Chicago Bulls: Alize Johnson can be potentially elite rebounder

It’s hard not to like the second of two signings for the Chicago Bulls on the afternoon of Sep. 6. The latter of the two free agent signings for the Bulls on Sep. 6 was the former Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets 25-year-old power forward Alize Johnson. And the first of the two signings to round out the long holiday weekend came in the form of the former Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons small forward Stanley Johnson.

Considering the sizable need that head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls had at the four on the bench heading into next season, signing Alize makes a ton of sense. And the Bulls got Johnson signed down to a tremendous value contract for two years, worth a total of around $3.6 million.

Following the losses of veteran forward Thaddeus Young and power forward Lauri Markkanen this offseason, essentially all depth that the Bulls had at the four was gone. Donovan can work with either second-year forward Patrick Williams or star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan at the four in the starting unit. But the bench was void of depth at the position.

Adding “Johnson & Johnson” on Sep. 6 does bring the Bulls two steps closer to rounding out the roster completely heading into next season. There are still spots available on the camp roster, and one two-way contract slot remaining. But if both Johnsons make the 15-man roster, then it has the numbers necessary to be complete heading into the regular season.

This is big for Donovan and the Bulls to start getting a clearer picture of what the complete rotation will look like heading into next season. The Bulls can now play Alize 12-20 minutes on the floor per night in a backup role at power forward.

Chicago Bulls get a huge boost in rebounding at the four with Alize Johnson

Johnson played the bulk of his minutes in the last three seasons, with the Nets and Pacers, at the four. He did get some minutes at the three, and a few at the five, but his natural fit will be at power forward with this Bulls’ lineup.

What Johnson can really bring to the table for the Bulls is an elite rebounding ability that really shined in his 18 games played with the Nets during the 2020-21 regular season. Among those that played in at least a dozen regular season games, Johnson ranked in the top five in the NBA in rebounds per 36 minutes (17.1).

Johnson also ranked in the top five in both offensive (16.6) and defensive rebounding percentage (35.0) among qualified players last season.

A lot of the rebounds that Johnson came down with for the Nets last season were contested. He ranked in the top 25 in the NBA last season among players that played in at least a dozen games in contested offensive rebounding percentage (74.1), per NBA advanced stats.

Even more impressive, Johnson ranked in the top 20 in adjusted defensive rebounding chance percentage in tracked games last season (at 75.0). That essentially means that he pulled down 75 percent of the chances he had that were tracked on the defensive glass.

The only Bulls player that pulled down a higher frequency of defensive rebounds last season when he had the chance was star center Nikola Vucevic. And when you look at the stats, a lot of what Vooch actually does well on defense have to do with rebounding.

Moreover, the Bulls are going to be a nice boost to win the battle on the boards game in and game out with Johnson in the mix. He’s also an improving on-ball defender, a decent rim protector and disruptor in the passing lanes, and a good scorer on the inside.

It’s hard not to like this free agent signing for the Bulls. Johnson is going to be able to fill a need in a reserve role and contribute in areas where his game is strong right away for Donovan and the Bulls next season. He’s also shown tremendous growth, highlighted by his advanced metrics, from the last few seasons. Last season with the Nets, he registered a career-high 2.6 box plus/minus and .227 win shares per 48 minutes.