Latest / Mac & Bone Podcast / Mac & Bone Show - Kon Knueppel Interview

Transcript

Mac & Bone Show - Kon Knueppel Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, everybody. This is the Mack and Bone Show,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. Mack and Bone now joined by
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a slightly bigger name in this Charlotte sports landscape. I
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: do believe he is the man that should have been
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a dang rookie year last year in the NBA. He
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: is Conn Knipple of your Charlotte Hornets. Conn, what's up, man?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: How you doing?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Hey, guys. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: So how are you feeling? Let's get that question out
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of the way. Fans did not like hearing You and Grant,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: both hamstring injuries. How are you feeling, man? I'm sure
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that has to bum you out this time of year
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: when you're ready to get after it.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, a little bit of unfortunate timing. You know,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: it's better than a little bit later or during the season. But, yeah,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm feeling pretty good, progressing every day. You know,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I feel like I'm in a really good spot. You know,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: it happened, you know, a couple weeks ago now, so
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: I've gotten.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Ahead of it.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it just happened actually up here, both of
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: us on the same day, Just pulled them. I was
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: just going full speed. Got a defensive rebound. I was
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: trying to go coast to coast and just felt the
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: pull on me. I've been doing good. Attacking the rehab.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: We've been doing a great job. We'll reevaluate here probably
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: right when the season starts.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: As you get ready for season number two, what did
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: you work on most in the offseason on your game?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: What's the next step in your process?
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I think This summer was big just for overall game growth,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: but this summer we worked a lot on offhand finishing,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: just getting better with my left hand around the basket.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: That'll make it easier when I'm in the lane and
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: I can go to both hands pretty easily. And then
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: just a lot of secondary playmaking, ball screen stuff, ball handling.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: It was a big summer for all those areas, and
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you don't want to get injured, but it
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: was good to have the whole summer you know, really
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: up until a couple of weeks ago before, before getting injured.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: So I didn't miss, you know, a whole ton of time.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: When you're working out in the off season, how many
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: shots are you putting up average day in the off season?
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: You know, not as many as I used to, like,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: if you think about like those workouts, I mean, what I,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: what I just mentioned, like a lot of it wasn't
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: like there was days when we'd get a bunch of
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: shots up, but you know, that, those are like you
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: know you're shooting a lot of layups you're going against
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: live defense so it's just a little bit tougher in
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: like a different way you know maybe not as many
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: reps but you're going game speed um so yeah i'd
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: say like the total shots was down i don't know
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: we probably have it up on the.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Oh i was wondering what those numbers are oh we
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: can see your shots oh okay i'll just wait for
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: that to come back.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Around yeah yeah so that's in the last week so
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: yeah i mean we probably have numbers.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: From Was that you, 851?
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 851.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: It's firing. 947.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm barely shooting.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: So you're working on other things. Now, when you were young,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: we know your family loves hooping. You were probably a
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: nut about it.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it got to a point where I'd shoot and
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: my shoulder would be sore. You're pushing it past the limits.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: But when I was in high school, yeah, I was
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: just getting shots up like crazy.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: It seemed like you had a pretty smooth transition from
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Duke to the NBA. What allowed you with your game
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: to have that transition? And what was the biggest difference
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: from college to the pros and getting used to the
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: whole league?
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: The biggest difference is the physicality. Um, you know, players
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: are bigger, faster, stronger, uh, than college. Um, and you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: it's just much harder to, you know, defend in space. Um,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: it's easier to score in space and in college or in,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: in the NBA, I should say. Um, But, yeah, I mean,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: defending the spacing and also just the physicality, I think
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: what helped me with, you know, coming into the first
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: year was I was, like, physically prepared. Like, I got
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: a big, strong base and build, and, you know, I
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: didn't really have to worry about, you know, putting on
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: as much weight or strength as an issue kind of
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: coming into the league at first.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: We're talking to Con Knipple of your Charlotte Hornets, Hornets
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Media Day today, and we're out and about. Con I'm
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: going to ask you the question I would anticipate you
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: might have already been asked a bunch and you will
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: be asked a bunch I'm sure with Lamello gone you
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: can probably finish this question there's a lot of talk
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: about you and Brandon specifically as do they need to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: create more on ball how are you feeling about that
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: do you feel like it's going to be more of
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: you initiating things and is that if so is that
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: something you're kind of excited about how do you feel
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: about that?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think definitely in that scenario. We've
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: talked about Hornets. It's an area that I've worked on
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: all summer. And it's going to be some growing pains
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: with that. I've done it before in my career, not
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: at this level. I created some last year. And so
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: it's just going to be a bigger sample size. And
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: so I'm going to have to get outside my comfort zone.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: We've got a lot of guys, Brandon, Kobe, Grayson, that
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: can really create as well. We'll have a bunch of
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: different guys that can share that load. I think it's
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: not going to fall on all the one shoulders of
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: me or Brandon of what we can do, but we've
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: got a really deep team and a lot of guys
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: that are versatile and can play in a bunch of
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: different ways.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: We were marveling at the national love that you guys
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: got last year, whether it be Zach Lowe or bill
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: simmons a deep love for the hornets last year uh
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: we could not believe the fact that he drove you
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: 30 minutes at the all-star weekend he drove you from
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: where he was doing his podcast to the hotel that
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: what was that.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Like yeah it was actually the when we were playing
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: out in la yeah um so not not that's right
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: but um yeah it was cool i i mean i
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: listened me and my dad are we're huge fans growing
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: up i read his book when i was in like
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: middle school so um It was really cool to go
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: over there and see his house, but also his studio
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: and everything. That was awesome. But I Ubered out there,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: and then he was like, yeah, we had a good time.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: So he drove me back.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Then he has the story where he came out a
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: couple weeks ago and said he doesn't wear a seatbelt.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: So our first reaction was, oh my god, you drove
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: this precious cargo.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: As long as you had a seatbelt on, that's all
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: we need to know.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: I had a seatbelt on, and when that came out,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I had to ask him, I was like, were you
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: wearing a seatbelt? I texted somebody else, and he was like, no,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I definitely wasn't. Which I didn't even notice.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Oh man, now he'll refer to you lovingly as his
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: son now? That's a good thing. But I would think, like,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: y'all nerded out like y'all are both basketball nerds right
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: like y'all must have had some fun conversations.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah he uh I mean that was that was right
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: after my Packers lost in the playoffs and he did
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: like a whole whole breakdown on like the most devastating
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: you know Packers playoff losses and I was like man
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I know this isn't a fun conversation but um you
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: know it's he's definitely you know knowledgeable about all sorts
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: of sports so I think that's those are always fun
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: conversations for me.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: All right we got to talk a little some Duke
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: stuff here at So Boak wore the Duke hat for
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: interviews with Con and Grayson today. So your brother Cager's
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: coming in next season at Duke, right? So what are
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: we getting with Cager here? So like a 6'10 version
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: of you? Is that what we're getting here? What's going on?
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's 6'10. We play a little bit differently. He's 6'10,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: but he moves like he's 6'6. So he can guard,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: you know, one through four. He can really slide his feet,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: super long arms. Um, and that's the part of his,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: his game that Duke's really loved. This is ability to defend. Um,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: you know, they like to switch everything. They like big guys, um, uh,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: you know, that can guard with length. So he's going to,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: that's going to be a big, big strength of his,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: but then also you can shoot the crap out of it. So, um,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: you know, he's, he's got a long ways to go physically,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: you know, which is his body and he'll keep growing
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: into it. Um, but he's working really hard and he's,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: he's getting himself prepared for, for next season.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: That's cool. That's cool. Do you, uh, what was your
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: reaction to the LaMelo trade? Like it, the report came
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: out that LaMelo was traded while we're on the air.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: And I mean, we and the fans on the text line,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: it took us a while to come to terms with this. Like,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: at first, we're upset. We want to know the details.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: As a friend and as a teammate, like, how did
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: that hit you initially?
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think we had, you know, Colin
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: was traded at the deadline. So just like having a
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: teammate that's like on the, you know, he was on
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: our bus and like all of a sudden he's like
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: getting off the bus, you know, cause he's going to
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Chicago or whatever. Um, and the mellow thing kind of
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: happened quickly, you know, like it was the night before
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I saw some reports and I woke up to a
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: bunch of texts, like my uncle's like, yeah, you think
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: this is going to happen? I was like, I have no,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: I have no idea. Came in the building and yeah,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: he was, he got traded like that morning. So, um,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: you know, it's that, that part of the business is tough.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: You know, you, you have a teammate one day you,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: he was, he was in here every day in the spring.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: and then the next day he's gone. But that's why
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: you've got to really pour into those relationships in this
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: sport because it's important because not everything lasts forever. I
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: really enjoyed being around him every day. He was great
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: to everybody in the building. We wish him success with
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the T-Wolves.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: What are you going to miss more, the passes or
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the humor?
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Humor, for sure.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, the court and stuff's fun, but,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: you know, the relationships, like I just mentioned, are what
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: it's all about. And so, you know, it's one of
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: the things I think is really special about this group
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: is we already, you know, have really good rapport in
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: the locker room, and we enjoy each other.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Well, we're looking forward to you year two. Even though
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Bello's gone, it feels like there's a lot of excitement.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: You're a big part of that, man. We can't wait
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: to watch you here do your thing.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it. You're better, too, man. Thank you, Con.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: I got a hamstring, too, myself here, but we'll– We'll
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: share notes. You did hurt that running, though.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I know that. No, no.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: It was actually walking over here.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: All right, Con. Good luck this year, man. Appreciate you.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Appreciate you guys. Thanks.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Con.