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Yes it does. It's the drive right here on WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad. I'm will don. Also known as the W D. And I'm getting cozied up in my chair again here.

Getting warmed up. Getting fired up, quite frankly, because we got such a nice buffet. Such a nice Plethora. of things to talk about today.

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Watch the stream. If you're not driving, that is. Don't you do anything stupid? Wherever you're listening, WSJS.com, whatever dial you're listening to in that car. We appreciate it.

We really do. Because we got basketball. We got football. We got baseball.

Some bad baseball to talk about. Looking at you, New York Mets. Or New York Mess. I should say. But let's start with Carolina.

Let's start with the tar heels. Because I tried to tell you last week. I tried to tell you, did you listen? I hope so. And what I tried to tell you is to relax.

to chill out. sip on some latte or something. Just relax because a lot of people were concerned. Hey. We only have one transfer portal signing so far.

That... Nicholas Abdallah's guy nailed it. Virginia Tech. The 6'9 Hokey transfer. who can pass pretty well, so I hear.

And A lot of people were concerned about this. But then, when you looked around, Kansas, they only had one. Tennessee. Mich like Michigan. The Tennessee transfer.

Ailey had one, Yukon won, Duke at the time had none. They changed that up yesterday. We'll get to that a little later on.

So I just tell you, just relax. Dylan Mingo. Carolina parting ways with him. Just relax. It's gonna be all right.

Just give it a minute. A lot of things moving here for players, coaches. Is there going to be a fifth year? I don't know.

Sounds like it, but we'll see. And yesterday We had some movement. Quite a bit of movement in Chapel Hill. Terrence Brown. Committing from Utah.

Matt Abel. Committing from NC State, we had to get one of Will Wade's favorites. Carolina had to do that. And Maxime Logie. From FAU, Florida Atlantic guy.

Let's start right at the top. Terrence Brown. He seemed like a guy that was gonna Be common. He had his official visit last Monday. And Look pretty good like All the reports.

Of people covering Carolina the closest.

Sounded like Carolina was a little surprised they didn't get a verbal from him that day, but he still had a. a visit to Kansas and Kentucky. Uh Terrence Brown had a death in his family, so He shut things down a little prematurely. I don't think he ever went on that Kentucky visit. I think that's right.

And he took a little time away to kind of. Handle those types of things. And then he put a post out on his social media, on his Instagram story, I think it was, a couple of nights ago, the night before last night. Or where he committed, saying, appreciate the time, appreciate the thoughts and the prayers and all that.

Now let's get going. And then that essentially was like, all right, he's going to be doing something the next day, which was yesterday. Committing to Carolina. He is more of a combo guard. He's more of a score type.

He's not a pure point guard. About a 20-point per game guy, 19.9 per game, I think it was last year at Utah. And this is a Roy Williams run and gun type of guy.

So Carolina fans should be excited about that. He's 6'1, he's tough, and he was an all Big 12 honorable mention this past year and is probably going to slide right into that Seth Trimble spot. and fill in that that hole. Then Matt Abel. From NC State.

Dropped some buckets on Carolina this year without Caleb Wilson and Henry Vessnar. Got to point that out. But he did drop some buckets on Carolina this year. And when you look at this, This was one of the guys that NC State probably Him and Paul McNeil in C-State probably really hated to lose. And now this is somebody that Carolina, you get this trio of Terrence Brown, Nicola Abdullah, and Matt Abel?

as a perimeter trio. Because Abdullah's All the reports, like he passes the ball very well. That's his kind of specialty or one of them. And then Terrence Brown, he can really get to the cup. And then you got Mad Ape.

Like, there's going to be a lot of... Uh catch and shoot. Opportunities here. That's what we're looking at. And so that's a nice pickup.

And then Maxime Logie out of FAU, 6'9, 232 pounds, 7'4 wingspan. This dude's girthy. He's thick. And He can bang it down low. He can slam it.

Big lob threat type.

Now he's not going to be a starter. But Uh He's going to be a real physical presence coming off the bench and add some depth. Inside there.

So now. What are we waiting for? This probably means Juke Harris isn't coming. I would like to, you know, there's only, unlike baseball, we got only so much money to go around here. Just so much.

Morgan, how do you feel about Jew Carris coming to Michigan? I feel better now. Do you? I do a little bit. I mean, UNC, I would assume, is out of the picture.

Um with these two guards coming in. Yeah. I don't know.

It's split between Michigan and Tennessee pretty well. If I was him, I'd probably lean to Tennessee. Probably have more star option at Tennessee than you would at Michigan. Tennessee fans might have some something to say to Michigan fans. They might just have because the thing is, is I don't know.

I I I'm feeling like Tennessee's gonna get him. I'm feeling like they're going to get him.

Now, there was the commitment of Terrence Hill Jr. Um the over the weekend from VCU And a lot of people thought, oh, well, there goes Jew carrots. I don't think so. I got a feeling. I just got a feeling.

Got a feeling you might pair him up with you, Karis. We'll keep an eye on that. But what you're really waiting for now. If you're Carolina. What's Henry Vassar going to do?

What's he going to do? He's looking into it. Has he declared for the NBA draft or is he just going through the evaluations? I think he's testing the waters. If he has until May 28th or 27th, Remove his name if he does, but it's important to know he didn't enter the portal, and that's closed.

Portals closed.

So If you hm. with all the additions yesterday. And Jaron Stevenson coming back. If you get Henry Vesark back, which... Me thinks that's going to happen.

If I had to go to the window right now and bet on this, I think Henry Vesar comes back. I think the thought of playing for the same coach that coached Jokic. And won an NBA title just a couple of years ago, and that's somewhere where Henry Vesta would like to get to. I think he likes the I I I would like to think he would jump at the opportunity, for the right price, to play For Michael Malone next year. And if he does that, in this lineup that they're forming here.

Who money? Carolina is going to be looking a lot different next year. Chapel Hill is going to have a bit of a different feel.

Next year, I mean like if Vesar comes back and plays under Michael Malone, I think there's a good chance you're looking at him being one of the best big men in the country, if not the best, depending on how things shake out. And Carolina, if they get him back with what they've assembled here. You're talking like It's not out of the question to start talking about them. about as being one of the best teams in the country in that mix. You can't rule that out.

It might be a little premature. But you can't rule it out.

So Carolina They got busy yesterday in a big way. I told you to chill out. I hope you did, because now you're Reaping the benefits of that. 336-777-1600.

So number to call, how do you feel? About a starting lineup that consists. If you're a Carolina fan, I want to hear from you. Get in our YouTube comments here. How do you feel about a lineup that would consist of Henry Vessar at the center, Terrence Brown?

Matt Abel. Ah, Bill, like, how do you feel about it? I want to hear from you. 336-777-1600.

Morgan Corson. Executive producer, I'm fired up. I'm also caffeinated, that helps. But I haven't been in this chair. In a couple of days, I took some days off.

Shout out to Steven Beck from the Daily Pulse. Filling in? Morgan was here, though. How'd everything go? Everything's in one piece, I see.

Yeah, we didn't break anything, so I feel like it was a success. Did I see you had East Coast wings today? I did. Do you have some left? Shout out to them, by the way.

They give us these $100 gift cards to give away, like the March Madness bracket challenge and the Green Jacket Challenge. Shout out to them. What'd you get?

So there's this like a 25 wing platter plus a platter of chips you can get. And I got the honey chip. I got the medium honey mustard because I hadn't been to East Coast Wings in a hot minute, didn't know their spice levels. Probably could have gone medium. Hot men and no pun intended.

No pun intended there. But probably could have gone medium on it. But it was fantastic. It was an amazing time. Me and my dad went.

Great time. Love that. At East Coast Wings. We both loved our meals.

So make sure you head out to East Coast Wings. They're a Quality spot. Catch some. Catch some basketball, catch a little bit of hockey, maybe maybe some uh baseball. And when the time comes...

Football. Because the Panthers, the Carolina Panthers, They were back in The building yesterday. It's good to see all those guys. back in there. And we heard from Bryce Young.

He was growing the facial hair out a little bit. He says he just needs a haircut.

So that's not like, oh, I bearded Bryce this year. No, he just needs a haircut. Shout out to Vashtai Hurt from Carolina Blitz to getting to the bottom of that. But It's got to be an exciting time if you're a Carolina Panther fan. After winning the division, even though you needed a little help, To get there.

Just a little bit, but the way you looked. Against the Rams in that wild card game, a Super Bowl contender. I mean, Really, Bryce Young out-dueled Aaron Stafford. Aaron. Matthew Stafford.

I might put together Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. We still don't know what Rodgers is going to do. You Really saw Bryce Young outduel Matt Stafford. Up until Matt Staffer went 71 yards up the field, but that was more of a defensive issue and Caroline did all the right things. offensively to win that game.

Just didn't didn't work out though. But Bryce. Been hanging out in Cali. Out in California, had some of the team out there. Like we saw.

Xavier Legette, Jimmy Horn Jr., I think T-Mac was out there too a few weeks back, working out, hanging out. Apparently, they went to a Laker game. went out to eat some places. Like they're just having a good time. Bryce, and listen, and that's big.

You got to have the rapport, man. The rapport's got to be there with your receivers. And he's got some. With this. John Mechie guy.

Maybe you've heard of him. The new guy. 2021 teammate at Alabama with Bryce. They won the big Auburn game at the end. That was them linking up.

The crane. The Crane celebration, we remember that. Here was Bryce Young on getting to play with John Mechie again and the rest of the receiver room. Super close off the field. Obviously, we're together in Alabama.

So, you know, I've always been close.

So it was exciting when the news broke. You know, I'm excited for what he can bring to the team. And, you know, I'm excited for the receiver room in general. You know, we have a great room, a lot of really, really talented guys, a lot of great players, a lot of young players.

So, you know, it's exciting. You know, I think that for me, it's just really cool to watch that room develop for all of us as a unit to continue to grow. And that'll be what OTAs is about. That receiving room is going to be very fascinating this year.

Now, Bryce Young does have a luxury this year that he hasn't before in the NFL. In terms of knowing who his one and two are, he talked a little bit about that yesterday, too. T-Max the one, Jalen Coker's the two. He's got that down. It's a luxury of ha of having that because It helps you scheme up more definitive things, not hypotheticals, where you don't really know who's going to be one and two.

You're not really sure.

So you just, yeah. It's a little bit more certain, which is probably a very comfortable place for him to be. And that's probably one of the number one things you should need to be as a quarterback: comfortable and confident with your receivers.

So he's got that going. The real question is: what's going to happen at wide receiver three, where you got XL needing to bounce back from a bad second year? John Mechie is, as we just mentioned, he's already got that rapport with Bryce. Is he going to swoop in and be that guy? Jimmy Horn Jr.

is still there.

So that receiving room, the third slot. Is going to be very fascinating. Panthers broke through. They made the playoffs this year for the first time since 2017. But You might want to put that aside because it's a new year.

Even though the Panthers look better. And they will be. You still got to put back. What happened last year? It doesn't matter anymore.

He was Bryce Young on expectations. You know, obviously, we want to make sure that we can be consistent with some of the positives from last year, but also we understand that last year was last year. This is a new season. We all start zero and zero. There's no carryover.

I mean, you know, we're not entitled to anything.

So, I'm super grateful for that being our mindset as a team. You know, everyone knows we can't take any foot off the gas. We have to work just as hard, if not harder, you know, as we have these last few years. You know, everything's earned, and you know, now it's not the time to be thinking about records or anything like that. It's just about the work.

They should be set up to take the division this year. in a very good way. Again, They got some help to win it last year. They are set up, and depending on how they draft, to really like Seize it this year, but they got to go out and do it. Lastly, Bryce talked about Brad Itzik because he's going to be taking over play calling duties this year.

From Dave Canalis. Um Daryl Beville in there as associate head coach. Got a history with those guys, and he's going to be kind of help shadowing him. Showing him the ropes a little bit, but it is a new play caller for Bryce. Here was Bryce Young on Brad Itzik.

You know, honestly, you know, I think when you get a new play caller, you kind of never know. You know, when it's live and the bullets are flying, you don't really know what to expect. And I think I'm excited for that. Again, I'm excited to see what his spin is, what his kind of personal thumbprint on the game is going to be, how he calls it. We have caller periods that I've been around him in for whether it was in camp and OTA's last season.

He's always done a great job.

So for me, it's an exciting thing, kind of getting to see his cadence, see how he finds his own. We're all behind him. We know he's going to do a great job. Bryce Young Got a lot to look forward to this year, but they got to get in there and do the work and do all the things necessary. We'll be hearing from some more Panthers.

Throughout the week, quite a few of them spoke yesterday, and we'll be bringing you that as well. The hardest working man in show building. Will Dalton is live, local, and locked in. You're on the drive. We're gonna debut a new segment.

Here in about 15 minutes. Gonna do that. Or actually, it's in 30 minutes. We're going to do that in 30 minutes. We push that back a little bit.

I'm just so excited. to debut this? It's called sound check. Swearing. Branch out a little bit.

Find some of the viral clips, what's happening right now. And go outside of what we would maybe typically talk about. We're going to bring that to you in about 30 minutes. Give or take. But first, Let's talk some NFL, other than just the Panthers.

Hey, Morgan, I think you need to update the computer. Yeah. Just a friendly reminder, thought you might want to know. Dexter Lawrence. Traded.

to the Cincinnati uh Cincinnati Bengals. Sexy Dexy. Who won this trade? Who won it? 336-777-1600.

I'd like to hear from you about this, quite frankly. Light up the phone lines. Let's talk about it because. This is um This is one of those rare deals where It seems like both sides are pretty happy about this in different ways. Like For the Bengals.

This is A win-now type of move. And Morgan, you seem a little Yeah.

Well, I mean, what do you think? They're doing the bare minimum to get Joe Burrow to be content. If I'm Joe Burrow right now, I'm like. Why didn't we just keep Trey Hendrickson? Does it mean that?

Or move him for something like some as opposed to let him walk. Because you just traded away a first-round draft pick, a top-ten draft pick. For essentially Another Trey Henderson Hendrickson, different part of the line, but you're still trading for an anchor on the line.

So, you could have traded him away, gotten something, and then done this trade. But if I'm Joe Burrow, I'm sitting there confused. I'm not sure if I'm happy with this trade because it doesn't help me. Like, the offensive line is a big, big disappointment last year. And that tenth pick would have been really good for that.

And now instead of an offensive lineman to save me from getting hurt every year, Now I'm now we got another defensive lineman. I do think this is a move. Yeah. Should keep Joe Burrow somewhat happy. At least they did something.

And I do think it's a win-now type of move. Because offensively, like the Pengles That's not the problem here.

Now the line, that's... That's a question as well, and maybe they can address that in the draft to morrow night. But The Bengals defensively last year were like near the bottom of the league. They might have actually been. The worst.

Thirtieth. in terms of defense and points given up. Maybe Morgan can get to the bottom of that, while he updates his computer as well. But So that's why I think this move really helped Cincinnati out because their defense was so bad last year. And you got Joe Burrow.

You got. Maybe the best receiver in the league in Jamar Chase. That's a pick your poison type of thing. It might be Justin Jefferson for you. It might be Jamar Chase for somebody else.

It might be Jackson Smith and Jigma for somebody else. Lots of what'd you find out? Yeah, so they're 31st in total yards allowed a game, 380 yards a game, been 30th in points allowed. They were giving up 29 points a game. Like I said.

Not great defensively.

So, this does help them out. I'm not ready to go as far as Super Bowl contender type of move. But it's Maybe not too far outside of it, depending on how the offense looks. But I can't go Super Bowl contender completely yet. It depends on if the O-line can figure it out this year.

Right. And if Joe Burrow can stay healthy. And I understand it's not 100% Joe Burrow's fault that Joe Burrow's getting hurt. No, it's not. But at some point, you've got to take into account that.

Joe Burrow's going to be an injury liability for us. if we can't get this O-line figured out. But they They needed to do this or a move of this magnitude. Oh, 100%. Without Trey Hendrickson, you don't have a true defensive star on there.

You don't. And continuing on with the Joe Burrow side of this. Like, he's gotta be, like, this is it. Like he, he's got to be at his wits in here with all of this. to where if the Bengals did not make something happen, He was gonna be like, listen.

Love ya, mean it. But I'm out. Get me out of here. Because he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league and You can't get a decent O-line in front of me, and you can't get a decent defense on the other side. to complement my offense.

I can't waste my Prime here can't the majority of my I can't do it. I'm breaking up with you. I'm getting out. Yeah, and he's under contract there until 2029.

So they'd have to trade him. They would. They would have to do that.

So let's That's the bingo side of this. Looking at the Giants. They won this trade. 100%. Both sides, I think, made out on this.

I think both sides are happy about this. The Giants won this trade because The thing was, is like you got the number 10 overall pick. For him when you and you Already had the five. What did you discover? You just got a little twitchy over there.

I didn't realize they also had a five. Yeah. They got two top ten picks.

So Jordan Tyson, maybe. Come on down. Maybe. Right. That's why ultimately I think the Giants won this.

The Bengals, it's more immediate. The Giants, it won't be too far like it it's In the bigger picture, they won the trade, but this is going to help them right away is also because. You bring in John Harbaugh as the head coach. Immediate culture changer. You gotta love what you have seen so far from Jackson Dart.

The key for him is just. Stay healthy. Stop trying to run into people. Stop that. Cam Scataboo, he can run into people.

He can do that. Is he... Breaks beer bottles on his head during live streams. That dude's an animal. And requesting non-helmet practices.

Yes, that dude's an animal. I love Kim Scataboo in the backfield there. Brian Burns there, former Panther, still? And now you got you got Malik neighbors already. And then you have a five and a ten?

And if you potentially add another receiver like a Jordan Tyson or somebody at the top there to go with Malik Neighbors. Mm. And on top of it. You might also bring back OBJ. I don't mean that as an impact, like, oh, they're getting OBJ back.

It's just a good omen. It's just a positive omen. He worked out for him the other day.

So. Ultimately, the Giants won this trade. And I think both sides are happy. It's a rarity in the NFL. It's a rarity with trades in general.

But. In the big picture, the Giants, man, did they win this trade. By the way, Check out our social media. The Drive with Will Dalton on YouTube. You might be here right now.

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Now just subscribe and like it.

So you get so you get more of it. The Drive with Will Dalton on YouTube? WSJS Radio and X, Instagram, Facebook. We put out A little teaser video on the Instagram reel. We do that before the show to kind of preview what we're going to be talking about.

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You're welcome. You're welcome for that. We do it for you. We do it for the people. That's it.

The San Antonio Spurs are in an interesting spot.

So Got Wimby last night Falling on his face? Like we see injuries where guys like fall back. and hit like the back of their head on the floor. Put the front like his The side front cheek part of his head? And he bounced, too?

What'd you think of that? Yeah, not a great thing, obviously, for Wemby or the Spurs. No. Luckily, though, with. Wemby potentially being out a game or two.

They are 12-6 this season without Wemby.

Okay, I'm glad you have that because I wanted to get to that. The Blazers did win the game last night, so the series is tied one-all. As it transitions to Portland. I'll say this.

So In terms of the concussion protocol, which Wimby is in, It's forty eight hours of what, inactivity? Yeah, so you get 24 hours of inactivity, and if after 24 hours your symptoms don't get worse, then you can start some activity, and it's 48 hours you can resume. Yeah, no, you're right. 48 hours, and then 24 hours you can get more and more and more.

So, likely not in for game three.

So The best case scenario hi uh here is Maybe he returns for game four? Maybe. Worst case Three to ten days, so you possibly miss games three and four, and maybe return by a game seven potentially. But There's a good chance that Wimby's going to be out for a majority, if not all, of this series with Portland. The good news is I still like the Spurs.

without him against Portland. I do. If this If this was against somebody else, I'd feel differently, you know? I like them too. I think last night they were a little rattled by the fact that.

The Spurs were battle that they didn't have Wemby. They didn't expect that. But going into game three, I expect them to be fully competent going ahead without Wemby. And what I would say about that is. The West better watch out because.

If they're able to continue, you know, obviously it's not the same. Like even DeAaron Fox last night was like He brings a lot to the table. He's Wimby. But it is next man up. If they can make some, if they can maybe split in Portland, come back to San Antonio tied to a piece.

Whether you get him back or you don't by the end of the series, if you can manage and win this series without him, which I still think they're going to do, that's scary for the rest of the West because now they're learning to play without him. They're learning how to manage without him. And Then you add them to the mix, it's like even again, it's even more scary. It does impact the series. But I think the Spurs are going to manage and be all right and handle it without him against Portland.

Back to the Triad's longest-running live sports talk show, The Drive. Live, local, and not afraid to ruffle feathers. Oh, that's good tunes. That's really good tunes. Let's make some money.

I have no interest as we return here on the drive on WSJS. I have no interest in talking about the bets I made on Friday. None! God, that was awful. I was having a terrific week with the play-in tournament.

I think I missed one bet. All week, and that was a baseball bet. That wasn't even an NBA play-in bet. Went undefeated in the play-in. Up until Friday night.

Hornet's magic. Warriors Phoenix. This That was a stinker. It happens though. It's why they call it gambling after all.

Did make some bets of my own. Over the weekend, in terms of some of the NBA playoff games, we got back. We got back in the green. We did all right. We recovered.

That's always key.

So let's see what it's doing tonight. And Dalton's dollars. Stack it up. Stack the stack, gotta stack it up. Get the money, get the money all the time up.

It's time to cash in. Welcome to Dalton's Dollars. Drop me a bugger! Breaking down the board and building the bankroll. That's right, we are building the bankroll.

We gotta make this thing happen.

So Taking a look here at magic pistons. Orlando waiting till now to actually start looking like the Orlando team that so many thought they could be. That's. Yeah, they just waited until Charlotte to do that. Um.

But that's beside the point. Give me Orlando plus eight and a half tonight. Trophy divided! Minus 106 odds. We'll do that.

I love that actually. I really like that pick. Uh thunder sons. I'm going to take Phoenix to cover plus 17 and a half. Strove vegan!

Morgan just made a face. That's a lot of points, isn't it? For a playoff game, too. Exactly. That's why I don't.

Like, what do they know? What do they know? Uh Yeah. Phoenix plus 17 and a half and You know. If that burns me, we'll learn from it.

That's the key to all this. Let's make a baseball pick or two.

Okay. Cleveland Guardians money line against the Astros. Drop me good light! Actually, I can't do that one because that game's already in the. That started at 1.10.

Rescue it! Rescuend it! No! I don't want to do that.

So instead, Morgan over there, just get it together. Braves. Let's fix this. 645 first pitch.

Well within reach. Braves money line against the Nats. Shall be divided! Feel good about that. It's a clean, clean spot to be in.

Let's see if we can find out what the score of that Guardians Astros game is. If maybe I would have been right on that one. I will also take the Yankees money line against the Boston Red Sox. Drop me the mic! Tad Fenway, but I don't care.

Yankees for life. Plus Boston stinks.

Okay. So do the New York Mets. We'll talk about that a little later on. It's been Dalton's dollars. Feel good about those picks.

Also, feel good about your chances of winning if you go to WSJS.com and get in on the springtime winning. Because We got some options for you. If you want to see Kid Rock Live. He's going to be coming to Charlotte and Raleigh.

So you got options for that. And You also have Wake Forest Louisville tickets that you can get in on. You also have the Sportsman One Hundred at Bowman Gray. You like that, Morgan? Love that.

Yeah, man. You were Bowman Gray this weekend. I was. How was that?

So much fun. That's what I heard. Packed house, I bet. 16,000, if I had to guess. There you go.

We knew. We knew it.

So that's going to be May 23rd. Little little later on down the road. And of course, can't forget about Charlotte FC over at the bank. They got Toronto FC coming in. May 16th.

So get in on that as well. WSJS.com, that's the place to be for that. I have the score of that Astros Guardians game.

So, would I have been right in taking Cleveland Moneyline? No, Astro's one, two, zip. Got away with one. Got away with it. And totally neglected the fact that it started at 110.

It happens sometimes. Got a lot to do, got a lot on my plate. You know? Trying to keep you entertained out there in the triad. It's what I'm trying to do here, okay?

You're welcome for that. Uh Carolina made a splash yesterday. But up the road So did Duke. They had a little something to say about that. Ying and Yang here, it's like one, you can't have one without the other.

Duke made a splash as well. John Blackwell. Out of Wisconsin. Got him coming in. One of the top.

Portal. additions that you could get. One of the he might be the best to come out of the portal. Definitely one of the top guards in the portal, for sure. 19 point a game points per game guy last year.

15 before that. He's going into his senior year. I would just continue to tell you what you're going to get in John Blackwell. How about I just let him tell you, here he was on the field of 68 with Jeff Goodman. Um Duke fans, um you're getting a dog, you're getting a competitor, um a guy who's fun and enjoying the watch.

Um and you're just getting the ultimate team player. Um Whether it's getting 10 boards, a ga getting 10 boards that game, getting a stop late, making the right pass late. I think that's what you guys are gonna get. You're obviously gonna get if you watch my highlights, I'm a score. I can score at all three levels, but Um some nouns to give you is that that's that's who I am, my competitor.

A dog, that's what you're getting. And That's uh That's pretty big news after Pat Gamba. Announced he's coming back. That happened the other day. Significant, significant returner.

Uh for Duke, who felt like he was gonna go to the draft, but He's going to come back for another year.

So that's pretty significant news. Dame Sar, however, we don't know. Just yet. It's very interesting. He keeps posting waving emojis like he did the Forrest Gump.

Waving emoji, or not emoji, a gif. And he's been doing this to like new teammates, potential teammates. If he comes back, that is. Um Maybe read into that a little bit. I don't know.

That'd be another good get if he came back, is Dame Sarr. Alan Graves out of Santa Clara. Maybe Duke can get him. There's been a little bit of. Rumors.

I love rumors. There's been some rumors about that. He's a top five guy in the portal as well. At 12. Points per game last year.

He's a 6'9 guy. He's also been linked to LSU, so. Maybe Will Wade swipes him up. He's in the NBA draft process as well. But.

Alan Black are Apparently, John Blackwell followed Alan Graves on social media. Over the last 24 hours.

So that's massive. That's just a massive lead, Morgan. Got to look into these things. I don't know.

This is what people do on social media. That's what they do.

Now comes the moment you have all been waiting for. All right, whenever you're ready. We're the biggest stories. Take the wheel. Welcome to the drive.

Back at it on the drive, right here on WSJS as a first hour is absolutely flying by. It's what happens when you're having fun. and when you got lots to talk about.

So I wanted to get us a segment in here where we could Branch out a little bit. Kinda. Go off the beaten path and Talk about things that maybe we don't typically talk about around here. Locally wanted to do that where we could find Some of the best audio clips that are surfacing right now and react to them. And just have a segment specifically designed for that.

And so we came up with one. And we bring it to you now. It's called Sound Check. Yeah. Sound check.

Hey, I'm just here so I won't get fired. Plug in, turn up, and catch what everyone's talking about. That's what we do. Plug it in. Listen.

This is what people are talking about right now, or people are reacting to right now.

So first. We got to get we gotta get to this clip From Todd Munkin, because Cleveland Browns camp, it's always. It's always entertaining. There's plenty happening out there at practices. Not technically camp, but just off-season workouts.

Todd. What's that? Our computers making all types of sounds today. I don't know what that is.

So, Todd Muncin. Apparently was Answering questions from reporters. And it seems that his only communication so far with Miles Garrett. Has only been through text, hasn't had a call or anything like that, and Miles Garrett is not at these workouts right now. Here was Todd Munkin on all of that.

It hasn't been a lot. It's fine. This is voluntary. We're making a big deal out of this. We really are.

It's voluntary. We have other guys besides Miles that aren't here. I wish they were here. They'll be ready. We expect them to be ready.

And we'll be fired up when they're here. And really, all of the players have informed us. They've been unbelievable with their communication.

So is Miles. I mean, they've communicated.

Okay. Doesn't mean I like the communication, but it's voluntary. Todd Munkin. Apparently, he's only talked to Miles Garrett over text, just a little bit. And it doesn't sound like he.

Loves it, but he's really trying to emphasize these are voluntary workouts. He's not the only one not here. And I will say this in his defense. In these early stage workouts, especially with a new coach. It's a lot.

I think it's more important that the offensive guys be there than maybe the defensive guys, just because there's a little bit more intricacies of the offense. And Miles Garrett, you already know what he's gonna do, so. I will defend him on that, but it's just funny because it's the Browns. And this guy. Got a haircut for the coach's picture at the NFL meetings.

He got a haircut for the picture and then missed the picture because he was getting the haircut. It just, it's Browns, man. It doesn't matter where you're coming from. Dan Morgan. The draft.

Tomorrow night. Panthers got the number 19 overall pick. Hey Dan Morgan, how do you feel about mock drafts? How many mock drafts have you done so far? A million.

It's super helpful because you can put yourself in different scenarios and you can like, okay, like I'm on the clock right now. Who am I taking?

So like I'm able to, before I go into the draft on Thursday, I'm able to put myself in like so many different situations that I'm not going to be surprised. Like I'm going to be ready for every little situation that's out there. Big mock draft guy. I do get why that would be helpful because you just never know. Like, there's all types of scenarios you could find yourself in.

And the Panthers, they're in a good spot. Because they've addressed so many of their needs in free agency, like the edge rush position, linebacker, offensive tackle. The date. They could do a lot of different things here. Receiver is one.

Safety's another. Seen offensive tackle on some as well. Tight end, Kenyon Sadiq. Maybe he gets. He falls to them.

I don't know out of Oregon, but. Dan Morgan, he's a big fan of mock drafts. We'll see if it pays off come tomorrow night.

Now let's get to the Warriors who. We might have seen the end. I mean, I don't think they're not the Warriors dynasty anymore, but. The core. of the Warriors dynasty might be Breaking up because Steve Kerr, we've all seen the clip by now where he pulled Draymond and Steph aside and just said, I don't know what's going to happen, but this has been great with you guys and all of that.

Um Draymond Green then went on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show. and added a little bit more detail to what's happening in Golden State with Steve Kerr. I've never been so uncertain since early in my career on what happens next, but I'm truly at a loss now because you just don't know what direction will be what. Steph, myself, Steve shared a moment in what could be our last time playing with Steve as our coach. I'm happy we got to share that moment and like he didn't miss the moment.

It was a big deal. I hope he's our coach next year. You want my opinion? And I think not. Just because it just feels like that.

It felt like that was it. Also, I hope I'm on this team next year. We also don't know that. And man, if it was, what a run it's been.

So lucky to have had for 12 years Steve as my coach. We shall see. I don't know.

Just gotta stay ready for whatever it is and roll with the punches. It might be time to blow it up in Golden State. You don't want to be the next Pittsburgh Steelers where. You just try to be good enough, but you're never like bad, so you can't get that draft pick, and you never completely reset. You don't want to be that.

But If Steve Kerr is gone. I'm hearing reports out of Yahoo Sports, Kevin O'Connor, Todd Golden's going to be heavily pursued out of Florida. I'm also hearing Andre Igodala. is a possibility which leads me to remember the Max Kellerman clip. Of everyone on Golden State.

Open shot. Fate of the universe on the line, or the Martians have the death beam pointed at Earth, you better hit it. I want Iguadala. Iguadala? Maybe the Warriors get him for a bit longer.

Uh Lastly, John Gruden, his quarterback class he does. He's brought it back with Barstool, Diego Pavia, Ty Simpson, Carson Beck, some of the ones that he's had on there. It just gives us an excuse to play Gruden Sound. Here was John Gruden and Diego Pavia going over snap counts, and then it led to music. Shoot the thrill!

Write it down. Shoot the thrill. You ever heard that song? Nope. Oh my god.

What, thriller by myself? Shoot the thrill by ACDC. Oh, no. It's my favorite song. I used to play that song, man.

When we sit there shredding somebody, I'd go in my locker at halftime. And let's say Derek Carr, he's like 20 for 23 or something. I'd be listening to Shout the Thrill. Pull it rigger! Pull it!

Yo, listen to some little baby. You gotta listen to some shoot to thrill. That's right. We'll listen to Lil Baby on it. You wanna go throw some?

Yeah, come on. All right, let's do it.

So, random. Let's go throw. You wanna go throw? The Michael Jackson thriller really hurt my soul. The biopic comes out Friday.

I can't wait to see it. Michael. But um Yeah, John Gruden, man. He's a character. He's a character.

I kind of hope he knows. I don't want him to coach again just because I want to keep getting this content, quite frankly. That would be terrific. But. Yeah.

Ty s uh he He opened his conversation with. Carson back with Show me your grip. Show me that grip, how you grip the football. It's been sound checked. I like that.

That's a good segment right there. I dig it. Sports talk for people who yell at the TV. You're on the drive, the triad's longest-running live sports talk show. Since we're talking about Carolina.

and their activity in the transfer portal. In about 15 minutes from now, all the things they did yesterday. Duke added another. Didn't add one. They retained one, Caleb Foster.

Going to return for his senior season.

So you get Pat Gamba coming back. And you got Caleb Foster coming back? Caden Boozer coming back? Things coming together. For the Duke Blue Devils.

It's a big get. It's big, big, big retention there. Caleb Foster was such a veteran presence this year. Going to have it again next year as he's even more seasoned than he was this year.

So I wanted to pass that along. But let's actually um Let's actually transition to some football though. Because we heard the other day From Gio Lopez, we heard from Um Head coach Jake Dickert. We'll get into uh what he had to say uh on tomorrow's program. There's only so much we can fit into two hours here.

Gotta, gotta. Give you the goods, got to spread it out. Spread the wealth is what we call that. But Geo Lopez, He goes to Wake Forest after a pretty disastrous year at Carolina. Didn't go so well.

Um you were having to deal with Freddie Kitchens as an OC for some reason. Never understood that one. Like, what? you know, carried over from the Mac Brown era. The dude really never had a good track record offensively.

Uh in the NFL. Baker Mayfield, we all remember what a disaster that was or that marriage was. And I don't think Baker was the problem.

So that wasn't great. And then you already have a not-so-offensive-minded coach in Bill Belichick with Freddie Kitchen as the OC on top. It's just. It's tough. Tough.

So Gio Lopez is reunited. with Robazzell. Who was his guy at South Alabama two years ago? Put up some pretty good numbers there. I get the ACC is a different animal.

I think Gio Lopez also found that out as well last year. But This was the best case scenario for Geo because. After a year like Last year, that could mess with your head a little bit. That could screw with you. You know, was really curious to see what he was going to do, where he was going to end up.

Was he going to go maybe back to. a South Alabama-ish level school. No, he stayed in the ACC and went. Right over to Wake Forest, where it made a ton of sense, where Robazell is.

So, if anybody can quote unquote fix him, and I don't even think it's fixing, but if anybody knows how to properly use him and knows what makes him tick and knows what he's all about in the best ways, it's Rob Azell. Here was Gio Lopez yesterday or two days ago, whatever day it was, talking about being back with Robazelle.

Well, this is the same offense I played in at South Alabama.

So getting back into it was awesome knowing almost every play. I had some inklings that I was like, oh, this is different, but it's the same, stuff like that. But I think the difference from here, from the past goal I was at, was just, you know, just, you know, what we're trying to get accomplished, you know, understanding the play calls, being able to, you know, communicate with an offensive coordinator, you know, understand him on a personal level. I think just. Understanding Ezell and him being able to coach me like he's known me since I was 16 years old.

So I think just understanding what he wants to get done in every play is just a good thing. It's pretty exciting for Jio. It really is. Um David Hale. A VSPN who does a great job.

uh covering such thing. He actually just wrote a story yesterday and put it out about Geo Lopez and his time at Carolina and Essentially talking about how This is a real breath of fresh air for him at Wake. And You know. Geo seems like a very Upbeat type of guy. Like we had him on this show when Josh Graham was the host.

He joined us at ACC kickoff, and he just seemed very upbeat. And Yeah. David Hale wrote about in this story Is that, God, he he was kind of. He was kind of beat down, you know? He was kind of.

You know, when he would like talk to family back home on the phone, like they could kind of hear it in his voice. Like he wasn't in a great spot.

So he's at Wake Forest now, back with Rob Bezell, working the same offense that he's used to a couple of years ago at South Alabama. We will have more to get to. Uh on Wake Forest football and Gio Lopez and Jake Dickert as now practices are underway and Before you know it, the blink of an eye, it'll be time For college football again. Can't wait for that. But I'm in a giving mood.

Like Gio Lopez, he's in a really good mood now. He's feeling great. I'm feeling great. Morgan, you feeling great? Oh, I'm feeling great.

He had some East Coast wings earlier today, so of course he is. Naturally. Because that's what East Coast Wings does to people. Makes them feel good. But we want you to feel good too.

And hopefully, if you're listening to the show right now, that in and of itself makes you feel good. The vibes are good. But to make them even better, We want to get you out to Merle Fest. That's what we want to do.

So Mural Fest. Starts tomorrow. Out at Wilkes Community College. And If you call us now at 336-777-1600. Morgan's going to take your calls, and you will have an opportunity to win a pair of tickets to get out to Murrow Fest.

Again, it starts tomorrow, but it runs through. The 26th. It runs through the entire weekend here.

So. And the tickets are good for any day or as many days as you want to go out there.

So 336-777-1600, if you would like a pair. of Merle Fest tickets. We can mail them to you. You can pick them up here at our studio. We'll get you information on that.

But. Merlfest. We want to make that happen for you. 336. Actually, no, this will be sent via email.

Got important to port that out. Looks like we got a caller on the line now. All right. Let's talk some hornets. Let's do that.

As we kind of put a bow on. Their season officially is really the first. Chance I've had to talk about the Hornets in this setting. We chatted, Stephen Beck and I chatted briefly about it when I popped in here. on Monday show, but The offseason.

is now underway for the Charlotte Hornets. Unfortunately, And I'll tell ya. The thing That really is the most of a shame about the whole situation is the fact that. The way the hornets got blasted. In Orlando on Friday night is not at all how the season unfolded.

Especially from the month of January on. Those of you who are Hornet fans and people who watch the Hornets closely or cover the Hornets closely every game, you know that. But Right. That's what's That's what's kind of icky about the way they lost because That will make people who don't pay attention to the Hornets like that. Kind of go, yep, there's the Hornets, or you were just a play-in team, you're not very good.

If anybody tells you that that Hornets team isn't good because they weren't able to get into the playoffs and they lost in the play-in, They're either a hater or they don't know what they're talking about, or did not actually watch closely what happened with the Charlotte Hornets from the month of January to mid to late April here when they were eliminated the other night. They didn't pay attention, or they're a hater. They're trying to troll you and say same old Hornets, but. When you actually look at it, they had I believe The sixth best record. In the NBA from the month of January to the end of the regular season.

The Spurs had the best record in that span. The Hornets were sixth. There was a period of time where they were like third or second. Like they. They were right up in there in the mix, but like the separation in terms of the record between Lespurs, who were at the top, and then the Hornets at six, not very much difference there.

They really found something they liked in that. Lineup of Conkinipple, Lamello Ball. Uh Miles Bridges, Musa Diabate, Brandon Miller. And then of course the addition of Kobe White there. They found something they liked.

And You've also had, because of how Lamello looked in the first half against Orlando, and just because that's the way it is, like, you've had a lot of. National talking heads. Kind of coming down pretty hard on Lamello Ball. And yes, there is a Lamello ball experience where he will have a 2 of 16 night from 3, but then he'll have 35 and look like one of the best guards in the league. It kind of.

It goes hand in hand, but again. Charlotte, LaMelle LePaul, in my opinion, is not their best player. He's not the face of their franchise. It might seem that way just because he's flashy and that's kind of, you know, he's just got that type of personality, the one-of-one type stuff. To me, Brandon Miller is that.

He's the face of the franchise future guy. And then you got Conka Nipple in there in that mix as well.

So You gotta say that up front. But two things can be true. I would not hate if they looked into trading Lamello Ball as well. And it's not like a get Lamello out of here type trading. See what you can get for them.

See if there's because the thing is. His value has never been higher right now. Than what it is right now, because of how available he was, because of the production that he had. I mean, the dude finished second in three-pointers made behind Konkanippel this year. His value is pretty high right now, you know?

But So you should look at that and see what you could potentially get. Like could you get something for him? Like Bill Simmons had Zach Lowe on his podcast the other night and made a play for Bam out of bio potentially. I mean, Morgan, what are your thoughts on that? I wouldn't mind Bam, but I mean with Golden State potentially Falling out there, not like a falling out, but like the end of the road for them.

Could you potentially get Steph Curry Lamello in a draft pick? Who buddy? That is interesting because, like, if the Warriors did blow it up.

So that's the only place that makes sense for Steph. is like to go to Charlotte. Like he could ask for a trade to go to Charlotte, maybe for Lamello and some first-round picks. Maybe that would work. There's also the case for Giannis.

I don't think he's going to be sticking around in Milwaukee personally. No, I don't think he's going to stick around in Milwaukee, and I think that his brand of ball would fit the city of Charlotte very well. All right, think about this. You trade Lamello some first-round picks for Giannis. And imagine him at the five Giannis at the five, Musa Diabate at the four.

where his frame is a little bit more that he's more of a four than a five. Giannis 5, Musa Di Abate at the 4, Miles Bridges, Brandon Miller, Kon Kenipo. How do you like that for a starting lineup? It would depend on how many ones they're asking for. True.

Because you're getting an older Giannis versus a Lamello entering. His prime in a year or two. Yeah. So I say all of that to say two things can be true at the same time. Lamello Ball is not the problem.

He's a big reason why the Hornets ended up where they did. But you should also maybe look into trading him and seeing what you could get for him because his value is pretty high right now. You might get something that better fits the future. Both of those things can be true. And and correct me if I'm wrong here.

But I feel like the culture is kind of growing away from what LaMello offers as well. Like they're trying. Like Lamello brings kind of like a chaotic brand of basketball. It almost seems like they're trying to shift it more towards an organized. Like, you mean for Charlotte?

Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I would agree with that. Con Kanipple kind of brings that structure. Brandon Miller kind of brings that structure.

So It's going to be an interesting offseason for the Charlotte Hornets, but By no means, just because they got blasted by Orlando the other night, should anybody's takeaway be: oh, the Hornets, they're not a good. Everything is The stock has never been higher for the Hornets than what it is right now. And people who actually watched them this year consistently. Know that. They know that.

Okay.