Everyone has been having their fun at the expense of Cam Johnson recently, as he has been struggling in his first season in Denver while battling injuries as well. It hasn’t helped that Michael Porter Jr. has been having a career year in Brooklyn, narrowly missing his first All-Star appearance in his first season away from Denver.
But some of the discourse has gone too far recently, and that was on full display in the most recent podcast episode of The Mismatch. Chris Vernon and Dave Jacoby ripped Johnson apart with Verno simply stating, “he stinks” before the two dove into what a disappointment he has been, how they expected more, how he brings nothing to the table but shooting, which hasn’t even been reliable.
They both agreed that Peyton Watson has become much more valuable to the Nuggets and that it’s confusing and concerning that Nikola Jokic generally makes everyone better, but he doesn’t seem to be having that impact on Johnson. The final nail in the coffin was Verno referring to the trade going from Michael Porter Jr. to Cam Johnson as a “monstrous downgrade”.
Criticism of Cam Johnson has gone too far
I get the hate. I really do. But this is all a little bit unfair. Johnson was stepping into a starting spot that had been filled by MPJ for years. He couldn’t be expected to step in and immediately hit the ground running in what has been one of the best and steadiest starting units in the league for ages.
While he stared slowly, Cam was rounding into form before his injury caused him to miss almost six weeks. Despite all the cold streaks and loud misses, Johnson is still shooting over 40% from three on the season, which proves what he’s capable of if he can just get his rhythm back.
Cam and MPJ aren't as far apart as it seems
Furthermore, yes, MPJ is having a great season, but we’ve seen this act before, most recently last season when Johnson put up big numbers on the tanking Nets, and Mikal Bridges did it before him. Clearly, these numbers are a bit inflated with Mike getting a chance to be the go-to-guy, and also, his play has fallen off a cliff lately, and he’s now shooting just 46.7% from the field and 36.7% from three on the season.
It’s easy to look at the counting stats and see how the Nuggets have struggled recently and point to this as low-hanging fruit, but realistically, Johsnona nd Porter Jr. are probably closer to equal players than we realize right now. When the deal was made, many thought Johnson was the far better player. Now the pendulum has swung the other way completely.
If we’re being honest, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Johnson didn’t suddenly become a bad player overnight. If he can get back from this ankle injury that’s now keeping him out, he has a chance to find his game in the final 20 games of the season. There’s still hope that he can make an impact in the playoffs, and the Nuggets can’t give up on him now.