Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Portal Target: Florida St Wing Jamir Watkins a Complicated Fit for Bill Self and KU

Starting point is 00:00:00 Would Florida State transfer wing Jamir Watkins be the final piece of the puzzle for Bill self and give the Kansas Jayhawks this offseason? You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first team every day. What's going on Derek Johnson here this is locked on Jay Hawks thanks for making it your first listen every day thank you to the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show you can find us anywhere you get your podcasts including on our

Starting point is 00:00:36 YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show and on today's edition of locked on Jay Hawks we're doing a Kansas Jay Hawks transfer portal target deep dive on Jameer Wat, a transfer wing from Florida State before that VCU. That would maybe be the final piece of the puzzle at this point in time. Kansas with four open scholarships, but maybe a couple of them go to, you know, more developmental players. Maybe one goes to a backup big, and then that kind of leaves one spot for like another stud transfer edition. Would that end up being Watkins? So we'll get into a scouting report what he would bring to the table. Also get to how he would fit in with KU and some latest news, some very big time transfer portal additions to the portal today as the portal

Starting point is 00:01:16 is getting closer to wrapping up but still continually getting some you know possible all-conference possibly even all- American candidates entering in the portal today and at this point in time. All right, let's start up with Jamir Watkins here. He is a six foot seven, 210 pound wing. You can play him with the three or the four hack Florida State even played him at times as a point guard. So you're getting a lot of versatility in what you can get with Watkins. He'll be a sixth year player. Um, a reason why he'll be able is he had the covid year. redshirt year. Um, but bet

Starting point is 00:01:50 state five seasons again, counting eligibility. So next year of college basc 18.4 points per game, 5. 4 assists, 1.2 steals, h game shooting percentage, 5.7 rebounds, 2.4 sys, 1.2 steals, half a block per game. Shooting percentage, 42.7 from the floor, 32.1% from three on a little over five attempts

Starting point is 00:02:12 from three point range per game. So, you know, good numbers in terms of the volume of threes, but the efficiency is slightly below average there. 74.7% at the free throw line. Again, does a great job getting a bunch of volume there. 7. the free throw line ag getting a bunch of volume free throw attempts for g there. Overall effective

Starting point is 00:02:31 more in the below average true shooting percentages there. The team was about better with him on the fl were about three and a hal with him on the floor and him a 3.5 on his transfer grade so to speak. I do think it's interesting in looking at some of the shooting

Starting point is 00:02:50 percentages of a wing comparing him to Jalen Wilson mentioned 42.7 from the floor 32 from 3 on 5 attempts per game. Well Jalen's last year at Kansas when he was the first team All-American 43 from the floor 33.7 from three on 5.8 attempts per game. I got to the free throw line a bunch, but not quite as much now. Watkins not as good of a rebounder or some of the other things maybe as Jalen, but there are at least some similarities there that you can make cross comparisons to in their game. Now Watkins, we do have some real measurements on him.

Starting point is 00:03:21 He was part of the the the combine, you know, last year, and he measured six foot five barefoot. So you know, with shoes, probably six, six and a half, six, seven, somewhere in that range. He has an eight foot eight standing reach, which you might be wondering, is that good? Is that bad? Well, if you look at the NBA combine from last year, the average for a small forward, which he basically is, was a foot eight and a qu average in standing reach there. He had a 35.5 inch So that's about average t

Starting point is 00:03:53 measurements across the b as a small forward there And again, he's going to that gives him experience joins. This was an excerp It says Watkins is the best combination of size, athleticism, and defensive abilities of any wing in the portal.

Starting point is 00:04:11 He should focus on getting to the basket only, or basket, and only shooting wide open threes. So wanting a little bit of a shift in his game, but really liking his size, athleticism, and defensive abilities among the wings in the portal. And interestingly enough, on CBB Analytics, the top statistical comp is a guy that a lot of KU fans wanted. That was Keeshawn Hall.

Starting point is 00:04:31 So, you know, that certainly makes him interesting. I think Hall overall, I trust him a little more on the offensive end, but I think Watkins a better defensive player than Keeshawn Hall is. Now you look at the strengths for Watkins, he's a solid athlete, like like that excerpt said, solid size for a wing. And again, you could say, okay, well, those measurements, as I just went over, are more average, but that's comparing him to the guys who measured at the NBA draft combine, right? Those are the best of the best. And so if you're just comparing him to the

Starting point is 00:05:00 college basketball public, he does queue on end of maybe he's not the the longest, but he does, side of being more athelet a lot of other players, r some really fun dunks. Yo athleticism come down ther 99th percentile and fast

Starting point is 00:05:26 You know, efficiency wise above average there, but transition. Like I said, fun dunks and I think you come into play on the def floor. He's got an 82nd p able to use that quickness to jump passing lanes. He uses his body and size well to bother

Starting point is 00:05:46 opposing offensive guards. He's really switchable in the kind of offensive players he can defend. And I go back to those, some of the on-off numbers that didn't love him defensively, but people know him as a solid defender. So like what gives there, cause again, FSU was 3.6 points worse

Starting point is 00:06:06 on defense was with him on the court this year. Last year they were 3.2 points worse when he was on the court defensively. His two years at VCU they were six points worse with him on the floor defensively one year and then they were three points better another. That means over four seasons three of the four they've been worse with him on the floor defensively. And on average, it would be a couple points, you know, worse per game. So again, what gives there I don't know if there's something to that. But I view a guy who is athletic, who does seem to be a good defender when you watch him. And you see

Starting point is 00:06:40 good steel numbers. And I kind of just think that might just be a noisy number. It's not like the team is 15 points worse when he's on the floor defensively. It's like a few points over. So I think that could just be something weird that's kind of going on there. Like I do view him as being a good defender, but he has the ability to create shots one on one. He's 74th percentile in isolation points per possession. He's also pretty good from the mid-range 60th percentile here, although 60th percentile in the mid-range still is not that efficient of a shot overall,

Starting point is 00:07:10 but nonetheless, he is decent there. Scoring inside has been a strength for him. 81st percentile in paint points per game. 80th percentile in second-chance points per game, so he's crashing the glass there and converting it to points. He's only a 37th percenti is kind of odd because yo athletic wing would be be

Starting point is 00:07:29 at the rim. But he was 70 So he was better on kind shot than he was at the r free. Maybe that just has state wasn't the best seem they just didn't have as that was the reason why, I don't know. Getting to the free throw line was a strength of him as well.

Starting point is 00:07:47 86th percentile free throw temperate. So he's getting to the line a lot. And he converts him to it when he gets there. He's almost 75% at the line. He can also handle it a little, mentioned he can run a little bit of point. He was in the 92nd percentile for his position in assist percentage.

Starting point is 00:08:02 Just gives you another player out there who can be a good passer and move the ball around. And he's also good out of spot ups 79th percentile in spot ups and then 75th percentile as a pick and roll ball handler. And it's the spot ups that is probably most important there being that you know, the ball would be in the handle lot of Darren Peterson and now I guess Melvin Council and some of these other guys that you have to be able to play off ball and yes Watkins if you join KU would still get plenty of opportunities to have the ball in his hands and make

Starting point is 00:08:31 play but it wouldn't be as much as at Florida State because you have Darren Peterson right so you have to be able to play off the ball and that's a good sign there. Now some of the big questions for Watkins shooting is the first big one. Only 25th percentile nationally, so in the bottom quarter of his position in college basketball and field goal percentage. He's also just 27th percentile in two point percentage. And then three point percentage, 58th percentile for his position.

Starting point is 00:08:56 It's actually slightly above average there, plus doing it on good volume. I don't know if there's something to this, but 60 career games against Ken Palm top 100 teams, his three point percentage drops to 30% as well as 29% from three in 29 career games against Ken Palm top 50 opponents and not somebody who is, you know, up this game or stayed consistent against better competition. It's there off the dribble to to Jamir Watkins, just 19 field goal percentage off you look at his game, I t inefficiency off the drib

Starting point is 00:09:37 shooting is about shot se he dribbles into contested he takes contested shots. that's always gonna make Bill self happy, right? The decision making, I think is also a question here. I mentioned the poor shot selection. That is part of the decision making.

Starting point is 00:09:53 Despite an effective field goal percentage of being in the 28th percentile, an effective field goal percentage, he was in the 98th percentile for field goal attempts per game. So you're taking a lot of shots, even though it's not the most efficient. Now the counter to that is you're having to take a lot of shots because your team

Starting point is 00:10:08 wasn't that great and so it's lowering your efficiency and if you get on a team where you don't have the four shots as much the efficiency is going to go up, right? But overall when he was on the floor the team's effective field goal percentage did go down. There is a little bit of an AJ store worry here. I think is a fair way to put it. But also you could say he's better at a lot of other things that store was not. But also going back to the decision-making Watkins just in the first percentile.

Starting point is 00:10:35 So one of the worst in the country in turnovers per game also in the third percentile in fouls per game. So those are all things where it's like, okay, how would this really fit? And I think a smaller question here, rebounding if he's in it for maybe you just, if you had him, you play him at the three and Trey White would be your four, but he's an above average defensive rebounder.

Starting point is 00:10:53 61st percentile for defensive rebound rate, so maybe it's fine, but just 10th percentile for offensive rebound rate the year before he was 30th and 74th respectively in the two, which which maybe is enough and it's still more than you'd be getting with you know, store and Griffin. But basically, if you're having to play him at the three, you're needing him to shoot more. And do you have enough shooting there?

Starting point is 00:11:15 Whereas if you play him at the four, it's like you have enough rebounding there. So those are kind of some of the questions there. How exactly would he fit in with KU? Where does he rank amongst some of these other wings? Let's discuss that next on Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by the Amazon Fire TV Stick with 4K. Did you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices.

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Starting point is 00:12:40 required available on select devices, including fire TV stick 4K second gen fire TV stick 4K Max first and second gen and Fire TV cube third gen. Thanks for joining us on Lockdown Jayhawks. Don't forget to make Lockdown College basketball your second listen every day. How would Watkins fit in with KU? Well, let's start her to the team. What he would with? We've talked a lot a players and Kansas didn't

Starting point is 00:13:10 enough this past season. the free throw line a ton Kansas in that area. Um yo defense, you can never hav you can never have enough that standpoint, it would look at the roster KU is building just if we're talking athleticism, Darren Peterson, obviously a good athlete. I think I look at Jayden Dawson as being a solid athlete, right? There's that highlight of him

Starting point is 00:13:34 throwing down really a crazy dunk, right? Trey White's a good athlete. Florid Benunga, obviously, if you're comparing him to other centers, especially he is an insane athlete. If you're comparing him at his position, Melvin Council, obviously very good athlete. This Kansas team should be able to run, get up the floor and be really athletic, which is going to be really fun to watch. And he would fit right in with that and that style of play and therefore help you more in transition. Kansas kind of faded off over the last three or four months of season and transition play on the offensive end of the floor. Well Watkins would add even more to what

Starting point is 00:14:08 your transition play would be. It would also give you more shot creation right? If you want even more shot creation, more guys who can create a shot and make tough shots, the shot clock is winding down or one-on-one in isolation possessions. He can get to his spots and make some of his shots. And then like I said, the defensive versatility of if you throw him out there with white as two versatile wings on the defensive end with four re blocking shots in the middle. And then you got Darren Peterson up top

Starting point is 00:14:33 with either council is a good defender and athlete or Dawson who's a good defender or Marco who's a good defender. Like, I mean, that is a lockdown defensive lineup where there's not really any weaknesses and a bunch of guys are switchable. And that would be a ton of fun for what this team could be. Now what it doesn't solve though is the shooting.

Starting point is 00:14:50 I do think, like I said, I mean for his position, he was at least above average in three point shooting. He was doing it on good volume. So I don't think the shooting is a minus, but you know, it's not something where do you almost view it as okay. Peterson, what are you gonna get from a freshman you don't know? Is Dawson gonna be starting or coming off the bench?

Starting point is 00:15:11 Even though Dawson's viewed as a good three point shooter, you know, you're talking more 35, 36%. Florian on shooter, Trey White low volume shooter. Does there need to be, you know, El Marco, I don't know that shooting has been the primary strength of his game. Does there need to be more emphasis that whatever wing they bring in has to be like a really good three point shooter has to be a good three point shooter as opposed to just one that's just kind of staying afloat there and doing other things well? Or do you

Starting point is 00:15:35 continue to steer in to, you know, athleticism and defense and two way play and you know, that dog mentality, those things being more of your being more o it's smart to okay, you h built now it's good to ki something else to push yo know. It also doesn't rea but it doesn't significan either. And Trey White's Flory's a really good. Uh

Starting point is 00:16:00 rates on Flory are great I do think sometimes Flor and maybe gave up too man offensive rebounds at times. So maybe you're looking for somebody to help with the defensive rebounds. But overall, I don't think it hurts you there kind of either. The biggest question for me is, would this be one that, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:19 would not totally get along with Bill Self? And so if you're looking at, if he comes to the team, he can play the three or the four. I think you'd probably want him more at the three with white at the four given the rebounding stuff. And when Peterson goes to the bench, you can even have him running some, you know, point guard actions at times if he he needs to. But then again, you also have a Marco and Melvin Council to where I don't know that you would need him to kind of do those things. But yeah, there could be certain plays where he kind of initiates the offense, right? But I got to kind of be honest here. Before I got into this deep dive, I thought Watkins would be a slam dunk home run, excellent addition for KU, just surface level stuff. After getting into this a little more, I am wondering if there's maybe a little bit too many like AJ Stor similarities here. So Watkins was in the 99th percentile in usage rate. He had high turnover numbers. He had some questionable shot decisions. And albeit like he did have the ability

Starting point is 00:17:13 to make some tough ones, right? And so it puts you somewhere on the spectrum of AJ Stor to Remy Martin, right? And I don't know where, where's Brandon Green in that spectrum? Is he even further down than AJ Stor? Is he above AJ Stor? I don't know. Where's brain and green in that spectrum? Is he even further down than AJ stores? He above ages. I don't know where's Ryland Griffin in that right?

Starting point is 00:17:28 But Remy Martin might be at the top of it where it was shaky all the way through, but it worked out in the end and you want a title so like, you know, there is a lesson there that if you can control the chaos a little bit, like you can have a lot of success out of it. But the flip side is if you don't, you end up in a similar situation to the past season, which you certainly don't want to have. And so I wonder about the shots like and on a team where like, okay, Darren Peterson is going to have the ball in his hands a lot. You know, that was part of the thing with like AJ stores, like, okay, if

Starting point is 00:17:57 AJ stores at Wisconsin, and he's taken 1520 shots in a game, and there are three or four of them where the coach is take that shot or that wa the world, they kind of f like, okay, he's gonna ge like, it's fine. You have But when you were AJ store year where it's like no, gonna get fed first and t

Starting point is 00:18:18 other players are going t you might only get three specific game and then tw of them end up being kind of heat checked shots where it's like, what was that shot that doesn't work out? And so there would be a bit of a question for me there, right? Like, I mean, Peterson's gonna have the ball in his hands a lot, right? Like you're gonna have other players who are sharing the ball a little bit and taking shots and stuff to where like, is that going to be a problem?

Starting point is 00:18:41 And I do all say that like part of the issue wasn't just with AJ Storm, Ryland Griffin, you know, I guess more specifically in stores case, the shot selection and bad turnovers and questionable decisions and stuff like that. It was also that you didn't have the defense or the rebounding to lean back on for those guys. And that is at least one difference with Watkins that he does have the defense to lean back on.

Starting point is 00:19:05 And even though, yes, he's not the best rebounder in the world, he's an average rebounder, you would say for his position. And that's more than store. And Griffin can say so like, it's a very complicated question, because I definitely think this is like a take to some degree. But my problem here is you you might only have enough NIL to make like one more big splash move, right? And so you need to be picky and choosy. And so like I'm looking at some other wings that are available right now, right? Like I'm looking at Darian Williams. I'm looking at RJ Lewis.

Starting point is 00:19:38 I'm looking at, I guess if you want to talk about a guy who entered today, which we'll get to here in a second, Andre Stojakovic, right? I guess if you want to look at Tyron Stokes, the number one recruit in 2026, I'm looking at those guys and I'm like, okay, I think that makes more sense that you need to explore all avenues to see if those guys would happen before this one. But if those don't end up working out, I think you do take the risk on this just knowing that, okay, if he is taking some bad shots, it's not going to be as quick of a hook as AJ Stor or Rylan Griffin because you know he is taking some bad sho be as quick of the hook a

Starting point is 00:20:07 Griffin because you know on that end of the four a going to at least provide he can handle the ball a didn't really get much of Griffin or AJ store. Again of the big thing there an rebounding than those guy

Starting point is 00:20:24 of the day. Um I you're getting better rebounding than those guys. And at the end of the day, I think just a more complete basketball player. But again, I would be exploring my options on those guys first because of some of the worries, even though I do think it is a well rounded enough basketball player that you can make it work. All right. What is some of the latest news in the portal? I mentioned Stojakovic. He wasn't even the biggest name to enter the portal today. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us today. Don't forget, make Locked on College Football

Starting point is 00:20:49 your third listen after you make Locked on College Basketball your second listen every day. All right, some latest portal news. I mentioned Andre Stojakovic. He is the son of Peja Stojakovic, one of the all-time greats in three-point shooting in NBA history. And he went to Stanford in year one,

Starting point is 00:21:04 transferred to Cal in year two. Um, th because the rub on him co and I think he was a five his dad. I'm sure that th a little bit is that this be a knockdown three point quite happened so far in low 30% from three. But y three is a former five star recruit. Like

Starting point is 00:21:26 that's a lot of the times when we see those guys break out from a shooting. I always think of like Wayne Selden, like that was the year for him when he kind of broke out to that level. So it wouldn't shock me if he does break out to that level. But he had a good season overall at Cal and he would be somebody who he's six foot seven. Cal played him at the three and four. I guess you could maybe even play him at the two was a shooting guard if you wanted to play like a jumbo lineup. But like and four. I guess you could maybe even play him at the two as a shooting guard if you wanted to play like a jumbo lineup, but like realistically, I think you would make a lot of sense.

Starting point is 00:21:48 You play him at the three, if you're Kansas, he gives you that four spacing and shooting. You play Trey White at four and you kind of profit from there. I think that would make a lot of sense for KU. The other big name is PJ Haggerty, who transferred from Memphis, which he'll be on his fourth school in four years. He'll be a redshirt junior this year, he's go

Starting point is 00:22:06 of N. I. L. Money, like 2 He was one of the best sc entire country from Memph He's insane at getting to know, kind of shooting tw getting to the free throw like that. Just a really in general and one that,

Starting point is 00:22:24 with Kansas already taking I guess we live in this world now where like Kansas could be like, oh, we didn't know you were going to be available and then they go all in for him and then one of the players that you know, they already had committed ends up leaving for another school because the playing time is not there like that wouldn't be that crazy if that were to happen. But you know, I don't know somebody that's at least interesting there because if you had Hagerty and Peterson, probably the best backcourt in the country, it certainly would be the most buckets from a backcourt I would think in the country. But you've also kind of steered in to fit here and tried to build this roster in a specific

Starting point is 00:22:58 way. Does it make sense to kind of ditch that with Hagerty? I don't know. I don't know. And then the other one was Dane Danger from Memphis. Reportedly entered the portal and then he tweeted like I'm staying here or something like

Starting point is 00:23:09 that. So I don't know what that's about. But he had a good season probably out of the range of like, oh, would you want to be Flory's backup? Probably too good to suppose for that. But they'll continue to look for backup big men.

Starting point is 00:23:20 And maybe it just comes when the portal starts to dry up and players start to realize, hey, I don't have an opportunity to be a starter here or the only place I can be a starter is at this, you know, really low level school. I'd rather make more money and play 15 minutes per game off the bench or 12 minutes, whatever it is for, for Kansas. I don't know. Also some KU football news that I wanted to get to here. KU football has a couple offers out to a couple edges, defense events. Eddie Kelly, he is an edge from Missouri. He was an 85 graded three star on 24 seven sports

Starting point is 00:23:47 out of high school, coming from the state of Florida. And then he has been all over as well. South Florida, then Georgia Tech, and then Missouri. Now he'll be on his fourth school this year. But somebody who has power five, it just feels like a depth play for me for KU, which tells you they probably are looking to get another body in that defensive end room, right?

Starting point is 00:24:08 And then they also offered Georgia State defensive end, Cam Williams, who, you know, a bit of a smaller sample size in his play at Georgia State, but was good in the sample size that he did provide. And again, somebody who you figure would come in and I don't know the expectation would be to start, but he would give you another body. And obviously on the D line, you're rotating guys, even if you're second or third string, you're still playing. The other one is we mentioned on a previous show, Appalachian State transfer offensive tackle Markel Samuel was supposed to be visiting

Starting point is 00:24:32 Kansas while he wound up committing on his first visit, which was Oklahoma State. So he never ended up visiting Kansas. And that is one possible offensive lineman off the market. But it definitely seems like Kansas going for a defensive end definitely seems like Kansas going for an offense alignment. Definitely seems like Kansas going for an offensive lineman. Do they go for anything else outside of that in the portal? That remains to be seen because it is officially open now for KU football. I don't know for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks, you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. We'll be back at you if there's any breaking

Starting point is 00:25:00 news over the weekend and also coming at you on Monday with more portal talk, more deep dives,

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Portal Target: Florida St Wing Jamir Watkins a Complicated Fit for Bill Self and KU

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