Gonzaga basketball: Analyzing 2020-21 frontcourt without Filip Petrusev

Anton Watson

While Petrusev is very clearly a five, the Zags have enough flexibility among their players, and their offensive and defensive sets, to replace some of his minutes with more traditional power forward type guys, like Anton Watson.

Watson averaged just under 15 minutes per game last year, but he only found himself in 15 contests thanks to a nagging shoulder injury that eventually shut him down for the whole year.

While he’s more of a replacement for the departed Killian Tillie, Watson will see plenty of action at the four alongside either Timme or Ballo, and could maybe – just maybe – see some action as a very small-ball five against size-disadvantaged teams.

Imagining Watson, an uber-athletic six-foot-eight 3/4 hybrid, running hi-ball screens and being the point man in the hi-low offense is drool-worthy for Gonzaga fans. Really just getting a full, healthy season out of the sophomore from Spokane should be exciting enough, as he displayed so much promise, along with some rawness, in his debut season.

Watson averaged 4.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.2 steals in 15 minutes per game while shooting 53.8% from the field. His shooting was massively suspect, however, as he converted just 11.1% of his threes and 57.1% from the charity stripe.

The three-point shooting was an oddity, as he was touted as a good shooter coming out of high school, but seemed to quickly lose his confidence in that area – often passing up wide-open opportunities early in the season.

Hopefully, that was just a case of the freshman jitters, as an athletic 6’8 forward who can shoot from the outside and finish in the paint is an outstanding piece for coach Mark Few and his staff to play with, and he’ll be one of many bodies to help replace Petrusev in Gonzaga’s frontcourt next year.