Wesley Johnson
Grade: C
Jose Salviati: Wes Johnson is a bit of an enigma. He looks like what you would imagine a basketball player should look like. He’s 6’7″, has long arms and (not that you could tell this by looking at him) he can seriously jump. He has good basketball pedigree after a year at Syracuse as well.
To be fair, Johnson’s career numbers aren’t horrible numbers. They only begin to pale when you reconcile them against Johnson’s potential. To look at him, you would expect – and maybe in Minnesota did expect – him to be much farther along by now. That promise is what keeps him gainfully employed in the NBA to date. Each team that picks him up hopes they are the ones that can finally tap into this player’s full potential.
The Clippers kept him in Los Angeles to start the 2015-16 season. Instead of handing him a starting position (he had started 77 percent of the games he had played up to that point) or promising him big minutes, Doc Rivers appeared to make it abundantly clear what his role was. On this team, he was a complimentary player. The Clippers needed him to score, defend and shine when given minutes as part of the second unit.
To look at his numbers, you wouldn’t think the Clippers one year gamble on Johnson paid off. Averages of 6.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.6 assists do not jump out at you. However, when you go all analytical on his 2015-16 season you see he had career highs in six categories:
- Three-pointers made
- Three-pointers attempted
- Field goal percentage
- Steals
- Three-point attempt rate
- Defensive rebound percentage
Additionally, he had close to career highs in three more categories:
- PER
- True shooting percentage
- Total rebound percentage
Sounds like the Johnson and the Clippers worked out after all.
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