EP 169: The 2026 Horney Awards Show

one of the most fun Hornets seasons we’ve ever had.

We open with a play-in preview against the Miami Heat. Miami took the season series 3-1, has the more proven playoff infrastructure, and has broken Hornets fans’ hearts before. But does Charlotte have the better roster this time around? And with both of us heading to the game, how are we feeling about the matchup?

Then, we give out awards for MVP, Most Improved, Best Newcomer, Most Heartbreaking, Best Moment, Love of the Week, and Heartbreak of the Week.

We talk LaMelo Ball’s superstar season, Brandon Miller’s efficiency jump, Moussa Diabate’s impact, Kalk’s ridiculous finishing and shot blocking, Kon Kneuppel’s huge year despite his recent shooting slump, and why Tre Mann and Tidjane Salaün left us feeling the most conflicted.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Hornets and Heartbreak Podcast. My name is Mark Bernacke. I'm here with my co-host Tim Rogers.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

What's up, Tim? What do you do? Liquor Mark.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

I'm doing pretty well, man. So tomorrow, Tim, you and I will be going to the play-in game against the Miami, the 9 versus 10 game. A little bit disappointing that we didn't make it to the 7 versus 8. They're 3-1 against us this season. They have eliminated us from the postseason in 2014 and in 2016, the last two times the Hornets were in the playoffs. They have a team and a coach with more playoff experience than us, Tim, but the Hornets are just better. The Hornets are just a way better team than this fraudulent Miami Heat team. Tim, how are you feeling? Talk me through it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Just on the off chance that we get knocked off by this heat team, I just don't really know what I'll do with myself.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Yeah, uh, I'm I'm also extremely nervous. Uh, really, really nervous. We deserve a playoff series, Tim. This team deserves a playoff series. We're eighth in uh net rating this season in the NBA. Like I was looking on basketball reference. Our expected wins is like 53 or something like that. Like we should be uh cinched to be in the playoffs. And if it if it goes down like this, like losing to the heat, I mean not to mention losing the heat or losing the other game. Like, I I don't really care. I I just want a playoff series. And if we play the Pistons, man, we're taking it to six. Um, but yeah, I say that all to say that I'm nervous and I've come to the realization as a nerd that mathematically it's more likely that we don't make the playoffs than we do. Um just because you gotta win two games in a row, and it's more likely that we don't do that. And uh that's a that's a hard place to be, but um fuck that. Fuck math. We're gonna we're gonna beat the heat, we're gonna beat the magic.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

You know, one thing that makes me feel a lot better is in the Lamello ball era, we kind of have a great track record in the play-in. Could you see Mark's face take a dip right there? To explain to me that's wrong.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

I'm taking my camera off. Um, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we've kind of just we've been through this before, right? We've had this 10th seed team that feels spunky and feels like, you know, oh, we're gonna we're gonna win this game, we're gonna beat the Hawks. Um, we've seen this before. I really hope it's different this year. Um, you know, because if this team's ever gonna make some noise, uh like some deep runs into the playoffs, you know, you gotta take your lumps. You gotta get your playoff series in um where you actually get some experience for these players. Um, and and this year would be an opportunity to do that. And you said, you know, you're not sad about the season ending. I am sad about the season ending. I'm not ready for it to end. Um, so yeah, a lot of nerves. The team's probably feeling pretty nervous for tomorrow, too. Um, I hope, I hope we just blow them out and it's not even a remotely close game because I might have a heart attack if it's close in the fourth quarter.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah, like save the close games for the conference finals and the finals. I do want to essentially be partying at the stadium by like midway through the third quarter.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Yep. Yep. Uh first game we've gone to together, Tim, in a while. Um, but yeah, so okay, things that have been going wrong, it's not like things have been going that wrong, but we are five and four over the last nine games, which is by Hornet's terms, uh, by this year's Hornets terms, not that great. Um and over the last nine games, Khan has been shooting the ball a lot worse. Uh, he's shooting 36% from the field and 30% on threes. Um, in all those games, he shot under 50% from three. And it's just kind of unfortunate that his shooting slump is coming at the absolute worst time of the year. Um, we're gonna need him. If we want to win these next two games, we're gonna need Khan to be good, or at least normal Khan in at least one of them.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, I know. And you know, it's always it's always silly, and you know, like when it's your people, you're kind of like, I guess he just doesn't hit the rookie wall. But like normally the rookie wall only hit around like January, February, um, not 70 games into a season. It's just uh it's just a little bit odd, and I think nerve-wracking as well, where um, yeah, I don't know. I don't want to say that we peaked too early, but I'm very confident, you know, how we were playing like even a month ago, that we roll the heat, and now I'm just like a little trepidatious.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. And I and I think that I mean, I'm not putting it all on Khan, but but Khan's Khan's shooting, like he was just so good for 70 games that now now him having a rough night shooting, um, you know, completely throws off the the flow of this team. It used to be that if Khan's open for three, that's cash. He's he's been like going long on almost all of his shots, it feels like, hitting back of the rim. Um, and like last night, you know, Lamello almost caught Khan for the three-pointers made record, uh, which is like cool that we're so close. And like we have Khan and Lamelo one and two in the three-point race. But you know, Khan should have run away with that, uh, probably, but he he couldn't because of the last last 10 games of poor shooting.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Yeah, like 300 was kind of out of the picture, but yeah, you definitely definitely thought it'd be a little bit higher than that. Um and it's just, you know, sure we'll talk about it, talk about it a little later. It's wild that, you know, this rookie is this much of like a factor for like getting into the playoffs.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Yeah, for sure. And yeah, it's like definitely not on him. It just he was so good for so long that now that he's been, you know, below average for a period of time, it's kind of surprising because you you expected him to just be this rock because that's what he's been for the whole season. Um, but, anyways, enough negativity, Tim. 25-26 Hornets. Uh, we're 44 and 38, tied for the second best Horncats record of all time. Um, you know, that's since the 04-05 season, since the Bobcats uh came to Charlotte and then turned into the Hornets. Uh, easily the most fun team of my lifetime. We have an offensive rating of 119.4. Um, do you want to guess what the next closest offensive rating a Hornets team has had is?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Is it 116?

SPEAKER_03 7:25

114. Whoa. So it's five points per 100 processions higher. Um, and that is the 21-22 team. Uh, the other the team that we had that won 43 games and and got blown out by the Hawks in the play-in. Um, so it's the best offensive rating we've had by 5.3 points. Um just insane.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

And uh even though that team at the time, explosive but inconsistent, uh, that's really impressive.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Yeah. Um, okay. Tim, what'd you have? We're gonna do uh our our horny awards, uh, the award show for this season. But before we do that, uh what did you have for Heartbreak of the Week?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Uh my heartbreak of the week is that it I definitely it's just playing the heat. And that's kind of like I'm not saying it ruined my Monday, because Monday is Monday, but um yeah, it's just kind of like been a dark cloud hanging over and knowing that we weren't gonna like sneak in uh seven or eight, it's just kind of been looming over me. None of the games really move me that much just because you know, so late in the season.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Yeah, I got you. Um for me, I had it's something similar. It's it's if we had won one more game this season, we would be the eighth seed. But even more drawing than that is that if we had won two more games this season, we would be the five seed. So that that sucks. Like we if we would win the tiebreaker tiebreaker with the Hawks and the Raptors. Um, and obviously you can think back to nine nine and ten has just been, you know, in my head. Yeah, yeah, it sucks. I mean, I said it earlier, like uh this team doesn't deserve to be the ninth seed. I mean, mathematically, again, like winning two games in a row, it's just like not likely. The more likely thing is that you go one and one and you lose one of them. Um, and the Hornets are gonna be favored, I think, against the Heat. And I think we'd be favored against the Magic in Orlando too. Uh, we are favored against the Heat by five and a half points. I think we'd be favored against Orlando too, but I don't know if we'd be favored against the 76ers. Um, but anyways, like we're favored in both games, but you it's still not likely that you win both. It's just uh it's just math. Um, so it's it's tough. Uh whereas if you're if you're the eighth seed, it's really likely that you make it in.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, pretty, pretty cushy. And then I've been thinking about it because um my my boss is from Miami, and we talk, we talk about it from time to time, and she was just like, I mean, even if you do win, it doesn't really matter, it's not a real playoff series. And I was like, damn it, that's kind of right. Like, even if it's just cope, it's like then we only take Miami out after that, after all the pain that they've caused us.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

I mean, I think we could take the Pistons to six, and I think that that's a real playoff series. I mean, I I think we could make that an interesting, an interesting series. Uh, and the Pistons are not some complete world beers. Now, if we played the Celtics, I would say that barring a Tatum injury or Jalen, I mean a Jalen Brown injury, there's pretty much 0% chance we win. I think the Pistons, there's still a chance. Like, I just don't believe that they're good enough that that's like an a nothing series for us.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yeah, I think that especially with like three-point shooting variants, like I mean, there is just a chance that we make over 23s like three times and then win a close game.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Especially against yeah, even though the Pistons obviously kind of have our number, they uh did not did not shake hands overnight. And honestly, that was kind of cool in my book. I liked that they did that.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that fourth that fourth quarter was uh rough. Alright, but enough negativity, Tim. We got we gotta get we gotta get out of out of this little uh thing we've been doing at the start of the podcast. I know it's horse and heartbreak, but but we gotta play in game tomorrow to get hype about. So love of the week, Tim. Um I have Conan Lamello finishing one and two in the three-point uh three-pointers made race. Like, that is just a dream. Uh, cannot believe that that that is real. Um but also uh I have something else that's just kind of a joke. Uh Bismack Biombo apparently is still in the NBA. He's playing for the Spurs. I was watching the Hornets game and then uh flipped over to another uh game, Spurs Nuggets. And I look up and Bismack Biombo is in the game, uh guarding Jokic. He somehow had a 15-year career and has been horrible for like every second except like two weeks in Toronto. He's just been a bad NBA player, but he's he's been around since we were like like fucking like 13. Like he's been around for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah, I was going into seventh grade. I mean, he was part of the trade that booted Steven Jackson off of the Bobcats.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Yeah, uh insane. Insane. He started apparently for them in December in like a real basketball game. Uh, anyways, what was your what was your love of the week?

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Um, no, I had I also had uh Lamello and Khan, and they're the first teammates to make 273s in a season, other than Stephan Clay.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

Yeah, I also saw that they're the only other two teammates to finish one and two and three-pointers. Stephen Clay did that shit four times, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

That is absolutely insane.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

Yeah, yeah. Um, so I mean, we are like like I it's not hyperbolic to say that we are the best three-point shooting team or the best three-point shooting like duo or trio since Stephen Clay. I think that's just true. Um yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

No, I think that's I think that's fair. Um also just real quick, because I doubt we'll talk about Bismack Biabo again. Um, if the Hornets are can win the championship, if the Spurs win the championship and Bismack gets a ring, gets to retire, it makes me pretty happy.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Can't believe he's been in the league for 15 years. That is crazy. He's not been good ever.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Nah, nah, no, no, no, no, come on. He was he was good with the Raptors.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

No, no, that for like two weeks. It was not long. He was good for a very short amount of time.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

He had what, like a 28 rebound game, yeah, and they were just like, all right, cool, man. Here's 65 million dollars.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Okay, uh, so on that same note of of rebound gods, uh, Tim, who do you have for the drum roll, please 2526 uh horny award show? We've been doing this for like six years, Tim. Who do you have for most improved player?

SPEAKER_01 14:34

All right, for most improved player. Meet me up. I went with Musa Diabate.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

That is also who I had. So the horny award uh goes to Musadia Bate. Tim, he has the best offensive rating in the entire NBA.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Absolutely like what is it, 140 points per possession essentially when he's on the court?

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Yeah, 139 uh points per 100 possessions when he is on the court. Um, sixth most offensive rebounds per game in the league. Uh finished the year with 98 dunks. That's 22, uh, 22nd in the league in dunks. Last year he was not as effective offensively. He's really kind of found a way to contribute a little bit more um and been more aggressive on that end of the court. Um yeah, yeah, he's gotta be the most improved player uh on this team.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah, because again, like we were we were fanboys last year, but it was kind of like, okay, well, how real is this? Um, and obviously, you know, some of it's like Lee's defense and the people around, but like, I mean, even like assist percentage going from 6% to 9%, turnover percentage going down in the same time, but like playing nine more minutes per game still went from 14.5% offensive rebounds to almost 15%. Like the fact that he could do that and actually maintain pretty much against most teams in the league. Um, I don't know, went from like, man, this is like an interesting contract, like player to like, okay, like pretty confident for the next two years.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Yeah, for sure, man. Yeah, I mean, and he he's also like the advanced stats, like darling of the entire NBA, basically because of that best offensive rating stat, which is just insane. Um, and that stat's like a little bit misleading. Um, you know, he is not the best offensive player in the NBA. It's that when he's on the court, he's on the court with Lamello Gotlin and Brandon Miller. Um, so that's that's what's going on there, but like it's still a crazy stat. It's still crazy that he's he's up there uh that high with that offensive rating. I mean, that's it's 20 points above our team.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah, it's also crazy because it's not like, oh, we know he had like that really crazy shooting month in like March, where like they it's like, no, and it's like, okay, well, is he like a great, he's a good role man, Ciscoy, but it's like he's not DeAndre Jordan, you know, like just creating so much space. I feel like just with the boxing out, I don't know. Every time in some of its shot selection, is it just the offensive remote? Either way, it's fantastic. Oh, and do have to give credit where credit's due. Um his shooting at the rim went up from 65% last year, which was 33rd percentile, up to 71, 63rd percentile. Pretty meaningful.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's I mean, yeah, I think he's gotten a lot better offensively this year. Um, and and like, shout out to a player that in his what fourth or fifth season, fourth season in the NBA, can improve like that. Um, it's it's not super common that you see that. For second for this award, um, I gave this to Brandon Miller. Uh because Tim, he he led the team in points per game, which is something that he had never done before. Uh, most efficient season he's ever had. First two seasons he went 55-54% true shooting this year. It's up to 57. Uh, he was ninth in the NBA in free throw percentage, and he set the Hornets franchise record for consecutive made free throws. Um, 10th in the NBA in three-pointers made per game. Again, shout out to us having just the Splash Brothers plus one with Brandon Miller. Um, and then he did something that is pretty remarkable. He made 75% of his shots from zero to three feet. You're just talking about Musa. Uh, Brandon Miller, extremely efficient at the rim. You know, like by comparison, Lamello made 58%. Lamello kind of sucks at the rim, but Brandon Miller, uh, best year by far, managed to stay healthy relatively. Um, and I think he just took a big step forward uh into becoming, you know, almost a lead guy, except we have this triumvirate of lead guys. Um, but yeah, shout out to Brandon Miller.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Wow. Mark, it's almost like we talk about the Hornets with each other every single day. Um, I also had Brandon Miller. I think it was the first stretch in his career. Um, and again, so much of it's so spotty with all the injuries we've had essentially since he joined the team. Um, I would say that was a solid, you know, two-week to like one month stretch where he's the best player on the team. Um, not the most important, but just when his shot is going in, he doesn't really take anything off the table. Um it's never like, oh man, Miller, he had seven turnovers that game. Even when he's shooting poorly, the shots that he misses, it's not like it leads to like fast breaks or anything. Um, what he does defensively, but yeah, I went from thinking like, okay, maybe he's really more of just like not too passive, but just worried about creation. And then the stretch in uh February, like March, I was like, wow, like maybe the Paul George stuff, which I never really like, I again always classify or up, just wanted to qualify, like post-injury Paul George, like not Indiana Paul George. Um but I kind of finally started to see it this year after all that, and also, I mean, what who else were we gonna give it to?

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Yeah, no, Brandon Miller was really the the person that that came to mind. Um, I mean, you could give it to you could give Lamello some love, you could give Miles Bridges some love, I think, as well. Um here. Can we? But yeah. Yeah, Brandon Miller. Brandon Miller takes the cake. All right, Tim, for best newcomer, uh, first place is is obvious. Um, I got I got I got con. Khan gets the horny for best newcomer. Um, I don't even think I need to hand it over to you to ask, but for number two, uh runner up for best newcomer, who'd you have?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I I honestly didn't even bother. There was I missing someone.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

I mean, there's Kobe White, there's Cockbrenner, there's uh there's Colin Sexton, you could say.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Um Kobe White didn't didn't feel didn't feel fair. It'd be Cockbrenner by default, just because I kind of like now enough time's passed, and the winning didn't really start to happen until after him. But like he's gonna finish top 15 in blocks this year.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Yeah, no, I have some cock stats. I also get I also gave it to Cockbrenner because Kobe White didn't play enough. Um, you know, for some reason I'm not like completely sold on him yet. That might just be some bias. Uh he's been pretty good for the past 10 games, but anyways, Coch Brenner, 10th in the NBA in blocks with 101 blocks. Um, of players that shot at least 202 pointers this season. He had the highest two-point percentage out of anybody. Um, so offensively, you know, he didn't even like qualify for like best field goal percentage stats because he didn't shoot enough. But, you know, he just was automatic around the rim. He took 76% of his shots from zero to three feet. Um, and yeah, he was good, man. And he doesn't get enough love. Uh, I'm I'm a big Cogbrenner stand on on this podcast because uh Moose came in and like kind of turned the turned this team around, or that's when the team started to to win games. But Coch Brenner's still been like really important. Um, the difference between Ryan Cochbrenner and like Mason Plumley this season off the bench is massive. Um, and he is a serviceable backup big, and for a rookie, he's been awesome.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Yeah, I think that I just have blinders on for him a little bit, but yeah, like when I was looking up the stats, I was like, okay, yeah, I kind of forgot how crazy he started off the year. Like, I mean, it's gonna, you know, still has a shot at all rookie second team.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

No, no, he I think he will get all rookies second team. And there's also this thing, you know, I was talking to my my friend Mike um yesterday. I mean, can you imagine a world where Cockbrenner develops a three-point shot? I mean, he was knocking him down in in the G League, or sorry, in the summer league, and in college he could shoot as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Yeah, I mean, I could see it being like one of those, like I mean, do you think he could ever average one and a half attempts per game?

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. Okay, all right. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

I've just uh, you know, just been a little scarred between, you know, Cody Taylor can actually shoot threes. Like Mark Williams, man, you see him in practice. But yeah, I guess it's fair. He did show a little more just based on Summer League.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Yeah, yeah, and I'm not saying he's some incredible center, but um, I mean, Musidi Abate is the best center we've had since we've been doing this podcast. Is Cock Brenner like second? I mean, is he like second or third?

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Oh my god. I mean, so let's let's just do let's run through it real quick. Uh Zeller, Bombo. The end of Zellar's Plumley, Zellar's. The end of Zellar. That's true. Zellar's last season. Uh Plumley, Biombo. PJ Washington Smallball 5. PJ Washington was cooking a small ball five that one year, but doesn't really count. Um, yeah, I guess I guess it would be Cockbrenner. You know how I feel um about our other second round pick, who I'm a little higher on, but like I guess objectively it would it would be Cockbrenner. Um and I guess in a season where we didn't turn into the best team in the league for like a month and a half, he would be a bigger highlight and overshadowed by Kong. And I guess like I'm curious, you know, because like I'm not like age-shaming, I'm older than he is, but like I guess in my head, I'm just like, okay, well, this is like what it is, but I guess that's not fair.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

No, yeah. I mean, he has he's a rookie, he has room to improve. Um, I'm and that's where I was getting what I was getting at with this three-point shot thing. Um, I mean, he can still add some muscle. Um, he can still be, I mean, a lot better uh of a player than he already is. And I mean, he's got serious size, man. Uh, he he does do a good job of defending that paint for us. We've not had a rim protector like him like ever.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

I mean, like is he the best actual rim rim protector we've had since Theo Ratliff?

SPEAKER_03 25:50

I I can't answer that question.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Yeah, and you know, like I I really now I'm now I'm recognizing my bias because yeah, I do just have it like Cockbrenner, like, yeah, like you know, he did that, but like even at the heat game, he had like three monster blocks, and I was like, get Musa on the floor.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

No, that's what I'm saying, man. Okay, but we we gotta move on, but but that's what I'm saying is that like so Musa, Musa came to the starting lineup, um, and the team started getting really good. But but the other things that happened around that time is the team started getting healthy. Like it it is Musa being amazing, but it's also the team getting healthy, and you know, the team starting to gel together uh with and without Musa. So um I think Cock gets a little bit of a bad reputation because his record as the starter is not nearly as good as Musa's, but I mean he's playing in every game, like he's playing like 20 minutes in every game. He's he's out there and he's got a good uh good advanced stats, just like the re everybody else. So uh some love for Ryan Cochbrenner.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

If he was on the Grizzlies like three years ago, people like they did it again. Another great guy. Um but counterpoint to that Moose Talk uh Ryan Cochbrenner's not the best offensive player in the league, and Moose is yeah, that's facts. I consider that yeah, we've talked enough con.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

We're gonna get uh dark here. Um who do you have for most heartbreaking?

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Woo. Oh, one more time for old time's sake. Should we talk about Trey Man?

SPEAKER_03 27:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Um, so he on this team, and it's not like again, like the minutes are not super high, but it's like games played like a sturdy enough sample size. He's a negative 18 on off, which like that's twice as bad as Lamello is good. If Melo plays 20 minutes and Trey Man plays 10, we're net neutral.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

Yeah, that is uh insane, Tim. I have a stat for you. This year he played in 53 games and has 0.0 win shares. Last year he played in 13 games and he still got 0.1. This year he played in 53, he got zero. Um, feel bad for him. This was the first year for him of a three-year$24 million deal, uh, which is tough for the Hornets. And it's just clear that his back is not correct. Um, but like from the outside looking in, it looks like some space jam type shit. I mean, he shot 36% from the field. Uh his first year in Charlotte, he was at 45%. He also had the most turnovers per 36 minutes of his career. Like, everything went wrong for him, and he was one of my favorite players on the team. Um, and it just kind of sucks to see him uh not get to be a part of this of this team.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Yeah, a team that is just kind of the epitome of like good vibes, man, everything coming up green in Charlotte, and you check Trey Man, and it's like the highest percentile of any shot data he has is 30th percentile, and that's for long mid-range shots, and it's 33 percent. And it's like I feel bad for the guy because he kind of gave us some hope when things were so dire and so boring on these injured teams, and now he is just so clearly the odd man out, and I hope that he turns it around somewhere, but like I don't know how many injuries it would take for him to ever get like normal minutes here again.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Yeah, I agree, I agree. I mean, we have other players in line to to kind of get more minutes than him. Um, runner up, I have I have Salon here. Uh year two for a player who's sixth overall pick, and there's three rookies getting real minutes, and he can't find a consistent spot in the rotation. Um, and you know, I brought this up previously. Next year, we have team option for for his fourth year. So he'll play, he'll be on the team next year, but we have team option to pick up his fourth year. I don't think that's getting picked up. It's gonna be like$10 million, and he is not gonna get that. Um, and he'll be, you know, maybe some other team will find room for him and like a two-way or something, but but he'll be out of the league uh after three years.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

That's my prediction. And okay. I mean, I also I also had him here, but I guess it's just been out of sight, out of mind so long. And like you'll catch some of those G League highlights, and you're like, Well, I know this isn't real, but this at least looks better than anytime he's up in the big leagues. You're kind of like, This is the worst basketball player I've ever seen. Um, and I'll still just stand by it. He's got the same measurables as PJ Washington.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

Yo, he's shooting like 43% from three somehow. Like, I don't understand that. Um, it's it's fake.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

I do, I you know, like I keep saying that, but like, I don't know. The shot looks better when you see it in the G League, but I don't know. Like, I've been fooled by Michael Kidd Gilkirst jump shot progression in you know, preseason before. Um, I'm pretty interested to see what happens with our four spot this offseason, and I feel like that'll be pretty telling for T John. Like, because it seems like something we should definitely try to improve. And I feel like if they don't make any like big swing towards that or like anything with Miles, I guess it would be a vote of confidence for T John. But man, you really think it'd be straight to two-way for him. I mean, I guess so. He is terrible.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he does. And I mean, we have both Miles and Grant on the books for next season. Um, so I mean we're gonna have to we're gonna have to like extend uh sign one of them uh for the following season, the 27-28 season. But yeah, I think like the Hornets are like drafting a four this this uh this summer. And I mean we haven't even talked about the draft at all because this team's been so awesome, Tim. But yeah, I think they're gonna draft a four. Um and I mean I could be wrong. Maybe, maybe you know, we're actually putting him in the G League to develop, but uh yeah, I don't I don't foresee a long future for T John.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Um there Hornet fans still, and again, when I say Hornet fans, I mean nerds on the internet will still really like vehemently defend this guy. And I just feel like there's something I'm missing.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

Um I know he's not missing anything. You're not missing anything.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Yeah, I don't know. He just kind of seems to have like the worst footwork and defensive positioning like of all time.

unknown 32:59

So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

But yeah, the he's another he's a benefit, uh beneficiary of like vibes being so good, we completely wasted the sixth pick, and no one seems to care.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

Yeah, for sure. Um all right, Tim. Let's get into the the most important award here. Uh we might have we might have a difference of opinion here. We're gonna see. MVP. All right.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

I feel like you can make a cheeky case for someone else. But this is our guy, our day one. It's LaMelo Ball.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

That's also who I have, Tim. Uh I got I got a ton of Lamello stats for us. So LaMelo played in 72 games this season, second in the league in three-pointers made, 10th in the league in box plus minus. He's shooting 37% on threes while taking the most three-pointers per 36 minutes of anybody in the entire NBA. So he's shooting the most threes per minute of anybody. Um, and he's third in the league in assist percentage. And this is what I really want to highlight. Um, he's got a 42.7% assist percentage. What that means is that when the team makes a field goal, when Lamello's on the court, 42.7% of the time, it's an assist from Lamello. Um, and that's just crazy. Like half the time when Lamelo's on the court, the when we make a shot, it's a Lamello assist. Um, the only two players ahead of him are Jokic and Cade. Kate is like a nut notch, uh, a notch ahead of him. I'm looking for the right word there. Uh, and then Jokic is at 50%, which is just like crazy.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Wow. That is crazy for me, Jokic. Um, yeah, absolutely. And I and again, you know, there's there's so much mellow conversation to be had. I feel like this is the first year, and again, just because we were all healthy and firing, like the team is melded in his image, and it's not like he's Chris Paul, where like, okay, you know what a Chris Paul offense looks like, but I think this is the start of what we know a LaMelo offense looks like. Like the team, it's high volume threes, low free throw rate, and it just doesn't really matter. And it's not like some crazy, like, oh, we're just fast breaking, we're pushing down everyone's necks. Like, no, like LaMelo has this half-court identity now. Um, I mean, and even like go back to his rookie year, and people still say, oh man, he just wheels and deals too much, a little carefree with the ball. So when he was on the court as a rookie, it was plus two turnover uh percentage, which was 20th percentile. Now it's negative 2.7, 97th percentile in the league. Like when Lamello's on the court, Lamello will turn it over, but other people aren't. Like, it's a pretty tight drum of an offense now with this guy.

SPEAKER_03 36:04

Dave, that's a really good stat. Uh, that's a really good stat to pull out there, Tim. Uh, I I know you got that subscription. What's that called again? Uh cleaning the glass. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you told me, you told me that you got that. Uh, I gotta get the login info. Um that's that's a good stat right there. Um, it shows how this offense has just progressed. And you know, like we're hard on him too. Uh but he is the best player on the team. Um, and he was the best player this season. You know, the last episode we recorded was, you know, too much is there too much Lonello? And he can shoot the ball too much sometimes and he can do dumb shit. But you know what outweighs that? Like having the best Hornets offense of all time by five points per 100 possessions, like I said at the top of the podcast. So uh yeah, he's awesome. He's so fun to watch. Um, we'll see how he does in this clutch moment. You know, it's coming up. Uh, Miami, and then maybe we'll play Orlando or the 76ers. We're gonna see how Lamello handles these moments. That's really important for defining a player. But this regular season, he has been amazing.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Yeah, not to sound like Colin Coward, but like now, like when you close your eyes, like you can picture what a half-court offense with LaMelo looks like. Like, you know, it's gonna be like some, obviously, like the flare screens that they love to do. You can see him like over-dribbling to start, but like it doesn't seem to bother any of the players, any other players, one iota, because the team shoots four and a half percent better from three when he's on the court. Team effective field goal percentage plus five when he's on the court. They're 12.7 points better per hundred with him. Moose is second with 9.5. Obviously, they're pretty tight at the hip. And among starters, Miller is third with plus three and a half. Like, Lamello is the engine that makes this possible. And it's been beautiful to see after, you know, this long it finally come to fruition. And like, yeah, like the guy's a menace in the half court now. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

For sure, man. Yeah, I mean, it's the threes, it's the lobs, it's the it's the insane passes. Um, yeah, super fun team. So, number two, who'd you have? This is maybe more interesting.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Uh, I had con number two.

SPEAKER_03 38:23

I I also did, and and honestly, this is why I gave Brandon Miller some love for most improved player, the second one, because he can feel like the odd man left out. Like it's a people are like, oh, the duo of Lamello and Khan Knipple. It's really a three-headed monster, it's really a big three, but yeah, it is it is Lamello one, con two, miller three at the moment. Um, and con led the team in win shares with eight, uh, which by the way is the most by any Hornet since the 2017-18 season with Kemba Walker. Uh, only other player in Horncats history to have more than eight is Gerald Wallace. So uh that's rare air for the Hornets right there. Gerald Wallace, Kemba Walker, Khan Knipple. Those are that's some big names. Uh top 25 in the NBA in points this season. That's more points than Cooper Flag, by the way. Uh leading the NBA in three-pointers made while being 11th in the NBA in three-pointers attempted per game. Um and one more stat for you, Tim. Here's the list of players who shot more times per game than Khan and had a higher true shooting percentage. Jokic, SGA, Giannis, Jimmy Butler, KD, Stephen Curry. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

And so, and yeah, so what? Butler, Giannis, and Curry didn't play full seasons. That's insane.

SPEAKER_03 39:44

For sure. There were 35 players that shot more than Khan but scored less efficiently. Cooper Flag uh scored a lot less efficiently and shot more than Khan, for example. Um, but yeah, there are a ton of other players you can think of, like Anthony Edwards, like pretty much any other good player you can think of, shot more than than Khan and uh scored less efficiently.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Yeah, it's um, you know, just because with rookies, you assume even with like an insane rookie year like Khan, you're like, well, you know, just advanced stats just generally aren't that con. Then you're like a three and a half offensive box plus minus, like, whoa, like that's like major stuff. Yeah, like tied with the wind shares. The win shares is insane. Um, but yeah, I don't know. Like, I feel pretty confident if Khan is our best player in a game, I know that we can win it. Um, you know, like if Mello's having an off night, Miller, um yeah, it's really been a uh it's a revelation. Definitely a distant second, but like enough that, you know, he qualifies for the ballad.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Yeah, for sure. And and I mean, I I think one, two, and three are like pretty close. Uh, I I mean, I agree that it was clear cut, Lamello, Khan, then Brandon, but really the margins here are pretty small. Like if Khan had played 65 games and Miller had played 81, would it be flipped? Probably.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Yeah, and also, I mean, let's say that Khan kind of carried over starting at that Knicks game and just went on a tear, could have taken the number one spot, slumped at the wrong time, not getting his first horny award.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Yeah, that's I mean, he he he already got one. Yeah, he already got one.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

But the MVP's the MVP's the one that people really care about. That's why they get out there and play.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

I mean, I some people care about the most heartbreaking the most. We've had some highlights there.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Trey Mann came in locked in this season.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

He had it locked up after 20 games, dude.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

He was like 18 footer. Yes for Mark.

SPEAKER_03 41:48

Charles Charles Lee puts him at the end of games just for us, dude. Uh I'm dead. All right. Uh, last horny best moment, Tim. What do you have?

SPEAKER_01 42:01

All right. Well, I wanna you go first. You go first.

SPEAKER_03 42:07

Okay, okay, okay. All right, so Tim, we had a nine-game win streak. Uh, but then we went on a one and three stretch after that, uh where the suspensions happened and all that. Um, and then we went on a five-game winning streak. And so, like, you know, there's some questions in my head going around. I was like, all right, was that nine-game win streak just like kind of a you know, a blip? But then we went on a five-game winning streak, but we were beating some pretty easy teams, like the Wizards and maybe the Pacers, I don't remember exactly. And we had this game kind of circled on the calendar against the Boston Celtics. And what did we do? We beat the shit out of them. We beat them by 29 points. Uh Lamello was hitting like 40-foot stepbacks on Jalen Brown. Uh, Musa was dominant. We destroyed the Celtics. And for me, like to quote Kevin Garnett, I was like, anything is possible. This team could win the finals. After that game, uh I felt I felt just so good.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Yeah, that was that was one of my three honorable mentions.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

Okay, okay. What's your what's your top moment?

SPEAKER_01 43:23

So I'm gonna stand by what I said the other week, and I went through the entire schedule, fine tooth comb. Um I'm still going with that next game. That was our fifth win in a row. We had the sixth seed coming up against the Sixers the next two, two days later, three days later. Um, and it was a close game. Because the Celtics game, so my other my honorable mentions were Celtics blowing the doors off OKC, blowing the doors off Denver. But some of that just seemed like, okay, like, are these teams like sleepy? Are we just getting like really hot? Like, you know, is this just like I don't like lucky stuff. And the Knicks game, I was like, we see them in the first round. Like, this team's ready for the playoffs right now. Like it was a homestand. That's again, I stand by it. That's my that's my favorite game that's happened at Spectrum Center.

SPEAKER_03 44:14

Yeah, I like that one too. And I mean, it's like the Knicks were giving us their best effort. The Celtics didn't have to eat them, so I understand what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Yeah, and it just seemed like, you know, the game, it's not that the game was over against Celtics so soon, but like we definitely were texting, and I was like, we could make the finals.

SPEAKER_03 44:29

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

So that probably was the actual, like, as far as euphoria goes, that'd be number one.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I think another honorable mention for me was that Spurs win. Because, like, in that streak, right? Like, it felt like that. That was another game where you had circled, like, this is when the streak is probably gonna end. And it didn't, and that like kept on happening, right? Like the Celtics game is another example where you have this game circle, like, all right, like we're probably not gonna beat the Rockets, right? And then we did. Uh, and we just kept it rolling. Um, but yeah, the Spurs game for me, that was the first one of those where I was like, holy shit, like this team's for real.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Yeah, no, that uh that's a good one. I mean, what a what an exciting season to have, you know, that is like you know, number four, number five. Like be number one most years.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

For sure. I also had one more honorable mention. Um, just gonna throw this in there as the as the last you know, sort of F your rookie moment. Um, the uh one of the best moments of the season was with the um Mavericks uh up by one. Uh and uh Cooper Flag makes a bad pass, Khan Knipple steals it, uh taps it, grabs it, goes down to the other end, gets fouled, makes two free throws, wins the game for the Hornets, uh, locking in the Rookie of the Year award.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Yeah, I do uh I was a little nervous. I was sending you the stuff and I was like, man, the Vegas books will come out. And uh I gotta give a big shout out to the GOAT Brian Winhorst for going out there and being like, yeah, I mean, this Cooper Flag stuff doesn't really matter. It's like they're feeding him the ball like he's bam out of bio against Washington. And I was like, ah, a couple media members have come out. Now it looks like Khan should be good to go after a little dicey run there for like five days where Cooper Flag was putting up garbage time numbers.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

No, it flipped back, yeah. I mean Cooper's Cooper's actually favored right now, but but um I mean we're gonna see how that see how that turns out, and we'll we'll react one way or another uh when that when that award does get announced. I mean, I really think it could go either way. I think it's just a a a coin flip at this this point. You know where we stand. Um when one player is shooting you know 43% on threes and the other one's shooting like 30%.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

I don't think it's really that put the defense, dude. But the defense. Um yeah, annoying. Oh, also last honorable mention, uh, the Milwaukee game early in the season when Khan just kind of went ballistic. That was like the first time where I was like, okay, is this guy actually like really, really good? Um it was just a little moment of euphoria, just talking about close games and all that jazz.

SPEAKER_03 47:24

Yeah, I barely even remember that game. Uh, so yeah, that's a that's a good one. That's a strong pull. Um, okay, the uh you know, listener's favorite award. Tim, I'm gonna uh I'm gonna let you have this one because I kind of wish that it didn't even make an appearance here. Uh, media corner of the year. What do you have?

SPEAKER_01 47:46

All right, so I shouted out uh Yi Yee earlier. Um, I'm actually just gonna go with Edward Yang, the director of that film, for kind of having one of the craziest three movie runs of all time with Taipei Story, Brighter Summer Day into Yi Yee before his untimely passing. If you are ever on the fence about like what is the reason to watch like foreign movies, you gotta put your phone down, stupid, uh, they're boring. Watch Taipei Story and get back to me. It's a movie that is so beautiful about a somewhat innocuous year in someone's life that you are like locked in with every scene, and you're also like, I cannot wait for what this transition cut is gonna look like. Um I would just I'd recommend it's pretty easy viewing. Um, I believe it's available to stream some places. Hit me up if you need a link, if it's not. Um, but yeah, it's it's Edward Yang, someone that was taken too soon, but I think is one of just the most um humanist filmmakers that you can ever see. And there's a lot of style to it that's understated, and I would always recommend that as like a good entry point if you're looking to get into non-English cinema. They're not pretentious movies, they're just salt of the earth people. So, Edward Yang, God bless.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

All right, Tim. Uh, I'm kind of doing mine off the cuff here as I always do for Media Quarter. I'm just gonna go with the best concert I went to in the past calendar or the past year. Uh, Wolf Alice.

unknown 49:32

Really?

SPEAKER_03 49:34

Yes. They ripped. Uh they ripped. They're in Austin, Austin, Texas. Uh, I went there with my friend and a date, uh, and it was an awesome concert. Um, live. Their most recent album is probably not my favorite. The the previous album is better. Uh, but they have like a wide range from like angelic type music and like slow songs that make you want to cry to just like punk rock. Um and yeah, it was awesome. So my the date that I was with said it was like a six out of ten concert, and yeah, that's that's when I knew uh that that was not gonna last very long. Uh, and I was correct. So uh yeah, Wolf Alice just out here clarifying relationships.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Wow, Mark. You know, just what I think I got you figured out. You drop that high quality stuff. Um, do we we we got time for more media corner mark?

SPEAKER_03 50:36

No, no, no, no, no, we don't, dude.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

This is a lot of podcasts. Now the people want to hear the updated 1975 takes, Mark. We'll do that. We'll do that next week. We got time.

SPEAKER_03 50:48

Yeah, I mean, we have uh another live emergency podcast coming after this win tomorrow night.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

So uh yeah. The first in-person pod since we drafted Jalen Dern. Yeah, we're recording from parking lot.

SPEAKER_03 51:01

Um, all right. If you've enjoyed the show, please uh do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify. Tell a friend about the show. Um, those are the ways to support the show. We'll really appreciate it if you could do either one of those two things.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Yeah, absolutely. Take your friend's phone, add the podcast, add a review. Um do your part.

SPEAKER_03 51:25

Do your part. Well, where's your play it from a speaker in the park? We gotta do that too, right?

SPEAKER_01 51:32

Well, that's understood. All of our listeners already know that. I'm adding new instructions by the week. Write your Congress people. Yeah, do what you can. Get the word out there. Also, watch Edward Yang. Watch, watch all of his films. Internet Archive if you can't.

SPEAKER_03 51:47

Sorry, Tim, it's been real. Uh, I will see you in twenty-three hours.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

See you in twenty-three hours. You be safe out there, looker mark. Peace. Peace.