Dalton Knecht Discussion: The Struggle Is Real

If Vando comes back and starts I’m ok with Dalton starting, if not, I don’t think he’ll be effective being attacked every single time on D to start the game.

 

What's not to like about this guy?

Went through a rough patch and looks like he's getting more focused

I expect him with more experience to continue to improve and get more consistent

 

Elite shooter just fell in our lap. Too early to send out Christmas cards to the teams that passed him up?

Most impressive play for me was the fake DHO he turned into a drive and 2 handed slam.

Don't win this one without him cranking out the flamethrower.

For the sake of his survival, i was thrilled he was having such a big impact offensively, otherwise I fear Bron might've strangled the life out of him on the court. There were three loud rookie mistakes where Bron was infuriated with him over and two of them were within 60 seconds or so.

 

It's tough because he's so good on offense I feel you have throw him and the team into the fire to get him reps, get the rookie mistakes out of the way, and see if the D can even marginally improve.

He's not just the best shooter the team has, but you get potential elite finisher as well, and a secondary playmaker with good size.

Huge floor raiser with his offense and the opposite with his D

 

https://x.com/SpectrumSN/status/185...14873.ampproject.net/2410292120000/frame.html

 

…. and proof Dalton too now lurks and has read sirron’s advice about using tanning salon equipment while at least using protective eyewear for those nasty rays.

 

How do you copy& paste with the pic ? Mine doesn’t do that

 

JSM had the solution. When you paste the now X link .... delete the X in front of the .com and type twitter instead.

 

I was intrigued by his 7 rebounds and 2 steals. I think he just has a lack of experience knowing where and how to block movement that is making him look a little stupid, but to me that will not be hard to fix. I don't see him as ever being a lock down point of attack defender but I do think he is a smart basketball player and he will learn things that will make him a decent team defender, much like Reaves. If we could ONLY find a PG who was pretty good on offense but was a lockdown perimeter defender, we would be set at guard for years to come.

Think about one of our best guard rotations of all time. We had Magic and Scott with Cooper coming off the bench. Coop was our lockdown perimeter defender, Scott was a decent defender and Magic was OK for his length but could not keep up with the faster guys because of his size. He made up for it because his offensive system was the best in the league.

 

Wording on that is biased though. Gabe has 20 something games with us. But still funny though

Dalton was great again. He's automatic, since Sasha that I haven't seen such a shooter here. You just know it's going in. I LOVE IT!! Absolute steal, he's a top5 pick in his draft.

What's the general feeling here regarding the "start Dalton over Rui" conversation?

I'm not sure to be honest. There's good arguments on both sides.
No:
- I think Rui hasn't played bad enough to warrant going away from the initial plan
- he seems to play better when starting as he's someone who takes time to get going in a game
- we lose size and some defense
- not changing now allows us to have a plan B (C actually if you count the DLo from the bench change) if things aren't going well in the future, which is important

Yes:
- he's EXACTLY what you want on offense alongside AD and Bron, punishing the spacing those two bring
- he's clearly the best shooter in a team that wants to shoot more threes
- he's starting to impact the game not only when scoring but also with the attention he requires, which gets more punished with better offensive players around you (ergo lineup)

I'm inclined to continue to bring him off the bench for now but I'm pretty sure I want him starting in a couple months and strongly believe he finishes the season as a starter

 

I would determine who starts based on the matchup. If the four we are going up against long, athletic, and is a offensive weapon, then I prefer Rui, but if he’s a player that is less of a threat offensively, then I would start Dalton.

 

Austin
Dalton
Lebron
Rui
AD

BENCH

DLO
Gabe
Max
Stagger AD/Bron
Koloko/Hayes

 

Yeah I like that idea. I support adjusting to the opponent. I would only argue that as a new team/system, it's important to get some reps and continuation, but if we find a balance between both it's my sweet spot

We can try but the impact of having someone like Reddish in the lineup is underrated. Reaves just suddenly started playing better. He didn't last game because Reddish was out. He just takes so much pressure out of Reaves on defense, which gives him the legs to be the offensive guy we need.

We really need someone like Reddish in the lineup, imo. That's why Vando was so great with this group.
It doesn't mean we don't use those 5 in stretches of the game, but by starting halves with Reddish, we are giving Reaves at least 12+ minutes where he doesn't have to guard the opponent's best player, and that's HUGE. Can't overstate it enough

 

Ideally, we'd have, situationally, Vando/Cam/BetterGabe(so... Dennis) to guard the opposing 1/2/3 instead of dumping it on AR.

He already has done Booker and the likes.

 

Nice pants bro … those ridiculous VOLS colors …

 

... looks like a prison team uniform

 

This is funny - Lakers could end up not just with AD but the best draft pick out of any the Pelicans could have had

 

i won't fully crow until we know what happens this year, as they have our unprotected pick. if something bad happens here, it could be a very good pick for them. if not, yeah, just a big flop of a deal for them, especially when you consider that they're in an ongoing weird contract situation with ingram.

 

Hawks have that pick. Got it in the Murray deal.