prime1time wrote:prime1time wrote:TheBlackCzar wrote:
Maybe, but not likely.... I just see 2-3 people who will be better than him in time, and he could still be great, but I just don't think he'll be the greatest from this draft.... He's got to be better than Flagg, Harper and Bailey and I really don't think he will..... If he does wonderful for us, but I'm trying to be realistic, and a guy who's main skill is shooting, with average handles, average athleticism, average driving ability, it's a lot of hopium going around.... He can improve some of these things, but some things aren't improvable but by small margins of progress.....
It's fascinating how narratives get constructed. Johnson has a higher standing vert than both Edgecombe, Harper, Bailey and Flag. Edgecombe max vert beat Johnson by 1 inch. He also had the fasted lane agility measurement than all of those guys. As for the average driving ability and average handles, this is also a myth.
The best that can be said is that he struggled on 2 point fgs. But even this should be put in context. Most good teams will create several easy looks a game. These inflate the 2-point % of players. Not only did Tre rarely get this bump he actually experienced 2-point fg% deflation. He was the "bailout guy" for Texas. So late in the shot clock they gave Tre the ball and prayed that he make something happen. If you think he has average handles you haven't watched him play. Now what can be said is that he's not an elite scorer on offense. But no one is in college. Only a handful of players in the NBA are succeeding inside the 2-point line without adequate spacing and they are all HOFs.
Shooting is the most important skill in the NBA. Off of screens Johnson shot an insane 54.8% from 3. You're trying to make it sound like Johnson can't put the ball on the floor and he can't attack. This isn't true. Tre has one dribble pull-ups, two dribble pull-ups, a floater, a fadeway jumper, can finish with both hands and can attack the hoop with both hands. He has the most developed offensive game I've seen from a freshman in a very long time. A good comparison is
The Kentucky game shows that.
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He put up 34/9/3 while going 1/8 from 3 and going 9/10 from the free throw line. If he made 3's at his normal rate he would have put up 40 easily.
We should put Tre Johnson's season in perspective. He played in a dysfunctional offensive system with bad pg play. Everything he created, he created by himself. And he was the teams leading scorer by far. Every time he stepped on the floor he was the priority of the defense. Every defense he saw was game planned to stop him. And unlike Harper and Bailey he didn't have another incredible player to take the attention of the defense. Deep in the shot clock Texas would just give the ball to Johnson and hope.
I love the "all he does is better is shooting." The moment Tre Johnson steps onto the floor he'll be one of the best shooters in the NBA. His 39.7% from 3 includes crazy 3's like this one at 20 seconds where he uses the screen takes one dribble and shoots an off the dribble 3. How many players in the NBA are knocking down 3's like this?
And this isn't unsual.
Much more accurate to say that Tre Johnson is one of the best shooters we've seen in the draft since Steph Curry and he's also a highly sophisticated scorer of the basketball.
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This was 3 years ago.
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2:20, between the legs, hesi, blows by the defender finishes over the help. Is this average?
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1:02, this looks like Kobe. The three at 1:20 or the three at 1:47.
Teams are going to have to guard the Tre Johnson/Alex Sarr PnR. We can talk all we want about average handles and average athleticism and average driving ability. They are going to have guard that screen with Sarr and Johnson and the Wizards are going to look a lot like Steph and Draymond when they run it.
The real irony is that in the long run is that his year in a dysfunctional Texas offense will be good for him because it forced him to start thinking like a true #1 option. When the defenses is focused on you, helping off of non-shooters, the offense lacks adequate spacing and you have to create everything from scratch. Johnson will find playing in the NBA much easier. And here's the reality, off the ball teams will have to play him like Steph. Otherwise he will bury you from 3.
He's going to be the first All-Star the Wizards have drafted since early Beal and Wall.