Amir In The "Clearance Rack" of ESPN Insider's "Bargain Bin"

[Doc]

A little ditty via ESPN Insider today regarding Amir:

The clearance rack

When you need a big man who can clear the paint and man the fort

Amir Johnson
He's 23 years old and had a better player efficiency rating than All-Star Chris Kaman this past season. He had the best pick-and-roll numbers of any NBA player not named Dwight Howard. He was one of four players to average a steal and 1.5 blocks per 36 minutes. He's a former McDonald's All-American and cleaned up the glass better than Andrew Bynum and Kevin Garnett. And yet, despite the accolades, most people have never heard of him.

At 6-foot-9, Johnson played backup to Chris Bosh in Toronto and did the dirty work for the 40-win squad this past season. Offensively, he's a putback machine and understands his low ceiling as a scorer. He's the team-first warrior whom every playoff team needs. Stick him in a Glen Davis-type role for a contending team, and everyone will know his name.

Source - Click here

[Apollo]

With Ed Davis in town the Raptors don't need Amir but it would serve them well to match any offers he gets and keep him. At this point they need to retain all the assets they can.

[Buddahfan]

Low ceiling as a scorer is total ignorance.

People will start to see the real Johnson starting this season.

His offense made huge strides last season because he finally after more than four post high school years got some coaching on his offense and got included in the offense.

Expect a lot more of it this season and into the future at an even more elevated level than he showed as a starter last season. which was 18 ppg and 6 rpg in a little under 33 mpg

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/...JouhRiYB09PaB4

[Doc]

With Ed Davis in town the Raptors don't need Amir but it would serve them well to match any offers he gets and keep him. At this point they need to retain all the assets they can.

Within reason though. I don't want another bad contract and I could see a team try and overpay him.

[Mess]

I haven't seen much of Davis yet, but the Raptors need to keep Amir - even without knowing those stats - I loved the way he plays, the hard work and hustle.

[heinz57]

With Ed Davis in town the Raptors don't need Amir but it would serve them well to match any offers he gets and keep him. At this point they need to retain all the assets they can.

agreed. unless they plan on burning out davis in his rookie year they're going to need dependable bigs to share his minutes... and evans just doesnt cut it

[jlongs]

I kind of like his inside game, specially his little baby hook he showed us a few times this season. He doesn't have a face up one-one-one game as well as a reliable 15-20 footer, yet, but he's got time to learn. He also seriously needs to get stronger if he wants to be able to defend the bigs better, as well as improve his lateral quicks a bit.

But there's no denying the effort he gives whenever he gets on the floor. Not afraid to use up fouls, to a fault, rather than give up easy baskets. Always active on the boards at both ends. Runs hard. Sets good screens. Rolls great.

I think he's got another contract in him within the MLE range to prove to everyone just how far he can go, and after that he has a chance to rake in the big(ger) bucks.

[JYFelony]

I think we have to try to keep a "young core" intact through the following couple of years, or at least try to. Likely consisting of Amir, DeRozan, Weems, and Davis for sure, along with maybe Bargs and Jack.

We've all talked about it before about using BC's band-aid treatments to our roster. Band-aid treatment will only prolong the pain when you're not a regular post-season team. As a non-luxury tax team, we have to be able to develop our young players or else we'll be forever stuck in this underachieving treadmill.

Buddahfan, even though we all know your man-love for Amir is "slightly", yet sarcastically, biased, it's very true. Guys like Amir, and the rest of the Young Gunz (as well as Bargs), need to be our focus going forward. I hope you are right about Amir showing some spectacular things this year, as long as he's with the Raps!

[Bendit]

Now, who was it who said players on Canadian teams dont get noticed or get props from American media?

Buddahfan do you have connections @espn?

[Dblock_13]

Amir is a young up and coming big man the raptors need to sign him back. ed Davis cant grab all the rebounds so i don't know why APOLLO WOULD SAY WE DONT NEED HIM BACK. clearly we do we dont have any good big man on our team.

[hateslosing]

Amir Jonson needs to be brought back, and I would say that it is BC's first order of business to sign him to a reasonable contract. I think 3 years for 15 mill sounds about right, though maybe a bit more will be needed.

[Marz]

With Ed Davis in town the Raptors don't need Amir but it would serve them well to match any offers he gets and keep him. At this point they need to retain all the assets they can.

Davis hasn't played an NBA minute and y'all are annointing him the next Amir Johnson? Let's not jump the gun please. Ed Davis can bust just like any other rookie in the late lottery can. If Bosh is gone we need Amir Johnson back more than ever. Ed Davis just adds depth.

[Tim W.]

With Ed Davis in town the Raptors don't need Amir but it would serve them well to match any offers he gets and keep him. At this point they need to retain all the assets they can.

On a squad with Bargnani, Reggie Evans and Ed Davis and the team's only big men, I'm not sure how the Raptors don't need Amir Johnson. They desperately need him, asset or not. Bargnani, if he's still around, will probably play 35 mpg, Davis 25 mpg and Evans 10 mpg. I'm not obstetrician, but that seems to leave about 26 mpg that SOMEONE has to play. And if there's any way to decrease Bargnani's minutes, I'm all for it.

Low ceiling as a scorer is total ignorance.

People will start to see the real Johnson starting this season.

His offense made huge strides last season because he finally after more than four post high school years got some coaching on his offense and got included in the offense.

Expect a lot more of it this season and into the future at an even more elevated level than he showed as a starter last season. which was 18 ppg and 6 rpg in a little under 33 mpg

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/...JouhRiYB09PaB4

Oh, god. For a second I had flashes of multipaul talking about Bargnani.

[Quixotic]

oh, god. For a second i had flashes of multipaul talking about bargnani.

lol

[geebee]

I'd love to get Amir back because I was very happy with what he brought to the team off the bench, but if it turns into a bidding war, how high could or should the Raps be willing to go?