Terone Johnson

"Wiiiiiiiise men saaaaay, only fooooools ruuuuuuuush iiiiiiiin........."

In light of Purdue's struggles, as the upperclassman and one time four star recruit, Johnson by default had to shoulder a much larger offensive load than befits his talent. Playing alongside his younger brother Ronnie - who struggled with consistency and reliability himself - Johnson had to take the toughest defensive assignments AND be a focal point on the offense for all game every game, because no one else could do it.

Johnson, however, couldn't either. His offensive game is too limited for the load he was asked to shoulder, and his poor efficiency is a testament to how it went. Never a particularly good shooter, Johnson catches and shoots fairly well but struggles to create jumpers or shoot off the dribble, and his free throw stroke is extremely poor for a wing. Inconsistency defined his offense, and inconsistency is not a good thing from the most relied-upon offensive player. And Johnson should never have been that because he just hasn't the shot creation skills, not for himself or for his team mates, to be so. The lack of a consistent jump shot nullifies his driving game; Johnson is effective in the paint with a floater-y, hook-y thing, but it is hard to get there without dominant athleticism, a particularly tight handle, a jump shot to open up driving lanes and with so much defensive pressure against him. Set up to fail, Johnson pretty much did, taking some bad shots and missing plenty, and making too many passing errors.

What Johnson does do is defend and play hard. He hustles, moves his feet and plays with some determination, and he also rebounds very well for a guard. Johnson takes the toughest defensive assignments and is a savvy, solid defender, whose defensive consistency is far greater than that of his offensive consistency.

Given the right role, as a tertiary-at-best offensive option and defensive pest, Johnson should have a pro career somewhere. But to progress, he will need to develop the jump shot that hasn't developed for four years.

[...] Backup guard John Hart has fallen out of the rotation towards the end of the season, but he represents an outside shooting threat off the bench. Freshman wing Terone Johnson doesn't have Hart's shot, not a whole lot of shot selection, but he can get to the basket on occasion. Yet pretty much all the Boilermaker's offense is dependent upon three players; E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson and Lewis Jackson. [...]