The NBA Draft is next month and obviously Duke’s Cooper Flagg is getting the most attention. He dominated college basketball in what should have been his senior year in high school and made a huge impression. Check out what former Blue Devil Chris Duhon had to say about Flagg:
“He’s just a great all-around player, and he competes at a high level. He wants to be coached, and he’s going to continue to get better and better.”
“I wouldn’t sleep on Kon Knueppel either. If put with the right team and coach at the next level, the future is bright for him as well...[t]he main thing is that they both have high basketball IQs. They don’t have to rely on their athleticism because they think and see the game fast. With their ability to stretch the floor, it gives them more space to be effective.”
As far as Mavs coach Jason Kidd goes, he compares Flagg to Grant Hill “but with a better jump shot” and says Knueppel reminds him a “stronger JJ Redick.”
The Hill comparison makes a lot of sense and somehow we never thought of it. The greatest play we ever saw Hill do at Duke wasn’t that alley-oop against Kansas or The Pass that led to The Shot against Kentucky.
No, the greatest play we ever saw him pull off was when UNC had a 4-on-1 break against Hill - and Hill won that, then dribbled calmly back to the other end.
It’s the kind of play you could imagine Flagg pulling off too.
As for Knueppel vs. Redick, we get it but look at it this way: if you took away Redick’s shooting, what would he bring to the table?
He would become much, much less valuable.
Now imagine Knueppel without his shot.
He could still pass. He could still rebound. And he would still work harder on defense.
That’s not to say that Knueppel will be better than Redick, though Redick did play in something of a fireman era (sorry, had to go there). However, while Redick may have more athleticism, Knueppel does have a more versatile skill set.