Toronto Raptors: Amir Johnson Staying Out of Foul Trouble Leading to Success

Amir Johnson has been on a tear as of late. He is proving to the Toronto media and to all of the fans that he was worth the contract he was given this past offseason.

Although the title says that his staying out of foul trouble is leading to success, it does not mean success for the Raptors, who are unfortunately on a 13-game losing streak, but it has led to success for all the young guns showing us their potential, especially Amir Johnson.

He is recording fewer fouls per game, which is allowing him to get some more playing time, which leads to productivity. Before these past few games, Johnson used to average 6.3 fouls per game per 48 minutes, which was the worst in the league. 

In the early part of the season, even playing off the bench, he was committing too many fouls. 

Triano made a smart move on his part and played Johnson with fewer minutes to get him to understand his mistakes. So far, this strategy is working well and it seems as if Johnson is feeling much more comfortable in the four position.

In his most recent outing, Johnson recorded 20 PTS and added 14 REB in a loss. The positive notes were obviously his rebounding and scoring totals, but he only had three fouls that game.

If we were to see the old Amir, he would have had three fouls by the time the first quarter was over.

Johnson is without a doubt still committing fouls, but the positive note about his fouls recently are that he has not been committing them in the first half, but rather mostly in the fourth quarter.

The fact that Johnson is not committing fouls early in games means that he has the chance to produce much more during games. He is also getting more playing due to the fact that he is not at risk of fouling out of games, which he has done three times this season.

For the past eight games straight, Johnson has put up double figures in terms of scoring and has grabbed more than 10 rebounds in three of those games. Even though he did not grab 10 rebounds in the five other games, he had grabbed at least 6-8.

His FG percentage is good enough for third in the league sitting at almost 59 percent. He averages about seven shots per game and is making at least four of them. In his most recent games, he has started to shoot the ball more because of Andrea Bargnani's current shooting slump and has produced well.

Johnson still has much to prove as to why the Raptors signed him to a massive five-year contract this past offseason; his recent play is showing both staff and fans that he has the ability to produce big numbers and to average a double-double a game.

Hopefully, Andrea Bargnani and Demar DeRozan's scoring slumps come to an end as well as the Raptor's losing streak.

GAME UPDATE: Leandro Barbosa is eyeing a return against Minnesota to play backup PG, as Jarryd Bayless is questionable.