James Johnson has a black belt and owns a 21-0 record as a kickboxer. We'll find out soon enough whether Johnson can play in the NBA. The Bulls made the Wake Forest forward the 16th pick overall in Thursday's NBA draft.
The Bulls also took USC forward Taj Gibson with the 26th overall pick, adding to their frontcourt depth. The Bulls did not solve their need for a low-post scorer, but I didn't expect them to in a draft that most experts agree was short on impact players.
Johnson averaged 15 points and 8.5 rebounds as a sophomore at Wake last year. From what I've seen of him, he has a pretty good offensive repetoire. He can face up and shoot, and he can create his own shot off the bounce. At 6-foot-9, he can probably be a back-up player at both forward positions as a rookie. I don't expect big things from Johnson, but I hope he's good enough to force Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas to work a little bit harder for their minutes.
Bulls GM Gar Forman has spoke about the need to upgrade overall team defense. Maybe the 6-9 Gibson can give them a boost in that area. He was the Pac-10's Defensive Player of the Year last season, and he ranks third on the conference's all-time list in blocked shots. I'd be stunned, though, if Gibson is a factor offensively at the pro level.
Neither of these picks gets you overly excited, but neither of them are bad choices either. At the very least, the Bulls should have a rotation player for next year in Johnson.
This draft was a meh.
There were probably two great players in that draft, and that was Blake Griffin and Ricky Rubio. Other than that, the rest are crapshoot. I am not sure why anyone would be excited about this draft, which may have been the worse since 2000.
The Timberwolves have four draft picks in tonight's draft, and I am not sure if they are going to get much out of that picks, and that's if Rubio wants to play in Minnesota, which I think it's not going to happen. I am guessing Rubio will be traded for a player that is ready to win now.
I just wanted to add the story of yesterday afternoon had more action that last night because of the wheeling-n-dealing by Eastern Conference teams try to get a step over of winning a championship. The Cavaliers and the Magic made their move in acquiring some pieces, but I am not sure if Shaq and Vince Carter are the answers to what those two teams are looking for especially in Cleveland's case.
The Knicks and the Nets dumped salaries as they go on a unrealistic pursuit of getting Lebron in 2010.
You had the Spurs adding Richard Jefferson the day before.
Those were more newsworthy than the draft, and it says something about how bad the draft is.
I was very disappointed with the Gibson pick. I would have preferred Blair or a backup point guard.