Is Amir Johnson the next...

[Celtics4ever]

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

You think that may something with them having DeRozan. Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas, and a couple of other shooters, like Lou Williams?   I do.

It is disingenuous of you to present USG% as a stat given if we had those guys our bigs would be taking less shots too.  You could bank on it, and bet your life.  So the USG% is a nice stat, that really won't apply in this case. 

They were not built around Amir, we were still trying to see if we should build around KO, Sully and Zeller.  I think the acquistion of Lee and Amir shows that the phase is over.

[slamtheking]

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

You think that may something with them having DeRozan. Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas, and a couple of other shooters, like Lou Williams?   I do.

It is disingenuous of you to present USG% as a stat given if we had those guys our bigs would be taking less shots too.  You could bank on it, and bet your life.  So the USG% is a nice stat, that really won't apply in this case. 

They were not built around Amir, we were still trying to see if we should build around KO, Sully and Zeller. I think the acquistion of Lee and Amir shows that the phase is over.

I don't think that's a valid assumption.  Lee's an expiring deal and Amir has a pricey team option for the following year (so basically another large expiring deal).  I don't really see either as a candidate for being here after this season (and quite possibly gone by the trading deadline if Danny can land a bigger fish).

[littleteapot]

I don't think we were ever trying to build around Sully and Olynyk as contender-caliber starters honestly.

[Evantime34]

I don't think much of what you said is true, yet, of Crowder himself.

Plus, Amir already had a pretty big role in Toronto.

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

If I had to guess, part of the reason he decided so quickly to play in Boston (even with his second year non guaranteed) was that they told him he could shoot more. I expect his usage to go up in Boston, mainly because he is going to take more 3's than he ever has in his career.

His scoring isn't going to be what people love about him though. Johnson sets some of the best screens in the game, making contact on the screen every time. He is going to free teammates for wide open looks and will eventually free himself for easy rolls to the hoop.

On defense he is in the right place 99% of the time and has the length/athleticism to challenge shots at the rim.

I think he's the next Crowder in a couple ways. Johnson is a player who always plays hard and will fit seamlessly into the Celtics culture (just like Crowder). He is a player that will see more offensive freedom than at any point in his career (like Crowder)

[LooseCannon]

Maybe Amir Johnson has a bump in 3pa like Paul Millsap did in Atlanta and becomes seen as a player with equivalent value, but more concentrated in defense.

[BDeCosta26]

I don't think much of what you said is true, yet, of Crowder himself.

Plus, Amir already had a pretty big role in Toronto.

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

If I had to guess, part of the reason he decided so quickly to play in Boston (even with his second year non guaranteed) was that they told him he could shoot more. I expect his usage to go up in Boston, mainly because he is going to take more 3's than he ever has in his career.

His scoring isn't going to be what people love about him though. Johnson sets some of the best screens in the game, making contact on the screen every time. He is going to free teammates for wide open looks and will eventually free himself for easy rolls to the hoop.

On defense he is in the right place 99% of the time and has the length/athleticism to challenge shots at the rim.

I think he's the next Crowder in a couple ways. Johnson is a player who always plays hard and will fit seamlessly into the Celtics culture (just like Crowder). He is a player that will see more offensive freedom than at any point in his career (like Crowder)

Totally agree. Amir is a halfway decent shooter, and a confident one at that so the idea of him wanting some more chances makes sense both ways. I think Sully is going to take less 3's this year and with Lee probably set to get decent minutes having Johnson able to sink open 3's would be great. When you combine that with his defense and excellent P&R game, he could be the next guy we say "Wow, Stevens really brought out the best basketball of his career" about.

If you haven't gone back and looked at some Toronto film, it's pretty easy to see why Boston fans are gonna love this guy. He's the perfect veteran leader for this group because he meshes so well with their already established culture. Amir makes smart plays, sets hard screens, rolls hard to the basket and just flat out hustles. Our team lacked three things more than any other last year: Interior defense, rebounding, and scoring punch. Amir Johnson fills the first two pretty well. Lee certainly helps with the other, as does continued improvement from all our guys and having a shooter like Hunter. I think the Johnson acquisition is very under-rated. I've seen a few different guys quote FO guys saying it's one of the summers best signings.

[Csfan1984]

Amir is the next Brandon Bass but only more expensive. Many will want him gone by deadline saying he is an overpay and we should have tanked. However if we reasonably think of modern cap #s he will be okay for his production. But yes team should have still tanked.

[max215]

More specifically, it's:
100 * ((FGA + 0.44 * FTA + TOV) * (Tm MP / 5)) / (MP * (Tm FGA + 0.44 * Tm FTA + Tm TOV))

So basically the number of possessions that a player ends with a shot, a free throw, or a turnover compared to the rest of his team. This is why a player like Carmelo Anthony or Kobe typically has a massive usage percentage.

Thanks for the explanation, TP.

[max215]

I don't think much of what you said is true, yet, of Crowder himself.

Plus, Amir already had a pretty big role in Toronto.

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

But he's much more a defensive player than those guys.

True, but I think he'll definitely see an expanded role in our offense given that we don't have ball dominant Guards, and he is both proficient in the PnR and a good shooter.

[max215]

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

You think that may something with them having DeRozan. Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas, and a couple of other shooters, like Lou Williams?   I do.

It is disingenuous of you to present USG% as a stat given if we had those guys our bigs would be taking less shots too.  You could bank on it, and bet your life.  So the USG% is a nice stat, that really won't apply in this case. 

They were not built around Amir, we were still trying to see if we should build around KO, Sully and Zeller.  I think the acquistion of Lee and Amir shows that the phase is over.

That's my point. We don't have those ball dominant guys, so I think it's likely he'll be more involved in the offense than he was in Toronto.

[max215]

I don't think much of what you said is true, yet, of Crowder himself.

Plus, Amir already had a pretty big role in Toronto.

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

If I had to guess, part of the reason he decided so quickly to play in Boston (even with his second year non guaranteed) was that they told him he could shoot more. I expect his usage to go up in Boston, mainly because he is going to take more 3's than he ever has in his career.

His scoring isn't going to be what people love about him though. Johnson sets some of the best screens in the game, making contact on the screen every time. He is going to free teammates for wide open looks and will eventually free himself for easy rolls to the hoop.

On defense he is in the right place 99% of the time and has the length/athleticism to challenge shots at the rim.

I think he's the next Crowder in a couple ways. Johnson is a player who always plays hard and will fit seamlessly into the Celtics culture (just like Crowder). He is a player that will see more offensive freedom than at any point in his career (like Crowder)

Excellent summary of my views on Amir, TP.

[ahonui06]

I don't think much of what you said is true, yet, of Crowder himself.

Plus, Amir already had a pretty big role in Toronto.

He got a fair amount of minutes, but his USG% was quite low, lower than Sully's, KO's, and Zeller's.

If I had to guess, part of the reason he decided so quickly to play in Boston (even with his second year non guaranteed) was that they told him he could shoot more. I expect his usage to go up in Boston, mainly because he is going to take more 3's than he ever has in his career.

His scoring isn't going to be what people love about him though. Johnson sets some of the best screens in the game, making contact on the screen every time. He is going to free teammates for wide open looks and will eventually free himself for easy rolls to the hoop.

On defense he is in the right place 99% of the time and has the length/athleticism to challenge shots at the rim.

I think he's the next Crowder in a couple ways. Johnson is a player who always plays hard and will fit seamlessly into the Celtics culture (just like Crowder). He is a player that will see more offensive freedom than at any point in his career (like Crowder)

It's possible that Amir signed with Boston for a larger offensive role, but I would believe the main reason is the $12M. I'm sure Toronto and Masai Ujiri told Amir they were pursuing DeMarre Carroll and would use their cap space on him on Day 1. That gave him the green light to pursue other opportunities.