Wizards draft Texas star Tre Johnson with No. 6 pick

New York Times

5 hours ago

The Washington Wizards selected Tre Johnson with the No. 6 pick Wednesday night in the NBA Draft.
Johnson, 19, averaged 19.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists for Texas this season and shot 39.7 percent from beyond the arc. Overall, he made 42.7 percent of his field goals and 87 percent of his free throws. Despite Johnson's output, Texas fell to Xavier in the NCAA Tournament's First Four.
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The 6-foot-6, 190-pound guard started 33 of the Longhorns' 35 games and was a key part of the program's first SEC Tournament push. He paced the entire conference in minutes played per game, leading Texas in scoring and finishing second in assists per game.
In a career highlight, Johnson scored 39 points during an overtime loss to Arkansas in February, which broke the single-game scoring record for a Texas freshman. The previous record-holder? Kevin Durant.
I'm a believer in Johnson's game and demeanor. I respect the way he goes about his craft and think he's going to keep getting better as he ages. Ultimately, two things will be key to his reaching his upside. First, he's going to have to get stronger. He needs to be able to displace players on his drives a bit more effectively. He's not afraid of contact. The good news is, he's only 19 and a worker. He will get stronger. The second point will simply be fit. It would behoove him to land in a situation that allows him to streamline his offensive game early into being more of a high-level floor spacer and movement shooter who attacks off closeouts as opposed to being tasked with creating a significant amount of his team's offense. Hopefully, that would allow him to get minutes on the court early, then continue to flow into the rest of his game off the bounce, where he can use the threat of his shot to expand his game as he gets older and stronger.
The median/downside outcome of Johnson reminds me of a bigger version of Malik Beasley, and I don't mean that as a negative. Beasley has averaged about 14 points per game while shooting 39 percent from 3 on seriously high volume over the last five years and is going to earn nearly nine figures by the time it's done. It's just hard for shooters like Johnson to fail much more than that in today's NBA. If Johnson can be a better, bigger version of that, who doesn't need to be hidden defensively as often and can make better decisions consistently, he's a definite NBA starter. These are all achievable outcomes, too. But if he can land in the right situation, there are some outcomes where he develops into a 25-point-per-game guy and potentially reaches the All-Star game. — Sam Vecenie
Eastern Conference scout No. 1: 'He has a chance to be one of the top three players. He has the talent to do it. And I think he has the mindset. He's been a really hard player to like. I've watched him for three years. He's a hard player to like because he seems like he's a selfish player. … He wants to win, and he tries to win, but the only way he thinks he can win is doing it himself. He didn't have a good team in Texas, but he's been on some good teams when he was bad. He was on the USA Basketball (U-19) team in Europe. His body language and his game didn't support all the hype he was getting. But this year, I was at some of his best games. In the end … he's just f—ing good. He can score. On a team devoid of scoring, there's something to be said for that. … The shot-making is going to give him a chance. It's going to be about fit for him. Like Brandon Miller, maybe, where he goes to a place and plays really well. But if he goes to a s—-y team, he might look s—-y. If he has a couple of good vets around that can help him and that he respects, he has a chance to be good. Tre is the hardest worker, from everybody I've talked to, at Texas.'
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Eastern Conference scout No. 2: 'The impressive thing about him is you look at his stats, for a freshman, what he shot, and with the whole scouting report geared to stop him. He can shoot that thing. What they're talking about Ant (Edwards), that Ant needs to learn how to play with his back to the basket? Tre has that shot in his game. That was impressive, to watch a young guy be able to back a guy down and shoot that. He's not the best athlete, but when you shoot like that, that's the great equalizer. He's not 6-6 or 6-7, but he'll be able to get his shot off. I've seen him, the UConn game, he made a pass that he went baseline, and made a pass to one of his teammates for a wide-open 3. You've got to have some selfishness, too. I'd rather have to tune a guy down for being selfish than have to tune him up and say you need to be more selfish. I've seen him get off the ball. … I just worry about him playing against more athletic guys off the bounce. But off the catch, one-two dribbles? He's one of the best doing that.'
Western Conference executive No. 2: 'He's been the same player his whole life. He's got to be a guy who gets the ball and gets a lot of shots. He's going to have the ball, there's going to be some standing around and watching him. He'll score in the NBA. I don't have any doubt. But I wonder how valued a player he'll be in a few years. Is the league going to be clamoring for him in a few years? This guy's never going to be a big-time defender. It's get it and go. When it's going, he's impressive. I question the makeup. He's so pronounced in who he is that that's who he's going to be at our level. … (but) Tre Johnson's too pronounced as a shooter-scorer to fail, either. Look at Cam Thomas. The league wasn't crazy about him. He goes in the 20s, and he's not failing. He's easily playing 10-plus years now.'
College assistant coach No. 3 (his team played Texas): 'Probably going to go with Tre (over Fears). A lot of people say he's selfish, but he's not, really. He will make the right play at times. Sometimes he does, but you expect that with a guy with his talent. He had 90 assists to 60 turnovers. He was passing it well. He didn't force it. Fears would force. Both are extremely good in ball screens.'
Eastern Conference executive No. 1: 'Johnson's good. Probably the best shooter in the draft. Probably top five, top 10. He's improved, too. His attitude's improved. His game is more well-rounded than it was a year ago. How many really good shooters are a little selfish? That doesn't bother me.' — David Aldridge
This story will be updated.