Rocket Watts?

[Kemba'sYogurt]

His shot reminds me a lot of Rodney Purvis. Looks like without the same success though lol

 

[Kmba2Rmemba]

Gimme Rocket any day

 

[husky429]

Rocket scored 21 points against Michigan, and 20 against Duke. I love Jalen, but if he could have games like that I'd personally build him a statue.

Rocket reminds me of Glynn Watson from Nebraska. Spends his first two years as a combo guard and shows great potential as a scorer, then Tim MIles insists he become a more traditional point guard and his scoring efficiency tanks.

WIth Dan's personality and energy, I really think that if we got Rocket to come here and play the off-guard next to Cole he can be a great addition. Fit matters.

All this post tells me is that Rocket is a gunner who had a couple of good games. Still not sold.

Gaffney has a mental hurdle with his aggressiveness, but at least he isn't shooting his team out of games every other night.

 

[navery12]

I know people really want a name to be excited about as a transfer, but I don't see how he helps this team at all next year

 

[AntG168]

I know people really want a name to be excited about as a transfer, but I don't see how he helps this team at all next year

WE HAVE NO ONE WHO CAN PENETRATE CONSISTENTLY ON OFFENSE

 

[Nebraskan18]

All this post tells me is that Rocket is a gunner who had a couple of good games. Still not sold.

Gaffney has a mental hurdle with his aggressiveness, but at least he isn't shooting his team out of games every other night.

This team is going to struggle to score next year, this kid can do it. And Hurley won't put up with a player overshooting every night. He reminds me of Vital, there may be some growing pains, but at the end of the day you take talent.

 

[navery12]

WE HAVE NO ONE WHO CAN PENETRATE CONSISTENTLY ON OFFENSE

And with our current lineup, 3 defenders who are going to sit in the lane the entire time because they don't need to respect the shooting (Sanogo, Whaley, Jackson). That's as big of a factor as any why we have nobody who can get into the lane

 

[husky429]

WE HAVE NO ONE WHO CAN PENETRATE CONSISTENTLY ON OFFENSE

Rocket Watts shot 38% from 2 point land--he ain't the answer. To be fair neither is Cole, Gaffney, Diggins, or Jackson. Rese or Hawkins might need to be the answer. Which isn't good. A 1v1 shot creator should probably be a priority in the transfer market.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

WE HAVE NO ONE WHO CAN PENETRATE CONSISTENTLY ON OFFENSE

Even if he can penetrate more effectively than what we have he will have no shooters to kick out too , and he can’t finish at the rim .

 

[husky429]

This team is going to struggle to score next year, this kid can do it. And Hurley won't put up with a player overshooting every night. He reminds me of Vital, there may be some growing pains, but at the end of the day you take talent.

Can he though?

Let me repeat: 34% from the field, 25% from 3.

I could score 7 points a game if you let me shoot as much as I wanted, too.

I can understand the interest if we're not feeling very good about our other options. He can't score efficiently or defend worth a lick. Pass.

 

[AntG168]

Rocket Watts shot 38% from 2 point land--he ain't the answer. To be fair neither is Cole, Gaffney, Diggins, or Jackson. Rese or Hawkins might need to be the answer. Which isn't good

I’m not even referring to finishing at the rim. I’m talking about just breaking down the defense so that we get better 3 point looks. We need more than Watts. BUT we could use a Rocket Watts

 

[superjohn]

Gaffney: 6.1/1.5/1.5. 19mins, 41% from the field, 36% from 3.

Rocket: 7.7/1.7/2.7. 23 mins, 34% from the field, 25% from 3.

Rocket is still probably the better player because he can handle the ball more, but it's hardly cut and dry. The kids is a terrible, terrible, terrible scorer. Hard pass.

Should we talk about defense? Rocket had 0.1 (yes, that is not a typo) steals per game, 0.3 per 40. Gaffney had 0.8 per game, 1.6 per 40.

Offensive rating? 88 vs 110, guess whose was above 100?

Defensive rating? 111 vs 101, guess whose was better again?

People sometimes get too obsessed with stats. The kid was a bad fit with Izzo and MSU for whatever reasons and because they don't have a point guard Izzo tried to transition him there and it didn't work at all. If you actually watch the kid play you can see there's untapped talent there. He has a chance to be one of those players who blows up somewhere else, I would like that to be at UConn.

 

[Hoophound]

And with our current lineup, 3 defenders who are going to sit in the lane the entire time because they don't need to respect the shooting (Sanogo, Whaley, Jackson). That's as big of a factor as any why we have nobody who can get into the lane

That’s why we need to solve both problems. One way to solve a shooting problem is to get your shooters better shots. We have guys in Cole, Gaff, Hawkins, Martin (sometimes) and maybe Polley, that can make an open 3. We can get more open 3’s with a creative, lane penetrating guard, like Rocket Watts.

 

[superjohn]

Can he though?

Let me repeat: 34% from the field, 25% from 3.

I could score 7 points a game if you let me shoot as much as I wanted, too.

I can understand the interest if we're not feeling very good about our other options. He can't score efficiently or defend worth a lick. Pass.

No you couldn't.

 

[AntG168]

We don’t need him to be MVP Derrick Rose. We just need another competent ball handler who can consistently get into the paint. We aren’t asking for much

 

[husky429]

No you couldn't.

Didn't say what league

 

[navery12]

That’s why we need to solve both problems. One way to solve a shooting problem is to get your shooters better shots. We have guys in Cole, Gaff, Hawkins, Martin (sometimes) and maybe Polley, that can make an open 3. We can get more open 3’s with a creative, lane penetrating guard, like Rocket Watts.

If we're adding Watts and a shooter then sure I can get on board with him. He's definitely talented

 

[Ant3411]

If we're adding Watts and a shooter then sure I can get on board with him. He's definitely talented

Watts and Polley!

 

[husky429]

His shot reminds me a lot of Rodney Purvis. Looks like without the same success though lol

I count 9 layups the entire season and 0 dunks. Relies way too much on the floater even though he seems to be able to make layups with both hands. Fixable.

Timing on his shot sucks. He's shooting on the way down. That's fixable.

 

[MJ1]

Give me Carr from Minnesota, makes buckets.

 

[Ajs120102]

My thing is, the dude was a freshman. Very few freshman have impact years, year one. Why wouldn’t he improve with Hurley?

 

[AntG168]

My thing is, the dude was a freshman. Very few freshman have impact years, year one. Why wouldn’t he improve with Hurley?

He would

 

[auror]

My thing is, the dude was a freshman. Very few freshman have impact years, year one. Why wouldn’t he improve with Hurley?

He was a sophomore last year. Both years he has shot under 30% from 3 and over 75% from the FT line.

 

[upstater]

Give me a guy who can penetrate and dump the ball off to our bigs, something we rarely ever saw last year. Can only imagine what Sanogo, Whaley and Jackson can do when someone dumps it off to them in the lane.

 

[auror]

I count 9 layups the entire season and 0 dunks. Relies way too much on the floater even though he seems to be able to make layups with both hands. Fixable.

Timing on his shot sucks. He's shooting on the way down. That's fixable.

Yeah it seems, especially on his midrange pullups, that he hangs and shoots almost fading backwards. Taking too long and poor balance. He's taking too many contested shots in general, and doesn't have a great ability to separate (or the length and athleticism to shoot over the defense), so he's compensating with this poor form. It's probably fixable with film work, shooting work, and a different role/scheme that puts him in better situations.

It's hard to know whether I'm hung up on wanting him out of HS, his pedigree, his awesome name... or definitely all of the above. But I do want to try and fix him. I'm not sure if we're able to land a better option we don't have to fix, but we've struck out so far.