Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel leads Vegas squad to title! | NBA Summer League

Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel leads Vegas squad to title! | NBA Summer League

Now, we have a big uh a big group to talk about here um with the Charlotte Hornets. The Charlotte Hornets won Summer League uh which they beat. Did I say this on the podcast that I I was like saying the Kings were going to like absolutely rip summer league? I can’t remember. Uh I don’t remember if you said it on the pod or not. So, after I watched the Kings once and I was talking to like one of my buddies who works for an NBA team, he he was like in a he actually like brought it up to me first and then like I watched them and I was like, “Oh yeah, this team’s definitely winning summer league.” The Kings. Uh we’ll talk about the Kings in a minute. The Kings had like they were like 10 deep with like two-way guys. It felt like to me it was insane. They were so deep and so like athletic and everything. And Nick Clifford looked great. Devin obviously looked great. Everything like that. and the pesky Charlotte Hornets. They come through, they win Summer League. We’ll start with Khan Canipple, who’s the MVP of the first game. Khan, just like a legendary human, uh, dives for a loose ball, gets like hit on the head, like starts bleeding uh, in the game prior and still plays like the summer league championship game because he’s like a competitive like crazy person in the best way. Um, I I I love Khan. I had Khan at three, you know, I had him in that group with him, VJ, and Trey. I love I really like all three of those guys. I think they’re all going to be like really highlevel like differencemaking NBA players. I think we need to like really put some respect on Khan at some point here. every single thing that this dude did at summer league despite the fact that he came in with like kind of an uh an ankle that wasn’t 100% was phenomenal. Uh he he was absolutely terrific. I thought 21 in the final 19 against the Spurs. And by the way, I mean I don’t know if you felt this way, but I thought that he dealt better with Carter Bryant’s pressure than kind of anybody else did honestly. like he just continues to play at his own tempo and had no problem dealing with the athleticism uh that Carter, you know, brought to the table. Yeah. I mean, I think that’s what’s impressive about his performance was, you know, the first game he didn’t perform well. Five points on eight shots, you know, like there was a lot of buzz in the gym about like how he really struggled and really needed somebody to create shots for him and and you know, Charlotte maybe didn’t necessarily have that guy in that situation. and then 16, 19, 17, 21, you know, varying levels of efficiency, but consistently rebounded the ball, consistently passed the ball. I thought the So, here’s what I kind of how I wrote it, and I think I think you would probably even agree with this. I think the lack of athleticism does show up, but I also think the strength and physicality he plays with shows up as well. And you can kind of see how he is able to combat like not being the biggest vertical pop guy or most explosive or whatever. And I was watching that championship game and it was like that’s what he uses to navigate ball screens. Like Sacramento’s trying to run him into ball screens and then instead of being like this super quick twitchy over the top, he just gets up in you and he puts his chest on you and then he physicals his way over the top of the screen. And and that’s how he’s going to win defensively and that’s how we’ve said he was going to win defensively along with his processing. He showed some of the ability to do stuff off the bounce, something we’ve talked about, but at the end of the day, like the the shot looks just as real as ever. And just being that play finisher and being a connector and then a play finisher. And I don’t mean like at the rim necessarily, but you when a play finisher like swing swing, he’s in the corner, knock down a shot, or he can be the first swing guy or whatever. Like that’s just a really nice role that Charlotte is adding to the rotation now. And forget even just like the swing passes. I thought he was really good as a pick and roll playmaker. Sure. Yeah. Too like consistently found his open teammates, consistently made timely passes. Like he didn’t overdri, you know, he is really out here doing a lot, right? But he’s trying to win he’s trying to win a championship. And I liked the fact that he was willing to take over and try and win in that moment. The again, we said this on draft night. I think summer league went toward proving it more than anything else. You could not have drafted a better guy to put between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller because of the unselfishness, the passing, the secondary ball handling, the shooting, the physicality, the competitiveness, the entire thing. I I thought it was absolutely phenomenal and I loved it. I loved every second of Khan Canipple once he sat that second game. Uh from that moment forward after he sat that second game, uh I thought he was fantastic. Yep. Okay, let’s go to Liam McNeely now. I think Liam was probably the guy that surprised people most. I mean, look, it’s weird like Liam got this like bad rep from the public draft like Twitter folks. Uh, when the reality is like I think that those I I don’t mean to like take shots at them by and large, but I think that where they often go wrong, and I’m not even saying they’re going to be wrong about Liam, it was summer league, like we’ll see what it is. I think that they often overvalue the analytics over small samples of like 35 games as opposed to the context of what things are happening essentially. Like Liam McNeely did not have a point guard at Connecticut this year and had an ankle injury. And I mean, I don’t know about you, I felt like Liam looked more athletic, further out from the ankle injury than what we saw at Connecticut this year because again, he is a crazy competitor from everything I’ve ever been told about Liam McNeely. And I know a lot of people that are very close to Liam McNeely. Like everything I know is that dude is a wild competitor and he gutted through this ankle thing and like it wasn’t easy for him. And now you look at summer league, he’s healthy, he comes out. I thought he played really great in that game against the Jazz first and foremost. Like he he was a monster. He had 2212 and six with three turnovers. Uh seven of 16 from the field, three of six from three. He was essentially their secondary ball handler. Like I thought he was phenomenal in that game against the Jazz. I thought it was one of the best summer league games I saw from a rookie outside of the Cooper flag game. Yeah. I mean, here’s my one. Listen, I lowered a little bit on McNeely throughout the draft prospect. But, you know, all of a sudden, I started seeing him like sneak into the second round for people and I’m just like, he’s a wing with good size that can shoot. And I remember talking to somebody or listening to something like, “Oh, there’s shooting questions.” And I’m just like, I don’t think there is. Like the dude has shot it for his whole career and he plays hard and he has a good build and yeah, like is he the level of athlete you may want at the NBA level? Maybe not, but he’s athletic enough. He can pass and he’s going to compete on the defensive end. So again, super small sample, two games. I’m not surprised at all that he went six of 14 from three. You know, he also went almost 90% from the free throw line. I know he’s a guy that like appreciates the impact of rebounding the basketball, which he did at a high level in these two games as well. I mean, I think if there’s anything I would push back on, not from what you said, but like I don’t know that he’s ever like a on ball guy, and I know there was some of that in summer league. I would say that’s a much longer term role for him. But in terms of what he will be asked to do as an offthe-ball wing, connector, shot maker, rebounder, dive on the floor, take charges, Liam McNeely is going to do all of that. I mean, I think both of us were very excited about the Charlotte Hornets draft. And these two guys were a huge part of that. And I think at least in summer league, you kind of saw why like that they showed off the kind of the the aspects of their game as to why we thought this thought this would be a good infusion of talent for that organization. Yeah. Like I saw that some folks online again you know making fun of myself a little bit here for uh you know writing it the way I did where I was like look like in Conanipple and Liam McNeely like they just absolutely upgraded their competitiveness and got everything that they’re looking for. Like this is absolutely like a culture draft for the Charlotte Hornets. And look, like I get the implication of saying that like, you know, the two they drafted the two white kids and it’s a culture draft for the Charlotte Hornets, but I think we saw why it’s summer league. Like those two dudes are just incredibly competitive. It has nothing to do with them being like white kids or whatever. Like they’re just incredibly competitive. And by the way, I feel the same way about Seon James. I was going to say I say like that dude’s also a crazy competitor. I say if anybody wants to break it, I know what you’re about to say about Seon James and where you had him ranked. though. Yeah, I had Z on really high. Like again, another guy that I think is just a competitive dude who really wants to be there. So like I I look at what they did on draft night, they really upped their competitive levels. The thing I will the thing I will say with Liam on the on ball stuff, I agree with you that he’s not going to be like a secondary creator, right? Like I don’t see that even though that’s what he did in that game against Utah, right? I will say that I think that this year at Connecticut where because they didn’t really have a good point guard forced him into expanding his skill set to play on the ball a little bit more and I think that in the long run that probably will help him. Sure. At the end of the day. Yeah. So, yeah. I I I I think my distinction would be like I could see Charlotte running ball screens with Khan Canipple as part of their overall like offensive scheme where I think with Liam it’s more Con or LaMelo or Brandon whoever has ran a ball screen. Liam gets a relocation attacks a closeout and then I very much trust him to attack that close out off the bounce get into the teeth of the defense score spray it out throw the lob whatever. I just think it’s a little bit different in terms of what you may ask him to do in terms of quote unquote with the ball in his hands. Yeah. Um obviously as well like Liam, you know, only played a couple games here like he had like some uh like right like I think like Achilles tendinopathy or something is what they were calling it. And Seion James, the next guy we’ll talk about, also only played two games at Summer League because of a left hip injury as well. uh you know in the game against the Jazz which is is the one that I watched like really close um competitive, tough, aggressive on defense, everything you come to expect from James. Wouldn’t blow my mind if he like carves his way into like a 700 minute role this season with the Hornets. Like I’m not sitting here saying he’s going to be an every night rotation player, but I think that he really could play some minutes for them this year and like kind of eat up some value as like an onball defender who is tough and physical and uh makes good decisions. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting how their roster kind of plays out. They just have so many players on their roster right now. But yeah, I mean it’s it’s the things we’ve talked about with Leon James in terms of the defense and then offensively, you know, got to make shots and and provide something that way, but we know he’s going to get after it on the defensive end. Yep. And by the way, they have uh currently a substantial number of players on their roster. I mean, if I counted right, it’s it’s 16 plus all three two-ways, and that’s not counting the two second round picks. and Cal Briner and James. They’re they’re at 18 contracts right now. My guess is that like okay, Pat Coneton, you know, that’s an easy, you know, potential buyout. And I believe that Daycoin Jeff non-G guaranteed or Yeah. is also not guaranteed. So like that’s two guys right there. Yep. But I mean Diabate you have to keep because he’s actually good. I’ll be interested to see who the last guy is basically. You know what I mean? Yep. Like they just have a lot of bodies there right now. And the final body is Kulk Brener. Yep. Uh I thought Ryan Kulkiner did everything that we expected to see Ryan Kulk Brener do at summer league as a 23-year-old center who was coming in and has a long track record of defensive success. Uh consistently rolled to the rim hard. Uh you know, made the occasional three here and there. I’ll be interested to see how it translates to the NBA. I thought that like his movement skills looked okay on this level. I wouldn’t say that they looked like particularly elite, but I I am intrigued to see what Ryan Kauf Brener is. He’s just a really smart player at the end of the day that I buy into being good. I thought he was great in the final against the Kings. Uh I thought he was just like absolutely fantastic in that game. Took his opportunities really well, consistently finished at the rim, was solid defensively. Um, and I actually like the game against the Jazz, too. That first game it wasn’t quite as impactful statistically, but you know, I thought he was really, really good. Yeah, I mean that’s what I had for him as well. Like play finisher um has to stay in his role like and he can be impactful in that role. When you look at this roster though, I mean it’s you mentioned Diabate, they have Mason Plumbley and then you get to Ryan Cuckinter. So, it’s like there’s a real path to minutes for him as a rookie. And then obviously the real interesting thing with him um cuz we know he’s going to play drop defense and he’s going to have his length and all of that is what is he going to be able to do in terms of spacing the floor. Like does that become a real thing or not? Because if it does, man, the value of him goes way up as we know an archetype we’ve talked about a lot. But I do think he did just those foundational things that is a limited role but is still an important role for an NBA team, especially as a young backup big. Yeah. And look, like my read on him has always been like it’s Luke Cornetti, right? Uh it’s not, you know, I I don’t see him as like a long-term starting center. You know, I’ve talked about on the show before that if you look through the NBA right now, I don’t think there’s a starting center uh outside of Charlotte, weirdly because Charlotte is I mean, if they start Diabate, then this changes, but uh I believe that there is no starting center in the NBA right now that played more than two years pre-draft basically. Uh you know, like Yeah, got you. Yaka Purle was two years at Utah. Christophs was two years overseas, if I remember correctly, pre-draft. um you know but then you look across like it’s what was a visa the physical uh he was I think he was one and done if I remember overseas maybe two but I think he was one um like it is it is we try to get these guys with the crazy physical tools into our scheme early and then we figure it out you know what I mean so Rener is there are a lot of backups that are multi-year college guy like real multi-year college guys like three four five It’s the starting guys that tend to just have the elite like crazy physical tools. And K Brener is not one of those guys. Yeah.

Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel leads Vegas squad to title! | NBA Summer League

Follow Sam:
Twitter – https://twitter.com/sam_vecenie
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sam_vecenie/
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@sam_vecenie

Follow Game Theory:
TWITTER – https://x.com/GameTheorySamV
INSTAGRAM – https://www.instagram.com/GameTheorySamV
TIKTOK -https://www.tiktok.com/GameTheorySamV
THREADS – https://www.threads.net/@gametheorysamv
BLUESKY – https://bsky.app/profile/gametheorysamv.bsky.social

Listen on Audio
Apple- https://bit.ly/3SpkHFJ
Spotify- https://bit.ly/3OvPvU2

Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show.