Nick Johnson's role in the playoffs is to be Ellis or Rondo in practice .... He might get some burn in the second round if Terry & Prigioni get roasted by CP3 or Parker.
There's gonna come a time when because of matchups we can't afford to have prigs or terry out there defensively and Nick's gotta be ready. I wish we would have experimented some with having harden, ariza, and brewer playing together at 1-3, I'm always going to wonder how this would work in crunch time. Ariza guarding Chris Paul or Tony Parker, brewer chasing around reddick or green/ginobli, and harden guarding Barnes or Leonard and bringing the ball up. You'd probably need smith at the 4 for extra ball handling but I think this may be our best chance defensively agaist SAS or LAC with bev out.
Johnson's role is to cheer his teammates on. He's a good defender, but his offensive game is extremely limited. Against a really good offense like the Mavs, you have to have scoring threats on the floor. Maybe if the Rockets face a more defensive-oriented opponent like the Grizzlies later on, he could get some playing time(of course, Bev might be back by then). But for now, it's Terry and Pepperoni manning the PG spot and Brewer backing up Harden and Ariza.
surprise them this game. play NJ and DORSEY first subs. just for a few to trip them out lol they wont have a game plan for that. watch
JET and Prig have been playing their roles. Nick tries to do too much with the ball in his hands. I wouldn't mind seeing him out there on end of quarter defensive possessions.
When Terry and Prigioni get burned by the likes of Paul, Parker, or Curry, McHale might be forced to use Johnson for defensive purposes. You can't keep using Ariza and Brewer on those guys and run Harden to the ground. At some point, you need a better defensive guy at the PG position at least for some stretches.
Will beverley be back if we make it to the 2nd round I remember it was reported he'd be back at some point if we made it far enough
if we can't slow down CP3 or Curry or Parker, we may need Johnson but perhaps Bev will be available by that time
He's an upgrade on D to Pablo and JET, but right now he is nothing on offense, can't run the point, can't shoot and isn't a threat. If we want to full court press a ball-handler to wear him down say for example Chris Paul then yes he has some spot minutes coming, but outside of that the only time he plays is when we're up 20 blowing these crappy mavs out
Doesn't matter what people think...it's what the coaches know that counts. They see these guys every day in practices....and you can bet if/when he shows he deserves more minutes, he will get them....Capela for example. When Nick has been given the minutes, he has done ok on defense, but his offense has been terrible...poor shooting, poor job of running the offense. I could see him possibly getting spot minutes against Barra in this series, but probably not in the second round.
I just don't understand this logic. With games spread out like they are in the playoffs and easy travel in this series, Ariza and Brewer and Harden can and should get heavy minutes. What are we saving them for? My goodness Saturday to Tuesday games is enough recovery time for any NBA player....play your best guys heavy minutes, all the minutes they can reasonably handle.
Capela has earned his minutes...in practices first and then in games. He isn't playing because people think he should; no, he is playing because he has earned it in the coaches eyes. Same is applied to Nick. When he earns it, he will get the minutes.
He's not more limited than Prigioni. Prigioni is no scoring threat. Pablo is nothing on offense either. If they put nick in, just have him in defensively and have him running the point a la Beverley which did absolutely nothing as a PG but dribble up court, and hand the ball to harden, and flair to one side or the other. I'd say NJ is more of a threat driving to the basket if the lane is open more than any of our other PGs.
