What's Amir Johnson's role next season?

[Matt]

I was listening to the Joe D interview on 1270 and he was really talking up Amir's increased role next season. One comment that caught my attention was when he said "Amir's the fastest guy on the team, faster than Rip." If that's true, damn. Rip's damn quick and to think a 6'10" guy is faster, that's unbelieveable. Amir's crazy athletic and that seems to be exactly what we need. The dude could have been a lottery pick this year, had he gone to college. We're all hoping to add youth, talent, and athleticism in the draft and maybe in trades, but could Amir Johnson be our answer?

So, what do you guys invision Amir's contribution being next season? Does he get 15 min a game?

Some Amir Youtube-love:

[Matt]

And who coul forget Amir's HS dunk contest:

[Glenn]

I think he's already my favorite Piston.

Don't know if Flip will use him without Joe prodding him, though.

I'd say 8th man at best ~ 10 mins max.

[FillyCheezeSteak]

I say he takes over for Max. Meaning he does what Max did the last two seasons. I think he'll sit on the bench and play a few minutes here and there and then have one or two random games where he plays great. The best part will be everyone of us bitching and complaining that they need to play him more...........just like Delfino and Maxiell for the last two years.

[Zekyl]

I couldn't agree more. He'll get random minutes here and there and towards the end of the season he may get a more defined role. We'll hate it but that's just how it will go, unless JoeD steps in.

[WTFchris]

If he really is the fastest guy on our team I'd like to know what position he plays. Can he play backup SF next year? With his size and leaping he could dominate the boards off the bench.

[Matt]

If he really is the fastest guy on our team I'd like to know what position he plays. Can he play backup SF next year? With his size and leaping he could dominate the boards off the bench.

in the 8 games he played last season, he averaged nearly 15 minutes a game and almost 5 boards during that time. granted, it was garbage time and only 8 games, but that's a pretty good rate.

with this size and speed, he could be a defensive monster, too...

[Zekyl]

He's just got to develop it. Give him some time on the floor. He can only learn so much in practice.

[Glenn]

He's just got to develop it. Give him some time on the floor. He can only learn so much in practice.

That's the same thing that people were saying about our former #2 pick.

I was one of those that disagreed with that then, and I still do.

Amir needs to earn his PT in practice, and the staff needs to be willing to give him that time if he does indeed perform.

The last guy wasn't willing to work for his minutes, hopefully Amir is.

[Zekyl]

I'm not saying he doesn't need to earn the PT. I'm just saying there's only so much you can learn in practice and he'll get even better once he starts getting playing time. I agreed that Darko needed to earn his playing time back then, just like every other player in the league. Darko just had a sense of entitlement. Amir seems to be a hard working kid. He'll earn it in practice, but once he does they'd better give him the chance to develop in the game.