Miami Heat: Getting To Know Tyler Johnson

The Miami Heat and Tyler Johnson have agreed to a deal that will, theoretically speaking, keep the rookie shooting guard with the team for the next two years. Unfortunately, the contract isn’t expected to be guaranteed so that means he could be let go at any time.

Still, he has great opportunity to showcase his skills during training camp and with any luck, will be in a heat uniform for many years to come.

But who the heck is he? He certainly isn’t a player many casual (or hardcore) fans will know of. Hopefully after this, you’ll at least leave a little more knowledge of what he’ll bring to the table.

At 6’4” and weighing in less than 190 pounds, it’s easy to see why so many teams passed up on Tyler Johnson during the 2014 NBA Draft. Nevertheless, it looks like the Miami Heat have uncovered a gem with this undrafted free agent.

Despite his lack of size, the Fresno State product gets it done – primarily because he is tough and aggressive. He isn’t afraid to get into the lane and mix it up with the big boys as he constantly attacks the rim. He did so quite a fair bit in college and has continued to do so at the next level having made a killing driving inside, during the summer league on his way to averaging just 12 points in only 22 minutes per game.

The best thing about it all is that he can finish – with surprising great athleticism too. Time and time again Johnson was able to convert difficult attempts by showing impressive leaping ability and body control that is on par with most high-calibre NBA players. That goes a long way to explaining why he was able to maintain such a high conversion rate during the summer league games, having made nearly 55 percent of his field goal attempts.

Plus, with such athleticism, he was bound to get a few highlights and he came up with a couple impressive ones.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

In addition to his athleticism, Johnson is also an outstanding 3-point shooter. Although you couldn’t have guessed it during his first few summer league games as he went 4-for-15 from beyond the arc – good enough for 26.6 percent. The most likely reason for that was the distance of the NBA 3-point line compared to that at the collegiate level, since the former is slightly further out.

However, once he got acclimated with the range, it was a pretty easy to see why he shot 43.2 percent during his senior year (which was the sixth-highest single-season 3-point field goal percentage in school history), as he finished the summer circuit with a near 47 percent conversion rate from 3-point land.

Defensively, Johnson isn’t too shabby either. Granted he may not be a lock down defender who will shut down his man for the entire game,  but at the same time he isn’t going to make it easy and let the opposition walk all over him. Even with his size disadvantage, he can hold his own by in front of his man and making plays when possible.

For example: During a Summer League game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Johnson was able to cut off Delonte West’s drive to the basket only for the Clippers guard to recover and attempt what appeared to be a mid-range jumper he’s hit a million times throughout his career. However, Johnson was able to hustle back and block the shot attempt.

While that may like any regular defensive play, it’s actually quite impressive. Not only the effort on Johnson’s part, but West is a savvy player with plenty of NBA basketball experience. He pretty much knows all the tricks of the trades and has put them into practise against the very best. Yet Johnson, a rookie experiencing his first taste at the level, was able to keep up with him and come up with the rejection.

So he can drive and finish in the lane, he can shoot from outside at an exceptional rate and he’s not too bad defensively, surely there has to be some negatives with Tyler Johnson, right?

The biggest worry is his position. Granted I’ve just been rambling on about his defense and how tough he is but ultimately, that doesn’t make up for his size deficiency. The NBA game is full of strong, athletic players and he will be severely lacking in the former, thus making him into a potential defensive liability.

The answer could be to move him to the point guard position instead of shooting guard, but that also creates a problem offensively. As much as the position has evolved, the primary skill set that is required is to be able to create for others and Johnson doesn’t seem able to do that.

He is great at getting his own, making brilliant play after brilliant play, but he hasn’t shown the ability to be a creator for others – certainly not during his time at Fresno State where his best assists tally is 2.9 per game.

I suppose he could bulk up and put on a bit more mass, but that’s running the risk of making him too heavy, therefore possibly sacrificing his athleticism.

Nonetheless, in spite of that, he does have shot of making the final 15-man roster for the 2014-15 season. Although it will take quite a bit to impress Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, since there are three other free agents at vying for a spot behind Dwyane Wade at shooting guard. That’s before you even mention the other players already in the team that can dabble as 2s.