LAS VEGAS — During his lone season at Tennessee, Dalton Knecht studied now-Lakers coach JJ Redick from his playing days – specifically how Redick would get open, come off of screens and create space for himself before even running off screens.
After the Lakers selected Knecht with the No. 17 pick in last month’s NBA draft, the 23-year-old wing mentioned the added excitement of having Redick as a coach.
“I’m excited just to learn from him,” Knecht said, “and see how he sees the game.”
Those lessons have already begun.
“Me and JJ, [he’s been] talking to me every single day in the gym or through a text or something just like that,” Knecht said after the Lakers’ summer league loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday night. “Something simple, trying to just help me out in every type of way. JJ is going to be a big help for me to improve and develop.”
The biggest piece of advice Redick, one of the league’s all-time best shooters, has given Knecht so far has been related to how to create space for himself before running off screens.
“Just do your work early before you get the ball,” said Knecht, who was the SEC Player of the Year in his lone season with the Volunteers. “Try to create space coming off screens and just really get into your guy’s body and use [the] weight that they’re pushing you with and use it against them.”
Knecht has carried a significant ball-handling role so far, initiating the offense through pick-and-rolls and dribble handoff actions.
Lakers summer league and South Bay Lakers coach Dane Johnson said the team wants to get him involved in more off-ball actions.
“Right now, he’s on the ball, which we need him to for his team,” Johnson said. “But we’re trying to get him to run off screens, which he would do in the NBA. If we can get him a little more off-ball actions, that will kind of translate to the next level for him.
“This setting right now, we kind of need him to have the ball a little bit more, maybe more of a pick-and-roll than he would do when he plays on the big team.”
The Lakers have been impressed with Knecht’s play this summer.
He has averaged a team-best 22 points on 41.2% 3-point shooting (8.5 attempts per game) in the Lakers’ two Las Vegas Summer League games.
“He’s got [a] great feel as a basketball player,” Redick said during ESPN’s broadcast of the Lakers’ loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday. “His passing in that first quarter was excellent. A lot of that was in transition, where he’s playing at an advantage and he’s making the right basketball play.
“We know he can shoot the ball. I spent 30 minutes [on Thursday] on the court after practice with live defense going through some actions and just working with him on creating separation. In that drill, he shot pretty darn well. I know he can shoot it. It’s the other parts of his game – the defense, the rebounding, the passing – just the feel of the game that I’ve also been impressed. Obviously, we know in the NBA you have to be a two-way player to make an impact. Defensively, he’s got to improve like any rookie.”
