Season in Review: John Henson

I like John Henson. He seems to be a special talent and although he wasn’t as awesome as I thought he was going to be, he did come around late in the season. Part of that was because of injuries, part of it was moving to a more comfortable position on the court. He’s just so lanky. Imagine what he will do when he puts some muscle on his body.

What I didn’t like:

1. Lack of muscle. This hurt quite a bit during the season for two obvious reasons. Henson was unable to guard big post players because they would simply out muscle him. Henson tried hard, but he just didn’t have it. Another reason is that if he puts on some muscle, he might be able to finish plays a bit more. Most opponents could foul him and Henson wouldn’t be able to put the ball in the hoop a-la Tyler Hansbrough. Hopefully he can add some weight this summer. Work him with Jonas!
2. Overhyping. Similar to how the Heels were overhyped, John Henson, as much as I like him, was overhyped. People were talking about how he was the next Kevin Durant. Not so much. Henson has the potential to be a really special player with his unique size and skill set, but he still was some work to do.

What I liked:

1. Shotblocking. Henson is a nice guy to have as your help defender. He is a truly talent shot blocker and decent rebounder too. I think Henson will make up for the departure of Ed Davis pretty well because he can just come out of nowhere and block shots.

2. Ability. Henson is a freak of basketball art. One thing I like about him is his ability to put the ball on the floor a little bit. We saw him stretch the floor a few times in the NIT and it generally led to a baseline dunk. It would be nice if he could add an outside shot to his offensive arsenal in order to take pressure of the other interior players.

Hopefully this next season, Henson will become what Ed Davis was supposed to be for us this year – a real force. He needs to work on his shooting, but I judging from some of his twitter comments, I believe he’s a real worker and will continue to hone in on his game.