Rocket Watts?

[Hoophound]

I think we should stand pat as well. If he was a high usage kid who could consistently make shots with range I would feel differently. I trust Gaffney to make necessary progression. He looked much better as the year went on.

We lack talent. We will not get where we want to go without a dynamic guard that can get by people. I really hope Gaffney can become that guy, but even if he does, that means we only have one guy that can do it. We should have 3 or 4. Yes, Diggins and Hawkins will help, but they will be freshmen.

We have a pretty damn good team next year, but it is missing a guy that can penetrate and slash. Why on God’s green earth are so many people against getting better players? Stand pat? Why?

 

[Fatroony5]

We lack talent. We will not get where we want to go without a dynamic guard that can get by people. I really hope Gaffney can become that guy, but even if he does, that means we only have one guy that can do it. We should have 3 or 4. Yes, Diggins and Hawkins will help, but they will be freshmen.

We have a pretty damn good team next year, but it is missing a guy that can penetrate and slash. Why on God’s green earth are so many people against getting better players? Stand pat? Why?

I don’t think people are against adding talent. It’s more about fit and trajectory of said player. All of his advanced stats, percentages etc were pretty bad the past two seasons where he played at a high major school. Things change, guys can improve of course. Maybe a change of scenery will change him as a player and he’ll be what the team is missing. Other big name teams are on him so it’s certain possible. It’s just more of a risk then other dynamic guards they were targeting whose metrics seem to project better into the needs of the team.

 

[Hoophound]

I don’t think people are against adding talent. It’s more about fit and trajectory of said player. All of his advanced stats, percentages etc were pretty bad the past two seasons where he played at a high major school. Things change, guys can improve of course. Maybe a change of scenery will change him as a player and he’ll be what the team is missing. Other big name teams are on him so it’s certain possible. It’s just more of a risk then other dynamic guards they were targeting whose metrics seem to project better into the needs of the team.

Who? It doesn’t really seem we have that many options. Stand pat means stay as we are. No way.

Rocket Watts has skills that none of our players have. Fatts Russell wasn’t good enough for this board either. He’s headed to Maryland, a team that thumped us. We’ve got to get real. We need a dynamic player. Rocket is dynamic. He needs to be coached to choose shots more wisely, but he’s a natural slasher and creator. I watched MSU this year and I actually wished we had him. He’s a young player that needs coaching and practice. Rocket is by no means a finished product. He isn’t a grad transfer, he’s a kid.

 

[Fatroony5]

Who? It doesn’t really seem we have that many options. Stand pat means stay as we are. No way.

Rocket Watts has skills that none of our players have. Fatts Russell wasn’t good enough for this board either. He’s headed to Maryland, a team that thumped us. We’ve got to get real. We need a dynamic player. Rocket is dynamic. He needs to be coached to choose shots more wisely, but he’s a natural slasher and creator. I watched MSU this year and I actually wished we had him. He’s a young player that needs coaching and practice. Rocket is by no means a finished product. He isn’t a grad transfer, he’s a kid.

Adding another undersized guard like Fatts with the current roster construction didn’t really make a lot of sense. I thought a guy like Richmond made a lot of sense, bigger guard than can penetrate/break defenses down off the dribble, play defense, impact the game with his athleticism.

If Hurley thinks Rocket can project better than what he’s shown thus far, I’m for it. I get the talent aspect with him, not a ton of former top 40 guys floatin around out there. They have options tho, who exactly that is remains to be seen. Let’s give the staff some time, it’s April. they’ve shown they can evaluate talent and they seem to be focused on adding another guard. Not really all that worried right now.

 

[rip7774]

We lack talent. We will not get where we want to go without a dynamic guard that can get by people. I really hope Gaffney can become that guy, but even if he does, that means we only have one guy that can do it. We should have 3 or 4. Yes, Diggins and Hawkins will help, but they will be freshmen.

We have a pretty damn good team next year, but it is missing a guy that can penetrate and slash. Why on God’s green earth are so many people against getting better players? Stand pat? Why?

Well said. I can’t believe people don’t agree with this wholeheartedly!!! And like u said also... Fatts can dribble & Create on a diff level than anyone we have and Maryland thumped us and took him despite tons of players back!

what returning guard is a UConn-level guard????

 

[navery12]

Well said. I can’t believe people don’t agree with this wholeheartedly!!!

what returning guard is a UConn-level guard????

RJ Cole, who despite your claims otherwise is both a PG and good

 

[Dabutlerdidit]

The guy at the car wash is a hell of a source

In this case it was the guy on a zoom call 😂

 

[KingAG]

Gaffney over Watts would be an incredible mistake

 

[UCfor3]

Everyone thinks and hopes Gaffney, AJax and the rest our guys will improve(I do as well for the record). Why can't we think the same of Watts as well? Kid has talent and offers a varied skillset to what we have. People here worry way too much about playing time distribution and starting lineups. If Hurley thinks another guard upsets a talented core player enough to make his eyes wander, then he won't make a move. He has the pulse of the team. Otherwise, we can really use another guard. A team should have 5 anyway and no, AJax is not a college guard right now I don't care what his projected pro position is a few years from now.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Gaffney over Watts would be an incredible mistake

Incredible is a stretch, Gaffney has been the better player so far.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Who? It doesn’t really seem we have that many options. Stand pat means stay as we are. No way.

Rocket Watts has skills that none of our players have. Fatts Russell wasn’t good enough for this board either. He’s headed to Maryland, a team that thumped us. We’ve got to get real. We need a dynamic player. Rocket is dynamic. He needs to be coached to choose shots more wisely, but he’s a natural slasher and creator. I watched MSU this year and I actually wished we had him. He’s a young player that needs coaching and practice. Rocket is by no means a finished product. He isn’t a grad transfer, he’s a kid.

“Maryland thumped us” in our worst offensively played game of the year to the tune of being up only 5 pts with less than 3min to play...

Using that conflation plus “Fatts going to Maryland” as some kind of calculus that we suck and also we’re desperate for quality dynamic players is peak BY logic.

Mind you, with all that being said I don’t disagree with you about UConn taking a flyer on Rocket.

 

[Hoophound]

“Maryland thumped us” in our worst offensively played game of the year to the tune of being up only 5 pts with less than 3min to play...

Using that conflation plus “Fatts going to Maryland” as some kind of calculus that we suck and also we’re desperate for quality dynamic players is peak BY logic.

Mind you, with all that being said I don’t disagree with you about UConn taking a flyer on Rocket.

Maryland was way better than us. The fact we made it slightly interesting is no consolation. I never thought we were winning that game down 5.

In regard to Fatts, my comment is more commentary on some board members thinking we didn’t need him. Maryland thinks they need him and they are better than us, and they have pretty good guards already. This idea that we have what we need is outrageous based on what we’ve seen. The idea that a “shooter” is the only need is downright ridiculous. We need better guards.

 

[navery12]

Maryland was way better than us. The fact we made it slightly interesting is no consolation. I never thought we were winning that game down 5.

In regard to Fatts, my comment is more commentary on the board members thinking we didn’t need him. Maryland thinks they need him and they are better than us, and they have pretty good guards already.

But again, you have to take in the full context of where he's going, and I wanted Fatts because I thought he was worth it. Maryland has a lot of good guards, but all of their guards are 6'3+ and that's a much easier fit to make than bringing him in with a 6'1 Diggins and Cole

 

[UCfor3]

Gaffney over Watts would be an incredible mistake

Can't we have both. There are 13 scholarships players in a normal year. We have 4 guards for 2 positions PG/SG(Cole,Gaff,Diggins,Hawkins) 3 SF for 1 position(AJax, Martin, Polley), 5 bigs for 2 positions C/PF (Sanogo, Whaley, Akok, Johnson, Springs). Everyone pretty much agrees that College is generally a guards game yet that is where we are the least deep. Does that make sense at all? Can't figure out why people think we are overloaded there. If not Watts, someone else.

 

[rip7774]

RJ Cole, who despite your claims otherwise is both a PG and good

RJ Cole is a fine player but you’re crazy if u think he’s a Jim Calhoun UConn level guard.

Even now I think he would be an incredible super sub John Gwynn type. I know he’ll be a starter and above average but we are above average a lot of places. No difference-makers at the 1-3. Freshman will have to be “dudes” for us.

you don’t win anything with a bunch of solid players. You need a guy that can win like all great UConn teams have had. This team can be terrific but not with our backcourt. Did you see Baylor?

 

[Ajs120102]

Maryland was way better than us. The fact we made it slightly interesting is no consolation. I never thought we were winning that game down 5.

In regard to Fatts, my comment is more commentary on some board members thinking we didn’t need him. Maryland thinks they need him and they are better than us, and they have pretty good guards already. This idea that we have what we need is outrageous based on what we’ve seen. The idea that a “shooter” is the only need is downright ridiculous. We need better guards.

I mean we were 3 seeds better with an NBA lottery pick. No consolation taken but I get the point.

 

[SeattleHoop]

'Please watch this ...'

please read this, and explain why u think these shooting numbers will go up to, say, 45% fg and 37% 3 fg?

rw college stats, 55 games:
36% fg, 27% 3 fg.
but u are right, he is better than ag, so there's that. on the udder hand, last season, jalen's efg%, whatever that means, was 49% while mr watts' efg% was 38%. that's a pantload more, isn't it?

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What were Kemba’s shooting numbers his sophomore year compared to his Junior year? Percentages probably don’t tell the whole story especially when trying to predict improvement in a new system. The mental side of the game is such a huge factor when it comes to game performance

 

[HuskyHawk]

Maryland was way better than us. The fact we made it slightly interesting is no consolation. I never thought we were winning that game down 5.

In regard to Fatts, my comment is more commentary on some board members thinking we didn’t need him. Maryland thinks they need him and they are better than us, and they have pretty good guards already. This idea that we have what we need is outrageous based on what we’ve seen. The idea that a “shooter” is the only need is downright ridiculous. We need better guards.

They played out of their mind. Shot a crazy percentage. We played our D- game and were still in it. If we played ten times, UConn wins 7-8 of them. Maryland is not better than UConn.

Whole lot of crazy in here.

 

[KingAG]

Incredible is a stretch, Gaffney has been the better player so far.

I’m projecting into the future.

 

[KingAG]

Can't we have both. There are 13 scholarships players in a normal year. We have 4 guards for 2 positions PG/SG(Cole,Gaff,Diggins,Hawkins) 3 SF for 1 position(AJax, Martin, Polley), 5 bigs for 2 positions C/PF (Sanogo, Whaley, Akok, Johnson, Springs). Everyone pretty much agrees that College is generally a guards game yet that is where we are the least deep. Does that make sense at all? Can't figure out why people think we are overloaded there. If not Watts, someone else.

Yes that’s my hope. But some posters are saying not to Watts because we have Gaffney lok

 

[navery12]

RJ Cole is a fine player but you’re crazy if u think he’s a Jim Calhoun UConn level guard.

Even now I think he would be an incredible super sub John Gwynn type. I know he’ll be a starter and above average but we are above average a lot of places. No difference-makers at the 1-3. Freshman will have to be “dudes” for us.

you don’t win anything with a bunch of solid players. You need a guy that can win like all great UConn teams have had. This team can be terrific but not with our backcourt. Did you see Baylor?

I really have no idea where you're going with this because you're all over the place. If by UConn level guard you're talking about best player on a national championship team I agree.

But that's an unbelievably irrational definition. There has to some middle ground between John Gwynn and best player on a national championship team, I think even you'd agree with that

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yes that’s my hope. But some posters are saying not to Watts because we have Gaffney lok

They are saying no because he is a short guard that can’t shoot. Basically a worse shooting version of Alterique Gilbert. We need a long guard who can shoot. It’s not complicated. Gaffney, for what it is worth, is closer to that than Watts is.

 

[tzznandrew]

The problem with Cole is he's not really a point guard, and he really struggled shooting against good teams.

Games against USC/Creighton/Villanova/Maryland: 19% from 2, 31% from 3.
Games against everyone else: 44% from 2, 42% from 3.

He had three bad shooting games against Creighton (x2) and Nova (x1) where he went 4 for 19.

But it wasn't endemic against good teams. From 3, he shot 1 for 1 against Creighton in the BET and 3 for 7 against Maryland. He was also 2 for 5 against USC. So in those other three games he shot 6 for 13 (46%). Seems to me more the randomness of a season than some suggestion he couldn't get his shot off.

 

[BGesus4]

RJ Cole is a fine player but you’re crazy if u think he’s a Jim Calhoun UConn level guard.

Even now I think he would be an incredible super sub John Gwynn type. I know he’ll be a starter and above average but we are above average a lot of places. No difference-makers at the 1-3. Freshman will have to be “dudes” for us.

you don’t win anything with a bunch of solid players. You need a guy that can win like all great UConn teams have had. This team can be terrific but not with our backcourt. Did you see Baylor?

Yes. Wouldn’t have been the best guard under Calhoun obviously but also wouldn’t have been the worse.

we are better off with RJ Cole as our PG next year than we would be with Craig Austrie

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I really have no idea where you're going with this because you're all over the place. If by UConn level guard you're talking about best player on a national championship team I agree.

But that's an unbelievably irrational definition. There has to some middle ground between John Gwynn and best player on a national championship team, I think even you'd agree with that

It's especially weird in a thread about Rocket Watts, who has the potential to be a nice player but has not been a world-beater in two years at MSU and is not going to be junior year Kemba Walker or Ben Gordon or senior year Shabazz Napier.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I’m projecting into the future.

But you only think this because he had a nice number next to his name in high school. There's really no substantive reasoning to believe he'll ever be better than Gaffney, he's all potential.

 

[rip7774]

I really have no idea where you're going with this because you're all over the place. If by UConn level guard you're talking about best player on a national championship team I agree.

But that's an unbelievably irrational definition. There has to some middle ground between John Gwynn and best player on a national championship team, I think even you'd agree with that

What are we winning or can u have any hope of an elite 8 or better with Cole as ur best guard? He doesn’t have to be kemba or Bazz or AJP or BG4 but UConn isn’t having a great season with no guards that can beat their man.

whaley / akok / sanogo / Johnson is really really nice. I’d hate to squander it with average guard play is all.

I don’t know much about watts but he was a dynamite recruit and is still quick & scored 20+ against some elite teams. I’d take a chance on that in a nanosecond. I really wanted Fatts & Kadary.

 

[husky99]

Hearing that we are in the best shape with watts from the portal

 

[Huskyforlife]

Hearing that we are in the best shape with watts from the portal

As in leading for him or most likely player we get?

 

[superjohn]

Can someone explain what a UConn level guard is and what a Jim Calhoun level UConn guard is?

I've watched UConn basketball religiously for the last 30+ years and RJ Cole is better than a bunch of guards who played here and played for Calhoun when he coached here.