Pacers’ Alize Johnson has solid Summer League leading into year two
2018 second round pick Alize Johnson will get another go-round with the Indiana Pacers after an encouraging outing in the 2019 Summer League.
The Indiana Pacers‘ Summer League was nothing to write home about this year in terms of wins and losses, but there were thankfully a few bright spots to take away from the action. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell looks to be carving out a nice potential two-way contract, Aaron Holiday can still score (his 22.3 points per game were good enough for 6th overall in Summer League), and second year forward Alize Johnson continued to prove his worth to this team.
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For Johnson, you could tell he was much more settled into his role in comparison to his rookie season. This is precisely what you want to see from a Summer League veteran. If you’re getting played off the court by the incoming rookies, that doesn’t exactly bode well for your future in the Association if you’ve been in Summer League before.
What we saw from Alize Johnson is what we’ve come to love about the former second round pick from Missouri State. His high motor was on full display, and his work on the glass is still excellent. He’s a hustle guy through and through.
His 9.6 rebounds per game were good enough for 10th overall in all of Summer League. He was also tied for 28th overall in points per game with 16.4. This isn’t an incredible stat, but he was tied in this category with Brooklyn’s Jarrett Allen, the young center who already seems a little too seasoned to even play in Summer League at all.
16.4 points and 9.6 rebounds has to be very encouraging for the Indiana Pacers to see from their beloved sophomore. Alize Johnson still might not get tons of playing time in 2019-2020 with the Pacers having a healthy handful of guys that will be playing the 4 (including Domantas Sabonis), but he’s proving that he can be an important jolt of energy off the bench whenever his name is called.
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Alize Johnson’s solid play for the Indiana Pacers this Summer League was enough for the team to guarantee his contract for this upcoming season as of yesterday. While we’ve still yet to see if he can earn significant minutes for the team moving forward, it’s clear that Johnson is off to a promising start going into year two.