Attention Chance Comanche, Rawle Alkins, Kobi Simmons, Allonzo Trier and all college basketball ships at sea:
Pro basketball is insanely difficult.
Nick Johnson, the Pac-12โs 2014 Player of the Year, the epitome of a team-first, leave-it-all-on-the-floor dynamo, is now playing for Bayern Munich of Germanyโs EuroLeague.
Johnson doesnโt start. He averages 17 minutes and eight points per game. He sits behind two undrafted guards: Reggie Redding of Villanova and Bryce Taylor of Oregon, neither of whom played a minute in the NBA.
Johnson was a second-round NBA draft pick, No. 42 overall. He played in 28 NBA games before beginning the eternal bounce from D-League to EuroLeague that engulfs the great majority of second-round picks.
Johnson is only 24, yet the NBA has apparently labeled him a nonprospect. Realistically, Comanche, Trier, Alkins and Simmons can only hope to someday match Johnsonโs pro career.
Thatโs reality. If Nick Johnson canโt make it, few can.ย
