Yes, I’ve heard the hype regarding Duke freshman Kon Knueppel from those who watched a few practices and from the players around him so far this Blue Devil preseason, it’s been the stuff of legend. I’d even had some conversations with people in the know, people close to him about his game after his commitment to the Blue Devils way back in September of last year. I’m always very cautious about preseason praise. It’s just in my nature to not feed the hype machine and I still won’t do that to Kon or will I. None of that means that I don’t believe Kon is different – he is.
Different but the Same
I’d watched my share of Wisconsin native Kon Knueppel’s highlights and there was nothing that jumped out at me originally aside from his obvious ability as a shotmaker. I see now that the reason nothing jumped out at me was because I’ve been so programmed to view highlights from the lens of dunks and flash and honestly the majority of highlight tapes aren’t stock full of good basketball. So I went back last night, got myself a drink, propped my head up and downloaded several full games of Kon’s high school team and his AAU squad as well, and just watched with a much more discerning eye. Then it hit me: Kon is different, but Kon is also the same. The same as a lot of old school players that aren’t looking to make the fanciest play, the flashiest play – instead he is looking to make the right play, the best play.
“Legend”ary Similarities
Another thing that occurred to me was the number he was wearing “33”, the reason it stuck out is because, for me, the best comp for Kon is Larry Bird. Before you call me crazy, I know, I know – shut up, Bird is a Hall of Famer, one of the GOATS and as the kids say, “he’s one of them ones”. Yeah, Bird is that. But Bird wasn’t always Larry Legend, and one point in his career he was simply Larry Joe Bird. There was high school Bird and there was college Bird as well. That is who, for me, best resembles what I’ve seen so far of Kon pre-Duke and now, one or two scrimmages in at Duke. Again, not saying Kon is Bird but looking at how they play the game, the approach at a young age, there’s no doubt the similarities are there.
Looking at release points on their respective jump shots, the way they work the ball into the middle of the floor and square their bodies for good mid-range shots (something you could also say is Luka-like) – that’s all there. The most striking thing to me is the pace in which they both play. It’s very easy to let the circumstances on the court dictate your pace in basketball. When defenders pressure you it’s human nature to speed up, rush into shots and passes. Kon seemingly always plays at the right pace for him. He doesn’t seem to get sped up and I don’t say that to call him slow – he is far from slow, but it’s evident he feels no need to let the defense dictate how he moves, an attribute he also shares with a young Larry Bird. It’s almost a quiet command. Kon’s head for the game is another feature that harkens back to Larry – Kon not only plays the game but he thinks the game. Kon, like Larry, doesn’t need a lot of room to get his shot off and has enough size that most defenders aren’t going to bother his shot prep. I mentioned earlier he squares his body well to make sure each shot is a good shot, even after contact.
At 6’7, Kon is not afraid to back down smaller defenders, while not quite the 6’9″ that Bird was. Kon to me is a big guard, Bird was listed as a small/power forward but I always saw him that way too – a big guard that had the size to play with the big boys when he needed to. I watched a lot of film of Kon using his size to take players to the paint. It’s a facet of his game I would love to see him use at Duke. I watched him time and time again seal his defender like a big and use a variety of moves to get his shot including a nice Dirkish/Birdish fade away. It doesn’t matter who or where Kon is playing, he’s the same. The game is the game for him, he doesn’t get sped up, he doesn’t allow the circumstances to dictate his pace. His pace is his own. Something not talked about very much is Kon on the defensive end, he’s very capable defender and rebounder. He moves his feet surprisingly well and like his fellow freshman Cooper Flagg, I think he can be a very good secondary defender as well. With his size and ability to gather the board and go, Kon can trigger the break quickly and put the defense on their heels.
There’s absolutely no way of knowing if Kon will have the meteoric career that Larry Bird had and that is not at all the point I’m trying to make. This is all about Kon having the bones – the fundamental understanding of the game that makes him similar to one of the greatest before they were the greatest. The last point I’ll make about Kon is that he’s not a scorer because he can’t do anything else, he’s a scorer that can do everything else.
