Should the Charlotte Hornets have taken someone other than Kon Knueppel at #4 in the NBA Draft?

Should the Charlotte Hornets have taken someone other than Kon Knueppel at #4 in the NBA Draft?

canada Edwards CBS Sports.com joining us here on the Adam Gold Show So 40% of Duke’s starting lineup is now with the Charlotte Hornets I like that Yes I don’t even hate I don’t even hate the uh the fact that part of that isn’t Cooper Flag It would have been great but he sort of got the mini version of Cooper Flag in Con Canipple Uh do you think that was a good way for the Hornets to go at number four I would have preferred Trey Johnson but I also understand why everybody is very excited Trey Johnson it would have taken him at least a two two or three years to fill into an NBA body Coniple is NBA ready right now Has the footwork is going to be a very complimentary piece This year is going to be about and we’ll talk about it more down the line Adam but this year is about figuring out if you have either a number one guy in LaMelo Ball or Brandon Miller Coniple is going to help be that litmus test to figure all that out He’s going to be a very very good pro The ceiling isn’t going to be what everybody seems to think it is but it’s still a very very very high floor And for Charlotte they need a lot of high floor guys All right I can I can help out with LaMelo right now I could tell you right now that he is not that guy Uh that he is definitely talented and will put up numbers uh as if he can stay healthy But I this is my my opinion of him has not changed from day one is that he is not a guy that will help you win And I’m they could be a good they could be a playoff team and he’s not going to stop them from being that But ultimately I look at LaMelo Ball as a guy who’s like I would rather have a healthy Lonzo than a healthy LaMelo Does that make sense to you
It makes sense in one aspect because and we talked about Lonzo and the Cavs just made that deal for him which was a heist in itself But I would also tell you like I get that But I also remember the games and again granted a lot of these were in front of empty gyms with no people during time of co so I understand this but a lot again I saw a lamelo raise the ceiling
on a team that had Gordon Hayward Terry Roier
and very little else So I I I I’m somewhere in the middle of this I think he’s a I think he’s a top three on a a championship team guy I’m pretty sure he’s not a number one guy But still if you have a enough of those competent pieces I think you can do a lot of things
All right that let’s just put a pin in that right there And then we’re going to put uh we’re eventually going to get to the trade that they that they have just made Uh but the rest of that draft hey if you can’t draft the best player off Mount Verde you can draft one of the other best players off Cooper Flags high school team Liam McNeely who they did not draft but they traded for So uh him Scion James Ryan Kalin Brener like it doesn’t sound like a terrible draft hall for them
This was an excellent draft Like Jeff Peterson Cook let’s let’s let’s make no mistake here Scion James they’re comparing him to Lud Dort If he’s anything like Lud Dort he’s going to be be the best wing defender since the number two pick in Michael kid Gilchrist and Charlotte That’s how that’s how good he’s going to be And I would tell you that Liam McNeely he was the leader of a Yukon team that we saw put the fear of God into into Florida Yes
Like we saw that
should have won the game They should have won the game
Should have won the game
Yeah
But everyone’s talking about he’s not a shooter he’s not this he’s not that
He was the point guard His numbers are going to be up with NBA spacing and actual NB other NBA players on the floor He’s going I feel like that’s probably one of the biggest deals in the draft And then we we just talked about Canipple Caulk Brener If he’s diet Brook Lopez you take that out of the 33rd pick Like you take that You take that
So I again I do think he’s an NBA player I just think he’s going to be a rotational big And if he’s just that then you take that with the 34th pick in the draft and and and run I see him more as tall guy than big guy Uh but you know what Diet Brook Lopez I think it would be better if we said Brook Lopez zero sugar Absolutely Hey as a as as someone that just exclusively drinks zero sugar drinks yo I am completely for that right now So I I completely agree I you’ve warmed my heart Thank you Al
You’re right Uh Colin Ston in a trade uh with uh what is it Uh I don’t even know Utah Utah That’s right Trading with Utah is always good Um I actually like Colin Ston I think Colin Ston uh could be you you said you know that uh Ball could be the third you know the top three guy uh on a on a great team I think Stexton to me is a better version of that who doesn’t need to be the star that that can be that third option on a top team I love I love the addition of Kyle Saxon especially for a guy that they traded in Yousef Nerkage and they got a pickback for that right like Jeff Peterson has been doing work Adam I would tell you that like and there’s a theme to this and I want to I just want to point this part out is that you’re seeing a lot of guys that are an influx of professional guys that are going to work hard Jeff Peterson has been just beating the idea of Hornets DNA guys that come in compete work We saw this team just win 19 games and largely look listless If nothing else even if this team wins only 25 games it’s going to look different It’s going to look like there’s a plan Last year was clearly an evaluation year but with a guy like Colin Sess who just goes into whatever he does with 110% Remember that’s the same guy that went in the three and five three on five at Alabama and almost won a game
Yeah
Scored 40 in that So So you’re talking about a guy that is going to continue to go There’s a clip of him actually playing defense this year on Jaylen Brunson And Jaylen Brunson like he’s guarding him to where Jaylen Brunson’s halfway in the tunnel and Sexton’s still with him That’s the kind of grit and stickuitiveness this team has needed for quite a long time And Jeff Peterson is clearly addressing that And if you really just look at the roster transformation the last two years Jeff Peterson has gotten rid of a lot of the pretty boys
He’s there was a lot of reputations where this this team was unserious and more important this this locker room was soft and you see the transformation and you’re going to continue to see this transformation as they’re trying to be a more how how would I say this nicely Professional unit Right We look you need you need a lot of that We’re going to get to that in a second Uh Canada Edwards at Natada Scribe on Twitter CBS Sports is joining us To that end still have Grant Williams and Seth Curry on the roster Yeah Grant Yes Seth is a free agent and I have Okay Like when they added when they added Colin Sexon I think that was the unofficial Hey Seth it’s okay to go ring chase I know you spent a year and change with your dad going to again ride sharing to work but we have to start working on something else now
Gotcha I like Grant Williams that that to me he’s certainly one of those guys uh that is a worker that is uh you know takes his job seriously Um has Mark Williams passed his physical yet with Phoenix I was Phoenix right
With Yes Yes But it it’s baited breath I don’t think I don’t think they’re going to resend this trade If this trade does not happen I don’t do not think that this is going to be because of Mark Williams in the physical I do believe it’s going to be something else like Phoenix tried to basically squeeze something else in And mind you like Phoenix doesn’t still realize that Jeff Peterson robbed them right
Like he still doesn’t realize that They still don’t realize that which also makes Matt Ishbia Midwest James Dolan but that’s another conversation for another day
There you go Well you don’t have to talk about that at all Uh so what are they go what are the Hornets going to do at center We’ll wrap up the conversation about the Hornets here Um I mean I do they have a center I mean I don’t I really don’t look at Kaulk Briner as a center I look at him more as a kind of a stretch for uh but I mean I could be wrong Um what are they going to do at center I’m assuming the answer to quote Dave Gtlman is not on the roster Gotcha
I believe that there is another move that they’re going to make I don’t know what that move is going to look like It might be former Tarheel Don Sharp It could be Boston Celtic Luke Cornett who brings a different skill set than any other center as he stretches the floor I don’t know But it’s going to be very fascinating It might even be DeAndre Aton even though a great idea even though I don’t think that’s a great idea because he’s basically burned every bid in every locker room that he’s ever been in So I’m not sure that the answer is really on the roster but it’s also going to be one of those fascinating things where I think they’re going to have to move another couple of guys to do it to get a get a center on the roster
Is Boogie Cousins still playing somewhere Didn’t he get thrown out of a game like in Puerto Rico
He got suspend Yeah exactly He got suspended Now Boogie Cousins Boogie Cousins moves worse laterally than me and you combined Uh I don’t know man I still have pretty good quickness You haven’t seen me You haven’t seen me do the shuttle
You can guard the pick and roll better than he can
Now I can’t guard the pick and roll but I can I can shuttle back and forth uh fairly quickly Uh Canada Edwards not a scribe is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show So is LeBron James going to leave LA I mean I don’t not I haven’t heard him say anything about it but when I hear Rob Pelinka say that you know we’re looking for the future and we want to make the best you know you know best create the best situation for LeBron it almost seems like he is paving the way for LeBron to leave
I feel like we’re headed to a mutual breakup Like the the the he wants to be competitive for a championship and everything else like that I think we’re headed for a mutual breakup but I just have one question for LeBron Like who’s trading for you Like if you were really going to leave then opt out but you’re not going to opt out because no one really has money outside of Brooklyn and that’s not a championship situation So we think about Cleveland Cleveland would have to move at least four guys to trade for him for him to come home You would think that like the best opportunity might be Denver but is is Rob Pelinka going to take back Michael Porter Jr and a whole bunch of poo poo platter picks I’m not sure about that Like there’s a lot of this that doesn’t necessarily make sense So I do think we’re headed to a mutually breakup but I don’t think it’s going to be this year It might be next summer or barring anything else we may get a one-year like it doesn’t make sense for the breakup but I do think we’re headed that way Yeah it’s unfortunate I don’t know what that means for Bronnie Uh I don’t know what it means for JJ Reic Uh but uh the Lakers took a big swing this year Uh and they missed Uh part of that is I mean they didn’t have a great roster even with LeBron and Luca if if both were at full health I’m not sure they had a good enough roster Uh but that’s uh that’s another story for another time Let me get to you re real quick The Houston Rockets uh took the same swing that the Phoenix Suns took that the Brooklyn Nets took by acquiring Kevin Durant Yes My my thought is it only worked for a championship ready team It only worked for Golden State Like I this is nothing against KD I just don’t know if the Rockets are going to win a title and they’ve got basically one year to do it I think this is a better situation in Phoenix primarily because as we talked about before there’s no Midwest James Dolan Matt Ishbia who’s trying to control the entire process There’s none of that going on And on top of that when you think about what the Houston Rockets gave up which is basically nothing like it’s Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks and a bunch of picks that that are going to be in the low 20s
right
Like that’s not really requisite compensation for a guy who’s still a top 15 player in this league So I think they did well And more importantly they still they’ve kept their powder dry enough to where if Giannis decides yo I’m done with dealing with Doc I’m done with Milwaukee I want to actually go win The Houston Rockets sneakily have the most assets outside of Oklahoma City to go get this guy So while we just So while we say it’s not enough it’s not enough it can be enough quickly enough because the Houston Rockets have enough assets thanks to thanks to Phoenix to where they can go do do something and add more to this roster So while we don’t think this roster is enough for right now I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes enough by February
All right final thing as we let Canada Edwards go at Natscribe on Twitter Has Club World Cup fever overtaken the city of Charlotte Sir we are a Charlotte FC city first and foremost
Okay good I like that
And then and then we are club World Cup I I had a chance to go get Real Madrid tickets I missed out because I had to do something else Like silly me I had to work I like But outside of that like I
it it’s been an awesome experience pretty much for club for all this club World Cup stuff Even though we know it’s a blatant money grab even though it feels gross Yeah Like it’s a it’s awfully fun if you get to see it live
No Then like individual matches have been awesome right But the the people can’t wrap their you know wrap their minds around my point that the entire event is a farce But individual matches certainly bring a lot of excitement It wasn’t a great showing for Chelsea Uh was it about 26 27,000 tickets sold for uh Chelsea Who did they uh they play Uh Palmer
Chelsea Palmis Enzo Moresca lost his mind Like I can’t believe we’re having a match here There’s lightning I’m like “Yeah you know what We have thunderstorms all over the globe.” Enzo uh sorry sorry about that Uh you you caught us in a hot moment but of course we should have predicted that June July in the United States certainly in the south in the United States can be a little toasty foresight Foresight Adam are you really expecting foresight out of out of FIFA officials
No Gosh no They Well as as long as long as long as the check clears that’s all they care about Canada Edwards my friend not a scribe on Twitter Uh we will do it again soon but we’re not talking again until the Mets win two more in a row
Oh so basically we’re not talking until September is what you’re telling me
Stop Stop up We’ll be fine We’ll be fine Uh you have it you you heard it here first All right man I’ll talk to you later

Konata Edwards, CBS Sports, joins the Adam Gold Show to discuss the NBA Draft results for the Charlotte Hornets and others; as well as what else is happening around the league in this off season. If LeBron James wants to leave, who would trade for him?

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