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Earl Watson Commits to Sign!

NUMBERICA said:
And only in Jazz fandom does the term "veteran" instill fear into people by the term itself. Everyone keeps mentioning Hart and Knight, but forget that Hart was a complete nobody except for a spurt in '07. Hart lived up to what he was for his history; an overly cautious bum with no first step, a weird and streaky shot, and good D. Knight was 33, 5' 10" and his productivity was clearly on a steep decline, but he still protected the ball, found the open man, and hawked the ball on D, even if he couldn't get to the rim or shoot nearly AT ALL. Knight ended up not being very good, but I still think comparing him to Hart (one of the worst PGs this team has ever had) is unfair.
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I mentioned this before, and you nailed it right here as well: Knight was 33 when playing here, after a HUGE performance drop off a season before and well below career numbers. Watson is two years younger coming off a season, which was actually better than a season before, and in line with his career numbers. He still has a couple of good years left in him before we can compare him to Knight. In two years, when he is same age Knight was when he came here, if Earl's performance is declining, it would be a fair comparison to Knight. But not at this stage of his career. Our back-up PG spot is terrific with this addition.
 
i'm excited about this signing, and can't wait to see him play. i think he will bring some toughness and fit right in with sloan's system.
 
JoelHodgeJr said:
When I was looking at Watson's stats I saw something that I liked. Last year he averaged a career high 29.4 mpg. Although his stats were down compared to this other career high's I think its attributed that to him playing for the awfull pacers. Its hard to get assists when your team cant score. What I liked about that is it shows that the coaches had alot of confidence in him. 29.4 mpg is 6th man minutes. He has always been a pass first point gaurd, which is good for our back up. He was a solid three point shooter up untill about three years ago, so hopefully in a front court heavy roster like ours he will get some open looks and regain some confidence. Watson is a great pick-up, mark my words friends at the end of the day we will be glad we have him.
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TICC said:
That wasn't your original point.
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Do you know why we were arguing or do you just like to see your own posts?
 
Time for me to eat crow on Earl Watson. I talked all sorts of trash about him being one of the dumbest PG's in the league. Maybe he simply has never had enough talent around him to fully take advantage of his ability to run an offense...because his scoring ability is very limited. I mostly watched him when he was with the Thunder and it didn't help that I wanted to see what Westbrook could do with full time PG duties. Also, I love his defensive intensity that he has had here while playing in short stints off the bench. He never played that kind of D for OKC as a starter, but that's understandable. It takes it out of you to pressure the ball constantly while you are on the floor. Anyway, he is doing a great job running the offense with the rest of the bench and his play has also allowed Jerry to play Deron at the 2 and let him use an entire different skill set he has playing off the ball. Go Earl!
 
I didn't expect much from Earl or Frank (or Raja), but have been pleasantly surprised. The intensity the bench brings every game has been lacking for years in Utah.
 
...don't know much about this Watson guy...but he's been a big time contributor to our bench and success. 7 assists today. Playing, evidently, some great ball pressure defense. Seems to fit in with our system and knows what to do and how to do it. Got him on the cheap, right? 13-5....and it's largely due to our bench....and front office for not resigning Boozer!!!
 
Also, I appreciate that he knows how to play aggressive D without committing too many stupid fouls...ahem, Ronnie.
 
I wish I had posted my approval of the signing in the original thread, but I didn't. I did like it at the time, but it really is paying off. Still would like to see Deron playing a few minutes less each night, but I guess they gotta win.
 
I'm positively thrilled with Watson. But I'm just as thrilled with Price. I would have never guessed in a million years Watson's signing would bring out the best in both players. No egos between them and they play fantastically on the court together (another thing I never thought I'd see.)
 
Since the second-half in Portland Watson's been sensational. You notice the pace picks up and the Jazz really look to push the ball when he's in there - which is precisely his style and what we need to do w/a bench that's maybe not quite as talented as we've had in year's past. When Watson got that nice contract after a few good years in Seattle, he was an uptempo PG who could defend, and that's how he's playing now.

Even better, he lets Ronnie Price slide back to his natural position at SG and instead of worrying about playing under control and getting us into our offense, Ronnie can just pin his ears back and go crazy.

If Watson keeps this up he could be the best backup PG we've had since Howard Eisley (95-00, not 04-05).
 
Sirkickyass said:
Not a fan of this signing. Dude's shooting touch is suspect and his decision making at the point is questionable. He's consistently got one of the worst turnover rates (not turnovers per game, don't come at me with that stat) among PGs in the league. Last year, out of 67 PGs with consistent playing time in the league he was ranked 64th.

Not an upgrade over Price as the backup PG and not young enough to potentially be something down the road. Just the latest in the long line of Utah Jazz veteran backup PGs on the mediocrity treadmill.

That said, he's much better than Mike James.
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Revolution 9 said:
I'm telling you he's not that much better than Gaines. At least he's a step above Price in running an offense.
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Some voice of reason from....you guessed it....Honztradamus


honz said:
Look, I've never liked Earl Watson, but he is definitely a better offensive PG than Ronnie Price is and it's not very close. A bad shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock might as well be a turnover.
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good contribution from Numbz as well.
NUMBERICA said:
And only in Jazz fandom does the term "veteran" instill fear into people by the term itself. Everyone keeps mentioning Hart and Knight, but forget that Hart was a complete nobody except for a spurt in '07. Hart lived up to what he was for his history; an overly cautious bum with no first step, a weird and streaky shot, and good D. Knight was 33, 5' 10" and his productivity was clearly on a steep decline, but he still protected the ball, found the open man, and hawked the ball on D, even if he couldn't get to the rim or shoot nearly AT ALL. Knight ended up not being very good, but I still think comparing him to Hart (one of the worst PGs this team has ever had) is unfair.

Watson does not compare to either of those guys. I know I'm going to hear bitching about him regardless of whether he deserves it or not just because he's not the guy he's backing up. But I think Watson will be one of the best backup PGs this team has had (obviously behind Stockton and Eisley pt 1, but I'm not sure what Watson does that Maynor doesn't, Maynor has a worse shot, an underwhelming first step, is a poor defender, and is one of the weakest PGs I've seen in the league but has a great court sense and good passing skills).
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Carry on, gents.
 
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