Amir Johnson - Sioux Falls Skyforce Tracker

Let me tell you what "inconsistant" in the NBA means. Look at Gerald Green and Adam Morrison. These guys are highly talented, but truly inconsistant, scoring 20 some nights, going O-fer on others. They are on really bad teams, who can afford to let them flounder. I'd say that Amir's probably about the same talent level as these guys at the moment, and would play the same way as these guys. Do we really want that on the court right now when we're trying to win a championship? I trust that Flip and Joe know whether he'll bring value to the team by being on the court. When he can do it consistantly, he'll play.

I'm not really arguing that Amir is going to kick butt when we put him in there, but I'd like to see him have the chance.

If we put him in for real minutes and his inconsistency outweighs his contributions, then reconsider at that point. This is a team that started Will Blalock, Flip Murray, and Nazr Mohammed at different points this season. You think 10 minutes of Amir Johnson every other game or so is going to lose HCA for us? Maybe he'll perform better than JMax, who knows?

He was a monster in the pre-season, he's dominating the D-League, and he's only recieved 22 TOTAL minutes this year. You got Nazr saying that maybe Flip should give those GT minutes to someone who'll benefit from them, like Amir, instead of himself.

Why is there so much hesitation from the Pistons' organization to give young players on-court experience? Every employer I've ever worked for realizes that you have to put the newbies in real situations so that they can become effective... not because they already are. McDonald's even realizes that.

Big difference. Morrison plays no D. As a small forward, Amir Johnson can play fine D, consistently. I doubt he would miss many shots either, but hey, he is a quick as the dickens 7 footer. How is that no going to help our defense?

Not trying to compare who is better. Similar talent level, different skills.

About his D, it has been pointed out that this could be his main weakness, because he doesn't have an NBA body yet. Probably block some shots, get some steals, but would get pushed off the court.

why do people think you can't take a player out of the game??? if amir's shots aren't falling and somebody is burning him on defense take him out the game. i don't see why that is so hard. lindsey often comes in and just destroys runs on a regular basis yet he continues to play he's truly offensively inconsistent. we dont' need much from amir except maybe a dunk or two to get the crowd into the game.

That is actually another side of this. What about the fans?

It is entertaining to see the youth play. The Palace is still running those pseudo sell-outs, right? Maybe a little Amir would help.


Is there anyone here who would not try sticking him in once in a while if you were the coach?

I'm assuming that Amir is getting his try-out against real NBA talent in practice, he's not performing consistantly, and that is what is "taking him out" of the game.

I would like to see him get some run in blow-outs. Not in the last 2 minutes, but in the middle of the game, when we're up 10-15. Let him run against real players. Problem is, the way our guys play, they rarely get big leads. And when they do they often have a hard time putting teams away.

More early foul trouble for Amir in a Skyforce win tonight.

Amir: 28 minutes, 13 points (4-6 field, 5-7 line), 11 boards, 2 dimes, 2 blocks, 3 turns, 5 fouls

Will: 34 minutes, 15 points (5-14 field with 1 trey, 4-5 line), 11 dimes, 6 boards, 1 steal, 1 turn, 4 fouls

boxscore

If you played him as a power forward. But he is quick enough to play small forward.

Good to see WillB put up some numbers.

Both Joe D & Flip said that Amir is a PF... for whatever the reason we have to go under that assumption.
It's possible that they want to take a harder look at Maxiell first to see if he fits the long term plans... one thing I'm sure of is that something will be done this summer to reduce the logjam at PF.
I'm hoping we can lock up the East #1 seed early and give the kids some serious burn.

Nice game from Amir tonight in a one-point loss to the mighty Colorado 14ers.

Amir: 39 Minutes, 20 points (7-15 floor, 6-10 line), 10 boards, 5 blocks, 1 dime, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls

Will: 31 minutes, 1 point (0-6 floor, 1-2 line), 8 dimes, 4 boards, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls

boxscore

Amir named D League Performer of the Week:

http://www.nba.com/dleague/news/performer_070305.html

Congrats to Amir, and to the Pistons front office for their clever strategy of hiding him until he's re-signed this summer.

It doesn't include anything about Amir, but Rod Benson of the Dakota team has a funny new blog entry. Favorite part: "Mateen was shooting free throws. I swear we have some of the funniest fans in the league (maybe the cold air makes the brain wittier) because one of them says to Mateen: 'Mateen, isn’t there an age limit in the D-League? Does David Stern know about this?!' I was on the bench with 4 fouls at the time so I was just dying laughing."

It looks like AJ would be about 12th in scoring and 4th in rebounds per game in the league if he had enough games to qualify.

He would also be 2nd in the league behind J. Hodge who is averaging 14.4 BPG? Is that possible. That must be an error.

NBA Development League: Regular Season Statistics