The Tre Johnson Thread

[JustBuzzin]

https://youtube.com/shorts/NTqJb_sWcuA?si=lN7URUxdvvrkVTOm

Came across this video from years ago and this kid was wearing Hornets shorts working out. I think I'm getting sold on this kid.

[fatlever]

its a sign

[JustBuzzin]

The more I watch his film the more I'm liking his fit on this team.

Legit 6'6 guard but moves like a PG and his ability to create his own shot is something we desperately need. This offense is hard to watch without LaMelo on the floor. This kid will have no problem getting a bucket.

Few more weeks until the draft, but it's becoming clear that my top 2 are Ace and Tre.

[MasterIchiro]

He does not move particularly well with the ball, thus rarely grazes the paint. I can see a defense forcing the ball out of his hands with double teams, and running him off the 3 point line because he's not applying any rim pressure.

He's a shotmaker though so he can glide by on that alone in today's game.

Nik Stauskas had better handles.

Also big question marks about his ability to defend. He may be stuck on the perimeter on offense too.


The shot is $, so I see the allure.

Pretty indifferent if he's the selection, but prefer him to Edgecombe by a healthy margin.

[fatlever]

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[fatlever]

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[LofJ]

He doesn't defend, rebound, pass, or get to the rim. All he brings is shooting. That just isn't enough for me.

[fatlever]

He doesn't defend, rebound, pass, or get to the rim. All he brings is shooting. That just isn't enough for me.

i think he can pass, even if he didnt show it as much at texas. not worried about his passing. defense, rim pressure still up for debate.

fwiw, he seems to have a great personality. he was my fave of the interview series i posted last week.

[LofJ]

He doesn't defend, rebound, pass, or get to the rim. All he brings is shooting. That just isn't enough for me.

i think he can pass, even if he didnt show it as much at texas. not worried about his passing. defense, rim pressure still up for debate.

fwiw, he seems to have a great personality. he was my fave of the interview series i posted last week.

Personality definitely counts for something. I just don't want to add a player to the team that is only looking for their own shot. If we ever want to watch a winning team we need to move away from players like that.

[JMAC3]

He doesn't defend, rebound, pass, or get to the rim. All he brings is shooting. That just isn't enough for me.

The Tools to be a better defender are there, tested really well at combine and measured great as well.

Fastest lane agility time.
37.5 inch Vert.
6-10 wingspan.

Maybe he never turns into a defender, but he would go from being the 1st option in college to our 3rd/4th option so he could put more effort into defense if he isn't shouldering the majority of offensive burden.

[Snidely FC]

The more I watch his film the more I'm liking his fit on this team.

Legit 6'6 guard but moves like a PG and his ability to create his own shot is something we desperately need. This offense is hard to watch without LaMelo on the floor. This kid will have no problem getting a bucket.

Few more weeks until the draft, but it's becoming clear that my top 2 are Ace and Tre.

@JustBuzzin below is what you wrote on Mar 19 (pg 46 of '25 Draft Prospect Thread) after watching Texas lose to Xavier in the tournament play-in game:

ohnson chocked in crunch time. Took a 3 didn't get back on defense which led to a and 1 layup and the foul committed by him. Low IQ play.

Then he missed a contested 2pt shot late that would have tied the game. He doesn't look to get his teammates involved at all. One trick pony.

Maybe if we had the #26 pick I would consider him.

I had the same (negative) impression watching that game. Here's what I posted that day:

Tre Johnson shot Texas out of that game the last few minutes and the way he sulks when they don’t pass to him I am not a fan

I'd like to get behind Tre but that game left a sour taste, so I'm trying to understand what changed for you Buzzin, why you now on the Tre Bus?

[JustBuzzin]

The more I watch his film the more I'm liking his fit on this team.

Legit 6'6 guard but moves like a PG and his ability to create his own shot is something we desperately need. This offense is hard to watch without LaMelo on the floor. This kid will have no problem getting a bucket.

Few more weeks until the draft, but it's becoming clear that my top 2 are Ace and Tre.

@JustBuzzin below is what you wrote on Mar 19 (pg 46 of '25 Draft Prospect Thread) after watching Texas lose to Xavier in the tournament play-in game:

ohnson chocked in crunch time. Took a 3 didn't get back on defense which led to a and 1 layup and the foul committed by him. Low IQ play.

Then he missed a contested 2pt shot late that would have tied the game. He doesn't look to get his teammates involved at all. One trick pony.

Maybe if we had the #26 pick I would consider him.

I had the same (negative) impression watching that game. Here's what I posted that day:

Tre Johnson shot Texas out of that game the last few minutes and the way he sulks when they don’t pass to him I am not a fan

I'd like to get behind Tre but that game left a sour taste, so I'm trying to understand what changed for you Buzzin, why you now on the Tre Bus?

I remember that.

I wouldn't say I'm on the Tre bandwagon. Tbh I just like him more than VJ.

In a perfect scenario we trade the #4 pick for impact player, but as of now I have Ace/Tre/VJ in that order. I like Fears but he's not realistic for us imo.

[Diop]

He doesn't defend, rebound, pass, or get to the rim. All he brings is shooting. That just isn't enough for me.

The Tools to be a better defender are there, tested really well at combine and measured great as well.

Fastest lane agility time.
37.5 inch Vert.
6-10 wingspan.

Maybe he never turns into a defender, but he would go from being the 1st option in college to our 3rd/4th option so he could put more effort into defense if he isn't shouldering the majority of offensive burden.

its the mental tools that are just as important for a defender though. if he hasn't got the mentality and hunger for it, its hard to force it

[JMAC3]

He doesn't defend, rebound, pass, or get to the rim. All he brings is shooting. That just isn't enough for me.

The Tools to be a better defender are there, tested really well at combine and measured great as well.

Fastest lane agility time.
37.5 inch Vert.
6-10 wingspan.

Maybe he never turns into a defender, but he would go from being the 1st option in college to our 3rd/4th option so he could put more effort into defense if he isn't shouldering the majority of offensive burden.

its the mental tools that are just as important for a defender though. if he hasn't got the mentality and hunger for it, its hard to force it

Yeah, but this isn't uncommon. Most guys who are top 5 prospects their whole life aren't elite defenders. Most of the known defenders in this draft are pretty mediocre offensive players, I don't think that is by chance. Lu Dort can give 90% of his effort on defense because on offense he just stands on perimeter and shoots threes, he would probably be league average defender if you were asking him to average 20 ppg every night.

On the flip side if Tre goes from averaging 20 ppg to 13 ppg I expect him to be able to put more effort and mental focus into that end of the floor. That is why there are very few true 2 way players in the NBA and most that get labeled 2way are actually just average offensive players.

[wilson115]

Long thread on Tre. Was very high on his stock early, but didn't get to show as much as I was hoping for.

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[Bassman]

Sam Vecenie from his annual draft guide on Tre:

SUMMARY: I’m a believer in Johnson’s game and demeanor. I respect the way he goes about his craft and think he’s going to keep getting better as he ages. Ultimately, two things will be key to his reaching his upside. First, he’s going to have to get stronger. He needs to be able to displace players on his drives a bit more effectively. He’s not afraid of contact. The good news there is he’s only 19 and a worker. He will get stronger. The second point will simply be fit. It would behoove him to land in a situation that allows him to streamline his offensive game early into being more of a high-level floor spacer and movement shooter who attacks off closeouts as opposed to being tasked with creating a significant amount of his team’s offense. Hopefully, that would allow him to get minutes on the court early, then continue to flow into the rest of his game off the bounce, where he can use the threat of his shot to expand his game as he gets older and stronger.

The median/downside outcome of Johnson reminds me of a bigger version of Malik Beasley, and I don’t mean that as a negative. Beasley has averaged about 14 points per game while shooting 39 percent from 3 on seriously high volume over the last five years and is going to earn nearly nine figures throughout his career by the time it’s done. It’s just hard for shooters like Johnson to fail much more than that in today’s NBA. If Johnson can be a better, bigger version of that, who doesn’t need to be hidden defensively as often and can make better decisions consistently, he’s a definite NBA starter. These are all achievable outcomes, too. But if he can land in the right situation, there are some outcomes where he develops into a 25-point-per-game guy and potentially reaches the All-Star game.

[JMAC3]

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[Snidely FC]

- Can get into show-off mode with iso and dribble-heavy possessions. Doesn't always make the right play

Why is it that when Tre does this its just part of his profile but when Ace Bailey does this its part of his personality and he's labeled as immature and uncoachable?

[fatlever]

- Can get into show-off mode with iso and dribble-heavy possessions. Doesn't always make the right play

Why is it that when Tre does this its just part of his profile but when Ace Bailey does this its part of his personality and he's labeled as immature and uncoachable?

To preface this by saying This is very loose analysis simply based on me watching thousands of other draft nerds talk about these prospects...

1. I don't think the conversation around ace is necessarily that he's uncoachable. I think it's more that he needs more coaching to really teach him the correct ways to play basketball. And to me this was highlighted by the snippet that I mentioned in a different thread about how givony Talked about early in the season at Rutgers when he talked to Ace, barely knew any basketball terminology, and suggested it might have been because ace was basically the only high level prospect that went to a public school rather than a basketball prep school. Point being, ace needs some legit actual real quality coaching which hopefully he'll get at the next level. But the vacuum of never having good quality coaching has probably led to him developing more bad habits than someone like tre

2. Regarding the immaturity factor, and again this is very loose analysis simply on me watching some videos of interviews of the prospects. Ace acts a little bit more like a goofy 18 year old, which is to be expected for a typical 18 year old. But I think some of that unrefined edge may be the public school versus the basketball prep school or just personality wise. Tre's Interviews were some of the most enjoyable to watch of the ones I've seen. He's funny, but not in a goofy unserious kind of way. Just seems to have a little more composure. tre and kon Give the best interviews by far of the guys I think that are in our draft range. But teams have also raved about the Intel and the personality of vj as just a deeply serious dude who is all about basketball and has dealt with some incredible adversity in his life and came through it. So just little things like that I think have put more of that immature label on Ace as opposed to some one like tre or vj or kon

3. Lastly, without having stats in front of me to back this up, so again this is loosely based feelometer stuff here... I'm going to guess that ace gets labeled more of having a bad shot diet, Probably because he just takes more of those shots. his bad shots are a higher volume of his shots compared to tre. I'd love to see someone map out bad shots between these two players. What percentage of their shots are low quality?

4. I'm not sure which of these two players would win the Award for having the most irrational confidence... aka the kelly oubre award. Overall tre is just a much better shooter all over the floor so therefore his bad shots don't feel quite as bad even from someone who is excellent in the mid range like ace.

re: ace vs tre

The real debate is which one of these two players do you think can become the better defender? Which one can get to the rim more often and draw more fouls? and which one can become a better passer in a team setting? I think ace clearly has the better defensive tools and has shown more defensive motor than tre. And this obviously has better physical size to be a better defender. I think it's a toss up as to which one can get to the rim more at the next level. tre Has clearly shown more passing ability and probably pretty easily wins that at the next level.

[NataFresh]

- Can get into show-off mode with iso and dribble-heavy possessions. Doesn't always make the right play

Why is it that when Tre does this its just part of his profile but when Ace Bailey does this its part of his personality and he's labeled as immature and uncoachable?

One of them had Dylan Harper and a pretty good coach in Steve Pikiell and the other had Rodney Terry and Arthur Kaluma and little else.