The Amir Johnson Thread

[Buddahfan]

Right now his head is in the toilet.

Besides not being mentally gifted he is also not mentally/emotionally strong.

He has never done well with receiving less minutes than he expected or was led to believe that he was going to get. No doubt after the way he played especially in April of last season he was expecting a shot at starting. One can speculate all they want as to why he was never given a real shot at it during the pre-season by starting with the starting unit, but that is irrelevant. The point is that last April he was playing a pretty good especially in his limited starting opportunities. The Raptors then went out and gave him a 5 year $30 million plus contract. Then Bosh left.

No doubt that he expected at least a chance to start given how well he played as a starter in limited games. Yes three of those five game were against lottery teams but the Raptors went 3 - 0 against lottery teams with him starting, which is a lot better than they have done so far this season, (The Kings and Knicks are lottery teams along with probably the Cavs)

Again for maybe the reasons I indicated or maybe just a coaches decision that Triano, BC and team see Johnson as a career bench guy, he never got the chance to start with the starters in the pre-season.

So he did his usually mental/emotional tank and from there his performance has gone down along with his minutes.

It seems to me that after his performance in the second pre-season game against the Suns that he thought he would at least be given a shot to start. Especially since Triano would not name the starting five for opening night. However by the eight pre-season game it was obvious that Johnson was going to be fight Andersen for bench minutes and then also Reggie for bench minutes once Davis was ready to start.

On top of the that the new offense scheme basically turned him back into a garbage man based upon what Triano wanted. Despite the fact that Johnson showed last season after the all-star game that he was developing a pretty good post up game and was excelling at beating his man off the drive and cuts to the basket. All of this was taken away in Triano's new offense. No doubt that Johnson worked hard on improving his jumper, however Triano has basically said forget it. You are our designated bench garbage man and nothing else.

So right now his head is in the toilet. I know this is almost assuredly the case because I have seen it happen to him before in similar situations where he felt he would be given more opportunity based upon previous performance but it never materialized even before he was given a chance to show whether he could cut it or not. (No I am not talking about me. The Lakers are playing great and the Clippers could make the playoffs if they can keep BD out of the lineup. Blake is playing great as is EJ and Bledsoe has looked outstanding the two games in which he has been given serious rotation minutes, including last night in which he basically played Westbrook even. So I am a happy camper, 4sure)

Triano changed around the offense.

Johnson and Bargnani showed last season that when they were on the court together against either mostly bench players or starters that they could score sufficiently well as a tandem in addition to the rest of the team picking it up when Bosh was off the court.

This was the case whether Turk was playing or not.

In any case that in my opinion is what is wrong with him. He is in a big mental funk and when he gets that way his game goes into the toilet. It always has since he has been in the NBA.

It is definitely a very big failure on his part. You need to be able to handle setbacks and reality being less than expectations without going into a mental/emotional funk if you want to succeed.

Will he come out of it? Probably given time. How much so. I haven't got a clue. Maybe just enough to become tradeable and/or ahead of Dorsey in the rotation and out of street clothes when Davis is activated.

[Apollo]

I don't think he's movable right now unless the Raptors take back an equally horrible contract. Teams are tightening up right now with a new unknown CBA on the horizon.

[Buddahfan]

I don't think he's movable right now unless the Raptors take back an equally horrible contract. Teams are tightening up right now with a new unknown CBA on the horizon.

I agree. I posted that a few days ago See my post at the beginning of this thread.

However if can get his sheet together and wind up playing some good rotation minutes before Davis starts playing some team may take a flier on him if they think that they can use what he brings to the table. On the other hand Triano and BC might just decide to keep him around as a $5 million a year insurance policy in case one of the bigs goes down for an extended period of time.

[Apollo]

Another option would be packaging him with Marcus Banks and taking back an expensive vet who could help the team. That might lure someone into discussions.

[Shantz]

Throughout the preseason it seemed like numerous people (both at this site and others) were talking about Reggie Evans getting the starts at PF as an opportunity for him to raise his trade value.

Reggie is a fantastic rebounder, a capable defender against most players (not great…but capable), and a good emotional leader. The impressive thing is that he is somehow being above his average self at all three of those categories. His rebounding numbers are exceptional, but are inflated to a point that he will not be able to maintain.

Not only that, but Reggie is an expiring contract heading into an unknown CBA. Amir will most likely never be a top-tier PF in the league, but this does not mean that he cannot be effective. Davis and Johnson should make an effective pairing of starter and back-up.

Although Reggie is playing fantastic for us currently, it is entirely reasonable to think that he will be the one who is traded before the deadline due to his age and his expiring contract.

People are talking about how Amir is untradeable…but are there really no teams that would be looking for an athletic PF who can do the dirty work? Just remember, Amir is currently only making $675,000 more than Darko (according to Hoopshype.com).

Players with less than favourable contracts get traded fairly regularly with so many teams willing often needing to shake up their lineups. Lets give him some time before we jump on that bandwagon.

[Apollo]

Here's another idea. They could bring in JYD to work with him a little. Not just about on court stuff but about the mental approach he needs to be taking towards the game. I feel Amir has a similar skill set to JYD. It landed JYD a big contract too but in JYD's case he played within himself and was always ready to leave his heart on the floor even if one night it meant not scoring a basket and then another night he was expected to knock some shots down. What ever Lenny told him to do, he did it and he did it with more effort than anybody else.

[Arenick]

I had incredibly high hopes for Johnson but he just isn't stepping up. I suggest we insert him into the starting line up with Evans coming on as a back up early in the 1st quarter. We need to find Johnson some rhythm so he can actually produce.

[Buddahfan]

Some current observations

Prior to Friday night Triano had played Johnson 45 minutes over the prior two weeks from the day after the Raptors last pre-season game.

On Friday and Saturday in back to back West coast road games at the end of a week long West coast trip Triano decided to play Johnson 48 minutes give or take a minute.

Included in those 48 minutes were I believe

1. Three stints of more than 12 minutes each
2. One of the three, the last one in the second half I think was about 15 straight minutes in the 3rd and 4th quarter last night.

Johnson had an uncharacteristically 6 turnovers last night 2 in that 15 minute stretch. I did not see the first half or a good chunk of the third quarter last night because I was watching the Clippers OT game.

What I did see was the following.

By the fourth quarter Johnson was thoroughly and entirely gassed. His two turnovers one on a lob pass when he was double teamed and the other on a low bounce pass in the paint when he was double teams were passes that he normally catches.

As I recall it was shortly after the bounce pass turnover that when the Raptors were on defense Johnson tried to rotate to close out on one of the Portland players who was shooting from the corner. Johnson looked like he was about to fall down from exhaustion weakly waving his arms as he wobbled over trying to close out.

Shortly after that he picked up his fifth foul on a Trailblazer run out shoving the Portland player from behind to prevent the basket. Right after that he could be seen bending over with his hands on this thighs a sure sign that a player is exhausted. He was then taken out and barely made it to the bench under his own power. In spite of all those turnovers and fouls he still finished with 7 and 7 and was only a minus 4 on the plus/minus a lot better than Reggie was.

Comments
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1. He needs to get in better game condition

Question
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2. During the fourth quarter I noticed that Johnson was out on the court for an extended period with Calderon, Bargnani and DeRozan three guys who he started with in his five starts last season. Last night may have been the longest stint on court that he has this season and pre-season with Calderon, Bargnani and DeRozan. He also guarding Aldridge for a part of the game.

Does this mean anything regarding his future minutes?

I don't know.

P.S. He looks noticeably skinnier to me this season than he looked last spring especially in the upper body.

What I do know is that the Raptors need to change their starting lineup, it sucks.

[Pizzaman]

'm not givin up on Amir just yet, although I do agree B.C. did not need to give him a five year contract just yet, although maybe he really believes Amir will come around and make the contract look good for us.
I do believe that while Evans has played great, he goes after the rebound sometimes so passionately he rips it from his own teamates to pad the number. I believe that is part of the plan to trade him. I would have started Amir over Evans as he brings similar energy, rebounds almost as well and actually can put the garbage buckets inb which Evans cannot do. I believe he could be a better match with Bargs whether it's starting or as an eventual back up to Davis.
I feel for the guy because he got lots of hype and now has lots of pressure. The young gunz thing was pretty much all bs hype on three or four unproven guys. The refs also give him some brutal calls.