2019 NBA Draft - Community Draft Board: Sweet Shooting Cameron Johnson Goes 21

And so our countdown continues. Nickeil Alexander-Walker went off the board last in our exercise, and you, the loyal readers, voted Cameron Johnson as the next player on our big board. Let’s break him down a bit.

An aged member of Roy Williams North Carolina team, Johnson is already 23.2, having gone through a full college career after transferring partway through from Pitt. At 6’8” with a 6’10” wingspan, he’s not a particularly rangy forward, but looks like a guy capable of hitting spot-up jumpers with some consistency. His workload ramped up his senior year from the prior time at UNC, playing 10 extra games and upping his usage to 21.8%. Nearly half his field goal attempts were triples, a good sign for projecting his potential as an outside gunner, and he was a career 40.5% 3-point shooter on 639 attempts to go with 81.7% from the charity stripe on 273 attempts.

The guy can shoot, that much is clear. What else he may offer is probably pretty dependent on fit. With his size, he could act as an off-ball guy that runs around screens and shoots off the catch. Whether he has the athleticism and strength to do so could be an open question, especially as he still recovers from a procedure on his left hip.

He strikes me as a deliberate athlete rather than a dynamic one, with offensive movements at his own pace, but not in the “patient scorer” sense, more along the lines that he doesn’t seem like he could be dangerous driving past defenders. His height means he can clearly finish with a slam if he gets an easy path to the rim, but those pathways will be narrower in the NBA. His best chance to find those cuts to the rim will likely come if he could develop into a deady off-screen shooter.

Despite his decent size, he was a poor rebounder throughout his career, with just a 12.5% defensive rebounding rate. He also might struggle to switch up and down given his size deficiencies for a big, without the likely lateral athleticism he would need to bear down on guards. Still, I’m most encouraged by his sniping, and in particular, his propensity to fire from deep. Some of the triples he shot in the video above are from the Brook Lopez, Mirza Teletovic range. Having a guy with his size, who could capably play a three or four, running his man ragged while sprinting around the arc seems like a solid fit within Milwaukee’s trigger-happy lineup. The defensive questions might give me a little pause, along with the age, but he seems like another backup forward who could give some shooting juice for the bench.

Okay, let’s move onto our next spot on the big board. Just like last week, I’m going to let this poll run all the way through Saturday, so tell your friends to hop in before it closes Sunday morning! Thanks to everyone who’s keeping this thing chugging along. Also, let me know if there’s a prospect you think I’m totally whiffing on by not including in the poll. It’s tough to gauge who should be slotted in now that we’re getting to the end of the round.

Brew Hoop Draft Board Rankings

1. Zion Williamson - PF, Duke
2. Ja Morant - PG, Murray State
3. Jarrett Culver - SG, Texas Tech
4. R.J. Barrett - SG, Duke
5. Darius Garland - PG, Vanderbilt
6. Coby White - SG, UNC
7. De’Andre Hunter - SF, Virginia
8. Cam Reddish - SF, Duke
9. Sekou Doumbouya - PF, Limoges CSP, France
10. Nassir Little - SF, UNC
11. Jaxson Hayes - C, Texas
12. Rui Hachimura - PF, Gonzaga
13. Brandon Clarke - PF, Gonzaga
14. Goga Bitadze - C, Mega Bemax, Adriatic Basketball Association
15. P.J. Washington - PF, Kentucky
16. Kevin Porter Jr. - SG, USC
17. Bol Bol - PF, Oregon
18. Tyler Herro - SG, Kentucky
19. Romeo Langford - SG, Indiana
20. Nickeil Alexander-Walker - SG, Virginia Tech
21. Cameron Johnson - PF, UNC