Basically Castleton has seen his career options with the Lakers fly away. What a great selection, and a great pairing with a coach that will know how to use him. To have a rookie capable of getting hot and dropping 30+? Serious luxury. Hoping James is ready and willing to take a back seat on offense this year and use the tools around him. We're expecting growth from a lot of players, but that won't happen if James feels like he needs to score 25+ a game.
I think LeBron will have to start to ease up a little, just out of pure necessity from aging, no one can carry the load like he has at this age, it’s a recipe for injury. As far as Castelton, I just don’t see it with him, he looks like a career G-League guy or overseas player, he doesn’t to me appear to have that next level NBA talent. I did see this earlier and laugh thinking you’d appreciate it though
Damn, this guy is legit. He has a pure stroke. Super fun to watch with the vets getting hyped up, led by AD. This guy can absolutely bring us back in the 4th quarter in those type of games that you're trailing by 20 and starting to go into garbage. He can then get hot and put the game in single digits in a couple minutes. Insane pick and really don't understand how did he slip below the lottery. Makes absolutely no sense in today's NBA
Saw a comment on X last night below one of the rave posts about him pointing out the stupidity of passing on him because of being 23. They would rather draft the lesser ready talent at 19-20 with the high “potential” of becoming at 23 what Knecht is now.
I know the usual crowd here will hype him up, lol. they'll hype up anything really. either way, this is what I meant it in the JHS thread. We see a clear skill with Dalton: he can shoot. This is why some of the preseason has been spent on getting him open look after open look.
He brings a lot more than just the ability to shoot. Big strong explosive player who “looks” close to 6’7” out there. Screw hype this guy has “IT”.
Ironically, my comp for Knecht is Zach LaVine, who the Lakers might still look to trade for. Since the kid is already 23, the Lakers should get the ball rolling on his career by either playing him heavy minutes as a 6th man or starting him. At 23, he doesn't need as much development as most rookies. I'm sure Reddick recognizes that.
When it counts I have a feeling you're going to with a Dalton/Reaves backcourt plus Rui/Vando/Max at SF depending onatchup with Lebron at point. Get a lot of size to make up for defensive issues and Lebron well he just finished the Olympics as the best PG of that tournament
Vando is done for the forseeable future. IMO. Probably gone for another month. Max isn't a 3 offensively or defensively, and I would pair him w/the starters where his responsibilities just to a C&S guy. Knecht might turn into a starter at some point, but for now, he's a bench guy, IMO. Rui doesn't have the footspeed to chase some of the more quicker footed SF's. That's going to be a problem. We're going to need 1 more guy who could fill that role. Although, Dalton did have a nice block on Bal in isolation; he's bigger than Max and can shoot lights out. Maybe the Reaves backcourt does work now that I'm typing; we really need to clean up the guard mess on this team and figure this sh** out by December.
