CELTICS SPOTLIGHT ON: JaJuan Johnson

by Tim Scott

Originally, in the first round, the Celtics drafted Providence guard Marshon Brooks. Moments later, the Celtics traded Brooks to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Purdue big-man JaJuan Johnson.

Johnson, a senior power forward, was the Big Ten Player of the Year for averaging 20.5 PPG and 8.6 RPG for the surging Boilermakers.

Johnson will be joining fellow Boilermaker E'Twaun Moore in Boston. Moore was drafted in the second round by the Celtics.

Johnson provides the Celtics with a dominant player who has great size and athleticism. Johnson is also a good leader, he's fast, and has enough experience to make an impact immediately in Boston. 

However, Johnson needs to work on some skills. First off, he needs to get stronger. In order to fit the mold that Kendrick Perkins left open, he needs to gain more muscle strength, and assert himself more on the boards. Also, his defense (boxing out opponents for rebounds), jump shot (he needs to have some sort of range), rebounding (he should use his 7'4'' wing span to his advantage), potential (depends upon how the Celtics intend to use him), his post skills (they need him to post up on defenders), and his intangibles need to be tweaked in order to be successful.

Yet, the road looks increasingly bright for Johnson. In his first couple of years in the Green, he will serve as a backup to Kevin Garnett, but once Garnett retires (note: Garnett's 35), Johnson's expected to be the successor at the PF position. Johnson will learn from Garnett, and hopefully, will excel in the years to come.  

CELTICS SPOTLIGHT ON: E'Twaun Moore

 by Tim Scott

With the 55th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics selected E'Twaun Moore, a PG/SG combo out of Purdue University.

Moore will be joining fellow teammate JaJuan Johnson in Boston. Johnson was selected by the Nets in the first, but traded to the Celtics for Marshon Brooks.

In his senior year at Purdue, the 6'4'' Moore averaged 18 PPG in 34 games played. In addition, Moore racked up 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. 

According to Boilermaker fans, this year was a breakout year for the guard. Moore had three games in which he scored 30+ points. The highest of these came against the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes, when Purdue pulled the upset over the Buckeyes, 76-63. In that game, Moore scored a game-high 38 points, and dished out 5 assists in the game. From a statistical perspective, it seems that Moore could make a valuable backup to Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo.

However, his scouting report tells a different story. According to draft database NBA Draft.Net, Moore scored a 87% of 100 on his scouting report. The main points of Moore's game are his intangibles, leadership, experience, and jump shot. As a point guard, expect him to lead the charge when Rondo is resting. Moore also has a very good jump shot that can help him provide key points down the stretch. Some scouts compare him to an Eddie House/Nate Robinson-caliber player.

The reason he was drafted towards the end of the second round was because of the rest of skills need to be improved. Moore isn't very athletic, not very strong or fast, not very good with ball-handling and passing, which need to be tweaked in order to be a factor in Doc Rivers's system, and the fact that his potential would be limited as a Celtics backup made him a lower selection.

In sum, E'Twaun Moore will make a good addition to the Celtics because his skills can be improved over time, and, because he is backup to one of the best point guards in the game (Rajon Rondo), he will learn the ropes of being successful, and use that success to propel future teams. 

CELTICS FIRST ROUND ACQUISITION JaJUAN JOHNSON (picture courtesy of CLNS Radio) 

CELTICS SECOND ROUND PICK E'TWAUN MOORE (picture courtesy of Facebook) 

 

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