Wesley Johnson expectations
Posted: Tue Dec 6, 2011 9:43 pm
I was looking up some information on what position scouts thought Wesley would be playing, and found this interesting article by Joseph Treutlein. Which explains in detail the role he had in the NBA with the Wolves vs. The role he had in Syracuse:
"In his lone season at Syracuse at the college level, Johnson played a style where he contributed in virtually every aspect of the game for his team, making full use of his outstanding physical tools by aggressively putting them to work all over the floor. From a stylistic standpoint, Johnson has been a completely different player at the NBA level, making a move from the combo forward position to seeing almost all of his minutes at shooting guard and being utilized in far fewer ways on the offensive end.
According to 82games.com, Johnson is seeing roughly 84% of his minutes at the shooting guard spot thus far this season, with the remainder coming at small forward and virtually none of his minutes coming at power forward. Compared to how many projected him to be utilized in the pros, this is a somewhat unexpected development.
Beyond pure position, Johnson's possession distribution has also changed drastically, which can easily be illustrated by looking at his half-court offensive numbers according to Synergy. Last season Johnson attempted 170 jump shots compared to 140 shots around the basket for the Orange, whereas this year he's already taken 184 jump shots compared to just 35 shots around the basket, being transformed into essentially a one-dimensional role player.
Further, three-pointers make up 43% of his field goal attempts this year compared to 30% in college, his usage or percentage of team possessions used has been more than cut in half, and his FTA/FGA have dropped from a respectable 0.35 to an abysmal 0.14, one of the lowest rates in the entire league.
Studying his film, it appears that Johnson's role is essentially to park himself behind the three-point line the vast majority of the time on offense in both half-court and up tempo situations. He mostly serves as just a cog for passing and shooting when the ball comes to him, and when he does make moves towards the basket both on and off the ball, it's from further out and with noticeably less aggressiveness than he showed as a college junior."
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Wes ... nson-1215/
This article will really shine on how Wesley was used last year and how maybe his disappointing season, was really not that disappointing.
"In his lone season at Syracuse at the college level, Johnson played a style where he contributed in virtually every aspect of the game for his team, making full use of his outstanding physical tools by aggressively putting them to work all over the floor. From a stylistic standpoint, Johnson has been a completely different player at the NBA level, making a move from the combo forward position to seeing almost all of his minutes at shooting guard and being utilized in far fewer ways on the offensive end.
According to 82games.com, Johnson is seeing roughly 84% of his minutes at the shooting guard spot thus far this season, with the remainder coming at small forward and virtually none of his minutes coming at power forward. Compared to how many projected him to be utilized in the pros, this is a somewhat unexpected development.
Beyond pure position, Johnson's possession distribution has also changed drastically, which can easily be illustrated by looking at his half-court offensive numbers according to Synergy. Last season Johnson attempted 170 jump shots compared to 140 shots around the basket for the Orange, whereas this year he's already taken 184 jump shots compared to just 35 shots around the basket, being transformed into essentially a one-dimensional role player.
Further, three-pointers make up 43% of his field goal attempts this year compared to 30% in college, his usage or percentage of team possessions used has been more than cut in half, and his FTA/FGA have dropped from a respectable 0.35 to an abysmal 0.14, one of the lowest rates in the entire league.
Studying his film, it appears that Johnson's role is essentially to park himself behind the three-point line the vast majority of the time on offense in both half-court and up tempo situations. He mostly serves as just a cog for passing and shooting when the ball comes to him, and when he does make moves towards the basket both on and off the ball, it's from further out and with noticeably less aggressiveness than he showed as a college junior."
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Wes ... nson-1215/
This article will really shine on how Wesley was used last year and how maybe his disappointing season, was really not that disappointing.