Jalen Johnson transferring

[cheeseman]

Sorry to see JJ leave. The problem today is players want play/start. When he lost his starting job to Foreman last year the first thing that popped into my head was that he would be leaving.  Many have pointed out what his problem was. He was ok on defense in the zone. Ford has already said he plans to play more man now that he has more than 7 players.  His shooting fell off after Foreman took over so unless he picked up next year he would be in a dog fight for playing time.  I don’t blame him but I am not sure he was going to have a big role   Good luck and I thought he was a good member of the team  surprised he waited so long though  

 

 

[NextYearBill]

kid was soft... didnt fit our bulldog pack

[Bobby Metzinger]

3 hours ago, Littlebill said:

Jesus man. This is on the Mt. Rushmore of all-time bad takes.

Were they important to a final result? Maybe - but don't say they're AS important as the two HOFers on the team.

Reported. 

[TFord and TRavs]

1 hour ago, NextYearBill said:

kid was soft... didnt fit our bulldog pack

100 percent. Great kid but next years team will be brawlers on the court 

[Quality Is Job 1]

1 hour ago, Bobby Metzinger said:

Reported. 

Are you now the boy who cried, "Wolf!"?  Are you trying to get back on the bad side of management by wasting their time?

[Billiken Rich]

2 hours ago, Bobby Metzinger said:

Reported. 

 

[slufanskip]

It seems to me people are underestimating Jalen as a player. It's like we believe the player he was as a Soph is all he'll be as a Jr. Usually the biggest jump is between the Soph and Jr years. 

[SouthSide_Billiken]

9 hours ago, BIG BILL FAN said:

This may  signal  a shift in the style of play. I think Ford wants to go to an uptempo style both offensively and defensively, certainly not JJ's strengths....

The timing of this transfer is certainly strange. It is not advantageous for Jalen. I tend to believe this may have been a "mutual decision." Ford has been talking for years about hoping to play an up-tempo attacking style of basketball. With a full complement of players, JGood manning the point, and a plethora of athletic bigs, we may finally see this come to fruition. However, I don't believe an up-tempo style of play does any favors for Jalen. His lack of quickness could be hidden a bit in the zone, but not in the system Ford hopes to run next year.

That being said, I wish Jalen the best of luck. He was a solid contributor on the teams that laid the foundation for what Ford is trying to build. I hope he finds a system that highlights his strengths as a player. He certainly deserves an opportunity to thrive.

[TFord and TRavs]

1 hour ago, slufanskip said:

It seems to me people are underestimating Jalen as a player. It's like we believe the player he was as a Soph is all he'll be as a Jr. Usually the biggest jump is between the Soph and Jr years. 

Our best players showed up against the best teams. I don’t think jalen was our best threat against Bonnie’s or Vcu or RI 

[NextYearBill]

8 hours ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Our best players showed up against the best teams. I don’t think jalen was our best threat against Bonnie’s or Vcu or RI 

always looked like he wanted to shite his pants with the ball in his hands. couldnt grab a rebound to save his life. good luck wherever you land kid 

[cheeseman]

20 minutes ago, NextYearBill said:

always looked like he wanted to shite his pants with the ball in his hands. couldnt grab a rebound to save his life. good luck wherever you land kid 

I think you are being a bit hard on him. He was not a rebounding machine but he did win the rebounding medal once. He helped us during difficult times. I am glad he was a Billiken. As others have said I hope he ends up in a place he will be happy 

[slufanskip]

8 hours ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Our best players showed up against the best teams. I don’t think jalen was our best threat against Bonnie’s or Vcu or RI 

Did you read where I said he was one of our best players? 

[slufan13]

Tough to lose his skillset on this team but we can recruit better than him. I'm fine with throwing the freshmen in there and seeing what they can do. I liked Johnson though and I wish Ford's first recruit had been able to stay all 4 years 

[TheOne]

Jalen is moving along because he and his family firmly believe Jalen is capable of being an NBA player.  Whether or not you agree he is capable, you have to respect his decision to try to find a program that will allow him to showcase his positives and work on the negatives. Our roster was getting beefier, and minutes for Jalen were becoming more unclear. This was not a “mutual” decision - Jalen chose to move on. 

Tough to lose him.  A good kid who helped the team stick together during difficult times this season. All this said, I believe TF and staff will make full and good use of this new scholarship opening.

Jalen wants to head back home - do not be surprised if he ends up at LSU this season.

[cheeseman]

1 minute ago, TheOne said:

Jalen is moving along because he and his family firmly believe Jalen is capable of being an NBA player.  Whether or not you agree he is capable, you have to respect his decision to try to find a program that will allow him to showcase his positives and work on the negatives. Our roster was getting beefier, and minutes for Jalen were becoming more unclear. This was not a “mutual” decision - Jalen chose to move on. 

Tough to lose him.  A good kid who helped the team stick together during difficult times this season. All this said, I believe TF and staff will make full and good use of this new scholarship opening.

Jalen wants to head back home - do not be surprised if he ends up at LSU this season.

Funny how sometimes the desire to play closer to home after a year or two becomes strong when in high school all the could think about was getting away. Life is funny. Do you know if LSU recruited him out of high school and if they have an open schollie or would he have to walk on

[Billiken Rich]

11 minutes ago, TheOne said:

Jalen is moving along because he and his family firmly believe Jalen is capable of being an NBA player.  Whether or not you agree he is capable, you have to respect his decision to try to find a program that will allow him to showcase his positives and work on the negatives. Our roster was getting beefier, and minutes for Jalen were becoming more unclear. This was not a “mutual” decision - Jalen chose to move on. 

Tough to lose him.  A good kid who helped the team stick together during difficult times this season. All this said, I believe TF and staff will make full and good use of this new scholarship opening.

Jalen wants to head back home - do not be surprised if he ends up at LSU this season.

I'll admit I don't watch the NBA but don't kids Jalen's size need amazing ball skills and amazing shooting ability.  I hope he and his are right and the kid makes us look like fools for not building our program around him but I just can't see it.  He's got two years left to prove himself but how many "Conklin summers" can he put together?   

[wgstl]

33 minutes ago, TheOne said:

 

Jalen wants to head back home - do not be surprised if he ends up at LSU this season.

Maybe like a Louisiana Lafayette or Louisiana Tech, not sure he can get to LSU

[Zink]

1 hour ago, TheOne said:

Jalen is moving along because he and his family firmly believe Jalen is capable of being an NBA player.  Whether or not you agree he is capable, you have to respect his decision to try to find a program that will allow him to showcase his positives and work on the negatives. Our roster was getting beefier, and minutes for Jalen were becoming more unclear. This was not a “mutual” decision - Jalen chose to move on. 

Tough to lose him.  A good kid who helped the team stick together during difficult times this season. All this said, I believe TF and staff will make full and good use of this new scholarship opening.

Jalen wants to head back home - do not be surprised if he ends up at LSU this season.

Great post, appreciate the scoop. 

I always find it strange when players simultaneously have the confidence that they are NBA material, but also lack the confidence that they can earn minutes at their current program. If Jalen is going to be an NBA player, he can beat out Santos/Foreman/a bunch of freshmen for minutes. Ford seemed perfectly happy to play Jalen big minutes, he was just inconsistent, so it doesn’t appear to be one of those instances where a guy is in the dog house and needs to leave in order to get a fair chance.

I do think he would’ve played an important role on next year’s team, even if he were limited to <20mpg. He honestly could’ve been the starter at the 3 and would’ve gotten a lot of minutes if he worked on his ball handling a bit over the summer. With even incremental improvement he was basically a surefire starter as a senior. 

Jalen, we will miss your heart, hustle, and shooting. Best of luck with whatever’s next. 

[billikenfan05]

Post disgrace title “SLU Basketball Starter Transferring”. This is half clickbait little j journalism and half slanted to make it look like ford can’t hang on to his top players....

[RiseAndGrind]

1 hour ago, TheOne said:

Jalen is moving along because he and his family firmly believe Jalen is capable of being an NBA player.  Whether or not you agree he is capable, you have to respect his decision to try to find a program that will allow him to showcase his positives and work on the negatives. Our roster was getting beefier, and minutes for Jalen were becoming more unclear. This was not a “mutual” decision - Jalen chose to move on. 

Tough to lose him.  A good kid who helped the team stick together during difficult times this season. All this said, I believe TF and staff will make full and good use of this new scholarship opening.

Jalen wants to head back home - do not be surprised if he ends up at LSU this season.

I love Jalen but he’s way too slow (at the moment at least) to be in the NBA 

[BrockL]

1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

Post disgrace title “SLU Basketball Starter Transferring”. This is half clickbait little j journalism and half slanted to make it look like ford can’t hang on to his top players....

That honestly seems like a fair and accurate headline. I'm not sure how it's "half clickbait little j journalism" 

[CBFan]

26 minutes ago, BrockL said:

That honestly seems like a fair and accurate headline. I'm not sure how it's "half clickbait little j journalism" 

It is not accurate DJ put JJ on the bench and the team scored more and had a nice run until JGood got suspended.  

I like JJ and hope the best and plays in the NBA but he is not Javon Bess now that would be a huge blow.

[cheeseman]

37 minutes ago, BrockL said:

That honestly seems like a fair and accurate headline. I'm not sure how it's "half clickbait little j journalism" 

How is it fair. JJ was not a starter for  good part of last season. Using your logic then if a kid started an exhibition game once then he was a starter for the team. Sorry if you get displaced and can not win your spot back you ain’t a starter anymore. Had they said something like SLU onetime starter transferring now that would be more accurate.  We all know the purpose of the headline. It was to make it look like we were going to be a lesser team. 

[BrockL]

42 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

How is it fair. JJ was not a starter for  good part of last season. Using your logic then if a kid started an exhibition game once then he was a starter for the team. Sorry if you get displaced and can not win your spot back you ain’t a starter anymore. Had they said something like SLU onetime starter transferring now that would be more accurate.  We all know the purpose of the headline. It was to make it look like we were going to be a lesser team. 

He started 24 of the 33 games he played last season. He started 42 of the 66 games he played in his entire SLU career, so I think it's fair to call him a starter. But that's just my opinion, which doesn't mean much. 

[BourbanStreet]

FWIW Jalen Johnson started 24/33 games last year averaging 27.2 MPG. Started 20/33 his FR year averaging 24 MPG. In his last 5 games he had 40, 40, 30, 34, 36. Was he going to start next year, no. Did he start majority of games past 2 years- yes.