EAST LANSING – Michigan State’s Rocket Watts-to-point guard experiment may not be coming to a complete end, but it will be slowing down significantly.
“I envision him playing a lot more two now,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said on Thursday morning.
Izzo hopes that change can help his talented sophomore guard start playing better and help Michigan State end its current three-game losing streak.
The reverse course marks an admission from Izzo that his high-profile experiment of moving Watts from shooting guard to point guard isn’t working out nine games into the season.
And for that, Izzo said he blames himself, not Watts, for what he describes as a selfish decision to force-feed a position change under poor circumstances.
“I too blamed Rocket some, until I woke up one night and said ‘How stupid are you?’” Izzo said. “I always tell my players ‘Look in the mirror.’ I looked in the same mirror. I saw an idiot.”
Michigan State coaches asked Watts to transition from shooting guard to point guard shortly after last season, when Cassius Winston graduated with no obvious heir on the roster.
Watts admitted to being hesitant about the change from his natural position but went along with it both to help the team and his own NBA future.
The offseason, though, was hardly conducive to a position change. Compared to a typical offseason, Watts had less practice time with coaches, no exhibition games and a shortened non-conference season. All of that meant fewer minutes to get comfortable playing a new position.
“I think the lack of opportunity to play it, learn it, study it, and then play it in those exhibition games and maybe five other games against not quite as high a caliber teams, top 20 teams, would have helped Rock learn it easier,” Izzo said. “But we weren’t able to do it this year.”
Watts was nevertheless able to find some success as a point guard in November and early December. He took over the starting job at Duke and scored 20 points en route to a win. In ensuing wins over Oakland, Western Michigan and Detroit, Izzo at times thought Watts was showing signs of setting in.
But as competition ramped up with Big Ten play, his lack of comfort at the position became obvious. In Big Ten play, Watts has shot just 17 percent from the floor and the Spartans’ offense has been the second-worst in the conference in league play in terms of efficiency.
Before the team’s Monday game at Minnesota, Watts told coaches he wasn’t comfortable playing point guard, according to Izzo.
Coaches responded by moving Watts to the starting shooting guard position and giving most of the point guard minutes to Foster Loyer and freshman A.J. Hoggard. That will likely be the plan for the immediate future at the position starting with a Saturday game at Nebraska.
Izzo said Watts will go back to playing point guard “someday,” but for the immediate future will focus on shooting guard.
That means he can now be freed of the point guard burden and focus on what he does best: scoring. After overcoming an early injury last year, Watts blossomed to average 14.3 points per game over the last seven games as Michigan State locked up a Big Ten title.
Izzo said Watts has had two strong days of practice since the Minnesota loss. He’s focused more on his shooting, after going 1-for-9. And when he takes the floor next, he hopes Watts can look more natural.
“I think it’ll help him get a little bit more comfortable and it’ll help us a little bit more,” Izzo said.
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January 01, 2021 at 03:49AM
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