RealGM

After a pretty solid first game in the NBA D-League (15pt, 6reb) by Orlando Johnson, he had a monster game. 30 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and only 1 turnover in 43 minutes of play. He's still hitting lots of bricks from beyond the arc (2-9) which is not good, considering they were hyping his deep ball after the draft.

But, my question is, how far away is Johnson from the NBA?

D-League box score from 2nd game: http://basketball.realgm.com/dleague/bo ... yne/101024

The few times I've watched Johnson he's looked athletic enough to play in the NBA but, he's never looked like a very good shooter. So you wonder if the shooting thing is something that will ultimately work itself out or is the speed of the game and size of the players something the prevent Johnson shooting game from translating? I've also wondered if Gerald Green continues to struggle if Johnson might get an opportunity to log some minutes in the rotation? Could he be any worse than Gerald Green has been?

On another note the Mad Ants opponent the Maine Red Claws is the current team of Shelvin Mack. Loved Shelvin at Butler and I've thought his game to be somewhat similar to George Hill in that they were both scorers in college. Both were primary ball handlers for their respective college teams, fundamentally sound, good defenders. Hill landed in the perfect situation coming out of school while Mack landed in about as bad a situation as one could imagine. I could see Mack being an interesting target for the Pacers if not this year, next off season.

Orlando was a big time scorer in college and had no trouble in the Chicago combine. it has to be a mental thing. he's probably trying too hard. lets hope a few trips to Ft Wayne get him comfortable.

He's looking like a worthwhile investment. Hopefully it translates in the not too distant future.