A 6’8″ 250 lb. Small Forward with handles, a quick first step, range to the 3 point line, quick feet to defend small guards, size to bang with the 4′s and 5′s, and explosiveness to jump over people at the rim. Sounds like an all-star description right? Sounds like a player your familiar with right? If you read the first line in this paragraph and you didn’t read the headline you would think I was talking about LeBron James right? Well had James Johnson been exposed to the AAU circuit before his Junior year in high school, and been hooked up with a powerful shoe company perhaps he would be spoken about in the same breath as LBJ.

James Johnson, however grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a basketball nowhere, and then blew up on the AAU scene going into his senior year. He was ranked in the top 50 and commited to Wake Forest. Despite playing with shoot first point guard Jeff Teague he finished 2nd in the ACC freshman of the year voting. He was dominant at times at Wake despite not being featured enough. That may explain his drop to #16 in the NBA draft despite having a skill set only comparable to the elite small forwards in the NBA.

 His jump shot and handle needs refining but it is there. Look at James Johnson play and see who he reminds you of in the NBA. I think of Carmelo Anthony, LBJ, and a young Antoine Walker. While there were some good players in the ’09 draft taken ahead of Johnson there were not 15 of them. Sure Blake Griffin will dominate. Guards like James Harden will be an automatic 20ppg scorer for years, Ricky Rubio will make highlight reels sick of him, and guys like Stephen Curry and Johnny Flynn will score in bunches, but with the exception of Griffin are any of them all-stars? All-stars are unique. They are matchup problems. They have size, strength and skill combinations no one else has, and James Johnson definitely fits that description, and the Bulls are very fortunate to have had him fall to #16.

 Playing with Derrick Rose won’t hurt either. The 6’4″ point guard prodigy needs athletes that can run with him, and he will set Johnson up for better shots than he ever has gotten before. Add that with his ability to get his own shot and the Bulls may have their dynamic duo for the next 12 years