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


TheNorthCydeRises

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3 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

That is what will earn him a ton of minutes this year. He can come off the bench for Dre, JBap, and even CC and put up good numbers without plays being run for him. 

JJ isn't gonna get a lot of mins but I can see him beating Solo for mins. The majority of his mins will come from College Park 

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1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

This is a controversial and bold statement.  But it may be the truth.

Johnson's perimeter and ball handling skills can't be denied.  He's easily the better passer.  And I think he's the better isolation player, although De'Andre has vastly improved his midrange game.  Cam is potentially a better 3 point shooter, but consistency has been his issue from that range.

 

I wouldn't say that he's a better man defender than De'Andre or Cam, but he definitely has a better array of offensive skills than those two.  It's going to be VERY INTERESTING how Nate uses him.  You almost have to play him at the 3, with spot minutes at the 4.  He definitely makes Gallo expendable either during the season, or next offseason.

NBADraft.net ratings

  • Athleticism      8
  • Size                  8
  • Defense            8
  • Strength           8
  • Quickness         8
  • Leadership        7
  • Jump Shot         7
  • NBA Ready       7
  • Ball Handling     8
  • Potential            9
  • Passing              8
  • Intangibles       7

Overall                        93

 

To me, the ratings in red are ridiculous.   The guy is easily one of the 5 best athletes in this draft.  And at 6-9, his size is ideal to put at the 3 and even as a small ball 4 in a quick lineup  He didn't shoot the 3 with enough volume in college, so I can see why people may have had doubts with his long range shooting.  But I'm tempted to even bump him up here. 

He's DEFINITELY NBA ready.  I don't think few people can deny that.   And as far as intangibles, he has that too, with the way he can be a secondary ball handler and be a very good weak side defender. He's also ultra confident, which will help him adjust to the league very quickly.

Nate has a very good problem on his hands.  He has a playoff tested team that has good to great chemistry together.  And he doesn't have to rush putting the kids on the floor in expanded roles.

But how do you keep Jalen Johnson out of this rotation?  I honestly don't think you can.

At minimum, he completely takes over the Solo spot as our 3rd string SF/PF.  At maximum . . . he plays well enough to justify him being the 6th/7th man . . . or even starting, if Hunter and Reddish continue to be hampered by injuries.

And by the start of the 2022 - 23 season, our best wing may be Johnson . . . not Hunter or Reddish.

Yeah I think the pressure will be really on Hunter and Cam not just because they have been in the league for three years, but becuase the team has it is ready to compete now. And now you have this dude coming on like gang busters. I do think he is more of a 3/4 though. 

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10 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

JJ isn't gonna get a lot of mins but I can see him beating Solo for mins. The majority of his mins will come from College Park 

Not sure about that. There will inevitably be injuries and some resting going on. I think his style of play will make it hard for Nate to keep him off the floor. Hope him and Deuce Coop can create some good chemistry together in the G League. 

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3 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

Not sure about that. There will inevitably be injuries and some resting going on. I think his style of play will make it hard for Nate to keep him off the floor. Hope him and Deuce Coop can create some good chemistry together in the G League. 

I think that the best thing for both of them is to practice with the Hawks but play their games in College Park. Much as I've been impressed by both Jalen and Deuce Coop in Summer League...it's still just Summer League. There is still miles of difference between the players they're up against this week and even marginal NBA rotation players. I just don't think that either of them is going to be able to come right in and be more effective than the guys in our second unit, much less the starters.

Give them some burn against the G League, and have them run through practices against the vets. Give them occasional auditions in real games so they get a feel for what they're up against at the highest level. Nate will know if/when they're ready for more, just like he did with OO last year.

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10 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

Not sure about that. There will inevitably be injuries and some resting going on. I think his style of play will make it hard for Nate to keep him off the floor. Hope him and Deuce Coop can create some good chemistry together in the G League. 

He's currently 5th in the rotation and would be 6th when Okongwu is back. No telling if who we sign from Greece could be in front of him as well. There is more to this than talent. This isn't the Hawks of the rebuilding era. 

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2 minutes ago, niremetal said:

I think that the best thing for both of them is to practice with the Hawks but play their games in College Park. Much as I've been impressed by both Jalen and Deuce Coop in Summer League...it's still just Summer League. There is still miles of difference between the players they're up against this week and even marginal NBA rotation players. I just don't think that either of them is going to be able to come right in and be more effective than the guys in our second unit, much less the starters.

Give them some burn against the G League, and have them run through practices against the vets. Give them occasional auditions in real games so they get a feel for what they're up against at the highest level. Nate will know if/when they're ready for more, just like he did with OO last year.

This is the most likely scenario. But I believe deep in the middle of the season, these guys will win some games for us. 

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2 minutes ago, niremetal said:

I think that the best thing for both of them is to practice with the Hawks but play their games in College Park. Much as I've been impressed by both Jalen and Deuce Coop in Summer League...it's still just Summer League. There is still miles of difference between the players they're up against this week and even marginal NBA rotation players. I just don't think that either of them is going to be able to come right in and be more effective than the guys in our second unit, much less the starters.

Give them some burn against the G League, and have them run through practices against the vets. Give them occasional auditions in real games so they get a feel for what they're up against at the highest level. Nate will know if/when they're ready for more, just like he did with OO last year.

I agree. Having these two built a report with each other and play when teams are scheming them will do wonders for their development. So much JJ needs to work on

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2 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He's currently 5th in the rotation and would be 6th when Okongwu is back. No telling if who we sign from Greece could be in front of him as well. There is more to this than talent. This isn't the Hawks of the rebuilding era. 

True, but it is a long season. Remember Solo played like the third most minutes on the team last year when he was supposed to be a locker room guy. If Coop and Dyno get a significant chance, I don’t think they let go of their grip. 

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1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

This is a controversial and bold statement.  But it may be the truth.

Johnson's perimeter and ball handling skills can't be denied.  He's easily the better passer.  And I think he's the better isolation player, although De'Andre has vastly improved his midrange game.  Cam is potentially a better 3 point shooter, but consistency has been his issue from that range.

 

I wouldn't say that he's a better man defender than De'Andre or Cam, but he definitely has a better array of offensive skills than those two.  It's going to be VERY INTERESTING how Nate uses him.  You almost have to play him at the 3, with spot minutes at the 4.  He definitely makes Gallo expendable either during the season, or next offseason.

NBADraft.net ratings

  • Athleticism      8
  • Size                  8
  • Defense            8
  • Strength           8
  • Quickness         8
  • Leadership        7
  • Jump Shot         7
  • NBA Ready       7
  • Ball Handling     8
  • Potential            9
  • Passing              8
  • Intangibles       7

Overall                        93

 

To me, the ratings in red are ridiculous.   The guy is easily one of the 5 best athletes in this draft.  And at 6-9, his size is ideal to put at the 3 and even as a small ball 4 in a quick lineup  He didn't shoot the 3 with enough volume in college, so I can see why people may have had doubts with his long range shooting.  But I'm tempted to even bump him up here. 

He's DEFINITELY NBA ready.  I don't think few people can deny that.   And as far as intangibles, he has that too, with the way he can be a secondary ball handler and be a very good weak side defender. He's also ultra confident, which will help him adjust to the league very quickly.

Nate has a very good problem on his hands.  He has a playoff tested team that has good to great chemistry together.  And he doesn't have to rush putting the kids on the floor in expanded roles.

But how do you keep Jalen Johnson out of this rotation?  I honestly don't think you can.

At minimum, he completely takes over the Solo spot as our 3rd string SF/PF.  At maximum . . . he plays well enough to justify him being the 6th/7th man . . . or even starting, if Hunter and Reddish continue to be hampered by injuries.

And by the start of the 2022 - 23 season, our best wing may be Johnson . . . not Hunter or Reddish.

You forgot Collins..He may be better than him too...I see Jalen as more of a 4 than a 3..He made a helluva block as a 5 tonight..lol..

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3 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

True, but it is a long season. Remember Solo played like the third most minutes on the team last year when he was supposed to be a locker room guy. If Coop and Dyno get a significant chance, I don’t think they let go of their grip. 

Three big differences

1. This isn't 72 games compacted where everyone had injuries due to it and we had the 3rd most outside of Cleveland and Orlando.

2. With a regular schedule, I expect players to rarely play at the bottom of the rotation which is the norm. 

3. He's so far in the back of the depth chart like Cooper. They are being promoted on College Park website. The plan is for them to play the season in College Park. 

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Just now, Atlantaholic said:

He's got a lot more skills offensively than Josh, lacks the absolutely incredible timing for blocks and insane hops young Josh had. That's not to say Jalen hasn't showed some fantastic athleticism but young Josh was one of the freakiest athletes I've ever seen. Jalen is more Collins as far as hops, which obviously is still fantastic, but just not Slam Dunk champ caliber. 

Josh had a lot of skill, just not a lot of polish. This kid has a lot of polish. He was extremely productive in college for a freshman. 

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38 minutes ago, Alex said:

He quit on his team.  Nobody in their mind can defend that.

For me, it's the fact it happened twice. I'll still get past that if he can make it through a year in College Park and playing nothing but garbage time in the Association without pouting. Or, obviously, if he proves so dominant that he actually earns himself a rotation role this year and keeps it (which I still seriously doubt will happen absent multiple frontcourt injuries).

Until he faces adversity and pushes through it at this level, I feel like I'll still be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

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