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North Carolina Tar Heels: Brice Johnson taken 25th

By John Woodcock

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Brice Johnson (North Carolina) greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number twenty-five overall pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Brice Johnson (North Carolina) greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number twenty-five overall pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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The North Carolina Tar Heels got a bit of good news last night when Brice Johnson was drafted near the end of the first round.

The North Carolina Tar Heels did not get shut out of the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft. Forward Brice Johnson was drafted twenty-fifth in the first round by the Los Angeles Clippers. He therefore gets to be coached by Doc Rivers, play with Blake Griffin, and co-exist with J.J. Redick.

For a while it was a hard draft to watch for Johnson. The power forward conga line kept getting interrupted by international players that were not in my mock draft. It started early too with Thon Maker getting all the way to the tenth pick. As Deyonta Davis started falling down the draft board, I assumed that Johnson was falling behind him.

That assumption turned out to be wrong. Johnson ended up getting drafted by the Clippers at 25 while Davis fell out of the first round entirely. That was amusingly where my mock draft had placed Johnson earlier. He still ended up there despite a number of people jumping the handful of power forwards in front of him.

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Good for Johnson too. The Clippers are not a team looking for a vision like the Lakers or the 76ers. They are a heavyweight in the West trying to win right now. They are a playoff team that knows exactly what they need from Johnson. They need his rebounding and shot blocking in those times when DeAndre Jordan or Blake Griffin is resting. His energy too could be infectious.

There are also plenty of leader characters to prevent in from getting down on himself and to keep his level of play consistent.

This is a suitable reward for Johnson, who got better every year for the Tar Heels and could be a real monster at times. He was not the liability that some feared that he would be as he took over as a starter. Instead he became a force to be reckoned with.

Next: All Eyes on Johnson and Paige

Tar Heel fans can fairly wonder how exactly the team will replace his impact next season.

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