Weaknesses
If Johnson is so great on paper, why is he only projected to be in that 7-10 range? Well, because as much as he has a lot of skills that will translate to the next level, there are a couple of question marks as well.
In Arizona’s first game of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, commentator Reggie Miller called Johnson “the reincarnation of LeBron James” after a strong pull-through led to a monster one-handed slam.
Don’t get me wrong, it was an impressive play. But Reggie should probably take it easy with unbelievable over-exaggerations like that, since Johnson is nowhere NEAR LeBron’s level as an athlete. In fact, Johnson’s lack of explosive athleticism is probably the biggest knock against his game translating to the next level.
Johnson is a good downhill player with an impressive first step (as shown above), but he’s not particularly outstanding off the bounce. He was also prone to taking plays off because he was that much better than everybody in college, so he’ll need to be locked in all the time when he gets to the NBA (which I’d fully expect given the chip on his shoulder from the Elite Eight loss).
Stanley Johnson on Elite 8 loss: “Wasn’t happy about it. Still not happy about it. I’ll never be happy about it.”
— Bill Oram (@billoram) May 14, 2015
Although it was a small sample size, Johnson also failed to step up during the NCAA Tournament, when his team needed him most. He went 7-for-26 from the floor in his final three games of the season, but perhaps that’s part of the chip that’s on his shoulder…along with the moment too many teams pass on him in the draft.
Next: Potential Fit