“Knecht is one of my favorite players in this draft,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype. “I like him a lot with how hard he plays on offense. He has the ability at 6-foot-6 to use ball screens, can shoot, and score. I worry a little bit about his defense, but I’d rather have someone who can really go and fit in offensively in the flow of things than have someone who can’t do anything offensively. Nowadays in the NBA, you’ve got to be able to put the ball in the hoop and create space. He’s way more vertically athletic than people give him credit for. I think the defense is going to be the biggest thing for him. I like his attitude and approach to things. They love him as a person in Tennessee. I think he’s going to be a solid NBA player.”
“If the draft starts tomorrow, Knecht is going in the lottery,” an NBA scout told HoopsHype. “He’s produced, and this year’s draft is so bad that you wonder if you slot another guy who you don’t know what you’re getting versus him and I know he can shoot and is sneaky athletic? He’s a fifth-year guy. Think about this, some of these Covid guys, if they didn’t get an extra year, you’d never hear of them.”
Excerpts from HoopsHype’s Aggregate Mock Draft from colleague Michael Scotto, who contributed research to this story, can be found here.
