ESPN makes 'high end' and 'low end' NBA player comparisons for Dalton Knecht
ESPN this week laid out NBA player comparisons for all 14 players projected to be picked in the NBA Draft lottery, with Tennessee Basketball’s Dalton Knecht connected to both Bojan Bogdanovic and Max Strus.
Bogdanvoic was listed as Knecht’s “high end” comparison while Strus was the “low end.”
ESPN has Knecht ranked at No. 8 overall in their Top 100 and projected in their latest NBA mock draft to go No. 9 overall to the Memphis Grizzlies.
The NBA Draft’s first round will be held on Wednesday, June 26, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC and ESPN. The second round will be held on Thursday, June 27, starting at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Knecht was a First Team All-American in his only season at Tennessee and finished as a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year award after averaging 21.1 points per game last season. He averaged 25.5 in SEC play and was named First Team All-SEC and the SEC Player of the Year.
Knecht shot 45.8% from the field and 38.3% from the 3-point line in 36 games with the Vols.
“Knecht, 23, was a three-level scorer in college and has a chance to translate that into a long-term NBA scoring role,” ESPN’s Jeremy Woo wrote while making the player comparisons. “Finding the longevity of a similar type of scorer in Bogdanovic, who was also an older rookie after coming over from Europe, would be a terrific outcome and justify his likely status in the lottery.”
The 6-foot-7, 226-pound Bogdanovic averaged 15.2 points per game for the Knicks this season, shooting 45.4% from the field and 39.8% from the 3-point line.
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He was picked in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft at No. 31 overall by the Miami Heat and has moved around the league since then, going to the Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards before signing with the Knicks.
Bogdanovic has averaged 15.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists over his 719 games in the NBA, shooting 46.0% from the field and 39.4% from the 3-point line.
Strus, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound small forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has averaged 12.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game over the last five seasons despite going undrafted in 2019. He’s a career 41.8% shooter from the field and a 36.5% 3-point shooter in his 259 NBA games.
“If Knecht doesn’t score quite well enough to help anchor an NBA offense,” Woo wrote, “he could still find success in a supporting role similar to what Strus has done over the past few seasons.”
