Chicago Bulls add former MMA fighter
Bulls add F James Johnson Sure, there’s some uncertainty in the backcourt and the Chicago Bulls could still use an…
Bulls add F James Johnson
Sure, there’s some uncertainty in the backcourt and the Chicago Bulls could still use an inside scorer.
They’ll deal with those issues soon enough.
For now, they’ll take the size and strength they added up front in Thursday night’s draft.
The Bulls selected James Johnson of Wake Forest with the 16th pick, adding a versatile forward with a martial arts background who can hit the jumper and dunk in traffic to a front line that could use some scoring pop.
Chicago then took Southern California forward Taj Gibson at No. 26 even though Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, a possibility with the 16th pick, was still on the board.
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Although they added two forwards, the Bulls still lack a reliable low-post scorer.
“True low-post scorers, there aren’t a lot of them,” general manager Gar Forman said. “And usually when you get one as a team, you don’t let them go.”
One inside threat who might be on the move this summer is Chris Bosh, and the Bulls could be front-runners if Toronto decides to trade its All-Star because they have young talent and expiring contracts. Forman said they nearly made a deal Thursday, although the trade would have been to move up in the draft. Nothing materialized so they went with Johnson and Gibson.
“They’re a great team,” said Johnson, who watched the draft in Cheyenne, Wyo., with his family, high school teachers and friends. “They’re a great running team. I love the team. I love Derrick Rose.”
The 6-foot-8, 257-pound Johnson averaged 15.0 points and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds as a sophomore last season for the Demon Deacons, a team that finished 24-7 and held the No. 1 ranking in January.
Chicago, meanwhile, won 41 games and pushed defending champion Boston in a thrilling seven-game series last season after a colossal crash the previous year that sent it spiraling into the lottery. The Bulls then struck gold in selecting Rose, a Chicago native and the eventual Rookie of the Year, over Michael Beasley.
This time, they landed a player who comes from one of the top martial arts families in Wyoming. One of nine children, James Johnson is a black belt who has won several world and national karate titles and his father, Willie, runs a martial arts school in Cheyenne. He has also competed in kick boxing and mixed martial arts, but just in case he had any thoughts about fighting again, Forman made it clear: Those days are over.
“I don’t think he’s doing it anymore. If he is, it’ll be in his contract that it’s not,” Forman said with a grin. “But when we talked to the strength and conditioning and training staff at Wake Forest, they said his martial arts background has really helped him athletically as far as core strength, flexibility.”
Johnson can beat defenders off the dribble and has the size, strength and shooting touch, but while Forman called him “one of the top five to seven players in the draft,” he is also inconsistent. He struggles defensively at times, occasionally takes off possessions and was criticized for having high body fat at the NBA combine.
The 6-foot-9 Gibson gives the Bulls another forward with a wide wing span who can block shots and run the floor, but his low-post game is limited. He also struggled at the foul line, shooting 58 percent over three seasons at Southern Cal. Even so, he averaged 14.3 points and a team-leading 9.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks as a junior last season.
“I’m just looking forward to coming in and doing what I can. I know there are a lot of great players. I’m just trying to find my niche.”
While addressing their front line, the Bulls also have some questions in the backcourt with the murky futures of Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich.
Gordon, their leading scorer, is an unrestricted free agent after failing to reach a long-term deal the past two years. If he leaves, the Bulls would probably be more inclined to keep Hinrich, but if Gordon stays, Hinrich becomes expendable.
“We’ll look at that in July,” he said. “When July 1 hits, it’s our hope that Ben will remain a Chicago Bull, but obviously he’s an unrestricted free agent.”
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