World be fun if he ends up undrafted now… of ccourse it’s not happening.
It feels like the strangest gamble I can recall in lottery draft picks. Maybe they see his best chances of a max second contract is landing on a team like CHA/UTA/WAS where he’s going to get mega minutes, be a plus contributor, and no expectations. That didn’t exactly hurt him at Rutgers.
Curious though, while it would fit the flakey approach of Bailey and co, this would have to be someone else as I doubt it’s a bad prop to play with a guy that will feed you the ball a lot.
I think that’s more of a fit on the court thing - I could see a point guard not wanting to work out for us because they know Lamelo is our guy, that wouldn’t shock me at all.
I don’t think Lamelo’s attitude or whatever would be a turnoff to a workout. And if it was, do you even want that player on your team anyways? You have to be able to adapt and get along with all types in the league, much less life also.
Removed. I see that it was already posted.
Maybe Ace does have a moron for an agent. What does that say about Ace?
I could see a serious basketball player not wanting to hitch his wagon up to melo. A personality type like LeBron, Kobe, Wade, MJ, CP3. Basically, anyone who is super serious about winning and lives and breathes basketball competition.
You can’t count on him being there or particularly caring whether they win or lose.
I see what you are saying, but there are players like Melo all through the league whether it’s publicized or not. You can’t run from something just starting out - if I’m a team exec I get you sending us a message, but what if we are looking at you to trade Melo?
It’s just a bad look on that player to me. But once again, I think these are still agent/representative decisions that get projected on these kids.
It reminds me of when Dave Gettleman was Panthers GM and Josh Norman’s agent was playing hardball in contract negotiations. Dave ended up letting Josh go and Josh was upset and wanted to stay with the Panthers. Dave told Josh that the agent is a reflection of who you are and your choices. Josh ended up firing the agent immediately after that.
Some of these players are hitching themselves to the wrong wagons I think.
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Welp! It looks like it’s either Tre or VJ for us. I can’t see the FO putting up w this kind of BS. With Tre we probably won’t be able to stop a team of toddlers and we can kiss the play in game goodbye but there will be spectacular highlights. Lots and lots of highlights.
By the way all reports are that Tre has a “go to war” winning mentality. I love that!
In the combine and draft process Ace and his people had him listed as a guard. Not Forward or Wing. That should say a lot about wanting to dictate his role. And cancelling workouts. And demanding who he will and will not play for. I see Ace’s path to success in the nba as an eventual stretch PF. Much like Jalen Williams is for OKC. Doesn’t sound like he’s going to go for the stretch PF role. Pass.
I was listening to an nba/nba draft podcast (can’t remember which one) and they were talking about this nba finals has really shown the value of having secondary ball handlers and other guys who can dribble and be secondary passers/facilitators.
We don’t really have that in Charlotte. Unless Mann gets healthy and we stick him on the floor with Melo. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a guy like tre or Kon who feels comfortable on the ball and can help spread the ball? Let alone shoot threes at a 40% clip?
Oh I agree with you. This is essentially a fresh graduate with no experience, interviewing with a company and making demands. It’s a terrible look.
I was only expressing, I get not wanting to play with melo particularly for certain personalities
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Looking up his agent, he’s signed with Omar Cooper, founder of Lifestyle Sports Agency with 0 NBA players. He was a former AAU coach who started his own team…which starts to explain it all. His Lifestyle brand includes a sports lounge and restaurant. He was connected to Okoro before, but different agents negotiated his current Cleveland deal.
Jeff Goodman stated that Omar was asking to get paid for on camera interviews, could be hearsay, but who knows. His son is Sharife Cooper, who was awesome at Auburn, but maybe left a year early, was a 2nd rounder, and is now out of the league. Probably got bad advice from…somewhere.
So, seems like he’s with a guy who’s looking out for his own self interests, and wants to establish name and power in the league. A Klutch wannabe perhaps.
Could be the Kobe situation all over again, where we have a generational talent in our hands but influenced because of stupid agents (I know it was supposed to be “prearranged,” but had chance to call bluff and keep him). I definitely would not want to deal with Cooper, but also, missing on a Kobe, or a Shai, or a Booker, or a Mitchell again…don’t want to have to look back on another…“hey, you guys coulda drafted 9 time Allstar Ace Bailey back in 2025 to pair with Melo and Miller, but decided to get Corey Kispert instead…Move the team!”
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Coach, another thing about a strong offense is that there’s always the hope you can make up a 14 point deficit going into the 4th quarter. Keep me interested in the game! I want the same from the Panthers until they are good again.
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Definitely seems like the Panthers are investing offensively. That’s a good analogy right there - we had the worst defense in league history but are optimistic because we can actually score now
Yeah that agent is absolute trash. No surprise coming from an AAU background, smh
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This is exactly what I saw about two days ago. I decided not to post it because I didn’t know if it was true. I also wondered if it was another team looking to keep Ace away from Charlotte. Now it looks like it’s all true!
I feel bad for Ace but you have to be smart when it comes to money. Where is the family? Are you (speaking in the abstract) telling me that they are not sophisticated enough to take control of the situation?
Millions are at stake! This makes Ace seem every bit as immature/lost as people suspect.
I mentioned it about a week or so ago that I could envision Ace slipping to pick 5-8. I don’t think it’ll be a cam Whitmore kind of slide, but I just didn’t like the way things have been setting up for Ace.
Anyways. If New Orleans wants to move up to our number four pick to select Ace, that would be pretty sweet for them to send us their number 7 pick and herb jones. Obviously, the hornets would need more than that, but getting herb jones would be awesome. Big fan of him. That would certainly greatly aid our defensive woes. And size.
Well apparently his camp is charging people just to meet with him. And refusing workouts. Hard to ask for a promise if he doesn’t interview or workout for a team.
I’m all out on this guy. What a joke.
eh… If he’s that good, he’ll come around. If nothing else, we’ll have a nice piece to trade.
I’m definitely not going to pass on a player just because this type of posturing.
I think I am leaning into the belief that Phili drafts Edgcomb and we end up trading down slightly to someone that wants to over pay for Bailey.
If someone was saying they don’t want to come here, it seems at least it wasn’t Ace:
https://x.com/OG_BENJAYLATREZ/status/1935516350627115145
Probably Fears since he’s a point.
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