Trendon Watford tying for the Nets’ finest plus-minus on Sunday was as a lot a recrimination of how poorly they performed as how properly his season debut went.
The Nets ahead had been sidelined since camp with a hamstring harm, lastly making his debut of their 114-104 loss to the Knicks on the Backyard.
Watford had 4 factors, three assists and three rebounds in 13 minutes.
His plus-4 was tied with Cam Johnson for the perfect on the group, and he was wanting ahead to persevering with to knock the rust off in Tuesday’s NBA Cup tilt in opposition to Charlotte.
“I couldn’t wait to get out there, man. The energy has been great. The vibe has been great,” Watford stated. “So it feels good. Just glad to be back out there.”
Watford averaged 6.9 factors and three.1 rebounds final season, however upped that to 12.9 factors and 5.7 boards over the ultimate 11 video games.
“Yeah, just how I ended the season last year, really just trying to be consistent with that, just being a little bit of a playmaker, doing everything,” Watford stated. “I’ll get better with time and just try keeping that role I had last year, just being that guy to do a little bit everything, guard every position. So trying to be that for the team.”
“I’m just kind of everything. [On Sunday,] I was playing the point a lot, came in for [Dennis Schroder]. Never know what the next game might bring. So I’m trying to not put myself in a box and just trying to be whatever I can, Swiss army knife for this team and just play wherever I can and whatever Jordi [Fernandez] wants me to play.”
Having a secondary playmaker with dimension (6-foot-9, 242 kilos) could possibly be useful, particularly with each Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe harm.
It’s a job that Ben Simmons — pressed into enjoying heart — usually fills.
“Yeah, we’re sort of alike as far as just our playmaking,” stated Watford. “But we’re different also. So, just want to be myself, and try to keep things going how it’s going. Jordi just told me to pick my spots and be aggressive, don’t think too much. So that’s what I try to do, and just try to keep this going forward and get more comfortable.”
Cam Johnson has 5 20-point outings in 14 appearances after simply six all of final season.
After Noah Clowney was simply 7-for-26 (.269) from deep by his first eight video games, he’s 10-for-22 (.455) since.
Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain) and Ziaire Williams (proper hip tightness) are each listed as possible for Tuesday.
Williams began the season 8-for-12 from deep, however he’s simply 6-for-36 since. His 3-point proportion is now all the way down to 29.2, underneath his 30.0 profession mark.
Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot harm restoration), Nic Claxton (decrease again pressure) and Day’Ron Sharpe (left hamstring pressure) are all out injured, whereas Jacky Cui, Jaylen Martin and Dariq Whitehead will likely be with G-League Lengthy Island.
Charlotte’s Tre Mann is questionable with low again soreness, whereas DaQuan Jeffries, Jared Rhoden, Nick Richards, KJ Simpson, Nick Smith Jr. and Mark Williams are out.
