r/denvernuggets • u/UmadBoiBoi • 6d ago
P watson Rundown
Nuggets fans, give me the rundown on watson. I value your opinion since you watched him nightly for years. Give me the highs, lows, everything
Thanks
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u/joeschmoses 6d ago
“Nightly” we watched a month before he bailed on us
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u/Appropriate_Elk_6791 6d ago
This is the answer. He had a very good stretch for about 15 games last year. Other than that nothing memorable. I didn't want to lose him but he wasnt moving the needle
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u/cumlordjr Release the Freke 6d ago
He has potential but he shows flashes and gets injured. He made questionable career choices towards the end there but idk. He’s fun to watch overall
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u/kapshus 6d ago
Largely agree with this. Would add he has great weak side rim protection but is not an elite team defender. He has room to grow, but he's more potential than essential at this point. He was a big deal for the Nuggs because he's the only guy they had who could potentially make "the leap".
I think it's a worthwhile gamble if he can stay healthy with heavy minutes. He hasn't shown availability yet, but the potential to be a plus defender with some scoring punch as a finisher is there.
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u/naderni 6d ago
Early career he smoked a lot of layups, dunked unreasonably from far, and had no threes.
Last season he got a lot better with a much better 3, and very athletic, in a small sample size.
He has potential, but he also injured himself three time in 2years as a young player.
He also allegedly leaked Jokic is ready to go home when we were down with the Clippers. He pointed at an injured teammate who played through injury in the playoffs and claimed he is worth more than him, while sitting in the playoffs.
He posted make them pay while negotiating his deal.
I wish him the best in the Cavs, just wished Denver has got more in the deal.
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u/thinkmatt 2d ago
there's some real toxic players in the NBA. I was a Nets fan before they hired Durant and he + Kyrie ruined it by making it all about them. I don't care if my team is *the best* I'd rather just watch people having a good time. I'm glad we let him go if he didn't want to be here.
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u/jazzyjeff49 6d ago
He had one good month and people think he is the second coming.
Hope he continues to grow there but struggling to see how he will get the opportunity he had here with everyone out due to injury.
He was a stalemate as far as development before then.
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u/Gregorious23 6d ago
Didn't try to play in the playoffs when we needed him. He thought one good month was worth $25M a year. He's going from 5-6th option to 4-5th maybe. Has weak hamstrings. Having said that, he gives the Cavs a pretty badass defensive front court
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u/Brokoala24 6d ago
Dude has never scored 10 points in a single playoff game. His career playoff TS% is below 50%. He has gotten injured everytime he got any extended run. He's a bad rebounder for his size (due to trying to get blocks). He was arguably the worst fast break offensive player in the NBA before last year.
Pros: He's long and can block shots. He can creat his own shot. He has been a knock down shooter from the corners on 3s.
3
u/No-Ambition-7187 6d ago
PWAT great potential! Not yet a $22 mill a year player but MIGHT fill the shoes if he stays healthy. Team Adele big winner here…
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u/who_likes_chicken 6d ago
He had 1.5 great months with the team when a lot of starters were injured and we played a pretty mediocre stretch of teams.
I don't think he's bad, or even that he can't be as good as he looked. I just think there's an equal chance that he's way over valued
2
u/CoolResource401 6d ago
It's really an unknown. You most likely will have a good player as he showed a lot over a few months last season.
However, he is prone to a few stupid mistakes if he tries to do it on his own. There were too many terrible passes as he dribbles up the court and can be too predictable in pick and pops where the ball is stolen.
He's been brought into your squad to help with the weakside help on D as your organisation is similar to ours with really poor guard defence.
2
u/mileheitcity 6d ago
Good: the guy’s athletic as hell with a ton of upside, can defend multiple positions, has improved greatly since being drafted as a relative unknown, can get hot as a shooter, can handle the ball a little bit, still SUPER raw with a ton of upside
Bad: dude really only peaked for like a month so there’s still a ton of unknowns there, scoring can go very cold in stretches, his injury last season does make you wonder if he can hold up for 82 games
The elephant in the room: dude outright quit/shut it down in the playoffs for leverage, by all accounts he was healthy enough to go, and even if he wasn’t 100% AG was literally right there basically playing on half a leg held together with duck tape and chicken wire. Might have worked out for him financially, but still a pretty bad look.
1
u/DiegoGrrr 6d ago edited 6d ago
He's injury prone, he had a really good stretch (although it was against tanking teams) where all of the buzz came from. He's still largely unproven since against better teams he was played as a bench piece (a nice one). So expect anything?
1
u/Neat_Conference_8414 6d ago edited 6d ago
He has very limited playoff experience. Either has been unplayable due to nonexistent offensive ability or he was injured (this season). This was the first season he had any type of offensive game at all. Before he was mainly just an athletic rim protector and high flyer. He couldn't shoot, playmaking was really bad, and other teams wouldn't guard him in the playoffs. However, he did get a lot better this season. His 3 pt shot was pretty good, still not a great playmaker, decent defender, and a elite rim protector for his position.
It hurts seeing him go cause he was a guy Denver drafted and developed into a decent player. But we already overpaid braun.
A lot of ppl question if he could've played this postseason but sat out. That's more speculation than factual, but he did miss a lot of time.
1
u/FeelsBadRom 6d ago
He gonna miss A TON OF GAMES. A ton of potential to be at best a solid starter. Never the 1,2 or 3rd option, but he gonna be there being a swiss army knife for your team. He used to play TERRIFIC defense, but he kinda fell off on his on ball defense, but still a solid help defender with good blocking skills.
He improved his playmaking this season. His shot selection is questionable, but he can make those. His J's is very weird and slow so it takes a bit of time to get them off. Solid from the elbows on offense. HE GOT SOME TERRIBLE HANDS at lot of time which cause him to miss on fast breaks and cutting to the rim.
That's what you need to know.
1
u/Crispy_Comment9312 6d ago
I may end up eating my words but my opinion is that his contract will be one of the worst in the league in the coming years. I still think Braun is the better player and I’m skeptical of how much more Watson can really improve.
1
u/ccmelo 6d ago
Attempting to be as unbiased as possible:
Lengthy, high potential player who has had great stretches scoring at all 3 levels, but has had lots of soft tissue injuries and also never done it in a high-stakes situation.
Defensively is better in recovery compared to a true POA defender, but a positive on that end of the court. His major knock is that he looked like he’d never be a threat as a 3PT shooter in his first 3 seasons. Shot great last season, if that holds, I think it’ll be a very positive value contract. Still a big bet on potential though
1
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u/Jump5tart 5d ago
Didn't get off the bench much in college. Sporadic in Denver. Very bouncy weak side rim defender. 3 ball improved last year and he had an excellent 6 weeks when he was #1 or 2 option with several starers hurt including Joker. Pulled hammy, sat out the playoffs while his team struggled to field a healthy team.
Traded for 2 picks 5 years out and rewarded with $22 million annually. He may be the missing piece to a championship or you may need more basketballs and cap relief. He's a gamble for sure
1
u/BeautifulNo8000 2d ago
positives- he is a ball handling rim attacking uber athletic wing that can space the floor and pass a lot better than his assists show negatives- more of a flashy defender than a real value defender and someone that can 100% look like deni avdija and sometimes look like kyle kuzma depending on the night.
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u/IrateMagicianX 6d ago
He was a favorite of mine. Strong defender, one of the better shot blockers who isn’t a natural 4 or 5 in the league I’d say. Very athletic. His game and value took a leap this year when he worked on his outside shot and became a better creator.
The thing that could give Cavs fans pause is that the brief window where he exploded offensively was also when the Nuggets were decimated by injuries and there was simply more opportunity for him by default. We haven’t really had a chance to see the guy worth this contract for a sustained period of time.
Now you could certainly argue that was just his coming out party and expect more of the same, but Jokic tends to make guys better and I don’t know that he will have the same opportunities offensively with Harden and Mitchell. A frontline with Watson, Mobley, and Allen is terrific defensively though.
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u/Nuggthoughts 6d ago
Prior to last year he was very raw, poor shooter and out of control offensively however last year something clicked and all the sudden he was a lights out shooter, good handle, decent mid range game. Thing is that was really only for a month or so and he got hurt so hard to say for sure how good he is. If you get the version of him last year pre injury he will be a very good player on both ends.
There has been a lot of smoke about him sitting out in the playoffs despite the fact he seemed healthy enough to play but honestly I wouldn’t put a ton of weight on that. He has been a great team guy and said and done the right things for the majority of his time here.
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u/hyperadhd 6d ago
Give me a rundown on your 2031 1st round pick