Dalton Knecht Discussion: The Struggle Is Real

He likes the weight and gym equipment too ..... is going to be quite a physical player to have those kinds of skills. You can see the good weight he put on just since being drafted. Stud!

 

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with him this season. He, Max, and Austin, are all the same size, and play the same position.

 

Dalton just plays bigger? I don't know what it but some guys play small and others big. Dalton when finishing seems just a lot bigger then Max and Auston. Probably a combination of strength, wingspan, and him just having better lift

 

dalton's got an inch-plus and 15-20lbs on reaves/max. max's wingspan is almost as long, but dalton has him by an inch there and standing reach.

so, he's a little bigger than those two. i think knecht can credibly play sf, tbh. he's basically the same size as jaime jacquez.

 

Well LT claims that Austin is a full 6'6 now or better. I'm expecting them to be deployed in a 3 guard set with AD and Lebron, for at least a few minutes or so this season. Testing the waters, for a future Tinkerbell for a big trade.

 

He has finishing lift, I like to call it. Max probably has a similar vertical, but he's still light in the a**, and doesn't finish through contact as well. Austin just doesn't have those two's caliber ups.

 

NBA today doesn't have 5 positions. More like 3 imo: ball handler/orchestrator, wings/perimeter shooters and bigs. Reaves can play 1 and 2, Max and Knecht can play 2 and 3, if you want to follow the 5 positions. 3s in the West are guys like MPJ, McDaniels, Smart/Bane, Klay, Derrick Jones, J-Dub, DeRozan and so on. It's fine to play any of those against them.

Also, more and more we have the 2 or the 3 on offense defending the 1, and so many other variations of it. Just last game, Max was playing the 3 and defending Lillard.

So yeah, those 3 guys will play a lot and may even play together in today's NBA, not a problem

 

that and teams generally only play one or two post up players, so even in mismatch hunts, as long as you have some guys who can hold their own in the post on d, you're ok. it's how houston built credible defenses whilst playing harden 40mpg. they just bet that you wouldn't invert your whole philosophy to find the one guy on the floor who could kill them in the post on the mismatch. and they were generally right.

phil was almost hilariously victorious by using kwame and odom to serve dantoni in this way, but he still lost.

anyway, i agree that as long as your wings can box out and keep a non-iso threat from becoming a threat defensively (e.g., making kwame brown an offensive weapon), they don't need to be big.

funnily, our obsession with big wing defenders was because guys like kawhi and tatum were just backing down our tiny guards and shooting over them. but a) there actually aren't a ton of guys who play that way (effectively) right now and b) the guys we had trying to do that were super tiny--much smaller than the guys we're talking about. hell, gabe has more in his back pocket than avery bradley. and we were using avery on the best player 1-3, same with bevs after him. knecht, reaves, and max are all bigger.

my actual hope is that knecht and reaves can hold their own against bully sf iso guys (enough you don't get killed on those plays) and max can learn how to defend smaller guys like kcp used to do for us. max isn't quite the athlete kcp was/is, but he's not that far off, and he's a little longer.

 

The thing is Rui, Jared and Lebron can play 3/4. If we really intend to let AD play some more at 4. Hayes is going to get some burn.

PT is going to be tight at 2. I don't think Tinkerbell and Gabe are going to get left out of the mix, for Max or the Rook. I'm not sold on Austin is the primary ball handler.

One of them is going to have to come out smoking early, before Vanderbilt gets back.

 

That's a great problem to have, because it means we are all healthy for a run of games. Hope it happens! It's also a 10 man rotation, not much of a big deal.

 

He's a BIG 6-6. He has a build closer to someone who's 6-8 and plays up to that size. Love the physicality and aggressiveness he's shown at the rim and on the glass (6 Oreb vs MIL). I knew he could get to the rim, but I didn't think he had this in his bag at the NBA level.

 

He’s impressive for sure and has shown some awareness on defense plus good timing some athletic blocks. Should be no reason he can’t be at least as good of … if not a better defender than AR is. BIG 3 guard lineup with Knecht, Reaves and Christie to run in situations …. can’t wait.

 

My man Dalton you need have to have these scoring explosions when the game counts not in garbage time

 

That stroke is pure, best shooter drafted since The Machine

 

Let’s just hope he will be more consistent than Sasha was. I liked him, but there were many nights in which The Machine was out of order. Also, he’s bigger frame and better athleticism allows him to become at least a League average defender. Sasha did try at that end, but would easily be overpowered.

 

The Machine could annoy people though. Remember the Sasha Vujacic fan club? I remember he once got Carmelo ejected with his antics. Of course he also annoyed teammates. Good times.

 

Yeah, he was scrappy.

 

My man Dalton is frustrating me when he's playing against starters. You can see the potential: gets to the right spots, can elevate over defenders off the dribble or the catch shoot, good on the glass, etc

The shots just aren't falling enough though and he getting caught in no man's land. I'm hoping it's just him needing to get used to the speed of the NBA game because I think he can be really good

(I do like that he looks playable on defense. Was worried about that and he doesn't look a turnstile out there)

 

My man Dalton is the king of garbage time though lol. Hes been awesome in when the JHS like dudes are out there

 

And he owns entire Phoenix team in OT