Kon Air: The Kon Knueppel Thread

[Chapelchilla]

He’s a really smart player and brings a lot of latent value. I like this pick a lot more than I expected to. I’m always happy to be proven wrong, and he is on the right track so far.

Excellent! Hopefully he can play tonight

[wilson115]

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[KingCat]

On a path to proving me wrong Mr MVP. Can't wait to see him run with the main squad.

[Bassman]

Man in a tight game I so wanted Kon and the team to come through and win! Kon never backed down, played hard, made lots of plays not in the box score. He deserved champ game MVP.

[EmpireFalls]

The first of many rings and Finals MVPs for Kon in a Hornets uniform I’m sure.

[Hornet Mania]

Nobody makes Kon Knueppel bleed his own blood.

Big statement by him after the uncertainty as to whether he'd even play this game. SL is just SL but as Eric Collins often says, it sure gives you something to dream on. We needed that this offseason.

[JDR720]

Hopefully the cut leaves a cool scar.

He should keep the headband too.

Scar + Headband means his transformation to bad boy is about half complete.

[driveandkick]

Nobody makes Kong Knueppel bleed his own blood.

Big statement by him after the uncertainty as to whether he'd even play this game. SL is just SL but as Eric Collins often says, it sure gives you something to dream on. We needed that this offseason.

After the game in his interview he said something like “if you’re going to come to a competitive environment and play games you might as well win them.”

Idc man, I think this matters. Every other first round pick we’ve made in recent memory would not have played last night. But he wanted to play and he wanted to win.

[Chapelchilla]

Nobody makes Kong Knueppel bleed his own blood.

Big statement by him after the uncertainty as to whether he'd even play this game. SL is just SL but as Eric Collins often says, it sure gives you something to dream on. We needed that this offseason.

After the game in his interview he said something like “if you’re going to come to a competitive environment and play games you might as well win them.”

Idc man, I think this matters. Every other first round pick we’ve made in recent memory would not have played last night. But he wanted to play and he wanted to win.

Yep, showed some toughness and gritted it out. The kind of "culture change" we have needed.

[JustBuzzin]

Noticed how the Kon negative comments have stopped. We tried to tell people if he plays better we will praise him. Nothing in life is given. He had a bad first game people were concerned. He's played well since people are no longer concerned.

The gatekeepers this is how it works. Play well we all will praise. Stop calling us haters for speaking on what we see in reality.

Kon is a baller. I always said he will be a good role player at worst. From what I have seen he might can be a Klay Thompson/Kris Middleton kind of player. Those players made the all-star game. We shall see how it goes with Kon.

[Chapelchilla]

Personally, I don't care if people want to criticize Kon. It crosses a line when it goes to "you are basically an idiot" type stuff if you don't agree that he is a low ceiling hack missed pick, that's not cool.

[KembaWalker]

i dont really get the hypersensitivity about the low ceiling thing, its not like people critical of the Kon pick (this is not the same thing as Kon hate or Kon criticism) are making this up, its part of his literal consensus draft profile. i get that it takes some presumption compared to saying like "Ace Bailey doesnt look like he's gonna be a high level distributor in the NBA" cause you can just point to APG and A/TO but when you're talking about scouts consensus theyre basically equivalent statements to me.

[vexco]

i dont really get the hypersensitivity about the low ceiling thing, its not like people critical of the Kon pick (this is not the same thing as Kon hate or Kon criticism) are making this up, its part of his literal consensus draft profile. i get that it takes some presumption compared to saying like "Ace Bailey doesnt look like he's gonna be a high level distributor in the NBA" cause you can just point to APG and A/TO but when you're talking about scouts consensus theyre basically equivalent statements to me.

I don't think anyone's being sensitive about the low ceiling thing. I just think that after watching him, people think his ceiling may be higher than anticipated.

[KembaWalker]

i dont really get the hypersensitivity about the low ceiling thing, its not like people critical of the Kon pick (this is not the same thing as Kon hate or Kon criticism) are making this up, its part of his literal consensus draft profile. i get that it takes some presumption compared to saying like "Ace Bailey doesnt look like he's gonna be a high level distributor in the NBA" cause you can just point to APG and A/TO but when you're talking about scouts consensus theyre basically equivalent statements to me.

I don't think anyone's being sensitive about the low ceiling thing. I just think that after watching him, people think his ceiling may be higher than anticipated.

i think that would be kind of bizarre to change your entire draft profile of him based on a few SL games where basically everyone else shut down their top guys after 1-2 games. he played pretty well, but not blowing expectations out of the water for a high floor low ceiling 4th overall pick or anything.

[SWedd523]

I don't think his ceiling is any higher at all. He still had difficulty scoring 1-on-1 and doesn't have the length nor athleticism to reliably manufacture offense which is a HUGE limiter to his upside.

Still saw him getting targeted on defense in 1-on-1 situations and he's going to be hunted whenever the other team needs a bucket or in late game scenarios.

Nothing he did in SL changed that.

He did show some better than expected off ball (team defense) and can definitely shoot. The toughness was nice to see too.

I still feel exactly how I felt about him before: Not the archetype you pick #4 and not what the team ultimately needs (pure talent). He's never going to be a top 3 player on any good team and is ultimately hoping he sticks as a role player. At least he looks "high floor".

I also still find it humorous that people were falling over themselves to say "SL means nothing" until he put up a solid SL.

[Chapelchilla]

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/charlotte-hornets/news/kon-knueppel-stuns-nba-summer-league-clutch-three-and-mvp-finish/f8939d43a87ff119e6fecaaf

[JDR720]

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/charlotte-hornets/news/kon-knueppel-stuns-nba-summer-league-clutch-three-and-mvp-finish/f8939d43a87ff119e6fecaaf

Is it a coincidence the writer of this article is a guy named Rodney Knuppel?

[countryboi]

My opinion of Kon hasn’t really changed. he’s better than I expected. He’s solid with the ball in his hands, and I respect his willingness to play defense. But he still struggles with lateral quickness. NBA teams are going to isolate him and test that if he can’t hold up, they’ll just spam pick-and-rolls until he breaks.

I don’t complain about it anymore because, at this point, what’s the use? He’s a Hornet now. Might as well embrace it and hope he turns into Chris Mullin.

[yosemiteben]

Noticed how the Kon negative comments have stopped. We tried to tell people if he plays better we will praise him.

The gatekeepers this is how it works. Play well we all will praise. Stop calling us haters for speaking on what we see in reality.

It's not the opinions that are annoying, it's them being made over and over and compounded into other criticisms.

"We've already seen enough to know he won't be a worthwhile pick" turns into

"The FO only picked him because they are overcorrecting for their last pick" turns into

"They don't even want to be good" turns into

"The FO clearly has no idea what they're doing"

Then these takes get repeated over and over and over. That's what gets annoying.

Great that you can change your take based on performance, that's legitimately a good think and something every credible poster should be open to, but that doesn't undo the fact that we had to read the constant, repeated takes made with absolute certainty about where we are and what's happening with the team.

[Chapelchilla]

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/charlotte-hornets/news/kon-knueppel-stuns-nba-summer-league-clutch-three-and-mvp-finish/f8939d43a87ff119e6fecaaf

Is it a coincidence the writer of this article is a guy named Rodney Knuppel?

lol, good catch. It's his distant cousin?!