I’ll go ahead and say—with apologies for contradicting @sane1 —that if we’re going to try to use Johns as (or he’s going to try to be) a second post-up option, then we might as well pack it in now. The offensive ball movement, spacing, and flow absolutely grind to a halt when someone posts up and tries to back his down a defender, especially if he’s a below-average passer.
That’s an acceptable trade-off for Dickinson, because he’s an exceptional post-up finisher and passer, and he’s usually surrounded by 4 dangerous shooters and cutters. But with Johns trying to do the same thing alongside Dickinson or Davis, we became way too easy to guard.
He doesn’t have to be Isaiah, but he has to play more like Isaiah—except with even less iso, because he doesn’t have the same mid-range fadeaway. Johns has to be a residual player who crashes the offensive glass, spots up (and shows he’s willing to shoot it), and makes off-ball dives to the rim.
If he can do that, then we still have a chance to approach our former ceiling. The one thing about Livers’ injury that could prevent it from being a season-killer is the fact that we have better depth at his position than at guard. But if Johns tries to play the way he did today—or we try to use him that way, because I really don’t know whose idea it is—then our depth won’t be able to approximate the offensive attributes that have made us dangerous this season, and still could.
That’s an acceptable trade-off for Dickinson, because he’s an exceptional post-up finisher and passer, and he’s usually surrounded by 4 dangerous shooters and cutters. But with Johns trying to do the same thing alongside Dickinson or Davis, we became way too easy to guard.
He doesn’t have to be Isaiah, but he has to play more like Isaiah—except with even less iso, because he doesn’t have the same mid-range fadeaway. Johns has to be a residual player who crashes the offensive glass, spots up (and shows he’s willing to shoot it), and makes off-ball dives to the rim.
If he can do that, then we still have a chance to approach our former ceiling. The one thing about Livers’ injury that could prevent it from being a season-killer is the fact that we have better depth at his position than at guard. But if Johns tries to play the way he did today—or we try to use him that way, because I really don’t know whose idea it is—then our depth won’t be able to approximate the offensive attributes that have made us dangerous this season, and still could.
