Alize Johnson is headed to the Indiana Pacers after being selected 50th by the Indiana Pacers.
Alize Johnson, the Indiana Pacers want you to go grab as many rebounds as you can.
That might be one of the things Indiana hopes Johnson brings to the table as it selected the power forward from Missouri State with the 50th pick in the NBA draft. Indiana ranked 22nd in rebounds last season, and that is one of Johnson’s strengths.
In his second season at Missouri State, Johnson averaged 14.9 points and 11.2 rebounds with the Bears in the Missouri Valley Conference. His shooting numbers dipped from respectable in his rookie season to 43 percent from the field and 28.1 percent from deep.
Apparently, there are some mechanical issues with his shot that need fixed.
KP praises the rebounding of Alize, but he says he probably won't play much (if at all) next year. Says his shot has a mechanical issue.
— Tony East (@TonyREast) June 22, 2018
But that’s typically what you find in second-round selections — upside with flaws. There is potential there, as he averaged a double-double, but at 6’9, he is slightly undersized for a power forward in the NBA. He plays tough, physical defense, but he didn’t stuff the stat sheet with blocks and rebounds in college.
Johnson is a longer-term project for the Pacers, but a season or two from now he might find himself getting minutes as a small forward if he adapts to the NBA.
🏀 @MissouriStBears’s @AlizeJohnson is using his pre-draft workouts to show that even though he went to a mid-major, he belongs in the NBA. https://t.co/CxwDy9wDQL
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) June 8, 2018
Johnson is a bit of a tweener for the NBA, but if the Pacers can improve his shooting numbers, they might have found the right guy to improve their rebounding numbers.
His career didn’t start our in Missouri State, however. He wasn’t academically qualified coming out of high school, so he ended up at Frank Phillips junior college in Borger, Texas, where he showed off his rebounding and understanding of his role in the game.
From Jeremy Fuchs of Sports Illustrated:
"The isolation benefited his game. He averaged 12.7 points as a freshman, and earned All-America honors as a sophomore after scoring 16.7 points and 12.0 rebounds. His coach, Chris Hackett, was eager to place him in a D-I school. Hackett crossed paths with Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk at Missouri Southern. The connection made things easier.“We really liked how he rebounded,” Lusk said of Johnson’s workout. “And that workout, a lot of times, guys try doing a lot of things that they really can’t do. He just played the game the right way.”"
His rebounding ability followed him there, and hopefully, it follows him to Indiana now as a member of the Indiana Pacers.
Next: The Indiana Pacers select Aaron Holiday at 23
The last time the Pacers had the 50th pick in the NBA draft, they selected Georges Niang, who is now with the Utah Jazz organization.