Kon Knueppel

Kon’s film is fascinating in that he has some very clear strengths and weaknesses and becomes a bit of a Rorschach test for what evaluators value in a player.

Offense
Kon Knueppel is one of the purest shooters in the draft. He has a lightning-quick release with pristine mechanics—compact, repeatable, and  fearless mindset where he is almost completely unfazed by contests. Whether he’s spotting up, coming off movement, or catching a kickout, he’s a consistent knockdown threat. He’s especially deadly in rhythm, needing only a fraction of a second to set his feet and get his balance to fire off an accurate shot. His footwork, balance, and ability to square up on the move allow him to shoot effectively from a wide range of angles and locations.

Kon is very comfortable shooting off one or two dribbles, particularly using a dribble to create rhythm or escape dribbles, but his efficiency declines when trying to create off extended dribble moves.  Similarly, you would hope Kon would be a better midrange shooter and be able to use the threat of stopping and hitting a 17 footer as a weapon to further help his drives, but his lack of separation, means he is shooting a lot of contests midrange shots that he’s not yet able to hit with nearly enough consistency.

Off the ball, Knueppel is constantly moving. He’s an extremely savvy cutter and relocator who reads defenders exceptionally well. He manipulates screens, fakes cuts, and instinctively changes direction to create separation. If a defender cheats over a screen, he’ll slip underneath for an open look. He’s also opportunistic and after offensive rebounds or on broken plays, he quickly finds soft spots in the defense and relocates for spot-up threes. That awareness leads to a surprising number of easy looks off chaos. This constant motion and his shooting ability creates gravity, forcing them to stay connected to him, which opens up space for teammates.

However, Despite his strength, he’s only a semi-willing screener. He makes contact and slips into space, mostly to free himself. He’ll screen for primary creators like Flagg, but rarely sticks in the screen to generate real separation for others.

Knueppel’s handle is functional but not advanced, and for now he is mostly a straight-line driver. While he’ll mix in the occasional crossover, spin move, or changes his pace a bit (albeit from a snail’s pace to a turtle’s pace), they generally do not create a lot of separation. Knueppel lacks burst and his drives are slow, but he does display good footwork and strong body control. He also always has the threat of shooting, so he is able to use pump fakes and more subtle fakes (e.g., head nods and even minor twitches) to get defenders off balance and open a lane

When he drives inside, he mostly relies on his strength, thicker frame, and touch. He’s a below-the-rim finisher with average length and minimal verticality, but he uses his wide frame to shield defenders and create angles. He’s capable of absorbing contact and even makes good use of contact to bump defenders and create some space to get off a shot inside.. Against single coverage or in space, he can be almost surprisingly effective. But in traffic or tight quarters, his limitations show, as he struggles to elevate or finish over length, and he’s not a threat to explode through help defenders.

There are flashes of post-game and mid-post scoring ability, especially against smaller guards and wings. He’s willing to bang and use his strength to carve out space, then either shoot over the top or make the right pass when doubled. He showed flashes of post up well even against bigger guards like Houston’s projected 2nd round pick. Milos Uzan (still in the draft as of this write up), showing patience and feel.

Knueppel’s feel extends to his passing. He’s not a primary creator and doesn’t collapse defenses, but he makes sound, quick reads. He’s especially effective within the flow of the offense; swinging the ball, feeding the post, or hitting a roller. He throws accurate entry passes and can deliver simple lobs or skip passes when defenders rotate. Occasionally, he’ll make an anticipatory pass or manipulate a defender on the break taking a purposeful dribble to force them to make a decision before whipping a quick pass to a teammate. His vision is somewhere between basic and plus, he’s not a savant, but even if his vision is better than his numbers suggest, he is limited by his inability to collapse the defense and is still more of a situational passer in the flow of the offense or when the defense is off balance.

Kon is very careful with the ball, limiting his turnovers. His most common turnovers that also have implications for his future success comes from trying to create off the dribble. He can lose control in traffic or get stripped when attempting a counter move. Otherwise, he generally takes care of the ball with the the occasional errant pass, or offensive fouls when he tries to carve out space, or stepping out of bounds with his backfoot when getting ready to drive from the wing.

As a rebounder, Kon is strong and had decent height and ability to track the ball, helping him get some boards.. He’s not explosive or especially long, so he won’t clean the glass among the trees, but he is willing to box out and put a body on opposing players, which lets him contribute in team-rebounding schemes. And while he can handle the ball, he’s also not much of a grab-and-go threat and he will typically secure a board and look to get the ball to a guard rather than push it himself.

Overall, Kueppel is a potentially elite shooter and decently well rounded offensive player who makes good decisions.  However, he has some real limitations that will probably limit his overall ceiling or at least the potential offensive role (and ability to be a primary ball handler) at the next level.  With that said, his core strengths and savvy play make him a potentially valuable weapon.

Defense

Knueppel’s defensive game is built around awareness, positioning, and toughness. He’s a smart, disciplined team defender who communicates, rotates well, and who shows strong anticipation and the ability to read and anticipate the offense. His instincts are good, and he makes quick reads; covering for teammates, tagging rollers, rotating down low to cover bigs, and even doubling opportunistically. He’s a vocal defender who sees the floor well and who points and directs traffic, even talking with his teammates after plays are over.  He occasionally picks off passes, using his awareness and timing to jump passing lanes and while his physical traits prevent him from being a steals maven he does generate a decent amount of deflections through anticipation.

However, while he has some good instincts and a strong motor, Knueppel’s lack of athleticism limits his margin for error. He has average lateral speed, limited leaping ability, and below-average burst. As a result, even small mistakes,, like a half-second of ball-watching, can lead to backdoor cuts or late contests. He doesn’t have a lot of these lapses, but he also can’t afford many.

Despite that, his lateral speed is limited but not tragic and his change of direction is better than expected. He moves his feet well east to west and takes smart recovery angles to try to get back in front of ball handlers  Even when he is helping and rotating down low and then needs to sprint back out to this man, he’s able to push off of his foot in that direction pretty quickly, and take a good angle, but is simply limited by his foot speed. The only moment his limitations become really obvious is when a player gets him moving at full speed chasing him vertically and then pulls a quick step back, where Kon’s momentum can keep him moving the original direction.

Kon also has wide shoulders, a low center of gravity, and good functional strength, so if he is in front of the ball handler, he’s able to absorb contact and maintain position thanks to this strong base. This helps him prevent quicker players from turning the corner on him as easily and forces tougher finishes just by being in the right spot.  Watching a guard or normal-sized wing jump into him and throw up a wild shot a bit surprised he didn’t move is always a bit funny.

These same tools help Kon to defend the post somewhat credibly, using his strength to hold position against bigger players.  He’s going to have trouble guarding up on a regular basis with his limited length and jumping ability.  However, in a switch if he comes over to help, he does well when he can position himself behind the opposing big and push them away from the hoop.  But if an opposing big catches the ball in he paint, he can only watch them score or try to commit a hard foul.

Navigating screens is a bit of a mixed bag for Knueppel.  He actually does well fighting through screens when needed and doesn’t automatically duck under or switch. His is better than you’d expect for a thick wing, as he takes good angles and doesn’t get completely caught or stuck. But if he loses even a step, it can be tough to recover, especially against quicker guards.  However, to his credit, in situations where his big man (fortunately for him normally Malauch) does switch to his man, he does a great job quickly rotating to switch to their man instead of just standing in no man’s land.

Knueppel’s closeouts are fundamentally sound. He contests well and rarely bites on fakes. His limited leaping means he often contests without leaving his feet, which helps avoid fouls and limits blow-bys. Still, his contests can be less effective if he’s forced to cover a lot of ground given his middling speed and lack of springiness and overall length.

When beaten, he gives good effort and uses good angles to try to get in the right spot to contest the shot or at least cause some congestion inside. And again, if his teammate rotates over, Kon will immediately cover the helper’s man. His rotations aren’t always successful due to his limitations or the speed of the offense, but they’re usually correct.

One other area where I have to give him, a lot of credit is always leaving everything on the court.  It’s really common for me to see what looks like a bad play from a prospect, but their team is up by 25 points so they may be coasting a bit in a blowout.  You don’t see that with Knueppel.  Even if Duke is up by 25 he is still sprinting out of every shooter and running through every screen like his life depends on it

Knueppel has the ability to be a solid system defender who will perform better in a strong team context instead of trying to cover for mistakes of you poor defensive team where his deficiencies would be further extenuated.  But he competes hard, plays smart, and uses his strength and feel to compensate for his physical limitations.

Ultimately, have you ever watched a prospect and marveled at how your evaluation of what you are saw seems to different than some of the other analysts?  I agree that Knueppel makes his money in the NBA from his offense, but after deep diving into the tape, I found him to be less versatile than expected offensively, but also better defensively.  He lacks speed and he’ll need to adjust to the league. He may have some embarrassing lowlight plays his rookie year, but he makes smart decisions, changes direction well, has a strong motor, rotates well, and uses his width, strength, and low center of gravity to frustrate ball handlers.  His speed is an issue.  But he’s not a statue.  Feels like once he adjusts to the league, he’ll be fine defensively.