Earl Watson

Earl Watson

Watson with the Pacers in December 2009
Phoenix Suns
Position	Head coach
League	NBA
Personal information
Born	(1979-06-12) June 12, 1979 Kansas City, Kansas
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight	199 lb (90 kg)
Career information
High school	Washington (Kansas City, Kansas)
College	UCLA (1997–2001)
NBA draft	2001 / Round: 2 / Pick: 39th overall
Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics
Playing career	2001–2014
Position	Point guard
Number	25, 8, 2, 11, 17
Coaching career	2014–present
Career history
As player:
2001–2002	Seattle SuperSonics
2002–2005	Memphis Grizzlies
2005–2006	Denver Nuggets
2006–2009	Seattle SuperSonics / Oklahoma City Thunder
2009–2010	Indiana Pacers
2010–2013	Utah Jazz
2013–2014	Portland Trail Blazers
As coach:
2014–2015	Austin Spurs (assistant)
2015–2016	Phoenix Suns (assistant)
2016	Phoenix Suns (interim)
2016–present	Phoenix Suns
Career highlights and awards
First-team All-Pac-10 (2001) Pac-10 All-Freshman Team (1998)
Career statistics
Points	5,593 (6.4 ppg)
Assists	3,871 (4.4 apg)
Steals	873 (1.0 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Earl Joseph Watson Jr. (born June 12, 1979)^[1] is an American former professional basketball player who is currently the head coach for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, where he was a four-year starter. Watson was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round of the 2001 NBA draft with the 39th overall selection. He played 13 seasons in the NBA with seven teams before becoming a coach in 2014.

High school and college career

Watson is a graduate of Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas. In his senior year of high school he averaged 23.4 points, 8.3 assists and 14 rebounds per game.^[2]

Watson was a starter in college at UCLA, at one point playing alongside future NBA All-Star Baron Davis. They were the first two freshmen to start at UCLA since the 1979 season. A four-year starter, Watson started the most consecutive games in the history of UCLA basketball.^[2] As a senior, He averaged 14.7 points (2nd on the team, 9th in the pac-10), 5.2 assists, (1st on the team, 2nd most in the Pac-10) 3.7 rebounds, 0.3 blocks, and 1.9 steals (most in the Pac-10, most on the team) per game. He earned All-Pac-10 First Team Honors.

Professional career

Watson was selected in the second round (39th overall) by the SuperSonics in the 2001 NBA draft. In the 2007–08 NBA season, Watson averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 assists with the Sonics. On February 6, 2008, Watson recorded his first-ever triple-double in a game against the Sacramento Kings. Watson logged 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in 32 minutes.^[3] It was Seattle's first triple-double since Ray Allen registered one on January 28, 2004, against the Los Angeles Lakers.^[3]

On July 17, 2009, Watson was waived by the Thunder.^[4] He signed a one-year deal with the Indiana Pacers on July 28, 2009.^[5]

He signed with the Utah Jazz on September 26, 2010.^[6]

On July 10, 2013, he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.^[7]

Watson retired as a player on October 2, 2014.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Coaching career

On October 2, 2014, Watson was hired as an assistant coach by the Austin Spurs of the NBA D-League, effectively ending his 13-year playing career.^[8] He joined the Phoenix Suns as their new assistant coach on July 30, 2015.^[9][10] However, after a poor start to the 2015–16 season, the Suns fired coach Jeff Hornacek and replaced him with Watson as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.^[11] While Watson would make his coaching debut on February 2, 2016 at home against the Toronto Raptors, it wouldn't be until February 27, almost a month later, where he'd record his first win with the Suns at home against the Memphis Grizzlies, a team he had previously played under. He would then get his first two-game winning streak on the road as a coach with victories on March 4 against the Orlando Magic and March 6 against the Grizzlies respectively. After starting out the season with only one victory in ten games for February, he'd end the season with an 8–15 record the rest of the way, including ending the season with a 3–1 stint. On April 19, the Suns announced that they had agreed to a three-year deal with Earl Watson due to the positive nature he had that was instilled upon the team after he was first hired, making him the full-time head coach of the team. With his promotion to permanent head coach, Earl Watson is currently the second-youngest head coach in the NBA (behind only Luke Walton), being 36 when he first started coaching.^[12] Watson also became the first former UCLA Bruins player to become a head coach in the NBA, as well as the first NBA head coach of Hispanic decent.^[13]

During Watson's first full season as head coach, he would continue to promote the same philosophical mindset he had for the Suns back when he first started coaching them, but he'd also adjust the team's focus to being more involved with defense first and then offense second.^[14][15]

Head coaching record

Personal life

Watson's father, Earl, is African American and his mother, Estella, is Mexican American. Because his maternal grandparents were born in Mexico, Watson was eligible to play for the Mexico national basketball team.^[16][17] Watson has four brothers and one sister.^[1] He is also involved with the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Arizona.^[13] One of his brothers, Dwayne, was a retired police officer who died due to blood clots in his legs that were dislodged during an altercation. The assailant, Tremaine Quinn, was sentenced to 36 months of probation for the action.^[18] That incident would be a major driving force for Earl to take up coaching in basketball.^[19] Watson founded the organization "Emagine" to positively impact the youth of his hometown Kansas City, Kansas.^[20]

On 16 May 2009 he married ^[21] actress Jennifer Freeman ^[22] and they have a daughter, Isabella Amora (October 16, 2009).^[23]

In August 2010 they separated after Freeman physically attacked him; they briefly reconciled afterwards,^[24] but as of March 2015 are divorcing.^[25]

During his coaching tenure in the NBA, Watson has stated he takes inspiration from UCLA all-time great John Wooden.^[13]

Watson is also considered a supporter of the Amateur Athletic Union programs, saying that the right program and right people involved can lead towards more positive experiences for the people involved. He also claims that he likely would have never gotten a scholarship for UCLA if he didn't have the AAU around.^[26]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com
• Earl Watson's Student-Athlete Program
• Media related to Earl Watson at Wikimedia Commons