OKC Thunder NBA draft profile: Jalen Johnson – versatile forward with upside

Next up for Intentions annual OKC Thunder prospect profile series is Duke forward Jalen Johnson.

A prospect who if focused could develop into an all-around two-way player that could impact games on several fronts.

He has NBA-ready size and athleticism showing glimpses of spectacular but equally as often loses interest and displays concerning habits no club wants their team to emulate.

At just 19 and still raw if Johnson channels his energy and commitment to the sport in five years he could be viewed as one of the better prospects from the 2021 class.

OKC Thunder draft prospect profile for Jalen Johnson:

Specifics:

• Height: 6’9″
• Weight:  220 pounds
• Wingspan: 6’11
• Position: Forward
• Birthdate/Age:  December 18, 2001, 19 years
• College: Duke, freshman
• Stat line:  11.2 points,  6.1 rebounds,  2.2 assists,  1.2 steals, 1.2 blocks
• Home Town: Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

Box Score Statistics:

Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 7/16/2021.

Current Ranking:

The range of a top-10 placement all the way to 21st likely has to do with questions about his commitment (see weaknesses).

• The Ringer: 11th
• NBA DraftNet: 14th
• ESPN: 12th
• CBS Sports: 21st
• NBA: 13th
• Bleacher Report: 15th
• FanSided The Step Back: 8th

With that let’s dive a little deeper into Jalen Johnson to determine his strengths and weaknesses.

Jalen Johnson strengths and weaknesses

Strengths:

Defense and playmaking are some of the top assets of Jalen Johnson which are augmented by his great court vision. Johnson capitalizes on his height (6’9) and strong frame (220 pounds) combining it with athletic prowess giving him the ability to defend one through five. But there is a caveat (*see weaknesses).

He’s a solid rebounder and tackles the defensive end of the hardwood with verve often drawing charges or blocking shots. He averaged 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks this past season.

Offensively he hasn’t come close to his ceiling but that same athleticism allows him to score especially in transition or driving the paint.

Although he has shown the ability to stretch the floor (44.4 percent) he doesn’t attempt many shots from behind the arc (1.4 per game) perhaps not fully trusting that shot just yet.

Despite being a combo forward he possesses point guard skills especially his playmaking. While he displays great court vision it’s the types of passes he’s honed that stand out. Unlike most big men he can facilitate crosscourt passes to open corner shooters or hit a cutter on the move. He can orchestrate fast breaks because of his rebounding and playmaking ability.

Should he land on a team that prioritizes ball movement and has adept shooters his assist totals could be on par with the team’s point guard.

Weaknesses:

Commitment and desire are the biggest question marks for Johnson — both on the court and in general. The flaws show when he isn’t focused or providing a consistent effort. Case in point, while he’s an above-average passer his 2.5 turnovers per game weren’t concerning. More concerning is many of those gaffes occurred when he lost focus and forced passes.

As noted, Johnson registered great 3-point efficiency but there is a lack of confidence in his shot and arguably with good reason. His shot has fundamental mechanical issues that need to be tweaked. The same is true of his free-throw shooting where he averaged a meager 63.2 percent. It’s not a Ben Simmons situation however as he will take the shots just not very often so with the right development team he should easily improve.

Given his ability to defend and do so with physicality and aggressiveness it’s odd he doesn’t apply that same panache on the offensive end. Rather he relies on his pet moves which are jabs or floaters in the paint that frequently get blocked because he doesn’t go up strong and positions his body to move away from contact.

Pro Comparison:

Johnson draws impressive comparisons such as Aaron Gordon, Rudy Gay, bigger RJ Barrett, Stephen Jackson, and TJ Warren. Each of these players possesses all-around games with the ability to excel as a two-way player.

Most of these players bring aggression to both ends of the court and none of them were ever saddled as being non-committal.

OKC Thunder fit:

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Again, the biggest red flag is concern over his commitment to the sport as he exited both IMG Academy (in senior year) and Duke (after 13 games) early. Doing that once especially during a pandemic can be forgiven but doing it back-to-back is harder to disregard.

Character is a quality the OKC Thunder put a great onus on. While Johnson meets the timeline and would fit the system would the brain trust be willing to ignore those situations?

The Duke forward is among those the team has worked out and could fall to the 16th pick especially if other clubs aren’t willing to overlook the commitment and desire concerns.

Ultimately, it might come down to how confident Sam Presti is Johnson can be developed in their system and shine to bring out his best qualities.