First, they traded the 25th pick to New Jersey for the 27th and a future second-rounder. They used #27 to draft JaJuan Johnson, a 6'10" power forward out of Purdue.
When I jotted down some thoughts on Johnson after watching him against Northwestern in December, I wasn't terribly high on him. He's a big guy who likes to play 17 feet from the basket, and I just don't think he's good at shooting those jumpers to justify taking them rather than going into the post, especially in college. He was passive on defense, also, though that may have been because he has a history of foul trouble and Northwestern's Luka Mirkovic isn't worth worrying too much about. (Though Mirkovic did burn Johnson a few times in the second half.)
My evaluation of Johnson hasn't really changed since then, but I do think Boston is a great spot for him. Mainly, I think Kevin Garnett is the perfect mentor. They play the same position and have the same type of offensive game. There's a good defensive player lurking inside Johnson -- I believe he was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season -- and KG's intensity is contagious.
Johnson spent four years in college, so he should be mature enough to handle the pressure of playing with an intense, veteran group like the one in Boston. And with Shaquille O'Neal retiring and Nenad Krstic off to play in Russia, the Celtics need someone to step into backup minutes in the pivot right away. That may have tipped the scales to Johnson from young Jeremy Tyler.
Johnson is far from a sure thing. There are plenty of rangy, athletic bigs who prefer the perimeter who haven't made it in the league, and it's unclear to me that Johnson will ever be comfortable in the post. He weighs just 220 pounds and isn't likely to get much bigger -- he has long arms but not a particularly broad frame, and he's already put on 40 pounds since his freshman year in college. But he's a great upside pick at the end of the first round.
Boston might've rolled the dice with dynamic scoring wing MarShon Brooks from Providence (the player they originally took for Jersey with the 25th pick) or Texas' Jordan Hamilton (the player other than Chris Singleton -- who is going to be really good, by the way -- who dropped the most in the first round) instead of Johnson. But given the team's needs, and given the guy they got with the 55th overall pick -- Johnson's classmate at Purdue, E'Twaun Moore -- Johnson was probably the right call.
Moore is a 6'4" shooting guard with a good floor game and solid leadership skills. He's a streak shooter -- that same game against Northwestern, he hit a bunch of threes on his way to 31 points -- and a good defender. I like him a touch more than guys like David Lighty and Ben Hansbrough, because I think he's more dynamic offensively.
There are a bunch of guys every year who have his skills, and most of them don't have NBA careers that amount to much. But every so often, a guy like Wes Matthews ends up exceeding everyone's expectations. I'm not saying Moore will be that kind of guy, but the possibility that he could be is all we could ask for out of this pick in this draft, a draft in which most of the last several selections were used on foreign players who can only be defined as prospects in the loosest sense of the term.
No comments:
Post a Comment