Jalen Johnson

#1
NighthawkVol

NighthawkVol

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#1
For those who saw the exhibition, any thoughts on how he looked? I saw he hit his only 3 attempt. Did he play any at the 2? How does his ball handling look?
 
#2
#2
Looked similar to last year imo, probably not going to get a ton of minutes this season but will have some opportunities.
 
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#4
#4
The two players Barnes raves about, which aren't in top 6 are Johnson and Fulkerson. I'd expect he gets elevated time this year. I wouldn't say we have an embarrassment of riches, but think about our two+ deep this year vs 3-4 years ago. Granted, Williams and Schofield are tough to replace on the floor, but our second 5 have to be as good as anyone in the country.
 
#5
#5
njvols said:
The two players Barnes raves about, which aren't in top 6 are Johnson and Fulkerson. I'd expect he gets elevated time this year. I wouldn't say we have an embarrassment of riches, but think about our two+ deep this year vs 3-4 years ago. Granted, Williams and Schofield are tough to replace on the floor, but our second 5 have to be as good as anyone in the country.
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I haven’t seen Barnes really rave about Johnson, definitely have heard much more about Pons from Barnes than Johnson.
 
#7
#7
GregAmsler said:
For those who saw the exhibition, any thoughts on how he looked? I saw he hit his only 3 attempt. Did he play any at the 2? How does his ball handling look?
Click to expand...
He looks perpetually passive. Just doesn’t seem to have the mentality of wanting to be “the man” when he gets into games, same as before. Admittedly, there is a fine line between being aggressive with the ball and being careless and selfish with the ball. Just no sense of urgency with Johnson to hunt down his shot or get to the rim. Not sure if that will ever change. Hopefully, he is a nice depth, but my early guess is that he plays sparingly.
 
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#8
#8
GregAmsler said:
For those who saw the exhibition, any thoughts on how he looked? I saw he hit his only 3 attempt. Did he play any at the 2? How does his ball handling look?
Click to expand...

I thought he looked pretty good for a young player that is sort of feeling is way along and trying to work within the team structure. He is never going to be the kind of player that gets all charged up and just takes over a game in spectacular fashion. He will be an important guy that comes off the bench this season and does what is asked of him. He has a very solid shot and will give us points when the opportunity presents itself. He can defend and rebound, too.
 
#9
#9
Concur w most above. Looks a little stronger and mature, but played somewhat passive still feeling his way around. Did not look like a playmaker waiting on his break I'M HONESTLY. It's one (exhb) game.

Improvements that looked good to my amatuer eyes ...
#1 Phillips has been in the weight room, cafeteria, and gym. Agressive active and more skilled. He will be a force this year IMO.
#2 Walker looks more chisled, confident, and athletic.
#3 Bowden appears prepared to score more agressive
#4 Pons beginning to get in the groove. May contribute.
#5 Top players all looked more athletic and confident even if a bit Rusty for opener.
#6 DJ Burns looks the part w some baby fat. I predict him as a force next season.

Non-starters ...
#1 Kent nonexistent
#2 Fulk still a 1/2 step back but looked healthier
#3 Johnson meh
#4 Lamonte looked the same from last yr. Rusty tho.

Again. It's an exhb game.
 
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#10
#10
livefaith said:
Concur w most above. Looks a little stronger and mature, but played somewhat passive still feeling his way around. Did not look like a playmaker waiting on his break I'M HONESTLY. It's one (exhb) game.

Improvements that looked good to my amatuer eyes ...
#1 Phillips has been in the weight room, cafeteria, and gym. Agressive active and more skilled. He will be a force this year IMO.
#2 Walker looks more chisled, confident, and athletic.
#3 Bowden appears prepared to score more agressive
#4 Pons beginning to get in the groove. May contribute.
#5 Top players all looked more athletic and confident even if a bit Rusty for opener.
#6 DJ Burns looks the part w some baby fat. I predict him as a force next season.

Non-starters ...
#1 Kent nonexistent
#2 Fulk still a 1/2 step back but looked healthier
#3 Johnson meh
#4 Lamonte looked the same from last yr. Rusty tho.

Again. It's an exhb game.
Click to expand...
Phillips???
 
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#12
#12
The best thing was that JJ played for more than just one stretch. It was only an exhibition, but Barnes didn't waste it... he experimented with a lot of combinations. Burns didn't get thrown into the mix until garbage time and it sure looks like the plan going in is to redshirt him. JJ was in with a lot of different combinations of players.

JJ's minutes, or lack thereof, will be contingent on how consistent his defense is. If he's on the floor often enough his offense will come around. He has the ability to be a weapon on offense, but with his limited minutes it's been hard for him to emerge. He's pressing and getting frustrated when he only has a few minutes per game to perform. He drained a late perimeter shot and his form looked great. It kind of reminded me of Allan Houston's.

Edit: actually that late perimeter shot might have been Bowden's. 2nd half on the left wing. I think it was a 3 and JJ's 3, iirc, was in the 1st half.
 
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#19
#19
cncchris33 said:
He looks perpetually passive. Just doesn’t seem to have the mentality of wanting to be “the man” when he gets into games, same as before. Admittedly, there is a fine line between being aggressive with the ball and being careless and selfish with the ball. Just no sense of urgency with Johnson to hunt down his shot or get to the rim. Not sure if that will ever change. Hopefully, he is a nice depth, but my early guess is that he plays sparingly.
Click to expand...

You got all of that after one exhibition. I think we have a lot of playmakers and he may have been told to feel it out. It's a great opportunity for him
 
#21
#21
Old Hickory said:
You got all of that after one exhibition. I think we have a lot of playmakers and he may have been told to feel it out. It's a great opportunity for him
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And I guess you got that all from one exhibition? See how that works?

My opinion is an educated and reasonable estimation of his potential and future success based on what he showed in limited time last year, and the continuance of those same tendencies in his time on the floor last night. I could have prefaced that all by saying, "I know it's only been one exhibition, but...". However, I figured that much was a given and didn't need to be spelled out. I guess I was wrong on that account.
 
#23
#23
SweetDaddy said:
Johnson better be able to contribute or we'll have depth issues on the wing.
Click to expand...

We'd be in much better shape out there if Fulk could consistently knock down mid-range shots. But we do have Schofield, Pons, Bowden, Turner, and JJ on the wings. Also the walk-on from Austin, Fleschman, might be able to be a capable shooter (probably can't defend at this level however). If we did lose one of those 5 it would be great if Kent was available to step outside and knock down 3s to unclog the paint.

The one player that we cannot afford to lose if we have any chance to get to the second day of the second weekend of the NCAAT is Bone. We can still win a lot of games without him, but in order to have an uber special season Bone is going to have to have a very successful year.
 
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#25
#25
If Turner is your only real backup PG and Bowden and Schofield start then your only backup wings are Pons and Johnson.
 
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