Rookies Kon Knueppel, Sion James, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Liam McNeeley have re-energized the Hornets’ franchise, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes. Knueppel is challenging top pick and college teammate Cooper Flagg for Rookie of the Year honors.
“I knew the four guys we were bringing in … they were just so secure in themselves,” president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said. “They’re about their team and that we win. And they all complement each other.”
All of the rookies, save McNeeley, have made a significant impact.
“The way they come in the building every day with their energy, with their curiosity to learn,” coach Charles Lee said. “Even from the standpoint of Liam [who has split time in the NBA G League], he’s brought a new term for us to break our huddles.”
Here’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Wizards made history on Saturday afternoon. Their starting lineup was the youngest since the league began tracking starters in 1970/71, per Elias, the team tweets. That includes the first career start for Will Riley. The average age of the starting five was 20.64 years old. The Wizards had seven players ruled out, including Khris Middleton, who was initially listed as questionable (Twitter link). Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington were the other starters.
- Injuries have impacted the Heat after a strong start, the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang notes. The Heat are just one game over .500 after going 9-15 in their past 24 games, and they have yet to win consecutive games in January. Injury issues have resulted in Miami using four different starting lineups in the past six games. “Just got to be more consistent,” big man Bam Adebayo said. “We can’t front-run. Every game has to be, we hold the line on defense from the start of the game. And then from the start of the game to the start of the third, and we figure it out from there. We’re having too many games where we’ll play great defense one night. Another night, we’ll kind of take off. So that’s got to be the difference. We’ve just got to be more consistent on that end, even if we’re missing or making shots.”
- The Heat’s trade deadline approaching could hinge on Tyler Herro‘s health issues, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel opines. Trading Norman Powell, without any confidence that Herro can return to form, would seem like capitulation and that’s not Miami’s style. There isn’t another scorer on the roster capable of stepping into that void to at least keep the Heat competitive if they trade Powell and Herro remains out or limited.