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Mac & Bone Show - Rod Boone Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But right now, let's bring in a man who's going
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: to help us entertain you, because we want some information
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and some opinions from a guy that covers the Hornets
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: day in and day out on.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: The active week.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Last week with the trades, they kind of quiet, you know,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a couple of days with free agency. This week, he
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: is Rod Boone every day covering the Charlotte Hornets for
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: you for the Paper Record and Charlotte to Charlotte Observer.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And Rod joins us here on the Mac and Bone Show.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Hey Rod, thank you for joining us. Man.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: How you doing doing today?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Hub Rod?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Doing good?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Man?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: We got so much to talk about, obviously when it
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: comes to the team that you cover and that we
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: root for. Let's just start with the LaMelo trade itself, Like,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: how shocked were you that that they that they did that?
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: And do you how do you kind of feel about it?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Do you understand it? Do you think they made a mistake,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: good move? How do you kind of evaluate that move?
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: That's a load of question, man, A lot going on.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: There was a lot going on. Well, first of all,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: I was kind of shocked for a couple of reasons.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: But let me just set the seating up a little
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: before you guys, after the trade deadline back in February,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: I remember asking Jeff Peterson, there's availability about just hey, like,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: did you have any more potential, you know, trades out there?
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: And you mentioned how he got calls pretty much when
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: everybody's starting five for the Owners, but he wanted to
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: kind of see how the team fared the rest of
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: the season. So in that context, I guess I kind
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: of get it, but it still kind of took me
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: for a loop a little bit because I thought that
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: they would give LaMelo maybe one more season so that
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: maybe if they didn't have a great year this year,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: trade dedline comes up in February or maybe next summer,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: you say, okay, you know what, it's not working out
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: here the way we thought to, let's go ahead and
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: just change course. But for them to do it at
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: this particular point, I was surprised. But I also understand
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: because right now, LaMelo had his best season in terms
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: of playing games in basically three or four seasons, So
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: when you factor in the trade value, the Hornets triggered
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: this particular juncture to probably go out there and get
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: what they could for him because they didn't think he
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: was probably they want to lead them to the promised
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: land long term, so that being the case, you make
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: it makes sense to go out there and trade him now.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: But I still I'm kind of, you know, trying to
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: figure out, as most people are, what the next move
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: is here, because when you get rid of your superstar player,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: who is a guy who brings tickets for you and
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: put seats in and puts fans in the seats for you,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: it's kind of hard to sell them on what's next
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: when they haven't seen a move made for a week
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: or so.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Here, Rod, When you look at the timing of the
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Wamelo trade, when you see all the movement this week
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and Jalen Brown and all that's going on, why do
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: you think and does it surprise you that the Hornets
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: moved Wamelo so fast instead of waiting to maybe see
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: what could play out into this week.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: I think that's true. But I think people really put
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: tunes together and thought that, hey, when LaMelo was traded,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: maybe Jalen Brown's coming here to the Hornets. But what
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: I was told from the get go, even back to
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: like last Friday, like that was not the case. He
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: was not coming here Jylen Brown. So even though they
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: have the assets, they have the you know, trade exception,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: they have these different things to be able to take
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: on Jaylen Brown his salary. It wasn't going to happen
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: here right now. So I'm definitely surprised that they didn't
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: maybe wait a little bit longer. But it also tells
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: you right there that that was most likely the best
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: deal they can get for LaMelo, and they figured, let's
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: go for the Gusto now. Then wait and get cold
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: feet and you know, change change our minds, you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: in a week or so.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Why do you think Jalen Brown was not in play here?
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: I just think it's the timeline. I mean, if you
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: think about it, you just got rid of essentially your
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: star player who's in his mid twenties. You got his
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: best friend and you know his value Buddy and Miles Bridges.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: You have all these young players in here now, with
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: you know, Calm being the second year player, you brought in,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Christian Anderson, you draft to Hanes Steinback. It's like he
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: doesn't fit the timeline. All the guys around him would
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: be young players. So even though you can sell pickets
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: with Jaylen Brown and get fans excited, I'm just not
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: sure if it would work in terms of putting a
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: winning and product that's going to sustain itself for two
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: or three years long term. So Jylen Brown, he's a
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: big name, but the Hornets are trying to do the
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: short game here, even though fans don't like it, it's
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: what they're trying to do.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: We're talking to Rod Boone Charlotte Observer check out all
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: his Hornets coverage and the Charlotte Observer Charlotte Observer dot com.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: As far as what's next, that's the question right that
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: we keep asking ourselves and we've covered it the Jalen Brown,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: wasn't you know the move that was next? What do
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: you think, like do you think it'll be a quiet
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: rest of the off season? And what do you like?
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: What do you think might happen with the trade exception
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: as well? When? When do you think and how do
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: you think that could be used?
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Well, if you think about it, look at the free
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: agent list for the most part right now is not
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: a great list. All the top guys that you may
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: have wanted to bring in here potentially already off the board,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: and even then on top of that, timeline wise, how
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: they fit what you're doing this season, So from my perspective,
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: they do something the Hornets the summer, Yes, they could,
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: but it depends who becomes available. From my perspective, I
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: believe the Hornets just set themselves up portray deadline in
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: February and for next summer, even though fans probably don't
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: want to hear that they're playing again the long game.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: He that makes sure they are in place to be
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: able to go out there and get this cordinal superstar
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: or somebody who doesn't want to player where they're currently
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: playing and bring them more on board here and build
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: round said player. So I believe that's how they've used
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: the trade sception is to get a potentially big name
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: player in here that isn't working out somewhere else, And
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: usually those things will happen until again, once the team
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: figures out how they're going where the season is. They
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: have injuries to kind of figure out. So from my perspective,
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: I don't believe it's going to happen this summer. Becauld
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: it ask will we? But I think the Horns are
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: trying to play a long game here and have the
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: worthal and stuff in place to be able to make
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: a big deal when the time is ready come February
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: or next summer potentially. Rod.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: When it comes to the return player wise, for Miles Bridges,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neill, are you expecting those guys to
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: be a part of this organization? Will they will they
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: flip those guys? What do you think about those two
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: guys as being depth pieces here?
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: I mean they're better than players from from my from
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: my perspective, yeah, they can be here for a while.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: But like anything else again, timeline wise, if you aren't
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: having a great season, if you are going to make
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: the playoffs once again this year for some reason, it's
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: not going to the direction that you wanted to, those
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: guys could be value with pieces to flip and get
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: more trade assets, more draft picks. So while they're here now,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure they're going to be here long term.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Not again, what long term is I don't know. But
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: the wholeness right now just trying to again acquire pieces
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: to be able to make themselves better in the marketplace.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: So while Grayson Allen and Worschill Neil are better than pieces,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: I don't believe they'll be around here long term.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I got to ask you this question, Rod because we're
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: getting it all the time and with you know, I
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: don't know someone who covers this team day and day out.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I want to get your opinion on it. A lot
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of fans are asking, hey, if they you know, kind
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: of knew all along in their minds, Hey, you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: we're not totally sold on the Mellow. You know, why
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: did they not look to make the Mellow move for
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: the Miles move at the trade deadline last year and
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: try to get get picks that could be in on
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: last year's great draft. That's I'm sure you're getting it
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: from readers too. What do you think is the answer
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: to their thinking on that?
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Again, I just think they disfigured this is the right
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: time to do it. If they believed that was the
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: right time to do it previously, then I guess they
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: would have done that move. And I agree with you.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I understand people are coming from you want to be
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: able to kind of have the wherewithal to have stuff
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: in place for for the NBA Draft. That's why it
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: also kind of caught me off guard that it happened
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: the second day of the NBA Drive, essentially when the
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: travels are pretty much over. But again that tells me
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: like anything else. Look at Jaylen Brown's trade. All right,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: they got Paul George who's older than him, and a
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: first round picking, a couple of draft pick swaps. If
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: you ask anybody a month ago, if that trade probably
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: would have happened, he would have said not enough to
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: get Jayleen Brown. But the trade market is what it is,
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  Speaker 3: So I really believe that deep down inside the Hornets
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: scoured the market. I mean, Jeff Peterson for the most
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: part before this this last week or so, the fans
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: loved his moves, his trade, his acquisitions. So in a month,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: the guy became dumb. I just kind of hard to
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: believe that, you know what I mean. I'm pretty sure
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: he knew what he was doing in terms of trying
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: to get this trade done and find the best route,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: the best access to come back to his his way.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: So even though it didn't happen, maybe in the time
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: frame fans wanted to. You gotta believe Jeff Pearson has
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: been working this deal, trying to figure out who can
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: he get Flamelo ball for months now, and turns out
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: the best package was what he got from Minnesota.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Text Line says that Mac and Bone are interrogating Grod
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: like he made the moves.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Sorry, they're not talking over their road, So sorry.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: If that's how said we want the truth, Rod.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: It's okay, man, I mean, that's that's how fans are
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: right now. God, fans want answers, and hey, I know
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: that they're trying to, you know, shake me down. But
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: at the at the end of the day, as you mentioned,
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: it's Jeff Pearson, it's Rick Snaw, it's gay Plocking. Those
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: guys are in control, so they know what they're doing.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: And even though the fans again may not like what
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: they've done, you've got to believe that behind the scenes,
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: there's stuff that people don't know about, you know what
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, Like somebody see that people don't see that
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: goes on every day. Maybe if the owners didn't feel that,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: those guys would the people to leave them to the
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: promised land. So even though again it doesn't make sense
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: to the average fan, I'm telling you, man, these guys
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: have started this for a long time. They just became
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: owners a few years ago, but they've known for a
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: while how this NBA landscape works. So even though fans
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: are a upset and I totally get it, A ten year
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: playoff drought may not end again this year. So do
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: you have a reason to be upset if you're paying
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: exhorbitant money for tickets to go to games? I get that,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: but the Hornets got trust them right now, even know
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: it's hard to Jeff Houston and trust Rick Snall and
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: gave pocket and figured that that's gonna actually turn itself
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: around the way fans hope to eventually