:38):
compared to what Konk Nipple has and I went back
and I look, Brandon played thirty seven games in his
one and only season at the University of Alabama. He
averaged close to nineteen points per game eight rebounds to assist.
The shooting percentage is though, forty three percent from the field,
about thirty eight to thirty nine percent from three, and
eighty six percent from the free throw line. So while
the numbers in terms of the points per game and
(05:58):
the rebounds per game don't look great in terms of
comparison with Kahn and Brandon, because again Knkiniple's around fourteen
point four points per game four rebounds per contest, shooting
percentages are much much better too, and I think a
lot of that has to do with being on a
team like a guy like Cooper Flag And I know
that we'll talk about this a little bit later on
on how con fits with the roster construction that's currently
(06:19):
set up with the Hornets as well. But I mean,
if you have the ability to get a guy that
can be a catch and shoot like a conkiniple and
he can score in different ways as well. But I mean,
when you just have those kind of shooting percentages, you're
gonna make everybody around you better. And I know we're
going to talk about the roster here in a few moments,
but at the same time too, there's no getting around
at the Hornets were one of the worst shooting teams
in the association last year. So anytime they were able
(06:40):
to add instant offense and a guy like Conkinipple, you
do it. And that's what the Hornets were able to
do with Jeff Peterson as well yesterday and Rob.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It is it's not just a skill, it's the skill.
It is the number one skill you have to have
in the NBA. It overshadows everything else. It's not to
say that you can get away with having a completely
unathletic team out there and just knock down jump shuts.
There's so much more that you have to do. But
if you can shoot the basketball, you're going to be
in the game, like you're you're going to find your
(07:07):
spot in the game. And con doesn't just shoot it
a little bit. He is the best shooter in this
draft class. Paul be and Carti, who you're about to
hear from right now, is willing to, at least based
off the quote you're about to hear, bet on Conkaninnipples
shooting ability.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
Kank Nipple is an NBA shooter, just pure and simple.
He's probably the best stationary shooter in the draft. For example,
if you're going to throw the ball to somebody, you
can't take a dribble. He's just got to shoot it.
I put my mortgage on con Canipple to knock it
down at forty percent. It's already proved that at duke
ninety one percent free throw shooter. I believe he's an
(07:44):
NBA shooter. He's a great ball mover and passer, excellent
decision maker, and he plays with a quiet toughness.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So there you have it. Paul Be and Carti's mortgage
could have been up, but you'd be betting against Knkinipple,
which is not advisable if you're listening to Paul and
looking at the tape. Quite frankly an outstanding pick up
here for the Charlotte Hornets at number four. But one
of the big questions moving forward is how does he
fit with the Hornets and what does this say about
the future for the franchise. We'll hear more from Jeff Peterson,
(08:15):
more from Con, more from Paula be and Cardi, more
from Robin I as we roll along here on this post.
Round one of the twenty twenty five NBA Draft edition
of the Hornets iodcast. Sam Farbara Roblongo here with you
on the AHHC The Hornets iode cast, brought to you
by Senta Khanka Nipple to pick for the Hornets at
(08:36):
number four. There is another pick as well. Liam McNeely
will talk about him momentarily here on the AHHC, but
a little bit more about Con. This is a guy
who obviously comes in with a lot of really positive attributes,
but one of the ones that I would very much
like to highlight beyond the shot, one of the many
intangibles that he has been lauded for is the fact
(08:59):
that he is a winner and for a franchise that
has suffered through a couple of really rough season when
it comes to wins and losses, and not entirely because
of the roster, more due to circumstances, we would say,
with all the injuries and the lack of availability for
so many of the star players. But regardless of the reason,
losses have piled up for the team, this is a
(09:22):
player in kan k Nipple who just doesn't lose at Duke.
I think they lost four times his senior year in
high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they didn't lose at all.
This guy is a winner. He contributes to winning bassas
not just in places that happen to win. He himself
is a winner. He makes sure that his teams get there.
(09:44):
And that's whether he is the star of the show
as he was in high school, as he was through
the ACC tournament, or whether he's playing a lead role
but not the leading role per se, which is kind
of the reputation he brings out of Duke, and it's
part of the reason why I think, over the course
of this process, while Charlotte and the powers that be
were kind of tight lipped, didn't want to tip their
(10:05):
hands on too much. You know, one of the things
you'd hear from people about con compared to other prospects
is like, well, where is his ceiling? And the fact
of the matter is one you want a guy who's
contributing to winning, winning, Trump's everything, and whether you're doing
that as the top guy or as a somewhat more
complimentary player is irrelevant. But more so for this reason, Rob,
(10:27):
for ninety five percent of the league, the thing you
have to do is learn how to play basketball, show
that you can play basketball without being the star. And
that sounds like it shouldn't be that hard, but in reality,
for so many of these guys who have always been
the man on every team they've ever been on, it
can be very, very hard to do. And with con Kinnipple,
(10:47):
you have proof of concept that this is a guy
who was in absolute stud in high school. In fact,
before I go more on this, Paul ban Cardi on
the background here of con Kannep.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
He showed the ability to start at Duke Bright Lights,
big time basketball. Look, he was battle tested in his
high school days up in Wisconsin, led his team to
a state championship and they went undefeated.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
This guy's a winner. He led the Nike e ybl
in scoring.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
That's some of the best players in the country. Over
the course of the summer, he averaged over twenty points
per game. This kid's battle tested. He's a guy you
got to close out on. He's a guy that you
have to pay attention to. And because he's such a
good passer, he's easy to.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Play with Paulby and Cardi of ESPN there on continental.
So the ceiling is exceedingly high. He was an elite,
elite player coming out of high school, coming out of
the the AAU circuit, the eybl where he was the dude.
And then he goes to Duke where he is one
of clearly the top two players playing Bakers for a
Blue Devils team that, in many people's estimations outside of
(11:50):
the final couple of games of the NCAA Tournament, was
the best team in college basketball. And there he's a star.
But going back to my point, while we see that
ceiling very high, I don't discount how valuable it is
to have a really really high floor that means you
can play in the NBA. Use the comment earlier that
most of the league to prove you can play in
(12:12):
the league you have to prove that you can play
basketball without being the star, even you know, when you
get there, Like a guy like LaMelo, who's clearly a star,
he had to prove he could handle that responsibility by
playing complimentary basketball. He had to come off the bench
initially in his Rookie of the Year season. Now he's
a star, but to get to that point on the floor,
he had to show he could coordinate, conduct that offense.
(12:34):
And because he's a maestro, LaMelo, he easily cleared that hurdle.
I think that kon Kinipple will. And it goes without
saying many players, many highly drafted players, never do. There's
a lot of guys who are getting a lot of
praise in this draft for what their upside might be,
but before they ever touch it, they've got to prove
they can play well with other NBA players and contribute
(12:57):
to the offense, which is not always easy to do.
Konk Nipple's going to be able to do that on
day one.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
And I really don't like when we all agree because
it doesn't make for good podcast fodder. Sam, But based
off of everything you just said there and everything that
Paul Me and Carti said in a couple of those clips.
I mean, he's right, And something that really stood out
to me when hearing kN talk after he was drafted
by the Hornets yesterday, somebody asked him about playing with
Brandon Miller and La mellow Ball and what that's going
(13:24):
to look like. Here's what he had to say.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Obviously, those guys are great, great basketball players, and I
think something that really jumped out at Duke was, you know,
not being the best guy and how are you going
to affect winning when you don't have the ball. What
are some other ways that you can contribute? So I
think I can compliment them well off the ball, moving
as a shooter, and just bring my energy on both
ends of the floor.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I absolutely love that mentality. That's a mentality you need
when you are a guy that is trying to establish
yourself in the league, like we've talked about here the
last couple of minutes, and he's able to do both,
not just even with the whole high school stuff in Wisconsin,
but he did it at Duke last year as well.
If you go back to that first game in the
accs ornament that happened to be at Spectrum Center, Cooper
Flag plays fifteen minutes he goes down with that ankle injury,
(14:05):
and then Conkinipple takes over. Against the Georgia Tech team,
Ray scores twenty eight points, going seven to fourteen from
the field. He goes two to six from three, twelve
of thirteen at the free throw line, with eight assists
and five rebounds. That's not easy to do in the
middle of a game when you're superstar and Cooper Flag
goes down. And you know, he continued to do it
in the AC Tournament without Cooper Flag. He had seventeen
(14:25):
points off of five of eleven shooting against UNC. In
that semi final game. In the championship against Louisville, he
had eighteen points off a six to twelve shooting from
the field. So he has the ability to take over
when he needs to and again playing that complimentary basketball.
I mean we saw that all season long playing alongside
Cooper Flag as well. So he has the ability to
do both, and he has the recognition to realize, hey,
(14:47):
I'm not going to be the superstar on his team,
and I'm perfectly okay with that, Like he said about
playing alongside guys like Brandon and LaMelo, And again, we
talk so much about this catch and shoot of Konkinepple.
Who better to have a catch and shoot when you
have when you are possibly on the receiving end of
a no look past from LaMelo Ballzy drives and collapses
the defense too. So again, I think that con is
(15:07):
a really good pick. He's a really good fit for
this team. I know that at this point of where
the Hornets franchise is, and as early as a draft
pick that konkor Nipple is at fourth. Overall, you pick
for best value and best potential, but this is also
a really good fit as well. In one more note
two as well, the Duke University program first program to
have three of their top ten picks since Duke back
(15:29):
in twenty nineteen, and the three players in that draft
that were taken out of Duke or Zion Williamson, RJ. Barrett,
and Cam Reddish as some pretty elite company to be in.
So if history repeats itself, the Hornets are going to
have a really solid NBA player here as well.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Sometimes, Rob, I'm going to peel back to Curtin a
little bit here. When we're in press conferences, we ask
questions to the powers that be, and hope they'll give
an answer and confirm things that we're thinking, or at
least speak to something. And that's part of what I
was going for. When I was in the room with
Jeff Peterson post the round of the draft, I asked
him what it means for a player like Conkin Nipple
(16:06):
to have shown at a very high level what it's
like when you're playing alongside guys like Cooper Flag, guys
who are clearly NBA players. Here is what Jeff had
to say about how playing with elite good players preps
guys to play in the NBA.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
We always want competitors. We do value positional size, we
value shooting IQ.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Just again, those are kind of the core tenders that
we'd like to look for.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Jeff Peterson again echoing some of those thoughts there on
what the value is having a guy who knows how
to play well with really good players and play complimentary
basketball and alluding a little bit to the next person
we're going to talk about here on this episode of
the a JHC. Because the Hornets didn't just make one
pick on Day one of the twenty twenty five NBA Draft,
(16:59):
they got back in to the first round at the
late stages of it and took a guy who is
very high on a lot of mock drafts, but ended
up being there for the Hornets to pick at twenty nine.
We'll tell you about him next here on the Hornets Podcast.
Sam Farbar, Rob Longo here with you on the AHHC
The Hornets Podcast, brought to you by SENTA. Draft Day
(17:20):
number one, the first round of the twenty twenty five
draft in the rear view, near Hornets taking Kanknipple out
of Duke at number four overall. He joins the Hornets,
score a LaMelo ball and Brandon Miller heading towards a
bright break future. One more note here on Conk Nipple, Rob,
I have not told you this before. You know how
much you love playing these games. I know you love it.
(17:40):
Who is older Knk Nipple or a last year's first
round pick, t Jon Salon?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
No peaking, Oh man, here, put me on the spot.
But if you're trying to set me up for this,
I'm gonna go ahead and say that Kank Nipple is
still younger than Tjon Salon.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
He is not. He is not younger not. It's close.
It's very very close. So I kind of cheated with
this one. But t Jean Salon is all of nineteen
years old, bored August tenth, two thousand and five. And
I'm double checking my work here because it's so late
as we're recording this podcast, much later than it normally
(18:19):
is when we do these things that I'm trying to
do the math in my head. But con K Nipple
is in fact older born August third, two thousand and five,
So he is a week older than last year's first
round pick who came in very raw. Yeah, I know
you want to chime.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
In, go ahead, you're just trying to make me look
silly at this point.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
You splaying no, no, no, But it kind of bolsters a
point here. And you know, we went into last year's
draft looking at Ti Jon. He's a physically very impressive human,
you know, basketball player, and he was when he came
into the league at eighteen, played most of last year
as a nineteen year old. He'll play his second season
as a twenty year old. But he is younger than
(18:58):
Conk Nipple, and now, you know, coming in with a
full year of experience, it should bode well here for
the Hornets future. Also helping the Hornets for the future
they made a second pick on Day one of the
twenty twenty five NBA Draft, bringing in Liam McNeely at
number twenty nine. Now we have to be a little
careful about this because of the song and dance of
(19:20):
the NBA and win trades actually go through, but we
can say definitively the Charlotte Hornets have agreed in principle
to acquire the draft rights to Liam McNeely. He's the
number twenty nine selection in the first round of the
twenty twelve and NBA Draft, coming over from Phoenix in
a trade which is not yet final. It will be
finalized in the coming days. But that's enough of a
green light here to talk about Liam mcneley, which is
(19:41):
really all we need for the purposes of this podcast,
so let's do it. Liam McNeely is a guy who
kind of in the reverse order of what kan K
Nipple has, has all of the experience that you want
to see both as being a star and being a
really good comp elementary player. For Conkin Nipple, he did
(20:02):
have starring moments at Duke. I hate kind of like
framing it this way because it doesn't give him his due.
He was such a great player at Duke, including when
Cooper Flag was unavailable. But even when he wasn't available,
knk Nipple had plenty of games where he was the
leading scorer of the Star Attraction and did so much
to help Duke to the spectacular season they had. But
(20:23):
we know the context of the conversation. He did play
with Cooper for their second first round pick. The Hornets
take a guy who did not always have as high
profile of a running mate and was considered to be
the guy on that team most of the way in
Leam McNeely. But if you rewind the clock back to
his high school days, he was the one playing with
(20:46):
Cooper Flag on a very star studded Mont Verd Academy
prep school team. Some people say, you can't call it
a high school, it's more of a prep school. Whatever.
They dominated that level. One of the questions I'm going
to have when he comes here in Charlotte, by the way,
is who does he think would have won his Mont
verg team or Lamello's Chino Hills team, both littered with
(21:08):
lottery picks. Not everyone gets it's a podcast. No one
else can see the reaction that you're having here. You
know that's a good question. So we'll find out what
he has to say when he gets here to the
Queens City. But Liam McNeely when he was at Montvert
was a specular player, contributed to winning, played well with others,
you know, showed a lot of those skills. Then goes
(21:28):
to Yukon and while they didn't win a national championship,
which I guess was kind of the bar they had
set for a couple of years, he had a really
really strong season, overcame injury, played really good basketball, fourteen
and a half points per game, right there with kan
k Nipple quite frankly in terms of scoring average eighty
six percent for the foul line, he can shoot it,
(21:49):
and a little misleading. He was a thirty one percent
three point shooter overall, but when you look to his
shots off the catch, I love all these second level
stats we get here from the NCAA thirty seven percent
three point shooter. So this guy can knock get down.
He's gonna have a lot less attention on him coming
on to the floor in the NBA, playing alongside the
likes of khon Kinneppol lamelow Ball, Brandon Miller or whoever
(22:11):
is on the floor for the Charlotte hornts it's a
higher level of teammate, which should open more catch and
shoot opportunities for him, not less. And so whether you're
looking back to his high school prep school days, or
you're looking to the numbers he put up at Yukon,
or just how he profiles as a player, this is
a guy who is a lot higher than twenty nine
on most of the experts draft boards. Hornets catch a
(22:32):
break having him fall to them there at the pick
they acquired, well before they acquired it. Sometimes a pick
will be traded and it's specifically because that team's on
the clock and the team trading for it wants that pick.
Charlotte traded for this pick well before Liam McNeely fell there.
I kind of have a feeling, in hindsight, maybe that
pick is not made available to them if the team
(22:54):
that traded it Phoenix knew Liam mcnel would be seitting
there for him.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I mean, it's very possible. Keith Smith, who covers the
NBA a longtime NBA reporter, he said he had Lee
mcnely at number eight on his big board in the draft. So,
if you're going off of just one simple opinion saying
that I had him at eight overall and the Hornets
pick him up at twenty ninth overall. That makes you
feel pretty good. It makes you feel pretty warm and
fuzzy inside. But you know, looking at his Yukon film,
(23:18):
it's it's kind of surprising, I guess in a sense.
You did follow the twenty nine. Really liked the way
that he's able to spread the floor with his three
point shot, with his length, he can create off the dribble,
He's not afraid of contact, He's able to get downhill
in some spaces as well. Really liked what I saw
pretty much almost a complete offensive game and just trying
to refine those percentages and no sort of things as well.
(23:38):
And I know that there was you know, the issue
in Yukon was there was some turmoil in a sense
where there was a lot of pressure maybe put on
themselves a little bit too much to go after another
national title. And it seldom like there was a lot
of pressure there between Dan Hurley and the media and
those sorts of things as well. But I mean, when
you go back to his high school days as well.
You rattled off him playing in mont Verb with a
(24:00):
couple of the other guys like Cooper Flagg. But I
mean just the list of a lums that are now
in the NBA. The list goes on and on. Precious
to chew a play dere Scottie Barnes, RJ. Barrett didn't
think I would say RJ Barrett twice on a pre
draft podcast, But here we are. You got former Hornet
Leaky Black in there as well, Kid Cunningham, D'Angelo Russell.
There's a lot of talent that's come out of that
high school, and of course there's a wealth of talent
(24:21):
that's come out of Yukon as well. So it's just
trying to put it all together at this point. But
really like to pick was one of those ones where
again we were kind of talking back and forth there
in the draft too about who was available and who
was going to be left with that pick at twenty
nine for the Hornets. I don't think either of us,
if we're being honest, had him Peg does somebody that
Charlie could get, because I don't think we both thought
(24:41):
he would be on the board at twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, it's a huge get here for Charlotte and it
just adds to the overall talent base and with both
of these guys, it adds in another guy who knows
how to play. That was one of the big talking
points we heard post draft from Jeff Peterson what he
had to say on both kN and Liam McNeely and
(25:04):
what they bring to the table.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
But again, I think that the thing about both of
these guys, Con and Liam, they're more than just shooters.
You know, they both come from same credible programs, coach
very well, very tough. So again we're excited about just
their overall package, but of course the shooting is a
bonus as well.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Jeff Peterson, President of Basketball Operations, commenting post draft on
the additions he's made here to the Hornet's roster. Charlotte
still as of the recording of this podcast, with two
picks in the twenty twenty five NBA Draft. They come
very early in round number two, which is happening later today,
So we will have a full breakdown much much later
(25:46):
on this day. Hopefully it'll still be this day, the
second round day. It's getting a little topsy turvy on
both of us, rob but we will have a full
breakdown of the draft in the coming days. We'll let
you hear from the picks as they arrive here in
the Queen City. Jeff Peterson, President of the Basketball Operations.
Lots of great content coming up here on the AHHC
in the coming days. But Round one in the books,
(26:07):
Liam McNeely and con Canipple at number four overall. Conk
Nipple coming to the Charlotte Hornets in big haul here
to Team Teal, and we'll look forward to introducing them
to all of you in the coming days here on
the Hornet Podcast. Rob Longo, no rest for the wicked,
as you like to say, back to work soon enough.
But thanks for joining me on this post first round
(26:28):
edition of the Hornet Podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Thank you, Sam. Trying to get some sleep. I know
that you and Sam Perlo will have a too. Sam's
recap of Round two coming up on tomorrow on the
Hornets Podcast, and I'll just kind of sit in the
background a little bit and do some editing, but I'll
let you guys take over and hopefully we get the
We keep the good vibes rolling in the night too.
Here in the draft.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I am hoping I am not too wired to go
to sleep, but I will do my best for Rob
Longo and for everyone here. I'm Sam Farbers, saying it's
been a pleasure to privilege having you along. Congrats to Conkannnipple.
Congrats to Liam McNeely, the new member of the Charlotte Hornets.
Get excited, Hornets fans, It's going to be a great
season to come. We will talk to you tomorrow post
Round two recapping the entire twenty twenty five NBA Draft
(27:10):
for our next episode of The Hornets Podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ear 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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