# Cut James Johnson



## Bulls42 (Jul 22, 2002)

Cut your losses now. Sign a solid 2/3 defender. You can't teach someone to be a 2-guard. If your talent can't be seen in the summer league, it probably won't come out against NBA players.
This is not the year for projects.


----------



## HB (May 1, 2004)

LOL Whut?


----------



## mvP to the Wee (Jul 14, 2007)

Why to clear 1.2 million which is pretty much equal to a minimum salary? Or to sign someone like Rasual Butler who isn't all too talented?

Listen, he had a bad summer league but it isn't the end of the world. Remember Michael Beasley? He killed it in the summer league while Rose struggled. 

Two things we wanted Johnson to work on this offseason is getting into shape and improving his game. Halfway into the off-season he completed one of those tasks(being in shape). Now he has the other half to improve his game.


----------



## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

You guys should definitely cut him. I am sure he'd go unemployed for ten or fifteen minutes before someone else found it in their heart to take on his rookie salary and try to let him develop.


----------



## Wade County (Jun 22, 2003)

Dumb thread is dumb.


----------



## yodurk (Sep 4, 2002)

He's cheap.

He's a physical specimen with talent.

He has a good attitude and loves being on this team, even if he's a little slow in the head.

You could do worse for your 3rd string small forward -- he could be overpaid, have zero upside, and/or have a crummy attitude. 

There is really no point in dumping him. We won't find anyone significantly better for the same price and role. At the very least, there is that very small chance he becomes something useful.

I agree he has been terrible for the most part, which is a real shame. I love this guy's athletic gifts.


----------



## PD (Sep 10, 2004)

Send him to the D-League and let him develop.


----------



## Wade County (Jun 22, 2003)

Bottom line is - he's a 2nd year player. Only 23. 

Agree on the D-League comment, send him down there to get some confidence. I doubt he sees major minutes next year anyway.


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

S-c-r-u-b


----------



## mvP to the Wee (Jul 14, 2007)

DaBabyBullz said:


> S-c-r-u-b


Kinda like Joe Alexander, huh?


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

P to the Wee said:


> Kinda like Joe Alexander, huh?


Nah JJ is way worse. For starters, he's OUR scrub. We wasted a pick on him, not some other team. Second, Alexander is at least an elite athlete, not some slow fat POS.


----------



## mvP to the Wee (Jul 14, 2007)

DaBabyBullz said:


> Nah JJ is way worse. For starters, he's OUR scrub. We wasted a pick on him, not some other team. Second, Alexander is at least an elite athlete, not some slow fat POS.


How is JJ way worse? Despite the minutes being limited, JJ saw the court while Alexander was in a suit. Why do you call Johnson fat? Have you seen in what kind of shape he's in now?


----------



## Bulls42 (Jul 22, 2002)

The point is, he won't contribute at all this coming year. He now has the body of a shooting guard... but he doesn't have the shot or the instincts to actually play shooting guard.
So why not open the roster spot for someone who can contribute this year, like a shooting guard who can shoot, or a small forward who can defend?
He has a very low near-term ceiling at this point. You don't just blossom over night into a shooting guard. You are born with those instincts. It takes years to develop your game. It clearly won't happen this year for him.
He is a sunk cost. Cut your loss and move on (or send him to the D-League). There are plenty of other players out there that can fill roles on this team right now.
Point is, open the roster spot and put it to use.


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

P to the Wee said:


> How is JJ way worse? Despite the minutes being limited, JJ saw the court while Alexander was in a suit. Why do you call Johnson fat? Have you seen in what kind of shape he's in now?


Did I stutter? I already said how he's way worse. He's our bust, and he has like zero potential compared to Alexander. 

I saw him last year, all year. I saw part of a summer league game and he looked smaller, but sucked still.


----------



## mvP to the Wee (Jul 14, 2007)

DaBabyBullz said:


> Did I stutter? I already said how he's way worse. He's our bust, and he has like zero potential compared to Alexander.
> 
> I saw him last year, all year. I saw part of a summer league game and he looked smaller, but sucked still.


Yup saying "scrub" and "hes our scrub" sure is saying how he's way worse.

For all this potential Alexander has, why has he never seen playing time and is currently jobless with no reports of teams pursuing him?


Yes he looked smaller, maybe cause he worked on losing weight for the 1st part of the summer. He did suck in summer league, but he's got this next half of the off-season to work on it.


----------



## mvP to the Wee (Jul 14, 2007)

Bulls42 said:


> The point is, he won't contribute at all this coming year. He now has the body of a shooting guard... but he doesn't have the shot or the instincts to actually play shooting guard.
> So why not open the roster spot for someone who can contribute this year, like a shooting guard who can shoot, or a small forward who can defend?
> He has a very low near-term ceiling at this point. You don't just blossom over night into a shooting guard. You are born with those instincts. It takes years to develop your game. It clearly won't happen this year for him.
> He is a sunk cost. Cut your loss and move on (or send him to the D-League). There are plenty of other players out there that can fill roles on this team right now.
> Point is, open the roster spot and put it to use.


Even if we cut him, I don't think it opens up cap space. If that were the case, the Bulls could have cut Ben Wallace's deal rather than go through Larry Hughes and later Jerome James.

His contract is so small that even if we got rid of him, it wouldn't make a difference. Basically, any of the guys we could sign at the minimum, won't have the potential JJ has.


----------



## TwinkieTowers (Jul 16, 2002)

> Did I stutter?


You've got problems if you stutter a typed message.

To help console your angst, Amir Johnson is getting paid $34 million over five years for nearly the same amount of production.


----------



## S.jR. (May 18, 2010)

I really lik*ed* JJ with our pick.. I hope he can be a contributor.. if not he'll be done at the end of this season.. no biggie..


----------



## caseyrh (Jun 10, 2003)

S.jR. said:


> I hope he can be a contributor.. if not he'll be done at the end of this season.. no biggie..


This.


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

TwinkieTowers said:


> You've got problems if you stutter a typed message.
> 
> To help console your angst, Amir Johnson is getting paid $34 million over five years for nearly the same amount of production.


I really couldn't care less about him. Yet another bad pick by the Bulls. Shouldn't be any surprise at this point. Pretty crappy they passed on Chase Budinger, BJ Mullens and Wayne Ellington for the scrub though.


----------



## mvP to the Wee (Jul 14, 2007)

DaBabyBullz said:


> I really couldn't care less about him. Yet another bad pick by the Bulls. Shouldn't be any surprise at this point. Pretty crappy they passed on Chase Budinger, BJ Mullens and Wayne Ellington for the scrub though.


lol BJ Mullens


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

P to the Wee said:


> lol BJ Mullens


At least he's a 7 footer with great athleticism and potential. Something you certainly can't say about dough boy.


----------



## mvP to the Wee (Jul 14, 2007)

DaBabyBullz said:


> At least he's a 7 footer with great athleticism and potential. Something you certainly can't say about dough boy.


So JJ isn't athletic but Mullens is? JJ's vertical is 35 while Mullens is 32.5

Makes sense that JJ is unathletic but Mullens has great athleticism.

JJ also has potential, but since he's not white I guess you believe he doesn't. JJ had a bad season but he didn't really get the chance to develop. He has a ton of skill, he just needs to put it together.

Mullens on the other hand, this great potential guy, averaged 3 points a game, 1 rebound, and shot 40% from the field and 58% from the charity stripe. Though the sample of games is little, he averaged 16 minutes a game.

Johnson scored more, rebounded better, shot better, in less averaged minutes per game.

But yeah, Mullens>Johnson, makes sense.


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

P to the Wee said:


> So JJ isn't athletic but Mullens is? JJ's vertical is 35 while Mullens is 32.5
> 
> Makes sense that JJ is unathletic but Mullens has great athleticism.
> 
> ...


Ah gotta love ignorance at it's best. Nevermind the fact that Mullens is 5 inches taller right? Or that he's 2 years younger and thus not as developed physically (especially when he's a 7 footer) right? Nah, just focus on the fact that he's white and JJ has a 2" better vertical. Nevermind the pathetic 12% bodyfat. That alone should've kept him from getting drafted. It shows he's a lazy POS. If he's playing college ball and working on the draft, he should be in better shape than that. Those are the kind of slobs you stay away from. But the Bulls were stupid enough to draft him. No surprise he sucks.


----------



## thebizkit69u (Feb 12, 2003)

James Johnson is super talented, hes just not 100% focused when on the court. I see a guy who can handle the ball, defend, dribble, shoot and finish at a high level but the damn focus is not there. 

Joe Alexander is someone with a ton of talent as well but I think his problems are more physical than mental, the kid gets hurt a lot and seems to be very slow at picking up the NBA game. 

I really hope Tom T can get these guy's to live up to half of their potentials, they would be HUGE help if they could just do that.


----------



## Bulls42 (Jul 22, 2002)

bizkit you describing James Johnson or LeBron James?


----------



## thebizkit69u (Feb 12, 2003)

Bulls42 said:


> bizkit you describing James Johnson or LeBron James?


I never once said he can do the things Lebron James can do, what I said was that James Johnson can do alot of things, maybe not great but he is super talented if he can just put it all together.


----------



## BenDengGo (Feb 1, 2004)




----------



## fuzznuts (May 23, 2006)

whatever happened to James Johnson being the next Paul Pierce comparison?

hope he works out for Chicago, if not.. let him go at the end of the season. He can fill some minutes and give the Bulls some extra fouls if needed be.


----------



## Ben (Nov 7, 2006)

Is James Johnson the guy who scored the buzzer beater pre-season vs. the Jazz in London? I remember watching that game and thinking the kid looked pretty good. Guess not.


----------



## giusd (Apr 17, 2003)

I think JJ showed some signs last year he can play in the NBA but he needs to get in NBA shape as well as develop his all around game. Many playes have a hard first year or two before they develop and i think we should all wait until the middle of this season before we jump ship on JJ. 

david


----------



## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

I don't think he's going to make it in Chicago because the Bulls don't have the room on their game roster for the player that he is and are trying to make him into something he isn't as a result. He's basically a swing forward that can give you limited minutes as a garbagemen at the 3/4 off the bench. But the Bulls are pretty full at the 4 at the moment, and so they're trying to turn him into a 2/3. It's not going to work. They should cut their losses and trade him for a first to some team that can probably use him in the role that he can actually fill.


----------



## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

It would be incredibly stupid to dump James Johnson. He has the skills and body to be a star in the league. It's just a matter of seeing if he can put it together mentally to enforce himself on the rest of the NBA. The only guy who is really comparable to him ballhandling wise at his size is Lebron James. Johnson showed a decent shot last year (32.6% from three). He is one of the few players with the body to defend Lebron James. 

I'm not saying he will ever be able to consistently do these things, but he has all of the gifts to be a really good basketball player. If he ever gets his head on straight, he could really cause problems for a lot of players in the NBA on both sides of the court.

I am going to wait until he gets some time in with Thibodeau and see what Johnson brings when the season starts. He did suck in summer league, but he also looked really good when he was starting last year when everyone went down with injuries.

In the 9 games he played more than 20 minutes, he averaged 10 points on 61.9 TS% (36.8% from three), 3.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, in 28 minutes. Not the greatest per game stats, but that TS% number should jump out at you. The guy can score efficiently, and that is a result of players not really being able to guard him. He is just too strong, and has too elite of a ball handling ability for most forwards to be able to guard him. 

So we have a guy here who is a beastly physical specimen, who can shoot the three point shot, and people just want to cut him, even though it won't have any benefit to the team? (We don't clear any cap space by making such a move).

It's a no brainer to stick with Johnson and hope he develops. He has star level potential because of his unique body and skills combination.


----------



## jnrjr79 (Apr 18, 2003)

Johnson has not panned out, but obviously there is no compelling case for cutting him, whatsoever. He could be included in a trade, but actively seeking to trade him also doesn't make sense. He's got talent, but may never put it together. There's not a lot of harm in waiting to see at this point.


----------



## Spikeaji (Jun 30, 2010)

Wow, I didn't realize Bulls fans were so cynical. He's only in his second year, can't imagine why you would cut him at this point.


----------



## Good Hope (Nov 27, 2002)

The guy has potential, but no indication that he's getting better. That's bad.


----------



## SWIFTSLICK (Aug 22, 2009)

I'm all for doing this if we somehow find a way to pick up Shannon Brown.


----------



## TwinkieTowers (Jul 16, 2002)

SWIFTSLICK said:


> I'm all for doing this if we somehow find a way to pick up Shannon Brown.


The irony of this is that Shannon Brown is a glaring example of a skilled athlete who mired in sub-mediocrity for 2+ seasons before finally making an impact. 

However, it also shows that only a few coaches (Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich) can get the most out of almost any player. Let's hope Thibodeau can be that kind of coach for JJ.


----------



## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

Brown actually never broke anyone's rotation until he became a triangle point guard...And then he fell out of the Lakers rotation. Since playing point guard in the Triangle is a position that only exists if you play the triple post offense there's still no real evidence that Brown can get serious burn for a conventional team.


----------



## Bulls42 (Jul 22, 2002)

I disagree. I believe Shannon Brown more than showed his worth when starting last year in place of Kobe. Undoubtedly he struggled in the playoffs, but when given minutes during the regular season, he was a strong back-up. He'd be a good signing for the Bulls.


----------



## Wynn (Jun 3, 2002)

Diable said:


> Brown actually never broke anyone's rotation until he became a triangle point guard...And then he fell out of the Lakers rotation. Since playing point guard in the Triangle is a position that only exists if you play the triple post offense there's still no real evidence that Brown can get serious burn for a conventional team.


Not sure he'd break our rotation, either... but if he's willing to sign as deep bench insurance (ala Kurt Thomas) then he may be worth a contract. Seems like a younger player like Brown may want an opportunity to play, though, and he may not want to be here sitting and waiting for an injury.


----------



## BullNuts (Jan 18, 2010)

Give coach a year with him then see what you have.


----------



## Da Grinch (Aug 17, 2002)

jnrjr79 said:


> Johnson has not panned out, but obviously there is no compelling case for cutting him, whatsoever. He could be included in a trade, but actively seeking to trade him also doesn't make sense. He's got talent, but may never put it together. There's not a lot of harm in waiting to see at this point.


this is how i feel, he needs to go the d-league and learn put his skills together, i still see hope for him.


----------



## Da Grinch (Aug 17, 2002)

DaBabyBullz said:


> Ah gotta love ignorance at it's best. Nevermind the fact that Mullens is 5 inches taller right? Or that he's 2 years younger and thus not as developed physically (especially when he's a 7 footer) right? Nah, just focus on the fact that he's white and JJ has a 2" better vertical. Nevermind the pathetic 12% bodyfat. That alone should've kept him from getting drafted. It shows he's a lazy POS. If he's playing college ball and working on the draft, he should be in better shape than that. Those are the kind of slobs you stay away from. But the Bulls were stupid enough to draft him. No surprise he sucks.


as physical specimens go johnson grades out better than mullens, at the draft combine johnson was stronger, faster and a better leaper, despite bj's height advantage of nearly 5 inches him and johnson's wingspan were less than an inch different (.75 in mullens favor) not because johnson has especially long arms but moreso because mullens arms are very much on the short side given his height...he's young and big but was as unproductive as any rookie i've ever heard of, 54 minutes. 0.7 P.E.R. 13 personal fouls, 14 points , 0 free throw attempts.

by any reasonable criteria mullens sucks a heck of alot more.


----------

