July 10, 2023 • 21 mins
Charlotte's Summer League slate continues. Sam Farber and Rob Longo break down Buzz City's loss to the Lakers, previews their matchup with Portland and discusses the newly announced groups for the new In Season Tournament.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Hornets Highcast, presented by Charlotte I ear
Nose and Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen throat
care provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Here's your host, Sam Farber.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornet Timecast, your Hornets
podcast with all the notes, quotes, san daily buzz around
your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it is
a pleasure and a privileged heavy with us here once
again on the Hornet timee Cast, brought to you by
Santa Charlotte IE ear Nose and Throat Associates, the official
I ear nosen throat Care provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
A lot to get to again on this edition of
(00:38):
the HHC Hornets Feld h to two at Summer League,
dropping one to the Lakers, ninety three to seventy five.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Couple of standout performers we want.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
To touch on, and also just talk about the level
of play overall here for Brandon Miller and the Charlotte Hornets.
Moving on, there's a new tournament that's a piece of
the NBA Season Puzzle, not really adding anything games wise.
Less course, you're playing in the final, which the Hornets
hope to this year. But we'll break it down for you,
take you through what we do know about the Hornets
(01:07):
schedule now I guess for the twenty three twenty four season,
and there will be more on the Hornets Summer League schedule.
Will get you ready for a potential number two versus
Number three head to head meeting Brandon Miller versus Scoot
Henderson with the Hornets taking on the Trailblazers.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Helping me on all of these topics.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
He's my producer on the Hornets Radio Network as well
as the producer of this fine podcast. Rob Longo here
with us once again.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
The Hornets another struggle offensively against the La Lakers. They
fall ninety three to seventy five. In particular the shooting rough.
Go of it your thoughts here now two games into
the Las Vegas portion of Summer League.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Definitely struggling from shooting again, like you mentioned, but I
think maybe one of the better games, or maybe even
the best game that the Hornets have kind of put
together so far. I mean, they let it halftime, they
were up forty to thirty nine, and then just the
shooting was not very good. They only shooting twenty nine
percent from the field through three quarters of play. Had
to call time out early in the fourth quarter to
stop a seven zero run, and that was kind of
(02:03):
the end all be all there. They got outscored fifty
four to thirty five in the second half, But first
half looked pretty good, especially that second quarter outscored the
Lakers twenty four to nineteen. At halftime, they were hovering
around thirty two to thirty three percent from the field,
five to nineteen from beyond the arc, but the three
point shooting went cold there, especially in the second half.
Brandon Miller did struggle from beyond the arc two zero
for seven from three point land, but had a lot
(02:24):
of rebounds in there. It looked like he crashed the
glass offensively pretty well, also ten points. He cut down
on the fouls once again, four fouls this time. A
couple of assists sprinkled in there as well. So even
though the results haven't been there for the Hornets, I
still think they're moving in the right direction and they
continue to progress as they continue to try to find
their own way here in Summer League.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, for Brandon Miller, obviously, the shooting is going to
be the headline. Oh for seven from three. He does
shoot four of eighteen overall, made both his free throws,
finishes with ten points and a team high eight rebounds
in the loss to the Lakers, but collectively shooting a
major issue, Hornet Summer League head coach Roland Garnett saying
that that's really the focal point, struggling shooting and trying
(03:03):
to find ways to rebuild the confidence in that facet
of the game.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
We've been struggling as a team. I mean tonight, not
to thirty six, twenty five percent. I think we're only
had five threes in the last game, so four or
more again, he has. We created some better ones in
the first half. We got to the pain and we
moved it. We swung it and got some open looks.
But yeah, we're we're not shooting it that great right now,
so hopefully we can give them some more reps. We
had a get shooting practice yesterday. Tomorrow we'll get in
(03:30):
the gym and we'll try to get the confidence in
these guys, you know, elevated. So I want them to
continue to play confidently, just taking the right one though
not the ones that are like urgent and off the bounce,
thinking as you know we're going to get back in
the game that way. We still got to play the
right way move the ball to try to create good
driving kick threes as opposed to the dribble of threes.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Rob Hornet's collectively shoot just thirty percent from the floor
twenty five percent from three. I think turnovers were a
focal point at certain stretches of this game, but really
it came down to shooting.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We talk about it a lot. I at least I
talk about it a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Oftentimes, the team that takes more shots tends to find
the way to victory, even if they don't shoot very well.
Charlotte took more shots. Free throws were basically the same.
This just came down to the Lakers were far more
efficient forty five percent from the floor, Hornets just thirty percent.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
That was the tail of the.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Tape and a couple of the weird statistics that stand
out is the Hornets were perfect on the free throw line.
There were sixteen to sixteen going into the fourth quarter.
Nick Mitjunior missed two free throws towards the end of
the fourth quarter to make it at sixteen for eighteen clips.
So the free throw shooting definitely was a positive here
for the Hornets. And the other thing too is the
offensive rebounds. Yeah, Charlotte got out rebounded in a total
of forty five to forty by the Lakers, but had
(04:43):
fifteen offensive boards, So that was good that they had
the second chance opportunities. Now, granted, you're gonna have more
offensive rebounds when you shoot just thirty percent thirty one
percent from the field in general, and a lot of
those long rebounds because they were nine to thirty six
from beyond the yark, which is good for twenty six percent,
So I understand you're gonna have more opportunity for offensive boards.
But at the same time, they weren't just doing those
(05:03):
ones and douns. They were able to have those second
chance points opportunities try to get easier looks at the
basket with the defense out of position, and they were
able to convert a little bit. So those were kind
of some of the positives that I took away from it,
even though those shooting was still a little bit underwhelming here.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yesterday, Let's find some more positives.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Let's find the silver linings from a ninety three to
seventy five loss to the La Lakers.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Rob Longo you choose first.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
It's a tough one just because no one really stood
out in general. Everybody was kind of even across the
board in terms of points performances, that sort of thing.
I think I have to go with Nick Smith Junior
as my silver lining performance. The plus minus doesn't look good,
the shooting percentage doesn't look good, and that's because well,
nobody really shot the ball particularly well. But he finishes
with eleven points. He only turned the ball over once.
(05:48):
He played twenty six minutes, and I thought he had
some pretty good court visionary only ended up with two assists,
but I thought he did a good job driving into
the lane, being a little bit more aggressive finding the
open man onto his open kickouts, whether it was a
skip pass or ant pass here or there. So I
really like what I saw from Nick Smith. I thought
there were times previous games that he was maybe a
little timid. Maybe that was the Victor Webbin Yama effect,
(06:09):
when you have a guy that looks like a giant
in the paint that you don't really know how to
get around, or if there's just maybe those first game
jitters in the California Classic. But I think that Nick
Smith Junior is looking a little bit more comfortable when
we got to realize too that he is not a
traditional number one point guard. He's more of a shooting guard,
more of a two guard. Plays off ball, but he's
doing a lot of the ball handling duties. And he's
(06:29):
starting in summer league too, So I'd just like to
see that continued progression from Nick Smith Junior, not turning
the ball over, taking care of the basketball. The shots
will come. That's why he's my silver lining performance from
last night.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I think Nick Smith had another solid game. We're still
looking for a spectacular game really from anyone on this
hornted summer league squad, and Nick Smith Junior has high
expectations for himself. Here's what he had to say about
his performance in this one to the Lakers and what
he's looking to improve on moving forward.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And I need to be better.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
I may shot, take care of the ball early, figure
out where everybody should be at before the play even starts.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Let's make sure everybody going. There's a lot of things
I gotta do, but and I'll figure it out. Talking
like a point guard there.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
I like it, and he's even touched on it that
while at certain stretches of his time at Arkansas, he
was the point guard.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Really, he played off the ball, he was more in
that score role.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
And so he's in a certain respect going back to
his time in high school in terms of trying to
find that point guard feel. Once again, not the easiest
thing to do in a summer league, a professional setting,
but he's doing his best out there. Nick Smith, Junior
Fine pick for Silver Linings Performer. This game, to me, Rob,
it's almost reminiscent of the one that opened last year's
(07:42):
Summer League, where there was just so much that went
wrong for the team, not individually but collectively shooting the
ball that I almost take the three point shooting just
out of the equation because the team just shot so
poorly there. And if you do that, then I think
the scoring line for Brandon Miller looked a lot better.
Miller finishes the game with ten points, eight rebounds, four assists,
(08:05):
fouls came down, there were no turnovers, he did have
a steal, he hit the offensive glass.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Well.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I think all in all, there will of course be
an adjustment, as there is for every player to the
NBA line, to NBA rotations, but I think we're seeing
things from Brandon Miller just in terms of raw ability
and how it puts an imprint on this game that
I think is worth noticing and giving some flowers to
here from the Charlotte Hornets perspective. So there are selections.
(08:31):
The first round picks get the nod. Brandon Miller and
Nick Smith Junior coming up next. There was an announcement
in the last forty eight hours when it comes to
the in season Tournament, a new thing for the Hornets,
and the NBA will break it down for you best
we can. Next here on the Hornets, I've cast Sam
Farbara and Rob Longo here with you on the AHHC
(08:54):
The Hornets. I've cast brought to you by Santa Charlotte
ear Nose and Throat Associates, the official I ear Nos
and Throwcare provide of the Charlotte Hornets. A new announcement
came out over the weekend from the NBA. The brand
new in Season Tournament will debut in the twenty three
to twenty four season. That's not new, but a little
bit of the particulars those were made known over the
(09:15):
last forty eight hours, so we'll share them with you.
First off, we know the Hornets group for the inaugural
playing for the NBA Cup is the Championship Trophy. Hornets
are in the East Group B with Milwaukee, New York, Knicks, Miami,
and Washington.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
They're gonna play all of these teams once each.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
You got two home games two road games as a
part of this, and then based off your record, if
you win your group or have the next best record
for the entire conference, you'll move on to the quarterfinals
after that. If you win that one, you head to
Las Vegas. If you fall short any step of the way,
you do end up with six games that are all
part of this in season tournament series, and all of
(09:55):
them will count towards the regular season, so there is
always something to play for, even if if you're not
necessarily going to win the NBA Cup, and then it
will all culminate in Las Vegas on December ninth in
a championship game.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That is the only part of this that won't count
towards the NBA's regular season.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I've tried many different ways Rob to make a summation
of all the information that came out.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I'll leave it to you. How did I do?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I think you covered the basis for the most part,
it can be a little bit confusing. So basically everybody
gets split into pods five teams each. It's interesting the
way that the pools shook out that the Hornets have
two divisional opponents that they have to play against here.
So the group play's going to play every Tuesday or Friday,
beginning on Friday, November third, or at least that's my understanding.
That might change, but then you're going to have everybody
(10:41):
play on either Tuesday or Friday moving forward, with the
exception of Election Day on November seventh, and then you're
going to go into those semi finals and then those
finals of course in Las Vegas, and of course there
always has to be some sort of incentive. So the
winning team, each player gets five hundred thousand dollars added
to their salaries. The players on the losing team of
the championship get two hundred thousand dollars each. If you
make it to the semis and you lose, you get
(11:02):
one hundred grand, and then you get fifty grand if
you make it to the quarterfinals and lose, So obviously
there are some sort of incentives in it. It's going
to be interesting on how this stuff works. Out, but
I feel like between the two of us, we did
the best we could. Describing us on a podcast, it's
more of like one of those things that you need
to see a visual or a flow chart of those
sort of things. So hopefully we're able to kind of
go over at the best we could.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
We tried our best.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Checkout hornets dot com for more of the details real quick.
I think that this is definitely a positive thing if
you get the players intrigued by it, and we really
won't know about that until we reach the final game,
that eighty third game, the one that doesn't count towards
the regular season, and even then, I think it'll be
less about how the players look at it more how
(11:43):
the organizations look at it.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Are they willing to quote unquote.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Risk and injury of a premier player in a game
that doesn't count towards the regular season or one that
is just kind of an addendum and extra one. So
I think that will be one of the big questions
to answer later on down the line in terms of
the Hornet's chances in group play. Quite honestly, I don't
know that this could have gone much better here. For
Charlotte Washington is a team that struggled relatively speaking last
(12:09):
year to begin with, they're undergoing some major changes. I
don't think you can count on them to be spectacular,
not saying they're going to be bad, but it's not
exactly another elite team that the Horns have to go against.
Miami has been an elite playoff team. When there is
something on the line, they come out at their best
regular season though the last couple of years have not
been the best. So if you had to pick a
(12:30):
team from that sector, might as well be Miami that
you take on. The New York Knicks another strong opponent,
but the Hornets seemed to get up for games against
New York. That's one of the games that according to
the schedule, Charlotte should be visiting Madison Square Garden for
the last but not least. You have Milwaukee, who, of
course one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference,
but the Hornets have played them well and they're a
(12:51):
team that's a little bit older. Injuries can be a
factor come the regular season. So all in all, I
think Charlotte's definitely got to do it's part here, but
I like their chances in this group as it's laid out.
As Rob mentioned, all the games in terms of pool
play will take place in November Tuesdays and Fridays.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
We know that the Hornets are going to host Milwaukee
for this.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
We know they're going to visit the New York Knicks,
so that's a little bit more a news because you're
not always guaranteed the second of those matchups, so.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Maybe that will impact it, maybe it won't. Either way.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Should be a lot of fun here as we have
our first ever edition of the NBA In Season Tournament.
Still some time left to go here on NBA Summer League,
Hornets have another game on the docket for you, depending
on when you're listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Either today or tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Charlotte will take on the Portland Trailblazers, a game that
was really when we started looking at the Summer League schedule,
one of the marquee matchups. It may have lost a
little bit of its luster coming up on Tuesday. We'll
find out soon enough, but we'll start to break it
down for you right here after this on the Hornet
Iive Cast, Sam Farbar, rob Longo here with you you
(14:00):
on the AHHC. The Hornets I've Cast brought to you
by Santa Rob's Summer league continues. Hornets OH and two
now in Las Vegas, OH for four overall this summer.
They could certainly use a win their next opponent, the
Portland Trailblazers entering summer league. This was a marquee matchup
because it was the number two pick Brandon Miller the
number three pick Scoot Henderson. It was back and forth
(14:20):
who was going to go to which franchise all throughout
the pre draft process. I think the Hornets are very
happy with who they landed on obviously and how it
looks for the future, but there's certainly going to be
a lot of intrigue on this one. One other note,
as of the recording of this podcast, we really don't
know if that number three overall pick Scoot Henderson is
going to play. He suffered a shoulder injury in a
(14:42):
really outstanding first game against the Houston Rockets, unfortunately unable
to finish that one, did not go on Sunday. We'll
see if he's able to go on Tuesday against the
Charlotte Hornets. Rob Longo, we need players to watch from
both sides. Who are you looking at?
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Well, let's begin with the Portland trail Blazers, and even
though we don't know the status of Scoop Henderson, there's
still a lot of notable names on his Trailblazers summer
league roster. You take a look at a couple of
the guys. You have Chris Murray, who is their other
first round pick this year. Shandon Sharp, who is the
player that I'm going to take a look at here
as we preview this game in a couple of days time,
or maybe today, depending on when you're listening to this podcast.
(15:16):
But again, this is a guy that had NBA experience.
He played in eighty games last year, started fifteen of
them as a rookie, average close to ten points per game,
played over twenty two minutes per game on average. As well,
he had a thirty point performance in one of those contests,
So he is very, very highly skilled. I think he's
one of those guys that with the unknown circumstances surrounding
(15:37):
New Portland Trailblazers and the Damian Lillard situation, Shaden Sharp
has an opportunity to take a really big leap and
have a really much bigger role on his Trailblazers team
in the fall. Depending on what happens with Damian Lillard.
So that's why he's my player to watch today or
in a couple of days. I guess when you're listening
to this podcast, I'm so he used to doing these
daily ones. But again, Shadon Sharp is that guy that
you really have to take a look at today going
(15:58):
to be a really good matchup regardless because of that
guard play. So that's why he's my player to watch
for Portland.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I like the pick.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
He would have been my selection too if I were
picking first in this I'm gonna go half glass full
for the moment and just talk a little bit more
here about Scoot Henderson.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I think the fans would love to see him out there.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Would make for a great matchup when we don't know, honestly,
how long the Hornets and Trailblazers and really everyone else
are going to have their main guys out there on
the floor. You hope it's for as much a summer
league as possible, but the reality is at some point
teams tend to shut guys down, and if there's any
risk of an injury, that chance escalates exponentially. But we'll
(16:36):
keep our fingers crossed that we get to see Miller
versus Scoot. Get to see how Scoot handles playing against
NBA sized players, some of the guards, particularly the young
ones like book Night as well as Nick Smith junior
for the Charlotte Hornets. I think that's a storyline as well,
and how Brandon Miller's size stacks up against Chris Murray
and other players on the Blazers side. Speaking of Chris Murray,
(16:56):
he is my player to watch for this one, another
big one, six foot eight. Obviously, his brother Keegan Murray
had an outstanding rookie season with Sacramento. There was a
chance going up to that pick that Chris would land
with his brother in Sacramento. Portland grabs him one spot
ahead of him. But he's another very talented, a little
bit older player. He's twenty two already. I'm in particular
(17:20):
intrigue to see what he looks like head to head
against Brandon Miller. Obviously, Brandon was the best player in
college basketball all season last season. A lot of people
thought the Big Ten and SEC were the top two conferences.
There's not a whole lot of crossover there. So this
is a chance for both of these two individual players
to show what they got head to head. I'm excited
to see how the Hornets handle Murray. Murray handles Miller, so.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
On and so forth. Last, but not least, we need
Hornets to watch.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I feel like we're starting to run out of players
to keep an eye on. I'm trying to keep it
fresh and pick a new one for every game. But
for me, I think I have to go with James
Naji because he didn't really play a ton against the
Lakers the other day. I ended up playing on the
close to thirteen minutes. I thought he had some really
good flashes there in the first half of just some
just hard nose, high energy, high motor plays where it
(18:08):
was tracking down an extra rebound, putting a fourth, maybe
a little bit more extra effort on the defensive class.
Just things that are little nuances that you don't see
from every player in every Summer league contest. And I
know that stat line wasn't the greatest. He only took
one shot, he ended up making it. He hit both
of his free throws, ended up with four points, had
two block shots, so it was a little bit of
everything there. He had six rebounds as well, so he
(18:30):
did his job. He said his screens not the sexiest
stat line, like I mentioned, but I just want to
see a little bit more from James Notchi, whether that's
maybe an extra big block on defense or a put
back dunk on offense, and it were just really quite
frankly playing more minutes. So again I don't really have
like a huge, huge knowledge of this Portland roster. Obviously,
(18:50):
the guards are the ones that kind of get the
headliner for Portland. They do have a guy out there
that's seven to four though, and they have a couple
of seven footers on the other side for the Trailblazers.
So maybe this is a good test for James Naji
to see what he can go up Mono Imano size wise.
So hopefully he gets a little bit more playing time
in this one against Portland and we can see a
little bit more from him.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
We've seen good from him in spurts, certainly moments where
he's able to use his size and his athleticism to
pull down rebounds, block shots, finish plays at the rim.
We would love to see a little bit more from him.
I'm gonna be a little more critical here. I want
to see something big here from James brook Knight. I've
heard so much good stuff about his work ethic over
(19:31):
the summer. Clearly a talented player, a lottery pick a
couple of seasons ago. It'll be his third season the NBA,
the second time in Summer League, and we've i think,
similar to Naji, similar to Miller, Similartis Smith, seeing those stretches,
those flashes where book Knight looks really, really good, but
he's also struggled overall. He went two for eight from
three last game, four for fourteen overall from the floor.
(19:52):
Turnover wise, I don't think he was bad in that
last loss to the LA Lakers. Only had the one,
but it came in a transition play where he seemed
to have a breakaway finish for a lob for someone
else to get the dunk, tried to take it himself,
ended up turning it over.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
That was at the stage of the game where it
was really close.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
And I'm being a little critical here just because I
think he's so talented and he has such a great
opportunity in front of him as of now, I think
book Knight is in the driver's seat to take a
rotation spot on this Hornets demon and you'd hope he
would as a lottery pick from a couple of seasons ago.
Entering his third year, I think confidence is huge for him.
This is a big opportunity to build some Whether it's
(20:30):
Scoot Henderson on the other side or not, repair the
Frenchman that was drafting the second round by the Blazers
on the other side or not, it doesn't really matter
James book Knight's I think the biggest thing for him
here is to be the best James book Knight he
can be. If he does that, he is easily capable
of putting twenty to twenty five points on the board
and maybe ending his personal Summer League on a high
(20:51):
note and heading to the remainder of Summer well where
he'll continue that great work with the coaches. But I'm
just I'm hopeful for the kid. I'm rooting for him.
I want him to have a good game here, all right.
That's going to do it for this edition of the
AHHCS Rob Indicator, We're kind of going every other day.
As news breaks, we'll cover it for you here on
the hornets ibecast. Rob Longo, thanks as always for joining me.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Pleasures always in selfishly fingers crossed no news breaks. I
would like to have a day off tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
We'll do our best for you. We'll keep our fingers
crossed for you. Again, guarantee to the fans if there's news,
we'll cover it for you here on the HC for
Rob Longo and all of us in Voldeim Sam Farber
saying it's been a pleasure and a privilege happening you along.
We'll talk to you next time right here on the
Hornets Hoodcast.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Thank you for listening to the Hornets Hypecast, brought to
you by Senta, the official I hear Nosen throat Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
For more coverage, visit Hornets dot com.
Welcome to the Hornets Highcast, presented by Charlotte I ear
Nose and Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen throat
care provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Here's your host, Sam Farber.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornet Timecast, your Hornets
podcast with all the notes, quotes, san daily buzz around
your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it is
a pleasure and a privileged heavy with us here once
again on the Hornet timee Cast, brought to you by
Santa Charlotte IE ear Nose and Throat Associates, the official
I ear nosen throat Care provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
A lot to get to again on this edition of
(00:38):
the HHC Hornets Feld h to two at Summer League,
dropping one to the Lakers, ninety three to seventy five.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Couple of standout performers we want.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
To touch on, and also just talk about the level
of play overall here for Brandon Miller and the Charlotte Hornets.
Moving on, there's a new tournament that's a piece of
the NBA Season Puzzle, not really adding anything games wise.
Less course, you're playing in the final, which the Hornets
hope to this year. But we'll break it down for you,
take you through what we do know about the Hornets
(01:07):
schedule now I guess for the twenty three twenty four season,
and there will be more on the Hornets Summer League schedule.
Will get you ready for a potential number two versus
Number three head to head meeting Brandon Miller versus Scoot
Henderson with the Hornets taking on the Trailblazers.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Helping me on all of these topics.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
He's my producer on the Hornets Radio Network as well
as the producer of this fine podcast. Rob Longo here
with us once again.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
The Hornets another struggle offensively against the La Lakers. They
fall ninety three to seventy five. In particular the shooting rough.
Go of it your thoughts here now two games into
the Las Vegas portion of Summer League.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Definitely struggling from shooting again, like you mentioned, but I
think maybe one of the better games, or maybe even
the best game that the Hornets have kind of put
together so far. I mean, they let it halftime, they
were up forty to thirty nine, and then just the
shooting was not very good. They only shooting twenty nine
percent from the field through three quarters of play. Had
to call time out early in the fourth quarter to
stop a seven zero run, and that was kind of
(02:03):
the end all be all there. They got outscored fifty
four to thirty five in the second half, But first
half looked pretty good, especially that second quarter outscored the
Lakers twenty four to nineteen. At halftime, they were hovering
around thirty two to thirty three percent from the field,
five to nineteen from beyond the arc, but the three
point shooting went cold there, especially in the second half.
Brandon Miller did struggle from beyond the arc two zero
for seven from three point land, but had a lot
(02:24):
of rebounds in there. It looked like he crashed the
glass offensively pretty well, also ten points. He cut down
on the fouls once again, four fouls this time. A
couple of assists sprinkled in there as well. So even
though the results haven't been there for the Hornets, I
still think they're moving in the right direction and they
continue to progress as they continue to try to find
their own way here in Summer League.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, for Brandon Miller, obviously, the shooting is going to
be the headline. Oh for seven from three. He does
shoot four of eighteen overall, made both his free throws,
finishes with ten points and a team high eight rebounds
in the loss to the Lakers, but collectively shooting a
major issue, Hornet Summer League head coach Roland Garnett saying
that that's really the focal point, struggling shooting and trying
(03:03):
to find ways to rebuild the confidence in that facet
of the game.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
We've been struggling as a team. I mean tonight, not
to thirty six, twenty five percent. I think we're only
had five threes in the last game, so four or
more again, he has. We created some better ones in
the first half. We got to the pain and we
moved it. We swung it and got some open looks.
But yeah, we're we're not shooting it that great right now,
so hopefully we can give them some more reps. We
had a get shooting practice yesterday. Tomorrow we'll get in
(03:30):
the gym and we'll try to get the confidence in
these guys, you know, elevated. So I want them to
continue to play confidently, just taking the right one though
not the ones that are like urgent and off the bounce,
thinking as you know we're going to get back in
the game that way. We still got to play the
right way move the ball to try to create good
driving kick threes as opposed to the dribble of threes.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Rob Hornet's collectively shoot just thirty percent from the floor
twenty five percent from three. I think turnovers were a
focal point at certain stretches of this game, but really
it came down to shooting.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We talk about it a lot. I at least I
talk about it a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Oftentimes, the team that takes more shots tends to find
the way to victory, even if they don't shoot very well.
Charlotte took more shots. Free throws were basically the same.
This just came down to the Lakers were far more
efficient forty five percent from the floor, Hornets just thirty percent.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
That was the tail of the.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Tape and a couple of the weird statistics that stand
out is the Hornets were perfect on the free throw line.
There were sixteen to sixteen going into the fourth quarter.
Nick Mitjunior missed two free throws towards the end of
the fourth quarter to make it at sixteen for eighteen clips.
So the free throw shooting definitely was a positive here
for the Hornets. And the other thing too is the
offensive rebounds. Yeah, Charlotte got out rebounded in a total
of forty five to forty by the Lakers, but had
(04:43):
fifteen offensive boards, So that was good that they had
the second chance opportunities. Now, granted, you're gonna have more
offensive rebounds when you shoot just thirty percent thirty one
percent from the field in general, and a lot of
those long rebounds because they were nine to thirty six
from beyond the yark, which is good for twenty six percent,
So I understand you're gonna have more opportunity for offensive boards.
But at the same time, they weren't just doing those
(05:03):
ones and douns. They were able to have those second
chance points opportunities try to get easier looks at the
basket with the defense out of position, and they were
able to convert a little bit. So those were kind
of some of the positives that I took away from it,
even though those shooting was still a little bit underwhelming here.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yesterday, Let's find some more positives.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Let's find the silver linings from a ninety three to
seventy five loss to the La Lakers.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Rob Longo you choose first.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
It's a tough one just because no one really stood
out in general. Everybody was kind of even across the
board in terms of points performances, that sort of thing.
I think I have to go with Nick Smith Junior
as my silver lining performance. The plus minus doesn't look good,
the shooting percentage doesn't look good, and that's because well,
nobody really shot the ball particularly well. But he finishes
with eleven points. He only turned the ball over once.
(05:48):
He played twenty six minutes, and I thought he had
some pretty good court visionary only ended up with two assists,
but I thought he did a good job driving into
the lane, being a little bit more aggressive finding the
open man onto his open kickouts, whether it was a
skip pass or ant pass here or there. So I
really like what I saw from Nick Smith. I thought
there were times previous games that he was maybe a
little timid. Maybe that was the Victor Webbin Yama effect,
(06:09):
when you have a guy that looks like a giant
in the paint that you don't really know how to
get around, or if there's just maybe those first game
jitters in the California Classic. But I think that Nick
Smith Junior is looking a little bit more comfortable when
we got to realize too that he is not a
traditional number one point guard. He's more of a shooting guard,
more of a two guard. Plays off ball, but he's
doing a lot of the ball handling duties. And he's
(06:29):
starting in summer league too, So I'd just like to
see that continued progression from Nick Smith Junior, not turning
the ball over, taking care of the basketball. The shots
will come. That's why he's my silver lining performance from
last night.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I think Nick Smith had another solid game. We're still
looking for a spectacular game really from anyone on this
hornted summer league squad, and Nick Smith Junior has high
expectations for himself. Here's what he had to say about
his performance in this one to the Lakers and what
he's looking to improve on moving forward.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And I need to be better.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
I may shot, take care of the ball early, figure
out where everybody should be at before the play even starts.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Let's make sure everybody going. There's a lot of things
I gotta do, but and I'll figure it out. Talking
like a point guard there.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
I like it, and he's even touched on it that
while at certain stretches of his time at Arkansas, he
was the point guard.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Really, he played off the ball, he was more in
that score role.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
And so he's in a certain respect going back to
his time in high school in terms of trying to
find that point guard feel. Once again, not the easiest
thing to do in a summer league, a professional setting,
but he's doing his best out there. Nick Smith, Junior
Fine pick for Silver Linings Performer. This game, to me, Rob,
it's almost reminiscent of the one that opened last year's
(07:42):
Summer League, where there was just so much that went
wrong for the team, not individually but collectively shooting the
ball that I almost take the three point shooting just
out of the equation because the team just shot so
poorly there. And if you do that, then I think
the scoring line for Brandon Miller looked a lot better.
Miller finishes the game with ten points, eight rebounds, four assists,
(08:05):
fouls came down, there were no turnovers, he did have
a steal, he hit the offensive glass.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Well.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I think all in all, there will of course be
an adjustment, as there is for every player to the
NBA line, to NBA rotations, but I think we're seeing
things from Brandon Miller just in terms of raw ability
and how it puts an imprint on this game that
I think is worth noticing and giving some flowers to
here from the Charlotte Hornets perspective. So there are selections.
(08:31):
The first round picks get the nod. Brandon Miller and
Nick Smith Junior coming up next. There was an announcement
in the last forty eight hours when it comes to
the in season Tournament, a new thing for the Hornets,
and the NBA will break it down for you best
we can. Next here on the Hornets, I've cast Sam
Farbara and Rob Longo here with you on the AHHC
(08:54):
The Hornets. I've cast brought to you by Santa Charlotte
ear Nose and Throat Associates, the official I ear Nos
and Throwcare provide of the Charlotte Hornets. A new announcement
came out over the weekend from the NBA. The brand
new in Season Tournament will debut in the twenty three
to twenty four season. That's not new, but a little
bit of the particulars those were made known over the
(09:15):
last forty eight hours, so we'll share them with you.
First off, we know the Hornets group for the inaugural
playing for the NBA Cup is the Championship Trophy. Hornets
are in the East Group B with Milwaukee, New York, Knicks, Miami,
and Washington.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
They're gonna play all of these teams once each.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
You got two home games two road games as a
part of this, and then based off your record, if
you win your group or have the next best record
for the entire conference, you'll move on to the quarterfinals
after that. If you win that one, you head to
Las Vegas. If you fall short any step of the way,
you do end up with six games that are all
part of this in season tournament series, and all of
(09:55):
them will count towards the regular season, so there is
always something to play for, even if if you're not
necessarily going to win the NBA Cup, and then it
will all culminate in Las Vegas on December ninth in
a championship game.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That is the only part of this that won't count
towards the NBA's regular season.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I've tried many different ways Rob to make a summation
of all the information that came out.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I'll leave it to you. How did I do?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I think you covered the basis for the most part,
it can be a little bit confusing. So basically everybody
gets split into pods five teams each. It's interesting the
way that the pools shook out that the Hornets have
two divisional opponents that they have to play against here.
So the group play's going to play every Tuesday or Friday,
beginning on Friday, November third, or at least that's my understanding.
That might change, but then you're going to have everybody
(10:41):
play on either Tuesday or Friday moving forward, with the
exception of Election Day on November seventh, and then you're
going to go into those semi finals and then those
finals of course in Las Vegas, and of course there
always has to be some sort of incentive. So the
winning team, each player gets five hundred thousand dollars added
to their salaries. The players on the losing team of
the championship get two hundred thousand dollars each. If you
make it to the semis and you lose, you get
(11:02):
one hundred grand, and then you get fifty grand if
you make it to the quarterfinals and lose, So obviously
there are some sort of incentives in it. It's going
to be interesting on how this stuff works. Out, but
I feel like between the two of us, we did
the best we could. Describing us on a podcast, it's
more of like one of those things that you need
to see a visual or a flow chart of those
sort of things. So hopefully we're able to kind of
go over at the best we could.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
We tried our best.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Checkout hornets dot com for more of the details real quick.
I think that this is definitely a positive thing if
you get the players intrigued by it, and we really
won't know about that until we reach the final game,
that eighty third game, the one that doesn't count towards
the regular season, and even then, I think it'll be
less about how the players look at it more how
(11:43):
the organizations look at it.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Are they willing to quote unquote.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Risk and injury of a premier player in a game
that doesn't count towards the regular season or one that
is just kind of an addendum and extra one. So
I think that will be one of the big questions
to answer later on down the line in terms of
the Hornet's chances in group play. Quite honestly, I don't
know that this could have gone much better here. For
Charlotte Washington is a team that struggled relatively speaking last
(12:09):
year to begin with, they're undergoing some major changes. I
don't think you can count on them to be spectacular,
not saying they're going to be bad, but it's not
exactly another elite team that the Horns have to go against.
Miami has been an elite playoff team. When there is
something on the line, they come out at their best
regular season though the last couple of years have not
been the best. So if you had to pick a
(12:30):
team from that sector, might as well be Miami that
you take on. The New York Knicks another strong opponent,
but the Hornets seemed to get up for games against
New York. That's one of the games that according to
the schedule, Charlotte should be visiting Madison Square Garden for
the last but not least. You have Milwaukee, who, of
course one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference,
but the Hornets have played them well and they're a
(12:51):
team that's a little bit older. Injuries can be a
factor come the regular season. So all in all, I
think Charlotte's definitely got to do it's part here, but
I like their chances in this group as it's laid out.
As Rob mentioned, all the games in terms of pool
play will take place in November Tuesdays and Fridays.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
We know that the Hornets are going to host Milwaukee
for this.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
We know they're going to visit the New York Knicks,
so that's a little bit more a news because you're
not always guaranteed the second of those matchups, so.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Maybe that will impact it, maybe it won't. Either way.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Should be a lot of fun here as we have
our first ever edition of the NBA In Season Tournament.
Still some time left to go here on NBA Summer League,
Hornets have another game on the docket for you, depending
on when you're listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Either today or tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Charlotte will take on the Portland Trailblazers, a game that
was really when we started looking at the Summer League schedule,
one of the marquee matchups. It may have lost a
little bit of its luster coming up on Tuesday. We'll
find out soon enough, but we'll start to break it
down for you right here after this on the Hornet
Iive Cast, Sam Farbar, rob Longo here with you you
(14:00):
on the AHHC. The Hornets I've Cast brought to you
by Santa Rob's Summer league continues. Hornets OH and two
now in Las Vegas, OH for four overall this summer.
They could certainly use a win their next opponent, the
Portland Trailblazers entering summer league. This was a marquee matchup
because it was the number two pick Brandon Miller the
number three pick Scoot Henderson. It was back and forth
(14:20):
who was going to go to which franchise all throughout
the pre draft process. I think the Hornets are very
happy with who they landed on obviously and how it
looks for the future, but there's certainly going to be
a lot of intrigue on this one. One other note,
as of the recording of this podcast, we really don't
know if that number three overall pick Scoot Henderson is
going to play. He suffered a shoulder injury in a
(14:42):
really outstanding first game against the Houston Rockets, unfortunately unable
to finish that one, did not go on Sunday. We'll
see if he's able to go on Tuesday against the
Charlotte Hornets. Rob Longo, we need players to watch from
both sides. Who are you looking at?
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Well, let's begin with the Portland trail Blazers, and even
though we don't know the status of Scoop Henderson, there's
still a lot of notable names on his Trailblazers summer
league roster. You take a look at a couple of
the guys. You have Chris Murray, who is their other
first round pick this year. Shandon Sharp, who is the
player that I'm going to take a look at here
as we preview this game in a couple of days time,
or maybe today, depending on when you're listening to this podcast.
(15:16):
But again, this is a guy that had NBA experience.
He played in eighty games last year, started fifteen of
them as a rookie, average close to ten points per game,
played over twenty two minutes per game on average. As well,
he had a thirty point performance in one of those contests,
So he is very, very highly skilled. I think he's
one of those guys that with the unknown circumstances surrounding
(15:37):
New Portland Trailblazers and the Damian Lillard situation, Shaden Sharp
has an opportunity to take a really big leap and
have a really much bigger role on his Trailblazers team
in the fall. Depending on what happens with Damian Lillard.
So that's why he's my player to watch today or
in a couple of days. I guess when you're listening
to this podcast, I'm so he used to doing these
daily ones. But again, Shadon Sharp is that guy that
you really have to take a look at today going
(15:58):
to be a really good matchup regardless because of that
guard play. So that's why he's my player to watch
for Portland.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I like the pick.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
He would have been my selection too if I were
picking first in this I'm gonna go half glass full
for the moment and just talk a little bit more
here about Scoot Henderson.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I think the fans would love to see him out there.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Would make for a great matchup when we don't know, honestly,
how long the Hornets and Trailblazers and really everyone else
are going to have their main guys out there on
the floor. You hope it's for as much a summer
league as possible, but the reality is at some point
teams tend to shut guys down, and if there's any
risk of an injury, that chance escalates exponentially. But we'll
(16:36):
keep our fingers crossed that we get to see Miller
versus Scoot. Get to see how Scoot handles playing against
NBA sized players, some of the guards, particularly the young
ones like book Night as well as Nick Smith junior
for the Charlotte Hornets. I think that's a storyline as well,
and how Brandon Miller's size stacks up against Chris Murray
and other players on the Blazers side. Speaking of Chris Murray,
(16:56):
he is my player to watch for this one, another
big one, six foot eight. Obviously, his brother Keegan Murray
had an outstanding rookie season with Sacramento. There was a
chance going up to that pick that Chris would land
with his brother in Sacramento. Portland grabs him one spot
ahead of him. But he's another very talented, a little
bit older player. He's twenty two already. I'm in particular
(17:20):
intrigue to see what he looks like head to head
against Brandon Miller. Obviously, Brandon was the best player in
college basketball all season last season. A lot of people
thought the Big Ten and SEC were the top two conferences.
There's not a whole lot of crossover there. So this
is a chance for both of these two individual players
to show what they got head to head. I'm excited
to see how the Hornets handle Murray. Murray handles Miller, so.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
On and so forth. Last, but not least, we need
Hornets to watch.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I feel like we're starting to run out of players
to keep an eye on. I'm trying to keep it
fresh and pick a new one for every game. But
for me, I think I have to go with James
Naji because he didn't really play a ton against the
Lakers the other day. I ended up playing on the
close to thirteen minutes. I thought he had some really
good flashes there in the first half of just some
just hard nose, high energy, high motor plays where it
(18:08):
was tracking down an extra rebound, putting a fourth, maybe
a little bit more extra effort on the defensive class.
Just things that are little nuances that you don't see
from every player in every Summer league contest. And I
know that stat line wasn't the greatest. He only took
one shot, he ended up making it. He hit both
of his free throws, ended up with four points, had
two block shots, so it was a little bit of
everything there. He had six rebounds as well, so he
(18:30):
did his job. He said his screens not the sexiest
stat line, like I mentioned, but I just want to
see a little bit more from James Notchi, whether that's
maybe an extra big block on defense or a put
back dunk on offense, and it were just really quite
frankly playing more minutes. So again I don't really have
like a huge, huge knowledge of this Portland roster. Obviously,
(18:50):
the guards are the ones that kind of get the
headliner for Portland. They do have a guy out there
that's seven to four though, and they have a couple
of seven footers on the other side for the Trailblazers.
So maybe this is a good test for James Naji
to see what he can go up Mono Imano size wise.
So hopefully he gets a little bit more playing time
in this one against Portland and we can see a
little bit more from him.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
We've seen good from him in spurts, certainly moments where
he's able to use his size and his athleticism to
pull down rebounds, block shots, finish plays at the rim.
We would love to see a little bit more from him.
I'm gonna be a little more critical here. I want
to see something big here from James brook Knight. I've
heard so much good stuff about his work ethic over
(19:31):
the summer. Clearly a talented player, a lottery pick a
couple of seasons ago. It'll be his third season the NBA,
the second time in Summer League, and we've i think,
similar to Naji, similar to Miller, Similartis Smith, seeing those stretches,
those flashes where book Knight looks really, really good, but
he's also struggled overall. He went two for eight from
three last game, four for fourteen overall from the floor.
(19:52):
Turnover wise, I don't think he was bad in that
last loss to the LA Lakers. Only had the one,
but it came in a transition play where he seemed
to have a breakaway finish for a lob for someone
else to get the dunk, tried to take it himself,
ended up turning it over.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
That was at the stage of the game where it
was really close.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
And I'm being a little critical here just because I
think he's so talented and he has such a great
opportunity in front of him as of now, I think
book Knight is in the driver's seat to take a
rotation spot on this Hornets demon and you'd hope he
would as a lottery pick from a couple of seasons ago.
Entering his third year, I think confidence is huge for him.
This is a big opportunity to build some Whether it's
(20:30):
Scoot Henderson on the other side or not, repair the
Frenchman that was drafting the second round by the Blazers
on the other side or not, it doesn't really matter
James book Knight's I think the biggest thing for him
here is to be the best James book Knight he
can be. If he does that, he is easily capable
of putting twenty to twenty five points on the board
and maybe ending his personal Summer League on a high
(20:51):
note and heading to the remainder of Summer well where
he'll continue that great work with the coaches. But I'm
just I'm hopeful for the kid. I'm rooting for him.
I want him to have a good game here, all right.
That's going to do it for this edition of the
AHHCS Rob Indicator, We're kind of going every other day.
As news breaks, we'll cover it for you here on
the hornets ibecast. Rob Longo, thanks as always for joining me.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Pleasures always in selfishly fingers crossed no news breaks. I
would like to have a day off tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
We'll do our best for you. We'll keep our fingers
crossed for you. Again, guarantee to the fans if there's news,
we'll cover it for you here on the HC for
Rob Longo and all of us in Voldeim Sam Farber
saying it's been a pleasure and a privilege happening you along.
We'll talk to you next time right here on the
Hornets Hoodcast.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Thank you for listening to the Hornets Hypecast, brought to
you by Senta, the official I hear Nosen throat Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
For more coverage, visit Hornets dot com.
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