James Johnson

James Johnson
SF/PF, 6’9, 250lbs, 30 years old, 8 years of experience

2016/17 was a career year for Johnson, for whom a move to power forward full-time was most welcomed. He shot the three better, enjoyed the biggest offensive role of his career to date, became a key clutch player of all things, and also picked up his rebounding a bit. And while he was still prone to the occasional moment of thinking he is Kevin Durant and a high number of bad passes, Johnson also picked up his defence. No longer letting players get past him in order to go for the recovering block, Johnson did a better job keeping players in front, holding them to less efficient shooting, and still got the blocks anyway. He lost weight, played for a contract, and will probably get it.

Player Plan: Expiring $5 million salary and earned a pay rise. Given his style of play, Johnson will be coveted by contending teams, although those teams might only have MLEs to work with. For that amount, he is worth re-signing with a view to dealing down the road.

When it came to the player name announcements, events went down just as they had in the first game; same players (save for Vujacic over Morrow), in the same order, with the same levels of reception. The only break from procedure came when James Johnson, the first player announced, missed his turn in the post-announcement handslaps. Julian Wright found this funny.

In trading James Johnson to Toronto, Chicago somehow managed to somehow obtain a first round pick for a player they drafted in the mid-first round, then never played, and whose valued they crucified. It's the Thabo Sefolosha all over again, with one subtle difference; benching Johnson behind Luol Deng and Kyle Korver is entirely justified, while making Thabo sit for Adrian Griffin and Chris Duhon was not. Toronto takes a worthwhile shot at a player with size, athleticism and talent, who hasn't learnt how to put his tools together or play under control, but who now has the opportunity to learn on the job with a team not headed anywhere quickly.

Dante Cunningham

Considering he's always been a power forward in a small forward's body, Cunningham made a pretty decent effort of pretending otherwise. Given plenty of opportunities due to injury, Cunningham shot his customary mid range two's well, rebounding well enough for a man of his size, and proved he could play defense on most small and power forwards. He also turned it over only 25 times all year, leading all rookies in turnover percentage at 6.0%. This is helped significantly by the fact that he doesn't dribble, but nevertheless, it's a hugely impressive number. (Tyler Hansbrough was next lowest at 7.1% in his part-season of work; Marcus Thornton was third at 7.3%. The worst? Jrue Holiday, 21.9%. Then James Johnson. Then Hasheem Thabeet.)