I say more often than not, because Rob will be the keeper of the list.

Somebody will get to 40.

But back to your point, yeah, definitely agree.

And I think it's a good problem to have from obviously an on-court standpoint, but it's something that Charles Lee is going to have to navigate.

You know, it's going to be a little – injuries are inevitable in an NBA season.

We obviously know that.

The Hornets are dealing with a couple, you know, key ones right now heading into the preseason, Conn Knipple and – um, and Grant Williams.

And Grant Williams seemed to as well.

So it felt that way watching this front office work, now getting a look back at the 2026 draft.

I love this particular episode every summer because, uh, it is, there is a lot going on in it.

It goes back, you know, it kind of starts at, uh, the lottery, and then it goes to the combine in Chicago, which is, you know, mid-May, and then to the draft process.

And, uh, you know, it's always cool when you brought in the guys that you end up drafting, the footage.

You know, sometimes it doesn't always work that way.

Um, either, you know, picks move or, you know, you weren't able to get a one-on-one workout with a guy and he ends up kind of falling and, and you get him.

So, uh, it's really cool to kind of see the behind the scenes of when Hanis came in for his draft workout and, and Christian as well, um, you know, back in late May, early June, mid-June time.

What it was going to take to get LaMelo Ball out of Charlotte was a high bar that was met based off the quotes and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that we heard from this episode of Real Axis.

So it's a great snarky text that I can expect from you on an annual basis.

That doesn't sound like something I did.

So two things kind of stuck out to me a little bit.

One of them, they usually have two kind of longer West Coast-focused trips.

One of them is in November this year.

Last year they had one in mid-January and then mid-March, and they do one in November, and there's a lot of days off in between it.

It's like a 10-day road trip.

But ultimately, this is about putting the fans first, which has been a calling card of the new ownership group, of a lot of the people that they have empowered throughout the company here, finding ways, whether it's when you come to Spectrum Center or ingest Hornets basketball from home, to put the fans first and give them the best and easiest access to their favorite team.

Sam Perley, who did you like from the Las Vegas Summer League?

As you know, I generally will take the easy way out, and if you're going to give them to me, I'll take it.

It's Hannah Steinbach.

Obviously, coming in, we knew how good a rebounder he was at the Division I level.

He was the best this past season, and I think it's understandable.

I didn't watch a ton of University of Washington basketball this past season.

It was up on way too late, past my bedtime, but so impressed by his hands.

How does someone who was a rookie in summer league make their way into the rotation and have potentially the kind of impact that see on James Ryan Kalkbrenner and in a dream scenario? Conn Knipple had on the Hornets last season?

They can shoot the ball, and on top of that, they've got playoff experience.

For sure, and I think you kind of lost or we've lost count of how many picks, first-rounders, second-rounders the Hornets have acquired.

Jeff Peterson took over, I believe this is correct, that after the, after the Miles Bridges trades, that they now have somewhere in the neighborhood of, I think, 14 or access to 12 first-round picks, including their own, and 17 second-round picks, including their own.

Their next, uh...

They owe a couple in the future to two other teams, but other than that, no other obligations.

If you add that up, it's almost 30 controllable picks in the next seven years.

Um, which has been...

Probably have to update that stat.

So suffice it to say, Sam Perley, it's a haul in return for ball fitting, given what he has meant to the fan base and what he has done for the franchise, but he is now a Minnesota Timberwolves.

Yeah, definitely a day, like you said, that we knew was coming at some point when the trade was finally going to be made official.

And, you know, it's definitely a, I think it's fair to say, probably the most significant transaction of Jeff Peterson's tenure, you know, two and a half year, tenure or so with the Hornets so far.

But one that, although it's on the surface, you can kind of see, okay, coming off, you know, the most successful season in a decade and player that played a huge hand in it and played 72 games and was, you know, a big part of the team's second half surge.

You know, Jeff is continuing to, you know, one thing that I look back at looking at his end of season press conferences, you know, he's taking everything and evaluating it, but he's not going to let short-term results or anything kind of deter away from the long-term plan of building sustainable success.

It's something that he has mentioned several, several times that, you know, It's not about chasing the play-in game.

It's not about chasing the seventh or eighth seed and getting the playoffs one time and then not making it a couple years and then going back.

We could easily be pointing Sam Perley at this deal just from a pick standpoint as being the Hornets' hall akin to what the Thunder used to create this playoff juggernaut with a similar result for the Queen City.

So suffice it to say, Sam Perley, it's a haul in return for ball fitting, given what he has meant to the fan base and what he has done for the franchise, but he is now a Minnesota Timberwolves.

Yeah, definitely a day, like you said, that we knew was coming at some point when the trade was finally going to be made official.

And, you know, it's definitely a, I think it's fair to say, probably the most significant transaction of Jeff Peterson's tenure, you know, two and a half year, tenure or so with the Hornets so far.

But one that, although it's on the surface, you can kind of see, okay, coming off, you know, the most successful season in a decade and player that played a huge hand in it and played 72 games and was, you know, a big part of the team's second half surge.

You know, Jeff is continuing to, you know, one thing that I look back at looking at his end of season press conferences, you know, he's taking everything and evaluating it, but he's not going to let short-term results or anything kind of deter away from the long-term plan of building sustainable success.

It's something that he has mentioned several, several times that, you know, It's not about chasing the play-in game.

It's not about chasing the seventh or eighth seed and getting the playoffs one time and then not making it a couple years and then going back.

We could easily be pointing Sam Perley at this deal just from a pick standpoint as being the Hornets' hall akin to what the Thunder used to create this playoff juggernaut with a similar result for the Queen City.

So, Sam Perley, I'm sure that we can really go into agreement that Liam was the guy in that game yesterday for all intents and purposes.

For sure, and with the Hornets' offense struggling a little bit early on, and they were down kind of in that 7, 8, 9 point range, I mean...

it felt like he had a timely shot every time that the Hornets needed it.

It didn't necessarily spark a huge run in the first half, but a 6-0 magic run, he'd hit a three or he had a three-point play or something.

He did just enough or did more than enough, but he was the big source of offense for the team in the first half and really kept them within arm's length of Orlando.

You could just tell.

A guy shoots seven of eight from three-point range.

We're used to this, but it's cool to see that what those people saw when he was at Butler, now we're able to experience that as well here in Charlotte, at least for one summer league contest.

So biggest question I think moving forward for both parties is how can you impact winning? And clearly both sides feel that together that is something that they can achieve in the very near future.

Absolutely.

And when he was on the court this year, so he played 21 games with the Hornets all off the bench.

I mean, his numbers were extraordinary.

I know it's not the biggest sample size in the world, but averaged almost 16 points, shot 46 percent, 39 percent from three.

His best season ever overall shooting from three is 38 and a half percent.

So had three rebounds, three assists in just under 20 minutes.

So what he's going to do now when physically he's caught up and talent-wise he's matured, I just can't wait to see him out there.

Is there a player that you hope he fits the mold of when it's all said and done?

Well, obviously, Isaiah Hartenstein would be a fantastic end result.

I think it's also a little bit different, too, is now you're seeing a lot more, and Steinbach's a perfect example of this, a lot more international players now going in the college route.

I think because of the NIL, you go back 10 years ago, Steinbach is probably getting drafted out of Würzburg, Germany, his club team, and there's probably a lot more polarizing opinions on him because he didn't play NCAA college basketball and you know, is coming through a totally different setting than he did as opposed to the college prospects and the visibility factor and everything.

So he definitely proved that he could play at Washington.

And that was on full display, obviously, with winning the rebounding title.

Whereas Hartenstein, again, I think was playing in Lithuania at the time and probably had to deal with a lot of the skepticism because he just was more of an unknown.

as a catch and shoot guy also off the dribble under duress he can really do it all and by many people's accounts might be the best shooter in this draft class Sam Perley your thoughts here what do you like about Christian Anderson

So how do you view this draft?

Yeah, I, I definitely agree with Jeff Peterson, though.

This is a, it feels like a much deeper draft than maybe the 2024.

Obviously, it's a little bit different.

You know, when the Hornets were picking fourth, uh, and even sixth back in 2024, your, your, your field of guys you're gonna be taking is maybe a little, uh, more narrow.

You know, uh, you kinda know who the, the top, you know, two, three, four guys are that are gonna be available.

I think when you're obviously at 14 or 18, you can go a little bit different ways.

But they're not going to pass up on someone who they think can be a potential all-star in the next couple of seasons, just because he doesn't fit the mold for what the outside perception is of that 14th or 18th pick.