Kon Knueppel selected No. 4 overall by Hornets | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Kon Knueppel selected No. 4 overall by Hornets | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

well a team looking for help is the Charlotte Hornets and their pick is in and it’s Cooper Flags teammate Khan Canipple drafted fourth overall to the Charlotte Hornets a guy that look can come in right now and play adam this is a nice pick here for Charlotte what’s your grade as they take Khan Canipple that’s exactly right he can come in and play right now i’m going to give this a B as well but I think you hit the nail on the head there when you’re talking about players at the top of the draft one of the biggest variables is how easily are they going to transition to not being the man offensively for Khan we don’t have to wonder about that because we just watched it all season at Duke and what happened in the ACC tournament when Cooper went down with injury Khan raised his hand and said “Hey by the way I can be your alpha too.” So he’s got onoff ball potential he’s highly skilled he really knows how to play he’s got a terrific feel for the game he’s going to be able to slide right in my concern is on the defensive end now he was better than expected this season at Duke but he wasn’t guarding NBA level two guards and when you put him between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller that’s who he’s going to have to defend
and that’s the question mark for him is how well is he going to be able to guard his position and if not vary then he’s going to get targeted over and over again but on the offensive end of the court he’s going to be able to play I think immediately the shot making is there arguably the best shooter in this draft but he’s more than that he can bounce it he can play in pick and rolls he’s gonna be able to get to his spots just because he was Cooper Flag’s teammate doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been the best player on any number of top 25 teams this season he just happened to be playing alongside the best player in college basketball but he’ll break away from those shadows pretty quickly and should have a a big impact in Charlotte for a long time something I always say when we’re watching basketball is make your free throw kids he hit free throws at a 91% clip Matt Norlander so look every NBA coach executive is going to go great this guy can hit free throws now the question is what can he do at the NBA level but we know that he can come in and play right away what are the Hornets getting in Khan Canipple yeah they’re getting a guy who’s going to up their locker room and be good on the floor immediately i think Khan Canipple is going to be one of the four or five most impactful players in the NBA as a rookie next season i talked to his father earlier on Wednesday uh they were truly in the dark because they were uncertain about what the Philadelphia would do caniple never worked out with Philadelphia he worked out with teams four through eight on the board his workout with Charlotte went excellently they were hoping it would be Charlotte but there was no guarantee so they are highly relieved and uh having played at nearby Duke obviously there’s a little bit of of creature comfort there as well uh quick note on the defense i’ll just say this in talking to some NBA people and talking to the Duke staff throughout the season Canipple was an above average defender and the most key facet to his defense was he does not make mistakes twice now does he have some physical limitation yes but the thing that he was raved about was as much if not more than every single player on that roster Cooper Flag included when he had to learn the schemes defensively and know what he had to do he did not repeatedly make mistakes i actually think he can be a very competent able defender he plays through his chest on both ends of the floor should be able to step in and be a 40 plus percent three-point shooter charlotte got a good one here and as I said before we are still we are chocked now and we’ll see what Utah does at five they’re a bit of a mystery team we wait and see if they throw a curveball but Khan Canipple to the Hornets that’s a really good gift for them and a really awesome story for the oldest of five boys out of greater uh greater Milwaukee

Adam Finkelstein, Gary Parrish, and Avery Johnson join CBS Sports HQ to grade Kon Knueppel being drafted by the Charlotte Hornets at No. 4 overall.

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