Don't sleep on these two forgotten pieces of Charlotte Hornets' young core

When you think of the Charlotte Hornets' young core, you undoubtedly think of Kon Knueppel first, since he's arguably the best and still very young. But LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Ryan Kalkbrenner are all 24 or younger and come to mind, too.

But that's not all. Expanding the age to 25, which is still far from ancient, you might also think of Josh Green, Sion James, Moussa Diabate, KJ Simpson, and Tre Mann as interesting young pieces of this roster.

Knueppel, Ball, and Miller get all the headlines, and rightfully so. But we can no longer ignore Tidjane Salaun and Liam McNeeley, a pair of 20-year-olds who seem headed in the right direction, finally.

Don't forget about Liam McNeeley and Tidjane Salaun

If we exclude Mason Plumlee and Antonio Reeves, neither of whom has even averaged nine minutes per game, nor have they played in more than 12 games, who are the top two Hornets players in net rating?

It's not LaMelo Ball. It's not Kon Knueppel, even though he's been brilliant. It's not Miles Bridges or Brandon Miller. The top two are Tidjane Salaun (and then a wide gap) and Liam McNeeley.

Salaun has been wildly impressive. The film is sometimes unkind, and he still has moments where he looks like he doesn't belong on an NBA floor, but the numbers are exceptional.

Last night vs. the Hawks, while Miller, Ball, and Knueppel scored 25 or more points each, Salaun quietly had 10 points and four rebounds in just 16 minutes. He's had several quietly good outings this year.

The net rating illustrates that. He's been the best offensive player (excluding Plumlee and Reeves) with a scorching 121.0 offensive rating. That's right around Luka Doncic, Karl-Anthony Towns, and others.

On defense, his 107.3 defensive rating is third behind Reeves and Pat Connaughton, who have also only played sparingly. That's better than Draymond Green, Jalen Duren, Jimmy Butler, and Rudy Gobert.

It translates to a 13.8 net rating. He's been absolutely brilliant in his limited minutes. It's a small sample size, but if Salaun ever becomes a quality role player, that pick will age so well, especially since the Hornets have four of the five starting spots locked down by talented young players. Salaun would make the fifth.

McNeeley and LaMelo Ball make the only two others with a positive net rating. It took some time for McNeeley, who is now in the G League to develop further, to get going, but it seems like he has. He also has a pretty small sample size, but the numbers are solid.

He's only just behind Salaun in defensive rating, and he's got the 10th-best offensive rating. He's been better offensively than Ryan Kalkbrenner, Collin Sexton, and Tre Mann. For an afterthought of the 2025 draft class, that's pretty great.

The Hornets look good when Ball, Knueppel, and Miller are healthy. They have solid supporting players in Mann, Sexton, Kalkbrenner, Sion James, and others who will be around for a while. Adding McNeeley and Salaun to the mix, which isn't a guarantee just yet, would be just terrific.

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