Liam McNeeley\u2019s eyes widened, preceding a devilish smirk.<\/p>\n
The Charlotte Hornets<\/a> rookie forward had just played alongside KJ Simpson for the first time in a competitive game and left little doubt about his impressions of the second-year point guard.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cKJ is nice,\u201d McNeeley<\/a> said. \u201cThat\u2019s a good basketball player. I don\u2019t think we all got to see it last year. He knows how to put the ball in the basket.\u201d<\/p>\n Simpson is immersed in a relatively important spot, serving as the main floor general for the Hornets\u2019 summer league team, which picked up its second victory in as many days with a 96-94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers at Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday night.<\/p>\n He\u2019s fully aware of the situation he\u2019s in, starring on the outside of a crowded guard rotation. So, he\u2019s all about improving over the coming days and weeks, intent on tapping into the court time and mastering other things he figured out during a roller-coaster initial campaign with the Hornets.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying the games that I did during the regular season will help out a lot,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cLast year I didn\u2019t get to play summer league because I was hurt, so now I\u2019m just looking forward to making the most of this opportunity, and honestly proving to people why I got drafted. Rookie year is rookie year, but at the end of the day I know I belong and I\u2019m just going out there and showing what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n And he is doing it while staying within the team concept, which is no easy feat.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to go over the top,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cI know what I need to do. I understand from the year of experience, I had the role I need to be in for the Hornets. I\u2019m just trying to go show how I can add value to the team, so it\u2019s just going out there and making the most of this summer league. Just excited to finally play.\u201d<\/p>\n During his rookie campaign, Simpson\u2019s playing time was somewhat sporadic, seeing action in 36 games and recording 15 starts. He averaged 7.8 points, three rebounds and 3.1 assists in 23.4 minutes per game and things didn\u2019t exactly end in the most positive fashion, with some probably remembering Simpson being ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul on Jaylen Wells in the Hornets\u2019 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in April.<\/p>\n Through the Hornets\u2019 initial outings of summer league action, Simpson is more than holding his own. Although statistics don\u2019t always tell the appropriate story, he\u2019s averaging 20 points per game, buoyed by a 19-point, four-assist effort against the 76ers.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, man, just going out there and understanding what value I bring to the team,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cObviously summer league is going to be a big opportunity and I\u2019ve been in the gym. It\u2019s just going, and showing I\u2019ve been in the gym and I\u2019m someone who can help the team. I ain\u2019t gone nowhere. After the season was over, I went back home for a little.<\/p>\n \u201cBut other than that I\u2019ve been in Charlotte the whole time, been working out with all the other guys, just been in the gym just working, getting better at everything I know I need to get better at and that we\u2019ve talked about getting better at, to go and prove all these people and all these opinions wrong that I do belong.\u201d<\/p>\n It won\u2019t happen if Simpson doesn\u2019t fully display the things he\u2019s put countless hours into to augment his repertoire, though. He has to dent a crowded guard rotation featuring newcomers Kon Knueppel<\/a>, Collin Sexton<\/a> and Spencer Dinwiddie along with holdovers Tre Mann and Nick Smith Jr.<\/p>\n In order to blossom as a player, Simpson has to mark off a couple of tasks on his checklist.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely shooting,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cI know I\u2019m a way better shooter and way better efficient scorer than I was during the season. Just being more efficient, taking better shots and better decision making, that can always improve. I\u2019m big on always improving in everything, but it\u2019s definitely those things and especially defense. Being an absolute pest.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Simpson has studied footage of Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell. There\u2019s a part of him that wants to morph into a 2.0 version of the 10-year veteran who\u2019s played for two teams in his career.<\/p>\n He watched some of McConnell\u2019s play in the Finals in an attempt to replicate him.<\/p>\n \u201cJust coming in and having that mindset of coming in and messing the game up for the other team,\u201d Simpson said, \u201cpicking up 94 feet which you\u2019ll see in summer league and just being an absolute menace.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Unsung hero has a pretty good ring to it in Simpson\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s been me my whole life \u2014 I\u2019ve been an all-around player,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cI contribute, I fill the stat sheet. Everyone likes to knock my size. I can go out there and rebound with the best of them, I can go out and jump with the best of them .<\/p>\n \u201cI can go out there and guard with the best of them and T.J. is a good example that he just goes out there heart over height and I just want to go out there and prove I can do the same thing at that same level. And I know I can for sure. I\u2019ve just got to have that mentality and I definitely have that this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam McNeeley\u2019s eyes widened, preceding a devilish smirk. The Charlotte Hornets rookie forward had just played alongside KJ…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,684,473,3878,1585,685,126,2597,11019,968,921,177,6,10673,207,5990,13711,3886,6358],"class_list":{"0":"post-169187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charlotte","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-charlottehornets","12":"tag-collin-sexton","13":"tag-hornets","14":"tag-indiana-pacers","15":"tag-jaylen-wells","16":"tag-kj-simpson","17":"tag-kon-knueppel","18":"tag-liam-mcneeley","19":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-nick-smith-jr","22":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","23":"tag-spencer-dinwiddie","24":"tag-summer-league","25":"tag-t-j-mcconnell","26":"tag-tre-mann"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114849318402472652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}