Are we absolutely, totally certain 3J can't play the 3?

[j804]

How's his dribble?

it's looked bad he hasn't played much but still

[gar]

Think they were definitely sending a message not dressing him. He has some serious work to do. If he responds, Doc will be the first to give him props.

[blink]

I am pretty much in the 'give him playing time - then judge him' crowd.  Avery looked really bad at times with very limited playing time.  As a player you just can't get into the flow and show what you can do unless you get some minutes.  I don't mean garbage time minutes either.

But with Doc, it could also be that his D needs so much work that he isn't really going to see backup / rotation minutes until his D gets better.  It is a shame.  He at least is a guy with height and some Off skills.  Can he really be that much worse than hollins?  I guess on D...

[Jon]

I'd really be looking at him as a Bass replacement if KG comes back and Bass leaves next year.  He really has the game to thrive there.  He can hit jumpers, he can finish around the rim, and while he's much slighter than Bass, he is more of a shot blocking threat. 

I think that's where the C's should look to develop him. 

[feckless]

Doc recently said Avery was great in practice all along--can we really believe JJJ has been great in practice yet is the only guy not to dress??  behind S Williams, E Moore--the 15th man on a 15 man roster (ok 14th on a 14)?  It would not surprised me, absent a great summer league showing, ..that JJJ is not on the roster next year

[Meadowlark_Scal]

NBAdraft.net thought he might be able to be a 3:

"A long, tall forward with good scoring instincts ... Is a legit 6'10" in shoes with a long 7'2" wingspan ... Has very impressive leaping ability with unusual explosiveness for a big man ... Tied for having the highest maximum jump reach in the 2011 NBA Draft Combine, getting as high as 12'1.5" ... Frequent target for ally-oops and lob passes ... Very agile and mobile ... Has the speed to play the small forward position at the next level ... Really improved his scoring ability every year he was at school ... Has a smooth and refined turnaround jumper, which is very difficult to defend due to his length ... Has shooting range out to around 18 feet from the basket ... Has become a real threat in the post ... Nice-looking hook shot from the left side of the rim, with a soft touch and a high release point ... A factor on the offensive glass, gets a lot of tip-ins and put-backs ... Great free throw shooter (80.9%) that gets to the stripe a lot (209 attempts in 2010-2011) ... Moves his feet well on defense ... Big-time shot blocker, averaging 2.3 per game ... Had a successful 4-year career at Purdue ..."

http://nbadraft.net/players/jajuan-johnson

Give this kid a chance at the 3 or the 4. People are giving up on him. He had no summer league or training camp and far fewer practices because of the shortened season and the wear and tear on our vets. JJJ has skills.

Nice homework...same to the rest here..! I like JJJ......

[jambr380]

NBAdraft.net thought he might be able to be a 3:

"A long, tall forward with good scoring instincts ... Is a legit 6'10" in shoes with a long 7'2" wingspan ... Has very impressive leaping ability with unusual explosiveness for a big man ... Tied for having the highest maximum jump reach in the 2011 NBA Draft Combine, getting as high as 12'1.5" ... Frequent target for ally-oops and lob passes ... Very agile and mobile ... Has the speed to play the small forward position at the next level ... Really improved his scoring ability every year he was at school ... Has a smooth and refined turnaround jumper, which is very difficult to defend due to his length ... Has shooting range out to around 18 feet from the basket ... Has become a real threat in the post ... Nice-looking hook shot from the left side of the rim, with a soft touch and a high release point ... A factor on the offensive glass, gets a lot of tip-ins and put-backs ... Great free throw shooter (80.9%) that gets to the stripe a lot (209 attempts in 2010-2011) ... Moves his feet well on defense ... Big-time shot blocker, averaging 2.3 per game ... Had a successful 4-year career at Purdue ..."

http://nbadraft.net/players/jajuan-johnson

Give this kid a chance at the 3 or the 4. People are giving up on him. He had no summer league or training camp and far fewer practices because of the shortened season and the wear and tear on our vets. JJJ has skills.

Nice homework...same to the rest here..! I like JJJ......

That is a pretty impressive draft report. Geez, if he could be half the player this report says he is, that would be great!

[xmuscularghandix]

He can't handle the ball, he is a shot blocker, he is a 4.

[mmmmm]

A) His skill set has been groomed as a PF (with some time in college also at C).   Playing SF is a different skill set, regardless of size and physicals.

B) We have Paul Pierce and (probably) Jeff Green, two very good SFs.  So the counter question is:  Why do you want JJ to play the 3?

We need length at PF.  JJ provides length and is way stronger than most folks seem to understand.  He's only missing experience and to add 10-15 lbs over his combine weight.   I am pretty confident he is going to be just fine at PF in the long run.

Give him a full summer league and training camp and I suspect he'll start to earn time with Doc soon enough.

[chambers]

Seems like he couldn't because he's been trained to play the 4 in school.
Looking at his stats he'd be worth a trial.
I'd say he's more capable of a Jeff Green type of combo 3/4 rather than a strict three. I guess I've never seen his handle/dribbling in open court situations like Durant gets to.
If he can move with the ball in his hands up and down the court then yes he's very capable of playing small forward.

[greenhead85]

If we could force teams to play half court most of the time, I think he will perform better than what we expected at the 3 - especially if we play KD or Lebron. These 2 guys are the NBA's future so we need a guy like 3J to defend them. He is quick, long, athletic and skillful enough to defend them. And yes, he has to develop good dribbling skill in order for him to be very useful on the offensive end.

[mctyson]

I'm just not absolutely, totally, positively, completely convinced this might not be a good route for him.

Well one thing we know is that 3J has got the athleticism our team sorely needs.  And I think most of us buy his offensive talents.

There is nothing wrong with having an athletic 6'9" SF who can run the break, jump through the roof, and knock down open shots, getting 15 min a game off the bench, even if his defense sucks.  WE NEED BENCH OFFENSE.

I want to see lots of 3J next year if he is not traded.

[2short]

Both he and Moore might be gone depending on  the draft.   JJJ has the potential but I would say the foot speed of staying with small forwards in the nba is a big NO.  Bigger stronger sf like Melo and Lebron would eat him alive.

[Bahku]

One of my biggest complaints, (or omissions, at least), from this season's happenings ... not playing J-Cube more.

Having watched these guys extensively in college, (I'm a big NCAA guy), I can tell you that we haven't even scratched the surface of his talents, and as much as I like Moore's game, of the two, Johnson's is easily superior.

I hope he gets a chance, at least, to get some significant minutes, (pre-season games, hopefully), and get comfortable enough with the team to show his stuff.

Personally I think he could be a 3-4 swingman, but I'd like to see him given a serious chance at the four before throwing him into a situation that's even more of a roll of the dice.

Here's hoping it works out, depending, of course, on what transpires this off-season, (and that's a big "if").

 

[Celtics4ever]

I don't think he has the lateral footspeed as mentioned above.   He seemed to be lost on rotations last year at times.   The way the season started really hurt him and I am not sure they taught him much on the fly as our practices probably were not the league standard with our veterans and our age.

He need muscles and a preseason before we can judge him.