Nets forward Trendon Watford, who is battling for a regular season roster spot, strengthened his case on Monday by scoring 13 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 16 minutes vs. Philadelphia, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. As Lewis notes, Watford also hit a pair of three-pointers and even operated as a secondary play-maker.
“(Nets coach Jacque Vaughn) is always just encouraging me, telling me little things to get better at and little things he sees. In the time I’ve been here, he’s put the ball in my hands a lot. So he likes how I play-make and stuff,” Watford told Lewis. “So yeah, that’s really it; he just wants me to keep doing that and keep getting better defensively. And I think I’ve took a step forward in that.”
The Nets have 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus Watford, Darius Bazley, and Harry Giles on non-guaranteed deals, so those three players may be vying for two regular season roster spots. As Net Income of NetsDaily observes, with one two-way slot still open, there’s a path to keeping all three of those non-guaranteed players into the regular season — giving one of them a two-way contract.
However, while Watford and Giles are both eligible to sign a two-way deal, they can’t be converted directly since their contracts don’t include an Exhibit 10 clause. That means they’d have to pass through waivers and re-sign with Brooklyn in order to receive a two-way contract from the team.
Let’s round up a few more notes from around the Atlantic…
- The Raptors made former Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes “off limits” in trade talks for Kevin Durant last year and Damian Lillard this offseason, league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN. Reports that linked Toronto to Durant and Lillard when they were available strongly indicated the team wasn’t willing to include Barnes in its offers.
- A report earlier this month suggested that USA Basketball is aggressively pursuing Jrue Holiday for its 2024 Olympic roster. The Celtics guard said on Monday that he hasn’t heard directly from Team USA yet, but expressed interest in playing in Paris, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “Why not?” Holiday said. “I want to see what we can do out there.”
- After starting 70 of the 82 games he played for the Celtics last season, Derrick White isn’t necessarily guaranteed a spot in the starting five following the acquisitions of Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. White said this week that he’s fine with starting or coming off the bench and will go with the flow, tweets Weiss.
Jrue, Jalen, Jason, KP, Horford will start.
I thought Watford could have been an excellent pickup for the Bulls, cons8dering their lack of true depth at the 4 spot, but more power to the Nets.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe Portland let him go so easily. Watford definitely has a good set of skills that can allow him to be a solid contributor off the bench. He’s a more than capable, multi-level scoring option, he’s an underrated passer, and he’s a good rebounder. I mean, not to mention, Watford is still only what 23 years old?!? So, it isn’t like his game has even reached its ceiling. He still has a good bit of potential, and I think Coach Vaughn sees T.Wat as someone that could eventually grow into a consistent and reliable front court threat, that’s capable of contributing on both ends of the court.
I’ll never know why AK and Coach Donovan continue to try and trot out undersized wings and guards as their frontcourt pairings with Vucevic and Drummond.
They have had seemingly COUNTLESS opportunities to go out and acquire a legitimate #4. Even when a potentially solid fit becomes available who is young, who already has some quality experience under his belt, who has potential for two-way growth, and who also comes extremely cheap magically just falls directly right into their lap, they still SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY do not even make any kind of effort to look into acquiring him.
**Javonte Green was a SF in a two-guards body, and even though he played his heart out for Chicago & always gave 110% max effort, he should have never been utilized as a 4.
**Patrick Williams is still extremely young and he has a solid versatile skiIllset to offer to the Bulls rotation, but he is being held back and his growth has been stunted because he is NOT A FOUR. He is a wing and best utilized as an active 3.
**Alex Caruso is not a 4.
**Demar DeRozan is not a 4.
**Torrey Craig might be tough, but he’s just like Williams, he isn’t a four.
The Bulls decision makers have proven themselves to be entirely inept when it comes to finally rounding out this team’s roster and their rotations.
Well, wait!?! I almost forgot they did just sign Derrick Favors about 4 years too late…Only to waive him a day later..lol
Would love to see the Bulls give Patrick Williams a run at PG (instead of always complaining about how unselfish he is).
Williams should definitely be playing the 3. He’s got the biggest potential there.
100% completely agree.
Even if he’s used as the 3 off of their bench, it would be significantly more advantageous for his growth to have him playing at what should be his natural position.
Also, then he wouldn’t always feel such a responsibility to defer to his veteran teammates, because he would be looked to more for scoring opportunities and to still pass the ball, but passing the ball to make plays as opposed to just passing the ball around for movement purposes or just to get it into DDR, Vucevic’s, or LaVine’s hands.
I’ve been extremely disappointed with how the Bulls handled Lauri Markkanen his last two to three seasons, how they handled Wendell Carter Jr., and how they’ve handled Colby White and ESPECIALLY Patrick Williams. If just about even every casual fan can see they are mishandling Williams, I just don’t understand how they can be so blind to it..
Anyways, even with their flawed roster construction, I think the best lineups would likely end up being.
Carter, LaVine, DeRozan, Craig, & Vucevic
White, Caruso, Williams, Favors/D.Terry, & Drummond
I think those two rotations would likely be their best combinations, but they’ve already gone and waived Favors, so idk. There is just such a gigantic hole on their roster at the 4 spot. It ain’t really like the 6’7″ 200 lbs Dalen Terry is really equipped to be a four either.
If they don’t resign Demar DeRozan, or if they end up trading him away, then they really need to just move Patrick Williams over as their starting SF, and target a talented young 4 as part of their return along with a first.
Derrick White, Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser & Luke all seem like classic team players. But if Celts are going to go all the way this year, our two stars have to tone down their one on one play. In the game against the Knicks last night their announcer said the same. After Jaylen dribbled into a crowd & got stripped, while the rest of the team stood around, he observed that was why Celts didn’t get past the Heat in last season’s playoffs. So others see this also. Go Celtics!
300 million to a man who can’t go left! Wow sign me up!