Grizzlies work out forward Johnson
Ex-Tar Heel a strong leaper
Zach Randolph is aging. Jarell Martin ended this past regular season just as he began it: injured.
Ja-Mychal Green is undersized at the position.
So might the Grizzlies look to grab a power forward with one of their picks (17 and 57) in the June 23 NBA draft?
That’s not to say the aforementioned will be useless to the Griz next season. The Grizzlies’ interest in North Carolina’s Brice Johnson could be viewed as more of an acknowledgment for the need to stock the cupboard with youth and athleticism at every position.
Johnson, a 6-10, 210-pounder, was one of two projected first-round prospects invited to Fed-Ex-Forum Sunday for a pre-draft workout along with Syracuse 6-6 guard Malachi Richardson, who also rates high on several mock drafts.
Ben Bentil (6-8 forward, Providence), Isaiah Cousins (6-3 guard Oklahoma), Gary Payton II (6-3 guard Oregon State) and Wayne Selden (6-5 guard, Kansas) also worked out with the latest known draft candidates on the Grizzlies’ radar.
“It was another good workout that had a lot of energy. Probably most of the guys in this workout will end up getting drafted so it was interesting for us from that perspective. It was fun,” said John Hollinger, Griz vice president of basketball operations.
Johnson is a hardworking big man who guided North Carolina to the NCAA championship game as a senior. His powerful second jumps for put-backs helped produce an average of 17 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Johnson shot 61.4 percent and enjoyed a 39-point, 23-rebound game against Florida State this past season.
NBAdraft.net compares Johnson to Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson.
The Grizzlies don’t allow media to watch workouts or interview participants. However, Johnson recently told The Arizona Republic after a workout for the Phoenix Suns that he’s looking forward to expanding his game in the pros.
“I want to be able to expand my game just because, not only am I not going to be posting as much, but I have to be able to step out and shoot 3-pointers sometimes,” Johnson said. “In college, I was a back-to-the-basket type of player because that was the system Coach (Roy) Williams had. Nowadays, everybody just wants to see me shoot the ball. They just want to know if I can shoot. They know I’m very athletic. I can dunk the ball very well. I think about 85 percent of my shots were dunks this year.”
USA Basketball selected Johnson as one of five college players on the Select Team that will train with Team USA in July.