Kon Knueppel Rookie Of The Year Favorite? Hornets Playoff Threat? | The Hoop Collective
Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss why Kon Knueppel has become the Rookie Of The Year favorite including why nobody should want to face the Hornets in the playoffs.
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48 Comments
If you arent a follower of the hornets its best not to think you know what they were thinking. It has always been about health. 3 straight years of poor health and the first months of this year with poor health…since december we have been healthy. We always knew we had a 6 seed/playin team if we were healthy. We are playing better then even that but its not out of left field. We have been healthy. Yall just havent had any reason to pay attention to us so you dont know.
I would like to thank the national media for questioning LaMelo's ability to win. It seems as though he heard you and the Buzz is Back!
It's time for the Hornets era to begin…. Just like it did in the '90s… There's something in the air…. Keep pounding Hornets🎉 blessings to all who see this
I love a good underdog story. I hope they shock everyone in the playoffs.
When are you people going to stop judging Melo for playing "Street Ball" which is code for playing like a black guy from the hood when he is a black guy playing like he is his natural self; a black man with style and finest. Yes he is different but he has always been the same player since he was 10 years old already signing autographs. Plus the media was agains his father for being the father of the year who by the way made all three of his son's millionaire's by the time they were 18 years old. Get off of him playing like a black man, for us it is a compliment. Go Melo! He is the engine of this dynamic team of 2026 and you can't deny that truth.
Love how they say they don’t understand how they just took off middle of the season and didn’t trade for any big names. It’s because they were injured the first part of the season and have been injury prone for the last 5. They have just stayed healthy and went on a run.
Meen this front office z doing a great job
Amazing what a change in ownership can accomplish.
Josh Green and Grant Williams also came back after long term injuries in late December and early January. These guys have really made a difference coming off the bench. Many pundits are missing their contributions to beefing up the second unit. With the addition of Coby White, it will only get better.
YAH KEEP BLAMING LAMELO FOR MICHEAL JORDANS SHORT COMINGS ND BAD DECISIONS… god forbid yah blame yah god who was the ACTUAL PROBLEM… second off one of those play in tournament years melo was still playing with a not healed fractured wrist because he didnt want to leave his team to fight for themselves who only got their because of him
Coby White was a HUGE buy! He should be a starter on 85% of teams. He can avg 25 points!
No Hornets fan here I started watching because of Kon.
The fact that guy has gravity as a rookie is great for this team, opens the floor up.
There playing well as a team, Miller was also a good pick, good thing the Hornets didnt pick Scoot that would of been devastating for this franchise.
Scoot had a heap of buzz if I remember correctly it was Wemby or him.
KON IS ROTY
Either the hornets are a good team or they’re literally just an analytics product so when teams that truly ball like (Detroit/Minn.etc) play the hornets, they’ll win 9/10
Crazy that the hornets are build like the 2015 warriors except for the Andre Iguodala factor
We didn't come out of left field tbh, we're healthy now and we're showing what we can do, Carolinas stand up fr!!! 💯🔥🔥😤
Got healthy
Since the Luka trade I've been ho-hum about the NBA. Luka Mavs was usually must watch and exciting basketball. Luka Lakers not so much. Hornets are good basketball and good to watch basketball. I ain't crazy about the NBA looking like a best of prison tats exhibition, but good basketball is good basketball.
BUZZSAW LINEUP
I really think this is a Co-ROY situation. Let's celebrate how special this class is!
If you don't like to see the Hornets ball out then you either have no soul or just don't enjoy basketball
The Comments from actual hornets fans gives me a better understanding than the entire podcast segment
Lamelo is floor general in the hornets team🔥🔥🔥
" kon is having one of the greatest rookie shooting seasons ever" …" but ill stikk take cooper for rookie of the year"… how does that make sense lol its almost like they are being told to force the cooper narrative
Kon is definitely the ROTY.
Hornets are actually a good example for why the NBA doesn't need to over/micro-manage the tanking…
Brian is fat
I think Kon will be a perennial all star for a long time, but if he is chosen over his Duke team mate for ROTY, it will not age well. This is not a knock on Kon but recognition that Flagg is probably going to be generational. Kon might be a slightly bigger surprise, but not a slightly better player.
Yep he's GREAT off the dribble !!
It’s a HARD PASS on the Buzz City Killers nickname 🤢
try: KILLER BEES
I have also heard the Buzz Saw Lineup regarding the starters.
Oh, Tim Dillon likes the NBA. Where's the rant?
Michael Jordan as owner really did a number on hornets. Happy to see the turnaround
Now, the trades kick in!
See Charlotte Finish 6 or 5th Playoff spot.
They have 4 guys who can basically switch anything, offense or defense. That's the template right there.
I think the hornets could be what the pacers were last year.
BUZZ CITY KILLERS BABY!!!
They're finally all healthy. People forget that.
Miles Bridges has been a big part of this too. No one is talking about him.
The one thing I have to say with their analysis of Kon that is bad is that it’s not that Kon needs to figure out how to get to the line more the refs need to start giving him more fouls cause there have been so many times he should’ve gotten the call and they don’t give it to him.
availability is a professional's best asset
only missing a single game from a sprain is huge for that team
and he fits in no matter who else is on the court with him
🏀🏀 Charlotte Hornets they are balling and winning Games. The defense is getting better every single game
It's not just the starters. The bench guys are puling their weight too. Coach has really identified their strengths and focused them. It's about time too. The've had talent for ages, but no direction. You can tell they love winning. Lamelo healthy is inspiring. Love this team.
13:48 Sorry bruh. You couldn't be more wrong a b out that. Every, and I mean every one who watches Ball Miller Bridges and Diabate knew something special was about to be unleashed. Especially Ball fans. You didn't watch like we did. So in the words of Peter Griffin, "Wrong again Stupid". YA DONE BEEN STUNG! GO HORNETS!
These 3 idiots finally giving melo his just due a couple months ago they where killing him whit talks of trade and now 😅
They sound like Believers to me. Those of us in the CLT were paying attention when they went on their West Coast swing and defeated Thunder, Lakers , Nuggets and Jazz, then a 9 game WINNING streak. They have a STRONG starting five and JUST added Caleb White, PG who has skills.
This was how the entire season should have went. Theyre forgetting brandon miller got hurt for several months at the beginning of the season, then lamelo went out for another several weeks as well, so now that weve finally got our full roster back, and ever since thats happened, were playing the way now the way we would have had been playing the entire season. This team is lights out, and im here to say that this hornets team is the real deal. Its an exciting time being an hornets fan. Weve needed this for a very long time.
It’s weird being a Hornets fan because this is what we envisioned when we drafted Lamello and then again when Brandon Miller came to the league.
But so much turmoil happened between then and now this feels like a forgotten dream