Surprise: Charlotte May Have Killed It In The Lottery
That’s not something we say often about the Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets have had a real up-and-down history in the Carolinas. When the team first started, it quickly built around Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues. It didn’t take long for owner George Shinn to alienate the entire city and move his team to New Orleans, where they became the Pelicans.
Charlotte got a new expansion team, the Bobcats, and eventually got the Hornets name back and then the Bugs were back.
However, the team has never drafted particularly well and hasn’t done well in the free agent market either.
Well until recently.
When he’s healthy, which hasn’t been very often, LaMelo Ball has been great. Brandon Miller is coming off of a terrific sophomore season where he averaged 21 ppg, 4.9 boards and 3.6 rebounds before going out with an injury.
And now Charlotte has had a draft that may end up looking really good in a couple of years.
Duke fans know they took Kon Knueppel and Sion James, but the Hornets also picked up UConn’s Liam McKneeley and Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner.
Knueppel and McNeeley should really help offensively from Day One while James is an outstanding defender and Kalkbrenner won the Big East Defensive Player Of The Year Award four times. Only Patrick Ewing has ever accomplished that. A lot of people thought he would be a first-round pick so Charlotte got lucky there.
There are no guarantees though. Knueppel is a very promising player but he has faced criticism for his supposed lack of athleticism that might cost him on defense.
He’s not overly worried.
“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before,” he told WFNZ. “I’m gonna keep working hard and trying to get better overall in my game. That’s worked out for me so far, and I have full confidence that it’ll keep working out for me going forward.”
What a lot of people may not realize is just how intensely Knueppel applies himself on the defensive end. The guy busts his ass constantly and has absolutely no issue with diving on the floor. Our guess is that Charlotte fans will be surprised at just how well he does on that end.