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

[mountainjim]

Yes - great read!  Thanks!

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[REHawksFan]

11 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

I don't think it's a stretch to say that he and Bogie have been the two most valuable players to the Hawks this year.  And while Trae is still the best player on the team, it may not be long before JJ takes that mantle from him.  He ain't there yet, but you can see the talent just oozing from him.  

[JayBirdHawk]

 

JJ's ability to make plays for himself or someone else from this action - Mission Critical

[KB21]

4 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

JJ's ability to make plays for himself or someone else from this action - Mission Critical

He's being developed similar to how the Hawks used Millsap.  

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[AHF]

Impressive talent.  Lakers fans gazing at that piece can almost taste the sweat.

[kg01]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

Impressive talent.  Lakers fans gazing at that piece can almost taste the sweat.

There's so many jokes here but I won't touch 'em.  Gotta keep it 'pg' in case I have to hit the campaign trail.

#kg4mod2024?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 8/14/2021 at 7:18 PM, 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.

 

The greatest player prediction post of all time on Hawksquawk.  And said this before he played an official pre-season game.  Summer League sold me.

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

The greatest player prediction post of all time on Hawksquawk.  And said this before he played an official pre-season game.  Summer League sold me.

Here........get you some  

[Wretch]

On 4/6/2024 at 11:42 AM, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

The greatest player prediction post of all time on Hawksquawk.  And said this before he played an official pre-season game.  Summer League sold me.

The second greatest player prediction, getting his opinion in for future reference:

On 8/17/2021 at 9:02 PM, Wretch said:

I'm glad this post is here...  One, so I can get my opinion recorded for future reference and two, because it validates how I felt watching him in Summer League.  And let me just say...holy sheeet.

Yes, it's summer league. 

Yes, he's young. 

Yes, we have a small sample size. 

I hear you guys and I respect the calls to temper our expectations...but the ol' eyeball test on JJ was something else. 

For a 19 year old, 6'9" 220lb wing/forward...with only 2tsp's of college ball on his resume...I didn't see a whole lot of flaws.  What I did see was a damn swiss army knife.  That kid can handle the ball.  He can pass the ball.  He can shoot the ball.  He can post up.  He can face up.  He's got dribble penetration.  He's athletic.  He's a rim runner.  He has tremendous energy and hustle.  He moves down the floor with a purpose and looks like he can effectively defend all 5 positions. 

It's hard trying to keep my enthusiasm in check because he just did everything well, every time he stepped on the court.  He consistently looked like the most talented player out there.  Not necessarily the best shooter or passer or even best scorer...but he looked like the guy with the most facets to his game and everything he did looked smooth and effortless and FAST.

Which is another thing: there was zero hesitation about any of it.  Just...ball got in his hands, he instantly went to work.  Ball went up...he was on the glass.  Ball came down, he was the first one down the court...or if he grabbed the rebound, he was pushing the break.  Or if he grabbed the rebound and there was a guard there, he'd take half a second to assess the defense and then the ball would be in the facilitator's hands.

I'm not going to call him the 2nd or 3rd most talented Hawk or the guy with the most potential, but if this skill translates and he improves...he's coming for somebody's minutes.  Which, honestly...  He's looking like a 3/4.  His frame looks like he'll put on some muscle and he's a mirror of JC's pre-draft measurements.  6'9" height...  6'11" wingspan...  220-ish lbs. (though I've seen him listed 220 in some places and 206 in others).

...and I'll get my own dang flowers...!  

[NBASupes]

On 4/6/2024 at 10:42 AM, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

The greatest player prediction post of all time on Hawksquawk.  And said this before he played an official pre-season game.  Summer League sold me.

The prediction looks inaccurate but his ability has delivered. Hunter and Cam are still far superior defenders on the perimeter and the gap is massive as well even now. But he's clearly better than Cam and Hunter right now. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

Let's talk next contract. JJ is early extension eligible this offseason. What should the Hawks do?

Sign him early and for how much or allow him to hit RFAcy next offseason?

 

[REHawksFan]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Let's talk next contract. JJ is early extension eligible this offseason. What should the Hawks do?

Sign him early and for how much or allow him to hit RFAcy next offseason?

 

No idea what kind of deal he's eligible for, but based on other players around the NBA, I'd say $24-26M annually is probably fair value for him. 

Here's the players in this range this year:

 

Edited April 12 by REHawksFan

[kg01]

45 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Let's talk next contract. JJ is early extension eligible this offseason. What should the Hawks do?

Sign him early and for how much or allow him to hit RFAcy next offseason?

 

JJMaxx 

[AHF]

1 minute ago, REHawksFan said:

No idea what kind of deal he's eligible for, but based on other players around the NBA, I'd say $24-26M annually is probably fair value for him. 

That doesn't seem bad.  

He is a tough one because he had two seasons where he did almost nothing then this year which was full of promise but still had multiple injuries which have been his Achilles heel.  From a numbers perspective, I don't think there is a metric that covers his upside (he is 8th in draft class in metrics like BPM and VORP and much lower in some others like WS due to a lack of playing time).

The challenge is that he is going to have significantly more upside than guys who he should probably be compared to for contract purposes just because he has missed so much time to injury and doesn't have a long track record (both due to health and Nate).

Here are a couple of names I'd throw out for as low and high end comparisons:

Devin Vassel (~$27M per year)

OO ($16M per year)

Desmond Bane (~$34M per year)

Cameron Johnson (~$24M per year)

[REHawksFan]

6 minutes ago, AHF said:

That doesn't seem bad.  

He is a tough one because he had two seasons where he did almost nothing then this year which was full of promise but still had multiple injuries which have been his Achilles heel.  From a numbers perspective, I don't think there is a metric that covers his upside (he is 8th in draft class in metrics like BPM and VORP and much lower in some others like WS due to a lack of playing time).

The challenge is that he is going to have significantly more upside than guys who he should probably be compared to for contract purposes just because he has missed so much time to injury and doesn't have a long track record (both due to health and Nate).

Here are a couple of names I'd throw out for as low and high end comparisons:

Devin Vassel (~$27M per year)

OO ($16M per year)

Desmond Bane (~$34M per year)

Cameron Johnson (~$24M per year)

Cam Johnson was the comp that started me down the $24-26M range.  Bane makes $34M?  Wow.  Didn't realize that.  

[AHF]

48 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

Cam Johnson was the comp that started me down the $24-26M range.  Bane makes $34M?  Wow.  Didn't realize that.  

[kg01]

Doo dah doot doot, doo dah doot doot ... JJMaxx