HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto and Hornets beat writer Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer discuss two of the biggest storylines this offseason, the free agency of Miles Bridges and the trade market for Gordon Hayward. The duo also discussed the latest on Charlotte’s coaching search and free agency for Montrezl Harrell, Cody Martin and Isaiah Thomas on the latest edition of the HoopsHype podcast.
For more interviews with players, coaches, and media members, be sure to like and subscribe to the HoopsHype podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. Listen to the podcast above or check out some snippets of the conversation in a transcribed version below.
The Play-In is fun but it’s fertile ground for disaster.
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What’s good, party people? It’s Sykes here to usher you into tonight’s NBA Play-In action. Speaking of the Play-In, a quick word on that.
This little tournament the NBA has put together for its bottom four playoff seeds is pretty fun — I have to admit that. Tuesday’s action with the Timberwolves and Clippers was particularly exhilarating.
But…I’m also not the biggest fan of the Play-In. Now, look. I’m sure this comes off as a bit of hate. But I have good reason, though!
The league is lowering its playoff standard while it punishes teams in the 7 and 8 slots. Imagine a world where the Timberwolves as a 7 seed don’t make the playoffs because they couldn’t win a Play-In game due to some unforeseen circumstance. At 46-36 they’d be 12 games better than the Spurs as the 10 seed and out of the postseason completely. Make that make sense.
That’s going to happen someday. A star player will get injured or a team will just go ridiculous cold in the last week of the season and they’ll lose out. It won’t make sense but it’s Play-In chaos, baby. That’s what y’all want.
Look, I get it. This is fun. It’s NBA-style March Madness and this is what everyone loves to see. But this isn’t how you determine the NBA’s best teams.
The Play-In is here to stay because y’all love it so much. But don’t be mad when your favorite team falls victim to the chaos. Because it’s bound to happen at one point or another.
Anyway, let’s jump in.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
It was really like they won a title. Especially for Beverley as my colleague Charles Curtis writes.
“He celebrated by tossing his jersey. He talked a lot of trash in the postgame press conference. He got on a live social media feed and said some more wild stuff.”
Beverley had real tears in his eyes after beating his old team. Anthony Edwards jumped up on the scorer’s table with his point guard. Karl-Anthony Towns had a celebratory kiss on the sidelines with his boo, Jordyn Woods. These dudes were happy.
Honestly? I can’t really blame them. This is their second postseason appearance since 2004. Let them go crazy — even if it’s just for one night. They deserve at least that.
Hawks (-5.5, -230) vs. Hornets (+180), O/U 234.5, 7 PM ET
Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
For a 9 seed vs. 10 seed matchup, this sure is an exciting game. You’ve got Trae Young going head to head against LaMelo Ball. Their season series is tied 2-2 with each team taking one on the road. The key here is the Hornets defense on Trae Young, who they’ve guarded exceptionally well this season. He’s only shooting 38% from the field against Charlotte.
I think the Hawks win outright at home. But I think it’ll be close so I’m taking the Hornets +5.5.
Who’s in and out?
Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
—Pelicans: Brandon Ingram (hamstring) is probable for the Pelicans’ Play-In matchup against the Spurs on Wednesday.
—Pelicans: As expected, Zion Williamson (foot) is still listed as out for New Orleans.
—Hornets: Gordon Hayward (ankle) remains out for the Hornets.
—Hawks: John Collins(foot) has also been ruled out for Atlanta.
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This is my favorite explanation of plus/minus yet.
On the night where he scored his 28,000th point in the NBA, Carmelo Anthony made a huge difference for the Lakers.
They were down big to the Hornets early but nearly completed a 4th quarter comeback and that obviously ticked Michael Jordan off to the point where he became the NBA’s latest meme.
The key to the Lakers’ comeback, though, was the play of Carmelo Anthony. In a game the Lakers lost by 3 points, Anthony was a +20 coming off of the bench. He scored 19 points on 12 shots and got to the free throw line 7 times. Without his performance, they don’t have a shot at winning the game.
Anthony was asked about this in the postgame press conference. Specifically, he was asked if he’d seen how well he performed in the plus/minus category.
His answer was…he didn’t even really know what plus/minus was. He just knew minus was bad.
“I don’t even know what that is. It is what it is. You know minus is bad…I know minus is bad”
That’s a hilarious explanation because it’s pretty spot-on and endearing.
Single-game plus/minus can be really weird. It’s not always the perfect indicator of anything — a player can contribute almost nothing but be a positive in the box score because the rest of their team performed well.
Anthony checked both boxes there and gave the Lakers a great game. And a hilarious press conference at the end. Good on Melo for that.
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Definitivamente LaMelo Ball es una de las mentes más creativas que verán en la cancha de basquetbol. A veces parece que la mitad de las cosas que hace las hace con su estilo propio, sin seguir reglas. Todo el tiempo hace los pases, los tiros y el …
Definitivamente LaMelo Ball es una de las mentes más creativas que verán en la cancha de basquetbol.
A veces parece que la mitad de las cosas que hace las hace con su estilo propio, sin seguir reglas. Todo el tiempo hace los pases, los tiros y el dribleo de forma realmente divertida. Pero el viernes en el juego contra los Orlando Magic sacó sus mejores trucos para sorprender a los fans y nos dio un espectáculo maravilloso.
Se robó el balón en un contraataque y corrió hacia la canasta con Miles Bridges pisándole los talones. De repente saltó hacia arriba, se pasó el balón entre las piernas y le lanzó el balón a Bridges, quién anotó con una clavada.
Si esto te parece conocido, está bien; deberías reconocerlo. Este es justo el mismo pase que Jamal Crawford le lanzó a Blake Griffin hace muchos años en su época con los Clippers.
LaMelo Ball put on a show against the Orlando Magic.
LaMelo Ball is absolutely one of the most creative minds you’ll ever see touch a basketball court.
Half the stuff he does, it just feels like he’s freestyling it. The passes, the shots, the dribble moves. It’s all just so incredibly fun all the time. But on Friday against the Orlando Magic he went deep into his bag to wow fans. Ball put on an absolute show.
He got the ball on a fastbreak with Miles Bridges trailing behind him on the play. All of a sudden he leaps up, brings the ball through his legs and lofts it up for Bridges to slam home.
If this looks familiar to you, it should. This is the very same sort of pass Jamal Crawford threw to Blake Griffin years ago during their Clippers’ days.
In September of 2020, HoopsHype polled 15 NBA talent evaluators and asked them to rank their top five Under 25 players to build around. We have repeated the exercise with 17 NBA executives this time. There was no change at No. 1, but quite a few after that.
Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic remains the first choice, though he’s no longer the consensus pick after a somewhat disappointing first half of the season in which he’s still playing himself into shape.
Boston’s Jayson Tatum barely retains No. 2 with half the share of the vote of last season while Ja Morant moves up to No. 3.
LaMelo Ball and Trae Young went from no votes to cracking the top five.
In our scoring system, the top player received 10 points, the second received seven points, the third received five points, the fourth received three points, and the fifth player received one point for each ballot.
With the NBA season more than a quarter of the way complete, teams are finally starting to understand their rosters and if changes are required. There hasn’t been a trade in two months but discussions should begin to pick up soon as most players that were free agents in the offseason will become trade-eligible on December 15. The trade deadline is also two months away, so transactions should start occurring soon. Here are some players that are set to become eligible next week:
Before the clock hit zero in the third quarter, Warriors guard Steph Curry banked in a deep buzzer-beater against the Hornets.
Before the end of the third quarter, the Charlotte Hornets and Golden State Warriors traded big shots in a fiery sequence as seconds ticked off the clock.
With just over 30 seconds left in the frame, Terry Rozier knocked down a triple to cut Golden State’s lead to one point. Former Warrior Kelly Oubre Jr. followed his teammate with another clutch 3-pointer to give the Hornets a two-point lead with just five seconds remaining on the clock. However, it was enough time for the Warriors to put the ball in the hands of Steph Curry.
As the final seconds flew off the clock, Curry launched a deep jumper from around 40 feet from the bucket. The two-time Most Valuable Player was able to bank the shot in as the third quarter came to an end. Behind Curry’s buzzer-beater bank shot, the Warriors carried a one-point advantage heading into the final 12 minutes of the contest.
Despite Curry’s clutch jumper in the third quarter, the Hornets had the final say, winning the game 106-102 in a thriller in Charlotte. Curry finished the contest with 24 points on 7-of-22 shooting from the field with 10 assists, six rebounds and three steals in 36 minutes.
Curry and the Warriors will be back on the court on Tuesday against former Warriors Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets.
After ending their five-game skid just three nights ago, the Charlotte Hornets began a new streak by picking up their second win in as many games. The Hornets returned home with a 104-96 win over the Knicks in one of their best defensive performances of the young season.
The night started with a Knicks blitz, as New York won the first quarter 34-18. Kemba Walker was sizzling from distance, and the hornets struggled mightily on the offensive end early.
The game began to turn near the end of the half, as the Hornets finished the first half on a 6-1 mini-run to cut the deficit to 55-46 at the break. Charlotte carried over their end of the half spurt to the second half, as the Hornets put together yet another dominant third quarter.
Charlotte outscored New York 34-21 in the period, led by Gordon Hayward scoring the first 5 points of the quarter and Terry Rozier catching fire in the middle of the period.
After the Knicks made a comeback effort of their own to take a 93-91 lead with just over five minutes left, Charlotte scored 7 unanswered points behind Miles Bridges and Kelly Oubre Jr. to put the game away.
Up next for the Hornets is a litmus test matchup as the Warriors come to town on Sunday evening.
Check out the individual player grades from Friday night’s victory below:
Man. Miles Bridges and Obi Toppin really gave us a show in Charlotte on Friday night.
The two really exchanged windmill dunks in the middle of a game. No, you didn’t read that wrong. Windmill dunks, y’all. MID-GAME WINDMILL DUNKS. That is just unthinkable.
So Toppin got the ball on the break and knew exactly what to do with it. With no one around him, he leaped up and gave us a ferocious windmill. It didn’t even look like the ball made it through the rim initially. The dunk was amazing. Of course, the Hornets had to call a timeout.
But, clearly, that was only because they needed to let Miles Bridges know it was time for him to give a windmill right back. So he got the ball on the break and did what needed to be done.
Miles Bridges said the crowd got him going. Specifically Knicks fans. "Being in your home arena and having people cheer for the other team, it's definitely not a good feeling."
He also said once Obi Toppin did his dunk he knew what he was going to do when he had his chance. pic.twitter.com/BOvK4s2xKd
