To be fair, Road House based on his age was the same as The Sound of Music to me. We just getting old!
i was early on the knecht train, but i hope folks temper the expectations a bit. i actually agree with these guys that i had him among my best players in the draft, but part of that is how big the question marks are on the higher-ceiling younger guys taken ahead of him. years from now, i'm sure one of the youngsters will bloom in unexpected ways and be seen as the best player, but man...that risacher guy...or the other french wing taken in the top 10...i'm picking knecht over either one, tbh. it's also really hard to know how his athleticism will translate. jacquez moved in really nicely, but adam morrison never got there, nor did doug mcdermott--both automatic buckets even against big-time competition in college, just like knecht. yes, i'm naming a bunch of white guys... my hope is that he's like khris middleton, though. just athletic enough to be able use his length and be a plus defender, and then able to score from all over the floor. i do think knecht's finishing ability in the paint is better than morrison and mcdermott, which is promising. though his finishing ability was cited as a minus in some scouting reports--not sure i agree based on what i've seen.
I'm excited about Knect because he had great combine number but also he pops on the screen. He really does look like an explosive leaper and he goes up with power. Morrison and McDermott never got that impression - they had size and skills but didn't look like great athletes even in college. I really like this pick - yeah he's old and that definitely helped him but the dude didn't stop growing till a few years ago. If anyone can beat out the age curse (which is real: if he was 20 or 21 pretty sure he'd have gone 1st) it's going to be a dude like Knect. Plus he looks like Dolph Lundregn out there. Drago would have been a bucket
I felt bad when he had to praise Bronny in his interview. Bronny has literally done nothing to deserve being there, so to sound convincing in his praise and desire to play with him? Bodes well for his future acting career.
So glad we didn't bring back Taurean. I really wanna see Knecht get real minutes - I think he's a steal of the draft and I believe he's in for meaningful minutes and he'll have a positive impact on our roster. He's our Jaime Jaquez this year...so yeah i'm excited
Agreed. We got an absolute steal with this pick. This thread should have a lot more posts. He is still flying under the radar. He is going to put on a show tomorrow I'm summer league. Also kind of nice Bronny takes some pressure off of him. All they attention on Bronny. Was trying to figure out nba comps for Knecht and Zach Lavine just dawned on me. Not bad.
I would expect him to at MOST get some time as a backup to see what he’s got, maybe 5-10 mins, and even then that’s only if we don’t make a trade for a starting SG/SF that pushes Max to the bench. Rookies almost never get time on the Lakers unless they’re a top 10 pick and it’s a rebuild. I imagine if he’s more ready than we think, if he’s truly ready right away, he’ll be brought along similar to Reaves still, we just seem to the cautious type with rookies. But yes expectations should not be sky high, I think most are just so excited about the pick because this time we took the best player available and potential steal.
Watching a long tape of him, with his body and athleticism at 23 years old with that kind of offensive arsenal I expect to play this year considerable rotation minutes maybe 15-20, if they can get his defense with the bench unit reasonably acceptable. He should really shine in summer league. He IS just like a high lotto pick who’s older and ready to play but we’ll see of course.