One of the most important events of the NBA offseason, the draft, finally started today, this draft is divided into two batches, today is the first round of 23 picks, and the second round will be held in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Today's first-round selection of 25 candidates were invited to the "Little Green House", and finally 23 players were selected to their favorite teams, and the most eye-catching thing in this round is the selection of the Lakers' ultimate target candidates. They selected Knecht, the University of Tennessee's older shooter, with the 17th pick.
Kneckett played in 36 games for the University of Tennessee men's basketball team in 2023-24, averaging 21.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game while shooting 45.8% from the field, 39.7% from three-point range and 77.2% from the free throw line.
Kneckt's advantages are obvious, good physical condition, strong explosiveness, and the disadvantages are also obvious, defensive positioning and defensive discipline are very poor, the ability to develop offense is not outstanding, maybe in the later training, there is a chance to become a reliable inside and outside finisher, but the training in defensive awareness should be strengthened.
As for the vision of the Lakers' selection, the outside world, including Lakers fans, has always had a distrustful attitude. The main reason was the decision made in the 2023 draft, which was also with the No. 17 pick, and they selected Sifino, and then it became a joke, two-way guard Jalen Hood Schifino, in high school, Schifino led Monteverde High School to the National Championship for two consecutive years. He was invited to the Jordan Classic, and he often practiced with NBA players such as Paul George, but in the Lakers' system, Schifino slowly became a fringe player on the Lakers' bench.
In last year's draft, the eighteenth pick Jaime Hakes Jr. and the nineteenth pick Podemsky have both played their worth in the league.
So, given the same draft pick last year, Lakers fans are calling on Lakers executives not to make the same mistakes again.