Manny Watkins

[jchill]

There is nothing spectacular about him, but he comes to play every game. Love his effort and passion!

[pigsooie1000]

I love his 7-9 foot floaters/leaners. just a shot you almost never see and he hits 1 or 2 a game. he is one of the most glaring examples of an inexcusable weakness and that is our strength and conditioning program. he and Thompson have been chubby their entire careers and their body comp hasn't changed. UTA were a bunch of really strong men while we aren't

[The_Iceman]

6 points, 7 rebs, 4 asts, and 1 steal last night.

[HoopS]

6 points, 7 rebs, 4 asts, and 1 steal last night.

glue guy. A doer of little things. Smart. Hustles. Doesn't force shots. Positions himself for rebounds. Protects the ball. Directs movement. Hard nose Defense. Always in the right place.

[Hawg Red]

Not every player on the court has to be able to shoot. That's been everyone's knock on Manny. We don't need him shooting so it doesn't matter. He does so many other things. He makes a lot of big plays out there on both sides of the ball.

[JayBell]

Always plays hard, composed in big moments and good defense.  Fans might want to get used to seeing him on the court in important situations.

I've been frustrated too when Watkins has gotten more playing time than we might think he should, but he did everything last night a coach wants a senior captain to do.  Expect him to do it throughout the season.

[sadhogfan]

There is nothing spectacular about him, but he comes to play every game. Love his effort and passion!

Currently, he has 20 AST through 8 games (2.5 APG) and 2 TO. A 10:1 Assist:Turnover ratio is absolutely spectacular!

But you are right—he doesn't jump off the page but plays hard and well. I do think his stinginess with turnovers is very important for this team, since we tend to give them up a lot, at times.

[lynbug]

6 points, 7 rebs, 4 asts, and 1 steal last night.

Any one of those stats not particularly impressive, but all of them together.....that's another story....it means he's giving it his all in all situations....not just the easy shot.

[cableguy]

I love his 7-9 foot floaters/leaners. just a shot you almost never see and he hits 1 or 2 a game. he is one of the most glaring examples of an inexcusable weakness and that is our strength and conditioning program. he and Thompson have been chubby their entire careers and their body comp hasn't changed. UTA were a bunch of really strong men while we aren't
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I agree with you that Watkins body definition could be better.  I was very high on him as a sophomore, so much so I thought he could be the next Cory Beck because of his size. Dusty and Moses definitely have gotten bigger since they've got here. Portis definitely got stronger his second year. I think a lot of it up to the player, if they want to get stronger. 

[rude1]

I love his 7-9 foot floaters/leaners. just a shot you almost never see and he hits 1 or 2 a game. he is one of the most glaring examples of an inexcusable weakness and that is our strength and conditioning program. he and Thompson have been chubby their entire careers and their body comp hasn't changed. UTA were a bunch of really strong men while we aren't

You must not have watched either of these guys careers I suspect. Go back and look up what Thompson looked like as a high school senior, the kid literally reconfigured his body from the very beginning of his college career and has managed to keep the weight off. Manny is a very solidly built player, I don't have a clue what you think he should do different to his body, as he goes inside and shows great strength against players much taller than he is.

[Hawg Red]

Watkins' build works to his advantage since he is such a physical player. Don't we complain often about how thin many of our players are? I don't think there is anything wrong with Manny's or Trey's build. Both are below-the-rim players, so I don't see a need for them to lose weight or anything like that. Watkins, for a guard, is not particularly slow. He doesn't have a problem getting down the court and his build allows him to body up bigger players.

[Danny J]

Not every player on the court has to be able to shoot. That's been everyone's knock on Manny. We don't need him shooting so it doesn't matter. He does so many other things. He makes a lot of big plays out there on both sides of the ball.

Yeah but it wouldn't hurt...trey needs to shoot more as well...trey has a nice shot and I have been baffled why he is so hesitant.

[Letsroll1200]

Watkins has times that you wonder why is he getting so many minutes. He's not fast or the most skill player but he has stretches where he makes winning plays.

[poloprince]

A true Junk Yard Hawg  :razorback:

[Smalltownhog95]

He's a great role player. Nothing more or less and there's nothing wrong with that. Every team needs a guy to do the little things right. Hes not flashy but he doesn't give you very many WTH was that moments. I don't understand why some people want his minutes to go down so much.

[JayBell]

Is he more comfortable with the ball this year?  He sure looks like it and his assist to turnover ratio seems to indicate he is.

I think that's the main difference when it comes to being on the court in crunch time.  Anderson has other options at guard who are flashier and can score more points, but Watkins is calm late in the game, plays good defense and can rebound better than those on the bench.

[razorback1829]

Was a good move by CMA to split our leading assist guys (Beard/Watkins) up so they could help distribute and keep the ball moving with our scorers. Even though he doesn't bring the ball down, he keeps the ball moving, sets screens, and looks for his teammates.. Macon, Barford, and Hannahs are all good scorers, but all hunt their shot. Manny helps with this problem.

[NWAHog479]

For awhile I thought he deserved to be a walk-on, but he has worked his tail off and you can see it on the court. Love the energy he brings and think he'll be a great player/leader this season.

[pigsooie1000]

You must not have watched either of these guys careers I suspect. Go back and look up what Thompson looked like as a high school senior, the kid literally reconfigured his body from the very beginning of his college career and has managed to keep the weight off. Manny is a very solidly built player, I don't have a clue what you think he should do different to his body, as he goes inside and shows great strength against players much taller than he is.

they are both just as pudgy as they were as freshman, and have gained zero explosion, speed or power

[Hawg Red]

Yeah but it wouldn't hurt...trey needs to shoot more as well...trey has a nice shot and I have been baffled why he is so hesitant.

Trey definitely needs to look for his shot more, no matter where on the court it is. I don't worry about Manny because I'd rather a guy who can't shoot know that and stick to his strengths. As long as some combo of Macon, Hannahs and Jones are on the court, it shouldn't be much of a problem. Manny is rarely even in position to take a jump shot on offense. He's pretty good in transition getting to the hoop or getting the ball to someone else, and in the half court, he's not really looking to get the ball to shoot anywhere but the paint (where he's great). We did see him left open for a jumper last game and he missed (and it was definitely ugly), but that's a rare occurrence. He's usually just out there swinging the ball around to a better shooter on the perimeter and then getting closer to the basket for a dump-off for a floater or an O-board. Trey seems to have the same mentality as Manny except with more ability to actually execute as a shooter.