Kevin O’Connor on Keldon Johnson’s intriguing preseason performance

Keldon Johnson has continued to impress during the preseason, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans or media members.

On Friday’s episode of The Mismatch, Kevin’ O’Connor listed Johnson as one of his intriguing observations from the preseason and had some encouraging things to say about Big Body.

“It’s not like [Johnson] did anything new, necessarily, [but] he did more of it and it looked more refined… I thought he looked slick off the dribble. He had some nice crossovers and euro steps. He just looked more smooth [and] more fluid off the bounce; it just felt like an expansion of his game that we didn’t see as much in recent years on a higher volume.”

Chris Vernon, O’Connor’s co-host, then brought up a quote from an NBA executive that named Johnson as a potential breakout candidate for the upcoming season. Vernon touched on the impact that playing at the Olympics could have on Johnson as well:

“We have seen guys after they’ve had that Olympic experience come back and for [the experience] to have a profound impact on their game, and so [Johnson’s] certainly someone to keep an eye out for.”

O’Connor also briefly talked about some of the Spurs’ other young players and the direction of the team in general.

“I think when you look at the Spurs, whether it’s Keldon Johnson or some of the other young guys like (Dejounte) Murray, (Derrick) White, (Jakob) Poeltl, whoever it may be… I really like a lot of the young talent on the Spurs. I don’t think they have a superstar unless (Josh) Primo can turn into that, and I don’t think Keldon Johnson can turn into that, but Keldon Johnson has all the qualities of a guy on a championship team who makes winning plays on both ends of the floor.”

If you’d like to hear the full segment, skip to the 48:40 minute mark of The Mismatch’s most recent episode; it’ll only make you more excited to watch Big Body this year!