Dalton Knecht Discussion: Summer League - The Struggle Is Real

"Shoot shoot, MF!"

 

I don't like that he only played only 11 minutes. I get it he was way too aggressive when he came in and took wild shot off the bounce but you need to get this kid reps.
Offense just works better with him in there to stretch the floor and like I said you might as well find all the warts now because you are not going to get double digit scoring from guys like Gabe, Max, Vando, and Hayes.

They need a bench scorer and Knecht fits that bill. Would have preferred a quick yank to tell him what to do and then give him more minutes later to see if learns from his mistakes

 

I don't get the whole "you need a bench scorer" thing. Nowadays the bench doesn't play alone, so there's always at least 2 starters there.
I think we are used to that from the past where you usually had 1 or 2 defensive specialists in the starters that didn't score. It's not like that anymore, especially in our team

All our starters can average around 18 to 20pts a game. That's close to 100 points. Considering a couple get close to 30, you have always around 110 to 120pts with the starters. So I don't think we "need" bench scoring because we already have point scoring in the starting lineup. No team in the NBA has 5 players who can score so much in the starting lineup, not even Boston with Porzingis.

It's just how the team is constructed and it's completely fine.
Sure, if Knecht can go for double digits, Max becomes better on offense or Gabe we will be closer to winning. But we don't "need it". We need our bench players to play their role and most of it is defending and rebounding.

We are averaging 117 points per game which is 6th in the league.

 

Tell me a team that has five 18-20pt scorers in the roster. It's just roster construction. We can have bench scoring if you put DLo or Rui, or both, in the bench and start Max/Gabe. What does that change? You get your "bench scoring" but the team scores the same points lol

Our roster happens to have ALL the offensive guys in the starting lineup. Whereas ALL the defensive guys (bar AD obviously) are on the bench with Gabe, Max and Vando. Usually there's a mix in every team but in ours it happens to be that way. So it seems you have a lack of scoring but you don't, as it is shown by being the 6th best offense at the moment. Even with Bron or DLo having off games.
Literally none of them need to go beyond, for the starting group to have 100+ points.

Sure, if we can make improvements in the roster, I'm all for it. But I don't think we need a scorer. We have like 3 or 4 bigger needs than adding another scorer.
In the same token, it will also help if the bench guys score more, absolutely. But it's just the type of players they are, it's not reasonable to expect any of them to average double figures points playing less than 20mpg, none are that type of player with the exception of Knecht

Tl.dr: look at it as a GROUP and not starters+bench. Look at the minutes they play. See what are the strengths and weaknesses of each player. You'll conclude it's not an issue, imo

 

Needs more minutes imo. I think he will need to absorb some of Max's minutes if doesn't pick it up soon.

Or he needs to absorb a combination of DLO/Max/Gabe minutes so he can get a rhythm going.

No reason that he shouldn't average 8-10 pts off the bench, if not more.

 

We just disagree, it happens.
I've watched every second of this season and haven't felt any lack of scoring. We never have more than 3 bench players in the court, AD or Bron are always there, Reaves or Dlo too.
Who starts or not is absolutely irrelevant, what matters is the rotation scheme. Having Rui off the bench makes no difference, except having his points in the "bench section". If Rui plays 30 minutes and Vando 18, they'll get the same points regardless of being starters or bench players. So I honestly don't think it's an issue, but we clearly disagree

Now, we can talk about upgrading the output of Max, Gabe or Hayes, but at their price point I'm not aware of available players. We do agree that this roster as it stands may fall short in postseason, but I'm 100% sure we will do trades until then, plural.

 

lol, hadn't seen this and expressed the same sentiment as pika (less clearly) in the gabe thread.

our bench's offensive production doesn't bother me right now. we barely get them opportunities. that seems by design, and that design makes sense to me.

 

For me, our so called “good defenders” off the bench have either been not good enough or still injured.
We need Vando back in a bad way to offset poor shooting nights by our scorers.
I would love it if Dalton took minutes away from Gabe, Max and DLO.
I don’t care if he’s a rookie- I already trust him more to make a shot than all three of those guys.

 

He has all chances to get rookie of the year

Rookie class leading scorer, Bub Carrington, is averaging 8.6 points.

Not a single rookie has even scored 15 points in a game yet. Or played more than 30 minutes in a game.

That’s unprecedented…

 

From 2 days ago, but good background info:

 

I think Sarr will make a push when they move Valanciunas and are full in on the tank, there's going to be so many empty calories for him... for Carrington too, but i think Sarr's usage will really shoot up by January.

Edey has the media's vote for now though.

Dalton should definitely find his way on an all rookie team but there's too many bad teams with rookie with much higher usage who will pull away from the pack as the season progresses.

 

Bench scoring is so bad time to get Knecht more minutes JJ. You need the 3 point shooting badly

 

Only bright spot

 

He was bad when the game counted, again.

He's the garbage time killer I hope those reps translate to more confidence with the big guys, he plays full stretches without shooting, and it's not like he's open. Need to move better and the team needs to find him more, he should shoot at least two 3s every time he steps in the court.
Against Phoenix in preseason and today, he's showing he can score at 3 levels, attacking the basket and shooting from wherever. Needs to do that when it counts too, he's the 6th best offensive player in the team

It will come with time for sure

 

yeah, my dad keeps pointing out that he's killing the third stringers but mostly nobody else. this is true. but he's a rookie. the tools are all there.

 

He passes all the possible eye tests. The only thing he needs is experience.

That off-the-curl he does after a DHO... I expect that s*** to go in (from the left side) all the time.

And his defense isn't any worse than any of the other 1-2-3s we have. Cam is better, but he is a 0 on offense.