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Mac & Bone Hour 2: Hornets Expectations · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. Mack Embone with you. Charlotte Hornets
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: talk coming up at 7.25 and throughout the show. We
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: got Jermaine Buckner, one of their assistant coaches, going to
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: join us here on game day at 7.45. Hornets at
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the Nets tonight. The season is on, and we got
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: to talk through our expectations. We got to talk through
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: all the lamello is gone, angst that is still out there.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: And unfortunately, we got to talk about con canipple.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Kobe White and Grant Williams not playing in tonight's game.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: So that is coming up.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: That's going to be a huge part of this radio
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: show here in the seven and eight o'clock hours. But
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: right now, though, we got to reminisce still. I know
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: we got to look forward a little bit, but we
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: got to reminisce. about one of the greatest college football Saturdays, Bone,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: I have ever witnessed in my life with five of
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the top seven teams, an all-time record, losing so much drama.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: And much of it was in the SEC. And our
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: next guest can talk about the drama. He works for
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: the SEC Network. He is former Gator stud wide receiver,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Chris Doering, who joins us here on the Mac and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Bone Show.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Chris, how you been, man? What's going on?
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Good morning.
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: It's good to be back with you guys. Thanks for
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: having me.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: What's up, CD? How you doing?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: So the first question is, and I guess we've got
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: to try to figure out all these teams in the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: SEC with the ups and downs, but how do you
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: explain your Florida Gators to me after that performance against Texas?
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: They are a tough one to get a read on
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head.
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: The conference, the only thing that's consistent is the inconsistency,
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: and Florida was one of those first teams involved. in
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: the inconsistencies. Remember back to the big win they had
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: in Gainesville over Ole Miss and everybody having plans for
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: college football playoff appearances and going to the SEC championship game,
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: and then you lay two eggs against Missouri and South Carolina,
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: and everybody kind of wrote them off for the rest
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: of the year, and then they find a way to
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: go on the road with a backup quarterback without Vernell
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: Brown III, without Duke Clark III, a defense that had
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: been getting torched by Missouri and South Carolina and put
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: together a masterful performance. I thought the defense was maybe
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: one of the most surprising things to be able to
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: see them have the success they did against Arch Manning
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: in that offense. But it was a little more aggressive plan.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: They decided to pressure Arch, blitzed him 10 of 13
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: dropbacks alone in the second half. They were able to
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: get home five times, including a strip sack that they
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: kind of finished the game off with. And then a
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: really good performance from Tramell Jones in his first start
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: as the quarterback there in Florida. Just really impressed with
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: what they showed in terms of heart. And on the
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: other side, Texas was kind of the opposite, man. Just
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: really very little fight from them after going up 17-3,
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: dominated the rest of the game. And obviously we're here
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: talking about what the future for Arch Manning looks like,
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: what the future for Sark looks like there in Austin.
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Speaking of that, why do you think it's been so
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: up and down for Arch Manning based off what we
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: thought he was going to be? Good moments, but bad moments.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Why have they not found consistency with him at Texas?
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: I think he's first a victim of everybody else's expectation
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: level just because he had the name Manning and came
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: out as a... such a highly recruited player. You know,
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: everybody expected him to be the same guys as Eli
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: and Peyton and those folks. But I think at the
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: end of the day, there's a lot of blame to
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: go around probably. You know, when you look at the tape,
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: the offensive line hasn't been very good. They didn't do
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: a great job of picking up those blitzes. Haven't been
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: able to run the ball very consistently. You know, I
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: think you look at receivers, you've had drops from those
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: guys and dating back to the Ohio State game with
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: Cam Coleman let one bounce off of him and Ryan
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: Wingo dropping a touchdown. The defense has been largely pretty
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: good for the most part, but again gave up some
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: 24 straight points to Florida late in the second quarter
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: on through the end of the game. So I think
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of blame to go around, but the
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: biggest thing for me, I just don't think Arch understands
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: the the concepts of what they're trying to accomplish. Multiple
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: times you've got plays that are wide open to be
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: made that he either chooses not to make the throws,
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: holds it too long and gets sacked, or throws it errantly.
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: So I do think the development has not been there
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: from what we expected. But, again, I think there's a
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: lot of guys on that team that were four- and
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: five-star recruits that haven't developed the way that you expected
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: them to.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: We're talking Chris Doering, SEC Network, here on the Mac
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: and Bone Show. I want to jump ahead now to
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: this week because this South Carolina-Tennessee game is so fascinating
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: now after what Tennessee just did to Bama. I mean,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: what a performance. in the trenches on both sides of
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: the ball but now they go on the road and
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: it's almost like the folks at vegas like know what
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: this sec is all about this year during because they've
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: got the gamecocks as a favorite yeah what do you
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: like it kind of feels like if i'm trying to
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: get a read on this conference it kind of feels
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: like south carolina might win this game how do you
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: feel about that matchup.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: Have we not seen it five or six times already,
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: the big game hangover the following week? I mean, we
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: saw it last week from Georgia and Alabama. Both of
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: them looked completely juiced and not really dialed in. I
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: mentioned earlier the Ole Miss-Florida game. That was probably the
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: first one where we had one of those head-scratching lines
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: where a highly rated team is going on the road
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: and they're an underdog to an unranked team. So this
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: is one of those that plays along with the rest
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: of the season so far. With that being said, I
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: also believe that South Carolina, at least for one game,
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: figured things out. They stopped shooting themselves in the foot.
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: They were able to finish drives. They didn't turn the
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: football over. Lenora Sellers spread the ball around to a
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: bunch of different receivers. I thought the defense has been
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: one of the more consistent parts of the team this year,
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: but at the end of the day, Tennessee has got
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: to show that they can come up and back up
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: a great performance with another great performance in a very
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: hostile environment. The defensive line was tremendous in that game
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: against Alabama, completely neutralized any of the explosiveness that we
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: had seen from the tide. So I think it's going
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: to be interesting to see if we can find a
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: team that can show that they're consistent from one week
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: to the next. Vegas right now looks at least like
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: they don't believe that's the case for the Vols.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Chris, I thought Georgia might be above the chaos, but
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: obviously I was wrong for that. What did Auburn do
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: to mess up Georgia, and does that change your view
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: on what Georgia could be the rest of the way,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: or was that just another example of that's just the
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: nature of the SEC?
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: I thought coming off of that game between Georgia and
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: Alabama that even though Alabama lost, we had two consistent teams,
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: two complete teams in the conference in Georgia and Alabama.
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: To see both of them come back the very next
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: week and lose was pretty surprising to me. The biggest
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: head-scratcher was Georgia not playing typically like we see Georgia play.
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: They turned the football over three times. They were minus
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: three in the turnover margin. Inopportune times to have penalties
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: that cost them The lack of ball security from Gunnar
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: Stockton turning it over three times himself with two picks
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: and a fumble there that cost him at the end.
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: Very uncharacteristic performance from Georgia, but also an uncharacteristic performance
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: from Auburn. We hadn't seen them play that way. Their
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: offensive line had been pretty bad for the majority of
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: the season. They were able to go out and run
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: for 192 yards with over 100 of those coming from
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: Byron Brown. I thought they used him really well, and
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: that mobile quarterback, if there's ever anything that's given Georgia
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: a hard time defensively, it is the mobile quarterback involved
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: in the quarterback run game. I think they had 13
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: plays that were designed quarterback runs for him for about
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: 92 yards and rushing production for him. So, yeah, I
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: thought that's what they did. They did a really nice
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: job of going in and playing smart football. I was
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: shocked when they were down 14-0 that they actually came back.
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: I was shocked. when they were up by 10 in
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: the fourth quarter and they let that lead evaporate and
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: they were able to actually put a play together to
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: get down in field goal range. So, yeah, I don't
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: know if Alex Golish's team can carry that over, but
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: it looked very much what I expected them to look
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: like in the preseason that had been kind of elusive.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: To this point.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Doring, last quick thing I need to ask you. The
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Tennessee Vols fans set an all-time college football decibel level
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: record of 130.3 in Neyland Stadium at one point in
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: that game against Alabama. When you went to Tennessee, was
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: that the loudest, or was it maybe LSU?
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: What was the place you played at in the SEC
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: that was ridiculous?
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: LSU stunk when I was in the league. So when
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: we played them, I think we put 52 on them
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: my sophomore year and then went there at like 11 a.m.
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: It was like a morgue. And I think we won
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: 24-10 or something. But yeah, Neyland's always one of the
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: loudest places to play. It's a great environment. Really enjoyed
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: playing them, especially as an arch rival coming into Knoxville.
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: The other one, my favorite road stadium, though, is still Jordan-Hare.
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: Going to play Auburn in that kind of environment, they're
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: rocking your bus when you're driving into the stadium. They're
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: incredibly loud from start to finish, very knowledgeable fans that
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: show up whether their team's good or not. We lost
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: to them my sophomore year and then came back and
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: beat them there my senior year. year, but very difficult
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: place to play just from a noise and communication standpoint.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I'm sure none of them are really libraries too often
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: in that conference, brother. Hey, man, always love chatting with you.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Thanks.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: I know you're busy this morning. Thanks for making some
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: time for us. Appreciate you.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: We'll do it again, man.
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having us.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Be good.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: That is Chris Doering from the SEC Network. Yeah, Jordan,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: did you see Lane Kiffin? Lane Kiffin and LSU are
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: going to Jordan-Hare to take on Auburn this week. And
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: he was asked about the theory that it is haunted
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: at Jordan Hare. And Lane Kiffin told a story of
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Bruce Pearl telling him that it is that it is haunted.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: And when you go there, be very aware that it
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: is a haunted stadium. So add that to the list
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: of SEC storylines.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Will the ghosts get Lane Kiffin on Saturday?
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Scariest thing I saw there just from a distance was
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: when Bruce Pearl had his shirt off in the crowd.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I would take Ghost over shirtless Bruce Pearl. Ghost by
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: a million. Oh, man, this conference. And it's interesting. We're
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: getting a couple of SEC haters checking in here, including
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Husker Mike. That is like no one's great in the
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: SEC and they don't have any national championship teams, which
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: actually could bring you then responded by saying, hey, who
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: are the national who's the national championship team in your
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Big Ten? Especially with Julian saying possibly being out.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: For the season now.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Obviously they were before that news. Maybe Indiana, but y'all
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: just made me think of something. I think that's a
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: good conversation here to have at some point, which is
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: some of the top Big Ten teams have lost. SEC
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: teams are beating each other. Is it Miami? Notre Dame lost?
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Is Miami the favorite? We've got to talk about title favorites.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: I will say this about the SEC. As much as
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: I am just turned off by the arrogance, the overall
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: arrogance from the conference, I it is must see TV.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: And this year it might be the most entertaining I've
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: ever seen it because you don't know what's going to
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: happen because of the oh, my God, look how good
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: they played last week. What just happened to him this week?
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Like I just it's a get your popcorn situation like constantly, man.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: It's amazing. Unbelievable.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: When we come back back, we're going to talk about.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: The Hornets opening the season tonight in Brooklyn. How are
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: we feeling? What is your expectation for this team? It's
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: actually going to be back-to-back segments involving the Hornets on
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ.
• 12:44
  Speaker 6: At the end of the day, you know, we ain't
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: going to find no excuses, right? At the end of
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: the day, we all on the court. I trust the
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: guys that we have. I think that we have a
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: great team, regardless of who's hurt. And, yeah, I mean,
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: obviously it's unfortunate, especially when you're missing some big pieces,
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: but no excuses.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: That is Moussa Diabate.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: Diabate.
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: Moussa!
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: That felt good. That's the first one of the season, Bob.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Do it one more time for the people in the back.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: Moose up. Got E.C. Many mooses.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: E.C., I wish you and Moose many mooses this season.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Val, he's the best moose in league history. Yeah, he is.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I think today we have to be on alert because
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Walker Mayle could walk in here today with no pants
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: on and just moose antlers.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: I'm aroused.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Finney said it during the break. We heard the
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: promo of Walker, and Finney's like, this is Walker's Christmas.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: It's no secret. He is a hoop head, and the
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Hornets are his absolute love. Not that he doesn't love all,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: you know, so many other things like the Panthers and sports,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: but yeah, he's going to have that George Jefferson strut in,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: or will he? And I guess that brings us to
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the conversation we got to have with fans. Like, how
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: fired up are you? I feel like, and we'll deal
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: with the, I mean, I'm sure we can talk about
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: the Lamello portion. I'm sure Lamello's name will come up
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: during this segment. But in the eight o'clock hour, I
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: definitely want to kind of. revisit all the lamello angst
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: that showed up bone yesterday when we were trying to
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: kind of celebrate brandon miller and it all of a
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: sudden it occurred to us holy crap people are still
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: big mad about this lamello thing they are not y'all
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: are not moving on so we'll talk about that i
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: think the injuries are dampening the enthusiasm a little bit
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: but i would caution it's an 82 game season It's
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: in the NFL.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: It's a long season.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: So if you don't have Khan or Kobe or Grant
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: for a few, I understand it's PTSD with.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: The Hornets, with us Hornets fans.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: I saw a lot of people when the Hornets announced
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: that those three are out tonight that just went like
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: went off the deep end on social media. I read
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: the comments to that tweet. And it was just like,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: here we go again, season's over. So I would caution
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: everybody to chill out a little bit. It is a bummer,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: but it's a Nets team. I think we're more than
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: capable of beating them. They're no joke, but this year,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: like they were last year with all the rookies, but
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: we're more than capable of beating them. I'll ask you
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: to start this conversation off, Bone. Are you excited? Are
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: you optimistic? Are you expecting a step back and just
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: kind of chilling? Where are you at mentally about this
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Hornets season?
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: It's a combination of excited and chilling because I'm not
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: putting all my eggs in the basket for the present.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I do understand there's going to be an adjustment. There's
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: a step back. There's the unfortunate news of the guys
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: that are injured, which I think kind of... It does
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: kind of suck because we wanted to see them in
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: full with Alamello right away. But I think the good
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: news here is we've always wanted them to be good
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: for the long term. And I think this is the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: most hope we have, maybe not for 26-27, but for
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: the future. with Peterson in charge, with the trade ship,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: with the assets, with the money. This isn't, oh, my God,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: how many years back with Mitch and MJ or Cho
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: and MJ did they, well, they better win now or
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: they got to go tank for this draft choice or
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: do this. They got to win now.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: They've got to.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: They've got to figure out how to get someone in here. Well,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: guess what? It's not necessarily about the now. It's great
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: if they do win now, but it's about what they
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: can be in the long term. So I expect a
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: little step back, maybe not a whole lot, because the
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Eastern Conference is that loaded up. But I don't think
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: they're going to shortchange you for entertaining style basketball. They're
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: going to be a fun team to watch. And I
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: think we're going to be competitive, man. I really do.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: The over-under is at 39.5%. What is your number? Like,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: what do you expect from this Hornets team this year?
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: They won 44 last year, but that was with the.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Four and 14 start or whatever it was. So you
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: kind of they they were playing catch up all season
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: this year. Hopefully, Bone, we can tread water until we
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: get Kobe and Khan and Grant back.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: We do have the Nets and Washington.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: In our first four games not that they're chopped liver
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: like they usually are this season can we tread water
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: until they get back i like i if they're not
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: right like my prediction is is 40 if we're not.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Right around i have them at 39 and a half
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: they're gonna win there's gonna be a flood on a
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: court and they're gonna win half that game.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: And i guess my question is if they win 40
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: games i don't know where that puts you in this
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: in this suddenly extremely competitive conference. Maybe you get into
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: the play-in or whatever, but I don't know if that's
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: enough for people. The reason it would be enough for me, Bone,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: is because of what you just said, is that whatever
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: they do this year, I just feel like we've got
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: the right management, we've got the right coaching staff, and
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: I feel like we've got a ton of assets and
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: we are loaded up that it's only a matter of time, Bone.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: before we really break through um but i think 40
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: wins would be a a pretty damn good season with
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: this group and i think they're more than capable of
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: doing that this is the deepest hornets team that i
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: think i've ever seen man and that's got to count
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: for something including when your guys are injured because if they.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Got to 40 mac and i think they're going to
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: be right you know right around there 38 39 40
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: in that neighborhood there but think about that i think
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: if they win that that's they're going to be their
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: lowest total for a while So if they win 40
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: this year and these guys get more experience and they
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: add more, this will be the lowest win total they
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: have for a number of years, I think, this year.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: this is going to be the low, then they're going
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: to keep going up.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just a matter of when you cash those
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: chips in, how do you do it? What do you
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: think of the guys that are so negative they think
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: we're back to 20, 21 wins and 22 wins?
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, I hope.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: I'm very curious to see what people say. Now, if
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Conn's hamstrings fall off, then that could be a problem.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I'm very interested in seeing what people say about that. Like,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: hit us up on the text line with your Hornets expectations.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: And do you feel like, oh, my God, this team's
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: falling off a cliff? I just would be utterly shocked
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: if we do. I just think, first of all, look
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: at Kobe's on-the-floor offensive efficiency numbers were better than Lomelo's.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: I've never seen anything like that in my life.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Usually, Bone, without Lomelo, we turn into one of the
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: worst offensive basketball teams you could ever lay your eyes on.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: And that didn't happen last year. Once we acquired Kobe
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: and literally his number, the numbers with him on the
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: floor were better than the lamellas. It's, it was absurd.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: And so I don't view this. If we can get
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Kobe healthy, I don't view it as some drop-off. Different
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: style play, but yeah. Some huge drop-off as a team,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: I should say. It's different, but I just would like
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: to point out how good we were with those guys.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Nas Reid is an upgrade in the starting lineup over
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Miles Bridges. He's an upgrade.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: Way better shooter to me. You saw in the preseason. Oh, crap.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: We can attack mismatches with him in the post to
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: like you could do that defensively.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: I think he's going to bring more than bridges.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: So I just this the starting lineup that was so efficient.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Last year, you plug Kobe and Nas in.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: I would be very surprised, Bone, if this is an
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: extremely efficient starting lineup. And then you on offense and
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: then you throw in the bench and the depth that
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: we have there as well. Like the best depth I've
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: seen here in Charlotte. I just, again, I don't want
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: to overstate it. I don't want to act like I
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: think they're going to play as well as the Hornets
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: did down the stretch last season. But I hope people
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: aren't looking at this like, man, we're going to be
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: terrible this year, man. This season, the last season, man,
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: we're tanking. Like, I hope that's not the energy we
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: have in Charlotte.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I think there's a chance based off the, The look
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of the team and who's on this team. I'm not
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: saying it's going to be, you know, early 90s Hornets
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: where the city fell in love with the team because
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: they were successful.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: They were new.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Also, they love the personalities. They love Muggsy. They loved LJ.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: They love Zoe for the 10 minutes that he was here.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: They loved Dell. They loved all those things. Mac, there
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: is a lot of. fan favorite potential on this team.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Kobe Weiss got the local ties. People love Khan. Nas
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Reid was a very, very, very popular player in Minnesota.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Moussa's got fans. I think Schroeder and Allen are guys
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: that you may look at and go, I've got to
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: root for those guys. Until they're on your team and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: they're annoying the hell out of the other team, then
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: you're going to love those guys. Sean James, Steinbach, Brandon Miller,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: all these guys, Mac, I think are players that fans
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: win or lose are going to like the personalities on
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: this team yeah williams is another one there's a up
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: and down the line there's a lot of guys that
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: have that fan favorite vibe i would agree but some
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the personality that's not here and
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: we will talk about that because you can't you can't
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: make a move like that kj simpson you can't make
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: a move like they did with lamello and fans just
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: shrug their shoulders all right So be it.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: And they knew that.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: But I respect the fact that management knew there's going
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: to be a blowback. There could be an effect on attendance.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: But we have this vision. We have these blinders on
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: and the vision is acquiring assets. And at some point
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: we will pounce with those assets and we will go
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: all in. So I do respect that they have that.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: I also think style of play to bone like this
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: team is going to shoot that hell out of the basketball.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: That ain't changing. They are going to shoot the crap
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: out of the basketball. And I mean, they added Royce O'Neal,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Grayson Allen, and Nas Reed. Like I would argue, even
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: though they lost Lamello, I would argue this is a
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: better shooting basketball team than last year. I think they've
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: added the amount of really good shooters that they have
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: on this team.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: The bombs away buggies.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: They're going to put up damn shots, and sometimes it'll
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: be amazing.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: Sometimes we could die with the three. We'll get to
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: die with the three techs some days. I'm going to
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: text Eric Collins that one, bombs away buggies.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: You want to see if he wants to use that?
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: If not, Farber can use it. Usually it ends up
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: going to Farber when he says, I can't use that one.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: He says i got my own i'm all it's all
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: there's no room at the end you.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Know that i did text him one day something he
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: goes i don't think i could use that i said
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: all right jimmy d from trying to help my guys
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: out they were all part of the hornets broadcast network.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: You're here to help he has a high standard bone
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: he has a high standard though of phrases uh jimmy
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: d from denver says hopefully we can limit the turnovers
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: yeah they had turnover trouble last year um and the
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: preseason was worse 30 in one game in particular.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: It was brutal.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: So that's obviously a concern there. Lori, listen to Lori here.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: She says, y'all are trying so hard to hype them up.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: We know 30 wins would be a huge accomplishment with
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: this group. Front office is terrible again. We got to
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: live with it, but we don't got to like it.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: 30 wins would be a disappointment. Unless they're injury ravaged.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Vegas says 39 and a half. So I don't know
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: why she's putting 30 as like a good season. That
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: that's like, again, y'all have to look at the, I
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: know everybody's focused on the one player we don't have.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: And I'm not saying it's an extremely important person from
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: a standpoint of making the offense go and making everybody
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: better and a standpoint of entertaining y'all. But like, again,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Kobe White's on the floor, team offensive efficiency numbers actually
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: were better. Then you throw in Khan, Brandon, Nas Reed
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: is an upgrade over Bridges. We had somebody text in
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: and say, I don't know if I want to watch
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: this team without LaMelo and Bridges. I can't get over
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: why the hell you give a crap that Miles Bridges
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: is gone, fans.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: I can't. That's I just can't, man. He's not been
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: mentioned in the players that are gone that much.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: It was cringeworthy rooting for him after what he was
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: involved in. And to be honest with you, he had
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: so many flaws in his damn game. I thought y'all
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: would know that. Nas Reed is an upgrade, man. And
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: like Bone said, the dude was a cult figure in Minnesota. Lovable.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: We don't have to argue about whether or not we
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: should love our power forward.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: With Nasri.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: We don't have to argue about that. So I, you could,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: you could say I'm on here trying to hype things up.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: The sky is not falling is what I am saying.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: I didn't like the LaMelo trade initially either. I want,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: I get it. Last year, you said bone about Hornets teams.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: We fell in love with, you said going back to
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: the nineties. Let's be honest. You only have to go
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: back about, I don't know how many months, six, seven months. Like,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: let's not downplay the absolute love affair we all had
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: with last year's Hornets. Like, I don't want to downplay that.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: I understand that, like me, y'all wanted the front office
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: to build on that. But the front office is saying,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: we aren't here to try to just keep incrementally improving
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: with this team.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: We are here to literally try to win an NBA
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: title at some point. And I think if you....
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Take yourself away, and we'll get more into the lamello
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: emotions next hour, but if you take yourself away, Bone,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: from the emotions of my favorite players gone and just
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: think about what they're doing, I mean, it makes sense
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: what they're doing. Like, for Laurie to call the front
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: office terrible and stuff, like, that's crazy to me.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: No, that's insane.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: By the way, we have a cleanup here, Fitty, if
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: you want to get the mop out here. Lori's on
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the text line saying that wasn't her.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: It was Lottie. Oh, my bad. Lottie said that thing
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: about the 30 wins. Oh, my bad, Lori. My bad.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Lori wants to know she's on 40 wins. Oh, Lori,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I thought that was very unlike you, Lori. I thought
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: that was very unlike you. I was confused. Usually she's
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: all mean about stuff. Yeah, I was so disappointed in Lori, too,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and now I find out it's Lottie. We also, Mac,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: have good news and bad news. We have a person
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: that just– Just text it in. They want to be
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: on the 10-win wagon. Oh, they want 10 wins. Unfortunately,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: it was for the Hornets.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: I think I might need to bring my readers in daily.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: I have such trouble with reading the names on this
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: text line.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Poor Maury. She's got to go through the day now
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: with the wrong opinion about herself. Hey, we cleared it up.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: It's Lottie Dottie.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: He likes to potty, but he does not like the
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Hornets front office right now.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: He thinks the Hornets are going to be something from
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: the potty.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Lottie.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Lottie Dottie, we like to potty. This Hornets front office
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: should be put in the potty.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Oh, God, man. That's my slick Rick, baby.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I will say, your mistakes when that mop comes out,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: funny things happen, Finny, after this.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: Now we got Lottie Dottie, Hornets are.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: In the potty. Somebody else says front office is terrible.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: I'll say it for her. That's Mike B.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: You're not paying attention. You're looking at the mellow move,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: and that's it. You're not looking at... I understand not
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: everyone's going to do that, but you're not looking at
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: the finances, the future assets, the trade.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: You're not looking at how well it's set up. There's
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: a reason why the.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: National folks and they do articles about future power rankings
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: and assets and all these things they can't say enough
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: praise about the job jeff peterson.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah everybody i mean damn near everybody if not everybody
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: covers this league thinks they are they are brilliant yes
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: and that they are doing this thing the right way
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: so here's someone else i trust bobby marks 980 the
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: front office is trash that's just crazy to me like
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: listen we've had plenty of trash front offices over there y'all.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: I call it the Jordan years.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Like we had plenty of crappy front offices. Bob Johnson
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: years weren't a whole lot better. The CSAT weeks. We
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: too had a CSAT week. I mean, I guess we'll
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: talk about it more with the whole LaMelo thing coming up.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: This texter, Brian says, I think the problem is we
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: just don't like you guys trying to hype up the team.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: It feels like You're trying too hard.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I have them at 38 wins going backwards from last year,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: not over 500. So hyping them up is 37, 38,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: 39 wins. Mack has them at 40. That's hype being
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: at 500 or below 500. I mean, it's not– we're
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: not over– I'm not having about 50 wins. I don't
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: even have them making the playoffs. I have them being
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: entertaining and competitive. All I said was I'm excited for
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the future. So because we're not saying 20, 25 wins,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: we're overhyping that. That's a bunch of hogwash. Hogwash and poppycock.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Throw that one in, too.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: I will. I like that word. Poppycock. Thank you there.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Flound. Yeah, I don't get the we're going
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: to be horrible thing. Like, I just– y'all thought– like– Again,
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: you look at this roster and the areas we improved,
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: improved the bench with Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neal, improved our shooting,
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: improved the starting pass. forward position. I also think people
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: are sleeping on Charles Lee as a coach. I feel
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: like last year, y'all finally saw how good of a
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: coach Charles Lee is. And you saw that vision of
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Hornets DNA bone come through. And you saw the vision
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: of the offense spacing the floor with shooters and attacking
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: and going after it and pushing the ball up the floor.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: And I feel like some of y'all just forgot the
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: coaching job Charles Lee did last year.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: And, again, we'll get into it in 8 o'clock hour. But, like,
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: was it all LaMelo? Like, was everything they did when
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: they went 41-24 down the stretch, was it all LaMelo? Like,
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: is that the vibe I'm getting from people? Like, nobody
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: else played a role?
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: And what if they enter this season with everything they have,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: and then LaMelo sprains his ankle and he's out for
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: two months? What would you all say about that? You'd
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: probably rip Jeff Peterson for not training LaMelo in the
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: summer when he was healthy. They had to capitalize at
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: the moment he was healthy to try to maximize what
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: they could.
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of Tijon... backlash.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Towards Peterson because there's not a lot of moves you
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: can point to that haven't worked out for him. And
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I get that hasn't worked out. That's like the one
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: right there. But go look at that draft. The number
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: one pick in that draft already traded, and now he's
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: a bench player in Dallas. Zachary Richauchere. Yeah, the guy
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I wanted to connect. That draft is looking pretty rough. Yeah,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: there are some hits in there along the way, but
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: don't act like GMs don't miss on their draft picks
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: once in a while. If Tijon is really the only
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: miss while the Melo trade is pending right now, then
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: I'll go ahead and take that based off what we
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: saw before.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: One hundred percent.
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: I do want to mention, Bone, because tonight's the opener
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: of the season in Brooklyn. On Friday, it is the
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: home opener and we are going to have family four
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: packs to give away throughout the day here on WFNZ.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: And this is going to run all day.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: So as long as you can get a text to us,
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: you know, by about nine thirty or so, you're going
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: to go in the hopper. We'll do a drawing about
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: nine forty, nine forty five and announce a winner. Family
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: four-pack of tickets to Friday's home opener against the Hawks.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: Text the word Hawks. Text in Hawks to 704-570-9610. Everybody
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: that texts in the word Hawks will have a chance
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: to win the family four-pack for Friday night.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: When we come back, Jermaine Buckner, assistant coach for the Hornets,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: previews the season, talks about the matchup tonight, and where
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: are the rookies improving the most before the season? Sports
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Radio 92.7 WFNZ.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Mack and Bone with you.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Hornets opening night tonight in Brooklyn against the Nets.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: 7.30 tip.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: That means Bone and KB on the air tonight at
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: 6.30 as we got you covered, obviously. Every game day,
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: every game night with the Hornets on WFNZ. We got
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Panther chatter coming up. It's interesting, Bone, that you mentioned
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: 10-win wagon. You had a good zinger there about it.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: That was a texter. We are firing up the Panther
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: 10-win express again at 8 o'clock.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: All right, stay tuned, baby. I got a big announcement.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: I got a big announcement to make. So a pass inspection,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing. It's ready to go. But anyway, right now,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: let's focus on the Hornets, shall we? Let's focus on
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: the Charlotte Hornets opening their season tonight, and let's do
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: so with Jermaine Buckner, assistant coach for your Charlotte Hornets,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: joining us here on Game Day Morning.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: Coach, what's going on? How you doing?
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: Morning, fellas. How you guys doing today? I'm great.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: What's up, Coach? Doing good.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Appreciate you getting up early here on game day and
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: chatting with us. I just want to kind of cut
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: to the chase. I want to get this question out
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: of the way because we're hyped up for the start
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: of the season, but as you can imagine, a lot
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: of fans are still thinking about the fact, man, for
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: the first time in years, lamello's not on this team
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: um uh what what what do you think about and
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: i know you're missing a ton of guys in the
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: preseason and still are to start the season but when
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: you look at this team and how they're constructed i
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: would think you guys think this is still a hell
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: of an of an offense even without.
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: Lamello yeah i mean obviously lamello is an incredible player.
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: He was in Charlotte for many, many years. I can
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: understand what you said about the fans having a connection
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: to him and whatnot. And I have a great appreciation
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: for Melo and all that he did while he was here.
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: In regards to the guys that we have now, I'm
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: really excited about heading into the regular season. Obviously, we
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: missed a couple guys, like you said, during the preseason.
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: And Khan and Kobe Grayson missed a couple games. But Um,
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: I think we got a heck of a lot of
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: shooting on the floor. We've got a lot of intelligence.
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: We've got guys that enjoy sharing a ball and guys
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: that enjoy playing together. So, um, I'm, I'm extremely excited
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: about the offense this year.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: In comparison to teams you've been around, where the depth
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: of this team, where does it compare to teams you've
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: coached before?
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: Like I said, we have a ton of shooting on
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: the floor. Um, Death is so important. If you want
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: to make the playoffs and you want to make a
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: playoff run, you want to play in the postseason, you
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: have to have depth to your roster, right? You got
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: to have a group of guys that are willing to
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: buy in from top to bottom. Like five, six guys
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: is not going to do it. And you've seen that
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: in the previous years in the NBA. So, I mean,
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: I came from the Boston Celtics, right, which was one
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: of the deepest rosters in the league the year that
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: we won the championship. And we saw how important that was, especially,
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: you know, You've got to take into consideration injuries that
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: come into play and guys having to sit out games.
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: And when you've got guys sitting out, you need the
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: next man to step up and bring that level of
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: intensity and that level of focus that was left behind
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: by that injury or whatever that guy is dealing with
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: to have to sit out the game. So depth is
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: extremely important. And for our roster, we're trying to build
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: a roster filled with depth.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think you've got it.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: I think there's a good chance it shows tonight with
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: three important guys out, that depth that you have. Coach
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: Jermaine Buckner is with us, Hornets assistant in Brooklyn, getting
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: ready for tonight's season opener. Coach, we've got to talk
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: about Brandon Miller. I mean, he's the guy that should
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: be buying everybody dinner over there now after that big
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: contract that he got. From a coach's perspective, now that
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: he's healthy and we've fed, he told us, our guys,
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Wes and Walker on our station, what he was going
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: through and how bad the pain was last year. And
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: I don't think we realized it. What do you think
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: if he's a healthy Brandon Miller, as he matures as
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: a player, what are the next steps for him? What
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: are the steps of growth you think we're about to
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: see from him?
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, congratulations to Brandon. We're really excited to have
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: him in the contract. Brandon's an incredible talent as we
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: all know. And as he, as he continues to grow
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: and get older, His leadership, I think that is going
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: to be one of the main things for him to
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: focus on. He's got an incredible amount of talent. It's
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: unbelievable what that kid can do with the basketball, with
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: his athleticism. As he begins to grow, we need to
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: see him. And I know he wants this for himself
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: to be a better leader, to be a more vocal leader,
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: to lead by example. And he's done a great job
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: of that so far throughout the course of this offseason
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: and headed into this preseason.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: From where camp started and what was going on over
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: the summer, Where have Christian Anderson and Steinbach individually improved
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the most the last couple months? Oh, man.
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been really fun to watch them grow. Their
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: level of intelligence, you know, you could see it already
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: as soon as they came in. They want to listen.
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: They want to grow. They want to learn each and
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: every single day. But what I've been most impressed with
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: them about is just their level of development that's taken
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: place just in the past couple months. And you could
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: tell when they first got to us, as it is for, like,
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: many rookies that come to the league, the game is
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: just moving so fast, right? Like, you're coming into a
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: league where the athleticism is higher, the speed is faster,
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: the physicality is just more. And they've adapted so quickly
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: over the course of the summer. And it's been really
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: cool to see them throughout the course of the preseason
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: getting into real NBA games and figuring that out throughout
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: the course of the game. And practice as well. They
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: bring the intensity to practice every single day.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: Uh coach we're talking with jermaine buckner assistant coach for
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: the hornets let's talk about coach lee now and i
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: think you guys as a staff i think did an
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: amazing job last year so i don't want to make
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: you think as i'm asking about the head coach i'm
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: neglecting the staff entirely i just thought this team was
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: so well coached last year but i want to give
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: coach lee a little bit of love this may this
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: may score you some points with him too coach what
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: um what what What are the things that you see
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: him do in practice or behind the scenes when talking
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: with the team, strategy or motivation? Like, what are the
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: things that we may not see that make him such
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: a good basketball coach?
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, honestly, man, like. You're never going to disrespect me
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: by gassing up Coach Lee.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: Okay, good.
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: No, honestly, he's one of the most incredible people I've
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: ever been around. And I mean that like on and
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: off the court. First of all, he's just a good
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: human being, a good man. I truly do admire him.
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: And the staff that he's put together, we get along
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: better than any staff that I've ever been a part of.
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: He knows exactly what he needs around him. And he's
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: put that together. In regards to him as an individual,
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: one of the most intelligent coaches that I've been a
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: part of, been around. Basketball-wise, he knows his stuff. His adjustments,
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: his ability to adjust on the fly, his open-mindedness to
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: different concepts and different ideas. The way that he... um
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: is able to communicate with his players and hear them
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: out hear their suggestions and then allow them to feel
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: confident in what they're doing i think is extremely important
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: for our team um he demands a level of respect
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: from not only his players but the staff and the
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: people around him and we all do love and respect
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: him so i mean he's done an incredible job over
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: the past few years I'm truly honored to be a
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: part of the staff, and I think each and every
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: single one of our assistant coaches would say the same thing.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. That is awesome. All right, well, hey, we
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: wish you guys the best of luck. We're excited here
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: at WFNZ that y'all are getting back to it. Good
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: luck tonight and the full season, Coach. We appreciate you.
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: Appreciate y'all. Thanks for the reach out.
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: You got it. Thanks, Coach.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: That is Jermaine Buckner, assistant coach for your Charlotte Hornets,
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: live from Brooklyn, where the opener is tonight.
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: No sleep till Brooklyn.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: Unless, you know, I'm napping this afternoon and there would
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: be no sleep. Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: sense for us, does it? No, it was a good try, though.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: I like where you were trying to go.
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: I tried to sound.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Cool with it, tried to sound hip with it. That
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: new group, the Beastie Boys, right?
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: That new group. Why am I sounding like Matt Ruhle
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden? You got a new group, the
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: Beastie Boys. Do sometimes I sound like Matt Ruhle sometimes
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: when I ramble?
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 41:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: Every now and then. I feel like you break out.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: Not not Eddie.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, that never comes out unless you're trying to. But
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: I feel like sometimes you break out into some of
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: your impressions. Just out of the blue. I feel like
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: some of your impressions. If I start doing Bill Walton,
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: that comes out sometimes. All right, we come back here
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: on the Mac and Bone radio program. Good news, Panther fans.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: Mac is back on the 10-win wagon.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: Let's go, baby! Who's coming with him?
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: Come on!
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: Sports Radio. Everyone relax. 92.7 WFNZ.