Stanley Johnson: Microcausim
Stanley Johnson was a good pickup for the Los Angeles Lakers as he has brought the team a much-needed defensive presence on the wing. The problem with Johnson, which is the same thing as Avery Bradley and THT, is that he does not do much on the offensive end of the court.
Nearly half of Johnson’s shot attempts are from beyond the arc and he is shooting just 32.8% from the land of three. He is not going to create for himself or for his teammates and he really is just someone who can occasionally drive to the cup or shoot and off-ball three.
His OBPM is near Bradley’s (-3.1) and that has been where he has hovered around for his entire career. He has always been a solid player on the defensive end but it has been hard to justify him having a big role on other teams because of his defense.
And this is a microcausim of the Lakers’ problems and why they were never going to make it far in the playoffs. Because they were so restricted financially, they had to pick from the bottom of the barrel and at the bottom of the barrel are guys who can only contribute one-way.
They have the offensive players who can help as off-ball shooters but cannot play defense and they have guys who can play decent defense but cannot do anything offensively.
These players get hunted on both ends of the court. It is fine to have these players as the seventh and eighth best player in a rotation but when the entire team is comprised of them it is a problem.