After Lakers guard Dalton Knecht tied an NBA rookie record with nine 3-pointers en route to 37 points in a 124-118 win over the Jazz on Tuesday, LeBron James wanted to clarify just how Knecht landed in L.A.
After Lakers guard Dalton Knecht tied an NBA rookie record with nine 3-pointers en route to 37 points in a 124-118 win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, LeBron James wanted to clarify just how Knecht landed in L.A.
It wasn’t so much the Lakers’ superb scouting department that identified the 6-foot-6, 215-pound wing after an All-American senior season at the University of Tennessee as the ideal prospect to select with the No. 17 pick.
It was all the other teams who passed on him.
« They didn’t ‘find’ DK », James (26 points, 12 assists) said. « The other 16 teams f—ed it up. Did anybody watch him? S—. They just didn’t f— it up. You don’t ‘find’ a SEC player of the year. »
And the Jazz couldn’t seem to find any effective defense to stall Knecht, who exploded for 21 points in the final 3:29 of the third quarter to double the Lakers’ lead from 11 to 22 heading into the fourth.
