Brotherhood Draft Watch: Kon Knueppel?

One of the most entertaining things on the NBA design is the art of play, bluffing and frankly manipulation.

Take this article about Dukes Kon Knueppel.

Blue Devil fans know that he is not 6-7 because he complained about it and said he was 6-6. In the NBA combine, it was measured with 6-5 without shoes, and its wingspan is only 6-6.25.

And as you will see, a few NBA types are quoted and say negative things about Knueppel.

A man says below[‘s]The game is polished as it is. He can shoot. I don't know that he will be better … he deserves to be a river, Top 20. But I would only warn him, I could see him slide. The size, sportiness, it's just not really there. “

The second guy says the following: “(Herzog) had him at 6-foot 7, and he is not 6-foot-7, but they could somehow say. You could see that he was missing the length, but the measurement was really unfriendly.

Well, maybe.

It is clearly more sporty players in the design, but you can run a list of great players who were supposedly not very sporty: Larry Bird, Shane Battier, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Steve Kerr, Draymond Green, Paul Pierce, Mark Price, JJ Redick, Bill Laimbeer, Dirk, Dirk, Zach, Zach, Zach, Zach, Zach, Zach, Dirk, Dirk, Dirk, Dirk, Dirk, Zach Zach Randzić.

It is important, but it is not the end and all of that. You could just as easily run a list of brilliant sporting talents that did not reach size, or at least that could not fulfill their potential: Ed o'bannon, Walter Barry, Kwame Brown, Joe Barry Carroll, Dajuan Wagner, Dwayne Schintzius, Raymond Lewis and of course Baby Jordan himself, Harold Minor.

This list continues for days – seriously.

The point is that sportiness is only part of the formula. If you understand the game, you master your skills and you work hard. You can find great success.

Will Knueppel do that?

There is certainly a chance that he could fail, but he's pretty smart. Only remember a game to get the point.

Do you remember it? Knueppel's reaction was immediately, very intelligent and a brilliant solution to an unexpected problem. In retrospect, it only seems obvious. How many players would have had that? They may remember that it was also a stressful situation because NC State made it to Duke for a large part of this game.

It reminds us a little when someone asked Jay Bilas whether Curry was sporty enough to play in the NBA. He made a minute and said: “You understand that he is exceptionally smart.”

Well, Knueppel is not Steph Curry, but he's damn smart. We wouldn't bet against him.