One of the few holdovers from last season’s roster, Tyler Johnson performed well in a short time as the Phoenix Suns starting point guard. What should we expect from him in 2019-20?
After being a fan-favorite to include in literally every predicted trade this past summer, Tyler Johnson has survived the offseason to this point.
With changes all around the roster, his role should look much different in his second season with the Phoenix Suns.
With Ricky Rubio joining the team as the guaranteed starting point guard there is no spot to start for Johnson making him the first guard off the bench.
If either of them is to be injured or in foul trouble during a game Johnson is the most likely candidate to fill either spot with the starter’s.
Last season Johnson played most of his games surrounded by Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Kelly Oubre.
This season they will all still be on the team, however not on the court together as often as last year.
By virtue of not sharing the court with the Suns’ top-three most gifted scorers as often, that responsibility will fall more on Johnson.
In return he will be counted on less to be a creator for others which he was inexperienced in doing.
This role sounds much more like the Tyler Johnson that we have seen in Miami for the start of his career.
Over his last two and a half year’s in Miami before Phoenix acquired him, Johnson averaged between 27 and 29 minutes a game compared to 31 in his short time in Phoenix.
ext season coming off the bench I would expect Johnson to return back to being deployed between 25 and 28 minutes a night on average.
Even with Johnson not starting games, it is not impossible to envision a closing lineup that would include him. If the Suns deploy an ultra small lineup with maximum possible shooting, Johnson would definitely be a candidate because of his ball-handling and secondary creation ability.
Johnson’s overall statistics should revert back to how they were his final few seasons with the Heat.
His play-making and assist numbers from his time in Phoenix should dip a bit but his efficiency across the board should increase after it plummeted from 43% for his career in Miami to 36% in Phoenix.
The expectation for Johnson should be to return back to his stat-line in Miami during the 2017-18 season.
That would put him between 11 and 12 points a game, a little over 2 assists, with low turnovers, along with better efficiency than he displayed last season. Even if Tyler Johnson does not finish the year with the Phoenix Suns, they should have set up a team that puts Johnson in a role to succeed.