Through two days and change, the Sixers have made one external addition to their roster through free agency, signing 24-year-old Trendon Watford to a two-year contract at the veteran's minimum. Watford, a close friend of star guard Tyrese Maxey, slots into a need for the Sixers at power forward. But for a player listed 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, Watford has a unique style that makes him an interesting fit on a star-laden roster.

Here's what watching hours of film on Watford suggests about his strengths, weaknesses and ability to be an important rotation piece for a Sixers team desperate for any kind of production at his position:

Passing

On a team that projects to have at least three guards capable of commanding extra attention from opposing defenses, having bigs that can pass will be a priority for the Sixers and head coach Nick Nurse. After the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey highlighted how many teams that made deep playoff runs did it by utilizing lineups with as many ball-handlers as possible, an arrangement Nurse has often preferred during his time in Philadelphia.

Watford's primary strength is his ball skills. His ball-handling ability and passing chops are extremely rare for a player of his size, and they manifest in all sorts of ways that are easy to envision translating from a lowly Brooklyn Nets team to a Sixers roster that could have several high-powered offensive players.

Perhaps the most exciting possibility is Watford enabling the Sixers to increase their transition frequency. If he gets the ball to end a defensive possession, the Alabama native is ready, willing and able to push the ball in a way most players his size cannot do:

In the half-court, Watford's most appealing batch of assists came out of the post, where he is able to utilize his size advantage over most defenders and court vision to both make simple passes and find creative angles:

Watford's ability to see over defenders when facing up also helps him throw strong entry passes when his bigs have an advantageous matchup or a good seal:

While Watford should not be described as a special or elite passer, he is extremely gifted on that front – and can certainly make special and elite passes for a player of his size:

Unfortunately for Watford, during his time on the Nets he did not often have teammates commanding enormous amounts of attention from opposing defenses. So, as encouraging as it would have been to see him thriving as a short-roll passer, there are very few examples on film where he is even capable of playing with an advantage. He did at least operate as a dribble hand-off hub quite a bit, which the Sixers could utilize in a much more dynamic fashion than Brooklyn could:

He also played out of the pick-and-roll as the ball-handler more often than most players his size could ever dream of, and in addition to hitting rollers was able to find cutters for baskets:

It feels reasonable to assume that with all of the different ways Watford's passing skill shows up on tape, it can also translate when Maxey, Jared McCain, Paul George or Quentin Grimes draws a double-team and Watford has the ball in a 4-on-3 or 3-on-2 situation:

Frankly, Watford not being able to make defenses pay for blitzing those players would be a major disappointment given what he has displayed as a passer in other spots on the floor.

Another boon for the Sixers would be Watford turning out to be comfortable throwing alley-oop passes, which he did not do a ton of last season despite sharing the floor with rim-running center Nic Claxton:

Watford is not going to be a primary engine for a quality offense at any point, but he has more than enough ability as a playmaker to give a team a real boost when it needs more shot creation. And while Watford is a pass-first player, it is not to such a degree that he becomes a non-threat to score.

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Scoring

While Watford gets the people around him involved in a way that is unconventional for a player of his size, he also has a slightly unorthodox method of attack when scoring the ball. He does a stellar job of getting defenders on his hip and keeping them there. My friend Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily pointed out that Watford has a major reliance on shooting floaters, and it turns out Watford attempted more of them on a per-minute basis than the vast majority of the NBA last season:

However, an interesting number of Watford's floaters do not look like normal ones. Instead of going downhill as fast as he can or coming to a jump stop, Watford is most comfortable just slowing down, absorbing hits from defenders and trying to finish through contact. It is not how a coach would draw it up, but it works enough for Watford to stick with it:

If the Sixers are ever relying on Watford to create shots off the dribble at any sort of meaningful volume, they will likely be in trouble. But in a pinch he can absolutely do it, because most players that defend him will either be too big to guard such a skilled ball-handler or too small to avoid being overpowered. Watford is able to break down defenders one-on-one every now and then; the more he can do it for the Sixers the better his chances will be of sticking:

However, there is one obvious area in which Watford needs to make strides to really become a critical component of this team...

MORE: Sixers free agency primer

Shooting

Watford is not a non-shooter, but he is also not a good shooter. In a perfect world, he will never share the floor with more than one player who is a worse shooter than he is – and ideally that player would be a big with the sort of vertical gravity that enables Watford to properly utilize his unique passing skills.

Even before getting to his actual efficiency from beyond the arc (or potential lack thereof), Watford's slow release could cause issues. It is harder to ever play a background role offensively without being able to get three-point shots up quicker than this:

Opposing defenses are not going to ignore Watford's existence when he is on the perimeter without the ball, but they are also going to feel comfortable leaving him for seconds at a time knowing they can get a late contest in if the ball swings his way and be in decent shape:

Watford will be one of a few Sixers rotation players -- if he does crack the regular mix -- to be challenged as a corner three-point shooter. Can he start to knock these down just a bit more often to keep defenses honest?

Watford is a career 34.9 percent three-point shooter, but that modest figure comes on very low volume (1.2 attempts per game, 3.3 attempts per 100 possessions). The fact that he is a 75.8 percent free throw shooter for his career is slightly encouraging, as is his major uptick in three-point volume last season in Brooklyn.

Watford shot 33.3 percent from long range on 2.4 attempts per 100 possessions in the first two years of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers. In two seasons with the Nets, he shot 35.9 percent from three-point territory on 4.4 attempts per 100 possessions.

Defense

Watford is such an interesting offensive player that his defensive profile becomes secondary in many respects. With his stellar frame and a wingspan that reaches 7-foot-2, Watford is as much of a power forward as a power forward can be when it comes to a defensive position. He can be placed on an off-ball wing when needed, too, but he will never be much of a rim protector.

Because Watford is not a high-caliber NBA athlete for his size, he has failed to become much of a stopper as a defensive player, and he has also not provided much playmaking on that end of the floor. His plus size helps him avoid being physically overwhelmed at any point, and on plays like this where he remains disciplined he can get stops:

However, Nurse generally encourages his perimeter players to be far more aggressive pursuing turnovers and deflections. Look for him to be especially emphatic in that directive with Watford, as any possession he is able to end as a defensive player will turn into a transition opportunity offensively:

Watford has the tools to at least be a better defensive playmaker than he has been to date in the NBA, even without major athleticism. If he makes a leap there – as his friend Maxey did last season – it would empower him to tap into his signature skill on the other end of the floor far more often.

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