Stock up, stock down: Evaluating the Hornets loss to Pelicans

The Charlotte Hornets suffered the most embarrassing loss of the year earlier this week, falling to previously winless New Orleans. Had Charlotte won this game, the noise around Pelicans head coach Willie Green would have gotten even louder.

Instead, it was a four-point loss for the Hornets, despite a couple of solid performances from some members of the starting lineup. Starting positively, two players saw their stock rise after this game.

Stock up: Kon Knueppel

The more that Kon Knueppel plays, the better he looks. As a rookie, he's still able to contribute to the game when his 3-point shot isn't falling. Despite hitting just 30 percent of his 3s, he made an impact by rebounding the ball, grabbing 12 of them.

Without the playmaking of LaMelo Ball, Knueppel was tasked with creating his own shots. That's something he can do, and he showed it while he was at Duke.

Knueppel still needs to work on consistency from deep, but the improvement from a game-to-game basis with his overall game is certainly there.

Stock up: Ryan Kalkbrenner

The other rookie in the starting lineup, Kalkbrenner, continues his torrid offensive pace. Kalkbrenner made all four shots he took in the game, keeping his shooting percentage absurdly high.

To this point, Kalkbrenner is leading the NBA in shooting percentage by making almost 83 percent of his shots. Most of them have come around the rim, which is where he wants to live.

Having another double-double and adding four blocks in this game shows the progression that he is undergoing. He still needs to get more comfortable shooting threes from a deeper arc, but that will come with time.

Stock down: Sion James

With both Ball and Brandon Miller out of this game, James was moved into the starting lineup. It did not go well on either side of the court for him, as he was the only starter with a negative net rating.

Charlotte wasn't expecting to play James this much this early in the season, but injuries have necessitated it. He's played solidly on offense up to this point, but he had his worst game against the worst opponent the Hornets have played.

This young team will have to rally and play some better basketball moving forward.

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