AP Photo

James Johnson has some very good skills for a player his size, but he is a classic case of a guy that should be a bruising power forward who is mistakenly in love with his finesse game.

Johnson should offset his size with the ability to extend his shot from distance and put the ball on the deck, instead of the opposite. He genuinely enjoys attacking the rim and any defender that stands in his way; it would simply happen more frequently and efficiently if he started from five or six feet out instead of 15-20 feet.

His handle is pretty solid in the open floor and in the halfcourt, but it remains a little rough and susceptible to getting stripped when there isn’t much space to operate. Johnson will allow himself to get out of control and become turnover prone. Clearly, he isn’t as good of a ball handler as he thinks he is, but he is impressive nonetheless to give him credit.

Johnson will try to beat his man off the dribble from the wing and he has some good success in this area of his game. But he frequently ran into problems if he didn’t have a lane to the rim baseline and was met by help defenders in the paint. When he doesn’t try to do too much, Johnson is an effective scorer and is particularly adept at kicking the ball back out to spot-up shooters.

When he is out on the perimeter himself as a shooter, Johnson seems to be in the equivalent of his man cave. He has nice form on his outside shot with a compact and smooth form and a nice follow-through. He shot 69.7% from the line and 31.9% from beyond the arc, so clearly those numbers suggest improve is needed. Johnson’s shooting percentages increase dramatically when left unguarded and also when he’s shooting off the dribble.

Without the ball in his hands, Johnson is a big bodied screener and has an excellent ability to run the pick and pop and pick and roll. He also is a favorite option to finish lobs where he can really use his great physicality.

Defensively, Johnson doesn’t have great off-ball instincts and frequently finds himself out of position where he is unable to provide help to his teammates.

He frequently guarded wing players, but there were several things he did at Wake Forest that he won’t be able to get away with in the NBA. He doesn’t get low enough in his defensive stance, which leads him to excessively use his body to stay in front of a ball handler instead of moving his feet. Johnson also isn’t quite savvy enough to defend a wing that can beat him off the dribble in multiple ways.

Johnson does block some shots and will challenge others, both in the paint and on the perimeter. He is also extremely strong and tough.

He is a good rebounder and he likes to trigger early offense himself by taking the ball up the floor. He gets physical when battling down low and on the offensive glass he frequently gets to the rim for putbacks largely due to how difficult he is to box out since he comes storming in from the perimeter.

With Johnson you’re getting a talented package, but you’re also getting a player that needs to add maturity to his game and his character.

Click here to read RealGM's draft reports on other members of the '09 class.