Seriously. A highlight film of a crazy LeBron chasedown block is nice but doing the hard work of closing guys out on the perimeter is where the value shines. hell remember Eddie Griffin? He couldn't defend a paper bag, but he was a great shot blocker.
yeah, I see Johnson as more of a Tucker type player. A 4-5 versus a 3-4. Not sure Johnson has the lateral quickness in space to guard 3's on the perimeter. More effective in the paint. Same with Tucker. BUT.....against the Rockets biggest foe, GSW, Johnson could be vey serviceable against Durant and just "for that matchup alone" he would be a great addition.
Ariza was a thug (in the best light that word could mean) and every team needs one. Johnson replaces that need. Tough guy. Nobody can guard Durant but I think Johnson and Ennis could a decent job in that regard as a tag team.
My two problems with James Johnson: #1 - Can't hit threes very well. Unless you're a rim running center, that's a problem for this offense. [however, good news, he kind of knows it and still had an above league average TS%] #2 - He's not as versatile position-ally as many seem to think. Or... maybe he CAN be, but presently he isn't. He's a PF and played like 97% of his minutes at PF last year.
I honestly feel like Ariza will be back on the Rockets by the end of the season. I think the suns buy him out and Houston signs him for the rest of their MLE. Ariza gets back with Houston and makes like 17-18m for this season. Win for everyone involved minus the suns who were stupid to give him that deal anyways. Tucker/melo/Ariza/ennis That’s A great rotation for the 3 and 4 position. You can even throw Ryan in there if he’s not traded for times when u need shooting on the court. I have to imagine Anderson has a bounce back shooting season getting to 40+%
Ariza gets 15M from another team, then gets MLE money with Houston. That would certainly equate to #NewMath
In this dream, Ariza agrees to be bought out by PHX for a few million less than his full contract, then gets made whole by us with the rest of the MLE
Ariza could guard 1-3 easily and didn't get muscled by 4's either. I was impressed by his ability to guard PGs at his age. PJ as good as he is defensively doesn't have that same lateral quickness on the perimeter, probably because he's so much heavier. Johnson isn't great on super fast players either. We're going to have to hope that Ennis is that player that can step in and be that extremely versatile defender that can still hit threes. I personally think we'll need someone else.
JJ is a PF who can guard some bigger wings. Ariza is a SF who can guard some smaller PF's. Different players. JJ would be a great addition, but frankly we're all out of minutes at the 4 between Tucker and Melo. Having said that, JJ might be good for guarding Durant while Tucker can slow down Iguodala or Klay fairly easily. If we think about the Warriors only, he would be a good get. I don't think we have anything Miami might be interested in though. These rumors seem overblown to me, and the trade ideas lopsided.
Man, I wish we could get a Heat fan's perspective on this, cause idk if anyone in here(including myself) have watched much of him at all.
PJ played zero minutes at center for Toronto and became the best small ball center for us since Chuck Hayes. It's not a stretch to imagine a rim running player like Johnson could be utilized the same way. Just the season before he was used at center. And he's played SF for other teams before.
Not as much as you think when you take into account the Tuckwagon lineup and the ripple effects. We will see plenty of Tucker at backup C.
I don't think we will. I think it's a situational line up that works well against the Warriors, and we will definitely see it again vs the Warriors and anyone with similar matchup characteristics. Will be interesting to watch. I think we will see some Melo at C too.
I can only go on 82games position rankings. According to that PJ played 7% of his minutes in the regular season at center. He played more minutes at SF - 13%. The bulk was at PF. PJ is definitely a versatile player, and defensively can switch great. But he played PF, for the most part. Of note, he played mostly SF for the Raptors, but no center, and mostly SF for the Suns and no center. What the Rockets did was take a guy that was MOSTLY a SF throughout his career, and at 6'6 was viewed as such, and turned him into a small ball PF that could flex, OCCASIONALLY, either way. James Johnson played 98% of his minutes at PF last year, 2% at center. The year before he played 54% of his minutes at PF, 46% at center. Those are the only two years of his career he got over 20 mpg, aside from a couple years 7+ years ago. He has played some SF in his career in those earlier years. The issue is he's just not a good three point shooter, and not a great rebounder. You wouldn't "really" want him at SF much, or at center much, offensively. Most to the point... overall, he's just an ok role player, who got 26 minutes per game and 41 starts on a mediocre at best team. I don't mind him, would certainly value him over a useless Ryan Anderson (if Anderson indeed is useless again), I'm just not expecting much that would truly move the needle.
