Kon Knueppel details his whirlwind month, which saw him win Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month and appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Knueppel admits to being nervous about the late-night appearance but calls being on the show a "cool experience." He stresses the need for the team to stick to their habits and "get better as a collective unit." By DIAMOND VENCES
Despite chatter surrounding how the Charlotte Hornets are using their star guard in games on consecutive nights, Charles Lee reiterated the plan is working.
As the Hornets prepare to meet Cleveland on Wednesday at Spectrum Center, which precedes their outing in Florida against the Orlando Magic on Thursday, their coach indicated LaMelo Ball is fully on board with their strategy.
For the past two weeks, Ball has come off the bench in one of the games of a back-to-back, eschewing his typical starting role, to maximize his availability in both games. And that won’t be changing any time soon, it appears.
“I think one of the things is just trying to be creative with how we maneuver or manipulate his minutes to make sure that he has enough in the tank for the fourth quarter,” Lee said after practice Tuesday. “There’s been some games where Melo even agrees that he should come off the bench to make sure that we have more fourth quarter minutes for him when it is winning time, even though obviously the whole game is really important and every possession is really important.
LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets celebrates a made basket during the second half against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center. Joshua Gateley Getty Images
“But it’s nice to be able to have some minutes for him in the fourth quarter, and then if by some chance he didn’t end up utilizing all those minutes in the fourth quarter, it puts him in a different position come that second night of the back-to-back. So, I think that we’ve all really worked well together. The communication’s been great, and I think that we’ve put him in a really good spot to maximize his availability. It’s good to see that he’s played 17, 18 games in a row and already had 33 games so far this season.”
Lee unfazed by Draymond Green’s barb
A shrug.
That’s basically how Lee reacted to the thoughts of the Golden State Warriors, who criticized the way the Hornets defended Charlotte’s prodigal son Steph Curry in the Warriors’ win on Saturday night at Chase Center. In his postgame comments, Draymond Green was especially harsh on Lee, ripping his tactic of having Sion James and others shadow Curry, who posted 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, as much as possible.
“I mentioned this after the last game,” Green said, referring to their New Year’s Eve matchup, “that their coach played this gimmicky defense and I had to make them pay, because I’ve seen coaches fired for playing that defense, and it just doesn’t work.”
Lee is unfazed by Green’s suggestion the strategy may cost him his job.
“No, it doesn’t bother me,” Lee said. “Again, everyone’s entitled to their opinions. There’s different strategies, there’s different ways to play the game. We thought that going into that game it was a good strategy, and it was a three-point game late in the game. As bad as we ... I shouldn’t say as bad, but we weren’t very consistent with how we played that game.
“It wasn’t one of our better performances, and it was a three-point game and Green hits a corner three, and then I think somebody else hits the top of the key three and kind of stretched it to six and nine and the rest of the game happened. But I do think that our goal every night is to just put our players in the best position possible to win a game. And I think we had a chance if we played a little bit better.”
Head coach Charles Lee of the Charlotte Hornets looks on during the second quarter of the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Spectrum Center. Jared C. Tilton Getty Images
Changing perceptions?
During national broadcasts, the upcoming schedule for future national games are typically mentioned, hoping to keep fans in tune with programming.
In the lead-up to Wednesday’s outing on ESPN against the Cavaliers — which marks the second matchup between these two teams on national TV after their Dec. 22 contest was shown on Peacock — the Hornets are drawing some positive reviews among some of the broadcast talent. ESPN analyst Tim Legler was especially praiseworthy of the Hornets recently.
It’s a considerable change.
“I’m definitely aware of it because I love that the story of our organization is starting to get out there, being told the right way,” Lee said. “Seeing the growth, seeing the progress that we are making as an organization, but also the progress that our players are making. Most importantly, I think that these guys’ player development has been a big thing for us and I think that they have taken to it, our staff has taken to it, put a lot of resources in it. But it’s the commitment from the players to really buy in. And they’ve done it.
“And I think that they’re seeing some of the results now happen in the games even more so and more so consistently. But that’s from your habits, that’s from the daily improvement that you have to go through.”