Sam Vecenie raves about Tre Johnson, questions Texas system

It only took Texas guard Tre Johnson one year at the collegiate level to have NBA scouts salivating at a chance to add him to their team. On the Game Theory Podcast, The Athletic draft expert Sam Vecenie joined in on scouts’ chorus of praises for Johnson.

“I got to see Tre Johnson work out a couple weeks ago. He was super impressive,” Vecenie said. “Was so so, so impressive to me, just as a human being that came in with a level of seriousness and a desire to get better. There was just this level of intensity about him, where he went through this workout, like 100% the whole way.

“You don’t see that often when you go to these workouts where there’s like a total focus on everything. I am just a huge, huge, huge fan of that piece of Tre Johnson. It was one of the most impressive shooting workouts I’ve ever seen from a teenager, just point blank.”

Clearly, Johnson’s intensity during practice translates to his success during games. He averaged a conference-high 19.9 points, along with 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game this past season. Johnson shot 42.7% from the field and 39.7% from beyond the arc.

For his efforts, Johnson was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and reeled in an All-SEC Second-Team nod. The 6-foot-6 freshman’s excellent play earned the Longhorns an NCAA Tournament bid but they were ultimately eliminated in the First Four by Xavier.

While nobody denies that Johnson is gifted scorer, some scouts argue that his shot selection was questionable at times last season. Moreover, Johnson’s critics point to his 1.8 turnovers per game. Vecenie isn’t worried about Johnson’s efficiency.

“Some of the decision making on the court could be a little bit frustrating in terms of shot selection. We’ll see where that goes,” Vecenie said. “Do you get him out of that Texas situation, where it was just a total disaster, archaic offense that rarely ran him off of screens, and put him into an NBA situation, you run him off of screens and everything just flows easy?

“You have to really close out on him hard. That allows him to get to his left and be able to drive to the basket, or it allows him get to his right and play and get to the rim in that effective way. Like, to me, there’s a real chance that this comes together for Tre Johnson in the NBA.”