NBA Rookie Power Rankings: Jared McCain is a star in the making; Dalton Knecht flashes
2. Dalton Knecht, Los Angeles Lakers
Stats: 11.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 50% FG, 44% 3PT
To start the season, Dalton Knecht had a pretty slow (but expected) start to his rookie year. The overwhelming expectation was that the Los Angeles Lakers would bring him along slowly and not push him into a role that he wasn't prepared for. It also didn't hurt that the Lakers had a pretty established rotation heading into the start of the year. Over the last few weeks, however, that has begun to change. Most of that is because Lakers head coach J.J. Redick is becoming more and more comfortable with him on the floor.
In his last seven games played, Knecht has truly begun to shine. In that span, the rookie wing is averaging 19 points and four rebounds on 59 percent shooting from the field and 57 percent shooting from 3-point range. In the last couple of weeks, the argument could be made that aside from Anthony Davis and LeBron James, Knecht has quickly become one of the team's most productive players on the roster. Whether that's good in the long run for the team remains to be seen but Knecht has shown much promise.
At this point, as a non-lottery pick, Knecht is quickly becoming one of the best players from this year's draft class. Being selected No. 17 overall, there have to be many teams second-guessing themselves with the way Knecht has begun to play a bigger role over the last few games. Again, it's an extremely small sample size, and entirely impossible to predict whether it's just a hot streak or a sign of things to come. However, the Lakers have to be pleased with what they've seen from Knecht over the last couple of weeks.
The hope is that Knecht will only get more comfortable with more reps. With the way he's been playing recently, I have a hard time envisioning the Lakers taking minutes away from Knecht. Should they pace him over the course of his rookie season so he doesn't hit the vaunted rookie wall? Absolutely. However, Knecht isn't your usual rookie. He's more experienced than most other highly-touted rookies and at 23 years old, he has much more experience. Maybe that helps him over the course of this season in a way that could propel him toward another level down the stretch.