Who is the Hornets' Most Important HINGE Player? | ESPN's SURPRISING Win Projection REVEALED!

On today's show, we borrow a premise from The Athletic's John Hollinger to identify the Charlotte Hornets' most important "hinge player." This is the non-star player with a wide range of outcomes whose performance could be the difference between a 20-win and a 30-win season. We make the case for several candidates, with Tre Mann leading the list as a potential Sixth Man of the Year contender. We also explore the unique impact that rookies Ryan Kalkbrenner and Tidjane Salaun could have if they are ready to contribute right away. Then, we turn our attention to the latest win projections from Kevin Pelton of ESPN, who has the Hornets finishing 13th in the Eastern Conference with 28.5 wins. We examine his reasoning, which is rooted in the idea that "things can't go as badly as last season" with injuries, plus the addition of Collin Sexton and the expected development of Brandon Miller. We discuss whether this projection is fair and look at how injuries to other Eastern Conference teams could open the door for the Hornets to potentially outperform that number and make a surprising jump in the standings. Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://linktr.ee/lockedonhornets Become an official member of the Locked On Hornets Sicko Brigade and get Hornets news, rumors and pictures of Byron Mullens sent directly to your phone via Subtext (14 Day Free Trial): https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonhornets Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA Get Doug's gamenotes, special articles and a podcast on Hornets history at the Every Hornets Boxscore substack: everyhornetsboxscore.com Get more Walker on Wes and Walker 12-3pm on WFNZ 92.7 FM Top 35 Hornets Nicknames of All-Time According to Doug Branson: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-nicknames-in-hornets-franchise Top 35 Hornets of All-Time According to Walker Mehl: https://hornets.substack.com/p/the-top-35-players-in-hornets-history 📲 Follow Locked On Hornets on Twitter Locked On Hornets https://twitter.com/LockedOnHornets Walker Mehl https://twitter.com/WalkerMehl Doug Branson https://twitter.com/DougBransonLOH Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! OpenPhone Streamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnba Hungryroot With Hungryroot, it’s like having a personal shopper and a nutritionist all in one. For a limited time, get 40% off your first box and a free item in every box for life! Just go to Hungryroot.com/lockedonnba and use code LOCKEDONNBA. Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.