Former first-round pick Keon Johnson had one thing on his mind during Summer League, maximize his opportunity. After joining the Brooklyn Nets on a two-way deal last season, Johnson spent the majority of his time toiling in the G-League, appearing in just 5 games for the NBA club. Written off by the rest of the league, he entered the offseason returning to the Nets Summer League team, hoping that his performance would yield an opportunity to continue his NBA career.
His efforts paid off as the Nets signed him to a multi-year deal. Essentially a partially guaranteed first year with a team option for the second year, Brooklyn now can get an extended look at the 21st overall pick in the 2021 draft.
What does Keon Johnson bring to the table?
In Summer League, Johnson did a little bit of everything, finishing with a stat line of 16.3 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game. Athleticism is the key tenet of his game, allowing him to get to the rim and finish with explosiveness or create for others. On the defensive end, you can also see that in action with his ability to be a sticky point-of-attack defender.
The issue for Johnson has always been his shooting. In 82 career NBA games, he’s shot just 36.3% from the field and 34.6% from three. That said, in the G-League last season his shooting numbers were encouraging posting a 47.8 field goal percentage while shooting 37.9% from three on 5.1 attempts per game. In Summer League, the results were more of a mixed bag shooting a solid 45.1% percent from the field, but a subpar 25% from beyond the arc.
Still, the G-League is a higher level of competition than the Summer League and has a much larger sample size, so there are some encouraging signs that he may have developed into at least an average shooter at the NBA level.
Johnson is not a natural point guard, but he does have some skills as a ball handler and has a good feel for when to be aggressive on his drives and when to kick the ball out to a teammate and not force the issue. In the Summer League, he showed some surprising skill in running pick and roll sets among other duties as an offensive initiator.
Bottom line, Johnson’s athleticism gives him the ability to contribute across the board. Despite only measuring in at 6-5, 186 pounds Johnson is fearless crashing the boards. He is aggressive on drives and can get hot as a shooter, while still serving as a secondary ballhandler and auxiliary playmaker. If it all comes together for him, the Nets may have a quality player on their hands.
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Johnson fills a key need on the depth chart
The Nets have a logjam at the wing position, despite trade rumors surrounding some of the veterans, but are thin at guard. Ben Simmons is hard to rely on even if he’s apparently healthy, Cam Thomas is a future building block but must improve as a playmaker, Dennis Schroder is a solid if unspectacular lead guard, and Shake Milton is more of a shooter who’s had trouble staying in rotations of late. The above group is now significantly bolstered by the addition of Johnson, who joins Thomas as the only other young player with potential in the backcourt.
Moreover, the Nets need players who can at least somewhat competently run an offense and Johnson fits that bill. More than simply winning games, having ball handlers that can execute a system and create for others is crucial for the development of other young players on the team like Noah Clowney, Jalen Wilson, and the rest of the youthful frontcourt.
The Nets are collecting 2021 first-round picks
In addition to their own picks of Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe the Nets have added two more members of the 2021 draft class in the last couple of days, Ziaire Williams (#10 overall) and now Keon Johnson (#21 overall) as general manager Sean Marks continues the buy-low strategy that worked so well during the last rebuild.
Thomas already looks like a potential star, and it will be interesting to see if any of the other three former 2021 first-round picks can join him as future building blocks for the next Brooklyn contender.
