December 4, 2025 • 46 mins
In the first hour of the show, Walker and Flounder talk about the ACC's disappointing end to the ACC/SEC Challenge, discuss the Bryce contract extension from Bryce's point of view and tell you where they are at with NC State basketball after 5-3 start.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Only Sports Radio ninety two point seven alf M a ufnzay. Fine,
he's the Weson Walker Show. Even a crowd knows what's
coming there. Thrilling, chilling Thursday, it's WESN Walker Sports Radio
ninety two seven wfn Z no Wes again. He's gonna
(00:32):
be gone for today and tomorrow and then he's back
on Monday from twelve to three. So that means flound
Dog is still co hosting alongside your boy Walker Mail
and we're broadcasting live from the Chandler Vaulta studio. Cebe
Injury Law dot com, CV Injury Law dot com. One call.
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. We've got a
(00:52):
lot to get to today. Al Wallace, former Panther Great,
gonna be joining us inside these very Chandler Vaulta studios
for an hour from one o'clock to two o'clock. We'll
be talking with him. Before that, we got to get
to some Hornets convo because LaMelo ball looks like LaMelo
ball again, except I don't know what to do with it.
The Hornets get blown out again where they actually do compete.
(01:14):
In the second quarter, they bring it to within three.
Jalen Brunson hits an end of first half three pointer
to put him up six, and then eventually they would
slowly pull away, pull away. The Knicks beat the Hornets
last night by double digits, And so now I don't
know what to do. When LaMelo looks like somewhat of
a good LaMelo, do we trade him capitalizing on that value?
(01:35):
Do you keep him around because he's a good player.
We got to figure that out. And we've talked a
lot about the Bryce Young contract negotiations. We've talked about
the fifth year option, Dan Graziano reporting that he expects
the Panthers to pick that up. I don't think anybody
has had the conversation from Bryce's point of view on
what he might think is best for himself via the
(01:57):
contract negotiations. Does he like he might have some leverage
in Hey, I'm not going to take the forty million
dollars a year contract. I'm actually going to hold out
and test the waters elsewhere. Does he feel like he
has any power here? Does he want to go into
next season, perform well, earn a big time contract. Like
(02:18):
what is Bryce thinking about with all of this? Is
he going to point to the game winning drives and
say I have a lot more power than everybody else
is giving credit for. So I do want to explore
that as well, and we want to hear your thoughts
on all of it. Fandual text line seven oh four
five seven oh ninety six ten, seven oh four five
seven oh ninety six ten. I do want a rail
on the ACC just like everybody else is going to
(02:39):
for not being able to complete the task at hand.
Only one one game last night. I just needed, I need,
I needed just another one, just one more to tie. Yep.
I wouldn't have been thrilled with it, but I would
have been cool with a tie. To me, a tie
is not like kissing your sister in this specific challenge.
It's very much like I don't know what the equivalent
to something better than that that is. It's better than that,
(03:02):
It's way better than that. You would have gotten an
acc SEC tie. I'm cool with it. I didn't want
to come out with an L and Louisville that L
stands for loss and I hate to say it, but
it happened to them. And if they would have just
done what they were supposed to do, then it's all gravy.
You tie. Everything's fine. The ACC after getting off to
(03:23):
a six to three lead the first night. They only
win one game last night, and they lose the ACC
SEC Challenge.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
One in six last night for the ACC. That's tough, man,
And we said it. You know, Louisville was one game
that we thought was in the pag. We thought that
they would have that one. They were a better team
than Arkansas. That doesn't necessarily look to be the case,
at least not right now. Maybe as the season goes
along they will be. And then Boston College, you had
(03:53):
the game in your possession. LSU was saying take it
from us, please, Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
You couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And then the most disappointed I've been all night. I mean,
Georgia Tech just gets boat raced by Mississippi State.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
It would come on. It is clear that we are
not going to be able to depend on Georgia Tech
for anything, not because that is a bad Mississippi State
basketball team. The thing is, we knew Georgia Tech was
going to be bad. We just were hoping that they
would be the better bad team. That's bad. That was
not the case. Also, I would say the most disappointing
result from last night. There are two to choose from one.
(04:27):
Is NC State versus Auburn, NC State losing. I know
you're not very disappointed in that NC State losing to
all of these power for programs that they play. Myren
Goodman being the first to the text line asking hey,
how's that reckoning? Coming? The first to ask it, at
least as of this show. I imagine we'll get quite
a few other questions slash text messages asking that very
(04:49):
same thing a little bit later on in the show.
But my rent is first to that. So NC State
they got to deal with all of the losing that
they've done against adequate competition. But the real disappointing result
from last night also is SMU losing the way that
they did, coming in undefeated, and that proved to be
a little fraudulent when you had adequate competition.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I think Vanderbilt is actually pretty good though, so
I'm not gonna hammer SMU. But I do think that
that was one that you were hoping they would keep
a little bit closer and maybe have a chance to win.
The one team I will give credit for that didn't win.
I thought Clemson put up a really good fight against
all Oh.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, Clemson, you come away proud with what Clemson did
on the road against Alabama. That was close and at
the end Alabama wins towards the end of the game
at home as a top twelve team already battle tested.
I'm cool with what Clemson did. Nobody needs to point
to them and say you're the reason why we lost,
even if technically they did contribute. It's NC stayed. I'm
(05:48):
much more frustrated with It's Boston College just because of
the way that they had that game in the bag
at the end of that one. And it's also an
SMU losing by close to twenty. Even if Vanderbilt is
good and Louisville be the other one you're I think
they're just flat out better than Arkansas. That's what I
think anyway. And you ended up losing by double digits
even if it was on the road. Yeah, And that's
(06:08):
the thing. At least it was in Fayetville. At least
it wasn't at home.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So I'm not gonna blast them too much, but I
will say that the way that you should feel coming
out of this is that the ACC is much better
than it has been in years past. Now you could
say the SEC maybe isn't as good as it was
last year. That's the reason why the ACC was able
to take so many games. The ACC is better than
it's been in the years past. I think what we
learned is that, I mean, you look at the top
(06:35):
three in the conference, I think that's pretty safe, right.
I think Duke, Louisville, Carolina, however you want to order them,
I think it's fine.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Then I think it's Virginia. Virginia's good.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I did not think coming into the year. I thought
it was going to be NC State, But I think
Virginia is off to a really strong start. Ryan Odam
is coaching those boys up, and they just destroyed a
Texas team.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Virginia that state. I had high hopes for them. Yeah,
and they're proven that they are back kind of I
guess back would mean that they're a championship contender. They're
on their way back with the way that they've been
performing in the first year of Ryan Odam, and we
saw it with pad Kelce. Pad Kelsey had one of
the biggest turnarounds I've ever seen. Louisville was that bad
(07:20):
under Kenny Payne and then immediately you get back to
your winning ways. Tony Bennett is a legend up there.
If you wanted to build a statue of Tony Bennett Virginia,
that would be fine to me, right like winning a championship,
bringing them all the way back to relevance to that
way like cool, You did a great job. Ryan Odam
is taking over a basketball program that has lost in
(07:42):
the first round of the tournament, and or haven't they
haven't gotten there the last couple of years. I think
they're a tournament team with the way that they've been playing,
and they did their job in the acc SEC Challenge
last night. The Hornets not so much, even if they
are playing against a team I do believe will represent
the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. The whole and
it's they still get beat by double digits. They lose
(08:02):
last night, one nineteen to one oh four in the garden.
What do we make of losing by double digits again,
Let's get to it. Let's pull up to the scene.
Let's open up the doors, flound Dzy, let's get off
the bus. We looked good getting off the bus. I
have two questions, flound I have two questions for the people.
(08:26):
Let's start with the losing by double digits last year,
you go back to the beginning of Charles Lee's first season,
and yeah, they would lose by double digits every now
and then, and I'm specifically talking about like the first
couple of months of Charles Lee's tenure here in Charlotte.
But they also had a bunch of close games. They
would lose, but at least they were competitive, and I felt,
(08:47):
given the context, we were okay with that at the
beginning of the season, Like you go with a uh,
you go with a couple of wins. They had a
win against Detroit last year. We know Detroit to be
a good basketball team. Brandon Miller had a big time
bucket in both of those victories over the Pistons. They
had a win by twenty points against Indiana. You might
lose to Philly, it's an overtime. You have a one
(09:08):
point win over Milwaukee, a one point loss to Yeah,
I guess it was Brooklyn on the road. But they
were a little bit better than what they were this year.
You get the point. They were competing every single night.
I think it made it a little more palatable until
the Hornets ended up losing by forty for three straight
games and they set this record for losing by the
most points ever in a four game span. That's when
(09:31):
it all came crashing down. And this time find out
we're losing a lot of these games by double digits.
We're losing these games. We're not really in contention of
winning in the first half. You might show up. The
third quarter has been very unkind to this Hornets basketball team,
and there are still legitimate excuses. LaMelo Ball, we can
all understand, at least is a top two player. I
(09:54):
think most people would still say he's the best player
on this team, depending on how you feel kN K
Nippole is as a rookie. If you feel he's already
passed them, cool, But LaMelo Ball, to me is still
very talented, hadn't played a bunch of games, and when
LaMelo isn't shooting very well, then you're a little more
susceptible to losing by double digits. I just don't know
how palatable that's going to be for this Hornets fan base.
(10:16):
And the reason that matters one just good old fashioned
butts and seats argument. But two, do we get to
a crossroads sooner rather than later on needing to move
on from some of the core pieces and the core
pieces in question being LaMelo, Ball and Miles Bridges, who
also was not very good last night. LaMelo was good.
LaMelo had thirty points. He looked like the old Lamello
(10:38):
to me, fireball passes to the corner. Four turnovers but
high usage, so the turnovers really aren't that bad. Lots
of assists, lots of made shots, the sick and one
that was beautiful and more controlled in the pain. Part
of my issue with Lamello is that physicality really disrupts him,
throws him off of his game. He can't counter that.
(11:00):
I thought he was real controlled, he had his floaters.
I thought there was patience when he got into when
he got into the restricted area and hit some shots
that way. I thought we had a nice LaMelo performance.
Charles Lee said the same thing. We'll get to that
in a moment. All that to say, though, we get
to a crossroads when you lose by double digits, even
when LaMelo plays well, that you just finally move on
(11:20):
from a guy that's been in the organization for five years,
and you move on from a guy in Miles Bridges
who's been within the organization since twenty eighteen. If you
keep losing by double digits and you're not really in
contention to win some of these games. At some point,
something has to give, and those are the two guys
I think the Hornets give up.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, that's probably the two guys that you're looking at.
I mean, you look at the most movable assets. That's
the other thing is how many of these guys are
really that movable on this roster.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
First of all, you're not getting rid of kan Kanemple,
You're not trading Brandon Miller.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I think those are the two untouchable players that you
have on your.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Roster, right, And so when you look at the other guys, Okay,
Mmello is certainly a guy that you know, at some
point you got to make a decision on are you
going to really just continue to invest in him or
are the injuries just too much for you? And then Miles,
I mean I had to, you know, listen to last
night Smoke yell about a man that's taking three point
shots that shouldn't be taking three points.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Smoke was beside it. How bad was the crash out it?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
It wasn't too bad until we had more injuries. That
was another story in this game. Colin Sexton gets hurt,
Ryan Kolprenner gets hurt. Was it Lamello was dealing with
the shoulder or something?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Well, no, he was dealing with a wrist injury to
the opposite wrist of what he injured his rookie season,
and he was probable designated to play, had a good time.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
So I mean, it's all these different guys dealing with
all of these different injuries. Once again, that was the
storyline last night. You know where I thought they lost
the game last night, Walker, And I don't even think
it was necessarily on LaMelo. I thought early in the game,
I mean, the turnovers were just pathetic.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
It's what they do. They turned the ball over. I mean,
my god, and you got down by twenty.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And look, the Knicks are a team that I was
not shocked that the Knicks let the Hornets back into
the game.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
But they're a high scoring team. Man.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
This is a team that comes out they put up
a lot of points. It's not like Tom Thibodeau last
year where they're just gonna beat you down defensively. This
is a team that's looking to score a lot of points.
And you know, once you get into that type of
game with the Knicks good luck. Sam Farber said on
the pregame show, first to one twenty wins the game.
They didn't quite get there, but the Knicks got close
(13:32):
to that, and that's certainly not the brand that Charlotte
was wanting to play against them.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
So now you have this question of LaMelo playing well.
If LaMelo gives you a string of games or has
a nice stretch of games where he does play well,
he looks something close to the old LaMelo, where he's
fireballing passes all over the place. He gives you a
decent amount of assists, he actually reaches the twenty three
to twenty five point threshold, and he does so with
(13:58):
decent enough accuracy right shooting. Let's just throw out some
more numbers here, forty two, forty three percent from the field,
thirty six, thirty seven percent from three on what is
still decent, but lower volume than what it was last
year because you have more talent. Those are the numbers
I throw out that I feel like we would accept
as good LaMelo, even if he's capable of much more
(14:19):
than that. All that to say, if he starts reaching
that in a certain stretch of games, that's how you
capitalize on the value. This is the conundrum. LaMelo is
showing you that he's very good. You look at that
stat from Matt Alkiza yesterday that the Hornets are in
the ninety ninth percentile offensively when con Brandon and LaMelo
are all on the floor at the same time, that's great.
(14:41):
Do you feel like you're chasing your tail? It's right
there in front of you. How can we not catch it?
It's right here, But of course you don't end up
catching it because it's always going to be the same
amount of distance from you at every single point in
the chase. So now that LaMelo plays well after this
hypothetical stretch of games, is that when you ca but
a lies on trading it because that's the only time
(15:01):
he's going to have value, because then he starts playing badly.
Now everybody says, well, you got to trade Leamelo he's
playing badly, except you won't get anything of decent value
at all in return. So now I don't want to
trade him anymore. That's that's the whole chasing your tail,
that's the whole we can't get out of our own
way type of thing. If he plays well, I think
guys that might be the time when the Hornets will
(15:23):
trade him, because it's the only time you'll get anything
close to one hundred cents on the dollar.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Well, and the thing is, you know, we looked at
the other two guys that people said were on the
trading block.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
We know that Ja Moran has the off the court issues.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And then when it comes to Trey Young, Trey Young's
numbers are worse than Lamello's numbers in the five games
that he.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And I think Trey is way less willing to play
anything other than his brand of basketball. And LaMelo that's.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Shocking, shockedunds like a very adjustable type, very nice fella.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Like Lamello is not ten toe's down on this. I
think Lamello reverts back to a style he's comfortable with.
So Trey Young like, that's a ten toes down. This
is how I play. You either play to my style
or I half asset like that's how Trey Young plays.
And I don't think that's the same thing with LaMelo.
We can get to that ESPN article people are referencing
it on the FANDUL text line. We'll get some Carolina
(16:14):
Panthers conversation on the other side of the break as
well a thrilling and chilling Thursday word to Boomer von Cannon,
it's right now, WESN Walker. Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.
(16:40):
Many people referencing the ESPN article about LaMelo, John Morant
and Trey Young. We'll dive into that here. On Sports
Trading ninety two seven WFZ. It's WESN Walker, the Westless
and Walker show. With West being out all week, it's
been flound Dog being the renaissance man, board O producer,
co host. He can do it all and he's helping
us talk about the Charlotte Hornets. Here. People referencing this
(17:03):
article also texting in on the fandal text line. I'll
read those first seven oh four, five, seven oh ninety
six ten. Easy Math says they all have one thing
in common with the Hornets. It's the training staff. Ask
Gordon Haywood, Hey, word is what he meant to say? Yeah,
the thing is they've changed the training staff, They've done
the turnover thing. And I'm not saying easy Math meant
(17:25):
a whole lot of seriousness with this, Like I don't
know how much of it was sarcasm and how much
of it was sincere. The point being This is what
I don't know the power NBA teams have over preventing injuries.
If it just keeps happening, they change the training staff, right,
I mean, at some point we joke about what's in
the water over here in the Queen City, and then
(17:45):
you start to believe it because it keeps happening. But
don't I don't know if we can really blame the
training staff. They've already turned it over, so I don't
know how much they've turned it over, but yeah, you
can only blame them so much. Seven oh four dre
When talking about trading LaMelo, he says, I don't think
it matters how LaMelo plays. GMS have been low on
him his entire time. That's not a bad point, but
(18:09):
I will remind you that it only takes one All
you need is one decision maker to go all in
on LaMelo if LaMelo gives him a reason to do so.
And right now, I don't think LaMelo has really given
him all that much of a reason to do so. Like,
he hasn't been playing well for a stretch of games,
and he's been injured, so it's hard to sell that vision.
Whether it be a scout that has the ear of
(18:29):
a GM, whether it just be a general manager, president
of basketball operations, whoever it is. All it takes is
one person. But they have to have some evidence to
point to as to why they make this move, and
right now, LaMelo hasn't been giving them that evidence for
a stretch of games. If we can use this Knixt
game as a launching pad, then we can start to
figure out what value would come in return. But right now,
(18:52):
I just don't think it's worth it. So I understand
that's frustrating for people that just want this to be over.
I get it. But you have to have some level
of payats and that, and I get it. That's a
buzzword for people. I totally understand it. You've been patient
this entire time, myself included. But it doesn't mean that
you just give up LaMelo for nothing and have nothing
to show for it, right like that, basically just releasing
(19:14):
him now, you do want something to come back in
return worth value, and that that's the point that I
would make in not just trading him for pennies on
the dollar seven oh four five seven oh ninety six
ten Robbie dangerously, he says, do you think we would
h or we could get Giannis for LaMelo and Miles. Well, boy,
(19:36):
we had this conversation on Charlotte Sports today. I think
the Bucks would want con and Brandon, of course, and
all of the picks and all of the swaps. I
don't think that they would do it for Miles and
LaMelo and picks, because you're gonna have to give up
picks on top of it, right, Is that what Milwaukee wants?
(19:58):
I I don't think it would. I don't think it
would go down that way. I think that they would
want something entirely different like con Kin nipple slash Brandon
Miller and I do think both of those guys are
untouchable to me, And there has been some pushback on
Brandon Miller being untouchable Richie. He writes in I'm not
sure Brandon is untouchable. It seems that Brandon Miller has
(20:20):
caught what LaMelo had in the injury bug. I would
say this seems to be unlucky, more so right now
than an injury prone. He was healthy and would come
back from some of these bang up style injuries. His
rookie year, what did he play seventy games? Something like that?
Brandon was healthy his first season. Last year, not so much.
This year to this point, not so much. Still way
(20:43):
too early to just decide to get rid of Brandon.
We had one full year of injuries for him last season,
and we've had twenty games of basketball where Brandon has
been injured for three quarters of them. It's not trending
in a great direction. I'm not trying to get it twisted.
What I will tell you is that I want to
get rid of that talent and say, oh, well, he's
already injury prone, let's just get rid of him now.
(21:05):
I would still deem him pretty untouchable. I'm not looking
to move off of Brandon if you're going to go
after Gianni's or the next disgruntled star, whoever that may be.
I'm doing everything I can to the point where I
might just not make the trade, holding on to Khan
and Brandon. Do you agree with the Brandon tank?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah? I would agree with Dad. I think you know
that rookie season, he was really able to stay healthy.
You saw what the potential was for him, and you
have to have somebody that is with Khan. You can't
just give up, like if you're deciding, you know what,
we're just going to give up on Brandon and we're
gonna we're gonna send him and LaMelo to try to
(21:45):
get Yannis. Well, first of all, are we sure that
Yannis wants to play here? I don't think that's to me,
that's not even on the table. I don't think he's
gonna look at Charlotte and be like, man, that's a
great destination of you. Yeah, no offense to the Hornets,
but I think that kind of what.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It is, Well, he wants to compete for a championship,
and it doesn't feel like you can compete for a
championship at over thirty here in Charlotte. No, I don't.
I don't think so either. So I mean, yeah, how
realistic is it?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I'm not sure, but I mean yeah, I would not
be looking to move off of Brandon Miller unless you
got just something outrageous, like if you got like maybe
something similar to what Brian Burns was getting on the
on the market at one time, and that oh, that's
that's tough.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I'm trying to understand the spirit of your question, that
it's that would be a lot of first, So like
all three first, all of it, all the all the picks,
all the pick swaps, which because of the Steppian rule,
you can't go consecutively. You only have so much you
can give up, right, So it's four first and four
swaps of your own picks, and then you do have
(22:51):
other picks that you can get in there. So like, yeah,
you have the Miami selection, you have the Dallas selection,
And just to be clear for everybody, it would take
a moinster Hall to go get that person. Yes, as
it should and Milwaukee should be asking for everything's asking
for everything.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, I don't I don't see it happening. I think
they're going to hold on to Brandon Miller. I think
that's a smart move. That's a good running mate to
have alongside of conk Nipple if you're going to build
around him, which I think could certainly be on the table,
so I would hold on to him. The thing I
will say is that you say that these are freak injuries.
Remember we were having the same conversation with Mellow.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Early in his career.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh, you know, these are just freak injuries that end
up happening, and now it's something that's long lasting, it
could go. I don't I don't think that we're going
to have that same problem yet with Brandon, because you're
not hearing some of the things that we're already hearing
with Mellow, where basically people are saying the ankles are
are basically shot.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
We don't have the same injury over and over and
over again with Brandon. Right, the shoulder injury is not
something he experienced last year. That was ten minutes into
the second game of this season. That feels more unlucky
than an injury prone to me, And I do think
there is a difference. At some point. They are very
much in the middle of that Ven diagram, and I
get it. But I'm not moving off of Brandon Miller
(24:08):
because he suffered a few injuries. I get his frustrating man.
I hello, I raise my hand high. I'm frustrated too.
I don't think the answer is move off of the
second overall pick that it feels like was worthy of
it based off of his skill set. Nobody is saying
that Brandon Miller talent wise, is a miss of a pick.
And this is coming from somebody that was screaming draft
(24:29):
screwed Henderson. And I admit that I was wrong on
that you draft Brandon Miller. I was wrong. Brandon Miller
is the guy. He just has to be on the court,
and he's coming back from it, and I think the
Hornets are trying to exercise preventative measures to stop him
from being injured in the future, maybe more so unlike
what they did with LaMelo. I don't know how they
(24:52):
operated with LaMelo in the previous regime based off of injuries,
in terms of how really healthy he was. I do
know this. They did bring LaMelo back his rookie season
with ten games left on the year, and you kind
of throw your hands up in the air and say why.
I mean, we wanted to watch him play, But I
(25:12):
guess he was healthy enough and he came back and
his percentages were hurt because of it. So perhaps they
were a little more aggressive with LaMelo back in twenty twenty,
twenty twenty one than they should have. I don't think
that they're making those same mistakes anymore. And again, bubble
wrap whatever. I look, I'll be the guy that wants
to wrap Brandon Miller in bubble rap if it means
(25:33):
that he'll be healthier at a later point in his career,
at a later point in his tenure with Charlotte than
what LaMelo has given us seven oh four five, seven
oh ninety six to ten. That's the Fandal text line.
A lot of people writing in I do want to
transition to a Carolina Panthers conversation with Bryce Young contract
negotiations there because I read the back and forth from
(25:55):
Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano on ESPN dot com. We
see this quite often, the NFL insiders giving you a
conversational back and forth piece on ESPN dot com. And
one of the big questions they keep going back and
forth on is could the Panthers extend Bryce Young this offseason.
We've already gone through Dan Graziano telling you that he
(26:16):
expects the Panthers to pick up the fifth year option.
I agree with it. It feels like most people understand
Carolina picking up the fifth year option, which is twenty
six and a half million dollars that I believe is
twentieth in terms of pay for quarterbacks this year in
the NFL. I'm good with that. As I've mentioned a
(26:37):
million times, it's all about what the next contract is
going to be. So Graziano writes this, if Bryce Young
is open to an extension in the twenty twenty six offseason.
I think it would have to be lucrative to make
it worth his while. If the Panthers pick up the
fifth year option, they'll have them under contract for two
years at around thirty three million and like average annually,
(27:00):
So it might be tempting for him to take a
below market deal just to improve on that. It might
make some sense to do a short term bridge deal
like the one the Packers did with Jordan Love. Aaron
Rodgers was in front of him, which makes things a
little different, but still a point that he wants to make.
I don't see what Young's incentive would be to do
an extension next spring or summer that averages less than
(27:24):
fifty million dollars per year. But this is think about
the framing here, and I'm not telling you Dan is wrong,
but I don't think anybody has spoken from the point
of view of Bryce. It's the classic bank Do you
feel in charge? Here? Bryce might if he continues to
give us some game winning drives and the Panthers pick
(27:46):
up the fifthiear option. Let's say they don't come to
a contract extension agreement on a contract extension this offseason,
which I don't think they would. I think he would
just play on that fifth year option and then you
play well. To me, honestly, as much as I have
been one of the guys that can want to continue
to see how Bryce progresses before I give them all
(28:07):
of the money, I understand it from Bryce's point of
view too. If you're Bryce and you have all this
confidence in your ability and you think Carolina is going
to continue to do right by you, supplementing your talent
with pieces around you, and they can do it right
now with the amount of money they still have at
their leisure, then Bryce might want to play well next
(28:29):
year and then have more evidence to point to when
asking for a fifty million dollar annual contract. I just
don't feel like people are talking about it from the
Bryce point of view. We've all been talking about it
from the Panthers point of view. An interesting spin and
take on it from Dan Graziano, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Think from the Bryce point of view, Yeah, you're definitely
feeling like you've probably done a decent amount that you
deserve a pretty significant extension. And I think what's going
to be really interesting is if they were to make
the playoffs, Because if they make the playoffs, he's gonna
feel like what more do you really need to see
(29:06):
from me? I think in his mind that's where it'll be.
Unless it's just one of those situations where the the
running game just drags this team to the playoffs. I
don't see that happening. I think it's gonna look a
lot like what it looked last week against the Rams,
where yes, the running game is going to lead the way,
(29:28):
but that's gonna open up the passing game and Bryce
is gonna succeed and hit the throws that he needs
to hit. And so from his perspective, he probably believes,
can you get me to that forty five million dollar range, Like,
let's get into that area. Let's start having those conversations
where I don't know if that's where the Panthers are at.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
We'll have to see how he finishes the season.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
If he finishes with more games like the Rams game
like I think he's going to, then yes, maybe you
do start to have those conversations. But if not, then
you're probably holding on and saying, no, us see another
year of you. We really have to determine whether or
not you're our guy, and then we'll go through and
figure out if we're willing to pay you almost fifty
million dollars a year, which is, you know, kind of
(30:11):
what the market to bands.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Darren writes on the FanDuel text line, Bryce is worth
the contract extension for at least forty five million year.
You have to understand, yes, he has had some terrible games,
but look what he has played with and look how
he has been coached. Okay, that's fair. What if I
bring that number up though, so you say forty five?
What if we're talking about fifty five, because I repeat
(30:33):
Dan Graziano mentions, I don't see what Young's incentive would
be to do an extension next spring or summer that
averages less than fifty million dollars a year. Like this
is how the QB market goes. And I understand sometimes
we get a little too lost in the sauce with
how much qbs get paid. That's just the going rate.
The cap it does go up, even if it is
a hard cap. I get we're talking different percentages here.
(30:55):
Usually it is better to go ahead and pay the
guy right now instead of wait to pay him, because
that's how you get cap strapped, unless you're Miami and
you give TUA all that money and they eventually regret it.
And the other example that we haven't gone to a
bunch is the Trevor Lawrence example. Because Trevor Lawrence is
making fifty five million dollars a year, they're winning football games.
(31:18):
That's one argument in favor of Trevor, except when you
watch the play. Is anybody sold on Trevor Lawrence as
a quarterback at this point? I don't think anybody would
be pointing at him and saying, yeah, that's a fifty
five MILLI year quarterback. So do the Jags regret it?
A nuanced answer, I'm not sure. I don't feel like
he's worth fifty five with the way that he's playing
right now. No, I don't agree. I agree with that wholeheartedly.
(31:40):
Here's something that I haven't seen mentioned with what Jeremy
Fowler and Dan Graziano are talking about. They give you
the same examples I do to They also talk about
Kyler Murray. Another example to bring up. The other thing
to mention is CJ. Stroud's on the same timeline. Man,
So you think of CJ. Stroud where that's a little
more blurry, it's not as crystal clear of vision as
(32:03):
it was after his rookie season, where after his rookie year,
it was give him all the money we break, no brainer.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
This is a top five potential player at his position
in the league.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Here's a blank check. You tell me what you want,
please and thank you, sir. Would you like some coffee?
What do you want here? It all is not anymore
so if you're Bryce and you have people like Kay
Adams saying, I'll say it. Rice is better than c J.
Stroud over the last couple of years, and he has
(32:34):
a resume, he has the PowerPoint with his agent pointing
to this is what I've done. I have more game
winning drives than everybody. May I remind you of what
I did against the best team in the league last year.
We beat the Rams in large part because of me
and other people, but I contributed as much as anybody.
I helped beat the Falcons, a division rival, because I
(32:56):
threw for a franchise record four hundred and forty eight yards.
You see that that's on the slide. Oh, let me
get over there. Yeah, this is that slide. Yeah? Cool?
You see that.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
C J.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Stroud the last couple of years has not performed at
the level that I have consistently, and so I wonder
if there's a game of Chicken between Houston and Carolina
as to who gives their quarterback the contract extension first,
and whoever does give their quarterback the contract extension first,
how much does that affect the other guy? If it
(33:27):
was so clear in a way CJ. Stroud being the
guy for them, then it really wouldn't matter, right, But
it matters now with the way that Stroud has played
in the way that the Houston Texans have been overall,
he's got a couple of playoff victories to point too. Like,
I don't really want to get too lost in the
conversation of who's better CJ. Stroud or Bryce. I'm talking
about this from a contract negotiation standpoint. We know other
(33:50):
people's contracts. That's what matters. In other negotiations. It's not
even really about how much you're getting paid. It's about
what the other guy is getting paid. If the other
guy you feel like you're as good as on the
same exact timeline as you does get the money, you're
going to ask for that much money and more that
that's fascinating to watch how Houston operates with CJ.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, And if I'm the Panthers, I'm trying to wait
it out as long as I can and see what
the Texans end up giving CJ. Stroud, and then from
there you kind of formulate your opinion on how you
where you have bryceon in relation to him, and how
much money you believe you should pay.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I believe that CJ.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Stroud right now, because he has two playoff wins, should
probably be the higher paid quarterback of the two, but
it's not by much. So if I'm the Panthers, I'm saying, hey,
let's hold out on this. Let's see where CJ comes in,
because I think I think they're going to end up
signing him to an extension, probably maybe this offseason or
(34:53):
early next season.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Maybe he agrees to an extension.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Yeah, And then if you're the Panthers, that's when you say, Okay,
we've got our note, we've got the figure that we thought.
Now we've got the figure that would be close to
what CJ. Stroud is.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Let's find a happy medium ground and that's where we
end up settling. It's Wes and Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ Floundg filling in for Wes as
the co host, and Al Walla's going to be doing
the same thing from one o'clock to two o'clock in
the Chandler VAULTA Studios for a full hour. We have
one more segment to go before we get to Al
coming up next. Sports Radio ninety two seven FM. Why
(35:43):
couldn't the ACC get the job done? I didn't realize
how badly I wanted the ACC to win this challenge
until a couple of days ago, because then I was
reminded of how terrible the performance was last year, only
having won two games. It was Louisville and it was
Duke taking care of business.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
And how.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
The twist tables have turned Michael Scott's, Oh, how the
turn tables? How have they turned and spind and spun
all of it? Look, man, Duke almost lost to Florida,
and then Louisville did lose last night. And I do wonder,
just like stylistically, if the Cardinals are going to be
(36:23):
more susceptible to losing games because they have such a
three point dependents. They are so.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Reliant on the three man it is insanity. I mean,
they shoot I have to look it up. Viddy was
saying it was like forty a game or something like that.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So they get the three point raight is nuts for them.
And so when you look at their box score from
last night, you had guys like MIKEL. Brown go two
of thirteen from distance, and Ryan Conwell goes three of
twelve from distance. That five five of twenty five not good,
and then Isaac McNeely at one of five. They just
they're three stars shooters did not hit shots, and that's
(37:02):
how you go down forty seven to twenty nine in
the first half. They scored fifty one to the second half.
Founder Like, really, for Louisville, it's classic mis or make league,
and they just missed a whole bunch of shots from deep.
And you have to wonder how susceptible they will be
to losing if they can't find another answer outside of that.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Thirty five point six a game, which is only fourth
in college basketball. So there are three other teams that
shoot at more than thirty five times per game.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
I to beyond the arc. Well, I did a game
last night for Queens. It was Queens versus Gardner Webb
Gardner Webb oh and nine still a very fun ball
team with the way that they play up tempo, But anyways,
oh and nine kind of speaks for themselves. Looking at
some of the stats, though for Queens, who has been
analytically driven for quite some time under Bart Lundy that
Baton was passed to Grant Leonard. But Chris Ashby is
(37:49):
shooting I think eleven three pointers per one hundred possessions,
and he doesn't even have the highest three point rate
on his own team. That belongs to carshon'ger, whose brother,
by the way, plays for Wake Forest. He's also coming
down from Valprazo. Oh yeah, okay, I thought that was
their connection.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So Schweigert has like fifteen or sixteen three pointers taking
per one hundred possessions. Both of those guys are top
five in the A SID That's what's crazy. So those
guys are taking all these threes and they're not even
top five or top ten in all of college basketball.
They're top five in their own conference in the A side.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, they're They're forty seventh in the country and they
take twenty nine a game. Queens is yes, I mean,
that's so insane. There are so many teams that are
so three point based. It's absolutely crazy. You know.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
It's funny too that everybody complains about the NBA all
having the same style that's infiltrating college a little bit. Yep, yep,
you're seeing it. And NBA is changing Miami. As much
as I've given them credit, I can't stand it because
they're just never going to die. They are the Michael
Myers basketball team. But the reason they don't die is
because they adapt to something different classic zig while everybody
(39:01):
else's ags. Miami just spreads you out. They cut constantly.
They don't even set a whole lot of ball screens.
It's just athleticism, ball popping, bunch of ISO like, it's
just different variations of an offense. Either way, they're changing
it a little bit. Denver doesn't shoot threes. It helps
when you have one of the best basketball players of
all time as an offensive hub. But you get the
(39:22):
idea going back to college, Nate Oates was this real
analytically driven coach that's shooting a bunch of threes, and
now everybody's trying to catch up to him. And Queens
was like this too. For a while. Queens was ahead
of the pack on all of this. But you're seeing
a lot of it happen in college basketball either way.
There you see it with Louisville. Now that's one team
(39:42):
that loses. They don't help the ACC win a challenge.
NC State doesn't either, and you start to look at
NC State. Oh man, the reckoning, right they told us
Will Wade told us there's a reckoning happening in the triangle.
Oh it's a reckoning, all right. It starts with a
W instead of an R. They started off winning four
(40:03):
straight against NC Central, UAB UNC, Greensboro, NVCU, and the
teams that they have lost to have all been Power
four teams Seaton, Hall, Texas and Auburn. There. Look, let
me tell you this. I love that Will Wade has
(40:26):
come out guns a blazing. I think it is fantastic
for the sport. I think it's fantastic for the local
rivalries because I want the conference to have a villain
and Will Wade is that and he embraces it. I
think it's better for everybody involved. The people that hate him,
the people that love him, even the people that are
neutral on NC State, they care because they want to
see the fallout of what Will Wade has to say.
(40:47):
And then you start off the year at five and three.
You know it's not good. After all this talk it's
certainly not good. I appreciate the bravado I am here
for and that What is also true is that when
you say there's a reckoning, and you say that you've
caught up to all the blue bloods and that NC
(41:08):
State basketball is back again. Man, you can't lose to
every P four team you play. I know that can't happen.
And I know Wolfpac fans can't be thrilled about the
way that the season has happened since that four oh start. Yeah,
they shouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
I mean, at this point you could look at these
opponents and say that these are good opponents. I mean,
Seaton Hall last night struggled for a little bit with
Central Connecticut State, and then Texas gets blown out by Virginia,
absolutely dominated by Virginia. Now you could say, well, maybe
(41:40):
that Texas team actually turns it around. You know, Joe
Lenardi can't believe I'm referencing this already. He put out
his bubble watch. Yeah, Texas was one of the first
four teams out of the tournament, so they're on the
precipice of.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Being in well, and I is NC State in. I
do not know whether he has NC State in.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
I don't know how you would put him in those
Those are two bad losses potentially on your resume, and
then you have this one. This one's not a bad loss,
but it felt like you kind of needed a win
to turn things back in the right direction. And you
know what, will Wade, Oh, I just love it because
you are talking absolute trash about my head coach and
(42:22):
he doesn't know how to play Vin Allen Lubin.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
That's the other thing.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Van Allen Lubin's played twenty eight minutes, yeah or more
in three games this year. You can guess what three
games they are. That's all you need to know, man,
You know, I think it's all you need to know.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
It's the detail. It's okay, it's one we can reference
reckoning all we want to, and we should. But it's
the also attacking of one specific head coach in Hubert Davis.
It's Darien Williams on The Obvious and Julio Podcast attacking
one specific coach in Hubert Davis. And then the very
thing you attack him for that you apply to your
(43:01):
own program, you lose every single time you apply what
you criticize Hubert for not doing.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, I'd like to revisit that. I'd love to ask
him that question at press corn. So how do you
feel about vin Allen Luban right now? You want to
play someone else just a little bit more?
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Wolf Pack, James writes in I wonder if Wade even
practices defense at all. And look, I saw Brian Guisinger
tweet this out that he felt like NC State implemented
better defensive philosophies in this game, that they stuck true
a little bit more to their principles or what they
should be than what they had been in the previous
two losses. Even still, though, so it's not a bad loss.
Nobody thinks that losing to Auburn on the road is
(43:36):
a bad loss, except when you say that you've arrived
before you've done anything. Then that means you're building up expectations.
And then when you sell this this team that has
caught up to the rest of the programs that have
been in the top twenty five, and that you've caught
up to the blue bloods in the conference, then people
expect big wins. You can't get even a decent win.
(43:59):
Do they have a decent win on their resume right
now that you can point to and say, hey, we
beat Blank, give us our respect. Now VCU is five
and three.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
May okay, So that might be the team because if
because someone is texting it on the text line, very
hurt that I am not being objective with this conversation,
So I'll be objective. They have one win that might
come against a tournament team in VCU ye three, and
the challenge is, yes, now they've played a tough believe
(44:30):
they've played a tough non conference schedule, so they can
still win the A ten, But can you guarantee me
that that team wins the A ten.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
No, if they don't win the A ten. This is
not your daddy's A ten.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Where the A ten used to be a conference that
would put two three teams into the tournament every single year,
this is a one big league and we learned last year.
Carolina fans can tell NC State fans about this as
much as anybody that you need those resume type to
be able to get into the nc DOUBLEA tournament. And
(45:04):
we think that the ACC is better, but you never
know when you get in conference.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
So we'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
There are gonna be opportunities here for NC State, but
how many of them are they going to be able
to seize That's why I think at this point, when
you look at the ACC, there's three tiers. You've got
Duke and Louisville, who I think are in the top tier.
I'm not changing that even based off of last night.
I think those are the two favorites to win the conference.
You've got North Carolina in a tier by itself as
(45:33):
a team that could challenge but not feeling super confident.
And then you've got that next tier where I think
you have Virginia and at the bottom of it you've
got NC State. Those are the teams that I think
could make the nc DOUBLEA tournament, but I'm not going
to guarantee you that they make the NCUBAA tournament. That's
kind of where I'm at with NC State right now.
(45:55):
They need a significant win and where's it gonna come.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Yeah, you have Kansas up next after you Ashville in Liberty,
and if you lose that one, then you're not gonna
have a chance to earn respect until December twenty first.
That's three weeks from now. So all right, we'll see
what you got, will Wade, but it's time now to
deliver on some of that talk. Al Wallace. He's gonna
talk in the channel of Vaulta Studios for an hour.
We welcome former Panther defensive end Al Wallace on the
(46:19):
West and Walker Show. Sports Radio ninety two seven WFZ.
Listen to the Wes and Walker Show weekis from noon
to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven
FM UFNZ, the official home of the Charlotte sports Fan
Only Sports Radio ninety two point seven alf M a ufnzay. Fine,
he's the Weson Walker Show. Even a crowd knows what's
coming there. Thrilling, chilling Thursday, it's WESN Walker Sports Radio
ninety two seven wfn Z no Wes again. He's gonna
(00:32):
be gone for today and tomorrow and then he's back
on Monday from twelve to three. So that means flound
Dog is still co hosting alongside your boy Walker Mail
and we're broadcasting live from the Chandler Vaulta studio. Cebe
Injury Law dot com, CV Injury Law dot com. One call.
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. We've got a
(00:52):
lot to get to today. Al Wallace, former Panther Great,
gonna be joining us inside these very Chandler Vaulta studios
for an hour from one o'clock to two o'clock. We'll
be talking with him. Before that, we got to get
to some Hornets convo because LaMelo ball looks like LaMelo
ball again, except I don't know what to do with it.
The Hornets get blown out again where they actually do compete.
(01:14):
In the second quarter, they bring it to within three.
Jalen Brunson hits an end of first half three pointer
to put him up six, and then eventually they would
slowly pull away, pull away. The Knicks beat the Hornets
last night by double digits, And so now I don't
know what to do. When LaMelo looks like somewhat of
a good LaMelo, do we trade him capitalizing on that value?
(01:35):
Do you keep him around because he's a good player.
We got to figure that out. And we've talked a
lot about the Bryce Young contract negotiations. We've talked about
the fifth year option, Dan Graziano reporting that he expects
the Panthers to pick that up. I don't think anybody
has had the conversation from Bryce's point of view on
what he might think is best for himself via the
(01:57):
contract negotiations. Does he like he might have some leverage
in Hey, I'm not going to take the forty million
dollars a year contract. I'm actually going to hold out
and test the waters elsewhere. Does he feel like he
has any power here? Does he want to go into
next season, perform well, earn a big time contract. Like
(02:18):
what is Bryce thinking about with all of this? Is
he going to point to the game winning drives and
say I have a lot more power than everybody else
is giving credit for. So I do want to explore
that as well, and we want to hear your thoughts
on all of it. Fandual text line seven oh four
five seven oh ninety six ten, seven oh four five
seven oh ninety six ten. I do want a rail
on the ACC just like everybody else is going to
(02:39):
for not being able to complete the task at hand.
Only one one game last night. I just needed, I need,
I needed just another one, just one more to tie. Yep.
I wouldn't have been thrilled with it, but I would
have been cool with a tie. To me, a tie
is not like kissing your sister in this specific challenge.
It's very much like I don't know what the equivalent
to something better than that that is. It's better than that,
(03:02):
It's way better than that. You would have gotten an
acc SEC tie. I'm cool with it. I didn't want
to come out with an L and Louisville that L
stands for loss and I hate to say it, but
it happened to them. And if they would have just
done what they were supposed to do, then it's all gravy.
You tie. Everything's fine. The ACC after getting off to
(03:23):
a six to three lead the first night. They only
win one game last night, and they lose the ACC
SEC Challenge.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
One in six last night for the ACC. That's tough, man,
And we said it. You know, Louisville was one game
that we thought was in the pag. We thought that
they would have that one. They were a better team
than Arkansas. That doesn't necessarily look to be the case,
at least not right now. Maybe as the season goes
along they will be. And then Boston College, you had
(03:53):
the game in your possession. LSU was saying take it
from us, please, Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
You couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And then the most disappointed I've been all night. I mean,
Georgia Tech just gets boat raced by Mississippi State.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
It would come on. It is clear that we are
not going to be able to depend on Georgia Tech
for anything, not because that is a bad Mississippi State
basketball team. The thing is, we knew Georgia Tech was
going to be bad. We just were hoping that they
would be the better bad team. That's bad. That was
not the case. Also, I would say the most disappointing
result from last night. There are two to choose from one.
(04:27):
Is NC State versus Auburn, NC State losing. I know
you're not very disappointed in that NC State losing to
all of these power for programs that they play. Myren
Goodman being the first to the text line asking hey,
how's that reckoning? Coming? The first to ask it, at
least as of this show. I imagine we'll get quite
a few other questions slash text messages asking that very
(04:49):
same thing a little bit later on in the show.
But my rent is first to that. So NC State
they got to deal with all of the losing that
they've done against adequate competition. But the real disappointing result
from last night also is SMU losing the way that
they did, coming in undefeated, and that proved to be
a little fraudulent when you had adequate competition.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I think Vanderbilt is actually pretty good though, so
I'm not gonna hammer SMU. But I do think that
that was one that you were hoping they would keep
a little bit closer and maybe have a chance to win.
The one team I will give credit for that didn't win.
I thought Clemson put up a really good fight against
all Oh.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, Clemson, you come away proud with what Clemson did
on the road against Alabama. That was close and at
the end Alabama wins towards the end of the game
at home as a top twelve team already battle tested.
I'm cool with what Clemson did. Nobody needs to point
to them and say you're the reason why we lost,
even if technically they did contribute. It's NC stayed. I'm
(05:48):
much more frustrated with It's Boston College just because of
the way that they had that game in the bag
at the end of that one. And it's also an
SMU losing by close to twenty. Even if Vanderbilt is
good and Louisville be the other one you're I think
they're just flat out better than Arkansas. That's what I
think anyway. And you ended up losing by double digits
even if it was on the road. Yeah, And that's
(06:08):
the thing. At least it was in Fayetville. At least
it wasn't at home.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So I'm not gonna blast them too much, but I
will say that the way that you should feel coming
out of this is that the ACC is much better
than it has been in years past. Now you could
say the SEC maybe isn't as good as it was
last year. That's the reason why the ACC was able
to take so many games. The ACC is better than
it's been in the years past. I think what we
learned is that, I mean, you look at the top
(06:35):
three in the conference, I think that's pretty safe, right.
I think Duke, Louisville, Carolina, however you want to order them,
I think it's fine.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Then I think it's Virginia. Virginia's good.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I did not think coming into the year. I thought
it was going to be NC State, But I think
Virginia is off to a really strong start. Ryan Odam
is coaching those boys up, and they just destroyed a
Texas team.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Virginia that state. I had high hopes for them. Yeah,
and they're proven that they are back kind of I
guess back would mean that they're a championship contender. They're
on their way back with the way that they've been
performing in the first year of Ryan Odam, and we
saw it with pad Kelce. Pad Kelsey had one of
the biggest turnarounds I've ever seen. Louisville was that bad
(07:20):
under Kenny Payne and then immediately you get back to
your winning ways. Tony Bennett is a legend up there.
If you wanted to build a statue of Tony Bennett Virginia,
that would be fine to me, right like winning a championship,
bringing them all the way back to relevance to that
way like cool, You did a great job. Ryan Odam
is taking over a basketball program that has lost in
(07:42):
the first round of the tournament, and or haven't they
haven't gotten there the last couple of years. I think
they're a tournament team with the way that they've been playing,
and they did their job in the acc SEC Challenge
last night. The Hornets not so much, even if they
are playing against a team I do believe will represent
the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. The whole and
it's they still get beat by double digits. They lose
(08:02):
last night, one nineteen to one oh four in the garden.
What do we make of losing by double digits again,
Let's get to it. Let's pull up to the scene.
Let's open up the doors, flound Dzy, let's get off
the bus. We looked good getting off the bus. I
have two questions, flound I have two questions for the people.
(08:26):
Let's start with the losing by double digits last year,
you go back to the beginning of Charles Lee's first season,
and yeah, they would lose by double digits every now
and then, and I'm specifically talking about like the first
couple of months of Charles Lee's tenure here in Charlotte.
But they also had a bunch of close games. They
would lose, but at least they were competitive, and I felt,
(08:47):
given the context, we were okay with that at the
beginning of the season, Like you go with a uh,
you go with a couple of wins. They had a
win against Detroit last year. We know Detroit to be
a good basketball team. Brandon Miller had a big time
bucket in both of those victories over the Pistons. They
had a win by twenty points against Indiana. You might
lose to Philly, it's an overtime. You have a one
(09:08):
point win over Milwaukee, a one point loss to Yeah,
I guess it was Brooklyn on the road. But they
were a little bit better than what they were this year.
You get the point. They were competing every single night.
I think it made it a little more palatable until
the Hornets ended up losing by forty for three straight
games and they set this record for losing by the
most points ever in a four game span. That's when
(09:31):
it all came crashing down. And this time find out
we're losing a lot of these games by double digits.
We're losing these games. We're not really in contention of
winning in the first half. You might show up. The
third quarter has been very unkind to this Hornets basketball team,
and there are still legitimate excuses. LaMelo Ball, we can
all understand, at least is a top two player. I
(09:54):
think most people would still say he's the best player
on this team, depending on how you feel kN K
Nippole is as a rookie. If you feel he's already
passed them, cool, But LaMelo Ball, to me is still
very talented, hadn't played a bunch of games, and when
LaMelo isn't shooting very well, then you're a little more
susceptible to losing by double digits. I just don't know
how palatable that's going to be for this Hornets fan base.
(10:16):
And the reason that matters one just good old fashioned
butts and seats argument. But two, do we get to
a crossroads sooner rather than later on needing to move
on from some of the core pieces and the core
pieces in question being LaMelo, Ball and Miles Bridges, who
also was not very good last night. LaMelo was good.
LaMelo had thirty points. He looked like the old Lamello
(10:38):
to me, fireball passes to the corner. Four turnovers but
high usage, so the turnovers really aren't that bad. Lots
of assists, lots of made shots, the sick and one
that was beautiful and more controlled in the pain. Part
of my issue with Lamello is that physicality really disrupts him,
throws him off of his game. He can't counter that.
(11:00):
I thought he was real controlled, he had his floaters.
I thought there was patience when he got into when
he got into the restricted area and hit some shots
that way. I thought we had a nice LaMelo performance.
Charles Lee said the same thing. We'll get to that
in a moment. All that to say, though, we get
to a crossroads when you lose by double digits, even
when LaMelo plays well, that you just finally move on
(11:20):
from a guy that's been in the organization for five years,
and you move on from a guy in Miles Bridges
who's been within the organization since twenty eighteen. If you
keep losing by double digits and you're not really in
contention to win some of these games. At some point,
something has to give, and those are the two guys
I think the Hornets give up.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, that's probably the two guys that you're looking at.
I mean, you look at the most movable assets. That's
the other thing is how many of these guys are
really that movable on this roster.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
First of all, you're not getting rid of kan Kanemple,
You're not trading Brandon Miller.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I think those are the two untouchable players that you
have on your.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Roster, right, And so when you look at the other guys, Okay,
Mmello is certainly a guy that you know, at some
point you got to make a decision on are you
going to really just continue to invest in him or
are the injuries just too much for you? And then Miles,
I mean I had to, you know, listen to last
night Smoke yell about a man that's taking three point
shots that shouldn't be taking three points.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Smoke was beside it. How bad was the crash out it?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
It wasn't too bad until we had more injuries. That
was another story in this game. Colin Sexton gets hurt,
Ryan Kolprenner gets hurt. Was it Lamello was dealing with
the shoulder or something?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Well, no, he was dealing with a wrist injury to
the opposite wrist of what he injured his rookie season,
and he was probable designated to play, had a good time.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
So I mean, it's all these different guys dealing with
all of these different injuries. Once again, that was the
storyline last night. You know where I thought they lost
the game last night, Walker, And I don't even think
it was necessarily on LaMelo. I thought early in the game,
I mean, the turnovers were just pathetic.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
It's what they do. They turned the ball over. I mean,
my god, and you got down by twenty.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And look, the Knicks are a team that I was
not shocked that the Knicks let the Hornets back into
the game.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
But they're a high scoring team. Man.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
This is a team that comes out they put up
a lot of points. It's not like Tom Thibodeau last
year where they're just gonna beat you down defensively. This
is a team that's looking to score a lot of points.
And you know, once you get into that type of
game with the Knicks good luck. Sam Farber said on
the pregame show, first to one twenty wins the game.
They didn't quite get there, but the Knicks got close
(13:32):
to that, and that's certainly not the brand that Charlotte
was wanting to play against them.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
So now you have this question of LaMelo playing well.
If LaMelo gives you a string of games or has
a nice stretch of games where he does play well,
he looks something close to the old LaMelo, where he's
fireballing passes all over the place. He gives you a
decent amount of assists, he actually reaches the twenty three
to twenty five point threshold, and he does so with
(13:58):
decent enough accuracy right shooting. Let's just throw out some
more numbers here, forty two, forty three percent from the field,
thirty six, thirty seven percent from three on what is
still decent, but lower volume than what it was last
year because you have more talent. Those are the numbers
I throw out that I feel like we would accept
as good LaMelo, even if he's capable of much more
(14:19):
than that. All that to say, if he starts reaching
that in a certain stretch of games, that's how you
capitalize on the value. This is the conundrum. LaMelo is
showing you that he's very good. You look at that
stat from Matt Alkiza yesterday that the Hornets are in
the ninety ninth percentile offensively when con Brandon and LaMelo
are all on the floor at the same time, that's great.
(14:41):
Do you feel like you're chasing your tail? It's right
there in front of you. How can we not catch it?
It's right here, But of course you don't end up
catching it because it's always going to be the same
amount of distance from you at every single point in
the chase. So now that LaMelo plays well after this
hypothetical stretch of games, is that when you ca but
a lies on trading it because that's the only time
(15:01):
he's going to have value, because then he starts playing badly.
Now everybody says, well, you got to trade Leamelo he's
playing badly, except you won't get anything of decent value
at all in return. So now I don't want to
trade him anymore. That's that's the whole chasing your tail,
that's the whole we can't get out of our own
way type of thing. If he plays well, I think
guys that might be the time when the Hornets will
(15:23):
trade him, because it's the only time you'll get anything
close to one hundred cents on the dollar.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Well, and the thing is, you know, we looked at
the other two guys that people said were on the
trading block.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
We know that Ja Moran has the off the court issues.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And then when it comes to Trey Young, Trey Young's
numbers are worse than Lamello's numbers in the five games
that he.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And I think Trey is way less willing to play
anything other than his brand of basketball. And LaMelo that's.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Shocking, shockedunds like a very adjustable type, very nice fella.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Like Lamello is not ten toe's down on this. I
think Lamello reverts back to a style he's comfortable with.
So Trey Young like, that's a ten toes down. This
is how I play. You either play to my style
or I half asset like that's how Trey Young plays.
And I don't think that's the same thing with LaMelo.
We can get to that ESPN article people are referencing
it on the FANDUL text line. We'll get some Carolina
(16:14):
Panthers conversation on the other side of the break as
well a thrilling and chilling Thursday word to Boomer von Cannon,
it's right now, WESN Walker. Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.
(16:40):
Many people referencing the ESPN article about LaMelo, John Morant
and Trey Young. We'll dive into that here. On Sports
Trading ninety two seven WFZ. It's WESN Walker, the Westless
and Walker show. With West being out all week, it's
been flound Dog being the renaissance man, board O producer,
co host. He can do it all and he's helping
us talk about the Charlotte Hornets. Here. People referencing this
(17:03):
article also texting in on the fandal text line. I'll
read those first seven oh four, five, seven oh ninety
six ten. Easy Math says they all have one thing
in common with the Hornets. It's the training staff. Ask
Gordon Haywood, Hey, word is what he meant to say? Yeah,
the thing is they've changed the training staff, They've done
the turnover thing. And I'm not saying easy Math meant
(17:25):
a whole lot of seriousness with this, Like I don't
know how much of it was sarcasm and how much
of it was sincere. The point being This is what
I don't know the power NBA teams have over preventing injuries.
If it just keeps happening, they change the training staff, right,
I mean, at some point we joke about what's in
the water over here in the Queen City, and then
(17:45):
you start to believe it because it keeps happening. But
don't I don't know if we can really blame the
training staff. They've already turned it over, so I don't
know how much they've turned it over, but yeah, you
can only blame them so much. Seven oh four dre
When talking about trading LaMelo, he says, I don't think
it matters how LaMelo plays. GMS have been low on
him his entire time. That's not a bad point, but
(18:09):
I will remind you that it only takes one All
you need is one decision maker to go all in
on LaMelo if LaMelo gives him a reason to do so.
And right now, I don't think LaMelo has really given
him all that much of a reason to do so. Like,
he hasn't been playing well for a stretch of games,
and he's been injured, so it's hard to sell that vision.
Whether it be a scout that has the ear of
(18:29):
a GM, whether it just be a general manager, president
of basketball operations, whoever it is. All it takes is
one person. But they have to have some evidence to
point to as to why they make this move, and
right now, LaMelo hasn't been giving them that evidence for
a stretch of games. If we can use this Knixt
game as a launching pad, then we can start to
figure out what value would come in return. But right now,
(18:52):
I just don't think it's worth it. So I understand
that's frustrating for people that just want this to be over.
I get it. But you have to have some level
of payats and that, and I get it. That's a
buzzword for people. I totally understand it. You've been patient
this entire time, myself included. But it doesn't mean that
you just give up LaMelo for nothing and have nothing
to show for it, right like that, basically just releasing
(19:14):
him now, you do want something to come back in
return worth value, and that that's the point that I
would make in not just trading him for pennies on
the dollar seven oh four five seven oh ninety six
ten Robbie dangerously, he says, do you think we would
h or we could get Giannis for LaMelo and Miles. Well, boy,
(19:36):
we had this conversation on Charlotte Sports today. I think
the Bucks would want con and Brandon, of course, and
all of the picks and all of the swaps. I
don't think that they would do it for Miles and
LaMelo and picks, because you're gonna have to give up
picks on top of it, right, Is that what Milwaukee wants?
(19:58):
I I don't think it would. I don't think it
would go down that way. I think that they would
want something entirely different like con Kin nipple slash Brandon
Miller and I do think both of those guys are
untouchable to me, And there has been some pushback on
Brandon Miller being untouchable Richie. He writes in I'm not
sure Brandon is untouchable. It seems that Brandon Miller has
(20:20):
caught what LaMelo had in the injury bug. I would
say this seems to be unlucky, more so right now
than an injury prone. He was healthy and would come
back from some of these bang up style injuries. His
rookie year, what did he play seventy games? Something like that?
Brandon was healthy his first season. Last year, not so much.
This year to this point, not so much. Still way
(20:43):
too early to just decide to get rid of Brandon.
We had one full year of injuries for him last season,
and we've had twenty games of basketball where Brandon has
been injured for three quarters of them. It's not trending
in a great direction. I'm not trying to get it twisted.
What I will tell you is that I want to
get rid of that talent and say, oh, well, he's
already injury prone, let's just get rid of him now.
(21:05):
I would still deem him pretty untouchable. I'm not looking
to move off of Brandon if you're going to go
after Gianni's or the next disgruntled star, whoever that may be.
I'm doing everything I can to the point where I
might just not make the trade, holding on to Khan
and Brandon. Do you agree with the Brandon tank?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah? I would agree with Dad. I think you know
that rookie season, he was really able to stay healthy.
You saw what the potential was for him, and you
have to have somebody that is with Khan. You can't
just give up, like if you're deciding, you know what,
we're just going to give up on Brandon and we're
gonna we're gonna send him and LaMelo to try to
(21:45):
get Yannis. Well, first of all, are we sure that
Yannis wants to play here? I don't think that's to me,
that's not even on the table. I don't think he's
gonna look at Charlotte and be like, man, that's a
great destination of you. Yeah, no offense to the Hornets,
but I think that kind of what.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It is, Well, he wants to compete for a championship,
and it doesn't feel like you can compete for a
championship at over thirty here in Charlotte. No, I don't.
I don't think so either. So I mean, yeah, how
realistic is it?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I'm not sure, but I mean yeah, I would not
be looking to move off of Brandon Miller unless you
got just something outrageous, like if you got like maybe
something similar to what Brian Burns was getting on the
on the market at one time, and that oh, that's
that's tough.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I'm trying to understand the spirit of your question, that
it's that would be a lot of first, So like
all three first, all of it, all the all the picks,
all the pick swaps, which because of the Steppian rule,
you can't go consecutively. You only have so much you
can give up, right, So it's four first and four
swaps of your own picks, and then you do have
(22:51):
other picks that you can get in there. So like, yeah,
you have the Miami selection, you have the Dallas selection,
And just to be clear for everybody, it would take
a moinster Hall to go get that person. Yes, as
it should and Milwaukee should be asking for everything's asking
for everything.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, I don't I don't see it happening. I think
they're going to hold on to Brandon Miller. I think
that's a smart move. That's a good running mate to
have alongside of conk Nipple if you're going to build
around him, which I think could certainly be on the table,
so I would hold on to him. The thing I
will say is that you say that these are freak injuries.
Remember we were having the same conversation with Mellow.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Early in his career.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh, you know, these are just freak injuries that end
up happening, and now it's something that's long lasting, it
could go. I don't I don't think that we're going
to have that same problem yet with Brandon, because you're
not hearing some of the things that we're already hearing
with Mellow, where basically people are saying the ankles are
are basically shot.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
We don't have the same injury over and over and
over again with Brandon. Right, the shoulder injury is not
something he experienced last year. That was ten minutes into
the second game of this season. That feels more unlucky
than an injury prone to me, And I do think
there is a difference. At some point. They are very
much in the middle of that Ven diagram, and I
get it. But I'm not moving off of Brandon Miller
(24:08):
because he suffered a few injuries. I get his frustrating man.
I hello, I raise my hand high. I'm frustrated too.
I don't think the answer is move off of the
second overall pick that it feels like was worthy of
it based off of his skill set. Nobody is saying
that Brandon Miller talent wise, is a miss of a pick.
And this is coming from somebody that was screaming draft
(24:29):
screwed Henderson. And I admit that I was wrong on
that you draft Brandon Miller. I was wrong. Brandon Miller
is the guy. He just has to be on the court,
and he's coming back from it, and I think the
Hornets are trying to exercise preventative measures to stop him
from being injured in the future, maybe more so unlike
what they did with LaMelo. I don't know how they
(24:52):
operated with LaMelo in the previous regime based off of injuries,
in terms of how really healthy he was. I do
know this. They did bring LaMelo back his rookie season
with ten games left on the year, and you kind
of throw your hands up in the air and say why.
I mean, we wanted to watch him play, But I
(25:12):
guess he was healthy enough and he came back and
his percentages were hurt because of it. So perhaps they
were a little more aggressive with LaMelo back in twenty twenty,
twenty twenty one than they should have. I don't think
that they're making those same mistakes anymore. And again, bubble
wrap whatever. I look, I'll be the guy that wants
to wrap Brandon Miller in bubble rap if it means
(25:33):
that he'll be healthier at a later point in his career,
at a later point in his tenure with Charlotte than
what LaMelo has given us seven oh four five, seven
oh ninety six to ten. That's the Fandal text line.
A lot of people writing in I do want to
transition to a Carolina Panthers conversation with Bryce Young contract
negotiations there because I read the back and forth from
(25:55):
Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano on ESPN dot com. We
see this quite often, the NFL insiders giving you a
conversational back and forth piece on ESPN dot com. And
one of the big questions they keep going back and
forth on is could the Panthers extend Bryce Young this offseason.
We've already gone through Dan Graziano telling you that he
(26:16):
expects the Panthers to pick up the fifth year option.
I agree with it. It feels like most people understand
Carolina picking up the fifth year option, which is twenty
six and a half million dollars that I believe is
twentieth in terms of pay for quarterbacks this year in
the NFL. I'm good with that. As I've mentioned a
(26:37):
million times, it's all about what the next contract is
going to be. So Graziano writes this, if Bryce Young
is open to an extension in the twenty twenty six offseason.
I think it would have to be lucrative to make
it worth his while. If the Panthers pick up the
fifth year option, they'll have them under contract for two
years at around thirty three million and like average annually,
(27:00):
So it might be tempting for him to take a
below market deal just to improve on that. It might
make some sense to do a short term bridge deal
like the one the Packers did with Jordan Love. Aaron
Rodgers was in front of him, which makes things a
little different, but still a point that he wants to make.
I don't see what Young's incentive would be to do
an extension next spring or summer that averages less than
(27:24):
fifty million dollars per year. But this is think about
the framing here, and I'm not telling you Dan is wrong,
but I don't think anybody has spoken from the point
of view of Bryce. It's the classic bank Do you
feel in charge? Here? Bryce might if he continues to
give us some game winning drives and the Panthers pick
(27:46):
up the fifthiear option. Let's say they don't come to
a contract extension agreement on a contract extension this offseason,
which I don't think they would. I think he would
just play on that fifth year option and then you
play well. To me, honestly, as much as I have
been one of the guys that can want to continue
to see how Bryce progresses before I give them all
(28:07):
of the money, I understand it from Bryce's point of
view too. If you're Bryce and you have all this
confidence in your ability and you think Carolina is going
to continue to do right by you, supplementing your talent
with pieces around you, and they can do it right
now with the amount of money they still have at
their leisure, then Bryce might want to play well next
(28:29):
year and then have more evidence to point to when
asking for a fifty million dollar annual contract. I just
don't feel like people are talking about it from the
Bryce point of view. We've all been talking about it
from the Panthers point of view. An interesting spin and
take on it from Dan Graziano, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Think from the Bryce point of view, Yeah, you're definitely
feeling like you've probably done a decent amount that you
deserve a pretty significant extension. And I think what's going
to be really interesting is if they were to make
the playoffs, Because if they make the playoffs, he's gonna
feel like what more do you really need to see
(29:06):
from me? I think in his mind that's where it'll be.
Unless it's just one of those situations where the the
running game just drags this team to the playoffs. I
don't see that happening. I think it's gonna look a
lot like what it looked last week against the Rams,
where yes, the running game is going to lead the way,
(29:28):
but that's gonna open up the passing game and Bryce
is gonna succeed and hit the throws that he needs
to hit. And so from his perspective, he probably believes,
can you get me to that forty five million dollar range, Like,
let's get into that area. Let's start having those conversations
where I don't know if that's where the Panthers are at.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
We'll have to see how he finishes the season.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
If he finishes with more games like the Rams game
like I think he's going to, then yes, maybe you
do start to have those conversations. But if not, then
you're probably holding on and saying, no, us see another
year of you. We really have to determine whether or
not you're our guy, and then we'll go through and
figure out if we're willing to pay you almost fifty
million dollars a year, which is, you know, kind of
(30:11):
what the market to bands.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Darren writes on the FanDuel text line, Bryce is worth
the contract extension for at least forty five million year.
You have to understand, yes, he has had some terrible games,
but look what he has played with and look how
he has been coached. Okay, that's fair. What if I
bring that number up though, so you say forty five?
What if we're talking about fifty five, because I repeat
(30:33):
Dan Graziano mentions, I don't see what Young's incentive would
be to do an extension next spring or summer that
averages less than fifty million dollars a year. Like this
is how the QB market goes. And I understand sometimes
we get a little too lost in the sauce with
how much qbs get paid. That's just the going rate.
The cap it does go up, even if it is
a hard cap. I get we're talking different percentages here.
(30:55):
Usually it is better to go ahead and pay the
guy right now instead of wait to pay him, because
that's how you get cap strapped, unless you're Miami and
you give TUA all that money and they eventually regret it.
And the other example that we haven't gone to a
bunch is the Trevor Lawrence example. Because Trevor Lawrence is
making fifty five million dollars a year, they're winning football games.
(31:18):
That's one argument in favor of Trevor, except when you
watch the play. Is anybody sold on Trevor Lawrence as
a quarterback at this point? I don't think anybody would
be pointing at him and saying, yeah, that's a fifty
five MILLI year quarterback. So do the Jags regret it?
A nuanced answer, I'm not sure. I don't feel like
he's worth fifty five with the way that he's playing
right now. No, I don't agree. I agree with that wholeheartedly.
(31:40):
Here's something that I haven't seen mentioned with what Jeremy
Fowler and Dan Graziano are talking about. They give you
the same examples I do to They also talk about
Kyler Murray. Another example to bring up. The other thing
to mention is CJ. Stroud's on the same timeline. Man,
So you think of CJ. Stroud where that's a little
more blurry, it's not as crystal clear of vision as
(32:03):
it was after his rookie season, where after his rookie year,
it was give him all the money we break, no brainer.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
This is a top five potential player at his position
in the league.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Here's a blank check. You tell me what you want,
please and thank you, sir. Would you like some coffee?
What do you want here? It all is not anymore
so if you're Bryce and you have people like Kay
Adams saying, I'll say it. Rice is better than c J.
Stroud over the last couple of years, and he has
(32:34):
a resume, he has the PowerPoint with his agent pointing
to this is what I've done. I have more game
winning drives than everybody. May I remind you of what
I did against the best team in the league last year.
We beat the Rams in large part because of me
and other people, but I contributed as much as anybody.
I helped beat the Falcons, a division rival, because I
(32:56):
threw for a franchise record four hundred and forty eight yards.
You see that that's on the slide. Oh, let me
get over there. Yeah, this is that slide. Yeah? Cool?
You see that.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
C J.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Stroud the last couple of years has not performed at
the level that I have consistently, and so I wonder
if there's a game of Chicken between Houston and Carolina
as to who gives their quarterback the contract extension first,
and whoever does give their quarterback the contract extension first,
how much does that affect the other guy? If it
(33:27):
was so clear in a way CJ. Stroud being the
guy for them, then it really wouldn't matter, right, But
it matters now with the way that Stroud has played
in the way that the Houston Texans have been overall,
he's got a couple of playoff victories to point too. Like,
I don't really want to get too lost in the
conversation of who's better CJ. Stroud or Bryce. I'm talking
about this from a contract negotiation standpoint. We know other
(33:50):
people's contracts. That's what matters. In other negotiations. It's not
even really about how much you're getting paid. It's about
what the other guy is getting paid. If the other
guy you feel like you're as good as on the
same exact timeline as you does get the money, you're
going to ask for that much money and more that
that's fascinating to watch how Houston operates with CJ.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, And if I'm the Panthers, I'm trying to wait
it out as long as I can and see what
the Texans end up giving CJ. Stroud, and then from
there you kind of formulate your opinion on how you
where you have bryceon in relation to him, and how
much money you believe you should pay.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I believe that CJ.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Stroud right now, because he has two playoff wins, should
probably be the higher paid quarterback of the two, but
it's not by much. So if I'm the Panthers, I'm saying, hey,
let's hold out on this. Let's see where CJ comes in,
because I think I think they're going to end up
signing him to an extension, probably maybe this offseason or
(34:53):
early next season.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Maybe he agrees to an extension.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Yeah, And then if you're the Panthers, that's when you say, Okay,
we've got our note, we've got the figure that we thought.
Now we've got the figure that would be close to
what CJ. Stroud is.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Let's find a happy medium ground and that's where we
end up settling. It's Wes and Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ Floundg filling in for Wes as
the co host, and Al Walla's going to be doing
the same thing from one o'clock to two o'clock in
the Chandler VAULTA Studios for a full hour. We have
one more segment to go before we get to Al
coming up next. Sports Radio ninety two seven FM. Why
(35:43):
couldn't the ACC get the job done? I didn't realize
how badly I wanted the ACC to win this challenge
until a couple of days ago, because then I was
reminded of how terrible the performance was last year, only
having won two games. It was Louisville and it was
Duke taking care of business.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
And how.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
The twist tables have turned Michael Scott's, Oh, how the
turn tables? How have they turned and spind and spun
all of it? Look, man, Duke almost lost to Florida,
and then Louisville did lose last night. And I do wonder,
just like stylistically, if the Cardinals are going to be
(36:23):
more susceptible to losing games because they have such a
three point dependents. They are so.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Reliant on the three man it is insanity. I mean,
they shoot I have to look it up. Viddy was
saying it was like forty a game or something like that.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So they get the three point raight is nuts for them.
And so when you look at their box score from
last night, you had guys like MIKEL. Brown go two
of thirteen from distance, and Ryan Conwell goes three of
twelve from distance. That five five of twenty five not good,
and then Isaac McNeely at one of five. They just
they're three stars shooters did not hit shots, and that's
(37:02):
how you go down forty seven to twenty nine in
the first half. They scored fifty one to the second half.
Founder Like, really, for Louisville, it's classic mis or make league,
and they just missed a whole bunch of shots from deep.
And you have to wonder how susceptible they will be
to losing if they can't find another answer outside of that.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Thirty five point six a game, which is only fourth
in college basketball. So there are three other teams that
shoot at more than thirty five times per game.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
I to beyond the arc. Well, I did a game
last night for Queens. It was Queens versus Gardner Webb
Gardner Webb oh and nine still a very fun ball
team with the way that they play up tempo, But anyways,
oh and nine kind of speaks for themselves. Looking at
some of the stats, though for Queens, who has been
analytically driven for quite some time under Bart Lundy that
Baton was passed to Grant Leonard. But Chris Ashby is
(37:49):
shooting I think eleven three pointers per one hundred possessions,
and he doesn't even have the highest three point rate
on his own team. That belongs to carshon'ger, whose brother,
by the way, plays for Wake Forest. He's also coming
down from Valprazo. Oh yeah, okay, I thought that was
their connection.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So Schweigert has like fifteen or sixteen three pointers taking
per one hundred possessions. Both of those guys are top
five in the A SID That's what's crazy. So those
guys are taking all these threes and they're not even
top five or top ten in all of college basketball.
They're top five in their own conference in the A side.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, they're They're forty seventh in the country and they
take twenty nine a game. Queens is yes, I mean,
that's so insane. There are so many teams that are
so three point based. It's absolutely crazy. You know.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
It's funny too that everybody complains about the NBA all
having the same style that's infiltrating college a little bit. Yep, yep,
you're seeing it. And NBA is changing Miami. As much
as I've given them credit, I can't stand it because
they're just never going to die. They are the Michael
Myers basketball team. But the reason they don't die is
because they adapt to something different classic zig while everybody
(39:01):
else's ags. Miami just spreads you out. They cut constantly.
They don't even set a whole lot of ball screens.
It's just athleticism, ball popping, bunch of ISO like, it's
just different variations of an offense. Either way, they're changing
it a little bit. Denver doesn't shoot threes. It helps
when you have one of the best basketball players of
all time as an offensive hub. But you get the
(39:22):
idea going back to college, Nate Oates was this real
analytically driven coach that's shooting a bunch of threes, and
now everybody's trying to catch up to him. And Queens
was like this too. For a while. Queens was ahead
of the pack on all of this. But you're seeing
a lot of it happen in college basketball either way.
There you see it with Louisville. Now that's one team
(39:42):
that loses. They don't help the ACC win a challenge.
NC State doesn't either, and you start to look at
NC State. Oh man, the reckoning, right they told us
Will Wade told us there's a reckoning happening in the triangle.
Oh it's a reckoning, all right. It starts with a
W instead of an R. They started off winning four
(40:03):
straight against NC Central, UAB UNC, Greensboro, NVCU, and the
teams that they have lost to have all been Power
four teams Seaton, Hall, Texas and Auburn. There. Look, let
me tell you this. I love that Will Wade has
(40:26):
come out guns a blazing. I think it is fantastic
for the sport. I think it's fantastic for the local
rivalries because I want the conference to have a villain
and Will Wade is that and he embraces it. I
think it's better for everybody involved. The people that hate him,
the people that love him, even the people that are
neutral on NC State, they care because they want to
see the fallout of what Will Wade has to say.
(40:47):
And then you start off the year at five and three.
You know it's not good. After all this talk it's
certainly not good. I appreciate the bravado I am here
for and that What is also true is that when
you say there's a reckoning, and you say that you've
caught up to all the blue bloods and that NC
(41:08):
State basketball is back again. Man, you can't lose to
every P four team you play. I know that can't happen.
And I know Wolfpac fans can't be thrilled about the
way that the season has happened since that four oh start. Yeah,
they shouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
I mean, at this point you could look at these
opponents and say that these are good opponents. I mean,
Seaton Hall last night struggled for a little bit with
Central Connecticut State, and then Texas gets blown out by Virginia,
absolutely dominated by Virginia. Now you could say, well, maybe
(41:40):
that Texas team actually turns it around. You know, Joe
Lenardi can't believe I'm referencing this already. He put out
his bubble watch. Yeah, Texas was one of the first
four teams out of the tournament, so they're on the
precipice of.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Being in well, and I is NC State in. I
do not know whether he has NC State in.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
I don't know how you would put him in those
Those are two bad losses potentially on your resume, and
then you have this one. This one's not a bad loss,
but it felt like you kind of needed a win
to turn things back in the right direction. And you
know what, will Wade, Oh, I just love it because
you are talking absolute trash about my head coach and
(42:22):
he doesn't know how to play Vin Allen Lubin.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
That's the other thing.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Van Allen Lubin's played twenty eight minutes, yeah or more
in three games this year. You can guess what three
games they are. That's all you need to know, man,
You know, I think it's all you need to know.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
It's the detail. It's okay, it's one we can reference
reckoning all we want to, and we should. But it's
the also attacking of one specific head coach in Hubert Davis.
It's Darien Williams on The Obvious and Julio Podcast attacking
one specific coach in Hubert Davis. And then the very
thing you attack him for that you apply to your
(43:01):
own program, you lose every single time you apply what
you criticize Hubert for not doing.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, I'd like to revisit that. I'd love to ask
him that question at press corn. So how do you
feel about vin Allen Luban right now? You want to
play someone else just a little bit more?
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Wolf Pack, James writes in I wonder if Wade even
practices defense at all. And look, I saw Brian Guisinger
tweet this out that he felt like NC State implemented
better defensive philosophies in this game, that they stuck true
a little bit more to their principles or what they
should be than what they had been in the previous
two losses. Even still, though, so it's not a bad loss.
Nobody thinks that losing to Auburn on the road is
(43:36):
a bad loss, except when you say that you've arrived
before you've done anything. Then that means you're building up expectations.
And then when you sell this this team that has
caught up to the rest of the programs that have
been in the top twenty five, and that you've caught
up to the blue bloods in the conference, then people
expect big wins. You can't get even a decent win.
(43:59):
Do they have a decent win on their resume right
now that you can point to and say, hey, we
beat Blank, give us our respect. Now VCU is five
and three.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
May okay, So that might be the team because if
because someone is texting it on the text line, very
hurt that I am not being objective with this conversation,
So I'll be objective. They have one win that might
come against a tournament team in VCU ye three, and
the challenge is, yes, now they've played a tough believe
(44:30):
they've played a tough non conference schedule, so they can
still win the A ten, But can you guarantee me
that that team wins the A ten.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
No, if they don't win the A ten. This is
not your daddy's A ten.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Where the A ten used to be a conference that
would put two three teams into the tournament every single year,
this is a one big league and we learned last year.
Carolina fans can tell NC State fans about this as
much as anybody that you need those resume type to
be able to get into the nc DOUBLEA tournament. And
(45:04):
we think that the ACC is better, but you never
know when you get in conference.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
So we'll have to see.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
There are gonna be opportunities here for NC State, but
how many of them are they going to be able
to seize That's why I think at this point, when
you look at the ACC, there's three tiers. You've got
Duke and Louisville, who I think are in the top tier.
I'm not changing that even based off of last night.
I think those are the two favorites to win the conference.
You've got North Carolina in a tier by itself as
(45:33):
a team that could challenge but not feeling super confident.
And then you've got that next tier where I think
you have Virginia and at the bottom of it you've
got NC State. Those are the teams that I think
could make the nc DOUBLEA tournament, but I'm not going
to guarantee you that they make the NCUBAA tournament. That's
kind of where I'm at with NC State right now.
(45:55):
They need a significant win and where's it gonna come.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Yeah, you have Kansas up next after you Ashville in Liberty,
and if you lose that one, then you're not gonna
have a chance to earn respect until December twenty first.
That's three weeks from now. So all right, we'll see
what you got, will Wade, but it's time now to
deliver on some of that talk. Al Wallace. He's gonna
talk in the channel of Vaulta Studios for an hour.
We welcome former Panther defensive end Al Wallace on the
(46:19):
West and Walker Show. Sports Radio ninety two seven WFZ.
Listen to the Wes and Walker Show weekis from noon
to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven
FM UFNZ, the official home of the Charlotte sports Fan
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