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Utah Jazz sign guard Christapher Johnson

Welcome to the Jazz, Chris!

By AllThatAmar
Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Yesterday the Utah Jazz announced that they had filled their vacant 15th roster spot with shooting guard Christapher Johnson.

And from their press release:

SALT LAKE CITY (January 28, 2015) – The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has signed forward Chris Johnson of the NBA Development League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers to a 10-day contract. Johnson becomes the NBA’s 24th overall NBA D-League Call-Up of the 2014-15 season and the 22nd different player to be called up. Per team policy, financial terms were not released. Following the move, the Jazz roster now stands at 15 players.

The 24-year-old Johnson (6-6, 201, Dayton) appeared in 14 games (all starts) for the Vipers this season, averaging 20.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 steals in 35.3 minutes per contest. He scored in double figures on 13 occasions and recorded 20-plus points in eight games, including one 30-point contest. He started the 2014-15 season with the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 6.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 20.8 minutes while scoring in double figures twice in nine games (two starts), before being waived on Nov. 15.

Johnson has spent portions of three seasons with the 76ers (2014-15), Boston Celtics (2013-14) and Memphis Grizzlies (2012-13), appearing in 57 NBA games (two starts) and owns averages of 5.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per game and has scored in double figures 12 times. He has also appeared in 73 D-League games (58 starts) over three seasons for Rio Grande Valley, holding averages of 14.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.6 steals in 31.4 minutes. He was a member of the Vipers’ 2013 D-League Championship team, a 2014 NBA D-League All-Star selection and was recently named to the 2015 NBA D-League Showcase Second Team.

- The Utah Jazz, 2015

So I am sad to see the departure of a personal fav of mine, the Old Spice guy, er, I mean Elliot Williams. Didn't he have a good game or something once? Chris is our guy now, and he will be competing directly with Ian Clark for DNP-CDs. You may remember CJ (wait, that just sounds wrong) from uh, Trey Burke 's hometown and charity events. At the NBA level he has played 57 total games over three seasons with three different teams (MEM, BOS, and PHI). He does not make threes at the rate needed to be called an improvement for our wings, but the veteran of three summer leagues and three training camps really shines with his defense. Or so I would have myself believe. The Jazz seem to be trying to dig out every single NBA-DL potential "Three and D" wing player while Alec Burks and Rodney Hood are out. It's only January, but this team has now signed FOUR such wings already this season. Williams is gone, and Patrick Christopher was signed to a non-guaranted contract and waived after he got injured. Elijah Millsap looks to be the strongest candidate and he was recently signed to a multi-year as well.

Will Dos Tres, wait, that joke only works of this player's name was Chad Johnson, be the next to do it? Or will he just be another one of the revolving door of NBA-DL League players to be called up to Utah?

Also, N.B., ZERO of the call ups EVER have been from either the Utah Flash or Idaho Stampede. Just, you know, pointing that out.

Draft Express measures him a 6'3.50" in socks, with a 6'11.0" wingspan. The owner of a 34.8" vertical had a 3.20 second 3/4 quarter court sprint time, and managed to navigate the lane agility test with a slow-ish 11.94 seconds. This data is from 2012, and my measurements back then were a lot different from the 2015 version of AllThatAmar. So we'll wait and see how well this works out. I wish him the best, but at this stage, kinda wish we still had Carrick Felix on the team, well, a healthy one. Or, actually; just healthy players in general. This season is stuck in neutral because we can't evaluate Alec Burks correctly, or how everyone else plays (or even gets better or not) with him on the court.

Welcome to the team Chris, and best of luck! Hope you stay here for a while!

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