[Video] Nick Johnson Full Highlights vs Pistons (SL) (7.5.14)

Great pick by morey..Lin is looking more and more irrelevant.

 

Lol. Definitely too soon.

 

I like the intensity he plays with...hopefully he will get some burn at pg and sg..but we know how Mchale is with rookies

 

Wow, this dude looks ready. I bet he's trying not to get the Parsons contract. I wish I could watch the whole game so I could find his weaknesses. His understanding of spacing is impeccable.

 

I watched the whole game and I honestly could not find a weakness in his game.

He's a jack of all trades.

 

He looks like he brought his "A" game to Orlando.

 

easy to say that this is a DLeague game, but its very impressive what he was able to do against other NBA level talent. Kid has serious potential as a solid NBA player...For this Rocket team, Johnson can step right up and take over the role of Jeremy Lin. Morey may have to hide him or risk losing him via trade as an asset.

 

I think I just had a houston rockasm.

I don't look at the competition, I look at the habits. Spacing, where and when you dribble, instincts. This kid gets it. I'll go on record saying that I believe we are unbelievably lucky.

 

bye bye canaan

 

Hey Morey,

Start printing one of those 4yr- non guaranteed contract full of team option years for Mr. Nick Johnson please.

 

Make this man a Hakeem already!

 

What was his defense looking like?

 

High intensity. Fights to stay with his man. Pressed from full court and 3/4 court a few times. Active hands playing passing lanes and harassing ball handlers. I remember him getting beat badly off the dribble once by KCP, but I only watched the second half. I didn't pay attention to rotations and help defense so idk about that stuff.

He played as advertised on his scouting report. Hopefully he can keep it up.

 

I'm not trying to crack on Nick Johnson today, but that seems to be how it is working out. I do like him as a rotation player, but go to 1:10-ish in the video and look at his jumper from behind.

Mechanically, his jumper is horrible. It looks good from the side, but from behind you can see he pulls the ball way across his body, and his elbow sticks way out when you see him from behind. The only player I can think of off the top of my head who has been an elite shooter with mechanics that bad is Reggie Miller. Basically, the fact that he shoots as well as he does is all down to pure athleticism. He's not doing himself any favors. Also, with the elbow out to the side, if he gets any rotation, it'll be Kenny Smith style sideways rotation that is essentially useless.

His mechanics aren't Terrence Jones bad, but they aren't good at all.

Again, I'm sorry that I'm coming down on Nick Johnson so much today. That athleticism is special, but I will be surprised if he becomes an above average 3 point shooter in the NBA without a major mechanical overhaul.

 

Is that D-Mo I see all the way at the end of the Rockets' bench?

 

This...essentially that's apparently what has led him to be a streaky shooter at Arizona...his defensive effort and court awareness will help him nab play time right away(ala Chandler Parsons rookie season). The Rockets will work on his release and jumper throughout the season at the D League...and come midseason, he may have a legitimate chance at cracking the rotation.

 

If he can just shoot at 37% like Beverley then he will be very useful. Great defender who is physical/athletic enough to guard 1s and 2s.

 

The "hole" in his game is that he's just too small. 3-4 inches taller and he's Brandon Roy-esque. And don't get me wrong, great strength and defense so can make up a bit for that size to stay on the court.

But he's not even 6'2 without shoes. It's iust too small. Frankly most of the 6'2 shooting guards I can think of that have been successful have been more wirey, speed guys that are just incredible 6th man type scorers. Can't think of a really good 6'3 (with shoes) two guard who'se game is crazy solid, but not exceptional in any one area.

I hope I'm wrong ... But can this dude be a PG? And if not, will he just be too small??

 

out of all the criticism there is to point at for mchale (and there is a lot), imo his handling of rookies is not one of em. case in point is obviously parsons as a 2nd round pick. but look at the call he made with playing troy daniels too. look at how he handled bev as a rookie giving him mins as our backup PG/occasional closer.