2024 NBA Draft Thread

[FarBeyondDriven]

Tyler Herro has averaged 21-5-5 in today's NBA. Knecht is a better player than Herro. Do what you will with that information.

[SelfishPlayer]

Tyler Herro has averaged 21-5-5 in today's NBA. Knecht is a better player than Herro. Do what you will with that information.

Tyler Herro is currently 24 with many seasons of NBA experience under his belt. Knecht is 23 with zero NBA seasons under his belt. There has probably never been a player in NBA history to get drafted at 23 and end up regarded as a better player than what Herro is right now. (Excluding someone like Larry Bird that sat out in college)

[EMG518]

I know he is 23, but I honestly think I would take him at #1.

3 level scorer, good build, athletic, and he has the tools to be passable on defense with more work.

[165bows]

Tyler Herro has averaged 21-5-5 in today's NBA. Knecht is a better player than Herro. Do what you will with that information.

Tyler Herro is currently 24 with many seasons of NBA experience under his belt. Knecht is 23 with zero NBA seasons under his belt. There has probably never been a player in NBA history to get drafted at 23 and end up regarded as a better player than what Herro is right now. (Excluding someone like Larry Bird that sat out in college)

Pretty much everyone in the Bird era was around that age.

[clyde21]

I know he is 23, but I honestly think I would take him at #1.

3 level scorer, good build, athletic, and he has the tools to be passable on defense with more work.

drafting a 23 year old first overall is a fireable offence immediately upon Silver saying the name, regardless of how you feel about Knecht. idc how ready to play Knecht is.

[EMG518]

I know he is 23, but I honestly think I would take him at #1.

3 level scorer, good build, athletic, and he has the tools to be passable on defense with more work.

drafting a 23 year old first overall is a fireable offence immediately upon Silver saying the name, regardless of how you feel about Knecht. idc how ready to play Knecht is.

Honestly, what is the difference between 22 and 23. If he was 22 would it be less taboo. If you just look at the players available to draft, what they can do on the court, you have to be considering him 23 or not. I don't see anyone else developing to his 3 level ability whether they are younger or not.

You could talk me into Clingan at #1 but I don't see anyone else I really would be okay with taking.

Who are you taking at #1?

I could see a lot of these guys being a fireable offense.

[clyde21]

I know he is 23, but I honestly think I would take him at #1.

3 level scorer, good build, athletic, and he has the tools to be passable on defense with more work.

drafting a 23 year old first overall is a fireable offence immediately upon Silver saying the name, regardless of how you feel about Knecht. idc how ready to play Knecht is.

Honestly, what is the difference between 22 and 23. If he was 22 would it be less taboo. If you just look at the players available to draft, what they can do on the court, you have to be considering him 23 or not. I don't see anyone else developing to his 3 level ability whether they are younger or not.

You could talk me into Clingan at #1 but I don't see anyone else I really would be okay with taking.

Who are you taking at #1?

I could see a lot of these guys being a fireable offense.

you have to aim for a higher ceiling if you're picking #1, even if you're not completely sold on the pick, even if Knecht turns into a good role player or even starter it literally does nothing for your franchise tbh...at that point you might as well just trade down pick up a pick or two in the process and take Knecht at 5 or 6. it would be malpractice otherwise.

[The Moose]

Tyler Herro has averaged 21-5-5 in today's NBA. Knecht is a better player than Herro. Do what you will with that information.

Tyler Herro is currently 24 with many seasons of NBA experience under his belt. Knecht is 23 with zero NBA seasons under his belt. There has probably never been a player in NBA history to get drafted at 23 and end up regarded as a better player than what Herro is right now. (Excluding someone like Larry Bird that sat out in college)

Derrick White was like 10 days away from 23 on draft night, he's probably the most highly regarded I can think of off the top of the head

[clyde21]

yea, people need to understand that 23 you're essentially entering your prime as a basketball player, what you see from Knecht today is most likely 80 or 90% as good as he'll ever be until he reaches his peak at like 28-30.

[BigGargamel]

You cannot take a 23 year old at number one. You just can't. That will never ever happen and it should never ever happen. Even in a down draft, you have to take someone with theoretical All Star upside. To sell to the fan base at the very least. Especially the Hawks, who I can not ever remember having the number one pick. Taking a 23 year old maxed-out guy who spent the majority of his career at at a JC and Northern Colorado would be the ultimate gut punch.

The fact that he will probably go in the top 10 is more of a testament to how bad this draft is. He'd almost always be a mid-first round guy most other years. Teams are very slowly warming up to the idea of taking fifth year seniors in the first round at all.

The only seniors I can think of taken in the top 10 for the past 18 years or so were Buddy Hield and Shelden Williams. So he's already a pretty big anomaly, GM's can't push it further than that.

[SelfishPlayer]

Patrick Ewing, Wesley Johnson, and Jason Williams are three names that I came up with that turned 23 after the draft. Dalton Knecht's birthday is in April. He played his last game on 3/31 so he never actually played a college game as a 23 year old. But he is several months older than some of the best names I could muster up.

[BigGargamel]

Patrick Ewing, Wesley Johnson, and Jason Williams are three names that I came up with that turned 23 after the draft. Dalton Knecht's birthday is in April. He played his last game on 3/31 so he never actually played a college game as a 23 year old. But he is several months older than some of the best names I could muster up.

Wesley Johnson over DeMarcus Cousins is still a head scratcher.

[SelfishPlayer]

Dalton Knecht has been a go-to scorer his entire life. It is possible to not be able to adjust to being a NBA reserve roleplayer. Furkan Korkmaz is an example of this. He lights things up in FIBA basketball when he is a starter with a green light.

[EMG518]

drafting a 23 year old first overall is a fireable offence immediately upon Silver saying the name, regardless of how you feel about Knecht. idc how ready to play Knecht is.

Honestly, what is the difference between 22 and 23. If he was 22 would it be less taboo. If you just look at the players available to draft, what they can do on the court, you have to be considering him 23 or not. I don't see anyone else developing to his 3 level ability whether they are younger or not.

You could talk me into Clingan at #1 but I don't see anyone else I really would be okay with taking.

Who are you taking at #1?

I could see a lot of these guys being a fireable offense.

you have to aim for a higher ceiling if you're picking #1, even if you're not completely sold on the pick, even if Knecht turns into a good role player or even starter it literally does nothing for your franchise tbh...at that point you might as well just trade down pick up a pick or two in the process and take Knecht at 5 or 6. it would be malpractice otherwise.

Teams don't want to trade up to 1 in this draft and pay the rookie selected more money. They are stuck with #1 unless they trade out of the draft. I would ask again, who would you take at #1 and are you honestly looking at these players and not thinking most of these guys will get a GM fired. You think taking Alex Sarr is going to change a franchise and that is who you want to go to bat for? Risacher is going to change a franchise?

You could convince me of Clingan like I said.

Knecht looks like a lot more than a role player or even a starter, he could make all star games potentially in his career, borderline all star offensive skill set. If you could get a guy ready to play now and can give you 20 pts a game in a draft without a #1 type of player, I don't see why you wouldn't. Every year there are guys that are seniors taken that are some of the best in the draft and they go late because of age, despite having shown they can actually play basketball.

[EMG518]

You cannot take a 23 year old at number one. You just can't. That will never ever happen and it should never ever happen. Even in a down draft, you have to take someone with theoretical All Star upside. To sell to the fan base at the very least. Especially the Hawks, who I can not ever remember having the number one pick. Taking a 23 year old maxed-out guy who spent the majority of his career at at a JC and Northern Colorado would be the ultimate gut punch.

The fact that he will probably go in the top 10 is more of a testament to how bad this draft is. He'd almost always be a mid-first round guy most other years. Teams are very slowly warming up to the idea of taking fifth year seniors in the first round at all.

The only seniors I can think of taken in the top 10 for the past 18 years or so were Buddy Hield and Shelden Williams. So he's already a pretty big anomaly, GM's can't push it further than that.

Completely discounting someone because of something arbitrary is just not wise.

Dame was a senior
Draymond was a senior
Mcollum was a senior
Desmond Bane was a senior
Jaquez was just drafted as a senior

If they are the best draft prospect they are the best draft prospect. I am not going to pass on a 3 level scorer that has all star potential just because he is older in a draft and there is no clear #1 pick. I could be talked into Clingan at #1 but Knecht with his offensive skill set has about as high of a ceiling as a prospect in this draft regardless of his age so the argument just doesn't make sense to me.

[NYPiston]

I was going to post something similar. Dame, Bane and McCollum is an example of three "old" guys that became a superstar and two borderline All Star level players and they were all 22 I believe, don't really see a big difference between 22 and 23. I do think that taking Knecht #1 would be too rich for my blood even in a draft like this but I don't see any reason why he can't go top 5. I wouldn't hate it if the Pistons took him at 5. I mean, what are the options there? Castle, Buzelis, Holland? Lots of meh there

[JMAC3]

I was going to post something similar. Dame, Bane and McCollum is an example of three "old" guys that became a superstar and two borderline All Star level players and they were all 22 I believe, don't really see a big difference between 22 and 23. I do think that taking Knecht #1 would be too rich for my blood even in a draft like this but I don't see any reason why he can't go top 5. I wouldn't hate it if the Pistons took him at 5. I mean, what are the options there? Castle, Buzelis, Holland? Lots of meh there

The big difference here IMO is the breakout age.
Dame was averaging 20 ppg as a sophomore, McCollum was putting up 19 ppg as a freshman. The argument can easily be made these guys should have entered the draft earlier with better publicity.

Dalton Knecht was in Juco for 2 yrs, then as a 21 yr old he averaged 9 ppg for Northern Colorado. He was basically a 22 yr old senior before he was as productive as Dame and McCollum were as 19 yr olds.

[NYPiston]

The big difference here IMO is the breakout age.
Dame was averaging 20 ppg as a sophomore, McCollum was putting up 19 ppg as a freshman. The argument can easily be made these guys should have entered the draft earlier with better publicity.

Dalton Knecht was in Juco for 2 yrs, then as a 21 yr old he averaged 9 ppg for Northern Colorado. He was basically a 22 yr old senior before he was as productive as Dame and McCollum were as 19 yr olds.

Those are good points but, one, it's hard to really know why he didn't get much playing time in his junior year and how he did in JUCO outside of those who followed his career prior to Tennessee and, two, how much stock could we put into high scoring numbers at Lehigh and Weber St. It could have just been a matter of those guys getting their opportunity and Knecht not for whatever reason, maybe he was always that good but just never got the chance to showcase his skills until his senior season.

In any event, you make valid points but I'm not sure it's as cut and dried as that since there's such little known about Knecht before his breakout. I don't expect him to have a Dame or maybe not even McCollum level career but I wouldn't write him off either because of his age, the guy is a walking bucket and that'll have value assuming it translates. I certainly wouldn't take him #1 though, too many higher ceiling players to be had even in a low ceiling draft like this one.

[JMAC3]

The big difference here IMO is the breakout age.
Dame was averaging 20 ppg as a sophomore, McCollum was putting up 19 ppg as a freshman. The argument can easily be made these guys should have entered the draft earlier with better publicity.

Dalton Knecht was in Juco for 2 yrs, then as a 21 yr old he averaged 9 ppg for Northern Colorado. He was basically a 22 yr old senior before he was as productive as Dame and McCollum were as 19 yr olds.

Those are good points but, one, it's hard to really know why he didn't get much playing time in his junior year and how he did in JUCO outside of those who followed his career prior to Tennessee and, two, how much stock could we put into high scoring numbers at Lehigh and Weber St. It could have just been a matter of those guys getting their opportunity and Knecht not for whatever reason, maybe he was always that good but just never got the chance to showcase his skills until his senior season.

In any event, you make valid points but I'm not sure it's as cut and dried as that since there's such little known about Knecht before his breakout. I don't expect him to have a Dame or maybe not even McCollum level career but I wouldn't write him off either because of his age, the guy is a walking bucket and that'll have value assuming it translates. I certainly wouldn't take him #1 though, too many higher ceiling players to be had even in a low ceiling draft like this one.

Weber State and Northern Colorado are both in the Big Sky. So hard to scoff at Dame competition if you are giving Knecht credit.
Dame was putting up 20 as a sophomore and Knecht put up 9 as a junior and 20 as a senior.

Also I think Knecht was probably drafted in the 40s-50s if he had just went pro instead of transferring to Tennessee. So let's live in that world, had Knecht been a 2nd rounder last year are we all this fired up about him right now? Would he have been so good you would be willing to give up a top 7 pick in this draft for him?

[SelfishPlayer]

Morris Peterson turned 23 after the draft and Al Thornton turned 24 in December.