My questions about Johnson and his age have little to do with understanding a niche and everything to do with physical and schematic aspects of a game. He’s known for years that he needs to add weight/muscle, and this is where he’s at. For every dunk or block, there were at least 1-2 instances of a post-up player treating him like a 7′ tall stick. Guys guarding him could bend him in half with a simple arm bar in his back.

Also, are we sure he’s a good defender besides the blocks? He was in the top 4 in the league in blocks per 36 minutes, but Stiemsma was in the top 14. Setting Stiemsma aside because they have options at backup C besides those 2, what does the tape tell us about his ability to be where he’s supposed to? I’m not sure because it’s tough for me to follow that closely without video, but it’s an important question. He was with the team for all of training camp, so it’s not like he wasn’t aware of their schemes.

With Johnson, his role might not be as obvious since its predicated on athleticism (dunks/blocks) but he’s also very slender. Derrick Williams is in a tough spot right now because it’s not clear whether he can be a go-to player or if that’s even how he would be best used. I don’t think he really has sixth man qualities, so I don’t know how he would best be used.

Remember that any given player’s success is a combination of how he sees himself and how the team sees him. When these things work together—as they do for teams with an established pattern of maximizing players like the Spurs—it’s great. I think Johnson can find a place on the Wolves if they hang onto him.

The unanswered question in all of this is why he showed little before this point of his career. He’s the same age as Pek and Stiemsma and 3 years older than Love. It just seems weird that he’s thought of as having untapped potential when he played 4 years in college, didn’t make his NBA debut for 2 years after that, and hasn’t lasted a full season on any NBA roster.

I agree with you that CJ’s a low-cost option as a fifth big who can play either the four or five and give you something you don’t get from other bigs on the squad. I’d like to see him stick around and get the minutes Stiemsma received this year. That, however, would most likely be contingent on ridding ourselves of Stiemsma, who makes a lot more dough than CJ ($2,575,000 vs. $346,781).

As for the idea of “lottery luck,” although it’s trite for Flip to say they were lucky even though they dropped in ’95 because they got KG, it raises an important point: lottery luck isn’t based on what happens Tuesday but, instead, on what happens after that. In ’08, they dropped 1 spot, which put them in position to consider a trade for Love instead of having #2 and keeping Beasley. They just have to use the pick the best way they can and avoid the strikeouts they’ve made in the past.