Kon Air: The Kon Knueppel Thread

[JMAC3]

if i'm an opposing coach and i'm game planning to target a specific hornets player on defense, it's gonna be melo. every. single. time.

Well, manslaughter is justifiable because some other guy committed murder.

I hate comparisons like this.

Player X doesn't suck at Y because player Z sucks worse! Therefore, concerns over player X are easily dismissed, like criminal charges!

not a selling point... just saying, if melo, kon, miller are on floor at same time, the smartest play is to target melo, not kon.
kon will be an average defender on our roster eventually. not the best, not the worst. too smart, footwork too good, too strong, too much will/hustle. it wont be kon bringing our defense down. his defense is overall gonna be neutral, by his 2nd season.

Based on what?
I am sure Lakers fans felt the same thing about Dalton Knecht after last years SL because he wasn't exposed vs Xavier Simpson and Tyler Kolek. The NBA is such a different monster than college and NBA, he would still be a huge outlier if he was an average defender with his length and athleticism at the next level. Talking about it with this much certainty given the tens of players we have seen come before him that are similar and fail is very optimistic at best.

We went 6-1 last year in SL with Nick Smith Jr playing heavy minutes, doesn't mean that translates to being a winning defender on the floor in the NBA.

[Bassman]

Whomever we would have picked from available players, the following truths apply:

1. None of those picks are truly NBA ready starters. Each has strengths and weaknesses.
2. All of those players will need some years to gain strength, experience and elevate their game.

I wanted to draft Tre, but also liked Ace for his crazy high potential and Kon for his all around skills to enhance his team around him. Tre looked really good doing what he does best…shooting and some passing. His defense was just as troublesome as it was in college. Ace was inconsistent, showed flashes in multiple areas, but the same concerns he came in with. Kon showed a lot of all around game once he got going in game 2. Same encouraging strengths on shooting, passing, and a little better D at times, plus strong IQ and game feel. He got jammed up by tough defenses, had issues with three point shooting under duress, not elite burst. But he demonstrated a lot of great attributes for a first experience into NBA play. They will all get humbled at training camp, exhibitions, early games, etc.

[vexco]

Well, manslaughter is justifiable because some other guy committed murder.

I hate comparisons like this.

Player X doesn't suck at Y because player Z sucks worse! Therefore, concerns over player X are easily dismissed, like criminal charges!

not a selling point... just saying, if melo, kon, miller are on floor at same time, the smartest play is to target melo, not kon.
kon will be an average defender on our roster eventually. not the best, not the worst. too smart, footwork too good, too strong, too much will/hustle. it wont be kon bringing our defense down. his defense is overall gonna be neutral, by his 2nd season.

Based on what?
I am sure Lakers fans felt the same thing about Dalton Knecht after last years SL because he wasn't exposed vs Xavier Simpson and Tyler Kolek. The NBA is such a different monster than college and NBA, he would still be a huge outlier if he was an average defender with his length and athleticism at the next level. Talking about it with this much certainty given the tens of players we have seen come before him that are similar and fail is very optimistic at best.

We went 6-1 last year in SL with Nick Smith Jr playing heavy minutes, doesn't mean that translates to being a winning defender on the floor in the NBA.

If Kon was 23 id agree with you.

[Braggins]

If Melo, Kon, and Miller, are on the floor together, it probably doesn't matter so much what the other teams game plan is because its going to be easy as hell to score against them regardless, especially if Miles in the PF in this scenario.

edit: The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am they traded Mark. I think Mark could potentially be an above average defender, but I agree with everyone that he hasn't performed well in that regard so far, so there could be some issue with him compounding defensive issues with this roster. However, I'm starting to that with this roster construction it wouldn't really matter if that ended up being the case because they might be better off just leaning completely into offense and Mark would be such an insane roll threat and inside scorer with all the shooting and passing they have now.

[JMAC3]

not a selling point... just saying, if melo, kon, miller are on floor at same time, the smartest play is to target melo, not kon.
kon will be an average defender on our roster eventually. not the best, not the worst. too smart, footwork too good, too strong, too much will/hustle. it wont be kon bringing our defense down. his defense is overall gonna be neutral, by his 2nd season.

Based on what?
I am sure Lakers fans felt the same thing about Dalton Knecht after last years SL because he wasn't exposed vs Xavier Simpson and Tyler Kolek. The NBA is such a different monster than college and NBA, he would still be a huge outlier if he was an average defender with his length and athleticism at the next level. Talking about it with this much certainty given the tens of players we have seen come before him that are similar and fail is very optimistic at best.

We went 6-1 last year in SL with Nick Smith Jr playing heavy minutes, doesn't mean that translates to being a winning defender on the floor in the NBA.

If Kon was 23 id agree with you.

I mean it is fine, I just think it is a bit funny that people are all but ready to cast off any doubts about him on defense because of how he guarded non-nba talents in a SL environment.. but hey people can do them if that is what they think makes sense I suppose.

[MasterIchiro]

If Melo, Kon, and Miller, are on the floor together, it probably doesn't matter so much what the other teams game plan is because its going to be easy as hell to score against them regardless, especially if Miles in the PF in this scenario.

Same goes for Sexton alongside that same group of players. We are building on offense, obviously. Only our C1 is currently a zero on offense and a defensive specialist.

[vexco]

Based on what?
I am sure Lakers fans felt the same thing about Dalton Knecht after last years SL because he wasn't exposed vs Xavier Simpson and Tyler Kolek. The NBA is such a different monster than college and NBA, he would still be a huge outlier if he was an average defender with his length and athleticism at the next level. Talking about it with this much certainty given the tens of players we have seen come before him that are similar and fail is very optimistic at best.

We went 6-1 last year in SL with Nick Smith Jr playing heavy minutes, doesn't mean that translates to being a winning defender on the floor in the NBA.

If Kon was 23 id agree with you.

I mean it is fine, I just think it is a bit funny that people are all but ready to cast off any doubts about him on defense because of how he guarded non-nba talents in a SL environment.. but hey people can do them if that is what they think makes sense I suppose.

I havent seen anyone in here doing that tho. Hes gonna struggle defensively at least at first. Is he a capable team defender? It seems it. Good 1v1? Probably not. But there are ways he can leverage his abilities and build to be better so we'll see. His other skills seem legit, we will just see if they translate to the regular season where he will have more space.

[amcoolio]

LaMelo and Miller both have physical tools to play defense, its just a matter of getting them locked in. Miles too.

Kon will be fine. I would be a ton more excited about him if he was 6'7" or 6'8", because then he really could be a Chris Mullen or Grant Hill type... but him being 6'5" kind of scares me with his build... I think he is more suited to play the 3 with his playstyle and athletic build.

That said, he wanted to play in the SL and the rest of the top 10 rookies besides Fears did not. And availability absolutely is a valuable and underrated skill in the NBA right now. Maybe it will rub off on the rest of the roster.

Or we just lobotomize him and put him Salaun's body

[yosemiteben]

People have different opinions. You guys are proving my point. Why does it matter what they say if it's a basketball opinion respect those opinions even if you don't agree with it.

I'll repost what I said earlier:

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

I have zero problem with different opinions. I have an issue with those opinions being spammed (without nuance and as though they are definitively correct) across multiple threads day in and day out.

[Chapelchilla]

If Melo, Kon, and Miller, are on the floor together, it probably doesn't matter so much what the other teams game plan is because its going to be easy as hell to score against them regardless, especially if Miles in the PF in this scenario.

edit: The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am they traded Mark. I think Mark could potentially be an above average defender, but I agree with everyone that he hasn't performed well in that regard so far, so there could be some issue with him compounding defensive issues with this roster. However, I'm starting to that with this roster construction it wouldn't really matter if that ended up being the case because they might be better off just leaning completely into offense and Mark would be such an insane roll threat and inside scorer with all the shooting and passing they have now.

Mark WAS a good defender his first year. He could move, block shots, switch, looked really good for a rook. After the year sitting out he was terrible on D.
I think whatever held him out -
-a foot/back/mental/combo? he lost the D abilities.
Maybe it is still in there somewhere but it probably was not worth 100 million to find out.
We do need a mean physical big man before we get over the hump though.

[stormi]

i told you bums that Kon was the truth

i nearly got banned from this forum for calling Ace Bailey a trash can in the other thread

y'all got a GEM

[Walt Cronkite]

It's like the time my wife and I were getting our morning coffees and a street person yelled from across the street "Enjoy your coffee, NERDS!"

[wilson115]

"NBA 2K"

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[wilson115]

LaMelo and Miller both have physical tools to play defense, its just a matter of getting them locked in. Miles too.

Kon will be fine. I would be a ton more excited about him if he was 6'7" or 6'8", because then he really could be a Chris Mullen or Grant Hill type... but him being 6'5" kind of scares me with his build... I think he is more suited to play the 3 with his playstyle and athletic build.

That said, he wanted to play in the SL and the rest of the top 10 rookies besides Fears did not. And availability absolutely is a valuable and underrated skill in the NBA right now. Maybe it will rub off on the rest of the roster.

Or we just lobotomize him and put him Salaun's body

Kon's 6'5" barefoot though, same as Miles and Dillon Brooks. No idea if Mullin's listed height includes shoes, but I know about people saying MJ's really 6'4" barefoot even though he's listed 6'6" in NBA material.

https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/34789/kevin-love-and-height-liars-in-shoes
https://library.sportingnews.com/styles/twitter_card_120x120/s3/2021-08/dream-team-usa-basketball_48z4ni43dy041mf3vrs2ps4fu.jpg

[Diop]

Summer league showed me that Kon isn't someone who is going to want to isolate and take the tough shot Kobe style, but is a smart team player who is more likely to make the best, high % play.

This sometimes actually hurt him in summer league as he would make a move to try and start something and the guys just watched, there was no other movement so he had to force something. I expect this not to be the case when he plays with more talented scorers.

[wilson115]

Ouch... "real guys" isn't the word I'd use here to be tactful. "regulars" maybe?

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[Hornet Mania]

'Real guys' is probably not the best choice of words, but at the same time everyone on that SL knows the deal. They're clawing for the final spots on a real NBA roster, no one has that Vegas team as their ultimate goal.

[Chapelchilla]

'Real guys' is probably not the best choice of words, but at the same time everyone on that SL knows the deal. They're clawing for the final spots on a real NBA roster, no one has that Vegas team as their ultimate goal.

Not the best word choice for sure. But he is a teenager.

[fatlever]

I think I said in another thread that i've seen kon speak more in one month as a Hornet than I have seen melo in 5 years. he was due for a slip.

[Rich4114]

I think I said in another thread that i've seen kon speak more in one month as a Hornet than I have seen melo in 5 years. he was due for a slip.

At least he didn't end it with "No Homo" or "oh it's f*&# with Kon time I see"