July 7, 2023 • 21 mins
Hornets star LaMelo Ball has signed an extension with Charlotte! Sam Farber and Rob Longo discuss what the deal means for LaMelo and the franchise moving forward. Plus a preview of the Hornets Las Vegas Summer League opener against the San Antonio Spurs.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Hornets Highcast, presented by Charlotte I ear
Nosen Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen throat Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Here's your host, Sam Farber.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornet Time Cast, your
Hornets podcast with all the notes, quotes, and daily buzz
around your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it
is a pleasure and a privileged to have you with
us here once again on the Hornets Time Cast, brought
to you by Santa Charlotte, Eye, ear Nose and Throat Associates,
the official I ear Nosen throat Care provider of the
Charlotte Hornets. What an exciting day it is. In case
(00:37):
you missed the news, Hornets All Star guard LaMelo Ball
has signed a rookie Max extension. This is huge news
here for Charlotte, committing their hornerstone of the franchise to
the club for the next five years. We're gonna look
at this from the perspective of what does it mean
for LaMelo, what does it mean for the franchise moving forward?
And you might have heard there's a game tonight Hornets
(00:58):
will take on the San Antonio Spurge one again, this
time opening up Las Vegas Summer League, helping me out
on all of these topics. He's my producer on the
Hornets Radio Network as well as the producer of this
fine podcast. Rob Longo here with us once again. Rob.
Just a huge day of news here for the Charlotte Hornets.
The moratorium lifted. So for many people, this news has
come out already, but you know, we kind of have
(01:18):
to put our blinders on and now we finally get
to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, it's crazy that we finally are able to finally
have the shackles released, as you talked about on the
podcast the other day. But happy to be here, happy
to talk about a Lamello ball extension, the first of
its kind here in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And that's one of the big pieces of this for him.
It puts him in a rarefied ear. Quite frankly, you know,
you hope when you draft players, particularly when you draft
them in the top three, that this is the pathway
they follow, but more often than not, clearly they don't.
Only really a handful of guys in every draft class
will get this type of extension, and again, more often
(01:55):
than not, someone in the top three. The top five
falls short of this level of play. LaMelo has earned
this through his play on the court, what he has
meant for winning for this franchise, and to lock him
in it really can be a game changer. He's a
franchise building player now committed to Charlott. And this is
despite whatever fears or conspiracy theories had caught momentum non
(02:16):
we'erever assisted by LaMelo or the organization for that matter,
But now any fears can hopefully be put to rest.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Quite frankly, yeah, super exciting stuff. I mean, this is
something that is not very common, quite frankly. Yeah. You
hear about these super max deals and these Max deals
and these rookie extensions, and you might have a rookie extension,
but you might not have something to the level that
LaMelo Ball has. And again, this is all just based
off of reported The official term from the team is
that the terms of the deal are not disclosed, but
(02:44):
we can go based off of some of the other
reports that have been out there for the last couple
of well days now now that we're finally able to
talk about this, But yeah, like I said, this is
something that you don't really see very often. This is
something that is definitely well earned by LaMelo, and this
is something that's a sticking point moving forward. Yeah, there's
always been that chatter and those conspiracy theories, whatever you
want to call it from the fan base. Maybe it's
just some paranoia, I don't know. Whatever you want to
(03:05):
call it, it can be put in the rearview mirror
now as LaMelo Ball is officially going to be a
Hornet for years and years to come, and it's really
exciting to have this cornerstone of a franchise officially be solidified.
You put the pen to paper, both sides are committed
to each other, and you know everybody loves playing with LaMelo.
That's another going to be a huge advantage for this team. Again,
you're trying to build that homegrown talent, You're trying to
(03:27):
keep that homegrown talent, and this is a great way
of doing it. You look at those Golden State teams
from the twenty tens all the way up until now,
even drafting guys like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and
Draymond Green and are able to pay those guys so
much money and are able to afford it well that
money doesn't go against the cap either because of those
bird rights. So that's basically the blueprint for the NBA
now in terms of being successful is getting those picks
(03:49):
right in the draft, whether it's a number three overall
pick like LaMelo Ball, whether it's a mid first rounder
like Jannasantaka Kupo, or if it's a second rounder that
you hit on a lottery ticket in Nikola Jokic. Whatever
you do, you want to hit on those draft picks
done that way, you can build around those guys and
go from there. So this is just the next progression
and the next step for this Hornet team.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And the players you mentioned there. I'm glad you brought
them up in the same conversation as LaMelo, because there
are a variety of guys who, based off the way
the salary cap is structured and contracts are structured, are
worthy of getting a max deal even on individual teams.
It's not like there's a one to only one player
is allowed to get this. In theory, as you look
(04:27):
at teams like Golden State you mentioned, you know you
might want two or three of those guys, depending on
what they mean to the franchise and mean to winning
getting those kinds of deals if they warrant it. But
for Charlotte and for any franchise, quite frankly, getting that
first guy is where you really start. Because once you
get that first guy, then the person who's getting in
theory the second or third either max or really high
(04:48):
level deal, you really get an idea of how they're
going to impact not just your team statistically, but impact winning.
And LaMelo for this Hornet squad, he's that foundational piece
right now. I think his rookie year, even though he
put up gat eight stats obviously a Rookie of the Year,
wasn't quite ready to impact winning, and no rookie really is.
But by year two it was crystal clear what he
meant to this franchise. And then last year with all
(05:10):
of the injuries, even though he put together another all
star quality season, him not being on the floor really
put this team behind the eight ball and left them
without much hope of making it into the postseason. Well,
now the squad is locked into him again. It's exciting.
You got a cornerstone player locked into Charlotte for the
next five years. This is how you build winning franchises
is getting these types of players locked into your squad
(05:33):
for the long term, and Charlotte and LaMelo Ball have
been able to do that partnering here on this rookie
Max extension. So what does it mean for Charlotte? What
are the next steps? What is this really guarantee for
the Hornets looking ahead? We'll talk about that next right
here on the Hornets Hoodcast, Sam Farbara and Rob Longo
here with you on the HHC. An exciting day. In
(05:56):
case you missed the news, LaMelo Ball has signed a
Rookie Max extend. This guarantees that an All Star is
gonna be in Charlotte here for the next handful of seasons.
According to the deal, or what's been reported of the deal,
we should say, Rob, this is a player who went
from Rookie of the Year to an All Star where
he played his to this point only full season or
close to full season, averaging twenty points per game, six
(06:18):
rebounds a game, seven assists per game, and then last year,
even though there was an injury filled campaign, he goes
even beyond those statistics twenty three points per game match,
the rebounds at six exceeded the assists eight per contest,
all while shooting thirty eight percent from three over the
last two seasons. This really is a foundational piece for
this team, and he's only getting better.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yeah. Obviously, the injuries last year were very unfortunate, just
not for LaMelo but for the entire team in general.
But just a steady progression is what you want to see.
You go from a throat overall pick high expectations, you
go to Rookie of the Year, then you go to
an All Star, one of the youngest All Stars ever
named to the All Star team. And then obviously last
year only playing in those thirty six games, but when
he played in a games, he looked great. I mean
(07:01):
you go back and you look at it. He ended
up having career highs and points per game on average,
and in terms of the three point percentage, took a
little bit of a dip, but overall, like you mentioned,
career wise numbers almost a thirty eight percent three point shooter.
I mean, the effective field goal percentage was a consistent
Everything was consistent with LaMelo. It's just about taking that
next step. Yeah, it's super exciting all around. I mean
(07:21):
you go back and you compare him to some other
guys in there that are in the history of the franchise,
and you think of the modern era when you go
to these lengthy contract extensions and those stories of things,
and the first name to pop up is Kemba Walker.
And when you go back and look at Kemba Walker's deal,
he didn't really get a rookie max deal either. He
didn't get that full five years. Both sides were able
to work out a contract extension, but it wasn't a
(07:43):
max deal. So I know that Kemba Walker is considered
one of the greatest players in Charlie Hornet's basketball history,
and rightfully so, but even then, he wasn't worthy of
this rookie max deal at the time. So just a
great thing to see moving forward, And like we've talked about,
just this cornerstone that you can build around makes things
very very exciting here and Buzz.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And he at that time. Caveat is the important one
because clearly Kemba Walker was a phenomenal player worthy of
a Max deeal, which he got later on down the line,
but at the point where he was extended originally, he
hadn't been an All Star, he hadn't been this twenty
five point per game type of player. Just yet there
were certainly breadcrumbs that that's what he was going to become.
(08:20):
But he eventually reached that status. He didn't do it
in the timeframe that LaMelo Ball has and it's a
different team, a different setup, But LaMelo Ball has done
at twenty twenty one years of age what very very
few people in the history of the game have been
able to do. And that sets up the Hornets well
for the future. As I talked about before, when you
have this first domino set up and you have this
(08:41):
first player who can be that foundational piece, then it
becomes easier to stretch the cap to go into the
luxury if you so choose to take more money and
commit it to other players who can put up similar
types of statistics based off what you then learn about
them winning. I mean, you look at the Bucks, it's
a team you brought up before. Or Jianna Sante Tocumpo
is clearly the centerpiece, but players like Middleton, players like Lopez,
(09:05):
players like Holiday, their value shines even brighter because you
can see how they fit around the centerpiece of the
franchise and how they're going to impact winning that club
put together a championship year. They've kept that core for
the most part intact as they try and go for
more of them. And I think that's what you can
see set up now here with Charlotte. And furthermore, since
players like playing with LaMelo because he makes them look
(09:26):
good the way he distributes the ball and he has
this light, fun kind of way about him that just
rubs off well on other people, I think it makes
Charlotte a more exciting and enticing place for players to
come to short term and long term. So we'll see
how that all plays out. We're just getting out of
the moratorium here in terms of free agency, so not
a lot more that we want to talk about today.
(09:48):
We wanted to dedicate this podcast mostly to LaMelo because
it's such a huge deal. But moving forward later on
down the road, I think you're gonna see Charlotte become
a more enticing place to come to or stay with
based off having LaMelo.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Ball.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
General manager Mitch Kupchak is a very, very savvy guy.
I mean, he has this job for a reason and
he knows how to work all of the I don't
want to call them loopholes, but you need to know
the nuances of the NBA, and this is a very
good example of that, just trying to be able to
be as competitive as possible as a lot of people
consider Charlotte as a small market team or a mid
market team, whatever you want to prefer, and you're able
(10:24):
to use every advantage you can to be competitive. And again,
if you go back and you look at the past champions,
there's a lot of those smaller market teams. There's Milwaukee,
there's Denver. Most recently, all of those teams that you
wouldn't expect to have those runs are able to do
this because of that homegrown talent and the way they're
able to build around him. So again, I hate the
harp on it, but it's the fact of the matter
(10:44):
is that you're able to get this cornerstone and you're
able to move forward and build your roster around a
guy like LaMelo Ball and this is the first step.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And last, but not least here, I would say, again,
he's a player who's proven to be worth it, both
with what he's been able to accomplish on the floor
all star level season his second ear bettered those stats
his third year, and clearly the impact on winning was
there because when he was healthy, the team was at
its best. When he was injured, the team struggled to
find w's and all along the way, the shooting percentages,
(11:11):
the ability to distribute the basketball, it just all looks
better and better as you move further and further down
the line. So this is a huge piece for the
Hornets puzzle. Long term, Charlotte has its point guard, LaMelo
Ball has his extension here with the Charlotte Hornets, and
hopefully this will be a marriage that continues in the
right direction or gets maybe back in the right direction.
(11:33):
This coming season with the Hornets going back above five
hundred and hopefully at long last getting back into the postseason,
Charlotte's got more summer league action. We're going to start
looking at the Las Vegas portion of Summer League play
and a highly anticipated one versus two matchup Brandon Miller
and the Hornets taking on Victor wembin Yama and the
San Antonio Spurs tonight. We'll preview it for you next
(11:54):
Here on the Hornets, I've cast Dan Farber Rob Longo
here with you on the HHC. The Hornets I've cast
brought to you by sent Us Charlotte I Heer Dos
and Throw Associates, the official I ear nos and throatcare
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Rob Round two, so to
speak of Summer League play between the Hornets and Spurs
(12:15):
is going to be tonight on anticipated nine pm Eastern tip.
For those who want to watch it, it'll be on ESPN.
If you're in Vegas, hopefully you got a ticket already,
because from what we've heard, it's sold out. And that's
because this is the big one versus two matchup and
the debut from a Spurs fans or NBA fans perspective
of Victor wembin Yama, but also a look at Brandon
Miller and how he and the Hornet size up against
(12:36):
this Spurs team. They did face off once before in Sacramento.
It was a ninety six to seventy seven win for
San Antonio. Charlotte really was slow out of the gates.
They performed better in the first half of their second
game of Sacramento Summer League play, and hopefully they've got
even more in store here for game three as they
look for their first win of the summer session. What
(12:57):
are some bigger thoughts you have on this matchup before
we get into players to watch for both sides.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Yeah, just super excited to see one versus two. Obviously,
Victor Wembinyama against Brandon Miller. That's going to be a
fun matchup, and there's a lot of hype around it.
Obviously it's sold out. Like you mentioned, this thing is
going to be really, you know, kind of a first
look at what everybody expects to be the next generational
talent coming out of France and Victor Webinyama. So there's
an opportunity here for the Hornets to not really be
(13:24):
absorbed by the spotlight. There's an opportunity for them to
go out and prove it, kind of play spoiler to
that debut and say, you know, we're not going to
get pushed around. We're not gonna let Wenby overshadow us
or anything like that. But I mean, at the end
of the day, this is just another game for the Hornets.
And this is something that we talked about going into
the California Classic, is how you were able to get
those two games kind of under your belt. Of course,
neither game went the way or the Hornets. They ended
(13:45):
up losing both of them, but this is now the
opportunity for a fresh slate. You're able to take what
you put on film those first two games and go
forward and kind of say, all right, this is what
we need to do differently. We already saw this San
Antonio team. This is a good opportunity to see how
some of these younger guys can learn how to adjust
and see, okay, we're facing another opponent just a couple
of days later. Yeah, they got a big difference in
a little bit of a rostered overhaul with a guy
(14:06):
like Victor Webmbinyama coming into the fold. But at the
end of the day, you still have guys over there
on the other side like Julian Champenni, who's been playing
really really good basketball, has really shined at the California
Classic the last couple of games for him as well.
So this is an opportunity for the Hornets as a
whole to kind of wipe the slate clean and start
over and go from there on what ended up being,
you know, quite frankly, some two disappointing performances as a
whole from the team.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, they're definitely looking to turn the page from Sacramento,
no question about that. And as you mentioned, this is
just a highlighted game. I think it would be regardless
of the opponent because it's Victor webbin Yama's debut, and
that's been such a storyline even well prior to the draft.
I mean, we were going back to the end of
last draft, the twenty twenty two to one, and people
(14:49):
were already talking in anticipation of this draft to be.
But now they're finally going to get see him on
the floor and it'll be a good test for some
of the Hornets Bigs Hornets players and for Brandon Miller
in this draft class see how they handle a different
level of attention on this contest. With all that said,
let's take a look at some players to watch. Rob
rules are in effect, Rob Longo, who is your players
(15:10):
to watch for either the Spurs or Hornets wherever you
want to start.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Well, let's begin with a Spurs player to watch, and
a no brainer obviously, it is Victor Wenbinyama. All eyes
are certainly going to be on him. But I mean,
at the end of the day, it's going to be
interesting to see what that matchup looks like moving forward. Defensively,
I guess for the Hornets, who is going to be
the guy that draws the assignment on Victor Wenbiyama is
it going to be Kai Jones, It's going to be
center on center matchup. But I think the biggest thing,
(15:35):
and this is some of the questions that we've kind
of discussed, I think off air, off podcast, off recording,
whatever you want to call it, is when Victor Wenbiama
eventually makes his way to the NBA, where do you
play him? Do you envision him at center? Do you
maybe play him at the power forward? Again? I know
what in today's NBA, it's a lot of positionless basketball,
and that stuff doesn't really matter, but matchups matter certainly.
So are we going to see Kai Jones and James
(15:56):
Najy go up against a guy like Victor Webbinyama. Are
we going to see brand and Miller go up against him?
Are we're gonna see the number one overall picking a
number two overall pick go up against each other? I
know Brandon Miller has definitely a height disadvantage going up
against Victor Wembaniyama, but then again, everybody else does, so
I'm just interested to see what that matchup looks. Defensively,
do the Hornets try to blitz them, do they try
to double team them? Do they just try to play
(16:17):
their game straight up and work on individual tendencies. This
is a good test for the Hornets right out of
the gate from a team standpoint, because again, the defense
has had some struggles here and some lapses over the
first two games of the California Classic. So as a whole,
I'm looking at the Victor Wenbnyama matchup just because I
want to see how it affects the rest of the
Hornets team.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I think Victor Wenbnyama is definitely the focal point
for this game and deservedly show. He's had the attention
of most NBA fans from a prospect standpoint for several
years now, and he has been a huge storyline. So
this is gonna be a big Summer I We'll see
how he performs here game one, and definitely worthy of
being the focal point for this one. I'm gonna go
(16:54):
with Dominic Barlow because he was just so dominant in
the first game, and also because he freeze up a
lot of stuff for wem Binyama. As you mentioned, we
don't really know what his preferred position is going to be,
and in a Summer League type of structure, you can
really really craft everything around Victor wem bin Yama, and
part of the narrative on that has been that he
would prefer to be playing on the perimeter, that maybe
(17:17):
the traditional center role is not the best fit for
his skill set. So having a guy like Barlow, who
posted a double double in a condensing one twenty four points,
ten rebounds while going ten to thirteen from the floor
in the first head to head meeting with the Hornets,
that should free him up to do more of that
type of work. And so for Charlotte you got to
figure out both how to put a big guy out
there on wem Benyama, someone who can keep up with
(17:39):
him and try and keep him out of the pain
if he's trying to drive inside. But also you've got
to manage Barlow on the boards, which was not the
easiest thing to do in game one of Summer League.
Now we have to shift to a Charlotte player to
watch Rob Longo. Who do you have your eye on
for this first game in Las Vegas, third game overall
of Summer League.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I think I kind of foreshadowed it a little bit
more when I was talking about the matchups in general.
But I gotta take Brandon Miller. I know There's been
a lot of pressure on him through the first two games.
A lot of people wanted him to take more shots
in that loss against Golden State where he ended up
just shooting the ball four times, and I kind of
defended it a little bit, saying you don't want to
build bad habits in Summer League by taking shots that
you normally wouldn't take. But we did say the general
(18:20):
consensus is that four shot attempts are definitely far too few,
but at the end of the day, it's obviously going
to be number one versus number two. I'm not saying
that Brandon Miller needs to outplay Victor wembin Yama by
any means, but just want to see that steady progression.
Just want to see Brandon Miller continue to be comfortable
out there. He looks comfortable out there, especially when the
balls in his hands on the perimeter with his passing.
Just want to see him shoot a little bit more, play,
(18:40):
a little bit tighter defense, cut down on the fouling.
That has obviously been a huge point of emphasis here
over the first two games as well. But the shots
selection has been great, the shooting percentage has been great.
I just want to see him take that next step
here and what will end up being his third professional
game here for the Hornets.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, I'll let go the fouling thing as well, but
I'm with you. Brandon Miller seems to be the obvious choice.
As much attention is going to be on Victor Wembinyama,
just as much will be on Miller here for his
Las Vegas debut. There are a lot of options here.
I kind of agree with you. Kai Jones gets a
little more of the focus because in theory he's the
matchup head to head with wembin Yama. Just from a
(19:16):
size and speed standpoint, that seems to be a good fit.
I think players like Bryce McGowan's and James buck Knight
also make a lot of sense as the veterans for
this Hornets Summer League team. Guys that can really stand
out and maybe put together a twenty plus point performance
and lead the way for Charlotte. They're looking for someone
to do that. I think Amari Bailey makes a lot
of sense. He has come off the bench of the
(19:36):
first two games and was the best player for the
Hornets without a doubt the other day against Golden State.
But I'm gonna go with the Hornets other first round picks.
Since you took Miller off the board, I'm going with
Nick Smith Junior. He's seeming to get more and more
comfortable with the pace and the space in the NBA game,
even through just a couple of games of Summer League action.
And he's really got a wealth of weapons in terms
(19:58):
of scoring the bass ball. And I'm excited to see
how he builds on these previous two performances. I think
he's getting better from an efficiency standpoint, I think he's
getting better in terms of handling the rock. I'm excited
to see what he does here in his third game
of Summer League, and also how maybe he exploits certain
matchups as they come about against a different looking Spurs
team than the first one they saw. So those are
(20:20):
our players to watch. We're looking at the first round picks.
We're definitely both looking at Victor wembin Yama. Most of all,
we are looking for the Hornets to have a better
performance here to tip off Summer League play in Las Vegas.
Rob Longo, thanks for chatting, most importantly LaMelo Ball, but
Summer League once again, It'll be a late night for
us tonight. Taking in Hornets versus Spurs, but hopefully it'll
be a winning episode of the HHC tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, looking forward to breaking this one down and always
happy to talk LaMelo news, especially when it's not about
injuries and it's about the helpy stuff, especially a huge,
huge contract extension.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It is some of the best news Charlotte could have
asked for. LaMelo Ball signed long term here with the
Charlotte Hornets, and we will of course have more reagency
related news in the days and podcasts to come as
more news breaks from the Charlotte Hornets. Well, thanks to
Rob Longo for joining me on this edition of the AHHC,
and to all of you for tuning in. I'm Sam
Farber saying it's been a pleasure and a privilege having
(21:13):
you along. We'll talk to you next time right here
on the Hornets Hypecast.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Hypecast, brought to
you by Santa, the official I Hear Nosen throatcare provider
of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets dot com.
Welcome to the Hornets Highcast, presented by Charlotte I ear
Nosen Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen throat Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Here's your host, Sam Farber.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornet Time Cast, your
Hornets podcast with all the notes, quotes, and daily buzz
around your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it
is a pleasure and a privileged to have you with
us here once again on the Hornets Time Cast, brought
to you by Santa Charlotte, Eye, ear Nose and Throat Associates,
the official I ear Nosen throat Care provider of the
Charlotte Hornets. What an exciting day it is. In case
(00:37):
you missed the news, Hornets All Star guard LaMelo Ball
has signed a rookie Max extension. This is huge news
here for Charlotte, committing their hornerstone of the franchise to
the club for the next five years. We're gonna look
at this from the perspective of what does it mean
for LaMelo, what does it mean for the franchise moving forward?
And you might have heard there's a game tonight Hornets
(00:58):
will take on the San Antonio Spurge one again, this
time opening up Las Vegas Summer League, helping me out
on all of these topics. He's my producer on the
Hornets Radio Network as well as the producer of this
fine podcast. Rob Longo here with us once again. Rob.
Just a huge day of news here for the Charlotte Hornets.
The moratorium lifted. So for many people, this news has
come out already, but you know, we kind of have
(01:18):
to put our blinders on and now we finally get
to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, it's crazy that we finally are able to finally
have the shackles released, as you talked about on the
podcast the other day. But happy to be here, happy
to talk about a Lamello ball extension, the first of
its kind here in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And that's one of the big pieces of this for him.
It puts him in a rarefied ear. Quite frankly, you know,
you hope when you draft players, particularly when you draft
them in the top three, that this is the pathway
they follow, but more often than not, clearly they don't.
Only really a handful of guys in every draft class
will get this type of extension, and again, more often
(01:55):
than not, someone in the top three. The top five
falls short of this level of play. LaMelo has earned
this through his play on the court, what he has
meant for winning for this franchise, and to lock him
in it really can be a game changer. He's a
franchise building player now committed to Charlott. And this is
despite whatever fears or conspiracy theories had caught momentum non
(02:16):
we'erever assisted by LaMelo or the organization for that matter,
But now any fears can hopefully be put to rest.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Quite frankly, yeah, super exciting stuff. I mean, this is
something that is not very common, quite frankly. Yeah. You
hear about these super max deals and these Max deals
and these rookie extensions, and you might have a rookie extension,
but you might not have something to the level that
LaMelo Ball has. And again, this is all just based
off of reported The official term from the team is
that the terms of the deal are not disclosed, but
(02:44):
we can go based off of some of the other
reports that have been out there for the last couple
of well days now now that we're finally able to
talk about this, But yeah, like I said, this is
something that you don't really see very often. This is
something that is definitely well earned by LaMelo, and this
is something that's a sticking point moving forward. Yeah, there's
always been that chatter and those conspiracy theories, whatever you
want to call it from the fan base. Maybe it's
just some paranoia, I don't know. Whatever you want to
(03:05):
call it, it can be put in the rearview mirror
now as LaMelo Ball is officially going to be a
Hornet for years and years to come, and it's really
exciting to have this cornerstone of a franchise officially be solidified.
You put the pen to paper, both sides are committed
to each other, and you know everybody loves playing with LaMelo.
That's another going to be a huge advantage for this team. Again,
you're trying to build that homegrown talent, You're trying to
(03:27):
keep that homegrown talent, and this is a great way
of doing it. You look at those Golden State teams
from the twenty tens all the way up until now,
even drafting guys like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and
Draymond Green and are able to pay those guys so
much money and are able to afford it well that
money doesn't go against the cap either because of those
bird rights. So that's basically the blueprint for the NBA
now in terms of being successful is getting those picks
(03:49):
right in the draft, whether it's a number three overall
pick like LaMelo Ball, whether it's a mid first rounder
like Jannasantaka Kupo, or if it's a second rounder that
you hit on a lottery ticket in Nikola Jokic. Whatever
you do, you want to hit on those draft picks
done that way, you can build around those guys and
go from there. So this is just the next progression
and the next step for this Hornet team.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And the players you mentioned there. I'm glad you brought
them up in the same conversation as LaMelo, because there
are a variety of guys who, based off the way
the salary cap is structured and contracts are structured, are
worthy of getting a max deal even on individual teams.
It's not like there's a one to only one player
is allowed to get this. In theory, as you look
(04:27):
at teams like Golden State you mentioned, you know you
might want two or three of those guys, depending on
what they mean to the franchise and mean to winning
getting those kinds of deals if they warrant it. But
for Charlotte and for any franchise, quite frankly, getting that
first guy is where you really start. Because once you
get that first guy, then the person who's getting in
theory the second or third either max or really high
(04:48):
level deal, you really get an idea of how they're
going to impact not just your team statistically, but impact winning.
And LaMelo for this Hornet squad, he's that foundational piece
right now. I think his rookie year, even though he
put up gat eight stats obviously a Rookie of the Year,
wasn't quite ready to impact winning, and no rookie really is.
But by year two it was crystal clear what he
meant to this franchise. And then last year with all
(05:10):
of the injuries, even though he put together another all
star quality season, him not being on the floor really
put this team behind the eight ball and left them
without much hope of making it into the postseason. Well,
now the squad is locked into him again. It's exciting.
You got a cornerstone player locked into Charlotte for the
next five years. This is how you build winning franchises
is getting these types of players locked into your squad
(05:33):
for the long term, and Charlotte and LaMelo Ball have
been able to do that partnering here on this rookie
Max extension. So what does it mean for Charlotte? What
are the next steps? What is this really guarantee for
the Hornets looking ahead? We'll talk about that next right
here on the Hornets Hoodcast, Sam Farbara and Rob Longo
here with you on the HHC. An exciting day. In
(05:56):
case you missed the news, LaMelo Ball has signed a
Rookie Max extend. This guarantees that an All Star is
gonna be in Charlotte here for the next handful of seasons.
According to the deal, or what's been reported of the deal,
we should say, Rob, this is a player who went
from Rookie of the Year to an All Star where
he played his to this point only full season or
close to full season, averaging twenty points per game, six
(06:18):
rebounds a game, seven assists per game, and then last year,
even though there was an injury filled campaign, he goes
even beyond those statistics twenty three points per game match,
the rebounds at six exceeded the assists eight per contest,
all while shooting thirty eight percent from three over the
last two seasons. This really is a foundational piece for
this team, and he's only getting better.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yeah. Obviously, the injuries last year were very unfortunate, just
not for LaMelo but for the entire team in general.
But just a steady progression is what you want to see.
You go from a throat overall pick high expectations, you
go to Rookie of the Year, then you go to
an All Star, one of the youngest All Stars ever
named to the All Star team. And then obviously last
year only playing in those thirty six games, but when
he played in a games, he looked great. I mean
(07:01):
you go back and you look at it. He ended
up having career highs and points per game on average,
and in terms of the three point percentage, took a
little bit of a dip, but overall, like you mentioned,
career wise numbers almost a thirty eight percent three point shooter.
I mean, the effective field goal percentage was a consistent
Everything was consistent with LaMelo. It's just about taking that
next step. Yeah, it's super exciting all around. I mean
(07:21):
you go back and you compare him to some other
guys in there that are in the history of the franchise,
and you think of the modern era when you go
to these lengthy contract extensions and those stories of things,
and the first name to pop up is Kemba Walker.
And when you go back and look at Kemba Walker's deal,
he didn't really get a rookie max deal either. He
didn't get that full five years. Both sides were able
to work out a contract extension, but it wasn't a
(07:43):
max deal. So I know that Kemba Walker is considered
one of the greatest players in Charlie Hornet's basketball history,
and rightfully so, but even then, he wasn't worthy of
this rookie max deal at the time. So just a
great thing to see moving forward, And like we've talked about,
just this cornerstone that you can build around makes things
very very exciting here and Buzz.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And he at that time. Caveat is the important one
because clearly Kemba Walker was a phenomenal player worthy of
a Max deeal, which he got later on down the line,
but at the point where he was extended originally, he
hadn't been an All Star, he hadn't been this twenty
five point per game type of player. Just yet there
were certainly breadcrumbs that that's what he was going to become.
(08:20):
But he eventually reached that status. He didn't do it
in the timeframe that LaMelo Ball has and it's a
different team, a different setup, But LaMelo Ball has done
at twenty twenty one years of age what very very
few people in the history of the game have been
able to do. And that sets up the Hornets well
for the future. As I talked about before, when you
have this first domino set up and you have this
(08:41):
first player who can be that foundational piece, then it
becomes easier to stretch the cap to go into the
luxury if you so choose to take more money and
commit it to other players who can put up similar
types of statistics based off what you then learn about
them winning. I mean, you look at the Bucks, it's
a team you brought up before. Or Jianna Sante Tocumpo
is clearly the centerpiece, but players like Middleton, players like Lopez,
(09:05):
players like Holiday, their value shines even brighter because you
can see how they fit around the centerpiece of the
franchise and how they're going to impact winning that club
put together a championship year. They've kept that core for
the most part intact as they try and go for
more of them. And I think that's what you can
see set up now here with Charlotte. And furthermore, since
players like playing with LaMelo because he makes them look
(09:26):
good the way he distributes the ball and he has
this light, fun kind of way about him that just
rubs off well on other people, I think it makes
Charlotte a more exciting and enticing place for players to
come to short term and long term. So we'll see
how that all plays out. We're just getting out of
the moratorium here in terms of free agency, so not
a lot more that we want to talk about today.
(09:48):
We wanted to dedicate this podcast mostly to LaMelo because
it's such a huge deal. But moving forward later on
down the road, I think you're gonna see Charlotte become
a more enticing place to come to or stay with
based off having LaMelo.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Ball.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
General manager Mitch Kupchak is a very, very savvy guy.
I mean, he has this job for a reason and
he knows how to work all of the I don't
want to call them loopholes, but you need to know
the nuances of the NBA, and this is a very
good example of that, just trying to be able to
be as competitive as possible as a lot of people
consider Charlotte as a small market team or a mid
market team, whatever you want to prefer, and you're able
(10:24):
to use every advantage you can to be competitive. And again,
if you go back and you look at the past champions,
there's a lot of those smaller market teams. There's Milwaukee,
there's Denver. Most recently, all of those teams that you
wouldn't expect to have those runs are able to do
this because of that homegrown talent and the way they're
able to build around him. So again, I hate the
harp on it, but it's the fact of the matter
(10:44):
is that you're able to get this cornerstone and you're
able to move forward and build your roster around a
guy like LaMelo Ball and this is the first step.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And last, but not least here, I would say, again,
he's a player who's proven to be worth it, both
with what he's been able to accomplish on the floor
all star level season his second ear bettered those stats
his third year, and clearly the impact on winning was
there because when he was healthy, the team was at
its best. When he was injured, the team struggled to
find w's and all along the way, the shooting percentages,
(11:11):
the ability to distribute the basketball, it just all looks
better and better as you move further and further down
the line. So this is a huge piece for the
Hornets puzzle. Long term, Charlotte has its point guard, LaMelo
Ball has his extension here with the Charlotte Hornets, and
hopefully this will be a marriage that continues in the
right direction or gets maybe back in the right direction.
(11:33):
This coming season with the Hornets going back above five
hundred and hopefully at long last getting back into the postseason,
Charlotte's got more summer league action. We're going to start
looking at the Las Vegas portion of Summer League play
and a highly anticipated one versus two matchup Brandon Miller
and the Hornets taking on Victor wembin Yama and the
San Antonio Spurs tonight. We'll preview it for you next
(11:54):
Here on the Hornets, I've cast Dan Farber Rob Longo
here with you on the HHC. The Hornets I've cast
brought to you by sent Us Charlotte I Heer Dos
and Throw Associates, the official I ear nos and throatcare
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Rob Round two, so to
speak of Summer League play between the Hornets and Spurs
(12:15):
is going to be tonight on anticipated nine pm Eastern tip.
For those who want to watch it, it'll be on ESPN.
If you're in Vegas, hopefully you got a ticket already,
because from what we've heard, it's sold out. And that's
because this is the big one versus two matchup and
the debut from a Spurs fans or NBA fans perspective
of Victor wembin Yama, but also a look at Brandon
Miller and how he and the Hornet size up against
(12:36):
this Spurs team. They did face off once before in Sacramento.
It was a ninety six to seventy seven win for
San Antonio. Charlotte really was slow out of the gates.
They performed better in the first half of their second
game of Sacramento Summer League play, and hopefully they've got
even more in store here for game three as they
look for their first win of the summer session. What
(12:57):
are some bigger thoughts you have on this matchup before
we get into players to watch for both sides.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Yeah, just super excited to see one versus two. Obviously,
Victor Wembinyama against Brandon Miller. That's going to be a
fun matchup, and there's a lot of hype around it.
Obviously it's sold out. Like you mentioned, this thing is
going to be really, you know, kind of a first
look at what everybody expects to be the next generational
talent coming out of France and Victor Webinyama. So there's
an opportunity here for the Hornets to not really be
(13:24):
absorbed by the spotlight. There's an opportunity for them to
go out and prove it, kind of play spoiler to
that debut and say, you know, we're not going to
get pushed around. We're not gonna let Wenby overshadow us
or anything like that. But I mean, at the end
of the day, this is just another game for the Hornets.
And this is something that we talked about going into
the California Classic, is how you were able to get
those two games kind of under your belt. Of course,
neither game went the way or the Hornets. They ended
(13:45):
up losing both of them, but this is now the
opportunity for a fresh slate. You're able to take what
you put on film those first two games and go
forward and kind of say, all right, this is what
we need to do differently. We already saw this San
Antonio team. This is a good opportunity to see how
some of these younger guys can learn how to adjust
and see, okay, we're facing another opponent just a couple
of days later. Yeah, they got a big difference in
a little bit of a rostered overhaul with a guy
(14:06):
like Victor Webmbinyama coming into the fold. But at the
end of the day, you still have guys over there
on the other side like Julian Champenni, who's been playing
really really good basketball, has really shined at the California
Classic the last couple of games for him as well.
So this is an opportunity for the Hornets as a
whole to kind of wipe the slate clean and start
over and go from there on what ended up being,
you know, quite frankly, some two disappointing performances as a
whole from the team.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, they're definitely looking to turn the page from Sacramento,
no question about that. And as you mentioned, this is
just a highlighted game. I think it would be regardless
of the opponent because it's Victor webbin Yama's debut, and
that's been such a storyline even well prior to the draft.
I mean, we were going back to the end of
last draft, the twenty twenty two to one, and people
(14:49):
were already talking in anticipation of this draft to be.
But now they're finally going to get see him on
the floor and it'll be a good test for some
of the Hornets Bigs Hornets players and for Brandon Miller
in this draft class see how they handle a different
level of attention on this contest. With all that said,
let's take a look at some players to watch. Rob
rules are in effect, Rob Longo, who is your players
(15:10):
to watch for either the Spurs or Hornets wherever you
want to start.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Well, let's begin with a Spurs player to watch, and
a no brainer obviously, it is Victor Wenbinyama. All eyes
are certainly going to be on him. But I mean,
at the end of the day, it's going to be
interesting to see what that matchup looks like moving forward. Defensively,
I guess for the Hornets, who is going to be
the guy that draws the assignment on Victor Wenbiyama is
it going to be Kai Jones, It's going to be
center on center matchup. But I think the biggest thing,
(15:35):
and this is some of the questions that we've kind
of discussed, I think off air, off podcast, off recording,
whatever you want to call it, is when Victor Wenbiama
eventually makes his way to the NBA, where do you
play him? Do you envision him at center? Do you
maybe play him at the power forward? Again? I know
what in today's NBA, it's a lot of positionless basketball,
and that stuff doesn't really matter, but matchups matter certainly.
So are we going to see Kai Jones and James
(15:56):
Najy go up against a guy like Victor Webbinyama. Are
we going to see brand and Miller go up against him?
Are we're gonna see the number one overall picking a
number two overall pick go up against each other? I
know Brandon Miller has definitely a height disadvantage going up
against Victor Wembaniyama, but then again, everybody else does, so
I'm just interested to see what that matchup looks. Defensively,
do the Hornets try to blitz them, do they try
to double team them? Do they just try to play
(16:17):
their game straight up and work on individual tendencies. This
is a good test for the Hornets right out of
the gate from a team standpoint, because again, the defense
has had some struggles here and some lapses over the
first two games of the California Classic. So as a whole,
I'm looking at the Victor Wenbnyama matchup just because I
want to see how it affects the rest of the
Hornets team.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I think Victor Wenbnyama is definitely the focal point
for this game and deservedly show. He's had the attention
of most NBA fans from a prospect standpoint for several
years now, and he has been a huge storyline. So
this is gonna be a big Summer I We'll see
how he performs here game one, and definitely worthy of
being the focal point for this one. I'm gonna go
(16:54):
with Dominic Barlow because he was just so dominant in
the first game, and also because he freeze up a
lot of stuff for wem Binyama. As you mentioned, we
don't really know what his preferred position is going to be,
and in a Summer League type of structure, you can
really really craft everything around Victor wem bin Yama, and
part of the narrative on that has been that he
would prefer to be playing on the perimeter, that maybe
(17:17):
the traditional center role is not the best fit for
his skill set. So having a guy like Barlow, who
posted a double double in a condensing one twenty four points,
ten rebounds while going ten to thirteen from the floor
in the first head to head meeting with the Hornets,
that should free him up to do more of that
type of work. And so for Charlotte you got to
figure out both how to put a big guy out
there on wem Benyama, someone who can keep up with
(17:39):
him and try and keep him out of the pain
if he's trying to drive inside. But also you've got
to manage Barlow on the boards, which was not the
easiest thing to do in game one of Summer League.
Now we have to shift to a Charlotte player to
watch Rob Longo. Who do you have your eye on
for this first game in Las Vegas, third game overall
of Summer League.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I think I kind of foreshadowed it a little bit
more when I was talking about the matchups in general.
But I gotta take Brandon Miller. I know There's been
a lot of pressure on him through the first two games.
A lot of people wanted him to take more shots
in that loss against Golden State where he ended up
just shooting the ball four times, and I kind of
defended it a little bit, saying you don't want to
build bad habits in Summer League by taking shots that
you normally wouldn't take. But we did say the general
(18:20):
consensus is that four shot attempts are definitely far too few,
but at the end of the day, it's obviously going
to be number one versus number two. I'm not saying
that Brandon Miller needs to outplay Victor wembin Yama by
any means, but just want to see that steady progression.
Just want to see Brandon Miller continue to be comfortable
out there. He looks comfortable out there, especially when the
balls in his hands on the perimeter with his passing.
Just want to see him shoot a little bit more, play,
(18:40):
a little bit tighter defense, cut down on the fouling.
That has obviously been a huge point of emphasis here
over the first two games as well. But the shots
selection has been great, the shooting percentage has been great.
I just want to see him take that next step
here and what will end up being his third professional
game here for the Hornets.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, I'll let go the fouling thing as well, but
I'm with you. Brandon Miller seems to be the obvious choice.
As much attention is going to be on Victor Wembinyama,
just as much will be on Miller here for his
Las Vegas debut. There are a lot of options here.
I kind of agree with you. Kai Jones gets a
little more of the focus because in theory he's the
matchup head to head with wembin Yama. Just from a
(19:16):
size and speed standpoint, that seems to be a good fit.
I think players like Bryce McGowan's and James buck Knight
also make a lot of sense as the veterans for
this Hornets Summer League team. Guys that can really stand
out and maybe put together a twenty plus point performance
and lead the way for Charlotte. They're looking for someone
to do that. I think Amari Bailey makes a lot
of sense. He has come off the bench of the
(19:36):
first two games and was the best player for the
Hornets without a doubt the other day against Golden State.
But I'm gonna go with the Hornets other first round picks.
Since you took Miller off the board, I'm going with
Nick Smith Junior. He's seeming to get more and more
comfortable with the pace and the space in the NBA game,
even through just a couple of games of Summer League action.
And he's really got a wealth of weapons in terms
(19:58):
of scoring the bass ball. And I'm excited to see
how he builds on these previous two performances. I think
he's getting better from an efficiency standpoint, I think he's
getting better in terms of handling the rock. I'm excited
to see what he does here in his third game
of Summer League, and also how maybe he exploits certain
matchups as they come about against a different looking Spurs
team than the first one they saw. So those are
(20:20):
our players to watch. We're looking at the first round picks.
We're definitely both looking at Victor wembin Yama. Most of all,
we are looking for the Hornets to have a better
performance here to tip off Summer League play in Las Vegas.
Rob Longo, thanks for chatting, most importantly LaMelo Ball, but
Summer League once again, It'll be a late night for
us tonight. Taking in Hornets versus Spurs, but hopefully it'll
be a winning episode of the HHC tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, looking forward to breaking this one down and always
happy to talk LaMelo news, especially when it's not about
injuries and it's about the helpy stuff, especially a huge,
huge contract extension.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It is some of the best news Charlotte could have
asked for. LaMelo Ball signed long term here with the
Charlotte Hornets, and we will of course have more reagency
related news in the days and podcasts to come as
more news breaks from the Charlotte Hornets. Well, thanks to
Rob Longo for joining me on this edition of the AHHC,
and to all of you for tuning in. I'm Sam
Farber saying it's been a pleasure and a privilege having
(21:13):
you along. We'll talk to you next time right here
on the Hornets Hypecast.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Hypecast, brought to
you by Santa, the official I Hear Nosen throatcare provider
of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Sam Farber
Rob Longo
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