I think we did. And I think we'll regret it. Since he's gone to Toronto ,he's averaging 8ppg on 48% shooting in 25 minutes. OK he's still go to work on his 3 point shot ( only shooting 25% ) but he's hitting 80% from the line and also averaging just under 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Oh yeah he's also averaging 1 steal per game and 1.5 blocks per game. I simply don't accept that he had no capacity to develop NBA game intelligence that could only possibly come and be reinforced with playing time How can he be written off as having no NBA intelligence if he didn't play under Vinny ( except for a handful of games toward the end of last season ) and he didn't play under Thibs ? His best , and most productive games seem to be where he is shooting under 3minutes per shot of court time , which means , he has been able to slow down and not focus exclusively in trying to score and impress and the consequence has been is that it seems as though he has been able to contribute well in a lot of other categories (that he has capacity to ) instead of just one . I see the possibility of him as a starter playing say 33mpg and where in the 2nd half of next season he should be close to a fully matured player contributing: - 15ppg - 7rpg - 5apg - 1spg - 1.5bpg A genuine 2 way player who is one of his team's primary ball handlers / creators that allows his team to play a combo guard / high scoring point guard at the point. Toronto got themselves a player who was much maligned in Chicago. I wonder if we can get someone better with Toronto's ( via Miami ) 24 to 26 first round pick
I agree with Denny. KC Johnson (I think) mentioned that the coaching staff wasn't upset to see JJ go despite the line they presented to the media. KC mentioned that the coaches were not convinced JJ would ever "get it" because whenever he got a little burn he would jack up twenty footers with time left on the shot clock instead of concentrating on defense and distributing the ball, the things that would earn him steady court time while his offense developed. That sounds about right to me. JJ may develop with Toronto where he'll have the minutes to make mistakes; it wasn't going to happen in Chicago.
I agree with all of this but I think the context needs to be set right. He won't get playing time in Chicago because we play Luol Deng 37 - 38 minutes per game and the remainder of the minutes get sucked by role playing specialists. To talk about James Johnson's playing time in Chicago is a joke. There was no playing time and it is only natural in the fleeting minutes he gets he is going to over compenstate to try and earn more time. He's a starter and he's a ball handling talent with size who can defend. With the opportunity to start and develop you can see early evidence of his arc. The question is - who would you rather have on your team in 2 years from now as your starting 3 ? Luol Deng of James Johnson ? I always said that James Johnson had a more rounded skill base ( in its potential ) and a greater athleticism than Luol Deng As much as I rate Luol - I believe James Johnson will / would have ended up being the better option for this team - especially allowing him to grow into a genuine secondary ball handler with size on the floor with your starting 5 that would have enabled Derrick to play off a little bit more - thereby giving our offense more potency but without sacrificing too much on the defensive end ( in time with maturation ) We couldn't choose between the chicken and egg with James and he'll now hatch somewhere else But hey ...we're win now . But are we really going to win it all in the next 2 seasons ? I doubt it
I think it is a complete stretch to think James Johnson will be better than Deng. JJ is less than 2 years younger than Deng. As a 24 year old, JJ is less effective than a 19 year old Deng.
Wow FJ, you really like James Johnson. JJ over Deng in 2 years? Not for me, thanks. The Bulls' coaching staff got to see plenty of JJ's work and couldn't foresee any minutes for him. I'm glad they got something in return. I'm not saying that JJ won't turn out to be OK and there may be some point down the road where you'll be able to make a case for "Don't you wish we had James Johnson now?" This said, I'm feeling OK about life without Tyrus Thomas and feel pretty much the same about JJ.
A point in JJ's favor is that we're not likely to be getting draft picks to acquire players even as good as he is. About Deng... I think he makes a huge contract in management's eyes and he's missed quite a few games while earning that money, so management is playing the hell out of him. Well, that and are bench players who'd play instead aren't anywhere near as good.
So deng plays 33 minutes in a 40 point blowout. The guy has been injury prone most of his career. You explain why they risk injury in a blowout?
I'm not that big a fan of the backhand compliment, though I'll admit that "Well, she don't sweat much for a fat girl" still gives me a chuckle.
This doesn't jib with me. (Get it, "jib" . . . I kid, I kid.) There were plenty of minutes for Johnson if he quit being stupid, as you point out by Deng's over-extended playing time. J.J. was jacking up shots with no regard. Which means he was either uncoachable, or playing only so that another franchise would recognize his abilities and trade for him, regardless of his current team needed. Either way, it wasn't going to happen on the Bulls.
No, we did not give up Johnson too early. He get better stats with a worse team. No chance that Johnson get this stats on a good to very good team.
First off, thanks for the jib reference...made me feel a decade younger. Del Negro and his coaching staff wasn't all that impressed with JJ's BBIQ. This could be somewhat discredited. However, Thibs and staff came to the same conclusion and this can not be so easily dismissed. As a fan, we can always say about a prospect, "just give him more time." Iverson's famous practice comments notwithstanding, coaches stubbornly rely on practice to make determinations about players...been this way forever. We all got to watch JJ play some, but we clearly came away with different impressions. Mine was that he had some impressive stretches showing some nice basketball skills, but if I had kept track of how many times I shouted "What the hell are you doing" at the TV, on a per-36 minute basis, JJ easily led the team over the past two seasons. It's possible that Johnson will eventually "get it." It's also possible that Tyrus Thomas (the previous dominant Bull in the "What the hell are you doing?" category) will eventually get it. However, I'm betting against both.
What's to explain? What you said about Deng's back ups not being up to the job is totally correct. But it's what you didn't say about Deng, that he's doing his job very well that gave your post a "back of the hand" feel. And back to FJ's op, yeah, I liked JJ. Seemed to be a great guy. He may blossom in Toronto. But I don't mind that. The draft pick we got has more value than he does for us, when it comes to tradeable assets, and that was and is the most important value JJ held for us, given his current state of development and our current need (as the number f'in 1 seed in the conference!)
I disagree with this. I believe that Toronto has a chance at being a competitive playoff team within 2 seasons around an OKC model of developing their home grown draft talent Ed Davis seems to be an ideal fit with Bargnani and a guy like Jimmer Fredette seems to be the ideal fit around a ball handling wing like JJ and a slasher/driver who's not so much of a driver in De Rozan They just need the right short term vets to plug in the gaps and tighten up their defense ( not problems with them being able to score ) and I think they are a team that will sneak up on a lot of people in a season or so. The problem with JJ is controlling his turnovers ( especially his propensity for offensive fouls whilehe was here ). The key to his development is about ball retention and possession. He is a completely different case to Tyrus - that is a lazy and inaccurate comparison
Just so I'm clear, are you predicting that the Raptors competitive status within a couple years will be to be to make the playoffs or to be a championship contender? I could argue with either, but it'd be easier to argue with the latter. I didn't see Good Hope raise Tyrus's name, but I did, so I feel an obligation to defend it. Stripping away all the niceties, my personal observation is that both Tyrus Thomas and James Johnson are basketball stupid. I may be wrong, but that's my take.
Given his current mental makeup, I don't see him being anything more than a marginal NBA player, if he sticks in the league at all. The guy was fat his rookie year. That's always a red flag. i give him credit for slimming down, but then he didn't seem coachable. The Bulls are not a Kings / Raptors / Clippers team anymore. There are no minutes for guys like him. I like his physical skills but he just seemed basketball stupid. The Bulls don't have time for that right now. i would really like a guy his size / skillset that could fit into this system and play 15 minute a game to spell Deng though. I didn't see any evidence that Johnson was going to be that guy though. Don't tell him I said that though, since he knows karate and all.
JJ's problem was that he was too wound up, almost the exact opposite of Deng who makes every play look like he's pacing himself for the next 44 minutes he'll be in. JJ always looked better after he'd gotten winded at least once. It was unfortunate that it took him 6 minutes to do that when he was never going to get 5 minutes at a time. CJ Watson rarely gets that many minutes. I think JJ will turn out to be a decent player eventually if he gets the right balance of coaching and opportunity. I think even the little bit of exposure he got to a winning environment this year could pay big dividends down the road. But there have been a lot of guys better than JJ who didn't get the right breaks to make it in the league and it wouldn't surprise me if JJ's career turned out that way either.
