Cam Johnson has had a couple of solid games recently, but overall, this season has still been a massive struggle, especially in the shooting department. Perhaps the answer is that Johnson has developed to the point that he’s more of a pure scorer than shooter, and the Nuggets should adjust accordingly.
Recently, he has shown some chops inside the arc, cutting, getting to the basket, finishing around the rim, and in the midrange. It should open up some stuff, not only for him, but for the entire Nuggets’ offense. The team should lean into it and design sets to get Cam loose and let him get hot, scoring the ball.
This was an issue that plagued much of Michael Porter Jr.’s Nuggets career and led to his eventual trade to the Nets. MPJ was an elite all-around prospect coming out of high school, but injuries robbed him of a potential superstar career.
His landing spot in Denver and his body betraying him led to Mike plateauing as a really good role player, but a guy who got lost in the shuffle too much, specifically on nights when his shot wasn’t falling.
Nuggets must maximize Johnson as a scorer
Denver can’t afford to make the same mistakes with Johnson. They need to get him going in this offense and emphasize his ability to score and pressure the defense. Cam is much more than a spot-up shooter; he’s a guy who should be initiating sets and should have designed advantages created for him to get into a rhythm.
Once that happens, the Nuggets will have another offensive option to go along with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, a third guy who can take the reins. But for now, it appears that he has been relegated to spot-up duties far too frequently, and you run the risk of him becoming nothing more than another role player, a la MPJ.
Johnson has been a good three-point shooter in his career, but we’re not talking about a Klay Thompson or Ray Allen type who’s going to run around screens to bomb with an inch of space all night. He proved to be a good all-around offensive engine in Brooklyn and can carry that to Denver in smaller doses.
So far, we haven’t seen much of that. Johnson is scoring just 8.6 points per game this season and shooting 30% from three-point land. Something needs to change, and it starts with the Nuggets’ coaching staff making sure they’re doing everything to maximize Johnson’s skillset.