Nick is a huge player. I'm stoked we have him as our likely back-up point. He's extremely active (especially on defense but I've noticed his tendency to overhelp and gamble for steals), athletic, and an amazing shooter. We were almost always a + when he had majority control of the ball during the ORL SL.
It is but his athleticism and IQ are remarkable. His skillset will translate well when he gets called up.
he's a pretty polished player coming into the league. like his ability to catch and shoot, looks comfortable playing defense except for his tendency to gamble a little, but love his athleticism and hustle. i'd be pleased to see him running the back up point
Is going to have a huge impact on this team. Glad we upped the D at the 2 spot with Harden and Daniels. That position is solidified in my opinion.
He needs to have an attitude and spirit much larger than his body if he wants to succeed in the NBA though. From the highlights, it seems he has that though they are highlights. Even Kwame Brown looked good in highlights. He is supposed to be an undersized two though not nearly as small as say AB. That said, if he can defend both positions in the NBA when players are bigger and faster, it will be a huge boon for us.
Lots of summer league stars end up out of the league within 2-4 years, I will reserve judgment on him until he proves him self in the nba. I expect Johnson to be in the D-league for a little bit as well.
It was a great pick, but the reality is he's going to max out as a back up, as long as bev and harden are here. That's not what will get us to the next level.
when you're drafting that late, that's what these guys become. you expect they can contribute off the bench and help you get to that next level.
I didn't mean it would be a bad thing, but I just wouldn't consider it the silver lining in losing out on the major free agents..At least that's how I took the OP. But now it may be, since we won't be able to afford much more, having this guy on bench on a second round deal is huge.
Does anyone have a video link for that chase down block mentioned by @HoustonRockets? <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>So now <a href="https://twitter.com/iRocket3">@iRocket3</a> has the 2 best plays of Orlando <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBASummer?src=hash">#NBASummer</a> League: the posterizer from game 1 & that come-from-behind block. Sick.</p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/statuses/487395265649713152">July 11, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As a wildcat fan I loved him, but, as a wildcat fan I also saw a lot of his weaknesses. His biggest weakness is that when the game gets tough, he shrinks. He was asked to be the star of that Arizona team, and in a lot of games when the team was falling apart he stood back and watched. The Oregon game still pisses me off beyond all repair.
We'll all reserve judgement, and I know plenty of Summer League stars are NBA duds; but unlike a lot of those busts, Johnson seems competent in multiple facets of the game. That was one of the things that was interesting about Parsons when he got drafted (not comparing the two; just saying both had well developed skill sets). At the very least, his defense might earn him some playing time. Wait and see, but so far so good.
