Can you explain the Johnson love. Dude never impressed me when I watched he I wanted to like him to cause of the Artest comparisons. A SF who can't finish at the rim and can't shoot is a disaster waiting to happen.
There's nothing statistical which says he's the third best prospect in the draft, it's mostly just eye test for me. Well, it's a combination of factors actually. Some of it is the eye test...
I'm not trying to pretend like this is anything other than a highlight reel, but you asked me to show you something so we'll work with what we have. And you can learn something from highlight reels. Look at how many different ways he scores in this compilation. He's got post-ups in there, spot-up threes, he can create space for a mid-range pull up jumper off the dribble, he splits a double team and finishes with a floater, leads the fast break through traffic, muscles in a putback on the offensive glass, curls off a screen and shoots in rhythm, cuts baseline and lays it in, attacks the closeout and finishes with a dunk. These are NBA ready moves. For a SF, he already has the complete arsenal of offensive skills he needs to be an All-Star.
But of course, that's only half of the game. Let's look at Stanley Johnson as a defender...
Okay, now watch that again and keep your eyes glued on #5 on the defensive possessions. He's closing out hard but under control, getting low in a defensive stance, anticipating passes and jumping the passing lanes, rotating smartly without losing track of his man, and crashing the boards whenever there's an opportunity. He does make a couple mistakes here, but he does so much right defensively that I forgive the occasional overplay.
Look at the play at the 1:45 mark. That is smothering perimeter defense. You can't play it any better than that. That's where the Ron Artest comparisons come from.
Now look at the play at the 3:36 mark. He chases his man to the weak side of the court but once he sees that he's two passes away, he drifts to the open space created near the basket and never takes his eyes off the ball. He's the only Arizona player who sees the dropoff pass coming and he's in perfect position to block the shot as a result. That's really smart team defense.
Now look at the play at the 5:11 mark. Doug Christie-esque ball denial right?
And the last play in this clip is perhaps the most impressive offensive play he's made in both of these videos. He throws a post-entry pass on the left side but there's nothing there so he gets it back and immediately flings it all the way to the right corner for a wide open three. He barely moves, he never dribbles the ball, but he creates a great look for his team through patience and court awareness. This is a freshman playing in the 10th game of his college career making that play.
So that's some of what I see on the court. The other reason I pushed him all the way up to third is that his intangible qualities are off the charts. He won 4 straight California HS championships. No one has ever done that before. Last summer he trained with Kobe Bryant in LA and took on Lebron at his skills camp. He thinks he's the best player in the draft but he has the right attitude about what his role will be:
"I don't want to walk into the NBA looking for a starting position," he said. "I want to work for everything. I think anything that's given to you can be counterfeit."
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He addresses some of your issues with his shooting inconsistencies in this interview:
"I want to go in a situation where everyone is focused on winning.... where people want to win and compete everyday. Win or lose, if we're handling our business we can't go wrong".
Just listening to him talk, it's obvious this is a guy who isn't getting by just on physical ability. The way he talks about the game it's obvious he really takes his job seriously and watches a lot of tape.
So yeah, that's pretty much what I've got. I want this guy on the Kings tomorrow. I think when you look at his current skillset, his drive to get better, his physical tools, and his understanding of the game he has superstar potential.
