Glenn
01-24-2008, 02:46 PM
Hello, Amir
Young pup embraces his chance in first crack at crunch-time minutes
[smilie=blaha.gif]
by George Blaha
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Like most Pistons fans, I’ve been anxious to see Amir Johnson get a crack at some playing time in crunch-time situations – and that moment came for him last night in Philadelphia. What I liked about the way Amir responded is he had as much to do with the Pistons taking over that basketball game as anybody else. Somebody had to get all those offensive rebounds, block a couple of shots and score – and play big.
It’s very difficult on Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell to lean on them constantly for all of the minutes at the power positions. Amir is going to be a breath of fresh air in that regard. He doesn’t have the same game as Rasheed and Dice and Jason have. It’s a little bit different. He is the kind of guy who – much like Jason Maxiell in this aspect – is full of boundless energy. And here’s a guy who is absolutely thrilled to be on the court. He is like a young pup just rarin’ to go. At this stage of the season, when the opposition has somebody like that unleashed upon them, it’s got to be very difficult for them. This guy is like a bolt out of the blue. He’s going to be helpful more often than not.
I constantly get asked about Amir and I understand the reason for the public fascination with him. He has size and you know he has an NBA skill set. He has range. He has great leaping ability. He seems to have a good sense of timing as a shot-blocker. He can work the offensive glass. And he’s so darn long and still so young that – pardon the pun – the sky could still be the limit. That’s why we’re all excited to see him play.
We’ve seen it in NBA games. The Milwaukee game a couple of years ago and the Boston game late last season, especially, come to mind. But maybe we’ve never seen it when it counted like it did last night in Philadelphia. So it’s exciting to see a young player with talent like Amir has get his chance and make it count.
And above and beyond that, what I love about Amir is he went to the D-League willingly, accepted some very good coaching in Sioux Falls from then-coach Mo McHone and probably understood what was necessary to take his game to the NBA level on a consistent basis more than he did before he went down. I know as well as anybody that in the NBDL or the CBA or all those minor league’s, there’s a dearth of big men who can play, but he was still playing against pros as a young kid and on many nights he absolutely tore up that league and proved he had a future in the NBA.
It will be fascinating to watch his development now and how Amir meshes with the other young players on the Pistons’ second unit. Our starters can play any way necessary, but they’re at their best – because of their experience and their basketball IQ – when they execute you to death in the half court. It’s nice to get some easy baskets, but they don’t even need easy baskets. They can get them the hard way. The younger guys, with their younger legs and their lack of NBA experience, are obviously better off in an up-and-down game. So if you integrate one or two of the starters with maybe three guys from the bench group, I think you could put a unit out there that could be very difficult to match up with and make the adjustment to guarding after being in the grind-it-out game with our starters.
It’s going to take Amir two or three more seasons, probably, to grow into this game. But he has so much ability and such an eager-to-play attitude that you’re going to see him make strides right away. I just think his upside could be so terrific that we might not see the top of it immediately. He has a chance to be a guy who’s not your average bear. He has a chance to make headlines. And – on some nights – he has a chance to be a game-changer right now.
Young pup embraces his chance in first crack at crunch-time minutes
[smilie=blaha.gif]
by George Blaha
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Like most Pistons fans, I’ve been anxious to see Amir Johnson get a crack at some playing time in crunch-time situations – and that moment came for him last night in Philadelphia. What I liked about the way Amir responded is he had as much to do with the Pistons taking over that basketball game as anybody else. Somebody had to get all those offensive rebounds, block a couple of shots and score – and play big.
It’s very difficult on Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell to lean on them constantly for all of the minutes at the power positions. Amir is going to be a breath of fresh air in that regard. He doesn’t have the same game as Rasheed and Dice and Jason have. It’s a little bit different. He is the kind of guy who – much like Jason Maxiell in this aspect – is full of boundless energy. And here’s a guy who is absolutely thrilled to be on the court. He is like a young pup just rarin’ to go. At this stage of the season, when the opposition has somebody like that unleashed upon them, it’s got to be very difficult for them. This guy is like a bolt out of the blue. He’s going to be helpful more often than not.
I constantly get asked about Amir and I understand the reason for the public fascination with him. He has size and you know he has an NBA skill set. He has range. He has great leaping ability. He seems to have a good sense of timing as a shot-blocker. He can work the offensive glass. And he’s so darn long and still so young that – pardon the pun – the sky could still be the limit. That’s why we’re all excited to see him play.
We’ve seen it in NBA games. The Milwaukee game a couple of years ago and the Boston game late last season, especially, come to mind. But maybe we’ve never seen it when it counted like it did last night in Philadelphia. So it’s exciting to see a young player with talent like Amir has get his chance and make it count.
And above and beyond that, what I love about Amir is he went to the D-League willingly, accepted some very good coaching in Sioux Falls from then-coach Mo McHone and probably understood what was necessary to take his game to the NBA level on a consistent basis more than he did before he went down. I know as well as anybody that in the NBDL or the CBA or all those minor league’s, there’s a dearth of big men who can play, but he was still playing against pros as a young kid and on many nights he absolutely tore up that league and proved he had a future in the NBA.
It will be fascinating to watch his development now and how Amir meshes with the other young players on the Pistons’ second unit. Our starters can play any way necessary, but they’re at their best – because of their experience and their basketball IQ – when they execute you to death in the half court. It’s nice to get some easy baskets, but they don’t even need easy baskets. They can get them the hard way. The younger guys, with their younger legs and their lack of NBA experience, are obviously better off in an up-and-down game. So if you integrate one or two of the starters with maybe three guys from the bench group, I think you could put a unit out there that could be very difficult to match up with and make the adjustment to guarding after being in the grind-it-out game with our starters.
It’s going to take Amir two or three more seasons, probably, to grow into this game. But he has so much ability and such an eager-to-play attitude that you’re going to see him make strides right away. I just think his upside could be so terrific that we might not see the top of it immediately. He has a chance to be a guy who’s not your average bear. He has a chance to make headlines. And – on some nights – he has a chance to be a game-changer right now.