Ryan Kalkbrenner just had the “best two days” of his life

Clumsiness has not yet crossed with Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Hornets rookie scores historic start to the season as he has an 83% shooting success rate and just had another perfect match. Indeed, in the win against the Bucks, he scored 17 points on 8/8 shooting.

And this performance does not come in a normal context for the pivot, who the day before the meeting just became the father, for the first time, of a girl.

“I definitely didn’t get enough sleep on Tuesday to play with as much energy as I thought I would,” he laughs. “When you have your first child, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. I was taking things minute by minute and yet I didn’t do anything about it. My wife has been amazing. I’m happy I was there to support her. She loves watching the matches and she told me I should play on Wednesday, so it might be a good distraction for her to watch the match. But the 2-3 hours were crazy. the best two days of my life.

This is the fourth game with 100% shooting for Ryan Kalkbrenner, who remains at 20/23 overall in the last four games!

“Try not to do too much”analyzes the trainer’s son, Charles Lee. “He understands his role, where he needs to be, for screens. He has good hands, so we can serve him with lobbed passes. He can also grab rebounds on offense. His percentage reflects his talent, but also the confidence of his teammates.”

Doing the simple things, the pivot is averaging 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds in 26 minutes. He has adapted perfectly to the deep end of the NBA.

“The speed is obviously different. In the NCAA, the clock is longer so sometimes we have time to catch our breath, to take a few seconds before we start the action. In the NBA, we don’t have time.” compares the rookie from Charlotte since in college teams have 30 seconds to shoot, compared to 24 in the big leagues. “We go back and forth and back. The advantage is that we play a lot so it quickly brings us into physical shape. Obviously there is a bit of adjustment, but it’s going well. I’m getting more comfortable with each match. »

How to read statistics? MJ = matches played; Min = Minute; Shots = Shots Successful / Shots Attempted; 3 points = 3 points / attempt 3 points; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive jump; Tot = Total number of jumps; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal mistakes; Int = intercepts; Bp = lost balls; Ct: Against; Points = Points.