{"id":285208,"date":"2025-11-15T18:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/285208\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T18:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:29:08","slug":"rookie-kon-knueppel-scores-a-career-high-in-hometown-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/285208\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie Kon Knueppel Scores a Career-High in Hometown Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">The Charlotte Hornets trailed the Milwaukee Bucks 129-126 in their second NBA Cup game of the season, in danger of starting 0-2 and effectively ending their chance at a championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">After a timeout, Miles Bridges initiated a dribble hand off with Lamelo Ball\u2013but faked it, and drove to the rim for a finish over Giannis Antetokounmpo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">Bridges tried to posterize the former Defensive Player of the Year winner, but missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">Somehow, the ball ricocheted into the hand of Kon Knueppel, who collected the offensive rebound, squared up to shoot the three, and released the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Nothing but net.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">that&#8217;s one way to get a game-tying open look.<\/p>\n<p>kon knueppel. clutch.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sBpIlMqzCA\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/sBpIlMqzCA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UnderdogNBA\/status\/1989537033073955147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">The game-tying jumper was the climax of a career night for Knueppel, an embodiment of what the last two weeks have been like for the rookie. He finished the game with 32 points, three assists, three rebounds, and three steals in Charlotte\u2019s 147-134 loss to Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">In the previous five games without Ball, Knueppel averaged 21.8 points on 61.1 true shooting percentage, 8.4 rebounds, four assists and had a +27.8 on\/off swing. With Ball\u2019s return to the lineup, head coach Charles Lee made sure to use him and Knueppel in plenty of action.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">Optimization off the ball<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">A majority of Kon\u2019s points came off the ball when Lee weaponized his intersection of shooting and feel. Knueppel thrived using off-ball screens, relocating on drives, and operating as a screener in guard-guard actions with Ball and Tre Mann. Knueppel\u2019s forte is capitalizing on the advantages he\u2019s been given and then either extending said advantages or finishing them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Hornets used Kon Knueppel as a screener a ton last night in guard-guard and guard-wing actions, and it led to quality shots every time. <\/p>\n<p>Really smart from Charles Lee to use your second-best decision-maker in actions where an advantage is manufactured. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1Ru25EB0hH\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/1Ru25EB0hH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Latif Love (@realLatifLove) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realLatifLove\/status\/1989708498087657747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">These types of actions have eased concerns about his lack of on-ball dynamism and athleticism. However, during his career night on Friday, he made up for his lack of burst by playing with outstanding balance and coordination.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">Knuppel had a few nice drives before his three-pointer got going, during which he displayed an understanding of leverage and angles, making it more challenging for Bucks defenders to thwart his shots.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">Where Knueppel differs from many of the off-ball players in the league is his ability to quickly process what a defense is doing and weaponize his shooting to get his teammates involved. He made multiple reads in the short-roll to shooters and delivered passes as he got downhill.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">The rookie\u2019s defense was also a pre-draft concern, but he was solid, as he\u2019s been all year. Knueppel stays engaged off the ball, rarely falling asleep and giving up a bucket. He uses his strength to wall off opponents that may be quicker than them and is a good rebounder for his position.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">He hasn\u2019t been perfect, but he\u2019s undoubtedly the front-runner for Rookie of the Year in a race where many thought his college teammate, Cooper Flagg, would win by a mile. Knueppel will continue his campaign Saturday against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Charlotte Hornets trailed the Milwaukee Bucks 129-126 in their second NBA Cup game of the season, in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-285208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}