The Kyle Bailey Show: Nick Carboni

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A man who has also entered into a new phase
of life. He's a phrase fresh off of entering fatherhood,
and he's back for his weekly chat as he's back
on the prow, back on the beat. Nick Carboni of
NBC Charlotte's hang it out with us on a Tuesday.
What's up Nick?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Happy b day, buddy. We actually talked on my fortieth
So it's kind of like a little a group we've
got going little, you know, forty year old's anonymous. I
sprinkled in newborn experience with mine. I don't recommend it,
although I don't regret.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
It at all.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
No, no, no, no, I appreciate it. So again, you
have my number. Whenever you think of things that I'm
supposed to be doing now that I'm forty, just send
them to me, you know, at any time of night,
because I might be up taking a pee, you never know,
in the middle of the night now, So listen.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I would probably suggest your doctor do that, but I'd
be happy.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
All right.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
This Panthers team is they're hard to figure out. I
don't think they've got themselves figured out. But after beating
the Packers and giving us reason to believe they could
be a playoff team. They went right back to being
the Panthers and lost to the Saints on Sunday, and
everybody's on till once again, what are you thinking about
this team after that loss to the Saints.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Brutal, devastating, gut punch, And it can be I wouldn't
say all the way erased, but half erased with a
win at Atlanta this Sunday, which is very much a possibility.
This is a team that's clearly, you know, not turned
that corner into the mature team that understands the assignment. Hey,
we've got a bad football team in a division game

(01:26):
at home in front of us. We've got to not
have the letdown. We've got to have a great leap
of practice, but we've got to string together wins once again,
which they did, you know, prior.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
To the Green Bay game as well.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
So they still need to turn that corner, Kyle, and
we'll see if they can do it given the the
you know, circumstances with the quarterback, and not every team,
not every team does that. You'd hope this team can,
but we're gonna find out on Sunday. With the response
is that the response to the last couple of loss
has been really good, and obviously the last time out

(02:00):
against the Falcons was one of their best performances. It
not the best performance of the season.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
I don't presume to speak for anyone other than myself
and sometimes smoke, but I did get the sense that
about four point thirty on Sunday afternoon, there were a
lot of people who had turned on Bryce Young, who
had made up their mind on Bryce Young. Maybe even
were on the fence or even you know, mild believers
in Bryce Young who had turned on Bryce Young after

(02:27):
the way he played in that spot, watching the Saints
stack the box dare him to beat them, and he
just couldn't do it. Nick, what were your thoughts on Bryce?
What are your feelings on Bryce? Two days later?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
My feelings on brys or that he's very capable of
finding those five touchdowns that he left down there at
Mercedes Benz Stadium again this Sunday. He's just been an
inconsistent player. Obviously, again like the team needs to turn
that corner himself. We'll see if he's going to do that.
This is obviously a massive year for him to kind

(02:58):
of find that stride. But yeah, I mean, listen it,
I'm not saying I'm out at him of it, but
you talk about four thirty, I don't know what midway
through the second quarter was. Let's call it about you know,
two thirty, I don't know. I'm looking at the stat
sheet and Tyler Shucks got like one hundred and seventy
five yards passing and Bryce Young has twenty six.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
And now that he didn't have the Rico.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Dull run reco run game plan working, that lack of
a passing attack got exposed a little bit. And there
have been times where he hasn't needed it this year,
but you know, he's only got one game above two
hundred yards and he hasn't needed many more of those,
but he certainly needed one Sunday and he just couldn't
find a way to do it. So that that is

(03:46):
a concern when you're getting outgunned by Tyler Shuck, the
Tyler Shucks of the world. And we'll see how his
career goes, but he's going to need to start winning
more of these games, or being capable and trust worthy
of winning one of these games with his arm. As
a franchise quarterback or hopeful franchise quarterback in the NFL.

(04:07):
I mean you know, he's not the quarterback we saw
his rookie season through the first two games of last season.
But he's also not the quarterback we saw the last
eight games of last season, and the average of those
two separate Price Young versions is a mediocre quarterback at death.
So this would be the time, with seven games left,

(04:27):
just like last year, to step it up.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
What would be your response to the people who say, yeah,
but Nick t Mack is the only legitimate wide receiver
who's getting open with any frequency on this team right now.
Then yeah, they you know, brought back the offensive line,
the defense is better, and they got running backs, but man,
this receiving corp is still lacking. What are your thoughts
on that? Because I had people pushing back yesterday saying that, yeah,
who was open down the field.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
I do buy into some of that because you look
at the targeted receivers on a weekly basis, especially this week,
it is exclusively first and second year options, and you know,
some of those guys are still you know, Jalen Coker
is still working his way back a little bit. It
looks like exavierly get you know that that ball to

(05:12):
him in the corner of the end zone you know,
when I saw it from the press box, I'm like,
he kind of sailed it, and then they showed the
down low angle and he got a fingertip on it.
So you know, I think he probably should have caught it,
and I don't know how. You know, I think a
lot of people probably agree with that. And that was
his only chance, So you know, how is that your
only chance is last year's first round pick? So you know,

(05:34):
I do buy into some of that. There's this trading
Adam feeling and it worked out for the Feeling family,
but it hasn't worked out for a Feeling. The player
hasn't really worked out for the Panthers as a receiving corps.
You know, that took a big, a big bite out
of the experience in that room and just somebody that
can go get open on a on an every down basis.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
So I do.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
I do believe there's some of that going on too,
where it's like not everything is is clicking the way
it's supposed to be when Bryce Young goes back and
throw the football.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Nick Carboni, NBC Charlotte sports Director sports anchor, hanging out
with us here for his Tuesday conversation. I was listening
to Back and Bone this morning and their in depth
discussion about LaMelo's ankle and what to do about it,
and I just had this over like we all get
deja vu, but I felt like I was sucked into
a time warp for about five minutes, like we have
had this conversation so many times now. I was ready

(06:26):
to come in here today and talk about that and
only that, But then we got news that he's going
to practice with the Greensboro Swarm today and maybe back
on the court by as early as tomorrow night, but
maybe Friday night as well, both games against Milwaukee. You've
been out for a couple of weeks. Yeah, I know
you missed the start of the season, but we're ten
games in and he's already missed four games. What are
your thoughts on all this?

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh, I mean talk about time warp. Last night, I
was dropped back into this Hornet season for the first
time in a new building, but what looked like the
same Hornets with no LaMelo Ball on the floor, no
Brandon Miller on the floor, a bunch of young guys
who I actually really like, but we're just you know,
outclassed by the likes of Luka Doncic and the La Lakers.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
I told you last week when this ankle.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Impingement cropped back up for LaMelo, I was very concerned
that has not gone away. It's been four games. But
like you said, positive sign, you know on paper or
on Twitter, however you read it this afternoon that he's
getting back to a swarm practice that seems to be
full contact and sounds like that's the reasoning for that.

(07:30):
And so maybe that this is four games that will
be a blip on the radar later in the season
and he's, you know, gunning towards seventy five contests played
and they know, a potential All Star not or All
NBA not and things are going great. But as we know,
that's just not been the case around here with him
and his ankles for the bulk of his time here.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
So we'll see.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
But going out there am night and having a good
performance against Milwaukee, it would go a long way for.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
LaMelo, no doubt about it. How much better thought he'd be.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Oh my gosh, I mean, better creator, better passer, better defender.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
I mean, and and better you know, scorer.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Besides just a three point shooter than than I thought
at all.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
And I'll tell you what.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
I think there's people inside the building that are surprised
by some of it. You know, I don't know about
I think they they obviously drafted him because they thought
he was a good three point shooter, the best in
the draft, and could do some other things too, And
they saw that at Duke, especially when Cooper Flag was out.
But I think some of his athleticism and his creat
his ability to create his home shot in the NBA,
I think has probably surprised people within that building. It

(08:37):
has a pleasant surprise. He's been really good. I asked
Charles Lee about this draft class last night, because you know,
they were all out there at at at certain points
in the game and in crunch time, and they're all
guys that they drafted because they come from winning programs,
they're competitive guys, and and I asked them how that's
kind of going during this stretch that we're all used to,

(08:58):
Like you said, guys are out, you're just you don't
have enough firepower against most teams every night, and you're
losing a lot and losing a lot more than these
guys are used to. And Charles said, they're trying to
take it as lessons but I can already tell you know,
I think I think a guy like Tom k nipples.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
I wouldn't say he's frustrated with everybody, but I think
he's frustrated with the situation already because he's playing well.
He came here to win, he came here to change
the culture, to help change the culture, and they just
haven't been whole, as he told us last night, So
hopefully that changes.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Nick. Great stuff, Buddy. Good to have you back on
a regular basis. We'll see you soon.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
You got it, man,