Top 10 Insects

Good afternoon, it is a Friday drive where I got Christian McCaffrey to take a shot at the North Carolina Tar Heels earlier today. You'll hear that in just a few minutes because the Panthers aren't the big talk around here today. No, it's the Charlotte Hornets catching a break by being awarded the third pick in the draft last night. And I really think this offseason is ripe for the Hornets to make a big splash.

The draft is just one component of it though. Don't forget, Charlotte is finally shedding the bad Marvin MKG and Bismack Biambo contracts. Robert, if you just wanted to guess, I know you follow basketball very closely.

Robert Walsh, the producer of this show. Marvin MKG, Bismack, their contracts in mind. How much do you think they were worth on the books this year? Probably about $35 million. $45 million for those three players, Michael King, Gilchrist, Marvin Williams and Bismack Biambo.

They're off the books. Here's how big of an impact that is. Charlotte was in the bottom third of the league in salary cap space this year. They are set to be sixth in salary cap space next season. But you might be thinking, Josh, I haven't heard any buzz about free agents this offseason, unlike the tremendous free agency splashes we saw a year ago and are set to go down, not this offseason, but potentially in 2021.

You would be exactly right about that. However, Charlotte's not the franchise that lands the big ticket free agents. So you got to think a little differently. I remember talking to coaches at East Carolina, even a few at AP, who said we can't recruit the same kids as the ACC schools generally.

So we got to get a little creative. So oftentimes when we go to a football practice to watch a kid, if we see ACC schools there, we might see what's going on at the track practice, try to pull a kid from there and see if they can, you know, they can run it corner or wide receiver. Many coaches, many scouts, they have stories like that where you have to try and bridge the gap between the smaller franchises and the bigger franchises, the smaller schools versus the bigger schools.

You can't, one of my favorite movies is Moneyball. The big, the crux of Moneyball was the Oakland A's spend about $40 million a year while the New York Yankees spend between 150 and 200 million. We can't try to think like the Yankees.

We got to think differently. And that's why Billy Bean and the A's had success with the Moneyball Sabre Metrics model nearly 20 years ago. The Charlotte Hornets, while other teams aren't investing into this off season, maybe there's a few free agents that could pick off. It's not a terrible class of free agents. There's no franchise altering stars in here, but Fred Van Vliet, pretty darn good.

Toronto's going to want to keep him around. So if you can't get that guy, Hassan Whiteside, who's from Gastonia, that's not a bad pickup. Charlotte never really had in the last five years, somebody who can man the post, block some shots and give you some length. Whiteside can do that. Jeremy Grant, one of my favorite ACC basketball players to watch in the last decade, led Notre Dame in 2015. I think that tournament was in Greensboro to an ACC tournament title against North Carolina, a tremendous player. Loved what he was doing with Oklahoma City.

Myers Leonard, he's available this off season. Guys, I think would make some sense for Charlotte. If they could pick up a starter or two on the free agency route, I think that would be a big deal. Then you get to the draft where the Hornets struck it big.

First time in 20 years that they are placed higher than the most likely position going into the lottery. And more importantly than that, they have the management and a coach that I trust. I can't think of a point in Charlotte Hornets history where Charlotte had both of those things working their way. A coach that I liked and a general manager that I liked. Usually it was one or the other. I like Steve Clifford, wasn't a big fan of Rich Cho.

And so on and so forth. I trust Mitch Kupchak. He drafted Miles Bridges and Devante Graham in his first draft.

Pretty damn good. Last year, PJ Washington, really strong pick. He had a good rookie season. So he's putting together these puzzle pieces, a really neat, interesting, hard-working core, a nucleus for James Borrego to coach, a team that last year at this time after losing Kimball Walker, nobody thought would win 20 games that was set to be the number one pick in the lottery. And they won more than 20 games and they still had a dozen to go before things got halted. They overachieved. They exceeded expectations and they're still picking in the top three. It's a great spot to be in. And there are a ton of good players that could help them.

LaMelo Ball, James Wiseman, Anthony Edwards. They're in a really good spot to get a significant contributor this year. Then the news earlier this week that I think is a massive deal. Charlotte and the other seven teams that didn't get invited to the bubble will have a chance to practice, to work out together in September. You might not think that's a huge deal, but Adam Silver was talking to Rachel Nichols yesterday before the lottery began and the most important question she asked, how are you feeling about the December 1st start date?

And Silver said, eh, there's a chance we might try to push it back even further. If they were to do that, Charlotte's last basketball game was in the middle of March. You'd be talking about having a young basketball team play their next competitive game close to a year after their previous one. That would set back this team, according to Mitch Kupchak last night, back a year, maybe even more than that. But just having these workouts, a chance to get together, that's a really big deal. Do some coaching, see where the conditioning's at. A really big deal for Charlotte to try and get things back on the tracks, to continue the progression for these younger players that were really making strides a year ago. Okay, let's get to this McCaffrey sound.

So I wanted to get McCaffrey's thoughts on Joe Brady now that they've been on the field together. But before I got to that with him and even the Hornets as well, I noticed he had a jacket that said UNC on it. Now, I lived in Colorado for a little while, and I even have a funny story regarding that. I remember I didn't know a soul when I moved to Colorado, aside from the boss that I was getting set to work for in a town of 2,400 people.

So I was just looking to connect with someone, Robert. In the airport, I heard a discussion happening as I was walking off of the plane to start my new life in Colorado. Two people were talking, and they were talking about a game. Sports is always a great connector for me, and the game they were talking about involved UNC. So I interjected and said, hey, I'm from North Carolina. And they looked at me with a stupefied look on their face, one of the guys, and said, we're talking about the University of Northern Colorado here.

That was my chance to connect. I heard UNC. And in Colorado, UNC doesn't mean Tar Heels. It means the University of Northern Colorado. So I knew of the jacket Christian McCaffrey was wearing during the press conference, his dad coaching up there as you're about to hear, and he's a Colorado guy, grew up in the suburbs of Denver.

But what I didn't expect to hear is the jab that followed my question. Here's how things sounded with me and Christian McCaffrey earlier today. First off, when you hear UNC, do you think Northern Colorado or Tar Heels? Yeah, well, first, you know, when I hear UNC, I think Bears.

Obviously, I got the hoodie on. Go Bears. You know, obviously, my dad's a coach there now. I got my older brother's coaching there too. And my older brother went to Duke. I have a big Duke family lineage.

I try to take the Tar Heel out of the picture as much as possible. Secondly, now that you have a chance to work on the field with Joe Brady, how hands on is he on the field versus what you guys had in the summer during the Zoom calls? Coach Brady's been great. I think his detailed demeanor, all down to business, and obviously his knowledge of the game is exceptional. So for me, it's just been fun to be able to pick his brain, to be able to learn and continue to get better every day.

One more thing. Christian, just wondering if you followed basketball at all and what your reaction was, if any, to the Hornets getting a top three pick last night? I'm excited. I think the whole city of Charlotte was excited. You know, I personally am a basketball fan and anytime you hear the news that you're going to add some more talent to the roster, it'll be fun. So I'm excited to catch a few games this year and I can't wait for that third pick. Thanks, Christian. Go Bears.

Go Bears. Two funny things there. You heard that Robert is a stickler on how things sound. So I could see how annoyed he was just on Robert's face when there was that little cackling when I was asking the last question about the Hornets.

Would you like to know what that cackling was, Robert? I think I've heard that before. Was that a rapper? It was. I realized that in the shot while I was talking to Christian on Zoom was a subway rapper.

Not great. He's not new to sponsorships. I'm sure he might have thought maybe you're a sponsored sports radio. That's right.

Eat fresh. That was quite a jab, though. I want to get the Tar Heels stuff out of here. Christian not even being diplomatic about it. His brother, I think it's Dylan, Dylan McCaffrey who played at Duke. The McCaffrey brothers.

Certainly involved there. But he had the UNC jacket, which if you're going to take anything away from today's show, know that in Colorado there is another UNC. They hear UNC. They think the University of Northern Colorado, not Carolina Blue and the Tar Heels. We're going to be joined by Chip Patterson of CBS Sports in a little over 15 minutes. But up next, the outpouring of love continues for Ron Rivera today after his cancer diagnosis last night. And Cole Anthony's destination seems pretty obvious to me.

Keep it here on a Friday drive. Here's your mic check. Check. Mic check. Check.

Check. We really lean on this guy for his expertise on all things college sports. Chip Patterson, CBS Sports.

Kind enough to spend the time. Shoot him a follow on Twitter at Chip underscore Patterson. But before we get to the college related matters, and there are a number of newsworthy things to get to in regards to college football, you have been a Charlotte basketball fan through thick and thin. I mean, hardcore Charlotte Bobcats fan before the name came back, before the buzz was brought back nearly a decade ago.

So before we get to college, I just want to know. How excited were you last night considering the bad history of this basketball franchise to see the Hornets get the number three pick to see that card revealed and the Hornets logo as Charlotte improved its draft odds for the first time since returning in 2004? So so many years of having my heart broken on draft lottery night, I didn't even watch.

I didn't even want to look. I have been seasoned. I have been programmed for the draft lottery to equal disappointment.

And I don't want to drag myself through that again. So I found out and I was pleasantly surprised. And all the sudden I found myself in a position that previously I had not been after a draft lottery, which is really getting excited about the mock draft.

You know, like I was just so programmed in my brain. I mean, we were talking about a season for the Charlotte Hornets where you're so excited about Devontae Graham, you're so excited about Miles Bridges, like you're seeing the young baby buzz, great young core coming together. And, you know, you get tickled with a little bit of, you know, where is this team going to fall? Are they even going to make it in the playoffs?

Of course, they don't even end up getting invited to the bubble. But yet because of some of the losing that was done, they finish in like that ninth or 10th spot by not even playing a game. So that's that's kind of what we've been dealing with, at least in terms of lottery odds, right? A team that just falls short of the playoffs.

So you don't have great odds. And then even in those years that you do, like the 2012 draft lottery, when you do have great odds, but you know, you end up getting Michael Kidd Gilchrist instead of Anthony Davis, you know, to have things improve. Now all of a sudden, I'm doing what so many Charlotte Hornets fans are doing, which is you're trying to think whether you would rather have James Wiseman or OB Toppin. And if you can stomach Anthony Edwards, a player who's still so young, with a very, very high ceiling who was somewhat underwhelming and less than efficient during his one season with the Georgia Bulldogs. But still, when you just think about the ceiling for any of those players, it is something that's encouraging because you throw them in with the baby buzz and that makes for an exciting 2020-2021 season. Also you have no reason not to trust the head of the brain trust with the Charlotte Hornets now Mitch Kupchak as somebody who has picked Devante Graham, taken Miles Bridges, we saw what PJ Washington was able to do last year. So he's got the resume and he's already showing early on.

He kind of knows what he's doing in the evaluation process. But you're noting some of the players there Chip. Chip Patterson from CBS Sports with us here. Who do you know you want? What's the slam dunk pick for you? And who's the guy that you would be fuming to see Charlotte pick at number three? I'm out on Wiseman.

I think that that would be the one that would give me some pause and I don't even have a firm feel on that. That is just a gut fan-centric feel. As a fan, I have a right to have irrational beliefs and that is not a professional belief.

That is an irrational fan belief. I lean more Obi Toppin than I lean James Wiseman and I think Obi Toppin is absolutely tremendous. Now, James Wiseman is considered somewhat of a better prospect. The Anthony Edwards one is interesting just because, again, I think he's going to be 20 years old next August. He was even young to be a college freshman. So you still got a lot of time for development there and that's where I think a lot of people are excited about what he could become with some of his range, with some of his athleticism and really having the skill set of a guard even at small forward type size.

But not really an elite three-point shooter and that's going to bring about some kind of concern or consternation. So I'm leaning a little bit more in the Anthony Edwards, Obi Toppin realm than I am in the James Wiseman realm and I'm assuming that LaMelo Ball is already going to be taken off the board by the time the Hornets come up at three. Chip Patterson with us here. So let's talk about the state of college football right now even though I know the Hornets. Talking about the Hornets is probably a lot more fun to do on a Friday than talking about where college sports is at amid trying to handle a pandemic. But last week, many people called it arguably the craziest week in the history of college sports when you have the Big Ten and the Pac-12 pulling the plug on football for the fall postponing to the spring. The ACC, Big 12 and the SEC are full speed ahead for this fall. Then you see the North Carolina and NC State instances where they're all going to go online except for the athletes who are still on campus. They'll still be taking their classes online but all the other students are being sent home.

It seems other schools are starting to take that path as well. So just generally Chip, how much better or worse do you feel about the prospect of a college football season right now at the end of this week versus where you were a week ago? Geez, that was just one week ago?

Crazy, right? It feels like a month. I mean, last week was. No one should be crying for sports writers.

No one should be like. There is very, very real loss. There are very, very true sadness that is being experienced by so many, but I will tell you that from my own personal experience last week felt like a month. I mean, it was just a roller coaster of trying to follow the pieces, trying to find out as much information as possible. The things that I'm starting to believe now is that the conferences that are continuing on a path to try and play college football, particularly the power conferences, the ACC, the SEC and the Big 12, they seem to be very, very focused on the accumulation of resources that it's going to take. And that is from testing materials, from the staffing it's going to require to test frequently to even the continued monitoring of any athletes that test positive to address some of these concerns of myocarditis or heart condition complications that might come from a diagnosis, and even a full recovery from COVID-19. I mean, we're talking Big 12 is working on getting their hands on EKG machines. I mean, this is taking the threat very seriously, not just of the virus itself, but of even the complications that can come with it. And it's, you know, on one hand, I guess that it is impressive, or I guess it is, you know, astonishing that we're at this place. Impressive is not really a good word, but it's like, wow, this is going to take a lot of money, this is going to take a lot of effort, this is going to take a lot of resources to be able to have this kind of testing to be able to have this kind of monitoring to be able to have these kinds of situations that are going to set up the potential to even get out there and play major college football. So the conferences that are moving forward, I wouldn't say full speed ahead.

I say I think that they are moving ahead, hoping that they have all the tools needed to be able to keep everyone as safe as possible. Because what we are seeing is that local health officials are ultimately going to be the ones that make these decisions. And if local health officials put in place restrictions because of outbreaks that do not permit gatherings that would even allow for college football to be played, then games are going to get cancelled. And enough games get cancelled, then all of a sudden schools are going to have to really take some hard decisions about what's going on with the season.

I was very appreciative that the Pac-12 released so much of the information that drove their decision-making process. And one of the things that stood out to me was that when they were supposed to start training camp, they had about a third or a fourth of their conference that because of what was going on in Arizona, in the state of California, in Oregon, in Washington, just sort of throughout the footprint, they had like a third or fourth of their conference that wasn't even going to be able to gather in groups big enough to hold proper training camp. They just did not have the approval of local health officials to do normal college football stuff. So it's going to really ride a lot on what's happening in these states, what's happening in these towns, and in particular these counties and these campus communities, because if there are flare-ups, if there are outbreaks, and if there are spikes, then there are going to be rulings from local health officials that are going to be out of the hands of athletic directors and out of the hands of university presidents. And that's where I think we're going from right now. You know, it's up to the virus, but it's also up to everybody that's living in these counties that have college football programs, because that's what led the Pac-12 to not move forward.

They didn't feel comfortable that they were going to get reliable, rapid testing and the right materials to do so, and they did not feel comfortable that they had the approval of the local health officials to even move forward with any kind of preparation for the season. And look, you know, we're starting to see it with students coming back. That's leading to more spikes and changes in some of the numbers across the county and across the state, and that is really what's going to drive whether or not we are able to, how much of a college football season we are able to complete. I went back and I looked in the 1918 flu pandemic college football season, teams went like 5-1, 6-0, and like three teams declared a national champion.

And so I would not be surprised if, we do have some games get canceled from that 10-game ACC season, but if we're able to get through in a safe and healthy manner and play some college football, then the players who want to be a part of a season, then they will have at least gotten that. Shoot him a follow on Twitter at chip underscore Patterson for the college sports expertise and golf expertise, but also because he's a massive Charlotte Hornets fan and he's been through a lot. So shoot him a follow there. It's good to hear your voice Chip. Hope we can catch up sometime soon. All right.

Sounds good. Y'all be well. You got it.

That's chip Patterson, CBS sports on Twitter at chip underscore Patterson coming up. Why I think the pool of prospects that Mitch Kupchak should be considering at number three is only five names long. This is a Friday drive. It's time for our weekly top 10 list. Some of you enjoy the wordplay others do not. Lord knows how many of these we've done over the last four years.

Robert two here in the triad, you and I were together for a little while in Eastern North Carolina. This has always been a staple of what we do. Just like take it to the house at the end of our shows top 10 list every single week in honor of the Hornets picking number three in the draft, getting some good fortune. I've got my top 10 insects, top 10 insects. If you have guests guesses for what might be on the list on Twitter at sports of triad, you can send in those guesses there. Let's go ahead and get to the list.

Do you have any guesses for what might make it? Uh, yeah, I got a few. All right. Any idea how high up they might be the ones you have written down?

No idea. My we never sync up on where something should be or shouldn't be. I'm just along for the ride. All right. Top 10 insects. Number 10 by number 10 insect Cole Anthony. What?

What was that? Uh, Timon from Lion King. Like this was in the Lion King. I think Lion King two, I believe.

I didn't know there was a sequel. Can I hear that again? Okay. I can hear the voice now.

It sounds more like Timon. I didn't expect that. We're off to a rock and start number nine by number nine insect bull bull weevil. Wait a minute.

Can I hear it again? It has to be a cartoon, right? Correct. Um, is that from tangled? It's from Pokemon. Oh, that's a Misty. She hates bugs.

I didn't know that. I used to play the video games. I remember sitting in the dentist office with like the oldest like portable Nintendo there is and playing Pokemon sitting there before I got like a surgery on my mouth that's still etched in my brain. Moving on. Number eight, quickly moving away from surgery as a child to number eight on the top 10 list. Top 10 insects, a flea flicker. My army of insects just keeps getting bigger.

I'm going to wipe out all your monsters in one bug blitzkrieg. What is nerdy stuff is that you still watch a bunch of cartoons? Uh, not really.

It depends. Maybe some like adult swim as cartoons, but you watch, you, you have more knowledge on cartoons than anybody else. I know like legitimately you do.

That's not even a knock. It's just a fact. You know more about cartoons than anybody else.

I know. I watched a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon as a kid. You still have like some of those cards. Uh, there are my mom somewhere or the thing that you put on your arm. I never had a dual disc.

No, but I did have a bunch of cards. Such a nerd. Number seven, top 10 insects. Michelle beetle. Hey, I'm a compassionate insect.

I love you just guessing what these things are from. I'm assuming that's the movie bugs. A bug's life. There you go. Yeah.

Yeah. Grasshopper comes in. That's a great movie. Number six by number six, insect the Greensboro grasshoppers, bigger bugs. We can find bigger bugs to come here and fight.

You got a lot of spunk kid, but no one's going to help a bunch of ants. I'm going to go home and watch the movie tonight. Also is bugs life. I looked through so many clips to figure out there's, there might be like two more in here from bugs like who knows? I don't remember anything about the movie, but I do remember like a really fat caterpillar.

He might make an appearance. Wow. Number five by number five, insect the gnats. He's committed pesticide. Yes, that movie. That's a movie. I thought it was bubbles.

It was not bubbles. That's James and the giant peach. I don't remember any of this, man. You don't remember James the giant peach.

Nope. Dude, you gotta go watch that. Read the book. I don't think I ever watched the movie number.

Where are we at? Number four, my number four, insect Steve Kermite taking care of your pest problem. Yeah, you got a hell of an infestation. Steve Kermite not getting pretty high up on this list. Number three, my number three, I almost said termite insect.

My number three, insect B dot. Yeah, there's the caterpillar. His name's Heinrich. He has a name.

My apologies, Heinrich. It's amazing that you remember all this. He's been through a lot, dude.

Everybody making fun of his weight. He's supposed to be a bumblebee in the circus and he's just this big fat caterpillar. Number two, my number two, insect, the human centipede rose. Like the intricate weave of this carpet or the perfect cylindrical quality of this roach turd. The human centipede rose. Very gross.

I want you, that is what, that's the image I want you to take away on this Friday afternoon. Is he in the front, back or middle? The human centipede rose. I feel like he would be in the middle because he has to eat a lot of baseball's excrement, but he also pumps out a bunch. So I feel like Pete Rose would be in the middle. There is a description of Pete Rose that I can't get out of my head.

Somebody once said Pete Rose looks like I drew a face on my thumb. That image is another one I can't get out of my head, but that's number two. Number one on my list, top 10 insects, Randy Mosquito. Quieting down as we near that midnight hour.

Excuse me. That was a bug that just flew in my mouth. That's one of my favorite types of bloopers is news bloopers. Oh, how about the one where the guy is just cursing.

Yeah, I would have put that one in the country. Too many beeps. A lot of bleeps. I was thinking about getting into television, but I just do not enjoy spending my entire day to craft something that lasts four or five minutes. I'd rather sit for three or four hours and discuss things more expansively. I think it's more fun.

For sure. That's just my preference. Now I respect the work of those in television, but I was very much on the fence. And that's what leading me towards radio versus doing TV. Now I do some TV stuff on the side.

I'm just not really good at it. There are benefits to both sides. You've worked in television. I feel like television is a lot more time oriented. We have a lot more time to figure our stuff out because it's kind of go with the flow.

TV is more regimented. We have to have things in by this time deadline. And if you're cool with deadlines, TV is great.

If you're not so cool with deadlines, maybe not so much. Let's get an update on what's happening at the Northern Trust right now as Dustin Johnson. That's been the top 10 list. If you have anything else that you would like to submit on Twitter at sports I'm trying.

I know, Robert, you have a couple of things to potentially add as well. Did any of your guesses make it in there? Bowl, bowl weevil. Made the cut. Josh Graham has his finger on the triad sports pulse.

So wash your wrist when he's finished. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. We've got some breaking NBA news into our studios. An update on two Portland trailblazers. According to multiple reports, Damian Lillard is set to play tomorrow night in game three, a series tied one game apiece between LA and Portland. Chris Haynes just reported though that Zach Collins, who was injured during the year before coming back into the bubble along with Yusef Nurkic, he suffered a hairline medical malleus stress fracture. I probably nailed that pronunciation.

Can't you tell I'm a doctor on the radio? It's a fracture in his left ankle. He's going to miss the remainder of the season. It's a pretty big blow for Portland. And before the series, my message was this. The Lakers, they haven't been playing playoff basketball since arriving in the bubble. Portland has. And they were firing on all cylinders against the Memphis Grizzlies to get in. And to a degree, the Brooklyn Nets right before that, they were red hot. The Lakers, they didn't look like themselves in game one. I thought there was going to be a Dame lower performance. Portland was going to win an early game, but the Lakers are going to win this series in five, but I'll present this to Brian Geisinger to get us off and running from league pass layer.

Also accsports.com. If I give you these two options, this series going seven games or the Lakers winning in five, which do you believe to be the more plausible scenario? Lakers in five for sure. That's like, if you had asked me before the series started, I would have said, you know, Lakers in like four and a half games. I would have thought, you know, maybe Willard shoots Portland into one victory, but like just defensively, I didn't think the Blazers were up for the task of defending the Lakers. And actually, you know, LA's offense hasn't been like amazing throughout the first two games, to say the least.

Better certainly in game two. But obviously Portland, when they have a power out, it's like that. Offensively, the game struggles and their kids can't make enough plays on the short roll. Yeah, I think Portland needs to sort of make some adjustments with the pick and roll, but they're also like down some bodies too. Losing Zach Collins who hasn't played great, but he's still a piece and he's an athletic big for them that they could use in a variety of different ways defensively. So yeah, no, I would just say Portland out of gas, two banged up and going up against LeBron and AB.

Yeah, I would think the Lakers could, they're more likely to take the next three straight, I would say. Follow him on Twitter at bguys underscore bird. He's a triad guy, did some color commentary for High Point this past season.

And on top of that, great ACC Sports Analysis, NBA as well. There are few guys that know more about hoops than BG does in my world. I'm not a James Wiseman fan. The Hornets, they're picking number three. I wouldn't go as far to say that he's not a top 10 pick. I wouldn't want Charlotte to pick him, but you would go as far to say in terms of what you've seen from Wiseman, which isn't a lot because he bailed on Memphis early on, you don't think he's really a lottery pick.

What's your biggest hang up with James Wiseman? Yeah, and look, like I understand why Wiseman uses potential because he's 7'1 with a 7'6 wingspan. He can jump in a straight line and he can really run. But his positioning and his awareness defensively is a problem. He needs to get a lot better.

I'm not sure if defensively... Right now, I don't know if he's a guy that's on pace to be able to play like leverage minutes in the postseason. We're seeing all these teams in the playoffs right now and some of these centers really struggle and they either get played off the floor or their teams just get lit up offensively. Maybe James Wiseman adds a jump shot and is able to stretch it out to the three-point line at some point.

I don't think there's really right now a post element to his game. What he's giving you offensively is still valuable, which is a screen role game. This is why I still like Wiseman and why I think he'll be a starter in the NBA for a long time because at a bare minimum, he offers a discrete set of skills as far as rim running and rim protection that we know are useful. There are just more cost-effective and value-driven ways to acquire those, whether it be picking those guys and the guys later in the first round, which is where I have Wiseman in the middle of the pack where I have him scored, or in the second round pick. There are easier ways to do that as opposed to investing a top five pick. And look, if Wiseman adds tools offensively, if he becomes a post player that can pass and he can stretch it out to the three-point line, you mix that with his frame and his size, then we're having a different conversation than me grading him as the 16th best prospect, the 17th best prospect.

I'll look really dumb, but for right now, based on what I've seen, this is where I have him. But you know, there's a big difference between what you would like to see happen and what say Mitch Kupchak is thinking, what the Hornets will ultimately do at number three. I want you to react to this answer from Mitch because I thought it was very interesting. He was asked by, I think Rick Bunnell with the Charlotte Observer about his viewpoint on best player available versus picking somebody just for need and what's been called a needs driven draft.

This was Kupchak's response. I don't think our team is at the stage of development where we could say, hey, let's, we need a big or we need a guard or we need a wing and we pass on maybe better talent to fill a position. We're not at that stage right now. We need to add talent to this team, no matter what position it is.

And if we have duplication, then great, we'll figure it out. So he seems to be for best player available. And he even noted at a different point, they're not going to be able in all likelihood to bring guys in. So a lot of this is going to be graded on the tape and graded on Zoom conversations that they have with these players. Hearing that answer, if you're just talking about best player available and the fact they're not going to be able to work out guys, how do you narrow down your list of players the Hornets potentially might pick at number three?

Yeah, and look, Mitch nails it. I mean, that's exactly what you want your executive saying getting into the draft. Like we're going to be smart. We're going to take the best player available.

Like that's absolutely the mode Charlotte needs to be in. He nailed it. And they went into the draft in 2019 with the same exact approach, different circumstance, obviously, no pandemic going on, but they went into that draft with the same approach and they had a great draft. PJ Washington, great pick. Cody Martin, great pick.

McDaniel's, great pick as well too. Like they just, they nailed all of those. And so, yeah, you got to, it's interesting because you can't, well, the way things are, I mean, you can't fall in love with just an individual workout or something that you see at the combine or with a, you know, a run in March madness or that you get swept up in, you got to do it off the stuff that a dork like I'm using at home too, which is like watching a lot of games on synergy and looking at hungers on synergy too. And you've got, you've got a lot of people, scouts, operations, people, analytics, people that work for you. And hopefully everyone is huddled up and, you know, putting all their knowledge together and watching literally as much as they can, talking about stuff and checking out numbers and projecting out because ultimately they've got a blank canvas to work with, which is nice, but there's also a lot of pressure to start, you know, putting some paint on the canvas as well too. So I agree with Mitch that they shouldn't be narrowing down to a certain position.

You look best player available. And the way I'm thinking about this for Charlotte too, is this, this is the top three pick that they lucked into this season. It's maybe not the draft that you want that in, but you roll with it. And then you go into next season thinking, Hey, we may have a top, top three pick again in 2021 and what's supposed to be an excellent draft. And now all of a sudden you're saying, well, we got, we got PJ Washington and maybe Miles Bridges and released Monk Pop.

We've got Devontae Graham. We just drafted, you know, Ojeko Okonwu or James Wiseman or Kelly Hayes or whoever, Anthony Edwards, the number three pick. And now we're going to go into, we're thinking 2021, we're going to get another top four pick. And then all of a sudden we really started to stack some of that elite talent on top of one another. And that's how we build going forward. Plus they're going to have more cap space than basically any team in the league in 2021. And they're taking that same approach in the free agency too, of like, we don't need to just spend all this on, you know, signing, you know, a B minus player to a max deal. We could use this to facilitate and add draft capital and added young assets and cheap assets to the roster.

So again, I think the approach is solid from the front office here. While I got you here, I want to ask you an ACC basketball thing because there's something that stood out to me. You're seeing already some of these preseason polls come up. I think Gary Parrish had one because now we know who's coming back and who, uh, had their name in the draft, kept their name in the draft.

And I'm seeing Duke and Virginia pretty universally as the two ACC teams in the preseason top 10. Then I see this report that Brendan Marks had for the athletic that Matthew Hurt has picked up 21 pounds this off season, going from 214 to 235. He already picked up some big rebounds. The Florida state game late, he had that, that bucket on a put back or got to the free throw line and hit some important foul shots, but he was always really skinny.

Yeah. Incredibly lanky. Um, Matthew Hurt. How much differently do you feel about what Duke is capable of seeing that Matthew Hurt has really shirred up his frame? It seems like it's massive. It's big for Duke.

Last season. It's big for Matthew Hurt as he projects this, he's going to try to work into being a first round pick in 2021 too. Uh, Matthew Hurt is one of the best offensive weapons in the ACC full stop. He just is, he's, he wants to reach through to basically every level of the court last season, one of the most efficient post players in the conference. So all of a sudden now you're adding more muscle to that.

That's perfect. He needs that to score around the, on the elbows and on the block. Like that's going to be a big, big boon for him too. And as someone that's such an elite spot up shooter, a pick and pop shooter, Kevin's going to force a lot of closeouts as well too. Well, he needs that extra muscle to go in there. Once he drives a closeout on a little catch and go to be able to finish through contact at the rim. That's something that he struggled with a little bit last season. Even, even when he made shots, he'd see him still get knocked to the floor or whatever. As far as his defense goes, like this is going to help him. He needed to get stronger in his lower body so he could bang in the post a little bit more established position better.

Defend that. You know, you add in, he's pretty lengthy already, so he can block a shot or two. You add some muscle and you shape up in terms of your awareness and pick and roll health defense. And all of a sudden, like you got the makings of an interesting two-way player that can be special offensively. And as far as Duke goes too, I think for this team to get their five best players on the court next season, you're going to need to see Matthew Hurt play some center. And 20 extra pounds of weight will certainly help with that as well too. And I think if Duke can play Hurt at five as much as possible, they've got some good centers on the roster, newcomers, no doubt.

But they can really open the floor and just overwhelm teams with NBA talent, especially if they can move Hurt to the five and use that to get guys like Henry Coleman and Jameon Breakfield on the court more at the powerful spot. BG, appreciate the analysis as always. Enjoy the NBA basketball over the weekend and we'll catch up sometime soon. Sounds good. There you go. He's on Twitter at bguys underscore bird. Follow him there for the all-encompassing ACC and NBA basketball analysis.