Yesterday, we summarized head coach Charles Lee and general manager Jeff Peterson’s press conferences. They were very candid and detailed with their responses and spent a lot more time taking questions. The players typically have much shorter sessions and are more difficult to get good answers out of. Still, we’ll go through and sum up what they talked about.

LaMelo Ball

He’s already started training to get back as soon as possible. He’s going to listen to what the staff tells him to do and then some because he agrees that he does need to get stronger. He had a good answer to a question about a lack of team success by saying he’s looking bigger picture and looks forward to the team building process. He’s not bothered by people saying he should be playing somewhere else. He’s more bothered by things like his dog peeing in the house or not having food around.

LaMelo is still his usual short spoken self, but I felt like this was probably the best press conference I’ve seen from him. He was more engaging and thoughtful with his answers. Baby steps.

Brandon Miller

Miller said he stayed so engaged after getting hurt because he felt like that was what he needed to do as a young leader on the team. He doesn’t have a timeline for basketball activity yet; the current emphasis is on regaining his range of motion in his wrist. He has no doubts in his ability to regain his shooting touch.

Miles Bridges

He tried to be more consistent as a leader and not just when things aren’t going well. He credited the coaching staff with helping him find his footing after a rough start to the season. He said this offseason will be the first one he’s had in a while where he can focus solely on basketball (I wonder why). He plans on being more locked in this offseason than he has in the past. He reiterated what he’s said in all of his past press conferences about his desire to win in Charlotte specifically and plans on getting the guys together over the offseason to put the work in together. He paid forward Taj Gibson’s compliment (that you’ll see later) by saying he thinks Brandon Miller can be an all star next year.

Mark Williams

Williams is happy to finish the season healthy and feels good physically heading into the offseason. When asked about the trade, he said “maybe” he’ll be back next season. The mic was cutting out, but I think he said something about it not being something out of his control. He doesn’t think the failed physical was legitimate. If he’s back next season, he thinks the core four is a sight opposing teams won’t want to see coming. He felt like he got better as the season went on and regained more trust in his body.

Josh Green

He thought there were glimpses of a good team even with all the injuries and loves what the organization is doing. It’s a big offseason coming up for him since he’s rarely had a full offseason to work in his career. He’ll talk with coaches and his trainers on what he needs to do to improve for next season.

Tidjane Salaün

He says his priorities for his offseason are working on his body while improving his handle and finishing. All of the questions were about his offseason and he basically kept saying he’s excited to work. There was a bit of a language barrier.

Seth Curry

Credited Charles Lee with clearly communicating how much playtime he may or may not get in a given night and credited himself with always being ready. He’s loved his time playing in Charlotte so far and would like to continue to do so. He talked about how special it was coming to work with his dad every game and that it was Dell’s idea to start carpooling.

Grant Williams

Rehab has gone well. Everyone is excited to get back out there and compete and this summer will be big getting prepared for that. He’s trying to be patient in building back up so he doesn’t risk getting hurt again.

Josh Okogie

Okogie spoke about his appreciation for the Hornets organization for giving him an opportunity and lauded the team for making him feel at home. He complimented Charles Lee for being open minded and willing to try new things on the defensive end of the floor. He spoke highly of Miles Bridges’ work ethic and Brandon Miller’s love for the game when asked about them. He called the Hornets core group of four one of the most balanced cores of players in the league if they can stay on the floor together.

Jusuf Nurkic

He’s loved his time in Charlotte, calling it “nothing but refreshing.” He plans on playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina in August at Eurobasket. He credited Mark Williams for his professionalism surrounding his trade situation.

Taj Gibson

Gibson spoke glowingly of the city of Charlotte and the organization. He brought up Miles Bridges and lauded his leadership and improvement and even thinks he’s an all star caliber player. He spoke very highly of Brandon Miller’s engagement and enthusiasm even after his injury. He basically went through every player on the roster and talked about how proud he was of their work ethic and improvement of the course of the season. He wants to keep playing as long as teams will keep having him. He thinks Charles Lee is a tremendous coach that will be one of the best in the league in the near future. He called Charlotte a goldmine and strongly encouraged free agents to consider the Hornets.

In just a ten minute interview, you can see why he’s so beloved by his coaches and teammates. He heaped praise on all of the young guys and it all came across as extremely genuine.