Trendon Watford has a high ceiling, but also a low floor
Watford was signed to a two-way contract after two underwhelming seasons with the LSU Tigers. He’s a high-level athlete, but not exactly a fluid one.
He has some promising advanced skills such as his deep bag of finishing moves and his court vision, but his deficiency in other areas makes it harder for him to find opportunities to display his strengths.
Through two seasons and 58 starts with the Tigers, he averaged 14.9 points and 7.3 boards per night, while shooting 48 percent from the floor and 29 percent from deep.
He likes to play like he’s a small forward sometimes, but moves like a power forward. He’ll need to tighten his handle and increase his lateral quickness to unlock his full potential. On defense, he’s mostly a zero outside of his size and strength. Guards and quicker forwards drove right around him unobstructed at LSU and his lack of awareness and IQ led to a lot of easy baskets.
At 6’9, 240-lbs, he might be best served spotting as a small-ball center, unless he can shed about 20-lbs and add quickness and agility to his physical profile.
While he can do a little bit of everything, a big detractor for him was that he seemed to try to do a little too much for the Tigers. He averaged 2.9 assists in his sophomore year, but also tallied 2.6 turnovers per game.
In the SEC Championship against the Alabama Crimson Tide, you can see just how great Watford can be when everything goes well. He bullied his way into the paint on multiple occasions and used advanced skills to turn tough finishes into smooth ones. It’s also apparent how easily things could have gone wrong though.
On a lot of the plays, he tried to do too much with the ball and nearly loses his handle. In one clip, he launces a deep three early in the shot clock. This one happened to go in but 71 percent of the triples he took at LSU didn’t turn out that way.
Ceiling: Julius Randle-lite
Watford shows the promise to be a low-post offensive hub who can get two points at any time. He also displayed a little bit of guard skills and a willingness to create for others. If he can tighten his handle and learn when to assert himself and when to be a supporting piece, he could turn out to be a great complementary offensive option.
With his current build and lack of lateral mobility though, he’ll likely never be a plus-defender.
Floor: Late-career Josh Smith
Like Watford, Smith was a player who always thought he should do more than he’s capable of. While he had the skills and physicals necessary to be a high-level small-ball five, he leaned hard the other way, attempting to become a perimeter creator.
The difference between Watford’s ceiling and floor is a steep one, but the main thing keeping him from unlocking his full potential is his mentality approaching the game. If he humbles himself in the G-League and develops the more intricate parts of his game, he could be an undrafted steal of a free agent.