“It just feels a little stuck.”
Here’s what Cam Johnson had to say after going 0-for-6 against Minnesota on Sunday. Zero points. Twenty-three minutes. His scoring average was the third-lowest of his career — worse than his first two seasons while still establishing himself in the league. This is not the player Denver envisioned when it traded for Michael Porter Jr. last summer. Currently, there is no clear explanation why.
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One thing has always bothered me: The Nikola Jokic connection just isn’t there. Jokic’s dribble handoff is one of the most efficient in basketball history. While the world’s best player wraps gifts for their buckets, his buddies get to enjoy the action. However, the combination of Johnson and Jokic only scored 0.84 points per game, which was the worst on the team.
These handoff data include all possible outcomes, such as Jokic getting the ball back, Johnson kicking it to a teammate, or Johnson shooting the ball himself. When Johnson did pull the trigger on a Jokic pass, his effective field goal percentage was just 26.6 percent. By comparison, MPJ shot 58.8% last season.
This is where things get really weird. In fact, Johnson is shooting 40.6% from three this season. This is a very good number. He averaged 4.5 three-pointers per game, a career low, but he didn’t collapse. A closer look at the split reveals something strange is happening: When Jokic passes him the ball, Johnson shoots just 35.7 percent from three. When others on the list find him? 43.4%. How did this happen? His shot off a pass from Tim Hardaway Jr. is better than his shot off a pass from the three-time MVP. Jokic is here to make everyone on the planet better, except for the guy Denver traded specifically to get better.
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The most logical explanation? Cam Johnson was lost in his own thoughts. He certainly looked and sounded like it during the postgame press conference. Think about what it must have been like to be him. Every time Jokic looks his way, a $94 million contract hangs over his head, the ghost of MPJ floats somewhere in the background, and Jokic’s fearsome brother groans in the crowd. That’s a heavy burden for a catch-and-shoot 3.
“It’s my responsibility, I’m the one who got myself into this, so I have to be the one to get myself out of it,” Johnson said. “Every time I get frustrated, it feels like I’m constantly letting myself down, letting my teammates down — and every time that happens, I’m able to turn it around somehow.”
He’d been there before and found his way out. The part you believe. The problem is that Denver doesn’t have time to wait “somehow, some way.” The playoffs are coming and the Nuggets need answers now. Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson are both out with hamstring injuries that will linger for some time. If the Denver Nuggets limp into the playoffs shorthanded, Johnson can’t be a passenger. Even if Gordon and Watson return healthy, Johnson will still need to be the team’s true half-court scoring option to go anywhere. Cam Johnson hasn’t been as invisible in the Nuggets’ playoff series as he was against Minnesota.
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The MPJ-for-Johnson trade was more than just replacing one forward with another. Denver used its cap space to add other players around Jokic. So it’s not entirely fair to blame it all on Johnson. He shouldn’t be MPJ. He’s supposed to be a shooter who makes other people’s lives easier.
But so far, acquiring Johnson looks like the wrong decision. Because in Denver, MVP can give you the ball, but he can’t give you the confidence to shoot.
