By KL Chouinard
A month ago, Trae Young said on Twitter that playing with teammate Jalen Johnson is like "peanut butter & jelly. Just flows."
The analogy makes plenty of sense. Trae can hit shots from 30 feet, run an offense while scoring in a number of ways, and hold his own on the defensive end, more now than ever before. Johnson is a threat to dunk at all times, a rebounder whom every center would love to have as their partner on the glass, and an extraordinary ballhander for someone who stands 6-foot-8.
But most of all, the PB&J analogy works because they are better together than apart. Combine two great passers, and all of their individual offensive strengths become that much greater because they play with connectivity.
The duo was a big part of the Hawks' recent success against teams from the Western Conference. At the same time, even as it flowed, there remained wrinkles to be ironed out.
For instance, with 2:30 left in the game against the LA Clippers, Johnson was guarding Kawhi Leonard away from the ball on the perimeter. A crafty back pick left Kawhi under the rim with Trae.
Trae wanted to switch back with Johnson. Trae darted to make it happen, and Johnson leaned toward Kawhi but hesitated for a second – and Leonard ended up under the rim by himself for a layup. During the ensuing dead ball, Trae and Johnson talked it over to make sure they were on the same page.
At the same point in the game against the Warriors, Johnson shined in the clutch. Head Coach Quin Snyder made a tweak in the Hawks defensive setup, matching Johnson on Draymond Green. To that point of the game, Green had screened well to free Curry on his 60-point night. But having Johnson guard Green paid big dividends.
On one play in overtime, Green screened for Curry, and Johnson astutely saw the need to switch, as the screen took Dejounte Murray out of the play. Johnson moved his feet, stayed step-for-step with Curry and forced Curry into a hurried, contested miss that figured prominently in the Hawks' 141-134 win.
In addition to the key plays late against Steph Curry, Johnson – in a span of seven days – had the primary responsibility of guarding Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and the player he idolized most growing up, LeBron James.
Jalen Johnson, more specifically, 22-year-old Jalen Johnson, the one who started a total of six NBA games in his career prior to this season, guarded four legendary future Hall of Famers in the same week. By no means was it perfect, but he did enough – and at times he did a lot more than that – as the Hawks won three of the four matchups.
"It's tough," Johnson said of the week's task. "Those are Hall of Fame caliber players. For me, I'm just trying to make sure that I stay as ready as possible as far as keeping my legs under me. Most people talk about that 'rookie wall'. This is my first year really playing a full season with extensive minutes. I want to be able to maintain my legs and stay fresh so I can guard those types of players."
De'Andre Hunter understands the task better than most people on Planet Earth, having been through weeks with a list of similar Herculean defensive assignments.
"Guys are going to have good nights," Hunter said. "Sometimes you're going to get the better of some guys, but in the NBA, guys are really talented. Those people that he guarded are going to the Hall of Fame. They're used to scoring on good defenders."
Hunter is a terrific perimeter defender, perhaps the best on the team. As he continues to return to full strength from a right knee injury, he will help Johnson assume some of the defensive assignments. In his absence, though, Johnson gained invaluable lessons.
"You've just got to go through it," Hunter said of the learning experience.
Of all the players on the Hawks roster, the one with whom Johnson has the best synergy might be center Onyeka Okongwu, himself just 23 years old.
"That's my little brother right there. That's my dog," Okongwu said. "I'm always trying to help him out there, but you know, he's got it. Y'all see it, man. He has got it. He's got all the instincts and the intangibles to be one of the better players in this league."
Johnson has a legitimate case for the NBA's Most Improved Player Award. In averaging 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, he is on pace to become the first player in the NBA since Zach Randolph 20 years ago to improve his points per game by 9.0+ points and his rebounds per game by 4.0+ rebounds from the season prior (min. 20 games).
Randolph went on to win the 2003-04 Most Improved Player Award.
Sometimes a player will see jumps in points and rebounds because they are playing more minutes. While that is certainly true in Johnson's case, his leap is so much more than that. Every time he checks in from the scorer's table, the Hawks end up with a better passing lineup. Each time he enters a game, the Hawks get a better rebounding lineup.
Most importantly, he can play in any lineup now because he improved his three-point shot by leaps and bounds to a career-best 36.7 percent.
An improvement like his goes far beyond playing more minutes. It is not a hollow case of more minutes leading to bigger numbers. The underlying story is that Jalen is playing more minutes because he can do things like guard Kawhi, KD, and LeBron.
And Johnson wants to keep learning. Last week, Wesley Matthews, the veteran on the roster who gives him advice most often, took time after practice to share some tips on defending in the low post.
"Just how to properly guard that," Johnson said. "I never really had that type of foundation on how to guard that type of stuff, so he just did that on his own, took me after practice for 10 or 15 minutes just to talk about it. He is always in my ear telling me about those types of things."
After the loss to the Clippers, more than anything else, Trae just wanted Jalen to keep perfecting his craft, even as he acknowledged – from experience – that there will be moments where it is far from that.
"He's not going to be perfect every night," Trae said. "And coming from me, I know. I know it's not going to be perfect every night. But it can change in a heartbeat. It can change in a play. It can change in the next game. So he's got to continue to stay with it."
Then Trae summed up Johnson's leap to a potential Most Improved Player season: "He has been having a hell of a year, and one game ain't gonna change nothing."