The Los Angeles Lakers got back in the win column with a victory over the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night behind a balanced effort in which seven players including all five starters scored in double-figures. Amongst those starters, and the leading scorer on the night, was rookie Dalton Knecht as head coach JJ Redick chose to go back to the sharpshooter in place of Cam Reddish.
The result was a 20-point effort from Knecht, knocking down four 3-pointers to go along with eight rebounds and two steals in the Lakers’ 19-point win. Knecht has been far more effective when starting and with the Lakers coming in on a three-game losing streak, Redick felt a change was in order.
After the win, the Lakers coach spoke on his decision to return Knecht to the starting lineup and the thought that went into it, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think sometimes you just gotta look at numbers. We’re in constant communication with our analytics group and they’re with us during games and on the road. But we recognize that you probably need about 215 minutes to really gain stuff and look at something in terms of lineup data and we’re not there yet with some of these lineups. But we felt like the DK stuff was great and tonight was trying to figure out a way to get a win. Knowing that we were gonna be ‘redding’ 1-5 as the game plan, it just felt like a game that we could get him in there.”
The sample size with Knecht is admittedly small, but the difference is impossible to ignore. In six games as a starter he is averaging 19.7 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 55% from the field and 48% from 3-point range. That is simply something that the Lakers can’t afford to not have in the lineup and he makes it that much more difficult to key in on Anthony Davis and LeBron James, opening up the entire offense.
Figuring out the defensive side of the ball will take some work, but right now the positives outweigh the negatives. Redick will continue to tinker with things and ultimately find the right lineups, but Knecht with the starters seems like a lock for the foreseeable future.
JJ Redick has been great at communication with all of his players so far this year and he spoke to rookie Dalton Knecht before the Lakers’ win over the San Antonio Spurs to tell him he would be moving him back into the starting lineup.
Redick’s message was simple as Knecht shared that the Lakers coach told him to ‘just be you’ and aggressive.