Analyzing Potential Charlotte Hornets NBA Draft Target Morez Johnson Jr

Breaking down the game of Morez Johnson Jr.

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In order for the Charlotte Hornets to make another sizeable leap up the Eastern Conference's hierarchy, they'll need to nail draft night again.

Three rookies: Kon Knuppel, Sion James, and Ryan Kalkbrenner; contributed to the Hornets' nightly success in 2025-26, and with two mid-first round selections (pending the upcoming lottery results) in tow, Jeff Peterson will have the opportunity to add more talent to his roster via the draft or a potential trade with one (or both) of those picks involved.

There are a number of talented players projected to be available for Charlotte in the middle of the first round, and we'll have breakdowns of each of them as we hurtle towards draft night in late June. Let's start with Morez Johnson Jr., a bruising power forward/center from the national champion Michigan Wolverines.

Scouting Morez Johnson Jr.

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Johnson Jr. passes the 'get off the bus' test. The sophomore big man is an absolute specimen, listed at 6'9" with an estimated 7'2" wingspan that plays up to his size. He played the majority of his minutes at power forward next to fellow projected top-20 pick Aday Mara, but Johnson may wind up being best utilized as a small ball center at the NBA level.

The name of the Hornets' offseason game is physicality. After getting punked in late-season showdowns with the Detroit Pistons and the Orlando Magic, Charlotte self-scouted and chalked up the disappointing losses to a lack of brawn up and down the roster, which makes Morez Johnson Jr. such an intriguing target in the middle of the first round.

On both ends of the floor, Morez makes his presence felt with an impressive level of physicality. He is a willing and impactful screener that Michigan used open up space for his talented teammates. On and off-ball, Johnson Jr. is happy to do the dirty work on offense by connecting actions with bone-crushing screens.

Charlotte's offense relies on all five players on the floor to set screens for one another, a skill that Johnson Jr. flashed often as a Wolverine.

While he's shown flashes of perimeter range (Johnson shot 34.3% from three on 1.9 attempts/100 possessions), Morez is best utilized as an interior bruiser on offense.

Johnson Jr. was an elite offensive rebounder at Michigan, posting a Moussa Diabate-like 12.8% rebound rate that jumped to 14.0% against top 100 college competition. He is a willing board crasher that creates second-chance opportunities with his relentless motor and quick first jump. The Hornets are one of the league's premier two-way rebounding teams, and Johnson would fit in nicely to Charles Lee's system with his willingness to mix it up on the glass.

Morez finished 72.9% of his shots at the rim on 12.1 attempts per game, but there is still room for him to grow in this area. He had the propensity to shy away from contact when finishing, fading away from the basket instead of trying to go through the chest of the defender between him and the cup -- which he clearly has the ability to do.

He is an explosive leaper that will punish a late-arriving help defender by stuffing them in the rim on a dunk attempt.

On defense, Johnson is a versatile chess piece that can be used in a number of ways. Michigan varied their ball screen coverages and Morez proved effective in drop, switch, blitz, and hedge scenarios. He boasts a rare blend of physicality, lateral agility, and explosive leaping ability that coalesce into a multi-faceted defender with a sky-high ceiling.

He may struggle at times against quicker guards on the perimeter, but Johnson is a trustworthy defender up and down the lineup that would bring some versatility to Charlotte's bench that it lacks outside of Sion James and Grant Williams.

Johnson Jr. is willing to hit first on the defensive end. He has a sturdy lower half that isn't easily moved, and he has the smarts and feel to be a real impact player on the back line of a defense.

The biggest area of growth for Johnson is going to come on the offensive end. He wasn't asked to create offense at all in Michigan's five-out system and strictly benefited from the slick playmaking of the Wolverines' talented group of perimeter shot creators. The majority of Johnson's shots were assisted as he lacks a true go-to skill on offense to differentiate himself in the half court.

Charles Lee values 'connectors' on offense, and while Johnson Jr. brings connective tissue as a screener, he doesn't offer much juice as an advantage extender as a passer. The reason that Sion James was so trusted by Lee's staff was the fact that he thrived in quick decision-making settings either off the catch or off the bounce -- the ball rarely stuck in Sion's hands.

Johnson didn't show much of that at Michigan. His 8.4% assist rate is one of the glaring weaknesses on his profile, and although that can be hand-waved off by lack of opportunity, there weren't many times where I saw him make a high-level passing read to unlock a defense like some of his teammates did. When Morez caught the ball at the free throw line in the short roll, he would either get downhill and look to score, or pass the ball back out to reset the Michigan offense.

It is reasonable to expect some development in this area, though. Both Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner have made major strides as short roll passers in their time as Hornets, and with increased repitition on Charlotte's offensive system, the same can be expected of Johnson Jr. if he lands in the Queen City.

However, as it stands, Morez's offensive skill-set is pretty vanilla, and I could see a world where he struggles to play high-leverage minutes because he isn't a threat on one end of the floor.

Like most prospects, the swing skill is Johnson's three-point shot, and there are indicators to expect a big leap at the next level. Johnson shot 78.2% at the line as a sophomore (up from 61.8% as a freshman), and has smooth jump shot mechanics.

If he is to be taken seriously as a threat from behind the arc, he will undoubtedly return positive value from his draft slot as the type of two-way forward that thrives in the slowed-down sport that is playoff basketball.

Strengths: Physicality, offensive rebounding, switchability on defense, shot profile (layups, dunks, threes)

Weaknesses: Offensive creation, passing, handling

Analyzing Morez Johnson's Fit in Charlotte

Johnson Jr. would be an awesome Charlotte Hornet.

His profile is fairly similar to Moussa Diabate's, with the main difference being Johnson's projection as a shooter. He could either play alongside Moussa in lineups that would snuff out every rebound available, or he could even spell Diabate as a small ball center and give the Hornets a true five-out look that could shred opposing defenses while staying viable on the other end of the floor.

Morez's physicality and versatility make him the type of jack-of-all-trades front court piece that excels in the playoffs. The success of Collin Murray-Boyles in Toronto is a feather in the cap of players like Johnson, and if Morez can take a leap as a shooter and/or passer, he'd be an ideal fix for Charlotte's physicality woes.

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