SAY WATT?
Let's put this myth to bed regarding the Texans and JJ Watt
Feb 18, 2021, 4:42 pm
Why didn't they trade him? Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images
Chiefs once again remind Texans what a real championship contender looks like
It's hardly a secret the Houston Texans have made more questionable decisions in the past two years than any other organization in the NFL.
From trading DeAndre Hopkins for an overpaid, underperforming running back to the speculated issues between Texans' ownership and all-world quarterback Deshaun Watson, it is understandable to question every move the team makes.
Here is a myth Texans fans should steer away from believing: theHouston Texans should've received SOMETHING for J.J. Watt.
First off, the Texans were two years late expecting to trade Watt for any decent return. The time was in 2018 when Watt's stock skyrocketed after injury plagued seasons in 2016 and 2017. Watt had 16 sacks in 2018.
Watt had compiled a long list of injuries up to 2018. In 2016, Watt had two back surgeries to repair herniated disks. In 2017, Watt underwent another surgery to repair a tibial plateau fracture in his left leg. There were plenty of rumors heading into the 2018 season regarding Watt being traded or even released. His All-Pro performance that year was a surprise, but brought a perfect opportunity for the Texans to flip Watt for a younger player or draft picks.
I'm sure Texans fans can guess who botched that one. The off-season heading into 2019 saw Texans ownership fire general manager Brian Gaine, and presented head coach Bill O'Brien with full control over every move the franchise made. It was also the off-season when Jack Easterby joined the Texans fold.
It wouldn't come as a surprise if the O'Brien-Easterby duo was unfamiliar with the phrase 'buy low, sell high'. Every move they made proved to be the complete opposite. A losing formula for sure.
What could the Texans have gotten for Watt after the 2018 season? Most likely a first-round pick.
The fact is, there was no one calling for J.J. Watt after the 2020 season. Which would you rather have? A beat up jalopy or a brand new Dodge Ram? Exactly. NFL executives would want the Ram, too.
But couldn't the Texans at least receive a 5th or 6th round pick for him?
No. In 2021, NFL franchises see more value in young, 6th rounders with ANY potential then J.J. Watt, a jalopy that had zero sacks and three tackles in his last two playoff appearances in 2015 and 2018. The next team that Watt goes to will obviously be a contender. Then why doesn't he consider signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Watt's contract will be short-term and earning near the league minimum.
They’ll be watching in Canada, not just because of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, though the NBA’s scoring champion and MVP favorite who plays for Oklahoma City surely helps lure in fans who are north of the border.
They’ll be watching from Serbia and Greece, the homelands of Denver star Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Alperen Sengun will have them watching Houston games in the middle of the night in Turkey, too. Slovenian fans will be watching Luka Doncic and the Lakers play their playoff opener at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Los Angeles. Fans in Cameroon will be tuned in to see Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers. Defending champion Boston features, among others, Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia and Al Horford of the Dominican Republic.
Once again, the NBA playoffs are setting up to be a showcase for international stars.
In a season where the five statistical champions were from five different countries, an NBA first — Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, rebounding champion Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento is from Lithuania, blocked shots champion Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio is from France, steals champion Dyson Daniels of Atlanta is from Australia, and assists champion Trae Young of the Hawks is from the U.S. — the postseason will have plenty of international feel as well. Gilgeous-Alexander is in, while Sabonis and Daniels (along with Young, obviously) could join him if their teams get through the play-in tournament.
“We have a tremendous number of international players in this league,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this season. “It’s roughly 30% of our players representing, at least on opening day, 43 different countries, so there’s much more of a global sense around our teams.”
By the end of the season, it wound up being 44 different countries — at least in terms of countries where players who scored in the NBA this season were born. For the first time in NBA history, players from one country other than the U.S. combined to score more than 15,000 points; Canadian players scored 15,588 this season, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, the first scoring champion from that country.
Gilgeous-Alexander is favored to be MVP this season. It'll be either him or Jokic, which means it'll be a seventh consecutive year with an international MVP for the NBA. Antetokounmpo won twice, then Jokic won three of the next four, with Cameroon-born Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers winning two seasons ago.
“Shai is in the category of you do not stop him,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said after a game between the Raptors and Thunder this season.
In other words, he's like a lot of other international guys now. Nobody truly stops Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic either.
And this season brought another international first: Doncic finished atop the NBA's most popular jersey list, meaning NBAStore.com sold more of his jerseys than they did anyone else's. Sure, that was bolstered by Doncic changing jerseys midseason when he was traded by Dallas to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it still is significant.
The Slovenian star is the first international player to finish atop the most popular jerseys list — and the first player other than Stephen Curry or LeBron James to hold that spot in more than a decade, since soon-to-be-enshrined Basketball Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony did it when he was with New York in 2012-13.
“We’re so small, we have 2 million people. But really, our sport is amazing,” fellow Slovene Ajsa Sivka said when she was drafted by the WNBA's Chicago Sky on Monday night and asked about Doncic and other top Slovenian athletes. “No matter what sport, we have at least someone that’s great in it. I’m just really proud to be Slovenian.”
All this comes at a time where the NBA is more serious than perhaps ever before about growing its international footprint. Last month, FIBA — the sport's international governing body — and the NBA announced a plan to partner on a new European basketball league that has been taking shape for many years. The initial target calls for a 16-team league and it potentially could involve many of the biggest franchise names in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
It was a season where four players topped 2,000 points in the NBA and three of them were international with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo. Globally, time spent watching NBA League Pass was up 6% over last season. More people watched NBA games in France this season than ever before, even with Wembanyama missing the final two months. NBA-related social media views in Canada this season set records, and league metrics show more fans than ever were watching in the Asia-Pacific region — already a basketball hotbed — as well.
FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis said the numbers — which are clearly being fueled by the continued international growth — suggest the game is very strong right now.
“Looking around the world, and of course here in North America," Zagklis said, "the NBA is most popular and more commercially successful than ever.”