The Nets Just Accidentally Found The BEST Shooter In The NBA...

Every year in the NBA, we typically experience a few stories where players seemingly come out of nowhere and establish themselves as stud rotational players that cement their roles on teams. These are players that were either undrafted, long-time journeymen that were never really given a chance, or even G-League players that were called up and made the most of their opportunities. And when these players do break out, they become fun stories that make it very easy for the public to root for them. This season's version of this happening happens to be coming about by the way of a breakout player by the name of Yuta Watanabe of the Brooklyn Nets, and man oh man is he making his presence felt in a much needed way for them. There hasn't necessarily been much to celebrate for the Nets so far this season, but the emergence of Watanabe to being the best shooter in the NBA right now is certainly one of them, so in this video, we'll be taking a deeper dive into how all of this even happened. We'll be discussing his journey to this point, why it has taken him so long to stand out, and what this means for him moving forward. Before we start though, make sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel as all support is very much appreciated. Now with that being said, let's begin. Yuta Watanabe came up the ranks as a Japanese young man who was looking to defy the odds in the NBA world. Asian representation for quite some time had been scarce in basketball, but Jeremy Lin and his early Lin Sanity run really did a fantastic job at the time of inspiring a new generation of Asian basketball players to pursue their dreams in the sport. That hysteria all went down in 2012, and in 2013, Watanabe traveled to America to play his final high school basketball season in order to hopefully earn a scholarship to a Division 1 college program. This is progress that we hadn't really ever seen from a Japanese player before, and this momentum was definitely getting recognized by the Japanese public as the newspaper the Japan Times wrote an article about him labeling him as their quote-unquote chosen one, which is definitely a pretty lofty title. By the end of that senior season, Watanabe was a modest three-star recruit on the databases of ESPN and Scout.com, so he wasn't necessarily a player being sought after by big-name college programs, but he did have offers from Fordham and George Washington University, and ultimately committed to play for George Washington. This was a huge milestone for the Asian basketball community for a number of reasons, but the biggest reason of all being that Watanabe became the first Japanese player to ever be given a Division 1 basketball scholarship, and he was just the fourth Japanese man to ever play at the Division 1 level. With so much support behind him before even stepping on the court, he had profiles written about him in national newspaper outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, he had previous Asian basketball players vocalizing their support of him in his journey, and obviously he was a pretty popular player with a big fan base because of all of this. Now, as an actual basketball player, Watanabe and his play style was actually a bit different back then compared to what he is making headlines for now. As a six foot eight inch forward, Watanabe had tremendous size and length to be utilized in a versatile way at a time when positionless basketball was becoming more popular than ever, so the timing of his come-up could not have been better. Watanabe obviously had the capability to score, but he wasn't actually a scorer by nature, as his calling card to minutes early on at George Washington actually came by means of defense. He was by no means guaranteed anything on the court when he first arrived, so he had to work his way into any role he was given, and what won the coaches over was his tireless effort and natural instincts on the defensive end. Watanabe played all four years at George Washington, and every year he got better and better, with his hard work culminating in two seasons being named to the conference's all-defense team, a third-team all-conference nomination his senior year, and he was even named his conference's defensive player of the year his senior season as well. He did average a career-high 16 points in his senior season, but he was never anything more than a league-average shooter, so despite his defensive efforts, he did not end up hearing his name called in the 2018 NBA draft. This wasn't the end of the road for him though, obviously, as he did get to play for the Brooklyn Nets summer league team, and then he got picked up by the Memphis Grizzlies on a two-way contract where he would begin his NBA career. He spent most of his time down in the G League during this time in Memphis, but when he debuted with the team, he became the in the NBA, giving his home country more recognition on an even bigger stage now. His first two seasons were spent in Memphis, where he would play 55 games in the G League, compared to making just 33 appearances with the Memphis Grizzlies in that span. In the G League, he wasn't bad by any means, as he was scoring about 17 points per game by the end of it, and he was playing good defense too, but the G League is filled with talent that puts up numbers, so that wasn't exactly the kind of production that was moving the needle. After two seasons there, the Grizzlies chose not to bring him back, so he was once again at a point where he was promised nothing unless he earned it. The Toronto Raptors brought him in on an Exhibit 10 contract, which is basically a deal where the player participates in training camp, but then more than likely gets released before the rosters get finalized, but Wadanabe worked his ass off to stick around and impressed the coaching staff enough to have his contract converted to a two-way deal once again to stay with the Raptors. In Toronto is also where Wadanabe began playing his first taste of real minutes in a rotation outside of garbage time, as he played about 15 minutes per game in his first year, and then 12 minutes per game in his second year with the team, but again, after two seasons, the Raptors chose not to bring him back. In the NBA, Wadanabe has just been trying to do what he can to stick around, but you could tell that early on, he was getting lost in the moment trying to do too much. For him to stick around, he was going to have to embrace the role as a 3 and D player, because his defensive capabilities were already what was getting him opportunities, but his shooting is where teams were hesitant to trust him. In his career prior to this season, he was shooting just 35% from 3 on very low volume, and also in the G League where he was playing more consistently, he was also making just 36% of his 3's, which isn't exactly good enough for a role player to be expected to be a specialist in that regard. This, to Wadanabe's credit, is exactly what he came to realize, so this summer, he worked incredibly hard to improve his shooting stroke, and when the Brooklyn Nets signed him to yet another exhibit 10 contract this summer, they likely weren't even expecting that much, but his new and improved shooting stroke was ready to go. During training camp, Wadanabe actually discussed his thought process going into a new situation with the media, saying that he understands that the Nets have superstar talent that can do the scoring, so he just wants to bring energy on defense like he always has, and more importantly, he discussed how he was focusing on improving as a spot up shooter, to take advantage of the open looks that he could get, saying that his goal was to shoot 40% from 3. Well, it's still early on in the season, but at the current moment, Wadanabe is leading the entire NBA in 3 point percentage, making 57% of his shots from deep, and it's not only a feel good story, but a genuinely impactful diamond in the rough find for a Nets team that desperately needed it. Basketball is a game all about confidence, and when Wadanabe's shots started falling, everything else seemed to fall into place with his game too, because he's been an active cutter off the ball, he's been making key stops on defense, and he was playing about 20 minutes a night or more for them over the last 11 games. Unfortunately, he's missed the last 4 games because of a hamstring injury, but it's not said to be too serious, so he will be back out on the court again soon as well. Obviously, there are times when a player catches fire and then reverts back to his former self, proven to be a bit fluky, but I truly do not believe that what Wadanabe is doing right now is a fluke. He's a smart 2-way player who has finally found a situation where those around him trust him in his role, and he has the size and athleticism to hang at this level. For someone of Kyrie Irving's stature to be calling him the best shooter in the league and to say that he wants to reward him for making the lives of everyone else around him easier, then I think that speaks very highly of how he's viewed by his peers. For roleplayers like him, the name of the game is 3 and D, and the defensive side of things were always his bread and butter, but now that the 3 point shooting is catching fire, he might be on his way to earning himself a huge payday for the first time of his career next time contracts need to be negotiated, and after the journey that he's been on, he has more than deserved it. And with that being said, that's all I have for you today. Make sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and comment down below what you think about Yuta Wadanabe and his NBA journey. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you all next time.