The emergence of Dalton Knecht and Bronny James has turned this summer around for the Lakers, who look to wrap up their Las Vegas trip with a three-game winning streak
The Lakers look to conclude their summer stint with a three-game winning streak as they take on the Chicago Bulls on Saturday. This is considered a consolation game for both teams, who currently have the same record (2-2) as this year’s Summer League comes to a close.
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Chicago Bulls
When: 4 p.m. PT, July 20
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
Watch: ESPN
The Lakers’ last two games have helped rewrite the script of the summer. This team went from arguably one of the worst squads to one that’s having an exciting finish in Las Vegas thanks to the emergence of Dalton Knecht and Bronny James.
Both Knecht and James put on a show in the purple and gold’s second victory of the summer against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday. The Lakers’ 17th overall pick, in particular, is averaging 21.3 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 39% from the three-point line since arriving in Las Vegas. He’s easily been one of the best rookies in this year’s Summer League thus far.
What I’ve really enjoyed about watching Knecht this summer is just how NBA-ready he looks. That’s not how I felt about Jalen Hood-Schfino last year and Max Christie during his rookie year.
The biggest difference between the University of Tennessee product as compared to the Cole Swiders of the world, who can light it up from the three-point line at times, is his ability to find his spots around the court, be a three-dimensional scorer, and make use of himself off the ball. His ability to do the little things on offense — such as be an active cutter, a decisive passer and the way he uses body strength to get downhill amid contract — has stood out.
Knecht is already living up to his potential this summer, which is wonderful news for the Lakers. It’s exciting because if the 23-year-old is already thriving in this disorganized offense, then it’s safe to assume that he could even be better once JJ Redick implements his own system. At the risk of this sounding like a prisoner-of-the-moment kind of take, I think the Lakers can leave Las Vegas knowing that they nailed their draft picks this year.
As for James, who got off a slow start this summer, the 55th pick has stepped up over the last two games and it’s been fantastic to watch. One can argue that he’s performing better than a second-round pick in the late 50s should. It’s almost like all the 19-year-old needed was to get comfortable and adjust to the pace of the NBA and he successfully did that this summer.
Since Jaylen Brown claimed that Bronny doesn’t look like a professional basketball player and notably tried to backtrack that less than 24 hours later, the USC product proceeded to submit his best output of the summer. James is also coming off a 13-point and five-rebound performance in the win against the Cavs, where he was huge in the clutch. It’s nice to see Bronny constantly improving every game and he’ll have another shot to do that again for the last time in these summer games on Saturday.
Outside of Knecht and James, the players who stood out last game were definitely Moses Brown and Armel Traore. They made their presence felt a little too late but at the very least, these two along, with current two-way contract signee Blake Hinson, showed that they deserve consideration to play for the South Bay Lakers.
Now, everyone on the roster from top to bottom has one last chance to make a name for themselves as they wrap up their summer stint. Will Knecht and James continue to put on a show? Will Maxwell Lewis save the best for the last and finally have his breakout game? Or will another undrafted rookie come up clutch and make his presence felt against the Bulls?
We’ll get our answers to those queries on Saturday as the Lakers look to conclude their summer with a three-game winning streak.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.
