C.J. Watson: From Undrafted To A Major Role Player In The NBA

How many of you know the name C.J. Watson? I bet most of you true die-hard NBA fans know about him. He’s not a big name in the NBA but he has made the transition to the NBA by route of the NBDL(NBA Developmental League). He landed with the Golden Sate Warriors in 2008. He has since became a role player with the Warriors & seeing considerable playing time in the process. 

C.J. Watson isn’t exactly a known NBA commodity. He’s not the type guy that warrants much attention. He is a quiet guy that has made the jump from the NBA D-League to the NBA. His route wasn’t easy though. He went undrafted after his college playing career at Tennessee. He spent the 2006 season playing for both an Italian & Greek league.

He then decided to try & start up his NBA career by joining the NBA Summer League in 2007. He didn’t make an NBA roster so he went to the D-League for the NBA. He was drafted by the Rio Grand Valley Vipers with the 5th pick. Watson put up big numbers for the Vipers. He was averaging over 26 points per game with better than 5 assists & 5 rebounds as well.

The points per game was 3rd in the D-League before Golden State made the call for him. He initially signed only a 10-day contract with the Warriors. His impressive play garnered him another 10-day contract. Once again his play was impressive. This led the Warriors to signing him for the rest of the 2008 season.

There was a lot of speculation this past off-season that Watson was going to another team. The Warriors had restricted rights on him. However, other teams showed some interest in getting Watson. The Orlando Magic was said to have been pursuing him the most. That didn’t pan out though & no other team offered him a contract.

Watson signed a two-year contract offer with the Warriors that keeps him with Golden State through the 2010-2011 season. This past season Watson had an up & down season. He suffered through a few injuries & sickness. He missed a total of 17 games due to both injuries & sickness. He actually had a couple different bouts with the flu & also a rib injury that cost him the last part of the season.

He still put up career best numbers with over 10 points a game. He also had a career high with over 27.5 minutes a game. He even had a 40 point game against Sacramento while starting for the injured Monte Ellis. There has been a lot of the experts say that Watson, being a true point guard, doesn’t have the passing skills to be a legitimate PG. He’s more of a scoring PG than a passing PG which leads to speculation that he can’t run a team as a starter.

I have to disagree. There are a lot of scoring PG’s in the NBA. He’s certainly not a ball hog either. His role with the Warriors is not that of a ball handling guard. He’s more of an off-the-ball player due to the playmaking skills of both Curry & Ellis. They have the ball a lot more than Watson.

Summary

C.J. Watson’s path to the NBA hasn’t been an easy one. He spent time playing in Europe & also a short time in the NBDL. He didn’t give up on his dream. He showed his skills in the D-League & the Golden State Warriors awarded him a chance in the NBA. Ever since that time, Watson has become a legitimate threat for the Warriors. Will he continue that threat down the road with the Warriors or with another NBA team? Thanks for reading this article. Have a great day! ☺

Tags: C.J. Watson, D-League, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA Summer League, NBDL, Rio Grand Valley Vipers, Tennessee