Kon Knueppel spoke about how important Grant Williams has been to the Charlotte Hornets.
During an interview with Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog, Kon Knueppel spoke about how important Grant Williams has been to the Charlotte Hornets.
"He's been really, really good for us rookies, really good to us, making us feel comfortable, taking us out to dinner, paying for dinner when he doesn't have to, making us feel welcome," Knueppel said. "So, he's been phenomenal.
"He's been a really good friend. He talks about it a lot – just the standard that we have to hold ourselves to, and how it's going to be in the playoffs, committing to what we do, and our identity on a nightly basis is important. He really, really talks about that a lot."
Williams went to the NBA Finals in 2022 with the Boston Celtics. None of the Hornets' core players have been to the playoffs, which is why Williams is so critical for Charlotte's locker room.
The Hornets, as of this writing, are in 10th place in the East. The 10th seed needs to win two play-in games to make the playoffs as the eighth seed.
Charlotte hasn't made the playoffs since 2016. It would be a fantastic story to see the Hornets in the playoffs in Year 2 of the Charles Lee era and Year 1 of the Knueppel era.
"We have a chance to get out of the play-in," Knueppel said. "And so that's really the goal at the end of the day – we have a couple of tie-breakers with teams in our division. So it'd be great to get into that."
Knueppel could win the Rookie of the Year Award. The Duke product is averaging 18.9 points per game while shooting 43.3% from beyond the arc. The swingman leads the NBA in 3s.
Behind Knueppel, Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball, the Hornets have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA over the past couple of months.
"Brandon missed a lot of games," Knueppel said. "He dislocated his shoulder, or separated his shoulder, in the second game of the season. So, he missed about 20 games early, and LaMelo missed 10 games early. So having those guys out of the lineup, obviously super important players for us.
"And then when they come back, they're on their minutes restrictions, and they're not playing back-to-backs. So, getting those guys back healthy, playing full-time, was really important. And then getting guys like Grant Williams and Josh Green back healthy as well, who are big-time role players for us, was huge."
Hornets Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Hornets. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.