According to Scott Schroeder of NBA FanHouse:
“James Johnson, selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 16th overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft, is expected to be assigned to the NBA D-League’s Iowa Energy on Thursday, according to a source close to the situation. Johnson, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Wake Forest, has played in 12 games for the Bulls this season with his last being a Jan. 4 contest against the Toronto Raptors in which he played three minutes and recorded no statistics. … With a trip to Des Moines, Johnson will have a chance to show that he’s worth taking a flier on by another team if coach Tom Thibodeau can’t find a spot for him in his rotation.”
This is welcome news as far as I’m concerned. Yes, J.J. is wildly inconsistent and couldn’t crawl any further in Thibodeau’s doghouse if he was wearing a collar and eating Alpo straight from the can. But — if the Bulls want him to develop any trade value or actually become a contributing member of the team – he should be playing basketball, not watching it.
I just hope we use his spot to pick up somebody Coach Thibs is willing to use to spell Deng on occasion.
Comment by BFD — January 27, 2011 @ 5:11 pm
Some PT would probably benefit both JJ and the bulls.
Comment by Jake in Minnie (and maybe Shoveling TCF for the Bears game) — January 27, 2011 @ 5:12 pm
This is long overdue. If you aren’t going to play him at all, he should be in the D-League. You get better by playing.
Comment by Chuck — January 27, 2011 @ 6:45 pm
I had hoped this would happen much earlier in the season. This guy has the athletism to work well in Thibs defense at either the 2 or 3. It is frustrating to see his talent not being developed or at least see him really tested to see if he can be developed. At least we might be able to generate some trade value in him by getting him some PT in the D-league.
Comment by BoppinBob — January 27, 2011 @ 7:58 pm
Come on JJ! Here’s your chance!
Comment by J — January 28, 2011 @ 8:53 am
We could’ve had Dejuan Blair, i was yelling at the TV monitor when i saw us pick up JJ
Comment by Davvvyyyyyyy — January 29, 2011 @ 7:20 pm
What I get from Gar’s comments is that JJ is at the make or break point with the Bulls. Apparently the plan is to bring JJ back to the Bulls after the 5 game road trip or trade him at the dead line if he can generate some interest. Personally I think the Bulls waited too long to make this move. It would have been nice to bring him back and try to use him in the rotation on this road trip to generate trade interest.
Comment by BoppinBob — January 30, 2011 @ 4:49 pm