Tag: Trendon Watford

Nets’ Trendon Watford discusses getting better with more minutes

After Sunday’s 107-77 loss to the Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford discussed his goal over the remaining games.

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets are nearing the end of the 2023-24 season and along the way, some players are getting more time to play and grow on the floor. One of the players that have benefitted from the extra playing time is forward Trendon Watford and he is learning by the game.

“I think we can get better every game,” Watford said after Sunday’s 107-77 loss to the Sacramento Kings. He was the second-leading scorer for Brooklyn with 16 points off the bench and he added seven rebounds and two assists. Watford is also learning as the season nears its end as he also racked up four turnovers and four fouls.

“We got three games left so it’s just about getting better every game individually and as a team,” Watford said. “So, I think we’re just trying to get as many wins as we can and try to get better collectively and individually. So, I think that’s one of the biggest things we need to take away from these next three games.”

Watford referenced how Wednesday’s 115-111 win over the Indiana Pacers was a “big” win for the team given how well they played to get that win against a Pacers team that they had struggled against prior to their last meeting. With Brooklyn out of contention for the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, players like Watford will get some extended minutes to see how much they can improve heading into the offseason.

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Nets’ Trendon Watford discusses bringing spark off the bench

After Sunday’s 116-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford discussed bringing his spark off the bench.

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets have had a rough go of it this season and one of the reasons why is not having enough consistent production off the bench. One of the players that has brought that production and energy off the bench has been taking his game to the next level.

“Just trying to take advantage of the opportunity,” Nets forward Trendon Watford said after Sunday’s 116-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Watford put up 15 points and eight rebounds in Friday’s win as he was one of the few players on the Nets to score at an efficient clip.

“Just bring that spark,” Watford said. “I got in and I think we was down 15-0, 18-0, so I was trying to be aggressive. I strive to be who I am no matter who is out there. So, just trying to be who I am, no matter who’s out there.”

Due to injuries to Ben Simmons, Keita Bates-Diop, and Cam Johnson, Watford has found himself in an expanded role as he has played at least 19 minutes in the past four games. Over that span, he is averaging 14.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 64.7% from the field and 50.0% from three-point range.

Watford has been showing that he can be an important part of the Nets’ rotation to finish the season and could also be auditioning to come back to Brooklyn for a similar role next season. As long as Watford continues to bring his spark, he should be a Net beyond this season.

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Nets’ Trendon Watford reacts to team’s fourth-quarter execution

After Monday’s 96-88 win at the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford reacted to how the team played in the fourth quarter.

The Brooklyn Nets have struggled to perform in the fourth quarter of plenty of games that they have either lost the lead in the end or where a small deficit became a blowout in the blink of an eye. As Brooklyn finishes this season as strong as possible, it looks like they figured out a way to overcome their fourth-quarter demons.

The Nets beat the Toronto Raptors on Monday 96-88 and while the game was not pretty from a scoring standpoint. Brooklyn stayed within striking distance for the majority of the contest. Granted, the Raptors were missing plenty of their better players for a variety of reasons, but the Nets were in the same boat as well.

After going into halftime down 69-68, the Nets managed to have their best scoring quarter of the game along with holding Toronto to their lowest-scoring quarter of the game as they built their lead to 13 points within the period. In contrast to Brooklyn’s fourth-quarter meltdown in Saturday’s 105-93 loss at the New York Knicks, the Nets took care of business against an undermanned Raptors team.

One of the reasons for that was the play of Trendon Watford, who scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds in one of his best games as a Net this season. After the game, he gave his reaction to how the team got its act together in the fourth quarter:

“It was big. Like I said, KO (Nets interim head coach Kevin Ollie) called some good sets and got the guy involved in the action that we wanted to get and I think we made some good plays out of that. That’s when we were able to take off late in the fourth.”

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Nets have guaranteed contracts for Trendon Watford and Harry Giles III

On Sunday, Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn announced that the Nets have guaranteed the deals of Trendon Watford and Harry Giles III.

NEW YORK — Trendon Watford and Harry Giles III have had vastly different roles throughout this season for the Brooklyn Nets as Watford has been in and out of the rotation while Giles has mostly been riding the bench. However, both players had something to celebrate on Sunday.

“I’m going to give y’all something today,” Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said on Sunday before officially ending his pregame press conference prior to facing the Portland Trail Blazers. “Trendon (Watford) and Harry Giles, their guaranteed date is today,” Vaughn explained.

What made Sunday (Jan. 7) important for Watford and Giles is that, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac, “Teams must waive players on partial/non-guaranteed deals by January 7 in order for them to clear waivers before January 10.” Now that both players are on the roster past that date, they will move forward with the rest of this season knowing that their contracts for this season will be paid to them.

Vaughn announced the news with a smile on his face given how much that both players have been through in their respective careers. Vaughn didn’t lose sight of the fact that both players have more money to spend now as he playfully said “dinner is on those two.”

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Nets’ Trendon Watford on big game against Clippers: ‘just who I am’

It wasn’t immediately known if Trendon Watford was going to be available for Wednesday’s win over the Clippers, but he was ready either way.

NEW YORK — Trendon Watford already had a busy Wednesday ahead of him as he was scheduled to practice with the Long Island Nets, the G League affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets. That practice would have been enough for him to just relax for the rest of the day, but once Ben Simmons was ruled out for the game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Watford’s day also became longer.

“Just who I am, honestly,” Watford said after putting up nine points, five rebounds, two assists, and three steals in Wednesday’s 100-93 win over the Clippers. There was some confusion earlier in the day as to Watford’s availability against the Clippers as the Nets initially said that Watford was sent to Long Island to practice.

It turns out that Watford’s availability potentially hinges on whether Ben Simmons, who was ruled out with left hip soreness a few hours before tip off, is available to play in a given game. Watford is similar to Simmons in that both players are considered point forwards with the way that they can handle the basketball and set up teammates.

“I heard Ben was out right when I got on the court,” Watford said. Despite going through a high-intensity practice earlier in the day, Watford still had more in the tank and Brooklyn needed everything that he was able to give. “I just had to shift my mind into alright, now I’m about to play. I didn’t know it was gonna be 20 minutes but, yeah man, I feel good. I feel like I could do it all over again.”

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Nets’ Trendon Watford focused on ‘making an impact’ in win over Heat

The moment wasn’t too big for Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford as his focus was solely on ‘making an impact’ during his court time.

Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford has been one of the players that the Nets fanbase is interested in seeing on the floor because of his unique skillset as a big man who can run an offense. After not playing a second in any of Brooklyn’s first three games this season, Watford finally got his chance on Wednesday to show what he can do for the Nets.

In Wednesday’s 109-105 win over the Miami Heat, Watford entered the game for Ben Simmons with 4:36 left in the first quarter. From that point until he came back out of the game for 5.1 seconds left in the quarter, Watford racked up two points and two assists and just a small sample of what he was going to do over the rest of the game.

By the time that the final buzzer sounded, Watford, 22, had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 from three-point land along with four rebounds, four assists, and one steal for a +19 in just 14 minutes of work. Watford, along with sharpshooting guard Armoni Brooks, was a huge part of a Brooklyn bench that helped the Nets come back from a 16-point deficit to stun the healthier Heat.

To hear Watford tell it, he was just trying to do what he could to help the team during his time on the floor:

“I told him (Armoni Brooks) at half time whenever we get back out there, we got to do what we did (in) the first quarter. We got in the first quarter, end up cutting the lead and end up getting some momentum. So, I just told him at half time just come out (and) be ready and whenever he called us, just make an impact. So, that’s what we did.”

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Nets’ Trendon Watford knows being ‘versatile’ is his way onto the court

Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford has a shot to earn rotation minutes and for him to do that, he has to use his positional versatility.

NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford, like many of the other free-agents that were brought in this summer, will be looking for a way to break into the Nets’ usual rotation and carve out a consistent role. Watford seems to understand that the secret to him getting more minutes is taking advantage of his ability as a versatile big man.

“I pretty much talked to coach Jacque (Vaughn) just about the positions I played in Portland,” Watford said during Monday’s Media Day. “My best attributes is just being able to play both positions and being able to do multiple things,” Watford continued.

As of this writing, Brooklyn has gone through two days of training camp and one thing is certain: the Nets need as much as they can get from every guy on the roster if they are going to beat the odds this season. Every player from incumbents like Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton to new arrivals like Watford will have to consistently do what they’re good at if Brooklyn is going to make it back to the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

“Being a versatile guy that can do multiple things at multiple positions at the four and the five,” Watford said to describe what kind of player he is. The former LSU product knows what he brings to the table for Brooklyn, but also mentioned that he doesn’t expect to be pigeonholed into one position in the frontcourt. “I wouldn’t say that he (Vaughn) necessarily talked to me about putting me at just one position.”

From hearing what Watford said, it seems that he has multiple ways to help the team. If he isn’t able to be a viable backup at center Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe, then he could be someone who can contribute at power forward.

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3 goals for Nets’ Trendon Watford heading into training camp

With training camp starting later this week, here are three goals for Brooklyn Nets big man Trendon Watford to strive for this season.

Brooklyn Nets big man Trendon Watford has been an interesting prospect over his first two seasons in the league as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. Most of his games in the NBA have been as a big man off the bench since Portland still had starting center Jusuf Nurkic in the lineup.

Despite Watford showing some promise over the past two years, Portland waived him this summer. However, since Portland moved on from him, that gave Brooklyn the chance to sign him to give him the opportunity to show what he can do for a team that is rebuilding, but also trying to win.

At this point, Watford will be competing for playing time in the frontcourt since it appears that Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe will start off the season as the starting center and backup center, respectively. Here are three goals for Watford if he wants to earn more time on the floor:

What does Trendon Watford bring to the Brooklyn Nets?

Now that the Brooklyn Nets have signed Trendon Watford, here’s what he can bring to the team next season.

The Brooklyn Nets announced on Thursday that they signed free-agent forward Trendon Watford to a standard non-guaranteed NBA contract. Watford is now one of a few free-agent signings that Brooklyn has made as it looks to make it to the playoffs next season and try to get out of the first round.

Watford will most likely come to the Nets as a forward that can be a backup to whoever starts at power forward and to starter Nic Claxton. At one point, Brooklyn seemed to lack depth in the frontcourt but now, they can choose between Day’Ron Sharpe, Darius Bazley, and Watford for bigs to get playing time when Claxton is not on the floor.

Watford, 22, has spent his first two seasons in the NBA playing for the Portland Trail Blazers and has had moments where he looked impressive as a big coming off the bench for them in spots. Here’s what he can bring to the Nets:

Brooklyn Nets have agreed to a deal with forward Trendon Watford

The Brooklyn Nets announced on Thursday that they have signed free-agent forward Trendon Watford to a deal.

The Brooklyn Nets have made it through a crucial part of their offseason as they have been able to evaluate most of their 2023 draft picks and have signed the majority of their free-agents for next season. It looks like they are adding another free-agent to the bunch to make the team better.

The Nets announced on Thursday that they have agreed to a deal with free-agent forward Trendon Watford. Watford, 22, comes to Brooklyn after spending the past two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers as a big man off the bench. NetsDaily reported shortly after the news broke that Watford is being signed to a non-guaranteed standard NBA contract similar to Darius Bazley.

After coming into the league as an undrafted free-agent out of LSU, Watford played solid basketball for the Trail Blazers as a forward who can play on the perimeter in various situations such as rolling to the rim or popping out to the three-point line for straightaway long-range shots. Watford appears to be someone who would not clog the paint for Brooklyn and could be part of the team’s effort to improve the long-range shooting in the wake of losing shooters like Joe Harris and Seth Curry.

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