On Wednesday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers picked up who many perceived to be the steal of the NBA Draft by selecting sharpshooter Dalton Knecht out of the University of Tennessee with the 17th overall pick. Knecht profiles as one of the most NBA ready prospects in the draft at the age of 23 and figures to add a shooting boost to a Lakers team that could not throw a rock into the ocean during their playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets this past spring.
The general consensus is that this was a smart decision by Rob Pelinka and company, so much so that even professional LeBron James hater Skip Bayless of FS1 had to way in with some lofty praise, noting the similarities between Knecht and newly minted Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
“It felt like JJ Redick’s team drafted JJ Redick,” said Bayless, via UNDISPUTED on YouTube. “Listen, JJ Redick was really good, he was the National Player of the Year in college and obviously the ACC Player of the Year a couple times. But this kid can score at all three levels and he will drive it and get to the rim. I’m not saying he’s explosively athletic because he’s not but he can stroke it from 3 and the best thing he does is catch it and shoot it. What is LeBron in need the most of? Just catch and shoot because nobody, except maybe Magic Johnson, but since Magic nobody has been able to, over a defense, at 6’9 tall and throw skip passes to wide open three-point shooters in the far former better than LeBron James it’s who he is.”
Bayless also broke down Knecht's greatness at Tennessee and how that might translate to the NBA.
“I’m looking at Dalton Knecht’s game log and for college basketball this is impressive because 8 times he scored more than 30 points and a lot of them against really good SEC Teams, or even the loss they had in the NCAA to Purdue he scores 37 against Purdue and Zach Edey obviously,” said Bayless. “He had 40 against Kentucky on seniors night at home they lost the game by 4 but he had 40. They won at Florida he had 39. They won at home against Auburn, he had 39, 37 at North Carolina I can just go on and on.”
Did the Lakers get it right?
In theory, Dalton Knecht would figure to be a perfect fit in the Purple and Gold. As Bayless mentioned, even at the advanced age of 39, James is still one of the best in the NBA at picking apart defenses with his laser court vision and strength to flick passes from one side of the court to another, usually right in the receiver's shooting pocket.
The Lakers shot the ball well from three throughout a good chunk of the regular season in 2023-24 but went cold at the worst possible time against the Nuggets, with D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura in particular unable to find their shooting touches and make the Denver defense pay for overloading on James and Davis.
Redick has already spoken at length about his vision to modernize this Lakers offense into the analytically-savvy wave of teams that are succeeding at the highest level now, and it seems that Los Angeles took a step in that direction by adding Knecht into the mix.
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