Jalen Johnson may be better than De'Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish

[benhillboy]

4 hours ago, Dnice said:

That's the new Chris or John these days.

Seems so.  I’ll take it over some of the names I hear in the NFL nowadays.  Sh*t like T’Demetriustavious

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Spud2nique]

5 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Been out of this planet impressed with Jalen but last game it seemed he turned another corner and broke down more plateaus in his overall game and confidence. 
 

He’s gone from somebody I thought was expendable to a mainstay for the Hawks.

And what better point guard to get better with than Trae the superstar? 
 

JJ better get a pair of new sunglasses the future is extremely bright for him.

The ease in which he makes some plays is amazing. With the body, strides and athleticism.”, the sky is the limit.

[kg01]

56 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Been out of this planet impressed with Jalen but last game it seemed he turned another corner and broke down more plateaus in his overall game and confidence. 
 

He’s gone from somebody I thought was expendable to a mainstay for the Hawks.

And what better point guard to get better with than Trae the superstar? 
 

JJ better get a pair of new sunglasses the future is extremely bright for him.

The ease in which he makes some plays is amazing. With the body, strides and athleticism.”, the sky is the limit.

"Can't play foh me doh..."  - iRobot  

[dalamchops]

it's wild how intangibles will make or break a player. DAH is a much more polished player and cam has better handles/shooting touch, yet JJ's decisiveness and tenacity makes him a much better player on the court.

[thecampster]

6 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Been out of this planet impressed with Jalen but last game it seemed he turned another corner and broke down more plateaus in his overall game and confidence. 
 

He’s gone from somebody I thought was expendable to a mainstay for the Hawks.

And what better point guard to get better with than Trae the superstar? 
 

JJ better get a pair of new sunglasses the future is extremely bright for him.

The ease in which he makes some plays is amazing. With the body, strides and athleticism.”, the sky is the limit.

So one serious summit to cap for him and then skies the limit.

He's still getting rookie treatment by the refs with the whistle. He's blown for 2 fouls a night that the Lebrons of the world would never get. Gets an occasional travel on a simultaneous first step (which is technically not a travel but gets called a lot on mid-tier and below players).

If/When JJ starts getting star treatment with the refs, He'll be a 20/10 guy every night and will drop 30/15/7 on someone of note.  Its the main thing holding back his aggression. He can't go 1v1 to the basket right now and guarantee he'll get a foul call. At the beginning of last game, he had 2 post up/drives where he drew contact, didn't get the basket or the foul.  Siakam would have got that call, Butler would have got that call.  I submit at some point this season or by next, he'll start getting those calls and become a 20/10 guy.

[RedDawg#8]

I agree that a light bulb has seemed to turn on for Jalen. I think for the majority of his bball career he has always been bigger and stronger than the other guys on the court. It looks like at this level it is starting to click that his explosiveness makes him FASTER than the other guys too.

When he is in attack mode, he can get in to the paint and explode vertically to the rim before his defender can even make up his mind on where he wants to go. He is playing with a violence and confidence to his game where he is not afraid to attack.

It’s as if he woke up and realized that he is physically superior to the competition. He will for sure blossom in to a special player at this rate

[Spud2nique]

Jalen gets a consistent 3 pointer not just in the set shot, like on the move, yup 20/10 22/12 type for sure. 
 

And no, the best of the Hawks players throughout history haven’t gotten calls. It’s bs. Even Nique had to power over people through contact many times. Trae gets robbed on calls, ya I wouldn’t EXPECT him to get calls but it certainly would help him and us later on in the season. 

[bird_dirt]

I was curious to see when I was officially all in on JJ.
Earliest I could find record of was Feb. 2023. I thought it was earlier, but maybe he didn’t start getting much burn in games before then. 

 

Curious if I’m gonna be all Nostradamus and JJ replace a traded Hunter at the deadline with Siakam or someone else taking over at PF. 

Edited January 3 by bird_dirt

[bird_dirt]

Also while strolling down memory lane, I found a couple gems from AHF & Jay shooting down my proposal of trading JC + a FRP to move up to get Ant Edwards.

 

 

 

 

GOLD JERRY! Pure Gold!

[thecampster]

1 hour ago, RedDawg#8 said:

I agree that a light bulb has seemed to turn on for Jalen. I think for the majority of his bball career he has always been bigger and stronger than the other guys on the court. It looks like at this level it is starting to click that his explosiveness makes him FASTER than the other guys too.

When he is in attack mode, he can get in to the paint and explode vertically to the rim before his defender can even make up his mind on where he wants to go. He is playing with a violence and confidence to his game where he is not afraid to attack.

It’s as if he woke up and realized that he is physically superior to the competition. He will for sure blossom in to a special player at this rate

The Jalen of the last 2 games was the Jalen at College Park and at Duke (when healthy). Its not really lightbulb. Its coach trust, teammate trust when you aren't the primary ball handler and just finding your place. For a player like Jalen, he's been the man his whole high school/college/developmental league career. Becoming a 2nd/3rd option is a very new role for him.  Its just adjustment but for anyone that watched him at College Park or looked at ability vs output when he was on the floor, you knew this was coming.

So a big usually doesn't get solid joints until 23+.  At that age his shooting, handles usually improve.  Jalen is 21. By 23, many parts of his game will improve naturally due to body maturity alone. He'll probably put on 10-15 lbs of natural body weight by that time and will box out better, finish through contact better.  I see those signs right now. 25/26 season, he has the potential to be our best player. An argument can be made he's already most impactful. He could possibly be a 60%/40%/80% guy in 2 years and will demand a double every time he touches the ball. If Trae is still here, they'll be an impossible 2-some to contain.

[kg01]

41 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

Also while strolling down memory lane, I found a couple gems from AHF & Jay shooting down my proposal of trading JC + a FRP to move up to get Ant Edwards.

 

 

 

 

GOLD JERRY! Pure Gold!

This is pure savagery.  Just scroll over them kg posts.  He was hacked, I'm sure. 

[AHF]

Ooof.  That is a brutal miss on my part!  

[terrell]

1 hour ago, bird_dirt said:

Also while strolling down memory lane, I found a couple gems from AHF & Jay shooting down my proposal of trading JC + a FRP to move up to get Ant Edwards.

 

 

 

 

GOLD JERRY! Pure Gold!

[bird_dirt]

13 minutes ago, AHF said:

Ooof.  That is a brutal miss on my part!  

Don’t feel too bad. At least seven others felt the same as you (w/ zero “likes” on my proposal)! 

[bird_dirt]

1 minute ago, terrell said:

See those single “likes” on my JJ posts screenshots above @terrell? I am 99% sure they were both from you. 
You and I were both on that JJ train before I can recall seeing anyone else calling his number.

IDK if I should be scared of this, or if everyone else should be.

[macdaddy]

42 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

See those single “likes” on my JJ posts screenshots above @terrell? I am 99% sure they were both from you. 
You and I were both on that JJ train before I can recall seeing anyone else calling his number.

IDK if I should be scared of this, or if everyone else should be.

I don't know if you want to gloat too much about a post that has Bertans as our starting PF and Obi as our draft pick. 

[bird_dirt]

31 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I don't know if you want to gloat too much about a post that has Bertans as our starting PF and Obi as our draft pick. 

I don’t mind gloating. Ain’t no shame in my game. I’d still take some variation of this line up. I am willing to bet Bertans would have faired better here with Trae as the stretch 4 we’ve needed. And by now he’d be the backup.
Hell, folks are still talking about trading for Grant to this day, and I think Saric would be a plus here still, too. Rookie scale Obi isn’t bad for a backup. 

[JayBirdHawk]

2 hours ago, bird_dirt said:

Also while strolling down memory lane, I found a couple gems from AHF & Jay shooting down my proposal of trading JC + a FRP to move up to get Ant Edwards.

 

 

GOLD JERRY! Pure Gold!

 

 

In my defense.......

Spoiler

....who am I kidding. I don't have one  

 

[Final_quest]

6 hours ago, thecampster said:

So one serious summit to cap for him and then skies the limit.

He's still getting rookie treatment by the refs with the whistle. He's blown for 2 fouls a night that the Lebrons of the world would never get. Gets an occasional travel on a simultaneous first step (which is technically not a travel but gets called a lot on mid-tier and below players).

If/When JJ starts getting star treatment with the refs, He'll be a 20/10 guy every night and will drop 30/15/7 on someone of note.  Its the main thing holding back his aggression. He can't go 1v1 to the basket right now and guarantee he'll get a foul call. At the beginning of last game, he had 2 post up/drives where he drew contact, didn't get the basket or the foul.  Siakam would have got that call, Butler would have got that call.  I submit at some point this season or by next, he'll start getting those calls and become a 20/10 guy.

Hope you are right.  Hunter still gets a ton of WTF calls.  And Okongwu.