Hornets Hive CastEric Collins, the TV voice of the Hornets, stops by to chat with Sam Farber to preview Buzz City in the Windy City to take on the Bulls. The two also discuss the current state of the Hornets, as well as the recent announcement that five Hornets games will be free, over-the-air to watch in the Charlotte region.
Welcome to the Hornets Hoodcast, presented by Charlotte I ear nosen Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen Throatcare provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Here's your host, Sam Farber.
Welcome to another edition of the Hornets Podcast, your Hornets podcast with all the notes, quotes, and daily buzz around your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber, and it is a pleasure and a privileged to have you with us here once again on the Hornet's Podcast, brought to you by Santa Charlotte, I hear nos and Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen throat Care provider of the Charlotte Hornets. Game Day edition Hornets visiting the Chicago Bulls to wrap up what was supposed to be a five game road trip ends up being a three gamer. We'll have a game preview for Hornets versus Bulls. Also, we're gonna talk about the over the air broadcasts that are coming up, and who better to do that with than the guy who you're gonna hear on the play by play for them, the great Eric Collins, who joins us today for his annual episode of the HC. Eric, thanks so much for joining me. Hey, Sam thrilled, I don't think we should do an annual. I think like buy annual, semi annual something like that. Man, let's get it fresh, right, I'm all for it. We'll pencil you in for middle of All Starbreck. No, we'll pencil you in somewhere down the line. Well, I'm excited to talk about the over the air broadcast because I think that's something really important and special for the fan base. But before we go there, let's just talk about the Hornets in general. Obviously, the record is not great for the Hornets. They just picked up their ninth win the other day at Utah. But I kind of view the world through purple and teal colored glasses, and from my perspective, I think you can't necessarily judge this Hornet's core unless you're actually looking at the Hornet's core on the floor. And the subset of the season where they've all played together is actually pretty small and actually much better record than their overall one.
Oh, I I'm in agreement.
You know.
It's now that we have Mark back and everyone seems to be healthy, fingers crossed, not goun wet, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, everything else that was done before was meaningful and was important, but it wasn't who the Hornets are right now and what they will be in the future. So it's it's fun to see Mark out there and running with LaMelo because they're learning to play together. That is so important. They're learning how to win together. That is super important. You know, everything else was done in October and November and even December, those results counted in. We can't forget that those actually existed, but that's not the Hornets that we're looking at going forward. Those are just kind of pieces. This is actually the whole thing going together and really encouraging what we saw in Salt Lake City the other day with those you know, the core four, all with twenty points, all playing really well, all doing small things, all seeming to enjoy each other, all playing off of each other, and showing what they can be both individually and collectively.
You've seen many different iterations of the Hornets, and several with far better records than the team has at the moment. But just in terms of talent level guys like LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, where does this team potentially rank compared to others that you've covered here in the Queen City.
Wow, when I first came to town, it's twenty fifteen, and I would classify that version of the team as more grinders. You know, Kemba was there, who was obviously super talented, but because of his size, you know, he just he had to grind. You had total hammanegger. We had Jeremy Lynn, who I totally think that people forget. He was one season here in town and he was just fantastic. Wasn't the most spectacular player, but he made plays, winning plays. He was the guy who would finish games in the fourth quarter and you'd ask him to come up with something important and he would do it. I love Jeremy Linn when he was here. We had a Jeremy Lamb, Marvin Williams, just guys who just knew their role and plugged. These guys totally different, you know, high end athletes, high end potential. You know, Mark Williams any other generation in the NBA would have been the first overall pick, you know, seven to one, with that wingspan, smart athletic. This is the way that he's making left headed layups, doing euros. His athletic ability. He's just crazy and the fact that the Hornets found him fifteenth overall in the draft just blows my mind, like, what are people evaluating these days when seven to one with that type of athletic ability is not considered to be the most important thing you're looking for in there?
Couldn't agree more. And he's had obviously a great run of games, and something you touched on before them learning to play off one another. I think the last couple of games for Miles Bridges have probably been his most efficient, best best efforts that we've seen. Maybe efforts probably not the right word, because he's always given good effort, but in terms of best outcomes, his performances have been great. And then LaMelo is just naturally going to draw a lot of attention for the defense but figuring out when is the right time to shoot? When can I set my teammates up. He's had back to back really really high level of this game. So getting to a question here, what do you think success looks like? Here? If we get what we're hoping for a fifteen to twenty plus game sample size of this group together, what would be proof of concept to you that this core group is working and can work in the future, recognizing that they're all pretty young, they're all going to continue to grow.
You know, I'm a big black and white guy, and I think, you know, I could I see the value in incremental steps and you know, and finding you know, progress that way. But to me, it's wins, man. I want to see a young team figure out how to get wins.
You know.
In years past, you know, we've seen teams kind of coalesce middle of a season and they finished the season strong, and the next season you get so much hope, you know, just case in point. I remember Phoenix in the bubble, they were crazy, and the next year they were fantastic and went to the finals. Houston last year terrible beginning of the season. Their young players started to figure out in May and or in March and in April, and this year they're one of the best teams in the Western Conference. I don't think that that's too much to ask for the Hornets, you know, I think that these pieces, when they're healthy, I think it's only going to take weeks, you know, not months and years to kind of come together and figure out how to win. The talent's there, they're smart, guys who want to play winning basketball. And I think when you have smart guys who buy in, I think that makes it easier.
I think it was Miami seven or eight years ago started the year ten and thirty one or something like that in the first half, and then wrapped it up going thirty one and ten, finishing with a five hundred record. A five hundred record these days good enough to make some type of postseason. So we'll see. There's still certainly a lot of time left here for the Hornet season. And with that core four playing consistently, that is playing, you know, back to back starts. They're two and one right now, so given a small sample size, something to build on.
And we also have that massive eight game homestand long as homestand and Hornets history. The Hornets to me, you know, beginning of the season, I think they won four consecutive games at home, maybe it's five, But since then, the Hornets have really struggled winning at home, and I think that's that's so important. It builds excitement, It sets the concept that this is a team that is serious about their business and takes care of home court. That's what winning teams do, So I would really like the Hornets to make a big step and win, you know, a decent amount of games in this next a game homestand I think that that's something that's it's definitely attainable.
It's actually one better. It's a nine game homestand even better.
Nine consecutive games. Good golly, Yes, let's get it done.
It'll be like, in the best possible way the COVID season in the sense that you don't have to pack your bag.
Ah.
You know what.
I don't say bad thing about that COVID season. It was awful time for humanity. But doing games from I had to if I really boded with Dell that year. We were in our in our little booth by ourselves, you know, doing Hornets games from the Spectrum Center, even when the team was on the road, and I think Delan I really found our stride, you know, during that window. So you're kind of bringing up good memories.
Being at home that long will definitely be a good thing, especially considering we're at the point of this road trip where I'm playing the game of is that clean? Trying to figure out which compartment still has the clean clothes in it. We're at the tail end the Hornets are coming home. That nine game home stand not too far off in the future, still about a week away, and part of it will be over the air broadcast for the first time in a long time. We're going to talk about that with the voice television voice. He makes me say that of the Charlotte Hornets, Eric Collins, after this quick break here on the Hornets Podcast, Sam Farber and Eric Collins, the play by play voices, I guess of your Charlotte Hornets see of course on television and me on the radio. And we'll have the call of tonight's game against the Chicago Bulls for you on our respective networks coming up later on today. Before we get to Hornets Versus Bulls preview, want to talk about the exciting news the Hornet's partnering with WSOCTV Channel nine and TV sixty four to simulcast five games on free over the air television. Of course, it'll still be available on FanDuel Sports Southeast, and we always encourage you to find a way to get a subscription. But it's a sign of the times. In this bifurcated media landscape we live in, not everyone has even the ability to purchase a package that comes with FanDuel Sports Network or wherever they are in the country. This isn't just a Charlotte thing. I moved to the Queen City from LA and I know so many Dodgers fans who were die hard. They'd pay the price of a ticket to watch the game on television and couldn't do it, not because they didn't have the means to, but because it was not made available to them. And so this is an opportunity for fans who have heard great things, seeing all the great highlights of your work in Dell Curries and Shannon Spakes to actually be able to watch the game from their homes, regardless of whether or not FanDuel Sports Southeast is available in their house.
To begin with, just take it one step further. You're talking about LA and people Dodger fans. The famous story is Vin Scully, the greatest announcer to ever hold a microphone, couldn't watch Dodger games like I would do half the Dodger games that Vin couldn't do it. I was the road announcer of Vin or do the home games, but Vin famously couldn't watch the road games because he didn't have access to Dodger baseball on his television at home. Is that the craziest thing in the world, Just nutty, The fact that Vin Scully could not watch the Los Angeles Dodgers play.
I remember you telling me a story that he was asked, what do you think of the new guys, like, well, I can't watch him.
It was crazy, and people just were figuring he was trashing. I don't want to talk about the new guy, but he literally could not watch the games. It was just like you said, a side of the times. But I think this is a really fantastic, fantastic opportunity. I'm a big believer in letting people watch a product. I lived in Chicago for many years and the Chicago Blackhawks had this just ridiculous idea that home games should never be televised the hockey team in Chicago. So for years, forty one games would be televised, all the road games and forty one home games would be totally dark, and the Blackhawks just were irrelevant, absolutely irrelevant. Well, the owner moved on and new people came in and they said, well, gone, We're going to put every game on television. And it was crazy. The fans just went nuts. It became the most popular team in town. It coincided, of course, with Michael retiring, but they won Stanley Cups, and it just totally changed the dynamic because people had access to the product, and it didn't dissuade people from buying tickets. It just really just increased everything Blackhawks related. So I'm not gonna say it's gonna be that level here at the Hornets, but I think it's great that we're giving people an opportunity to just flip on any television that they're going around and watch the Hornets. It's the way that it was when the Hornets first came into the league. The Hornets avid fan base. Back in the day, when I was a kid growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, it was destination television when the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Cleveland Indians were on television. You know, because it wasn't every single game. If you're of a certain age, you know that the whole concept of every single one hundred and sixty two for baseball or eighty two for basketball all being televised, that's a relatively new thing. So when games used to come on back in the eighties, when I was growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. Man. The most important thing in my life was finding a TV, sometimes a black and white TV and watching my team's play. And that's how I developed my love. And I think that everyone should have that possibility. You know, this is our team. You know, this is not only you know, just to people who have access to a cable subscription. It's people who live in Charlotte, who live in North Carolina, who live in South Carolina. Let's give them some basketball. This is a fantastic product. Let's try and build as many fans as we can.
It's the first time that the games will be available for free over the air television since the seven eight season. First game that this is going to come up January twenty seventh against Lebron James and the Lakers. Also, really good games, really good opponents are on this list in addition to that one January thirty first against the Clippers, February fifth, Giannis Antetokoumpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. By the way, all three of those games are part of that record nine game homestand so we'll have some really good opponents in town. Tickets for all those games available at Hornets dot com. A road game visiting Luka, Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks February twenty seventh, and then one of Charlotte's favorite sons, Steph Curry and the Warriors come to town on March third. These are all the games that will be available on either WSOCTV Channel nine or TV sixty four, as well as, of course, in addition to FanDuel's Sports Southeast. And in addition to get in to watch great Hornets players, young rising superstar in LaMelo Ball who's already been an All Star once in his career, Brandon Miller who clearly has all star talent, and Mark Williams and Miles Bridges who have put together some really nice runs. Here fans get to watch you and del Curry, which has been one of the most glorified, rightfully pairings of broadcasters in the NBA. You get a lot of love from all across the country, not just in our local community. What are you looking to bring to those fans locally who maybe have not had the opportunity, like we've been talking about here to see your work, but have heard about it before. What should they be looking forward to most about tuning into a Hornets game Okay.
Well, first of all, thank you for the compliment. It was very nice.
But no one says this about me, by the way, I don't and they shouldn't. I don't have Del Curry with me.
Well, we're all still striving to get to the level that Steve Martin was at. You know, the Hornets do have a rich tradition of broadcasting excellence, and it all started with Steve Martin. So you know, when we get there, we'll know. But no one has reached the level of Steve Martin, who, in my eyes, is the absolute pinnacle. And that's just me, that's Hornets fans across the country. But I firmly believe that the secret sauce to what we're doing on television for the last ten years has been Dell. You know, Dell's incredible. Delle spent sixteen years as an NBA player and one of the best shooters in the history of the game, six Man of the Year. I probably wouldn't tell this to his face. I don't know if he thinks he's a compliment, but I think he's a better broadcaster than he was a basketball player. Is that's a huge compliment that I'm giving him. He has got the credibility of playing so long. He's got the credibility of having two sons who have had long, decades, long careers as NBA players, So he's still current. He has the credibility of being the original Hornet.
He was the first.
Expansion draft pick back in nineteen eighty eight. He has played in more games than any Hornet he is, you know, it was the all time leading scorer forever. And the fact that he's willing to engage me in my whimsy and not mock me and not say, Eric, you know what are you talking about, the fact that he's willing to play along with the inside jokes and the games and the wordplay. I couldn't have drawn up a better partner. You know, he knows the history. He's fun, he's smart, he understands the ex's and o's. He's current with the NBA players, like there's not a box that he doesn't check. And so I think that when people talk about our broadcast, it starts with dell Man, because you got to have a great analyst. You know this as a you know, longtime broadcaster, you get a great analyst. You can find play by play guys. You know, some are different some or whatever. But if you have a great analyst, that elevates everyone and so I'm just so lucky to be connected at that with him.
I am sure if I ask the same question to Dell, I know because we've done this before with him, he'd say the same thing about you, just in terms of what you bring to the broadcast and the energy and how much he enjoys it as well. And I'll say, personally, it's the best part of my game day getting to sit with you guys and listen to what's gonna happen in the broadcast. Here's some of the back and forth. It's just so much fun. And to occasionally get to chime in and say, oh, actually this status here might be relevant to you guys. If I get one that Eric Collins has not seen before, that is a huge win. It rarely happens, but those pearls are worth their weight in gold.
When I was a kid, my mom used to always say, you know, Eric, every person in the world is interesting. You just need to find out what's interesting about them. Are you willing to ask the question? Are you willing to wait for the answer? And that's always that's always hit with me. And so so I'm of the belief that all you need to do is really kind of look. And so every day it's my quest, and it's one of my favorite things in the world to do is to find out what is something? What are two things that are interesting about every single person who could possibly be involved in the game, be a player, be a coach, be a trainer, be someone who could be in the stands. The other day I found something just fascinating. Like some things, it's just kind of cosmic. I was doing my research and we're getting ready to play the Phoenix Suns. It's Sunday, and I always looked at whose birthday is it today? And so I go and I found out that it's Scott Burrell's birthday. Scott Burrell's a first round pick of the Hornets back in the mid nineties. I want a championship with Michael Jordan and the Bulls. In nineteen ninety eight, I knew Scotty a little or Scott a little bit. His claim to fame was he still is the only person in the history of professional sports. This is Scott Burrell to be drafted in the first round in the NBA and the first round of Major League Baseball, the Toronto Blue jaysopped him was right and had a pitcher. Okay, so that happened. I was like, Scott Barell's on my brain. I wrote it down, just think about. Hey, maybe I'll mention the Scott Barrell's birthday. Give a shot up. I didn't. The game's over. We go back to the hotel. I walk into the lobby of the hotel. This guy stops me. He's the father of Ryan Dunn, who was one of the starting forwards for the Phoenix Suns. Played for the Virginia Cavaliers Tony Bennett anyway, So I'm talking to him in the lobby and I said, you got a son who plays baseball, right, and he goes, yes, I do.
How did you know that?
Well, I did my research on your son, Ryan Dunn, and I knew that he had a son or brother who played for the Cincinnati Reds is starting pitcher. I said, what round was he drafted it? Oh, he was drafted in the first round. So I had spent my day thinking about Scott Burrell, who was the only player to be drafted in the first round of the NBA and Major League Baseball. That night, eight hours later, I met the father of the guy who had a son drafted in the first round, Ryan Dunn of the NBA draft and the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft, and justin done, like that's crazy. There's no other person in the world that I could have met that would have connected Scott Burrell and what I was thinking about it early in the morning with anything more better than that. So anyway, I'm a big believer, and I love research, and I love finding out a little stories about individuals. And it's amazing how many times these stories are kind of interwoven.
And that's one that didn't even make air, but now it's made it here. Now it's here on it made your day, and it made the hornets I've cast and made this broadcast that much better. But yeah, that level of research that you do, it's something that I aspired to. And again, like when I can find something that Eric Collins didn't have on his board, or sometimes even more fulfilling for me is if I find something, I'm so excited to tell it to you and you're like, yeah, I mentioned that on the pregame show half an hour ago, Like, well, at least I'm barking up the right tree. If Eric thought it was important and I found it important, then it must be important.
You know. I remember the Internet. Internet had scared me because I was out Sidelline a quarterback in the nineties in Chicago, and that was kind of my thing. It's like, I always had this information people where this stuff come from. I used to read every magazine like I had every newspaper under my arm at all times. And then the Internet came and access to information became totally readable for everyone, and I was a little bit worried that people are going to catch up to me, and they haven't yet. They haven't yet.
He's the best in the business, and you're going to be able to watch him regardless of your television situation. Maybe not entirely, I guess you still need a television for this to work. Here, but available on free over the air television for the first time since the seven eight season. Five upcoming Hornets games starting January twenty seventh against Lebron James and the LA Lakers, and including several other great matchups, including one against Steph Currie and the Golden State Warriors on March third, and also always available on fanduels Sports Southeast as is Tonight's game, Hornet's taking on the Chicago Bulls. Will have our game preview next here on the Hornets Time Cast. Sam Farbar and Eric Collins here with you on the HHC The Hornets timee Cast, brought to you by Centa. We're in Chicago tonight for Hornets versus Bulls, Erica a return to a place that you obviously have very fond memories of having done a large portion of your broadcasting career in the Windy City, including covering Michael Jordan and the Bulls for a couple of championship runs in there. What's it like to you to come back to Chicago now as a play by play broadcaster. You were on a dream team in terms of getting to cover one and now having your dream job doing play by play in the NBA.
I love, love, love Chicago. Chicago changed my life. I was a young kid, you know, just graduated from college and I moved to Chicago, and I just wanted to be in a big, big, big city with a lot of different sports and different things going on. And I was fortunate to kind of work my way through and get great opportunities, and I had a chance to work with those world champion Bulls and Michael and you know, man, it's the best sports city. I love Charlotte, Charles's great, fantastic, going things going for it. Chicago's the best sports seat in America. You know, it's all seasons of the year, both sides of town. They care. Best pro sports city. I'm gonna go there. College sports and good luck fighting the you know, there's no college football interest in that kind of stuff. College basketball now, but best pro sports city in America whenever go back. It's just I'm so grateful people still remember. You know, I haven't been on the air in Chicago and it's a long time and people still remember me. And it's really fun. So real treat for me.
Well, you'll be on the air and in Chicago simultaneously tonight for Hornets versus Bulls. Hornets picking up two wins in their last three games. The core for Unified now and starting to hopefully build a rhythm taking on a Bulls team that is still hanging on to a top ten position. They're in the playing tournament right now, but with a record of eighteen and twenty three, maybe still a little underwhelming. First squad that has multiple former All Stars on it. It's game preview time. You've done this with us before. We need a player to watch from each team, as well as a stat to watch other than points, because that's cheating. Whoever scores the most points wins the game. What do you want to start with a stat? A hornet or a member of the Bulls.
I'm gonna do remember the Bulls, just because we don't get a chance to see him a lot, but just three or four times a year. I'm in love with Kobe White. Jacobe Alec White is one of my favorite players, just because of what he can do. I love guys who can score anywhere on the floor. He plays with just a grace. He's explosive. I think he's serially underrated. I think maybe because he's played his entire career with Zach Levine, who's got a similar skill set. But I just think that Kobe is man. That ball just leaves his fingertips, poetry in motion. Big fan, good guy. I always say hello to him. I welcome him back to North Carolina whenever he comes back to Charlotte. You know he's from the other part of the state, but still North Carolina High School's All time leading score, So I'm really looking forward to watching Kobe White. He is he checks a lot of boxes for me.
Always fun when we get to see someone who's a son of North Carolina, and he has been a little bit of a hornet killer in the past, so we'll hopefully I have him avoid that, but still we'll get to see him in action. Another hornet killer on this team. They're big man Nikolovucevich. His numbers have tapered off a little bit from his All Star seasons. There's an argument to be made that he's playing with, you know, another All Star talent or in one a couple of years ago, now several All Star talents in Chicago, and that maybe he took some of his shot volume away and some of his stats away. But whatever it is about the Hornets, it seems like whenever these two teams get together, or any team Vucevich is a part of, he has enormous knights. Now the Bowls have lost three in a row, but he's still putting up double doubles and in particular the head to head matchup for Mark Williams. I'm excited about this one because I think over the last three games, you can argue that Mark Williams has not played a All Star quality center. On the other side in any of the matchups, Phoenix has had good quality NBA guys, but not necessarily someone who's been to an All Star game. The last game against Utah, his draft classmate Walker Kessler, provided an interesting matchup, but again not an All Star. Vouch is a former All Star, so to see what Mark Williams can do against him another stepping stone, another sign of what might be to come for Big Mark Williams. All Right, next up, a hornet to watch or a stat to watch.
I'm gonna do a hornet to watch. And it's kind of knee jerk. You know, it's easy to say LaMelo ball, but I'm interested in Lamela ball. The game against Utah, he seemed to purposely try and get Mark Williams involve all four quarters. He seemed to purposely step away from shooting as many threes as he had and tried to get in the paint and use that six to seven frame and his long arms and his knack for being able to finish. That seemed to be more of his game. I want to see if that's a trend or if that was just kind of a blip. He plays winning basketball, and there's a lot of different ways that LaMelo can affect the game offensively and defensively. But I was very interested in the way in the style in which he tried to get others involved and tried to get his game going in the game against the Jazz, which resulted in a win. And I'm curious to see if that's something that's going to be lasting or that was just kind of a thing that he was trying out.
Same here, excited to see him and what he can do. I'm going to go with Miles Bridges though as my pick. I think he's coming into the scene and I thought he was perfectly suited to be the third option for this team. He's big, he's strong, he's athletic, he can capitalize on one on one or one on none matchups, and you know, take it to the basket, finished with authority, and a good enough shooter that in some seasons he's up there with, you know, one of the better players on the team in that category and under most normal situations, just a good quality perimeter shooter. With all the injuries, there was so much more attention on him. He didn't have as clean a looks, and the shooting percentages reflected that these last three games, not only is he scoring twenty points per night, he's shooting him above fifty percent from the floor and shooting just a hair under fifty percent from three. So I think the numbers reflect that he has suited ideally for this third scorer's role, and with a healthy LaMelo Ball, healthy Brandon Miller, and having Mark Williams do what he's been able to do the last couple of games, it's really unlocked him in his game and his efficiency.
I felt was my job to kind of explain to a certain extent what was going on with Miles When Miles is the number one option. I really felt for him last couple of weeks when a lot of guys were injured not able to play, and basically the coaching staff handed the ball to Miles and said we need you to do something. And he was shooting at twenty five thirty times a game. He was trying to create one on three, one on four, and it's just it's hard, you know, when he was the sole focus of everyone's scouting report. Miles is a tremendous player. He's a tremendous competitor. You know, he wants to win. He's been around, you know, and he's available, but he's you know, if you're asking him to be a one man band, that's a really tough ask. So I love the fact that he's been able to scale down a little bit with the addition of healthy guys who are you know, giving him an opportunity to settle in and play something that.
He's really good at.
When he came into the league as a hornet man, they used to put him in the corner.
He'd made a.
Really excellent outside shooter. He evolved a little bit more attacking a basket over the next couple of years. When he's given small bits and pieces, man, there's very few people who can do those roles better than him. But you asked him to do too much and frequently, you know, a lot of things slip off the play, like most NBA players. Last thing, we need a stat to watch, well, the number eight was kind of big in my life. Out in Salt Lake City, Mark Williams had eight dunks. That's a franchise record eight dunks in the game against the Jazz. If he can play against Vucevic, who like you said, is a different kind of animal than what we saw in Utah and in Phoenix. If he can get anywhere close to that and continue to grow on the offensive side of the floor, I will really take interest. Man. When it's not just one half, when it's not just one game, When he's doing it multiple consecutive games, that's when you know you got something special.
I like it. I know your obsession with dunks during the game you're leaning over because we were sitting next to each other in Salt Lake City. Like, he's got a a record for tungs, Like, yeah, he also has a record for field goals, yeah, but dunks. So I like this stat. I'm gonna go with turnovers. I thought that the Hornets almost not thought they did almost give away the game in Salt Lake City because they just had a lot of careless turnovers. And Utah is not a team that really forces a lot. By reputation, they're near the bottom of the NBA in opponents turnover percentage, meaning they don't take the ball away from the opponent, You just kind of give it to them. Chicago's gonna take the ball away a little bit more effectively. So I think the Hornets have to be mindful of that, be a little bit more careful making sure possessions and in shot attempts. If they do that, I think they've got a good chance to beat the bulls. Either way, we will have it covered for you me on the radio side. Eric will have the call on FanDuel Sports Southeast and always appreciate our conversations. And yes we will make this by annual. We'll get you in the second half of the season. Back here on the Hornets.
I've cast my pleasure, dam Thank you so much.
In addition to Eric, thanks to Rob Longo, our producer, for putting this podcast together. Most of all to all of you for tuning in. For all of us here, I'm Sam Farber saying it's been a pleasure and to privilege having you along an We'll talk to you next time right here on the Hornets Ive Casts.
Thank you for listening to the Hornets Hoodcast, brought to you by Santa, the official i ear nosen Throadcare provider of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets dot com.
