Tre Johnson, a 6’5 freshman guard for Texas, has established himself as one of the best scorers in the country despite just turning 19 years old two weeks ago. Scoring and playmaking at that size has landed Johnson firmly in the early lottery of most draft boards.
In 34.6 minutes per game, Johnson is averaging 19.8 points, 3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1 steal. He has hit 39.2% of his 6.8 three-point attempts per game and made 89% of his free-throws, signaling elite, translatable shooting.
Rookie Scale’s Consensus Big Board, which averages player rankings across major, reputable draft boards, currently has Johnson fifth overall. He’s listed right after guard VJ Edgecombe of Baylor and right before Kasparas Jakucionis of Illinois. Very interesting to see these three guards in a row as they all have unique skillsets they bring to the table.
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His critics would say Johnson doesn’t do much besides score and hasn’t shown much defensive acumen to this point. His proponents, myself included, would argue that this largely underwhelming team needs him to score and that he actually has playmaking chops that he isn’t able to show off frequently enough.
On a wide-open NBA court, Johnson should be able to get to the rim much more effectively and draw fouls, allowing him to put his elite free-throw shooting to more use. He also has the size and athleticism to at least be a neutral NBA defender, if not better. It seems unlikely an NBA team will be as reliant on Johnson to generate so much of their offense, especially early in his NBA career.
If the best-case outcome happens for Johnson, I could see him developing into a Gilbert Arenas-esque offensive hub. Worst case, he’ll still be a high-level floor spacer for the next decade.
If you want to see Johnson for yourself, he is playing in Dayton, OH, in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament against Xavier at 9:10 p.m. EST tonight. You can find the game on TruTV.