The Consiglieri wrote:TGW wrote:Tre Johnson's defensive rating is a 109. Holy sheeittt that's terrible.
DND
Everything I've read from scouts quotes on him in terms of negatives has been:
The above posted from you, accented by a belief by some, that if he's got a good head/mental makeup and approach, he has the physical attributes to be a great defender with more want to/work.
The other negative is basically he was a non-entity in terms of driving to the hoop.
I haven't really heard any defenses of these liabilities from his fans, it kind of reminds me of Queen's fans either outright ignoring his issues in terms of mobility/feed and horrific defense, and never defending it with pro-Queen posts, or just soft pedaling how much of a problem it will be or how much of a problem it is.
In fairness, I soft peddle the issues Fears has too because I'm hoping he'll grow more, and work on them to make the concerns at least adequately playable. The reality is that we tumbled so far down the draft, that barring a trade up, or somone inexplicably falling past both Charlotte and Utah, we are going to be looking at prospects with huge issues no matter what:
Kon's lack of athleticism and 1 dimensionality.
Fears size, and horrific 3 pointer.
Maluach being raw as hell and not as athletic as hoped
Tre being a 1 dimensional scorer with little interest in the "work" piece of the game (defense, and driving inside). Empty Calorie scorer with limitations.
Carter Bryant playing about 35% fewer minutes than every other stud in the class. Why was he played so little comparatively, and he's raw as hell, an upside bet basically on his athleticism and raw potential.
Queen being borderline useless on defense and not being athletic enough perhaps to be as good offensively either (in fairness, I'm no longer worried about Queen being the pick, I don't think they're crazy enough to take him at 6 after that combine, a trade down maybe, not at 6).
All these guys have much bigger concerns than VJ and Harper, and far fewer than Flagg. Not sure about Bailey, I think Bailey gets a pass because of his profile and scouting perception of his potential, even though his performance was a range of uneven to outright crap at times.
But the tier drop to where we are opens the draft up to guys with gaping wide concerns in their game. No matter what direction we do, other than trading up to San Antonio, the prospect we will get will have rather large bust potential or chance at just hitting the floor of career trajectories. It's why I'd prefer to trade down for '26 assets and a lower pick. Barring trading up for Harper, Bailey or Edge, I don't really think it's worth it to stay at 6 considering the issues these guys have, I tend to think the upside angles of all of them are largely low end. I can just picture Fears becoming a floor general, but it's a hunch based on nothing but a feeling, and his age, not rationality. Tre just looks exactly like a disappointing never cares enough about defense guy who can shoot the heck out of the ball but never works on his issues, their interviews and the background they do on him will tell the story about whether that's likely, or not. He could be a MASSIVE worker, and I just don't know it, but the hunch I have is that he's that type because I've seen so many w/his profile just stick in the NBA on their skill and add nothing, if we take him, I pray I'm wrong.
Personally, I'd trade down and out, or up though, that's the only way you up the liklihood of something good happening in the next 13 months. Otherwise it's all hope and potentially cope.
