A scouting report on NBA draft prospect Tre Johnson:
- Position: Shooting guard
- Height: 6-foot-4.75 (without shoes)
- Weight: 190 pounds
- College: Texas
Strengths
It would be perfectly fair to describe Johnson as “a bucket” and leave it at that.
In his one college season, the 19-year-old averaged 19.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists. Shooting is easily the most attractive aspect of his game. Johnson fired up 6.8 three-pointers per contest and made 39.7 percent. He hit 87.1 percent of his foul shots.
The variety of Johnson’s long-range jumpers was fantastic. He’s audacious and highly capable of draining shots when he curls around screens, side steps, pulls ups, steps back … there truly doesn’t appear to be anything absent from his jump shooting arsenal.
That extends to Johnson’s mid-range skill. He’s mainly a top prospect because of his outside shooting, but Johnson is tricky, crafty and comfortable with turnarounds, fadeaways and step-throughs in the mid-post. We’ll see what his role winds up being in the NBA, but multi-dimensional scoring never hurts and mid-range shotmaking is always handy in the playoffs.
Johnson has a 6-foot-10.25 wingspan, which enhances some of his tools. Added muscle would help the Dallas native’s inside-the-arc game (more on that below), but Johnson’s length is clearly a plus in terms of 1. His ability to get shots off and 2. His chances of being able to decently defend NBA wings.
Weaknesses
Johnson called his defense “up and down right now” in an interview with Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor.
While his wingspan is useful defensively, that’s Johnson’s worse end of the ball by a wide margin. Johnson plays somewhat upright and doesn’t move with the same fluidity and balance as on offense. As far as impactful anticipation and disruption, Johnson’s not offering much at the moment. Over 33 games, he totaled 41 “stocks” (31 steals, 10 blocks) and rarely was on the highlight radar.
Johnson’s lack of strength hurts on defense. It also prevents him from being a three-level scorer, along with the fact that he does not possess elite burst. Johnson isn’t the sort of player who can effortlessly blow past defenders, power around corners, create clear advantages off the dribble and regularly reach the rim. He was a subpar finisher at Texas, too. Per The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, Johnson made 46.5 percent of his shots at the rim and only dunked twice.
Though Johnson’s basic passing numbers were fine — 2.7 assists and 1.8 turnovers per game — he was obviously a shot-first player at Texas and didn’t display tons of impressive passing talent.
Fit
Just about any NBA team would adore Johnson’s shooting. Even if he never becomes a massive scorer in the league, Johnson seems to have strong odds of knocking down jumpers and nicely complementing stars.
If the Sixers took Johnson at No. 3, they’d likely hope he could gain strength and ultimately do adequate work on defense against wings. Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has indicated Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and (restricted free agent) Quentin Grimes will be core pieces, so defensive questions would be logical if the Sixers picked another guard in Johnson.
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