i think amir johnson is the ideal candidate to play alongside reggie evans in the second unit as the fourth big. why? he's an athletic shot blocker type who's the antithesis of bargnani, evans, rasho and even bosh because he rarely uses his athleticism on the defensive end. however, the vet- rasho has those minutes tentatively etched in. rasho's game is diminishing and he offers little contrast to anything else on the roster. will coach triano have the ballz to tell rasho that he's the fifth big off the bench, amir is playing ahead of u and your primary role will be that of a mentor to the young bigs? i believe this will be triano's first big challenge and probably define the rest of his time here. this might seem insignificant but i believe u have to play your best players in spite of rasho's amicable history with the organization. moreover, it sets the standard for rewarding performers. i remember when smitch first came here- he benched vince and jalen in the fourth quarters and they obviously didnt take too well to it.
amir johnson is yes more athletic than rasho but better player? i dont think so. amir johnson is going to give the raps what pops bought, with a bit more size.. unless you think pops is better than rasho as well?
thats what precisely he brings. what hurt pops on the floor was that he couldnt guard bigger bigs because he was diminutive for a big himself. last year, rasho had a hard time getting on the floor playing behind troy murphy, jeff foster and roy hibbert at the end of the season so my theory about rasho doenst come without merit.
The problem is that his offensive game is just as raw as Pops' was. Between those two bigs, you'd have no offense coming from your backup frontcourt. Now I'm not trying to suggest that Rasho provides a lot of scoring, but he does have that awkwardly flat jumper and a decent hookshot. If anything, I think Amir potentially challenges Reggie Evans' role on this team. Rasho's firmly established as someone who can rebound a bit, knock down a J if necessary, and defend bulky centers. Neither Evans or Johnson can do that. Those two players are better suited at the 4 and have fairly similar games. Evans is a better rebounder, but Johnson brings more athleticism and size than he does.
actually amir played a lot of centre for the pistons- i think they were starting the kid at centre for long stretches of the season. one thing this team doesnt need is scoring- it needs a lot of nastiness. amir could become a chris anderson type of player for us
I haven't seen him enough to refute that, but I'd be with you if he could defend the 5-spot. Actually he'd be a pretty valuable role player if he could. Yet, I look at his profile and he's listed at 210 lbs. He's about 40 lbs. lighter than Rasho. Colour me skeptical.
rasho is big, slow and loveable. and how many true centres do we have left in the league? a handful- today's nba is predicated on versatility (ability to play multiple positions) and speed
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but there are still plenty of physical centres that will abuse someone who can't push them out of the paint. It doesn't mean their entire game is predicated on playing down low (like back in the day), but they sure as hell can back down when they see an opportunity. The way I see it, low post defense involves much more than just brute strength. You need to have good defensive awareness (positioning, etc.), timing, patience, agility, judgment. But you need to have a certain amount of strength before you even start to think of those other areas. Bargnani needed to reach 250 last offseason before he could start to develop those other skills this season. Bosh is more athletic/long than Johnson, but at 230 he's never been able to defend centers. Can we even think that Amir can guard centers at 210, unless they're unorthodox ones?
johnson doesnt look 210 to me? that might be his rookie season weight but he looks at least 235 to me. as for rasho's ability to guard more physical centre's- i will refer u to the magic- raptor series where dhoward made rasho his eastern european bitch. even giving rasho the benefit of the doubt- there are like 5 dudes in the nba who would constitute bruising centres and yao isnt playing this year so it leave shaq, d howard, perkins and bynum. on those nights- rasho can play but for the rest of the nights where the game would resemble a track meet- i want amir in the game.
Maybe it is incorrect. That'd be awesome if it was. You're just focusing on the cream of the crop, dude. But almost every team has a player that could back down and abuse a 210 player on every single play. That doesn't have to be their go-to move, but it's something that they'll consistently do if it means easy buckets.
Gotta agree with Chutney on this one. If you ever put Amir Johnson and Reggie Evans on the floor at the same time, it will be like playing 3 on 5 on offense. I think if you loked those two players in a gym for an hour and told them to play 1-on-1 the game would end in a scoreless tie. BNM
Amir Johnson is not a center. He's an undersized, athletic power forward. He didn't play any center for the Pistons last season (let alone start at center for long stretches of the season). Sheed was their starting center and he was backed up by Kwame Brown and Jason Maxiell. When Sheed was out injured, they started Kwame Brown at center, backed up by Maxiell, with Antonio McDyess getting very occasional spot minutes at the back-up 5. BNM
Based on your comments in this thread, I can't help but think you are confusing Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell (undersized wide-body who actually plays back-up center for the Pistons). Johnson is not a center - never has been and never will be. He's an under sized power forward who has trouble guarding bigger 4's. He has no chance at stopping ANY center, let alone Dwight Howard. You think Howard abused Rasho in that series, he would have averaged 50/30 if Amir Johnson would have been guarding him. In spite of being in the league for 4 seasons, Johnson is still very young. He's athletic and he still has plenty of upside. Unfortunately, in his four seasons, so far, he has proven to be the kind of player whose production goes down as his minutes go up. Still you got him for practically nothing and he gives you another big body for practice, and insurance in case one of your other bigs gets injured. Mostly, he gives you a young player who can back-up Bargnani at the 4 after Bosh leaves. Seems like Colangelo is covering all bases, just in case he can't re-sign Bosh. Seems like a wise move to me. BNM
