AUBURN — Chaney Johnson is headed into an important summer of offseason work as he’s expected to step into a possible starting role at the power forward/big guard position within Auburn’s system.
With the departure of veteran Jaylin Williams, the pressure is on Johnson to continue to develop after a season at Auburn following his stint at Alabama-Huntsville to begin his career. Earlier this week, head coach Bruce Pearl talked about Johnson’s value to this upcoming Tigers’ squad.
“Chaney gives us some flexibility,” Pearl said at the Bruce Pearl Fore the Children golf tournament on Monday in Alexander City. “He’s demonstrated he can play the four and five, could he play the big three?”
The 6-foot-7, 220-pound Johnson scored 4.7 points and grabbed 3.4 rebounds per game last season coming off the bench for Williams. Johnson started two games at Georgia and at Tennessee last season following Williams’ knee injury that kept him out of the Georgia game and limited his action at Tennessee.
In those two games, Johnson combined for 21 points, 10 rebounds and shot 8-of-13 from the field, playing 27 and 20 minutes respectively. Johnson only played 20 minutes or more four times last season, and those were two instances.
Pearl’s flirtation of Johnson at the three is interesting, too. Sources have told Auburn Live that it’s possible that Johni Broome gets more time at the four position this season to help improve his game, while giving more minutes to Dylan Cardwell at the five. Those rotations will likely be limited, but they could create situations to play Johnson at the three, as Pearl mentioned.
“He’s an efficient scorer inside and out. He can guard multiple positions,” Pearl said of Johnson.
Johnson scored seven or more points in six of his final nine games last season, shooting over 43 percent in all nine games as he finished the season strong on the offensive end. He also topped his rebound average, grabbing four or more rebounds in four of the final nine game.
“I think as he tries to do more, the question will be will his assist-to-turnover ratio be better. He’s a good passer, not a great passer. As he has the ball in his hands, is he able to be as productive without turning the ball over. That’s going to take a summer of putting it in his hands and letting him make some mistakes this summer so he gets more comfortable with it.”
Johnson finished last season with 32 turnovers and 27 assists. Of Auburn’s 11 primary players, Johnson’s turnover rate of 20.6 was the highest on the team and his assist rate of 8.3 was higher than only Chris Moore and Lior Berman.
Johnson will compete with SMU forward transfer Ja’Heim Hudson, who arrives with one year of eligibility remaining.
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