Brooklyn Nets Film Room: Trendon Watford and the Value of Early Offense

Don’t sleep on the Nets forward.

Apr 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford (9) controls the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Trendon Watford played an intriguing role in his first season for the Brooklyn Nets. Heading into his fourth season as a pro, the landscape exists for the former LSU forward to truly solidify himself as an NBA player. 

Watford, who played for the Portland Trail Blazers prior to joining the Nets last year, has never averaged more than eight points or 20 minutes a game. In fact, his court time went down in Brooklyn, to 13.6 per night — five minutes lower than his career average until then.

But despite never truly being a mainstay in a team’s rotation, Watford has consistently shown flashes on low volume that keep him interesting. Ever since college, the 6-foot-9 forward can put the ball on the floor and playmake for others at a steady level relative to his position. It’s largely through skill that Watford offsets being smaller and less vertically explosive than other 4s and 5s in the league.

At the same time, Watford will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. He’ll want to have his best season to date in order to secure his next contract. For Brooklyn’s part, the organization is at the beginning of a rebuild and the arrival of new head coach Jordi Fernández effectively gives Watford a clean slate. 

One way for the Nets forward to add value this year is in early offense. Watford is a grab-and-go threat, meaning that he can collect defensive rebounds (8.2 per 36 minutes last season) and get the break started. Watford has an adept handle and plays unselfishly.

Brooklyn’s January 3 game against the Houston Rockets provides some tape worth revisiting:

Watford subs in at the top of the second quarter. He’s sharing the floor with Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson, Royce O’Neale and Day’Ron Sharpe. 

The Brooklyn forward brings up the ball and quickly pitches it off to Sharpe. It’s an inverted pick-and-roll look out of pistol action, with Watford screening for his frontcourt partner. Sharpe misses, but this is a straightforward and easy look for the Nets to get to. 

Watford’s screen could probably be slightly more physical in order to create more space; however, despite the importance of that, it could matter less if the pitch-off goes to a speedy guard like Dennis Schröder or to a bucketgetter like Thomas. 

Involving Ben Simmons in this early offense look would probably be fruitful, as well. Simmons’ role is one of the biggest questions for the Nets to address this season, but he is arguably the most talented player on the squad if at full health.

The spacing in transition ends up slightly different and not as clean, but this is roughly the same idea. Watford brings up the ball, but he dishes it back to Thomas instead. Thomas can then use a screen to get a shallow paint touch, attract help and assist an open three.

The important thing isn’t so much who gets the assist here; rather, it’s the Nets playing at a fast pace and making quick, assertive decisions to generate quality shots.

Watford doesn’t touch the ball at all in this play. Johnson brings it up at his pace and waits for his forward to set the screen. 

The 23-year-old sets a much better screen here than in the first clip, completely removing Johnson’s defender from the play. The Rockets’ Cam Whitmore is a second too late to contest, which you can’t afford to do given Johnson’s flamethrower.

This is a notable clip because Watford needs to excel at the “little things” in order to increase his role in the Nets’ rotation. There is an approach in some sports circles, maybe most prevalently in cycling, of focusing on marginal gains — or improving different important elements by a so-called one percent — eventually results in massive benefits.

For Watford, those marginal gains can be setting better screens, boxing out harder or running the floor more aggressively, because he’s never going to be outmuscling other bigs or dunking over the top of guards.

Watford brings the ball up with about eight minutes to go in the second quarter. The configuration in pistol shows up again, with Watford handling, Thomas lifting from the corner and Sharpe in the middle of the floor. 

Deception is the name of the game, as Watford fakes the handoff to Thomas but instead explodes right. The Nets forward gets Alperen Sengun in space and, even though the Turkish big isn’t the most fleet-footed, it’s worth pointing out how Watford subtly gets his hips low to turn the corner.

As seen in the next and final clip, finishing like this more often would be a big boost.

Watford again looks to attack the basket after receiving the ball in early offense from Thomas. The sudden change in burst is nice but the former can’t quite move Sengun and has to take a contested floater.

Scoring at the rim is another area of growth for Watford. Only 41 percent of his shots last season were within four feet of the basket, per Cleaning the Glass, which represented a career low. The conversion at 68 percent is also improvable, but the volume is more important at just 67-for-98 attempts. Watford should look to get deeper paint touches so that he can take easier shots and increase those numbers.

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