When the Wizards played the Spurs in late December, Jamir Watkins spent a bunch of time guarding Victor Wembanyma. Wemby faces physical, dogged defenders who get up under him all the time. Watkins seemed to present a new challenge.
The Wizards’ second round rookie mirrored Wemby’s lanky dribble and looked ready to rocket into the air at every moment to contest sky-high jumpers. In a game where the Wizards characteristically gave up a lot of points, Watkins changed the tenor by blanketing the Spurs’ best player.
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The Wizards have found something here. They rewarded Watkins last month by converting his two-way contract into a two-year, fully-guaranteed deal.
His offense is, to put it mildly, a work in progress. But his defense jumps off the TV screen. There is elite potential here, and it is one of the current joys of watching this Wizards team.
Take this play from last weekend’s game against Oklahoma City:
The impeccable closeout might be my favorite thing here. He’s able to bound full speed to the perimeter, then slide his feet and shut off any advantage.
From there, he’s actually a beat slow to recognize that Jared McCain is spinning into a dribble hand-off. It simply doesn’t matter. Watkins beams back to the perimeter and blows up the whole play.
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Already, Watkins is one of the best defensive playmakers in the NBA. Per Databallr, he ends 4.2 percent of his defensive possessions with a steal, block, or foul drawn — a 97th percentile figure.
The Wizards have him guard every position. In the same game against Cleveland earlier this year, he spent time on both Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen. He defends bouncing on his toes, as though every dribble is available for the taking. He has an impressive ability to balance in-your-jersey aggression with fundamental sliding and mirroring.
Watch him track Jamal Murray, recover from being screened, and contest his shot at the rim:
His length and quickness has made him an especially intriguing fit defending lead guards. He is at his best picking guys up high on the court and turning simple actions into a chore. But as we saw in the Spurs game, he is also an asset guarding (way) up in size. When Watkins is on the court, the Wizards are six points better per 100 possessions on defense.
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Like most rookies, he has areas where his feel will improve and he can match his boundless athleticism with technique. He has an inclination toward gambling. Sometimes, he relies a little too much on his own athleticism — letting guys drive, then trusting himself to make an unlikely recovery. His off-ball recognition will get better with experience.
I’m most intrigued by his rim protection upside. As good as he is at blowing plays up and forcing turnovers, he can get better at understanding when guys like to get their shots off, and how he can generate a quality contest.
Watkins defends 10.3 shots at the rim per 100 possessions, which is the most in the entire NBA for qualified non-bigs. He is also tracked as the closest defender on more than 20 shots per game all over the court, another elite number. Still, he is only in the 17th-percentile at impacting those shots, meaning opponents are hitting those shots above their regular averages.
Those stats are admittedly noisy, and are partially a product of the Wizards’ general porous defense. But Watkins has room to grow in tracking guys over screens, staying down on fakes, and contesting straight-up at the rim.
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He has all the tools to get there. He is clearly very good already. As moribund as the Wizards can look defensively at times, Watkins is a flash of lightning who catches opponents off guard and changes the shape of the game.
To hold onto a role in the NBA, he’ll have to find a role on offense. Promisingly, he’s shooting 34 percent on corner threes. (Don’t look at his above-the-break percentage.) Otherwise, while we’ve seen some brief flashes, he rarely gets the ball and doesn’t put up many shots. Given that he’s too small to carve out a niche as a small-ball five, he’ll have to gain more comfort and feel attacking from the perimeter.
With his defensive ability, he deserves a long leash. There’s not many guys in the NBA who can do what he does.