The Brooklyn Nets are working on a buyout agreement with Seven-Time All-Star Joe Johnson, according to a report from Marc Stein of ESPN.
More notable than the buyout is Stein’s follow-up about teams who have already expressed interest in the veteran forward. Among them? Your Toronto Raptors.
Now, before anything else: Yes, the Raptors should be kicking the tires on him. Aggressively so. Like, enough to risk breaking a toe. And now, Johnson’s performance two years ago against the Raptors in the playoffs should play no factor in their pursuit, and any notion that a former Raptor-killer shouldn’t be signed can be summarily discarded. The Raptors have a roster spot that’s prime for the upgrading, as discussed at length previously, and Johnson would decidedly be an upgrade.
In lining up potential candidates, here’s what I wrote about Johnson at the time:
The dream. It doesn’t sound as if he’s going to get bought out and would almost surely land in Cleveland if he were, but hypothetically, he’d be a solid add as a versatile offensive weapon. His defense isn’t great but he uses his size well enough to man the four, where he can still score on the block. He’s certainly showing his 1,116 games of wear this season but he’s the best name that could conceivably hit the market.
All of that still holds true. Johnson would represent an appreciable upgrade on Anthony Bennett’s roster spot and would figure to see playing time immediately. Where, exactly, he fits isn’t immediately clear, but when a player can bring that level of offense at either forward spot, it’s not difficult to find time for him. He might be looked at as superfluous with DeMarre Carroll’s impending return, but even then, he’d be an upgrade on James Johnson’s spot as the 10th man in the rotation.
At nearly 35 years old, Johnson’s best years are behind him, but he remains an effective and versatile scorer. He’s averaging 11.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists, the latter perhaps the most important point in helping further open up the Raptors’ offense, and he’s hitting 37.1 percent of his threes. At one point a few years back, Johnson was one of a small handful of players ranking significantly above-average from outside, at the rim, and as a post-up threat, and he remains a solid inside-outside threat capable of exploiting matchups on the block or helping space the floor.
He’s slid a little defensively and is probably best off guarding power forwards at this point. They can hide him with Carroll and Patrick Patterson around to help out, and Johnson’s ability to switch across two, even three positions should really fit with the Raptors’ penchant for trying to switch four positions, particularly with bench-heavy units.
Johnson could be another solid addition to a strong locker room. There’s some serious Dark Master potential with Johnson playing the Vampiro to Terrence Ross’ Pentagon Jr., and DeMar DeRozan getting to further refine his post game with the help of Johnson would be great, too.
Now, the catch: The Raptors are going to have serious competition for Johnson’s services.
Stein reports that Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Boston, and Oklahoma City are all interested, as well. Cleveland would stand out as a substantial favorite, in my eyes, giving Johnson the best path to a potential NBA Finals run. He’s a former Hawk, too, and the chance to prop up Thunder bench units and take a swing at Golden State and San Antonio might be attractive. Miami looks on shaky footing on paper but has played well and can offer weather, though I believe they’d need to wait a little bit to fit Johnson in under the luxury tax, evn at the league minimum.
So, Johnson might not be coming. he’s probably not coming. Were he to choose Toronto, that would say an awful lot about the perception of the team league-wide and their proximity to contention. If he chose someone else, it would be entirely justified, too, and wouldn’t signal anything negative about where the Raptors are, by any means.
It’s something to keep an eye on the next few days. If Johnson’s bought out, it will take 48 hours for him to clear waivers, and then he can take his time in deciding. So long as he clears waivers by March 1, he’ll be playoff eligible.
