There's a question between the lines here, which is that I don't have a ton of faith/confidence yet in this coaching staff or front office to develop players. We sort of knew in Stotts/Olshey's system that after 1-2 redshirt years, players would come out at least serviceable in a motion offense setting and have stood in a gym for hours on end and become somewhat competent as outside shooters. Now, I have no real sense if players are learning any sort of offensive system, or defensive scheme, or if they have an ace shooting coach that can fix shots. What is this coaching staff good at besides 'player mentorship'? We don't know.
I really don't like Watford because he seems to deliver on a lot of things you don't really need him to do, but not a lot of other things that you do need him to do. He seems to operate best with the ball in his hands in almost a secondary playmaker setting, yet the Blazers don't really have an offense where they need him to provide that. They need him to be solid against bigs, seemingly, at the 4 and the 5 spot. He can't really defend either of those spots. He's probably too slow to guard most 3s. The better outside shooting this season is nice though he has the 2nd lowest volume on the team. The push shot is interesting but he can't really get it off against bigger dudes. Classic tweener. They probably can keep him around because he's cheap and one of the few guys that can probably enter the rotation in a pinch, but his limitations seem physical and not super fixable. He's not going to get bouncier, faster or develop a better vertical.
On the other hand, I loved Jabari Walker in Summer League but not having a G-League team was a real detriment to him this season. All of the heady confidence he seemed to have in Vegas seems to have fallen by the wayside into the yips. They're clearly trying to rebuild his shot right now, but it looks all kinds of hitchy when he gets it off now. Contrary to Watford, I do think Walker has physical tools to make it in the league, he just needs to work on his body and get leaner and faster. I suspect he could be an interesting 3/4 combo player if he sticks with it. He's played way too much center this season.
I like Drew Eubanks as a 3rd string big but they don't seem super interested in bringing in someone ahead of him, so here we are with him as a backup. It could be worse, but there's not a lot of upside there. I'd like him to add a 3 point shot to his game in the offseason so he's at least competent there.
I actually think Cam Reddish is going to have a moment in the league—it will just be in 3-4 years when he's bounced around and gotten his head right. Certainly not in Portland. His stuff seems between the ears.
Kevin Knox's physical tools are intriguing but then does things that clearly remind you of why he's gone from Lottery talent to potentially out of the league soon.
