The Nets have signed free agent Yuta Watanabe, the team announced in a press release. The terms of the agreement weren’t revealed, but Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (via Twitter) that Brooklyn signed Watanabe to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract.
A 6’8″ forward, Watanabe has played in 121 NBA games across four seasons with the Grizzlies and Raptors. He appeared in 38 contests with Toronto last season, averaging 4.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per outing. He also shot 41% from the floor and 34% from three-point range.
Brooklyn has 15 players on its 20-man offseason roster. One of those players (Alondes Williams) is on a two-way deal, while the other 14 are on standard contracts — in addition to the 12 with fully guaranteed salaries, Watanabe is now on a non-guaranteed deal and Edmond Sumner has a partial guarantee. Watanabe will presumably join the team for training camp with a chance to earn a roster spot this fall.
The Nets are coming off a tumultuous summer headlined by Kevin Durant‘s trade request. With Durant and the team recently agreeing to move forward with their partnership, the club is now focused on competing for a championship.
Somehow, surprisingly, I think there are still some people that are sleeping on the Nets.
Simmons
Kyrie
Harris
Durant
Claxton
Mills/Cam Thomas
Seth Curry
TJ Warren
Royce O’Neale
Aldridge/Griffin/Sharpe
They don’t have alot of big man depth, but they can always move either Simmons or Durant down low for a faster paced small ball lineup. Although, Claxton has excellent speed for his size, so they can still run the floor with a traditional big in there as well.
The additions of Warren, O’Neale, and Simmons should bring an excellent mixture of playmaking, scoring, and especially defense to this squad…If Warren is healthy, you can just about write him in every single game for 15 points easy. Then, Simmons and O’Neale can play excellent perimeter defense, rebound, and both play defense well down in the post.
Griffin is totally washed up it looked like, but Aldridge looked like he could easily have another quality season in him, and with the emergence of Claxton they shouldn’t need him as much…
Shooters and scorers galore in Mills, Harris, Curry, KD, Kyrie, Thomas, and Warren, excellent rebounding, excellent passing and more playmakers, and a renewed focus on their perimeter defense which should take alot of the load off of Kyrie and KD…
If anyone doesn’t think this Nets team is for real, I have the funny feeling they’re going to remind everyone pretty early on..
It’s just ridiculous to dismiss them. scary af.
Watanabe is just a scrub, but he seems like a nice one.
He gives his all. Which is refreshing. He sells a ton of merch?!
They had talented roster last yr too and got swept….. in the 1st round.
Their roster is alot more complete this year, it isn’t even comparable…
Plus, KD, Harris, and Simmons are all healthy, and Kyrie is playing all their games…
Warren and O’Neale are two very underrated pickups!! Not to mention keeping Claxton was huge too!!
Way better roster this year obviously.
Aldridge and Griffin are both currently free agents…
I’ve been telling anyone on here who will listen about Brooklyn for months!! Months!!
Durant just dropped his trade request days ago. Days!
And yet, there are a whole bunch of “ifs” and “coulds” regarding the Nets.
3rd in the East is likely.
You make excellent points about the Nets. However the biggest thing that afflicts them is that they are not wanted in N.Y. They don’t get any second team love at all.
I did an analysis in my other fourm about this last year and they agreed.
It’s hard to get up and play like you can when your not wanted by the fans.
Human nature dictates that you give what you get. Worse they have the label of a failed team on them now as well. The overall national attitude against them is the same as in this fourm.
They can do no right in the publics eye.
I may be mistaken but I don’t think Aldridge and Griffin were re-signed. Would like to see the Nets sign a big with 1 of their remaining spots and on paper they sound solid. The problem is their Coach unfortunately.
Harrell would be a good pick-up for the T-MLE.
He can’t play defense and is too undersized to match up against legit bigs.
It’s better for the Nets to target guys like Hassan Whiteside, Cody Zeller or Demarcus Cousins for the veterans minimum
Haha, whiteside would fit right in.
Harrell almost doubles those guys productions. One must also consider the local marijuana laws when signing Montrezl. I think he’s good there in Babylon.
The problem with Harrell though is that he is a defensive liability and he lacks size to match up against bigger and stronger centers.
Another problem with him is that he can’t shoot. Which means he doesn’t provide spacing and clogs the paint.
Weed is real easy to get in NY!
Did KD approve of this signing?
Yes! He was consulted prior to the signing. KD gave his stamp of approval. He also approved changing the coffee at team HQ to Folgers.
Congrats Yuta & good luck on your career!