Ranking all of Steph’s teammates: #48 — C.J. Watson

During his time with the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry has had 106 teammates who have appeared in at least one game. Some played in exactly one game, while others played in hundreds. Some never actually played in a game that Curry was active for, while others formed historically great partnerships with him.

And I’m ranking all 106 of them before a new season starts and he adds to the tally. Better get a move on.

Players are ranked — and stats are shown — based only on their time as Curry’s teammate. How good/bad they were in other organizations doesn’t matter. How good/bad they were on pre-2009-10 Warriors teams doesn’t matter.

#48 — C.J. Watson

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Games: 65 (39th out of 106)
Points per game: 10.3 (24th out of 106)
Rebounds per game: 2.6 (T-59th out of 106)
Assists per game: 2.8 (T-16th out of 106)

I have only fond memories of C.J. Watson’s three years as a member of the Warriors. But because he always seemed to have this calming veteran presence about him, I often forget that he started his career with Golden State, after they signed him to a series of 10-day contracts.

Were we looking at his full three-year tenure with the Dubs, he might rise up this list a little bit. But he only overlapped with Steph Curry for one season, and he had some shooting struggles that year. After making 39% of his three-pointers and 86% of his free throws in his first two seasons, Watson dropped down to 31% and 77.1%, respectively, in his third and final campaign. His two-point field goal percentage spiked, but his overall efficiency still took a hit, as did his assist rate.

Like most Warriors fans, my memories of Watson are quite nice. I adored his slightly unique yet totally fluid shooting motion, and how it looked effortless even when chucking from well beyond the arc. He was a joy to watch in transition, and seemed far more mature and experienced than you would have expected from a player so early in his career.

He was nothing special defensively, and his height — or lack thereof, rather — limited his versatility on that end of the court, while keeping him from being able to haul in rebounds. That made him a not-dynamic player while playing alongside Curry during the MVP’s rookie season, but he certainly was a good one.