Who would’ve thought that the health of James Johnson would hold such significance so early?
The former Raptors-reject is quickly becoming a cult hero of sorts, with his brazen approach to defense giving the Toronto faithful the type of hero we so subconsciously crave. Johnson’s defiant personality lends itself well to emboldening the “We The North” company line that the marketing department so wants us to subscribe to. Always inflamed, never feeling respected, and a man unto his own, Johnson is the poster-child for the type of identity the Raptors are trying to manufacture.
The bigger reason we’re talking about him isn’t, of course, his personality or his neck tattoos, it’s that he’s been playing very good two-way basketball. He’s recognized that the Raptors roster, though talented and brimming with potential, lacks a steely presence on the wing and has made the role his own. DeMar DeRozan may bring the scoring, Terrence Ross may occasionally delight with his mid-air theatrics, but neither are players that another wing in the league would fear being defended by. If anything, the opposite might be true: wings would seek out opportunities to play against them.
Not so much with James Johnson, at a mobile 6’9″ and 250 lbs, Johnson is 30 lb and 55 lb heaver than DeRozan and Ross, respectively. The unique bit about his size is that it doesn’t affect his lateral movements on defense because plays the angles and anticipates movement, rather than purely reacting. His lower body strength makes it very difficult for offensive players to back him down, meaning that the only variable that can fluctuate with him is effort and discipline, and he’s been stellar on both fronts.
The risk that accompanied his signing was that he may not accept his role and strive for something more than his talents afford, which is behaviour symptomatic of being on a losing team, something the Raptors were in his first stint. The tide has turned, though, and the Raptors are currently on winning ways, which serves to check Johnson’s innate but so-far controlled desire to ball dominate, in favour of team basketball.
The dearth of options at the wing will also exacerbate the impact of Johnson’s injury. Terrence Ross has shown very little in the way of being a defensive option, and even though he’s only in his third year, his defensive demeanour doesn’t exactly fill you with any hope that he’s going to bring the D in the 3-and-D. If a player like Avery Bradley can build a reputation of being a good defender in year two, there’s no reason that Ross – who has arguably better tools – should be this far behind.
Dwane Casey has completely lost trust in Landry Fields, and I’m sure the latter’s injury history isn’t helping either. On last check his elbow was as fragile as a dry twig. After that it’s Bruno Caboclo, who can’t get ahead of Fields. Even if he somehow managed to find his way into a uniform, Dwane Casey isn’t the type of coach that’s about to trust a 19-year old.
And so we find ourselves lamenting the potential loss of James Johnson, a player that you may have felt could be quite easily found on the periphery of the league, drifting between the D-League, Europe, and the association. Maybe the hurt felt by his potential absence speaks more to what the rest of the roster has to offer, than what Johnson brings, but one thing is definite: despite shooting only 20% from three (which was supposed to be his main offense) the Raptors need him.
Surprisingly, he’s featured mostly at power forward in Dwane Casey’s tempestuous flirtations with smaller lineups, which is different than last season in Memphis where he primarily played the three. It’s this versatility in combination with his defense that has him sitting firmly within Dwane Casey’s circle of trust. The offense he’s provided has been bonus, and has come at times where the team desperately needed a boost, likely due to Casey fielding all-bench lineups that went through scoring droughts.
What’s also attractive about Johnson’s offense thus far is that it’s a product of his defense. You won’t find many instances where he’s taking over a possession, or going rogue midway through the shot-clock. Instead, he’s managed to find his points in transition, usually after helping to create a turnover or low-percentage shot. It’s this pressure that he puts the offense under that is going to be missed, because the Raptors don’t have a like-for-like replacement for it. Kyle Lowry is the only wing player that tends to hound players above the free-throw line, and in combination with Johnson, it presents a formidable challenge for wings when Casey does decide to pressure.
With rebounding an issue, the Raptors have been relying on this pressure to anchor their defense, and it’s worked out to a 7th ranked TOV% of 14.1. With Johnson out, this prospects of the Raptors defense wills suffer, resulting in more possessions that the team will actually need to defend.
There was a pseudo-debate in the summer about what the greater area of concern was: backup center or small forward. As it stands right now, both are issues due to the mixed results put forth by Tyler Hansbrough, Patrick Patterson’s early season inconsistency, and Terrence Ross’s single-dimension play. James Johnson has, until now, done well to mask the deficiencies at small forward and provided a rather unexpected offensive thrust, but going forward who fills that role remains to be seen.
Injuries bring opportunities as well. In the podcast we talked about whether Ross would see more minutes or whether Casey would opt for stretching DeRozan. The latter is a risky ploy, especially with the new trend of reducing minutes in favour of fresher legs in the playoffs. With that in mind, testing Ross in extended minutes (currently playing 26.5, on par with last season) against a toughening schedule isn’t exactly attractive, but if there’s a time where you want to see what the third-year man is made of, this might be it.
