Thanks, good stuff Ry
I think people tend to over-rate Johnson's ability because he's a very skilled player. Bulls fans have been looking at the likes of Noah and Thomas and are going crazy over a player that actually seems to have a NBA skill set. But from what I've seen, the guy seems a step slow on the perimeter offensively and defensively. A lot of his moves will become predictable pretty fast in the regualr season, because he goes to them a lot with not the greatest amount of success in the summer. Yes, this is only summer league, but a lot of the red flags I thought would appear has showed in spades.
JJ's first game against the Warriors was great. He seemed quick on the perimeter, and his shot looked good. He even showed the ability to draw fouls... even if foul happy summer league calls won't translate to the regular season. But in all, he had a productive game showing off his skills against Ingles, even if Ingles most likely won't be in the league.
The game against the Bucks kinda exposed JJ's perimeter game. He didn't look comfortable playing against a legit NBA defender at all. He got a good amount of foul calls on broken defensive matchups, but Moute pretty much kept him on the perimeter shooting bricks. Moute is a pretty good defender, but it would've been good to see JJ try to do something besides attempt to run around Moute. He has a strong body but he seems unwilling to use it to his advantage, which probably brings another set of red flags if Johnson projects to play a good amount of time at power forward.
I thought the OKC matchup with Harden was JJ's chance to show his all around game on offense, and show that he's going to be able to guard on the perimeter. Johnson had a bad matchup against a shooting guard, but he didn't try to make the matchup work in his favor. Instead of trying to back down the shorter, weaker James Harden, JJ continue to stand on the perimeter shooting bricks, and trying to blow pass Harden which was going nowhere. I would've loved to see Johnson try to use his advantages in the matchup, but that just did not happen. Defensively, JJ did a good job keeping Harden in front of him for the most part, but he seemed to get lost leaving Harden wide open on the perimeter far too oftenly.
I was more disappointed in the Bulls coaching staff against the Knicks. If the Bulls FO is going play JJ at the four, the game against the Kincks was the perfect opportunity to do so. It would've forced a pretty exciting Johnson vs. Hill matchup. Unfortunately, the game against the Knicks was another game where JJ played on the perimeter and blah blah blah. This should've been a game a lot like the game aganist the Warriors. The Knicks had nobody that could hurt Johnson on offense, and no real NBA caliber defenders at all. That being said JJ still didn't perform as well as I thought he should have.
This leaves the upcoming game with the T Wolves. I'm pretty excited because it give me the chance to watch Jonny Flynn, and there is a pretty intresting matchup on the perimeter with Johnson going up aganist Brewer. I think Brewer should be able to stop JJ's game going to the basket, but JJ defintiely should be able to back CB down and physically impose his will on him. So in all, this next summer league game should be a pretty interesting watch. I have the nail ready and the coffin open for this idea that JJ is going to be able to excel on the perimeter in the regular season. We'll see!
