Ryan Kalkbrenner
Kalkbrenner is a backup center to starter Moussa Diabate, and his early-season minutes are short and block-driven.
Role
Backup center. In the Oct. 21 opener at Brooklyn he played 13:58 off the bench, per Yahoo Sports. He had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, and Charlotte was plus-22 in his minutes. Fox Sports/RotoWire says Diabate keeps the starting center job and Kalkbrenner is up against rookie first-rounder Hannes Steinbach for backup minutes. In the preseason he averaged 15.4 minutes over three games, and he started the finale only because Diabate was out with an elbow injury. That is one regular-season game, and I found no published usage rate or minutes projection.
He affects games in limited time. He shot 75.3% from the field as a rookie and started 31 of 69 games, so he has held a starting job before. Diabate opened last season behind him, and he averaged 8.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over a four-game starting stretch, per FantasyData. In the opener, Charlotte won his minutes decisively. His rebounding and rim protection created extra possessions, and his 2 blocks were half of the team's total. He also steps into the starting five whenever Diabate is out.
He lost the starting job midway through last season, and the reserve role carried into this one. RotoWire says he will struggle for fantasy viability while Diabate dominates the center minutes. Steinbach is a rookie first-rounder who could eat into the backup minutes. He had 4 fouls in 14 minutes in the opener. Preseason coverage called his showing modest.
Where analysts split
The open question is whether Kalkbrenner or rookie Hannes Steinbach gets the backup center minutes behind Diabate. Fox Sports/RotoWire said in preseason that it was unclear what his role would be given both players. Yahoo's headline, "Hornets Have A Ryan Kalkbrenner Problem — Hannes Steinbach Is The Solution", suggests some writers favor Steinbach. I could not read that article. Only one regular-season game has been played, so the split has not settled.
Research confidence: thin. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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