Dalton Knecht Discussion: The Struggle Is Real

I’ve kinda given up on the idea that he could be a league ave defender at his position. I have shifted to: “just be a bit better than you currently are.” With the large coaching staff and enough time to put in the work, I’ll never understand why some can never learn how to be at least League average. If I was just average at a major part of my career, it wouldn’t have lasted very long.
I think he’s going to need a few games playing alongside Luka, Austin or LeBron so he can benefit from a lot of open looks. This is the only way he’s going to get his mojo back. Playing with a bunch of other bench players isn’t going to cut it.

 

I’ve never really understood it myself. So much of defense is just effort and hustle… those things are free. I get really good defenders are highly intelligent or have intangibles or instincts. But we’re talking about just being average.

 

It's also stuff like making sure you get into a proper defensive stance. I'm not saying it's hard or anything but you can do things to make your ability to react better.
He's a good athlete by almost every measure but this is why I've gotten frustrated with him despite my early exuberance about his talent.

Supposedly he scored really poorly on the NBA version of Wonderlic and I'm frankly not surprised. He doesn't seem very smart in terms of how he approaches his game or development.

 

Effort and hustle are great attributes but so much about defense is bball IQ. The opposing coach can use that crazy hustle against you if you are constantly out of position or missing rotations.

 

Of course, totally agree. But FOJ and I were talking about average defense. Not good or great… just don’t be a big negative.

I know in today’s modern NBA so much of defense is based on rotating correctly and helping the helper… but you’re telling me that a great athlete like Knecht can’t rotate. You have to be missing more than a few IQ points for your hustle and energy not to bridge that gap to at least become average.

If I was him, I’d be putting up hours of 3’s, working on cuts and then an equal amount of time working on help defense and getting into the right defensive stance, shuffling an attacker left or right and putting a hand up to contest with out fouling.

It’s really not too much to ask for.

 

He never mentioned defense during media day.

 

Yeah this is the issue with him, and it's not just on the defensive end. JJ blew up at him a few times last year when they were running plays specifically to get him a look, but he didn't know what play they were running or executed it wrong. He's just not a very savvy player and that's a big problem when you're already an older rookie.

 

He'll have his moments, good and bad. He needs to develop some mental toughness if he wants to stay in the league.

 

I wish I could believe in this kid, I just cannot. Mental toughness is an issue, but his apparent inability to grasp the most basic sets and concepts is an even bigger concern. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see a future for him on this team.

 

yeah, the "toughness" thing wasn't a concern for me. there's not any real evidence the trade affected his play. the consistent issue was his complete basketball d******ery on both ends. he got away with it in college because a) the game's not as fast and b) he was just bigger, more athletic, and more skilled than like 98% of his opponents. those latter qualities are still there--not to the same degree, but he's big enough, skilled enough, and athletic enough to be a starting quality nba player. the main thing that develops with age, imo, is strength. lots of guys struggle when they come in due to the physicality of the game. and this is why the "he's an old rookie" stuff has some merit.

that said, a reason for some optimism is that the speed of the game isn't something that being 24 (or 30) prepares you for. only playing nba games can do that. in theory, he can adjust to some of that with reps.

lots of players do that over their first year, but clearly knecht didn't. this is where the long-term concerns come in--he has a pretty consistent trend of simply not being able to pay attention on the floor, regardless of speed. like forgetting what to do in a play you've practiced isn't about processing the game in real time, it's actually closer to regular "intelligence" (as opposed to hoop iq, which is more about feel of the game, anticipation, etc.). this is where his interviews kind of sync up with the story: this isn't a particularly sharp guy. the question then is the origin of his issues here. is he on medication for ADHD? should be he be? this isn't a joke/insult--lots of people have their lives changed when they realize they have this condition and finally get some help for it. a lot of times you only realize you should be on medication for this due to issues at school. if you're a star athlete people might ignore or not notice such things.

anyway, even if that's not part of it, there's still lots of reasons to believe he can still have a good career in the league with his physical tools and skills. it just doesn't help us immediately that he's hard to have on the floor in the modern nba. 20 years ago, he'd be a star, imo. when zone defenses weren't allowed in the nba, you could get away with having dumb guys on the floor. it's just really hard to have even one guy now who isn't on the same page as everyone else at all times. particularly against good teams or in the playoffs.

 

I think it's great that JJ has to tell player they have to play defense if they want to crack the rotation since he was such a defensive stalwart and all.

 

or he knows very well why he was never a full-time starter in the nba. during redick's best years (early in his career), he was actually a mild plus on defense. that's purely because he knew where to be and when to be there, even if he couldn't always manage it physically. i imagine knecht is frustrating for a guy like jj to coach bc jj's like man, if i were three inches taller and had 8 more inches of vertical...

 

It's the reason he isn't going to get much if any playing time.

 

I think the good news is he did the work in the offseason. Now he just has to put it all together. But kudos to him for putting in the work.