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The July birthdays keep on keepin’ on! Today we want to wish a very happy 65th birthday to former New Orleans Jazz guard Slick Watts.
While Slick Watts did not play for the Utah Jazz, he did help keep up the ‘cool’ factor for the Jazz franchise. He came off the bench for our team in the 1977-78 season. Sure, they didn’t make the playoffs or anything by going 39-43. But they were one of the coolest clubs around, head coached by Elgin Baylor, and featuring star players like Pistol Pete Maravich, Gail Goodrich, and Truck Robinson.
Watts signature style was the bald head and askew headband.
Jerry Sloan isn’t a fan.
Paired up with the floppy socks and mop-head of Maravich, this was a backcourt that was made for Instragram. Of course, Watts was way better known for his five seasons with the Seattle Supersonics than he was with the Jazz. But on a team that needed everything he did still bring 7.2 ppg, 4.1 apg, 2.5 rpg, and 1.4 spg in his 17.1 minutes of action. (Yes, yes, those are crazy rates when bumped up to 36 minutes, let’s move along, children.)
He came to the Jazz at the hefty price of a 1st rounder (which Seattle used on Danny Vranes), and was then later on traded away for a 1st rounder (which the Jazz got from the Houston Rockets that resulted in the addition of Danny Schayes).