That's all fair. I think too often we compare the prime of a player against a rookie who just came in, Bojan was a similar level as Knecht when he entered the NBA too. Knecht does seem to have better physical tools than him. Here's to hoping he can become an average defender. Teams can definitely use a scoring wing.
Damn he should have never played. If he looks like crap in Summer League it’ll kill his value until he gets back to playing with better players.
could only stomach the first half, but the good news is that i hadn't factored in knecht for playing time this year. not worried about the shot. he just missed a few he can hit, and none were by much. he's still not a creative finisher (watch laravia's eurostep stuff, then watch dalton try to plow through larger guys--you need to learn this stuff when you move up a level). and on defense he's still just not intuitive. this takes time, and i felt like he was trying--you could see him looking around, trying to make the right switches--i even saw him box out a guy who wasn't his once! but still just looks like he's computing with a buffer on that end. i will say that our complete lack of any actual pg really harms his offense. the opening two plays of the game, they ran the same play--a weird one in which dalton starts like 38ft from the hoop doing nothing then runs off a high screen that is kind of set parallel to the sideline. anyway, both times they play got blown up because the pg and screener couldn't get a clean start. that's summer league ball for you. but it's why i always say you should make sure you've got a real pg if you want your summer league team to function at all. i mean, what's the point if you can't organize a play to save your soul? anyway, as svtzr mentioned, any trade value knecht has might be tanked by his participation here, and we maybe needed to second guess that choice. we all know he needs reps, but the reps i saw yesterday weren't very useful for development.
Something's off with him. In his post-game interview he looked lethargic and didn't know what to say. I get that he knows that if he balls out, it only increases his chances of leaving but what's the alternative? He's also not making a better case for himself. Does he expect to convince JJ and the staff during preseason? If he wants to play, he still needs to be good during the season which will also increase his chances of leaving before the deadline. I think someone needs to convince him that if the staff wants him gone, he's gone. Playing better only increases the number of teams interested in him and the possibility of going to a better context Even when he answered if he was going to play today, he answered with an inaudible "yeah" like he doesn't want to or something. It's weird
wondering if he and his agent saw whitmore moved and were like...ok now us. and in both cases, i get it. we haven't exactly signaled we're invested in him (just like houston with whitmore). i'm sure knecht feels like a team that has an open backup wing spot and desperately needs a shooter would give him a much better shot at a second nba contract that isn't a "prove it to me" deal.
Don't tell me that means we're moving him for second round picks like Whitmore! This is looking like JHS 2.0!?! Wow Dalton really improved in today's game. 4 points with 4 TO's.
this is why i said maybe we just hold him out in retrospect. and it's retrospect, of course. but we could have gotten two seconds for him last week and not today.
It could be worse than that too. Last week he was probably worth a first, this week teams will say he is only worth a second.
the trade really messed with him He sees his names in literally every trade rumor now again this year. Can't be easy if you are sensitive and just want to be loved.
I don't buy that his confidence declined after the trade deal with Mark Williams. He played pretty good to close out the season. Summer League doesn't mean much. Dalton's game is not going to be the same we're seeing in the SL when he's getting passes from Luka, LeBron, and Reaves with Ayton setting him up. I'm not worried about SL. I'd be worried if this was ten games into the season. I don't think any GM is watching this SL losing any sleep over DK's performances.
