Knicks Morning News (2025.03.04)

Vecenie:

STRENGTHS: Watson has great size for a combo forward, which is important because most of his minutes will likely come at the 4. He measured at 6-7 1/2 without
shoes with a 7-foot wingspan and an 8-9 standing reach at the G League Elite Camp. He’s not a monster athlete, but he’s functionally a better one on the court than
his testing numbers indicate. He’s a versatile defensive player who would have easily earned all-defense honors the last two seasons had the WCC named them. On
the ball, he’s capable of taking on many different assignments. He dealt well with wings and forwards at Gonzaga, yet also showed an ability to use his strength when
switched onto post-up bigs and his quickness to stay in front of guards. He navigates screens well considering his size, with good, fluid hips. I felt he was one of the
few players in college basketball who could switch 1 through 5. His hands are disruptive. He has great hand-eye coordination, and he uses his length well. He has
strong anticipatory skills and a detailed understanding of scouting reports on and off the ball. He developed into a solid shot blocker when scrambling from the opposite side. On the perimeter, he always closes out on balance and gets his hands high to contest shots. He is sharp at positioning himself to play 1-on-2 on the
opposite side from the ball. He averaged 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.
Offensively, Watson improved over his college years. He made 73.4 percent of his shots at the rim; while a lot of those came in transition, he still exceeded 70 percent
at the rim in half-court situations, per Synergy. His hands are fantastic. He times his cuts well on the back line and maintains great body control through contact while
maintaining his touch. He gets up for finishes and offensive rebounds more than his vertical testing numbers would indicate, with a better second jump than one
would expect. He improved as a passer over his career. He reads plays well and was effective when passing out of double teams. He throws live-dribble passes with
his right hand well. He knows how to drive a closeout and keep the defense in rotation by attacking the help man and kicking it out to his assignment. He can throw
passes on the move and weighs them well for each situation. He averaged 2.6 assists per game this season and has always been a positive assist-to-turnover ratio
player.

WEAKNESSES: First and foremost, is he comfortable enough with the ball in his hands to get guarded? He’s a great cutter but isn’t as comfortable as an on-ball player.
He had some moments attacking closeouts and making passing reads off cuts when not finishing himself, but he didn’t look comfortable dribbling in anything other
than in a straight line. He has never been able to handle a high level of usage at the college level, so he won’t be a shot creator in the NBA.
The second concern: At what level will his perimeter shot settle? Watson has never been comfortable taking shots from distance. While he made 41.2 percent from 3
this season, it was on fewer than two attempts per game — almost all of those came directly off the catch, per Synergy. He doesn’t shoot off movement, and I
wouldn’t want to put him in any direct actions to generate 3s because it takes him too long to load into his shot. His feet seemed to get tied up any time he tried to
shoot off the bounce. He dips the ball far down his body, and while he has a clean release when open, it can falter when he must speed his motion up. I don’t think he
can counter to score once run off the line. He can pass on the move, but he doesn’t have an in-between scoring game now. Can he make shots more consistently?

SUMMARY: Watson is one of my sneaky favorites in this class, and I have a two-way grade on him. I think he can defend within an NBA scheme right away and has
potential to add a lot of value on that end of the court if his offense improves enough to keep him on the floor. He’s switchable and long, plus has great strength and
good hip flexibility to stay on-balance in space. His help defense is sharp, and he is a good scramble defender. Offensively, I don’t love his skill package, even if he
maintains his ability to cut and finish around the rim. Shooting is the key for me. There are some signs of Watson becoming a capable shooter, as he made 41 percent
on limited attempts this year. But it’s hard to buy into his jumper becoming a consistent NBA weapon given that he turns 24 this year and has always been a low
volume attempter. If he can improve his shooting to the point where he consistently hits corner 3s, his defense may be valuable enough to stick in the NBA. That will
take some time for his jumper to come around. Still, I’d be willing to bet a two-way deal on expediting that process, because if it does, Watson has some value in the
NBA.

From above when Net Points was mentioned:

Seems interesting. They don’t give much detail into how it works beyond “we use play-by-play data”.

On a per 100 play basis, Luke Kornet is the 3rd best player in the league and 19th in total net points.

In per 100, Brandon Clarke edges out Jalen Brunson.

I’m skeptical.

Anton has shot poorly from 3 in the gleague:

* 31.9% on 213 3pt attempts
* 65.3% on 43 ft attempts

Lots of g-league Knicks have seemingly improved their shot, e.g., Toppin, Baugh, Okeke, and probably some others have shot pretty well this season. So maybe we can make him a viable depth piece, but probably not by the end of this season.

Mikal’s value on a team with OG and KAT is his ability to stay healthy coupled with his sort of okay shot creation and solid PoA defense. He’s the NBAs most expensive redundancy.

He is good, but he’s not so good as to be indispensable on a healthy team.