AJ Johnson shrine

[dobrojim]

One certainly could argue that Ken but then you might be violating the 'take the best player'
maxim that applies even more to the worst teams. Like us.

[nate33]

AJ has an "it factor". Unlike anyone else on the team except possibly Bilal, AJ has the ability to just blow past people in single-coverage without a screen or a complicated series of shake-and-bake moves. That's the type of skill that puts genuine pressure on the defense. He obviously has a long way to go with his 3-point shooting and his ability to draw fouls, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could have a Tyrese Maxey type of impact.

I think his ceiling is higher than Bub's, but his floor is lower. (Bub's mature, low-turnover style coupled with a solid frame and high basketball IQ makes him a pretty sure bet to be a Monte Morris tier game manager who will play a long time. I just don't know if he will become a difference-making starter.)

[nate33]

AJ seems pretty small out there, but he is actually a fairly tall and long guy. He is 6'-4.25" no shoes with a 6'-8.5" wingspan. That's actually a full inch taller than Bradley Beal with a half-inch greater wingspan. He is just a bit taller and longer than Bub (who is 6'-3.75" with a 6'-8" wingspan) but has 3 more inches in standing reach, suggesting his arms are really quite long (Bub's comparable wingspan is due to a wider torso rather than long arms).

AJ is a slight bit more athletic than Carrington in all the combine metrics, with the caveat that he 28 pounds lighter so he isn't carrying around as much weight when he is running and jumping. He absolutely must put on weight, we will see if it compromises his athleticism.

[AFM]

Watch on YouTube

AJ at the top spot

[DCZards]

Watch on YouTube

AJ at the top spot

Four of this top ten were Zards. Sarr, Champagne and Vuk were the other 3.

[The Consiglieri]

Imagine trading this kid for Kyle F'n Kuzma

In fairness to Milwaukee, they only really had two choices:

Door #1: Roll the dice on veterans, try for a miracle, Giannis on God mode etc, maybe you steal a trip to the Conference or NBA Finals totally against the odds.

Door #2: Admit the Giannis era is over, 11 years after it started, he's leaving either after '26-'27, or '27-'28 if he doesn't think he can make as much money by declining his player options, and focus instead on rebuilding the next iteration of the Bucks, whatever it be, by starting their own tank job for the '26 draft or whatever.

To choose Door #2 would take some balls, it would require admitting there was largely no hope for contention during the 3 years of the extension, just playoff births and ousting's before the conference finals. The fans would get to watch Giannis play for them for a few more years, but the glory of '20-'21 would be a thing of the past, like us as Redskins fans watching the Theismann/Riggo era fade out circa '84-'85.

Choosing AJ was basically trying to avoid both doors: Continue winning 45-50, no chance at contention, add a prospect who wouldn't hit his ceiling until Giannis was ready to leave and AJ's contract was close to up.

Eventually they used AJ as a tool to ramp up their chances of contention in '25-'27, but it was a fools errand, we all know, they aren't winning squat and they are bottoming out just in time for a pick swap with us (or is two? I can't recall).

After watching sports for 45 years, I'm a bit nutty, I will not tolerate the middle kingdom of 35-48 win seasons, its pointless to me. In the Bucks Position, once I had secured the Giannis extension, I'd be hunting a team with the most valuable pot of pick swaps and future picks of teams likely to suck in the future or the coming drafts, and I would have traded him, and the rest of the pieces over a 6-18 months stretch to provide a pile of picks for the '25, '26, and '27 drafts.

Thats what I would do. The fans would roast the ---- out of me, but the smart ones would know zero titles would be won in '24-'25-'26-'27, and by doing and epic trade out, I'd be sowing the soil with an endless array of heirloom seeds that could grow the most tasty of fruits and vegetables over the coming 3+ seasons.

Doing what they did instead is what all foolish teams do, play out the string, slowly erode, and fall to nothing, selling off the assets 1-3 years after the most value they could have returned. I will note, our very own Caps, have managed the impossible, while I was screaming for tear down trades in '18-'23, the team simply would not do it, and then afer beginning to bottom out in '20-'21, with players aging out, and a bottom ranked farm system, they began to turn things around, 3 consecutive better and better and better drafts, a litany of great trades and signings, and suddenly, a farm system ranked 30th in '20 or '21, climbed to 9th this spring, the team is now loaded with players in their prime, a few aging stars like Ovy and Carlson, and a pile of up and coming young prospects.

That is the narrow path, and I must underline, I have not seen anything of the sort our very own Caps have done in eons. Flipping a farm system on the fly in just a couple of drafts? Hitting on every trade, and signing just as your team is beginning to run out the aging out collapse? Could the Bucks try that? Yeah, but I find it next to impossible to believe the Bucks could do it. The Caps road is one I can't really recall a team achieving w/o the benefits of a Lakers like rabbit foot up their ---, and ability to sign every prime FA, and acquire superstars via idiotic trades from teams like Dallas etc.

So suffice it to say (not really suffice I admit), we can laugh at the Bucks, but they had no real choices here that could make their fans happy: They could continue to contend, and make stupid trades failing to acknowledge their time for contention was over, or infuriate their fans by chopping the franchise out from its legs, and starting the rebuild with the blood of the core stars they sacrificed. No choice at all really.

So here they are, having knee capped their future, and compromised their present.

[AFM]

Yeah they basically are just burying their head in the sand, ass up. I have no idea what they were thinking.

[The Consiglieri]

AJ seems pretty small out there, but he is actually a fairly tall and long guy. He is 6'-4.25" no shoes with a 6'-8.5" wingspan. That's actually a full inch taller than Bradley Beal with a half-inch greater wingspan. He is just a bit taller and longer than Bub (who is 6'-3.75" with a 6'-8" wingspan) but has 3 more inches in standing reach, suggesting his arms are really quite long (Bub's comparable wingspan is due to a wider torso rather than long arms).

AJ is a slight bit more athletic than Carrington in all the combine metrics, with the caveat that he 28 pounds lighter so he isn't carrying around as much weight when he is running and jumping. He absolutely must put on weight, we will see if it compromises his athleticism.

Great pair of breakdowns, I tend to see the same, a really nice ceiling, and the floor issue is definitely more present than say, with a Bub to me, who will always have a strong collection of utilities that keep that floor reasonably high. In fairness, I do think AJ, at worst, is still a valuable piece, and I don't correspondingly believe that he's certain of stardom if not a middling at best floor, I don't, but I think we can tangibly see that we got a wide and disparate variety of ceilings from a pretty horrible draft in '24. It's pretty damn exciting, to have all that potential extracted out of yuck, we will leave that class of '24 with a certain complimentary or better piece in Bub, a potential complimentary piece in George, and high volatility upside pieces in Sarr and AJ.

In many ways, I think our GM's could not have played this draft better. Admittedly there are some guys I would love to have both in retrospect (Castle) and at the time (Collier), but if I were to know that we'd pull all of this out last year's draft a year ago, I'd be ecstatic. It was an excellent haul, a giant pile of potential, and complimentary talent, and talent of the sort unlikely to damage our efforts at tanking in the following two seasons.

People can say that believing such things makes me a homer for the FO, but I'm not. I didn't like how they designed the Deni trade, I was infuriated by the failure to ignore Kuzma's desires and simply flip him in Feb of '24, or to give Kispert an Extension I viewed as largely idiotic and roster clogging. I may love what they do in the '25 class, or detest it, I have no idea. But I do know that considering the actions they chose in the spring of '24, to come out of that period with Sarr, Bub, George and AJ? That's a fantastic performance all things considered. Is it the collection of best possible outcomes? Maybe, or maybe not. I can't see the future, but knowing what they knew at the time last June, and this deadline, how they handled their business was better in general than I could imagine most in a similar place. When was the last time we could say that as a franchise? Under Danny Ferry's dad? It's been a long time since we've seen competence from the FO, it shouldn't be surprised that some of us are confused enough to distrust it in its totality if for no other reason than Deni, or perhaps that they did not draft their preferred target last summer.

[The Consiglieri]

Yeah they basically are just burying their head in the sand, ass up. I have no idea what they were thinking.

What most teams that are good, but not great think. If I make the right pick here, the right trade there, with a little luck, anything can happen, and I can get my GM contract extended. Any other decision risks getting ---- canned, because few owners or fans are made of the sterner stuff that can swallow the bitter medicine of tear downs and attempted rebuilds from scratch.

The incentives are misaligned. Gms get paid for short term results, rather than long term. Coaches are the same, and in the worst of all words, you have stupid owners that give GM's and coaches win or else dictums (which result in win now trades that sell the future for a non-existent present, like GMGM's trade of a Filip Forsberg for a rubber band, a nickel, and a paperclip, nearly 700 goals and assists later, that remains a medal stand winner for worst ever Capitals trades, and one we all knew was horrible from the moment it was executed).

[payitforward]

Watch on YouTube

AJ at the top spot

Four of this top ten were Zards. Sarr, Champagne and Vuk were the other 3.

Amazing, don't you think?

[payitforward]

In every way, in every draft pick, trade, or other decision they've made so far, I think this FO has been absolutely superlative. The only possible exception would be that they passed on Trayce Jackson-Davis in the '23 draft, & I give them a pass on that, b/c every other NBA Gm made the same mistake -- some of them twice & a couple three times!

[9 and 20]

Crazy seeing Wiz all over the top 10. We used to have the most boring, unathletic, unlikable team out there - led by our man Brad Beal. Pretty insane how fast the page has turned.

They need to put AJ Johnson on the Harden diet. Just for a month or two. And tell him to grow a stache or a beard so he doesn't look 12. Seeing a 12 year old looking dude at 150 lbs. flex after a dunk is not super intimidating and someone should tell AJ! It's kinda endearing, like an 'isnt' that cute' puppy or kitten video, but not intimidating.

The dunks and highlights are amazing tho. Hope they keep this kid for a long time.

[DCZards]

In every way, in every draft pick, trade, or other decision they've made so far, I think this FO has been absolutely superlative. The only possible exception would be that they passed on Trayce Jackson-Davis in the '23 draft, & I give them a pass on that, b/c every other NBA Gm made the same mistake -- some of them twice & a couple three times!

I don’t see passing on Trayce J-D as a major miss. He was 23 when drafted and I’m guessing the Zards and other teams didn’t see much upside. They look to be right. Trayce’s numbers are down across the board from his rookie year.

[payitforward]

In every way, in every draft pick, trade, or other decision they've made so far, I think this FO has been absolutely superlative. The only possible exception would be that they passed on Trayce Jackson-Davis in the '23 draft, & I give them a pass on that, b/c every other NBA Gm made the same mistake -- some of them twice & a couple three times!

I don’t see passing on Trayce J-D as a major miss. He was 23 when drafted and I’m guessing the Zards and other teams didn’t see much upside. They look to be right. Trayce’s numbers are down across the board from his rookie year.

I don't see it as a major miss either -- as I thought I'd made clear.

BTW Trayce's numbers are not down across the board. His FG% is down, true enough, but his defensive boards, offensive boards, & assists are all up. Turnovers & steals are unchanged. Fouling less too.

Overall, he continues to be way above average & a really nice success story. In respect of Will's performance, however, TJ-D is worthy of a mention in passing & no more.

[dobrojim]

After watching Broome tonight vs MiST, I wonder how many teams will regret passing on him ostensibly because
they think he's too old.

PS re AJ, he's not too short, he's too light (reportedly 160 lb) and will likely gain some muscle mass and
get heavier at least by the end of next year, if not sooner. He's dang young. His birthdate is 12/1/2004
so he won't turn twenty-one until early next season.

[BearlyBallin]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Tyrone Messby]

Does this kid have a legit shot at being a long term starter? It’s wild to have 4 rookies showing so much promise. Yeah they may all not pan out to being starters but they can all play in the league which is impressive.

[dobrojim]

Not a great night for him vs MIA. 9 pts on 3-9 (0-4 on 3s), 3 reb,
1 assist, 1 steal 4 TOs, -17 +/-

[tontoz]

AJ is certainly dynamic with the ball. If he can put on some weight and become just average from 3 the could be a big asset

If we could somehow combine him with Bub we would really have a baller. His strength is Bubs weakness.

[gambitx777]

Sach lowe shouting out AJ on the ringer today

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