[JNixonParticipant]

Denver:

Ty Lawson has been outstanding. He continues to rarely take bad shots or turn it over, despite playing at a higher speed than everyone else. Creates in the drive and dish for everyone, including himself, and will convert shots at the rim despite his lack of size. Good spot-up shot, but he’s better off the dribble now than ever. The only kink is his average D. Will be an elite backup PG next year.

J.R. Smith played today, and obviously was more talented than his competition. Only played to polish his PG skills, as the Nuggets have been trying to make him play PG in spurts for the last 2 years. Didn’t really accomplish that though.

Coby Karl was effected most by the ball-dominant play of J.R. Smith lol. Smith never gave him the ball or looked his way haha.

Chicago:

James Johnson has some nice physical ability and can do a little of everything, but he needs to get a skill to hang his hat on. He has the potential to be a Ryan Gomes type, but he seems to want to be a swingman rather than the combo forward he is. Played selfish and out of place on D. He has a little ways to go before he can be considered a difference maker though.

[llperez]

just curious, does james johnson seem like he can develop into a defensive guy who can guard the other teams best sf? Im curious because with korver and reddick joining, i see the need for a lockdown defensive type and although i ahvent seen much of him, I always thought he had the body type to get physical and hang his hat on defense. Or is that not looking like the case?

[JoeWolf1]

Towards the end of the season when the Bulls were playing Johnson more, he showed promise from a defensive player. I didn’t see the summer league game today, but he is a good shot blocker, not only because of his athletic ability, but he showed pretty good timing too.

[JNixonParticipant]

He was drafted in part to defend the Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, and Lebron James types of swingmen. He’s not ready for that in the short-term I don’t think, but maybe in another year or 2 he could be. He’s always been only decent on D. More offensive-minded

[LawDeeZeeParticipant]

james johnson was extremely aggressive on lebron last year in the playoffs when they gave him minutes to guard him … he was right in his shirt, lebron is lebron though and still had some success against him but johnson wasn’t backing down — even after he got posterized!

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Johnson has the athleticism to be a good pro, but not the intelligence. Yes, he gave good effort when put on LeBron. He did try. He also hacked the crap out of him almost every time that LeBron didn’t score on him. He has to learn to be more than an athlete, and if the Bulls intend to compete this year he probably won’t get much of an opportunity to do so.

[Author]

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