Former lottery pick Stanley Johnson has reinvented himself as a versatile rotation swingman for the Raptors, writes Blake Murphy of The Athletic. The 24-year-old Johnson is averaging 16.1 MPG for Toronto this season.
Playing in a more limited role than his first team, the Pistons, may have expected when they selected him with the No. 8 pick out of Arizona in 2015, Johnson has been able to hone in on the defensive end and build up his play-making. He is also connecting on a career-high 42.5% of his 1.3 three-point attempts a night.
Murphy notes that Johnson’s willingness to adjust to a role-player position with the Raptors could significantly extend his NBA career. The former lottery pick will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Two-way Sixers power forward Paul Reed will join the club’s G League affiliate – the Delaware Blue Coats – as it departs for the NBAGL’s Orlando “bubble” campus ahead of the 2021 season, tweets Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- New Knicks off-guard Austin Rivers notes that New York has been dealing with an exhausting schedule, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. “Oh, we’re definitely tired,’’ Rivers said. “I don’t know how a schedule could be tougher than what we’ve played. Physically and mentally. At the same time, it is what it is. Here we are.”
- Multi-faceted Nets forward Jeff Green has helped Brooklyn’s suddenly thinned-out frontcourt following the trade that brought in All-Star James Harden, according to Greg Joyce of The New York Post. “It helps when you get Kevin [Durant] and Kyrie [Irving] and James on your team,” Green said. “A lot of attention is going to be on those guys, so I want to do my part in being ready to shoot. It just comes with repetition, the work that I’m putting in to make sure I’m prepared for those times where they are swinging the ball my way and I’m able to shoot.” Green is averaging 12.1 PPG and 4.7 rebounds in 32.9 MPG since the deal.
Jeff Green has been around so long he has gone from a freak athlete who wasn’t as good as he should have been to a wily vet who is better than he should be.
Green is solid , came back from major scary surgery. He wasn’t healthy when he was at Boston. Don’t hold it against him bro.
Knicks lost at Utah. We were in game till last 6 mins. We still need a real PG. And ast, run the offense, get them their shots kind of PG. We had 15 total ast. Whole team 15. A real PG can get 15 on his own lol. It’s our biggest need.
He was healthy in Cleveland but would not mix it up.
Start Quickley if he can keep the turnovers down. 17mpg 1.0 T0’s, 2.6 ast.
Thibs is tough old bird & set in his ways, but Quickley is getting close to replacing Payton in the starting unit if he can keep it up.
Ntilikina should start
Quickly is getting there. Needs to be more of a passer ast guy. I gotta feeling he could be starting soon. Knicks could move Payton, Smith, Nttilikina son man.
Green’s best year was in Boston actually.
The way they defended Donovan Mitchell, they should have at least covered the 11.5, but that 2nd half, they just couldn’t score. Multiple guys with terrible shooting nights. Probably should have played Knox more minutes. Could have used his shot making
lol, your knicks let o neale and clarkson putting up points in the paint constantly. their defense and shooting was a problem. only guy who was consistent was rivers, the rest of them were shooting bricks.
Most of Rivers’ scoring was in the first half
lmao johnson’s only taking like an average 1-6 attempts in the paint and 1-2 on threes. dont expec much from him cuz other than playmaking and defense, he doesnt provide much scoring.