Fueled by a wave of youthful energy from their rookie class, the Charlotte Hornets’ patient rebuild is finally starting to take shape heading into Tuesday’s road clash with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Charlotte made light work of Utah on Sunday, cruising to a 126-103 win, despite missing its two best players to injury — LaMelo Ball (ankle) and Brandon Miller (shoulder).
Miles Bridges filled the void with 29 points for the short-handed Hornets, who started three rookies for the second time this season.
Lottery pick Kon Knueppel dropped 24 points, including 4-of-9 shooting from deep, to go with six rebounds and five assists while second-rounder Sion James combined 15 points with some spirited defense on the Jazz’s Finnish superstar, Lauri Markkanen.
This time last year, Knueppel and James were teammates at Duke helping the Blue Devils reach the NCAA Final Four — a shared background Hornets coach Charles Lee credits for their readiness.
“(Duke) coach (Jon) Scheyer may as well be on our staff,” Lee said with a smile. “He did a heck of a job laying a foundation with those guys. I owe him a lot. They understand how to play basketball, they understand not to overdo it … both of them are about team basketball and winning.”
Knueppel — the No. 4 pick in the draft that saw fellow Blue Devil Cooper Flagg go No. 1 to Dallas — is averaging 14.0 points and shooting 43.1% on 3-point attempts through his first six NBA games.
“It doesn’t surprise me … he works at it a ton,” Lee said. “What he works on are game shots at game speed. Then when he gets in the game, he’s taking the right threes — uncontested or lightly contested. I’m not surprised because his work ethic and mechanics are both elite.”
James has been even more accurate from long range, connecting on 13 of 18 attempts (72.2%) so far.
“Sion’s a great teammate,” Knueppel said. “He’s super strong, but such a smart player. It’s easy to play with him — he doesn’t make mistakes on defense and he’s always making quick decisions on offense. And right now he’s shooting 100% from three. If you can do those things, you can play in this league for a long time.”
Center Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Hornets’ third rookie starter, took just three shots and scored two points in his 22 minutes on Sunday — but made up for it at the other end with four blocks and four steals.
While Charlotte’s future is beginning to look bright, the same couldn’t be said for Pelicans coach Willie Green. His job status is coming under increasing scrutiny.
New Orleans is the Western Conference’s only winless squad after being thumped 137-106 by the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
Zion Williamson scored 20 points and Trey Murphy III added 19, but neither could prevent the Pelicans from suffering their third 30-point loss of the young season.
“Playing against a really good team, you have to consistently compete, especially on the defensive end,” Green said. “We had moments where we did it in spurts, but it’s just not good enough. Individually and collectively, there has to be that mentality. We can’t just rely on our scoring — defensively, we’ve really got to be better.
“It’s a long season. We’ve got to stay together and continue to work at it. The biggest thing is to stay together, keep fighting for each other, and try to string together a consistent game.”
