James Johnson: Raptors’ Fate May Rest On His Play
By Joshua Howe
The Toronto Raptors are going to rely heavily on James Johnson come the playoffs. He’s the team’s best defender (and it’s by far when Amir Johnson isn’t healthy), which means that he’ll be spending a lot of time matched up with the other team’s best player.
He’s played very well (surprisingly well, even) to the point where the second unit at times looked better than the first. We’ve seen him guard some of the top players already, such as the short duel he had with James Harden a few weeks back when DeMar DeRozan went off for his career high.
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His size, athleticism and skill mean that he can guard four positions. This will be key in any series, but looking to the first round it would seem necessary that he shall have to spend some time on Giannis Antetokounmpo. This will be a tough matchup for him purely because of the Greek Freak’s length, but he may be more qualified than any to handle him for extended stretches.
In the postseason, defense becomes priority much more so than during the regular season. The Raptors have survived this long with the third-best offense in the league and the (now) 26th-worst defense, but that will become much tougher when the game slows down and nearly every possession takes places in the half court.
For a guy known as a defensive coach, Dwane Casey hasn’t done a great job snapping his team out of their lull. Johnson, though, has kept up his effort despite the rest of the team not performing on the same level.
Last season, the Raps got torched by Joe Johnson in the playoffs. They couldn’t do anything to stop him, despite throwing different defenders on him, and he was a big reason that Toronto ultimately lost that series. The only thing that seemed to help was dusting off Landry Fields and giving him a crack at the former All-Star.
In the time Fields spent on the Brooklyn guard, Johnson had a much tougher time scoring the basketball. Fields is a lot like James Johnson–he can’t shoot, is a very good defender, has sneaky athleticism and is a smarter player than people give him credit for.
Had Casey plunked Fields down on Joe Johnson for the majority of the series, the result might have been different. But he has the chance to correct that mistake with James Johnson this season.
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Over the course of the season, when James defends his opponents they typically shoot 41.8 percent from the floor. That’s down from their average 44.2 percent. Anytime you can hold a player to almost less than 40 percent shooting, I’m all for it.
The best part is, unlike Fields, Johnson isn’t a total liability on offense. Sure, he can’t shoot (only 22.9 percent from deep this season), but he can sure as heck drive to the hoop.
Johnson is shooting a career-high 58.9 percent from the floor this year, annihilating his previous season-high at 46.4 percent. Even better, he’s making 64.0 percent of his two-point attempts, meaning that his drive to the basket is sweet.
It’s true, Johnson has Paul Pierce-level footwork. He can take opponents off the dribble even when they know he can’t shoot, because he just steps around them so perfectly that it makes them look foolish for having lagged off of him in hopes he’d shoot.
When Johnson is within 0-3 feet of the basket, where he most often finishes, he converts the shot into points an insane 77.5 percent of the time. Just think about that for a moment. For a comparison, LeBron James is shooting 72.2 percent from that spot.
If he developed a jump shot, Johnson might actually be the best player on the team. Alas, he’s not. But he’s still their foremost and brightest hope at grinding out wins in the playoffs, both on defense and when you just need a shot at the rim.
Nobody ever seems to talk about James Johnson. Fully expect that to change this month. The time has arrived.
Next: NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of All Time
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