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Photo by Warren LeMay, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsI went one for two on Jalen Johnson in April. The half I got right is a Yahoo column now, and it comes with no fix.
The grade first. On April 13 I wrote that "the Hawks' 19-5 run means nothing if Jalen Johnson can't score in isolation" in Games 3 and 4. Game 3: Atlanta won 109-108, Johnson 8-for-19. Game 4: Atlanta lost 114-98, Johnson 4-for-12.
Half right. Graded here, by me. That is why this is not a lap.
The day before, I put a number on it: "0.73 points per isolation possession. Second-worst in the NBA among players with 100-plus iso possessions." Synergy's figure as of April 12, and I can't re-pull it today. Simone named the same limitation on May 17. The number was mine. The problem was Tilt's.
Wednesday, Kevin O'Connor made it a Yahoo column: the Hawks have everything except a closer. Now read his ending. Develop that player or go get him — in the same piece where he says the Hawks "just don't have the assets to compete with other teams."
Strip that down and the prescription is: hope Johnson's jumper arrives. That is not a plan. It is a wish with a byline.
Tilt's own evidence needs no tracking stat. Against New York, Johnson averaged 19.5 points on 9-of-31 from three. Atlanta's two wins came by one point each. The four losses came by 11, 16, 29 and 51. Monday: 1-for-7, 0-for-3 from deep, 18 preseason minutes. That proves nothing. It just rhymes.
The column bites me too. O'Connor calls the best trade pickup in the East a breakout "built largely on off-ball volume." Translation: not the guy either.
Six months on, the number is not the story. The hope is.
The Tilt
Atlanta's only fix at the end of close games is hoping Johnson's jumper arrives.
— Dex Ponce
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