Game Theory: Kon Knueppel & Larry Bird

“Legend”ary Similarities

Another thing that occurred to me was the number he was wearing “33”, the reason it stuck out is because, for me, the best comp for Kon is Larry Bird. Before you call me crazy, I know, I know – shut up, Bird is a Hall of Famer, one of the GOATS and as the kids say, “he’s one of them ones”. Yeah, Bird is that. But Bird wasn’t always Larry Legend, and one point in his career he was simply Larry Joe Bird. There was high school Bird and there was college Bird as well. That is who, for me, best resembles what I’ve seen so far of Kon pre-Duke and now, one or two scrimmages in at Duke. Again, not saying Kon is Bird but looking at how they play the game, the approach at a young age, there’s no doubt the similarities are there.

Looking at release points on their respective jump shots, the way they work the ball into the middle of the floor and square their bodies for good mid-range shots (something you could also say is Luka-like) – that’s all there. The most striking thing to me is the pace in which they both play. It’s very easy to let the circumstances on the court dictate your pace in basketball. When defenders pressure you it’s human nature to speed up, rush into shots and passes. Kon seemingly always plays at the right pace for him. He doesn’t seem to get sped up and I don’t say that to call him slow – he is far from slow, but it’s evident he feels no need to let the defense dictate how he moves, an attribute he also shares with a young Larry Bird. It’s almost a quiet command. Kon’s head for the game is another feature that harkens back to Larry – Kon not only plays the game but he thinks the game. Kon, like Larry, doesn’t need a lot of room to get his shot off and has enough size that most defenders aren’t going to bother his shot prep. I mentioned earlier he squares his body well to make sure each shot is a good shot, even after contact.

At 6’6, Kon is not afraid to back down smaller defenders, while not quite the 6’9″ that Bird was. Kon to me is a big guard, Bird was listed as a small/power forward but I always saw him that way too – a big guard that had the size to play with the big boys when he needed to. I watched a lot of film of Kon using his size to take players to the paint. It’s a facet of his game I would love to see him use at Duke. I watched him time and time again seal his defender like a big and use a variety of moves to get his shot including a nice…