Rick Barnes on Dalton Knecht

Tennessee head coach on his former player's rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Transcript

00:00So the Lakers got the steal of the draft when they took Dalton Connect number 17 overall.

00:05He was the SEC player of the year.

00:06You and I have talked about him in the past.

00:07What do you make so far of the transition that he has made to the pros and the quality

00:11start that he's gotten off to?

00:13Well, we're not surprised, but you know, you never know, you know, when you when a guy

00:20goes up there, how he's going to react, but from a, you know, I spoke, you know, when

00:25I was at Texas, you know, JJ Redick was living there and JJ had an unbelievable work ethic

00:30and he and I spoke briefly one day about Dalton and I said, you're going to love him because

00:35he's like you.

00:36He's an absolute gym rat.

00:38He's whatever you do, you get someone with him and tell that person what you want from

00:42him.

00:44He's going to do it and he will do it above and beyond.

00:47People have asked me about him getting caught up in the LA life.

00:50If you know Dalton Connect, you know, that's not going to happen.

00:52I mean, he is truly a guy that loves the game of basketball, can't get enough of it.

00:57And when he gets on those tears like he does, we've seen it and we saw it from the summer

01:02that he got here with us.

01:04And I was with him in Memphis and I asked him, I said, do you looking back, do you wish

01:08you'd have been able to go to higher in the draft and maybe go to a team where you're

01:11playing more?

01:12And that was actually the night he got his first start.

01:14He said, absolutely not.

01:16He said, I love where I am having a chance to play here and play with the players that

01:20I'm playing with and being coached by JJ is something that he said, I couldn't be in

01:25a better spot than I am right now.