The smile said the cavalry was already here, trumpets firing from the top of the arc. A scribe had just asked Nuggets coach Michael Malone last Sunday to elucidate on second-year wing Peyton Watson, and, more specifically, Watson’s second 10-point fourth quarter in about 50 hours.
“I loved it,” Malone replied, whispering a can-you-friggin-believe-that chuckle into the microphone. “(The Blazers) came one time, no one had him. (Watson) pulled up from three and that was one of those, ‘No, no, no! Great shot!’ The kid’s got (stones), man.”
The kid is your Bruce Brown now, come hell or high water. Or as close to Brucey B as the Nuggets, between Thursday and whenever this title defense rests, are gonna get for the rest of the season.
Malone trusts Watson, which is good enough for me. Calvin Booth trusts Watson, which should be good enough for anybody. Although Booth also didn’t have much choice in the matter, given a roster handcuffed by the salary cap in ways a young Harry Houdini couldn’t wiggle out of.
As the 2024 NBA trade deadline came and went, so did Nuggets Nation’s champagne wishes and caviar dreams for upgrading the bench. Old friend Monte Morris would’ve made for a sweet reunion — we’d all be blessed to have someone love us the way the Joker loves Big Game ‘Tae — but landed in Minnesota instead. Royce O’Neale, a 3-and-D ace with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, would’ve fit the second five like jalapeno cream cheese fits the Johnny Burger at My Brother’s. Alas, the Suns swooped in.
Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Phoenix all got deeper. The Mavs got spicier.
The Nuggets got … some cash.
Yo, Peyton? It’s your time, kid. Your show. And your floor. For better or worse. Watson as a rookie last season watched the Nuggs nail almost every note, a year that turned into the basketball equivalent of The Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper” — a seminal work of pure hoops art led by Jokic & Murray, the NBA’s Lennon & McCartney.
The follow-up LP has always felt like a little bit of an experiment — Booth’s “White Album,” if you will. The thesis: If the CBA won’t let us break the bank to hang on to the Bruce Browns and Jeff Greens, can we keep drafting and developing enough Christian Brauns quickly enough to make up the difference?
We won’t know the answer to that one until June. Which is where Watson comes in.
There’s only one KCP, but the Nuggets could use one or two clones to back up the best starting five on the planet — long, tough, ruthless defenders who’re largely switch-proof. Pluggers who bring a high hoops IQ to the party, deadly efficiency from 3-point range and a collective cool at the charity stripe.
No. 8 doesn’t have to be Jamal Murray for 30 minutes. Heck, even 15. But it wouldn’t hurt to be able to fake it for six-to-eight-minute stretches in a pinch, the way he did against the Blazers.
With a wingspan of 7-feet-and-change on a 6-7 frame, Watson always looked ideal as a Swiss Army Knife, utility defender — and the metrics in this season’s extended minutes have borne that out. Per CraftedNBA.com, his Deflections Per 36 Minutes (2.4), Rim Defense (minus-14% for opponents) and Block Percentage (4.3) were all better as of Thursday afternoon than Brown’s numbers (2.3, plus-1.4% and 1.0%), comparatively, with Indiana and Toronto.
That said, Brucey B is a far better passer, shot creator and offensive rebounder than young Watson, who remains untested under the NBA’s brightest, hottest playoff lights — the next part of Booth’s analytical exercise.
Timing is everything in the postseason, and the tantalizing part is seeing how far the latter’s been coming around on the shooting front, especially late in contests. The former UCLA Bruin dropped 14 points on the Blazers over 22 minutes this past Friday night while adding another 12 in 30 minutes against Portland two days later. Since Dec. 1, Watson’s shot at a 46.7% clip from the floor, 36.1% rate on treys and 76.3% at the stripe. If Big 8 can carry that over into the din at Minneapolis or Phoenix, to paraphrase the late, great Carl Weathers, baby, you got a stew going.
“I’m one of those guys that can affect the game without the ball — always have been, always will be,” Watson reflected earlier this week. “I think that those times that I put everything I can into defense and rebounding and just helping us win, I think it just wears the other team out.”
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Championships are for closers. Since Dec. 12, Watson has played six or more minutes of a fourth quarter 15 different times. The Nuggets wound up going 13-2 in those tilts.
When a reporter asked Watson if he liked being labeled as a fourth-quarter assassin, No. 8 had a better idea.
“Just call me, ‘A winner,’” he countered. “That’s all. That’s the only title I need.”
Kid’s got stones, man. On this stage, the bigger, the better.
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