The first thing that stands out about Watson after two games is how controlled he is with what he does. Everything he wants to do seems to be under his control, although he isnt capable of doing everything he may need to do in order to prove himself as a true NBA PG.
But, Watson is a plus NBA shooter from long range, that much is for sure. His release, follow through, and body position is the stuff that instructional videos are made about. He may have the 2nd best form next to
Steve Novak of all the players in this tournament.
Defensively, Watson shows poise and awareness while on the ball. As a help defender, Watson is effective at hedging into the lane enough to make the ball handler hesitate for fear of Watson getting a deflection. He is not a ball-hawk by any means, but solid is the word to describe both his fundamental approach and overall effect.
In order to show better pro potential, though, Watson will need to show much better penetration and change of speed ability as well as the vision to capitalize on it. Thus far, Watson has simply been content to make the sound play and hit the shots that present themselves from the perimeter. Theres a lot of talk from European teams about Watson, and this could be a very good route for him to improve his overall skill set to the point of NBA effectiveness.
But it should be noted that Watson got perhaps the least talented team in this invitational into the final game, much as he and
Chris Lofton single handedly got Tennessee a 2nd seed in the tournament just weeks before with nothing but a great coach (and Dane Bradshaw) at the helm besides them. If Watsons presence can somehow inspire great play such as this, his future may be brighter than anticipated as long as he puts in the work to improve the lesser areas of his game.
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