After trying way too hard to fit in with the Nuggets, new forward Cam Johnson finally has begun to step out of the shadows of his own self-doubt.
Maybe we can finally exhale, and cancel that missing championship piece request.
After making more than a dent on the box score and having a real impact on Denver’s 117-100 victory against Indiana, Johnson still wears a furrowed brow. But here’s hoping he can breathe easier.
“Nine games into this season, what have I analyzed?” Johnson told me Saturday. “First of all, we’re 7-2. There’s two games we should’ve won that we lost. We’re three seconds away from being 9-0. That’s what I analyze. You’ve got to let the rest go, and figure it out.”
For more than 100 days after the Nuggets demonstrated they were intent on revamping their roster by parting ways with forward Michael Porter Jr. in a trade with Brooklyn, Johnson had been very hard to find.
Unlike MPJ, who would crank his sweet jumper from three-point range without a second thought, everything Johnson did in the opening eight games with his new team was far too tentative and almost painfully deferential.
His shot clanked with 36 percent from the field misfires, his 7.5 scoring average was troublesome and his paint-by-numbers contributions barely merited the 26 minutes per game given him by coach David Adelman.
Has the slow start bugged him?
Heck yeah.
“It’s not easy. That’s human nature,” Johnson said.
“But I signed up for this as a shooter in the NBA. I’ve had stretches where I feel like I can’t miss. I’ve had stretches where you feel like you can’t hit. My job is to continue to believe in myself. And that’s it. So far, every stretch I’ve had in my career, I’ve managed to get myself out of it.”
On a Saturday when Denver starters Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon were given the night off to tend to minor early-season dings, the Nuggets needed a meaningful contribution from Johnson.
He started slowly, obviously reluctant to double down on his bad-luck shooting from the perimeter. But in a game when the Nuggets had trouble shaking one of the more battered teams in the league, Johnson came alive in the second half by putting the ball on the floor and driving to the rim with aggression seldom seen from Porter.
“Attack the rim, see where the bigs (on defense) are at, and get them to react,” said Johnson, who can not only create space for himself off the dribble, but for his teammates, as well.
Johnson finished with 12 points, making five of his 11 field-goal attempts.
Far from dominant, but far better than nonexistent.
Thrust into a spotlight role he never had in Denver, Porter is averaging career highs in points (23.1), rebounds (8.0) and assists (2.9) for the truly wretched Nets, who can already be safely consigned to a spot in the NBA draft lottery.
So it’s obvious there is no chance that Johnson will win box score battles with MPJ on anywhere near a regular basis this season. While there’s no reason to panic about his slow start in a Denver uniform, it appears his scoring won’t skyrocket from the benefit of Nikola Jokic’s passing artistry.
“With NBA guys, you’ve got to be patient,” Adelman said. ‘What he’s got to understand is: Are you going up, or are you going down? He’s been going up.”
The new teammate who’s going to make big money by playing alongside Big Honey is 12-year NBA veteran Tim Hardaway Jr., who joined the Nuggets as a free agent on a one-year contract for the relative pittance of a $3.6 million hit on the salary cap.
Watching Johnson struggle to find his stride in the starting lineup, I’m tempted to suggest he should give that role to Hardaway. But the primary reason the Nuggets unloaded Porter’s $36 million salary was to give them the financial flexibility to rebuild their bench.
Hardaway fits this team so much better than Russell Westbrook did.
What’s more: In the early season odds for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, you will find Jerami Grant of Portland and Naz Reid of Minnesota among the favorites. But Hardaway isn’t even listed on the board by Las Vegas handicappers.
That’s going to change as Hardaway forces himself into the conversation.
“He’s a weapon,” Adelman said.
While waiting for his shooting touch to return, Johnson’s addition to the Nuggets have given this team something priceless:
A real shot at winning the NBA championship.
