{"id":709071,"date":"2026-06-17T07:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T07:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709071\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T07:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T07:20:29","slug":"know-the-draft-prospect-morez-johnson-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709071\/","title":{"rendered":"Know the draft prospect: Morez Johnson, Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Depending on how the board falls, Michigan big man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/morez-johnson-jr-1.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Morez Johnson, Jr.<\/a> could be available when New York is on the clock at draft night next week. Should the Knicks consider him with their 24th or 31st selection?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Johnson Jr. was a crucial to the 2026 National Champion Wolverines, starting all 40 games. While his basic box score numbers are solid, it\u2019s the underlying efficiency and physical dimensions that tell a larger story. He converted a 73% of his attempts at the rim, thriving on vertical gravity and physical finishes. Defensively, he hauled in 7.3 rebounds per game while averaging 1.1 blocks and 0.7 steals. His free throw shooting jumped from 62% as a freshman at Illinois to 79% at Michigan on 156 attempts. Combine that foul line touch with a subtle 12-of-35 (34%) showing from three-point range, and you see the structural outline of a modern, multi-dimensional frontcourt piece rather than just a rigid rim-runner. Squint and do you see Julius Randle? Maybe just a little bit?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Johnson Jr. fits the classic mold of an aggressive, physical, defense-first big man. Wouldn\u2019t you drool to have a bruiser like this jogging onto the court with the second unit? He can crash the glass, execute drop coverage, and spend his rookie season sharpening his processing speed with the Westchester Knicks if need be. He offers the exact blend of toughness and physical tools that fits the organizational identity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Draft him at 24. If Morez Johnson Jr. is on the board, pull the trigger, Leon. Mo brings championship pedigree, an elite physical profile, a rock-solid defensive motor, and flashes of real shooting touch that suggest his ceiling is much higher than a standard backup center. He checks every box of a modern, versatile frontcourt piece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Depending on how the board falls, Michigan big man Morez Johnson, Jr. could be available when New York&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[305938,355,99],"class_list":["post-709071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-knicks-draft","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}