Darryl Watkins really improved on his showing from yesterday, playing a bit more aggressively on both sides of the basket, which especially showed in his tracking down of nine rebounds in just 20 minutes of playing time. On the offensive end, Watkins made some nice finesse moves, scoring on a roll to the basket that he finished with a scoop lay-up off the glass, hitting a spot-up footer from 12 feet out, and scoring on a nice back-to-the-basket shot-fake into a pivot, which he finished by going into an up-and-under jam. Watkins also missed on an up-and-under move on another occasion, and it should be noted that most of his shot attempts couldve been finished with powerful jams he is capable of making, though he usually settles for finesse moves he doesnt consistently convert instead.
On the defensive end, Watkins was moving around a bit more today, but he still didnt make the impact hes capable of, not pursuing blocked shots on rotations as much as he could. Watkins did make some nice plays, though, forcing Caleb Green into a tough shot on the baseline on one occasion, and making a nice play on help defense by cutting off Dominic James on the baseline on another. In terms of rebounding the ball, Watkins got most of his rebounds via size and position, but tracked down a few outside of the painted area as well..
Watkins has a great set of physical tools, and shows off some nice skills as well, but he doesnt consistently play with the assertiveness he should on either end of the floor. He has a nice semblance of a mid-range shot, and if he develops some consistency with it, he could easily make a nice impact in the NBA, along the lines of what Mark Blount made a career of doing sometime down the road. Watkins ceiling may even be higher than that, but hes a project player at the next level, and will need some coaching and a change in demeanor before improvements like that can be seen. Still, most of our scouts agree that someone will take a chance on Watkins in the second round, and you cant take fault with that, as hes a project worth investing in given his physical attributes and flashes of potential.
Comments