The Kyle Bailey Show With Will Palaszczuk: Matt Alquiza

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's going on in the NBA. Of course, the Hornets
back in action, not against the Orlando Magic. It's some
odds and ends to talk about with Matt al Keys,
who joins us here on Sports Written on It into
seven WFNZ. What's going on, Matt, Mary Chris, I hope
you're doing well.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm doing well, man. Mary Chris was to you too.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
How would you assess kind of what Tuesday night looked
like for the Hornets given their victory over Washington. They
you know, despite the fact they didn't have but one center,
they ended up winning the rebounding battle, only committing five turnovers.
We know Washington's lousy, but felt like a stabilizing union
for the Hornets after what happened in Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, I mean all credit on the boards goes to
Musa via Batte. It felt like every couple of minutes
you were looking over at me on press row saying that, hey,
Moosa broke this rebounding record or Musa set this career
high for rebounds in a quarter or a half. So,
I mean, he was the catalyst on Tuesday night. He
kind of got the Charlotte Hornets out of the gate.

(00:54):
They were a little sleepy to start, and then I
mean the Big Three took them home. LaMelo Ball, Brandon
Miller kind of can nipple as they do when the
Hornets win games. Each had their turn running the offense
and putting points on the board for the Hornets. But again,
Musa the catalyst of it all, and anytime Charlotte beats
a team like Washington, it needs to be celebrated. That
was the kind of game that the Hornets of years

(01:16):
past would probably lose. The last game before the holidays,
second night of a back to back, the sleepy two
night of the Spectrum Center, a winnable game against one
of the worst teams in the league. So even though
the Wizards are, like you said, a lousy team, one
of the worst in the league, the Hornets do deserve
some credit for going out there and handling their business
with relative e's, even while being short handed in the

(01:39):
front court.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
You mentioned Moosa. The eighteen rebounds is definitely something not
to stick at. But the thing about it is that
Charles Leaf said is that he's made some significant shrines
in terms of what he can do offensively. It's something
that I think we always kind of overlook with his
game because he does so many other great things at
the getting offense with him as a bonus, but he's
starting to become a lot more confident that part of

(02:00):
his game.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, if you watch the broadcast on Peacock on Monday night,
the guys who are announcing it, Austin Rivers and Robbie
Hommel were the two color commentators. They were kind of
shocked anytime Musa put the ball on the deck and
you know, did one of his patented euro steps or
spin moves or I don't remember if he dunked on
anybody against Cleveland, but he's done that a number of
times this year. Yeah, it feels like people are kind

(02:23):
of slow to noticing the offensive rise of Musa, but
it's he feels pretty comfortable with the ball in his
hands right now. The thing that has always stuck out
to me about Musa is he's a pretty high level processor.
So when he catches the ball at the free throw
line and he has a choice to either drive or
pass the ball to an open shooter, of which there
are many on Charlotte this year, he generally makes the

(02:45):
right decision and can be trusted with the ball in
his hands. And we're just kind of seen him grow
in confidence more and more throughout his year and a
half with the Hornets in making those decisions, and the
team doesn't really lose much when he is on the floor. Center.
Compared to Ryan kulf Brennert, they play very differently, their
skill sets are very different, but they are equally as
impactful players on both ends of the floor.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
So the Hornets center depth definitely tested after the injuries
to both Ryan Colkebrenner first and then Mason Plumley and
Cleveland with the groin strains. So as a result, the
Hornets had to make a roster move Tuesday. They end
up releasing Drew Peterson and then Wednesday end up signing
PJ Hall from the Greensboro Swarm. PJ who looked really,
really good in the Summer League and I was a

(03:27):
little disappointed the Hornets didn't give him a full time spot.
Ends up coming around the men after signing in Memphis
and then signing with Greensboro, and now he's back on
the Hornets purview and in their roster. He'll be in
Orlando tonight for the Hornet game. How would you assess
kind of the traveling soccer that is PJ? Hall, and

(03:47):
what do you expect for him tonight?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. I expected him to get the Hornet's third two
way contract. I mean way back in June when they
announced the summer league roster and I saw that he
was on the team, you know, kind of set off
some alarm belts in bad. He's a guy that has
a little bit of NBA experience, played in the Nuggets organization,
had played a couple of games in Denver, but spent
a lot of time with their G League team, and
you know, all throughout the summer, the main conversation point

(04:12):
around the Hornets was how weak they were in the
front court with Kulkbrinner as a totally unproven option and
Mason Palmley as the veteran stop gap, and then Mussa
as a you know, intriguing piece, but more of a
I would call him like a depth, energy big off
the bench. So that being said, I expected PJ to
get a contract, at least a two way contract months ago,

(04:34):
so I'm not surprised to see it come all the
way back around with him rejoining the team. He brings
a different skill set. He can shoot it a little bit.
He's more of a stretch big, can handle on the perimeter.
He's going to be really physical in the paint, which
you know all Charles Lee centers are. He likes guys
that you know, can mix it up underneath the boards,
so I'm not expecting like an oversized impact. It's hard

(04:55):
to really project too much from a guy on a
two way contract, but I'm expecting PG to play some
minutes tonight and be pretty effective in them. He had
a nice stint in Greensboro, was arguably the Hornet's best
player across there's some really campaign on their way to
a championship, and I think he'll be a, you know,
if not an important piece, a useful one for the
Hornets going forward.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
It's definitely the right way I would assess it, And
just looking at the games yesterday, Obviously the Western Conference
has got some world beaters. But when I assess the
Eastern Conference teams and the way that I watch the
Holiday hoops, you know, I kind of watch it in
the vein of, you know, how far away are the
Hornets to this. We know that there are certain matchup
nightmare parts of say the Knicks, Orlando, maybe even Detroit,

(05:39):
But outside of that, I look at a lot of teams,
and I say the Hornets are not far off of
them when they are fully healthy and we've seen them,
you know now kind of get back to health. With
thirty games in, they're not far out of a playoff spot.
How would you assess the intrigue of this next set
of games provided that the Hornets can escape the indrew
bug here?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I mean the injury bug is the biggest thing
need to escape right I don't think the playoffs are
the goals. Is the goal for the Hornets right now.
I think if they sneak their way into the play
in via the back door after a collapse from a
Chicago or a Giannis trait happened to Milwaukee, I think
the organization will be thrilled because it means they're a
head of schedule. I think everything the team the franchise

(06:22):
is doing right now is just trying to evaluate the
talent that they have, because more than ever they have it.
I mean, the big three of Nipple, Miller, and Ball
is as talented of a trio as the Hornets have
ever had in their recent history. And they're all young.
They're all under twenty five or younger right now, So
them making the playoffs and making a legitimate push I

(06:43):
think would put them ahead of schedule. I think right
now it's just about, hey, how do those guys play together,
What do we need to build around them? How can
we improve the talent on the fringes of the roster
to really supplement those guys. So sorry, Hornets fans who
are hoping to see a playoff Berth in twenty twenty six,
I don't think that's going to be the case. But

(07:04):
I will say they are better positioned right now going
forwards than they have been in a while to become
a consistent playoff team. And that's the terminology that Jeff
Peterson and Charles Lee have used since they came to
Charlotte is that they're not looking to skip steps. They're
not looking to rush into anything and make a rash
move that's going to mortgage or jeopardize the future that

(07:26):
they've built very nicely over the past couple of years.
I will say, so, yeah, they're not positioned for a
playoff Berth in twenty twenty six, unfortunately, but I do
think they're in a good spot to make their way
up the Eastern Conference going forward in years to come.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Last one for you, Matt, The play of T John
Salon has been very, very hard to ignore. I basically
made the comment earlier this week that his emergence is
going to get somebody traded on this roster because at
least proves that he can be a rotation player. If
the guy that we've seen here in the last couple
of weeks continue used to develop, eliminate some of the mistakes,

(08:02):
it's become great to see his development start to really flourish.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah. Man, it has been so encouraging. I think a
lot of the fans forget that he is still just
nineteen years old. He's only been in the United States
for a year. These guys take time like he's still
so He's still in his basketball infancy and development is
not a linear thing. We've already seen the roller coaster
of ups and downs of the Tjon Salon developmental track,

(08:30):
but it is impossible to say that he is anything
but on the right track right now. The decision making
has been a lot better. Charlotte has really simplified his role.
He takes corner threes, he sets a lot of screens,
he crashes the rebounds hard. He injects energy into the lineup,
and into the spectrum center when the Hornets play home games,

(08:51):
because the passion that he plays with is undeniable, and
you can just see the flashes of what the Hornets
believe in every once in a while when he gets
the ball in transition and does one of those dead
leg euro steps and finishes up and a round to defender,
which is what he did against Washington. Had a game
in Toronto a few weeks ago where I think he
hit five threes. So yeah, every game, every minute, every

(09:14):
second that Tijon plays, you can just see the light
in his head just become just that much brighter as
he continues to develop into hopefully a long term important
piece in this Hornet's core.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Hornets and Orlando denied mattol Kisa Sports Illustrated joining us.
Thanks a lot, Matt, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Absolutely. Have a good week, Willie.