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December 16, 2025 12 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's bring in a guy who covers the Hornets, but
he also covers college football and he is a proud
West Virginia Mountaineer. My buddy Skyler Callahana Sports Illustrated, is
back with us on a Tuesday. Skyler, what's your number
one bucket list? Got to get to this college football
venue before I die.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Oh, this is a great question, and I've been listening
to you guys, so I've been trying to think about
what it would be. I've got a couple tossing around,
and I guess I'm going to stick in my big
ball allegiance here. I think Iowa State would be a
sneaky good one just because of how similar they are
to West Virginia in the fan base and how dedicated
they are. The other one I would go with BYU. Now,

(00:38):
when you talk about drop backdrops, the Wahsatch mountains back
there just an incredible sight. My coach for my West
Virginia podcast, he's a radio sideline guy for WU, said
it was the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. They
also hand out free ice cream to the visiting team
to the visiting team's fans in the stands, So, uh yeah,

(00:58):
free ice cream Wassatch Mountains. Take me up on that.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Ooh, I love it. So I listen, man, I'm telling
you I've been to Iowa State. I'm glad you mentioned it.
I called a basketball game there years ago. I saw
the stadium, the football stadium outside it was just surrounded
by tractors and in farming equipment. It's exactly what you'd expect.
But it's really really cool, So I'm glad you brought
that up. How do you feel, by the way, about
the first year back of Rich Rod at West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it was what you would kind
of expect with eighty new players, and then on top
of it, you had four your top four quarterbacks get hurt,
your top five running backs get hurt, and all of
a sudden you look like a team that just can't
find its way down the field and find a first down.
So I think there were some moments start. Towards the end,
they found some promise there with the freshman quarterbacks Scottie FOWKX.

(01:46):
But this is going to be a completely new roster
again this year. It's not going to be as big
of a roster turnover, but we're talking about starters, the
top twenty two guys. It's going to look completely different again.
I think they're in much better position now financially as
opposed to where they were last year when they got
in place. I mean, they were already way behind the
eight ball with the transfer portal. That's not gonna be

(02:07):
the case this year.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Okay, let's talk some Hornets here, and you know probably
where I'm going first. Michael Scotto on the Yes Network
the other night saying that, hey, the Hornets now look
at Conka Nipple as the face of the franchise. That's
a really big conversation. I'll just give you the floor.
What do you think of that?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
I mean, I understand that. I think there's we always
get caught up in these debates and in reality it
really doesn't mean anything, because, yeah, I mean, what does
it mean to be the face of the franchise. I mean,
you're going to build them around, to build the roster
around that one guy. I know you're still going to
build it around Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, and I think

(02:47):
you can have two to three guys that can be
the face of your franchise. I don't think it has
to be just one singular person. But I do get
you know where this is coming from, and I think
it is warranted. The way he has started out his
career has has been phenomenal, and I do think that
you're going to see a lot more people around the
league kind of look at the Hornets to say, yes,

(03:07):
that's who they're going to try and build this thing
around as Kank Nipple. But again, when you have LaMelo
Ball on your roster, you have Brandon Miller on your roster,
you still got to cater to those guys as well.
They do a lot of good things well, a lot
of things well, and you still have to kind of
piece the offense around them, which I think is going
to be very interesting next year's draft in what direction
they go, assuming it's another lottery.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Pickt But we've all talked about con A Ton, right,
He's been really good. He's got seven twenty five plus
point games, more than every other rookie combined. He is
so far exceeded expectations but that anybody, even his biggest supporters,
could have had for him. What has impressed you the
most and where do you think he's really standing out
on the floor right now?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
I think it's It's really what we expected him to
be is just that steady, reliable presence and that he
knows what a good shot is for him, what's not
He knows how to get his teammates involved. He just
has a feel for the game, like he knows how
to get to his spot, knows how to play. He
can hold his own on the defensive end, which I
think was obviously a question mark coming into it, but

(04:10):
we all knew he didn't have the prototypical athleticism of
a top five pick, but he makes up for that
with his IQ the way the game just kind of
slows down for him, and I think he has blown out,
you know, these expectations early on, and to be honest
with you, like I mean, I get again, I get
where this narrative is coming from. Why he could be
the face of the franchise, because what he is doing

(04:33):
is something we haven't seen in Charlotte and years. When
you can go back to LaMelo's rookie year, it took
some time before he even cracked the starting lineup under JB.
So this was this is completely a different type of
player that we're talking about here, at least the first
twenty five twenty six games of the season. And it's
crazy too, because you go back to the draft and

(04:53):
everybody and myself and cluded was saying, oh, this is
this is the safe pick of the draft. Right that's
kind of the bad kind of language that was being used,
as if it was a bad thing that he was
the safe pick. And all of a sudden, he's turning
into a Rookie of the Year camp.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
So what do you Since you mentioned LaMelo right there,
there's always something with him. He's polarizing, he's often injured.
There was the report weeks ago that he wanted out.
You know, he snuffed that out really quickly, you know,
but more people coming out saying, hey, you know, people
around the league are telling me he's an unseerious basketball player,
doesn't care about winning, but they do win more when
he's on the floor. And I'm just curious, you know, Skyler,

(05:31):
how you think the front office. I mean, we're all speculating,
but how you think the front office views him here
today on December sixteenth.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
I think they're they're still kind of TBD with him
in the future. I don't know that they're one percent
sure he's going to be a part of this thing.
Through the entirety of his contract. But I think they
also realize the talent that he is, the potential that
this this franchise could could be with him a part
of it. But it all goes back to the hell thing.
I mean, we could talk about whether he'd be better

(06:01):
in a bigger market, or if he's a serious basketball
player or not, but I think if you spend enough
time around lamelow or if you just watch these games closely,
you know that that's not true about LaMelo. He truly
does care. And I think some of that is just
because of the flamboyancy and the kind of the flashy
style that he plays with and maybe taking some shots

(06:21):
that he probably shouldn't take. But he's the guy that
can make those kind of one legged, you know, threes,
and there's off balanced shots and the crazy passes. If
there's somebody in the elite that's going to do that,
it's LaMelo ball. He can't do that. So you don't
want to take that playmaking ability away from him just
because of some ridiculous narrative out there. But it does
come back to the hell and if he can stay healthy,

(06:44):
I don't see why the Hornets would move off of him.
I get Connor has been phenomenal, Brandon has looked good
to when he has been healthy too, And you can
trade LaMelo if you want, But I don't think that
you're going to get back the package that is going
to just blow you away. I don't think that's the case,
because of the injury history, because of the contract. No

(07:05):
one's going to be willing to take that contract on
and give up a king's ransom for it, So you're
probably not going to be pleased with the return. And two,
I think this is something that somebody else pointed out
and I agree with the wholeheartedly, is if you trade
LaMelo ball away, you're trading a huge piece of this
franchise away in terms of revenue tickets, You're I mean,
this guy is a ticket seller, and I don't think

(07:26):
Charlotte in a small market can afford to do that.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Skyler Callahan Sports Illustrated covers the Hornets. He's with us
here on the hot line. Brandon Miller still a big fan.
Don't don't have any bad things to say about him,
but you know, people text in I got another one
yesterday that you know, why have they taken away his
mid range game. It seems like he's turned into almost
exclusively a three point shooter. You know, in the game
against Cleveland, he did have thirteen attempts inside the three

(07:50):
point line, but he was three of thirteen. He did
most of his damage, again from outside the three point line,
hit the big three to send the game to overtime.
So again, I can't stress enough. I'm still a big
Brandon Miller fan, but I don't know, it just seems
like there's something missing there right now in terms of
his overall game and his continued development. And I realize
injuries have interrupted some things, But how do you feel
about his development as a player thus far?

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, I mean I would agree with you. I almost
kind of wonder if he's a little caught in between,
because if you kind of look at the Charles Lee philosophy,
it's trying to get up a bunch of threes. I mean,
that's what we've known his teams to be in the past,
where he's come from shoot threes, play defense, and spread
the floor. Obviously, this team doesn't really have the pieces

(08:33):
to really do either of those things at this point,
but I do think that was one of the things
when he was first hired. That was questioned a lot,
is okay, what about Brandon Miller's mid range game, because
that's not really a piece of a foundational piece of
this offense. So I think he's a little caught in
between right now, and I think he's maybe second guessing
some stuff. I think the confidence maybe isn't quite what

(08:56):
it was pre this injury that he had at the
beginning of the year. Who knows if that's something that's
bothering him. Maybe it's just lingering a little bit. He
can play through. There's a lot of different things that
can come across here. But I think the offense is
it's gonna come back. He's been a high level score
his entire life. The efficiency is gonna get better once
he gets more games under his belt. But to me,

(09:17):
I think the part that he has to to really
take the next step in is the defensive end, because
with his length, his athleticism, the way he can cover ground,
he should be an all league type of talent on
the defensive end, and we just haven't seen it. We've
seen a little bit, you know, bits and pieces of
it here and there, but it hasn't been consistent. And
you know, last week you go back to the Chicago game,

(09:39):
there were some moments where I thought he took some
of the offensive struggles and carried them with him down
to the defensive end of the floor. He's getting out
of position, wasn't moving his feet, got had some bad
fouls just I wouldn't say laziness, but just didn't maybe
show the same effort on that end as he did
on the offensive end. That's got to change for him, do.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
You think that? And it's early yet, so I don't
expect you to make any grand declaration that's going to
come back to haunt you here in a year or two.
But like Ryan Cockprinter, do the early does the early
returns look like a long term starting center in the
NBA to you? I mean the numbers, I think you
could argue yes, But you know, some people think that
he's still a depth piece long term. What's your opinion?

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, I mean future Hall of Famer, right, So I
put it on the record. I mean, I don't know.
I do think he's probably best suited to be a
number two down the line. I mean, obviously he can
make a jump and be a more of a focal
point of this offense. But when you have three elite
bucket getters. I don't know that he's ever going to

(10:40):
have to be that. I think that eventually that Charlotte's
going to want to be able to stretch the floor more,
like I talked about with Charles and his philosophy, to
really get five guys that can shoot the ball from
the range. They don't have that. You're undersize at the
four spot. That's going to have to change us at
some point, I think too. So I think he's played

(11:01):
well enough to be a solid number two that can
help protect the pain, protect the rim. I don't know
if that's somebody that you can have, though, as your
number one option on a playoff team. And that's no
disrespect to him. I think he still has a ton
of room to grow, but I think you probably do
need a more athletic, better moving center that can step

(11:23):
out and shoot threes. And again, that's no knock to
Ryan because he's done fairly fairly well throughout these first
couple of months.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
All right. So they've had a lot of time off
the last two weeks. Unfortunately, even with that time off,
a lot of guys still have him been playing. They
get the Hawks Thursday night. What are you expecting from
that game based on what we saw in Cleveland and
some of the up and down stuff we've seen recently.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah, I mean you need to have more consistency on
the defensive end. And you know, Charles, that's one thing
that drives him crazy because he sees the potential with
this group and I've talked about just a minute ago
with Brandon. The same thing applies to the rest death
starting lineup in the bench. I mean, you see see
on James some nights where he looks like you can
understand the comparisons to Lou Dorton, and some nights it's like,

(12:08):
oh my goodness, he's he's clearly a rookie. So you
need to see some more consistency on the defensive end.
And I think what they did in that overtime period
that that held Cleveland scoreless, that should be a confidence boost.
I mean that that is an insane stat I can't
even tell you the last time that's happened, if it's
ever happened. I mean, that's and that's a pretty damn

(12:29):
good starting lineup too, that that Cleveland rolled out there
and they did that again, So that's got to be
a huge You know, momentum boost for them and that's
something they have to build on. You can't go out
there against Atlanta on Thursday night give up one hundred
and thirty.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Skyler. Always a pleasure, brother, great catching up. We'll see
you real soon. Mary. Christmas to you and yours.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
You got a buddy, take care of Mary Christmas
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