Locked on Jazz—Is the Back-up Point Guard Battle Over?
November 16th, 2010
Earl Watson has played very well the last three nights in the back-up point guard role. Jerry Sloan wouldn’t commit today at practice that the battle for back up minutes to Deron Williams is over.
Yet, after the last three nights it is fair to say that for the time being Watson has control of that position. At this point, it is his to lose.
“It would be nice for them to know, but we aren’t totally settled,” said Sloan
Last night the Jazz were +9 with Watson on the floor. Over the past three games the Jazz are a +18 with Watson on the floor. Watson brings a true point guard angle to the position that the energetic Ronnie Price has never been able to establish. Watson has been a point guard since the day he started his college career at UCLA, where he started more games than any player in UCLA history. In contrast, Price was a high energy scorer before he came to the Utah Jazz.
“Earl got us going last night, where he pushed the ball up the floor and kept us in the rhythm to play,” evaluated Sloan.
Watson played just 5 minutes in the three games prior to playing in Atlanta. Sitting out has allowed him to get a better understanding of the position and how to make the limited minutes work for his game.
Last year, Watson played the second most minutes of any Indiana Pacers. This year he has to figure out how to play in two 6 minute stretches. He has gone back to his NBA roots to figure that out.
Watson started his career in Seattle for former NBA point guard Nate McMillian and then moved onto Memphis for Hubie Brown. In his first two years he played about 15 minutes a night.
Brown strongly believed in picking up the opposing point guard at 94 feet slowing them into the front court so that they couldn’t start their offense with a full shot clock. In the last few games Watson gone back to his 2002 game and brought it to the Jazz. In the first half last night, that caused him to get 3 fouls in limited time. For the most part, this approach helps the Jazz defensively and tires out the point guard who spends his other minutes trying to deal with Deron Williams.
Watson realizes that getting an offensive game going in limited minutes is unlikely, but impacting the games with insane energy on the defensive end and controlled energy on the offensive end is the ticket to helping this team.
Last year, Watson was badly turnover prone. He had the highest percentage of possessions that were turnovers of any point guard that played 20 minutes a game. In the last three games with the Jazz he has just 2 tunrovers in 29 minutes.
If Watson is able to control his turnovers in the Jazz system his veteran knowledge of the position should solidify him as the Utah Jazz backup point guard. As he becomes more comfortable don’t be surprised if you see Watson and Deron on the floor together.
